The passing of actress Hayden Panettiere has left her mourning ‘second mom’ shattered. The actress, known for her roles in “Heroes” and “Nashville,” succumbed to struggles at only 36, despite her relentless efforts to confront the challenges that haunted her life.

On a somber Sunday afternoon, Panettiere was found unresponsive in her Greenville, South Carolina, residence. An acquaintance, upon discovering her condition, called emergency services, reporting her in cardiac arrest.

Although responders did everything to revive her, Panettiere was tragically pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities disclosed that their initial inquiry revealed no evidence of foul play or suspicious elements, and an autopsy confirmed that there was no trauma-related cause contributing to her untimely demise.

As of now, the official cause and specifics surrounding her death remain undisclosed.

Now Lynsey Lonberg, 73, a longtime family friend whom Panettiere described in her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, as her ‘second mother,’ has spoken of her anguish at losing the little girl she watched grow into a Hollywood star.

Sitting at the bar of a restaurant in Piermont, New York, on Monday afternoon, Lonberg remembered the animal-loving child who played at her home, the fiercely focused actress she became – and the painful struggles she believes ultimately overwhelmed her.

‘She referred to me in her book as her second mother,’ Lonberg told the Daily Mail. ‘She was like a child to me.’  

Lonberg, still living in Rockland, knew Hayden since she was a toddler and has kept in touch with her over the years, remaining close with Hayden’s father, Alan ‘Skip’ Panettiere.

After the news broke Sunday night, she called Hayden’s father and left a message offering her condolences.

‘I can’t imagine losing a child, but for him to lose both of his children, I can’t imagine how difficult that must be for a parent. It’s just so devastating.

‘He’s a strong man. But how do you pull through this? I don’t know how.’

She said Hayden and her brother Jansen, who died in 2023 at age 28, were close friends with her own children growing up.

That bond appears to have stretched back decades. After Jansen’s death in 2023, Lonberg shared a childhood photograph from 1999 showing Jansen in Palisades, New York.

‘Little Friends,’ she captioned the touching throwback.

Hayden would regularly stop by to visit her children and her animals.

‘We grew up with a lot of animals in our house, miniature horses, chickens, turkeys, donkeys.’ Lynsey recalled. ‘Hayden used to come down here and play with them. She loved them so much. Once we had a baby chicken who died, and she became hysterical.

‘She’s always been very emotional,’ she added.

Lynsey was struggling to understand Hayden’s death. 

She said she was aware of Hayden’s struggles in her adult life, including with the birth of her daughter in 2014.

’When she had her child, she had a very difficult delivery, and really hard postpartum,’ she said.

‘Not a week of being depressed. It went on for a very long time.

‘It took her a long time to get herself back together,’ Lynsey continued. ‘I think working organized things for her. She was a hard worker, focused.’

Hayden had also told her about challenges she faced with drugs.

‘She tried and tried and tried to get past her struggles,’ she said, ‘but she was an actress. She told me that when you go working on a set, all kinds of pills, liquor, all kinds of things are available where you can get anything you want.

‘This kid didn’t have a chance,’ she said. ‘I don’t think she would have gone down the road she went down if it hadn’t been for Hollywood.’

Panettiere’s daughter went to live with the father in Ukraine.

‘She did the best she could for her daughter,’ she said. ‘It was impossible for her keep up what she was doing as an actress and trying to take care of her daughter.

‘She was trying to overcome the problems she had with drugs.’

Hayden would continue to visit her father, who lives with his second wife in Piermont.

They live just a few doors down from the restaurant where she was sitting, Sidewalk Bistro.

‘She comes to visit her father, and she comes in here because it’s safe,’ she said. ‘She was a celebrity, but most people here would leave her alone here. She’s always felt comfortable.’

In Spain, the discovery of mysterious injuries on one of the world’s most ancient orcas has prompted an investigation, sparking concerns about the possibility of an attack on the renowned killer whale. This incident comes amidst years of fraught interactions between orcas and boats.

Toñi, the oldest recorded Iberian orca, recently surfaced in the Strait of Gibraltar with several fresh wounds spanning her dorsal fin and back—suspected by conservationists to be inflicted by shotgun pellets. Just a few weeks prior, photos of Toñi showed no such injuries.

Currently, Spanish officials, informed by Spain’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), are examining the injuries on the orca known as Toñi. The marks she bears this week are being assessed for compatibility with pellet shot damage.

The Ministry became aware of Toñi’s condition on August 11, thanks to information provided by the marine conservation group WeWhale. This organization, which collaborates with government authorization, operates within the area.

Officials opened preliminary investigative proceedings the next day to determine what happened and potentially identify those responsible.

While Spanish authorities have stopped short of concluding that Toñi was shot, conservation groups WeWhale and Iberian Orca Guardians said their teams believe the appearance, number and distribution of the wounds point to a shotgun discharge.

The groups said the injuries appeared suddenly. They had photographed and observed Toñi only weeks earlier, when the wounds were not present.

WeWhale said its team counted roughly 10 apparent pellet impacts on the left side of her dorsal fin. At least two or three projectiles appear to have passed straight through the fin, while others may still be lodged inside, according to the group.

At an estimated 60 years old, Toñi could face added risks from the injuries. WeWhale said the fin has a rich blood supply and helps the animal regulate its body temperature, meaning the wounds could lead to tissue damage, swelling or infection. If pellets remain lodged inside, the group warned that an infection could, in the worst case, become life-threatening.

For now, however, there are encouraging signs. WeWhale said Toñi appears to be swimming and hunting normally, and its team will continue watching her closely.

“We know Toñi. We were with her a few weeks ago and these wounds were not there,” Janek Andre, founder and president of WeWhale and the Iberian Orca Guardians Foundation, said in a statement.

Andre said the groups are now seeing “multiple impact wounds” across the animal’s dorsal fin and back that they believe are consistent with a shotgun blast.

“If someone has deliberately fired a shotgun at her, this is not only an act of extreme cruelty against an individual animal,” Andre said. “It is an attack on one of the last remaining members of a critically endangered population.”

Toñi, also known as “La Abuela,” or “the grandmother,” is the oldest known member of the Iberian orca population, according to the conservation groups. Her population in the Strait of Gibraltar and Gulf of Cádiz is classified as vulnerable under Spain’s Catalog of Endangered Species.

The stakes for anyone found responsible could be steep. Spanish law prohibits killing, capturing, pursuing or disturbing protected species, and violations of regulations protecting the orcas can carry penalties of up to 2 million euros, equivalent to about $2.3 million, along with potential criminal liability, according to MITECO.

The ministry’s General Directorate of Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification is investigating the incident.

The investigation comes amid years of documented interactions between Iberian orcas and boats off the Iberian Peninsula.

Since 2020, orcas in the region have repeatedly interacted with vessels in Atlantic waters, prompting Spanish authorities to issue guidance aimed at protecting boaters, vessels and the animals. Officials advise sailors not to use deterrent measures that could kill, injure or disturb the cetaceans.

WeWhale said the apparent shooting should not be viewed as an acceptable response to those encounters.

“There has been enormous public discussion about Iberian orcas and their interactions with vessels,” Andre said. “Whatever someone’s opinion about those interactions may be, shooting at these animals can never be an acceptable response.”

The conservation groups said they are preserving their original photographs and observational records and will continue monitoring Toñi’s physical condition and behavior as the government investigation moves forward.

Authorities have not announced a suspect or identified anyone who may be responsible for the injuries.