Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Harrowing Hayden Panettiere Death Scene, $500K Ring Missing

Episode Date: October 8, 2026

Hayden Panettiere’s ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko filing urgent court petitions seeking temporary guardianship of their 11‑year‑old daughter Kaya’s inheritance.  He already has sole custody, but he said the suit is an attempt to protect his daughter's inheritance from being lost. He cites missing jewelry, including Hayden's engagement ring, destroyed emails, and other property concerns.  Klitschko says he and Panettiere had hired security before her death due to concerns about unauthorized access to her home; locks were changed afterward, and designer clothing/accessories were moved for safety.    Joining Nancy Grace Today: Mark Astor - Former Prosecutor, Criminal Defense Attorney and Behavioral Health Attorney at Astor Simovitch Law, Host: 'The Journey by Mark Astor,' Website: mentalhealthaddictionlawfirm.com  Ken Seeley -  Certified Intervention Professional, Founder, Intervention911.com & Ken Seeley Communities, websites: Intervention911.com / KenSeeleyCommunities.com,  @intervention911.com  GiGi McKelvey - Journalist, Host of the podcast “Pretty Lies And Alibis”,  prettyliesandalibis.org , Facebook, IG, TikTok: @PrettyLies And Alibis, Twitter: @PrettyLiesAlibi  Dave Mack -  Investigative Reporter, 'Crime Stories' See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Tonight, TV and movie star Hayden Panetteer's harrowing death scene revealed, including some very inconsistent facts. This as over $500,000 worth of jewelry and money missing. Repeat. $500,000 in jewelry and money, including a 500 grand sparkling diamond ring.

Just gone. Wow. I wonder if anybody hot that. Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. Payton Panadier died from the toxic effects of multiple drugs.

fentanyl being number one. Also, Xanax, a muscle relaxant, and Seraquel. Her death has officially been ruled an accident. Her boyfriend, Brian, is a very, very shady character and has been in and out of her life. Hayden had her demons, and she let these people in. Hayden Paneterre is the sweetest thing in the world. It's not about who you spend Saturday night with. to see you spent all day Sunday with them.

Hayden Pantheir's Day Sunday girl. I mean, it was, uh, who wants to read something about themselves like that, right? But, you know, you got to be vulnerable. And, uh, you know, I did it. I did it. I realized that I was more afraid of being alone than being abused. And in order to be around that kind of behavior,

It took me dulling my senses and numbing myself with substances in order to silence that rational voice in my head that was telling me exactly what was going on and the many reasons why I needed to get myself out of this toxic relationship and as far away from this person as possible. It actually hurts to see TV and movie star Hayden Panette here, a mother of a little girl, struggling, describing in her own words about getting out. out of a toxic relationship trying to escape the life that she was living. You heard Hickerson talking, the on-off again boyfriend, to our friend Harvey Levin at TMZ. He finished that soundbite with, I did it. Did what? I'm curious. Did what exactly?

That was also, Hayden herself speaking on the Jay Shetty podcast tonight. The harrowing death scene revealed informal police. and law enforcement documents. When police arrive, when first responders arrive, this is what they saw. What does it mean? As claims swirling over $500,000 of cash and jewelry missing, straight out to crime stories investigative reporter Dave Mac.

Dave, first we hear that Hayden Panetteer was asleep on the bed and that Hickerson woke up and went, what? She's dead. Okay. Then we hear Hayden Panetteer is dead in a chair. But I noticed in official documents it stated that Hayden Panetteer was lying on a rug in front of a sofa. That may not mean a lot to some people, but in a death investigation, that's a very critical inconsistency, Dave, Matt. What did you learn? Nancy, in digging into this, we found out that the initial

reporting, August 18th, okay, we're talking about Zach Hickerson is saying, or an insider, somebody with inside information, according to TMZ, tells them that Hayden Panetteer was found sitting in a chair, that Brian Hickerson was asleep in a different bedroom. and he was awoken by Zach, his brother, knocking on the front door of their Airbnb. Now, this initial story that came out right after she passed away, Nancy, substantially changed. There's a big difference between what was said right away

from an inside source and what we were being told was the reality. That story changed from her being found sitting in a chair to now we find that Hayden Panetteer was found On the floor in front of the sofa bed on a small little rug, she's purple, she's criss-cross applesauce with her head on the floor. And according to the most recent report that Zach Hickerson is banging on the door to wake them up, Brian Hickerson wakes up.

You're telling me that an official report said she's criss-cross applesauce. Absolutely, Nancy. It's shocking, but that was the description in the official. report that Hayden Penitier. That was a way that she sat and fell asleep, according to Brian Hickerson. Not an uncommon thing for her to do. Dave Mack, let me understand this. Okay, so she's no longer, first of all, he wakes up to knocking at the door. That's not what we were told earlier. We were earlier told he woke up and looked over and Hayden Panetteer is dead. Okay. Then we hear

she's dead in a chair or unconscious. Then we hear now that she's on a rug, but you said a knock at the door and you said she was found lying on a rug, but how can she be lying on the rug if she's criss-crossed applesauce? I haven't heard that since my children were in pre-K. But I take that to mean she had been sitting with her legs crossed, okay, and fell over. Because how else could they tell she was sitting criss-crossed apple sauce? Because the reason I'm asking Dave is because if I found a body like that, that would be my description. It wouldn't be I woke up and she was dead on the pillow beside me. It wouldn't be she was dead sitting in a chair. It would be it looked as if she had been sitting with her legs crossed and fell over. That's what I would say.

So tell me again because this is a serious inconsistency. Yes, it is. There are a number of inconsistencies in this right off the bat. But that crisscrossed applesauce thing, has hit me as well. I haven't heard that since my children were small. But according to Brian Hickerson, Hayden Penitier would sit crisscross applesauce on the floor and she would, or on the bed, and lean forward and go to sleep. That was a normal thing for her, according to Brian Hickerson. And that was the description that was given to the investigators, that that's how she was found. Nancy, there are multiple things wrong with the initial reporting from the Hickerson brothers. And remember, those are the two people who found Hayden Penitier, Brian Hickerson and his brother,

Zach. Okay, wait a minute. Dave Mack, everybody on the panel, stop. I want you to listen to Brian Hickerson. Now, this is the witness we're supposed to believe about how Hayden Panetteer is found dead. I think it speaks for itself. I mean, I got arrested for you know, abusing her and I wouldn't blame her friends for being pissed off. I had a lot to drink and I got physical with her and I got arrested spent night in jail and you know that's just what happens when you lay hands on women. So there's a story where I was drunk, right? Hayden was standing across the room and I had a phone of my hand and I said,

Hayden, I said, I'll give you 10 seconds to run as fast as you can before I throw it out of you. I'm supposed to believe him. that's from our friend Harvey Levin over at TMZ. Mark asked her, I've got a lot more foundation to lay before I come to you, but I have to come now. Okay, what that means in the law is before you can enter, let's just pretend this is a murder weapon. Before I can introduce this in front of a jury and hand it to them or talk about it, I have to get it introduced. I have to lay a foundation. I was going to lay a foundation about how crucial these inconsistent statements are.

You were just hearing Hickerson, the on and off again boyfriend. Mark Astor is former prosecutor, now renowned criminal defense attorney at Astor Simovich Law, and he's a star of The Journey by Mark Astor. You can find him at Mental Health Addictionlawfirm.com. Okay. That's my witness. I mean, look, I have put witnesses that were addicts, there were alcoholics, that were dope dealers, that had convictions, that were strippers, that were sex workers, that were nuns and priests and virgins. You name it, have been on the stand.

But this guy has a serious credibility problem. But he's all we've got. In our line of business, I don't know if you ever told this before he started trying cases, you've got to take your witnesses at. as you find them. You can't rehab them on the stand. This guy, how can I get a clear story about how she was found dead, which is very important? And why would the story keep changing, Astor? Listen, I'm with you, Nancy. I spent many years as a domestic violence prosecutor. His credibility is somewhat suspect. But here's the question I would have for you. Where's the connection between her death and his statements? How are his statements even relevant at the

this point. I mean, if you can show me causation between the fentanyl that's in her system, I'd be like, yeah, let's prosecute him. We could prosecute him under South Carolina law. We could potentially prosecute them under California law. And we could even potentially prosecute him under federal law. But right now, I don't see any connection between the fentanyl that was found in her system and his action. Now, I agree with you. He's not going to be a great witness, but I'm not seeing how there's any connection between her death and his actions. And if there's evidence to that, I'm all ears. But I don't see it right now.

Okay. Put him up, please. Astor. First, I asked you about the critical inconsistency of where she was when she died. That cast doubt on the entire COD and MOD. Okay, you ask, how can he be prosecuted? First of all, he's not charged. He's not a suspect.

He's not a P-O-I. None of that. That said, does the name, Matthew Perry ring a bell to you. Defendant Placentia knew full well the danger of what he was doing. In fact, on one occasion, he injected Mr. Perry with ketamine and he saw Mr. Perry freeze up

and his blood pressure spike. Despite that, he left additional vials of ketamine for defendant Iwamasa to administer to Mr. Perry. Of course, defendant Iwamasa Defendant Iwamasa had no medical training to speak of. Mark Astor, the so-called ketamine queen, was Matthew Perry's supplier. She's in jail, not just her, but his loyal assistant that handed over the fatal dose of ketamine to Matthew Perry who died in a hot tub.

They're all in jail. Gigi McKelvey, joining us, investigative journalists star a pretty lies and alibis. number one you're very familiar with the death scene where it is the neighborhood the works but isn't it true

that reports have emerged from unbiased witnesses that don't have a dog in the fight no skin in the game that drugs were delivered to the residents of Hayden Panetteer labeled

Brian and she lived on and off with Brian Hickerson. That's what we're hearing. You know, I don't think it's been clear whether that was in L.A. or here in Greenville. But, yeah, we have heard that the drugs always had Brian's name on those when they were delivered, which could, you know, eventually become a problem for him. Like you say, these people that are supplying or ending up with 15-year prison sentences and the investigation, according to the Greenville County Sheriff's Office, very much active and ongoing. So I'm sure behind

the scenes. They are looking into a lot of things and will it come back around on Brian? We'll see. He couldn't get into the building. He had buzzed their apartment quite a few times and I was coming back from a walk and I led him into the building, went up into the elevator with him and he did, yeah, he had a small bag on him. And interestingly enough, though, it had Brian written on it. There you go. That's from our friend Harvey 11, TNC. An I-Heart Radio experience. Carly Pierce, live at the Opera House, October 16th. Win your way in to the exclusive IHeartRadio sound check party,

an intimate pre-show performance and Q&A. And then stay for the full show. I don't leave I'm not scared. Lee Pierce, live in Toronto. Enter now for your chance to win at iHeartRadio.ca. Stream Carly's new album, Honest Woman. Available now. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Mark Aster, when I asked you, how important is it that there is a inconsistency about where her body was found, which is really important.

And instead, you launch into how could Hickerson be prosecuted? Well, there you go. Well, okay. So there's a bag being delivered with his name on it. What's in the bag? I mean, is it, you know, if there are any drugs in there, what drugs are they? Are they the drugs that killed her? We don't know. And I'm sure we can sit her and speculate. But, you know, as lawyers, Nancy, we rely on evidence, especially prosecutors. We rely on evidence. You're amazing.

And I'm still- You know what? I've dealt with lawyers like you before. They're amazing. They're silver-tongued. They went a lot of cases. For instance, in a rape case. That did not happen.

He's never laid eyes on her. Well, sir, here's the video of you and her at a bar together the night she was raped. Oh, is that her? Okay, yeah, I guess she was at the same bar. She's sitting by you. I don't remember that. Well, here's the video of you two, leaving the bar together arm in arm.

Oh, you know what? I think that did happen. And it goes on and on and on. Well, then the next thing you know, weren't you in the car because her fingerprints are in there. Yes, yes, I did give her a ride. And what about your DNA being on her body?

You know what? That was consensual. You see how this thing works? you see how it works it's like you put the frog in the pot in the cold water and you slowly heat it up and before the frog even knows it's warm he's dead okay so you started saying there's no connection there's no way to prosecute him and now you're saying what well who knows what was in the bags I mean really it could have been a food delivery we don't know that was was there was something in there specifically something that contained fentanyl that was ultimately something that contained fentanyl that was

ultimately given given to Hayden. We don't know that. We simply don't know that. We can certainly sit here and try and connect the dots and speculate, Nancy. But as I always say, show me the evidence, because I'm not seeing it. I'm not seeing the evidence. I'm seeing sort of the connecting the dots, the leap of faith here. I'm not seeing any causation. Where's the causation, Nancy? Okay. I see that I am, I might as well be screaming out the cab on 3rd Avenue, trying to turn Mark Astor around. But that's what he gets paid to do and he does a really good job at it.

To Ken Sealy, guys, special guest joining us tonight. Certified Intervention Professional. 25 years trying to help people. Founder, Intervention 911.com and Ken Sealy communities. That's a lot. 25 years when interviewing.

I have a question for you, Ken. They're so out of their gourds, they don't even know what they're doing when they hand over poisonous pills to a victim. Yep, you're absolutely right. I like to call it loving them to death, right? You have a loved one that's watching them die and you're loving them to death. You're enabling them to continue with their addiction and they're dying right in front of you. And my job is to get families to acknowledge the warning signs before. Like there was a huge amount of warning signs with Hayden.

And, you know, we have to be aware of them and act on them. And that's how we save lives. Another issue to Ken Sealy, and you can find him at Intervention 911.com, is these people surrounding the victim. many of them are high, they're addicts. So can you rely on anything they're saying? Well, that's what you were talking about earlier, Nancy. You see that family, like he said one was sitting up, one was on the floor,

one, you know, all these different things that they're saying, they're so high, they don't even know what they're seeing. They just show up there and they say what they think they saw. So you can't really rely on any of it. When you're dealing with that type of chaos, you know, in this situation, I can't really speak because I wasn't there, I didn't see it. But the point being is I'm familiar with patterns. And the patterns of addicts and alcoholics, they always mess up the facts. They do not get things correctly because it's correctly in their mind.

That's where it's correctly and the way they remember it. But it's not the facts. So you're absolutely right, Nancy. These are not the facts that we're dealing with. To Dr. Ernest Shiotto joining us, he is a renowned toxicologist, physician, biomedical engineer, attorney, I guess you just got out of school for Pete's sake, multiple degrees from both Oxford and Harvard, former medical director and manager of medical and public health services for Detroit. Never a lack of business there.

He is the author of Toxic TORC, Medical and Lever. legal elements that he wrote in all of his spare time. And you can find him at earnest p.shiodo.com. Dr. Shiodo, isn't it true that when medical examiners determine COD, cause of death, an M.O.D. manner of death, they look at extrinsic evidence. Extrinsic evidence. For instance, this is a great example. in a murder arson case I prosecuted, the wife died from smoke inhalation. But the medical examiner found where she also had a blow to the head. And we also discovered that the house had been set on fire by arson.

We also discovered that the husband had removed all of his suits, his shoes, all of his own family pictures, his relatives, not hers. and when the fire department arrived, he was lounging across the street, Romanesque, watching the house burn. He was fully clothed at 3, 2 a.m., belt, wallet, keys, shoes. And after they talked to him for about two minutes, he went, oh yeah, my wife's in there. What? Okay. Those are extrinsic circumstances surrounding the death. Isn't it true?

Medical examiners look at extrinsic circumstances. That's true. And one thing that's very curious about this is that she was found sitting cross-legged applesauce. I've never heard that term before, but I presume she's sitting down. She was sitting with her legs crossed. and then she was found falling over with her legs still crossed. Well, that indicates, that implies that there was rigor mortis that had set in. But it takes two to six hours for rigor mortis to set set in,

and the rigor mortis really typically starts with the small muscles of the face and hands. So for the large muscles of the leg for rigor mortis to set in, it usually takes closer to six hours for that to happen. So if, in fact, she was putting on makeup at 10.30 and she was found sometime around, say, 1.30, that's only three hours. So that's, that's a, that doesn't seem to fit. So that's a little puzzling. Put up, Dr. Chiodo, please. You're brilliant. That was. Thank you, my sister. Thank you. So insightful. Okay. I need to put that in regular people talk.

Rigormortus means that when you die, over time, your muscles become set in the position in which you were dead. So that they become stiff and they're not readily mobile. So what it means is that she was sitting when she died, cross-legged, sitting on the floor. And I presume on the floor, but sitting cross-legged. and then died, probably almost certainly due to a fentanyl overdose, illicit fentanyl because they found a chemical that goes along with the fentanyl being elicit. And she stopped breathing because of the fentanyl and died. And then instead of just staying erect crossleg, she fell over. Well, if she had fallen over like that within a relatively short period of time of dying,

then her legs would not have been crossed. She would have fallen over because when you first die, your legs are still flexible and mobile. So this means that she was sitting cross-legged for some period of time. before she fell over, enough period of time that rigor mortis had set in. So that sounds more like closer to six hours and not just three hours. The other thing, too, is that she was somehow tipped over. Why did she tip over? I don't know.

But for a long period of time, several hours, she was sitting cross-leg dead with their legs crossed, sitting. know another thing I'd be curious about Dr. Shiotto is what she was wearing. Was she wearing PJs? Was she still wearing street clothes from the day before? Did she have her hair and curlers? Because that would reveal a lot. Did she have on the outfit she was wearing the night before? Was she wearing makeup? Supposedly, yeah. I mean, supposedly she was putting on makeup. Did she have makeup on? Was it fresh makeup? Maybe she had some makeup from the night before, but was it, fresh makeup to make sure that everything fits with the story. Dr. Ernest Chiodo, what does it mean that her face was purple? It means that she was probably dead for some period of time. So it, so as and it depends where the purple is. If the purple is on one portion of the face, that happens

because you get pulling of blood after death to that area. So was her entire face purple or was it primarily the portion of her face that was on the ground? If it was a portion of the face on the ground, that also indicates that she had been laying, after being cross-leg, laying on the ground with her face on the ground for some period of time. So it doesn't sound like what you would expect in a death. somebody taking fentanyl, say it at 10.30 and then being found three hours later, this doesn't sound like that picture. And it doesn't sound like she was found seemingly sleeping in the bed or sitting on a chair.

Her face was purple. Her legs were crossed and rigor mortis. An entirely different story. An I-Heart Radio Experience. Carly Pierce, live at the Opera House, October 16th. Win your way in to the exclusive IHeartRadio sound check party, an intimate pre-show performance and Q&A. And then stay for the full show. Carly Pierce, live in Toronto.

Enter now for your chance to win at Iheartradio.ca. Stream Carly's new album, Honest Woman. Available now. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Gigi McElvey, there's a big problem when you are working. a case and the last known sighting of the victim alive or where the body is found when it changes somebody is lying if you could somehow make all witnesses speak the truth impuging perjury to no one that would be great but here there's a huge difference in lying in bed asleep dead sitting on a chair

found dead and lying on a rug with your legs still criss-crossed in rigor mortis, and you finally just fall over. Those are three entirely different stories. Do you see where I'm going? And Gigi, you're very familiar with this area and the Hickerson family. Explain. Yeah, I live about 10 minutes from the Judson Mill Lofts, which is where she passed away, and Brian Hickerson's grandfather, Dr. Ellison, delivered me back in 1977. Of course, I don't remember him. My mom has nothing but amazing things. to say about him. The boys have a bit of a reputation here in Greenville. But I do agree, Nancy, when you have three very different... You can't just look around. Where do you think you are? You're not

at the nail salon where you can just blurt out anything and nobody follow up. Sorry. What reputation? What are you saying? It's pretty well known in Greenville that the brothers, Brian and Zach, are kind of rough and they have a reputation for being troublemakers. So people around here are taking their version of events with a big grain of salt because they're just not a grain of salt. Yeah. And I mean, that's being generous. Yeah, that's being generous. Ken, Sealy, I want to follow up on what Gigi just said before he ran out of time. Ken, they, I believe, grandfather or the father, the grandfather is a medical doctor. That means the Hickerson, young men, not boys, were raised with a silver spoon.

They had access to education, to all sorts of opportunities and privileges that most people can't dream of. I mean, of course, I'm coming from growing up on a red dirt road with Willwater and nobody had ever been to college. So that's a far cry from someone whose grandpa had a medical degree. I mean, they had every opportunity and this is what happens. How does that go down? Well, I love that you brought that up, Nancy, because, you know, when I do interventions, it's not only on addiction, it's on mental health and bad behaviors also. And that's what we're seeing right now is, you know, this is a thing where people are,

covering up for bad behaviors. And so many people out there do it. And if you keep covering it up, what you're doing is you're preventing them from hitting a rock bottom to change that behavior. That's the problem here. I see it all the time in my practices. Families come with, you know, to save the bad behavior.

So grandpa comes in and let's get him a lawyer. Let's help them with this. Let's get them, you know. And then what ends up happening, the bad behavior continues. But if you let somebody face the consequences of their bad behavior, that's when change happens. That's when the miracle gets to happen. But I see it all the time in my practice when, you know, again, I don't know them, but the reality is, is that, you know, money brings in a lot of things. They could hire the attorneys to keep them in their sick behaviors and their unhealthy patterns of life that

creates all this type of chaos. Crime Stories investigative reporter Dave Mack, Hayden Panetteer's ex, Vladimir Kitchko, has filed an urgent and essential, his words, not mine, petition to protect her daughter because he claims that a $500,000 ring, his engagement ring, that he gave her, wow, among other things, have been taken from the home and that someone with access to her, her and the home has deleted her emails. What can you tell me? Nancy, it's actually really shocking. What we have found out is that prior to Hayden's death that she and her ex actually got into a discussion about somebody in her inner circle without her approval, without permission, has accessed her private emails and has deleted some of this information. Now, you think about after just a minute. You've got somebody in your world that has now accessed your private materials and had found access to her home in Hollywood. On top of that, Nancy, she and Vlad actually

determined it was time to get additional security. We're talking security for computers, her electronics, and the home to protect what she has. The half million dollar engagement ring, Blad says, hey man, while they were investigating her death in South Carolina, this ring has vanished, along with a number of other items that are gone as well. Vlad is actually trying to protect the estate of Hayden for their daughter. Kaya, it's all for that purpose. You know, Vlad has been well known as a great dad, and he is just trying to protect the future of his daughter's, you know, the financial stability for his daughter and the estate of

Hayden Panetteer. We're also learning, Dave Mack, that there is a pawn shop that is not cooperating, refusing to provide information. What do you know about that? A pawn shop? You know, Nancy, all states have different laws regarding pawn shops. And right now, law enforcement is digging into everything. They're trying to find every piece of jewelry, every piece of electronics, anything that has been removed from the, from Hayden Panetteer and has been taken to a pawn shop or listed on any place online. They're looking into it. We have one pawn shop that is doing everything within their power to prevent opening their records to law

enforcement. Remember, when you pawn something, the pawn shop is responsible for identifying the individual that is pawning it to make sure that this item is not stolen. The pawn shop bears a heavy burden to not take stolen property. So they're trying to protect that part of the job. They're going to lose, but that's what's happening right now. Reports that several of Hayden Paneteer's valuable personal belongings were pawned without her knowledge, including a vintage guitar and more, tonight missing a $500,000 engagement ring. If you know or think you know anything regarding this death, please dial 864-232-7463.

We remember an American hero, Sergeant Brian Moll, Connecticut State Police, killed in the line of duty after 27 years on the force, leaving behind a wife turned widow, Susan, and grieving children, Brian, Peter, and Samantha. American hero, Sergeant Brian Moll. Thank you to our guests, but especially to you for being with us. Nancy Gray, signing off for tonight, but I'll see you tomorrow night, and until then. Goodbye, friend. This is an I-heart podcast, guaranteed human.