Crime Weekly - New Details in Hayden Panettiere’s Death and The Chucky Mask Suspect Still on the Run

Episode Date: August 26, 2026

Actress Hayden Panettiere died at age 36 after being found unresponsive at a South Carolina residence. Her official cause and manner of death remain under investigation. Meanwhile, Philadelphia police have identified 22-year-old Zymire Hughes as the masked suspect accused of terrorizing people near City Hall, and an arrest warrant has been issued as authorities work to find him.  Try our coffee! - www.CriminalCoffeeCo.com Become a Patreon member -- > https://www.patreon.com/CrimeWeekly Shop for your Crime Weekly gear here --> https://crimeweeklypodcast.com/shop Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrimeWeeklyPodcast Website: CrimeWeeklyPodcast.com Instagram: @CrimeWeeklyPod Twitter: @CrimeWeeklyPod Facebook: @CrimeWeeklyPod ADS: https://www.RocketMoney.com/CrimeWeeklyNews  -  Reach your financial goals, cancel unwanted subscriptions, and more! https://www.SuperPower.com - Use code CRIMEWEEKLY for $20 off! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Crime Weekly News. I'm Derek Lavasser. And I'm Stephanie Harlow. And as you can see from the title of this episode, we're going to be covering two cases, but we wanted to start with an update from Hayden Penitier's case because this was one that we covered on Crime Weekly News last week. And candidly, it had just happened when we covered it. It was like within 24 hours of it happening. So we had more questions than answers. And we had talked a little bit about someone else being at the apartment who could, that person be? What might that indicate? And we were also looking for more information about her cause and manner of death. And we do have a few updates. We didn't want to leave you hanging. We wanted to talk about it because this is something that on the surface could be a drug overdose. It could be more than that or it could be something much more sinister. We had also talked about Hayden and what she had started to disclose about her childhood and some of the experiences that she had and that it may be a lot bigger than what we know, even though we already know

there's a lot going on in Hollywood. And could her death be somehow related to that? And so these were a lot of questions that we had. And we do have a few more answers, specifically the people who were at the apartment when Hayden was found. Yes. So now we know it was her ex-boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, who was with her in this apartment, which apparently was like an Airbnb rental.

Right. She was temporarily staying there, apparently. to law enforcement. Mm-hmm. And then also Brian's brother, Zach Hickerson. So here's what Zach says happened. And interestingly enough, Zach is a pastor. Yeah, you were saying that.

Yeah. He is the founding pastor of something called Acts 321 or 321, an independent non-denominational Christian church located in Nashville, Tennessee. So according, which is interesting because he's, you know, he's a pastor. This is, and apparently I also found out he spent. a lot of time in Los Angeles, apparently, because he's trying to, like, reach people in the entertainment industry, like, I guess, spread the word of God to people in the LA entertainment industry. But, yeah, so Zach says that this Sunday morning that Hayden Panasier was found dead in this apartment,

he attended a church service. And on his way, he exchanged messages with his brother Brian. They had planned to get lunch that day after the church service and play indoor golf together. And so when Zach left church, he called and texted both his brother, Brian, and Hayden. So he knew they were together at this apartment complex thing. And he assumed that when he was texting them, they'd fallen back asleep, even though it's kind of like the afternoon time. So he drove to the Airbnb where the two were staying in Greenville, South Carolina, where apparently Zach and Brian's grandmother. She also lives in this Airbnb, either in this kind of complex or I'm not sure if they're talking about the actual unit. Does Zach and Brian's grandmother own the actual unit? Does she live there? And she just wasn't there at the time? I'm not sure. He said he did not have the door code so he was unable to enter. He knocked loudly on the door. This woke up his brother, Brian. And then this is when he says both he and Brian, found Hayden asleep on the fold-out couch in the townhouse's living room. So in this scenario,

Brian is in a different room, asleep, quote unquote, for some reason, and then Hayden's on a fold-out couch in the living room, even though they've had this relationship for a long time. And yes, they had split up and charges were pressed against him and he had to go to court and all of these things. And for a long time, there was a restraining order that just actually expired shortly before Hayden and Brian were found together in South Carolina. And I guess, according to some close friends of Hayden, she had reunited with Brian and they'd been kind of caught a few times in public together, but she didn't want people to know that based on the fact that her memoir was coming out. And a lot of the memoir is talking about, you know, the horrible toxic and abusive relationship with Brian. So

it was kind of, I guess, a PR advice. Like, you probably shouldn't be seen with Brian. People shouldn't know that you're back together with him. But either way, they're back together in some way, but they're not napping in the same bed, which doesn't make sense. Like, why is she on a fold-out couch? Why is he in a different bedroom? But Zach said that when they went to, you know, find Hayden and they found her to wake her up for lunch, that's when they realized she was unconscious. He called 911 and then Brian gave Hayden Narcan. We then jointly performed CPR while 911 was on speaker until fire and DMS arrived. At that point, we watched as they tried every measure possible to save her life. Now, they do say that a Narcan bottle was reported to have been at the scene of Hayden's death, and reports emerged that first responders had discussed an overdose, the account from Zach Hickerson. It confirms that Hayden was potentially the victim, of a drug overdose.

And yeah, Zax obviously said he's beyond heartbroken. He's devastated by this tragic and traumatic loss. He said Hayden was one of his dearest and closest friends. He loved and cared about her for the last eight years, yada, yada, yada. What was Brian doing during the set? Was he sleep? He's just sleeping while Hayden is doing drugs and overdosing in another room. Why are they not in the same room sleeping together?

The fact that the bed, the couch bed allegedly was pulled out, it would be one thing if it's like, yeah, we fell asleep in the same bed together, I stayed asleep, she got up and went in the other room to do drugs and overdose. But the fact that the beds pulled out doesn't really suggest that this was a, they were in the same bedroom type of thing and she went in another room to do drugs. So you're sleeping in separate beds, even though you've secretly been back together and you've, you know, obviously been in an intimate relationship before and you're not just friends now. And Brian and Hayden were known to have struggled with this drug. issue together in the past and have done drugs together in the past. So I want to know was Brian using drugs? Because that might explain why he's asleep and not answering his phone in the middle of the day. Right. Yeah. I agree with you. You know, it does appear that, again, we're still waiting toxicology results, but there have been multiple media outlets that have reported that they believe it was an overdose. We'll wait and see how that plays out. But with Narcan being administered at the scene and and based on the 911 dispatch calls that were going back and forth

that are publicly available, I believe they were treating it as an overdose, although she would have died from cardiac arrest. Why did you have Narcan? Like if you didn't know she was using again, where they would have known? Who just, yeah, who is Narcan on hand? So if Brian knew. Well, that's, that's where I'm going with this, right? Because it, apparently the call came in at like around 150, 151 p.m. and she was pronounced that at 2.32 p.m. but to you what the question you're asking, and we posed this question last time we covered this, I have questions. And they keep saying there's no foul play, by the way. They keep saying that.

No signs of foul play, no signs of foul play. And it's pissing me off. No sense of foul play. However, no sense of foul play is different than criminal responsibility, in my opinion. What I mean by that is Hayden is not originally from Greenville. Brian is. Okay. Zach is.

So I need to know more context here. There needs to be an investigation if it is determined that she died of an overdose and it is determined that she was on the couch and it's exactly the way it's being described. These questions should have already happened. I would like to think that they've already tested him because it would still be in his system for at least 30 days. But I would like to know if Brian was under the same drugs as well. Was he under the influence during this particular circumstance where he was passed out in another room because they were both using? That would align. Maybe that's why he had the Narcan there because he was, you had said,

in the past that Brian had substance abuse issues. Yes, they had substance abuse issues together that they struggled together, they used together. But why would you be in different rooms? I think they could have passed out from the drugs. In different rooms. This episode of Crime Weekly News is brought to by Rocket Money. And I feel like money stress has this very annoying way of sneaking up on you and then staying with you forever. Especially with recurring charges, right?

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Because you couldn't have flown with them. There are laws out there where if you're supplying the drugs and they end up killing someone, you could be held criminally responsible. And so this, yeah, it's looking like an overdose, but there is more to the story that needs to be investigated now. ultimately the D.A.'s office and law enforcement may decide that they don't have all those answers and there's not enough to charge and that could come from a higher up. But that is a question that we have to ask because if she was there and he was supplying the drugs, well, if she didn't have the drugs, she wouldn't have overdosed, right? Or if they were using them together. So it's kind of like, like you said, he's from South Carolina.

They flew in from L.A. You can't travel on a plane with those kinds of drugs. More than likely she did not bring the drugs with her. Correct. This might just be wrapped up as these are two people who were using and unfortunately one of them died from that usage. That could be the way this one goes. But I do think to kind of wrap up this story because there's still more to come. But if this does turn out to be an overdose and no one's charged, there's still a bigger story to be told here because as Stephanie alluded to last week, these child stars who are just experienced horrific incidents while being children, being taking advantage of by adults in the industry, it leads them to substance.

abuse and alcoholism and all these different things. And this is just another example in a long history of child stars passing away at a very young age due to the trauma they experienced in the industry. And there is a correlation here, whether it's indirect or direct, where Hayden, where she is now is because of what she experienced as a child. And I hope that we don't lose sight of that. Yeah. And I also want to say that regardless of what you look at this, like Hayden does not appear to have been calling the shots in her relationship with Brian. It was an abusive relationship. We know that he had been arrested. There had been multiple, you know, there was multiple evidence about that Hayden's neighbor in L.A. said she'd seen Hayden being taken out of her apartment on

a gurney on two occasions during her and Brian's relationship. One was July of 2023 and then January of 24, so not long ago. And she said that she saw that at this time, Hayden had bright red spots and bruises on her and that Brian was present and glued to her both times. The neighbor said it appeared that she'd been being. It wasn't apparent to me that it could have been anything else. She looked battered. So you have very recently instances where it looks like Brian and Hayden are together. He's still abusing her. And now you have the fact that they have used drugs together in the past. And now you have them together again during the, you know, the time where she's promoting her memoir where she describes him as being abusive. And so it looks

like it was kind of one of those, once again, coercive relationships where it's not really Hayden who's going to secretly be getting drugs and doing them behind Brian's back. It kind of seems like she did whatever he wanted and went along with what he wanted. and she didn't have a lot of a lot of say in that relationship. I think you had alluded to earlier in the episode that she was hiding the reconciliation of the relationship, potentially for a PR move. I would also argue that there were probably people who actually cared about Hayden in her life who didn't want her around Brian for these exact reasons. And so she was hiding it from them as well. And apparently they were right because regardless of Brian's level of culpability here, he was there in her final moment.

moments and was a contributing factor to what happened here. I think that's fair to say. Whether it's to the criminal level, we don't know. But if there is an update, if there are potential charges down the road, we will obviously keep you guys updated. We're thinking about Hayden's family, especially her daughter, Kaya. I know she wasn't close with her at this point, but still, that's her mother. And I'm sure she's dealing with it right now and going through it.

So we're thinking of her. I also think it's very odd timing because this was confirmed recently. recently. Brian Hickerson had a April of 2021, you know, two felony counts that he pleaded no contest to of injuring a spouse or a girlfriend after he was arrested in Los Angeles and hit with eight count criminal indictment. The charges stemmed from serious abusive incidents between May 2019 and January 2020 involving Hayden Pantir. So the prosecution objected both his motions to encourage and reduce the charges to a misdemeanor in a hearing that happened on August. August 13th. Okay. So he went on August 13th and he tried to reduce his felony charges. And this was three days before Hayden died. And he tried to reduce the felony charges that are in connection to domestic abuse incidents that he was arrested for because of Hayden. So does that seem like odd timing to you? Right. He's trying to reduce the felony. Obviously he wants to for a specific reason because he doesn't want to have. these felony charges. They're being dismissed by a judge. They're saying, no, you can't reduce them. And now three days later, Brian's with Hayden and she's dead. Yeah. So I'm just going to say that. Yeah. I will say from what we're finding out so far, it does appear to me that it probably wasn't intentional. It probably wasn't foul play here, but indirect responsibility where the whole reason why Hayden's

been going through all of this is because of this man. And here we are another example of it. But this time, it went to an extreme that everyone had already seen coming. And that's why they were trying to keep him away from her. Yeah. And she even said in May, I think she said trying to get an abusive man out of your life is like trying to pull a weed that just won't go away. Like you can't. And I thought I killed this. She said to us weekly.

It's trying to pull out another weed and it pops back up and you're like, I thought I killed this weed. And that's how she's explaining her relationship with Brian Hickerson. We are going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. This episode of Crime Weekly News is brought to you by Superpower, and I've always been fascinated by the idea of being proactive about your health instead of waiting until something feels wrong. Yeah, because a lot of the time you go to your routine appointment, they tell you everything looks fine. And that's basically it. So you have no real data, no bigger picture, no clear plan.

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if I want my biological age, but that does feel like that's how health care should work, right? Not just reacting when something goes wrong, but having real information earlier so you can make better decisions. Yeah, and they make it pretty straightforward as well. A licensed professional can come to your home or you can visit a lab nearby and then the results are used to create an actionable protocol. That's awesome, actually. And I also like that, that is. So there's options of how you can handle this. You're not stuck into one path. I also like that it can include supplement recommendations and also potential prescription suggestions based on your results. So you're not left trying to interpret everything alone and you can bring this stuff to your actual doctor if you want.

Yeah, basically less guessing, more person. personalized data. Yeah, and especially if you're someone who has a family health history that you think about or you just want to feel like you have more control and more information. Superpower really speaks to that. Yeah, it's about moving from I hope everything's okay to I actually understand what I'm looking at. So take control of your health with Superpower. For a limited time, our listeners get $20 off their Superpower membership. So head over to Superpower.com and use code Crime Weekly for $20 off. And after you sign up, they'll ask how you heard about superpower. Make sure you tell them Crime Weekly sent you to support. the show. Now we have a different story that is also very dark, but, you know, at first the glance, it seems kind of like, I mean, remember that Pink Panther story we covered? Yeah, I do. And from what I know, they still haven't identified that guy, which is crazy to me. But there was another incident of a person terrorizing people in Central City, Philadelphia, wearing a Chucky mask, you know, far, far too soon for Halloween, right? So once again, it's not like you're in the Halloween time. It is August. And for me, I've been decorating my house for

Halloween, but I'm weird and I'm also not going out wearing a Halloween costume yet. So we had multiple reports of a man terrorizing people wearing a chalky mask. They have identified him. It actually got like pretty violent. He was not just following people like Pink Panther guy or being weird. He was actually getting in people's faces. I think there was like a 40 year old woman. He like got up in her face and And he was like, do you want to die? And so basically threatening death on people. And they have identified this person as 22-year-old Zemir Hughes. And I guess they're saying that they believe his motivation was to do like a social media thing.

Seeing that more and more these days. Yeah, the police captain Jason Smith of Philadelphia, said that he believes that he was doing this for social media content, either A, for his own sick amusement or B, he had plans of posting it online at some point and possibly monetizing it. But obviously, law enforcement in Philadelphia does not think that it is funny. And they even said something similar to him. They were like, you think like terrorizing people and like terrifying people is funny. It's not funny. And I'm not sure why they think it was for social media if he hasn't posted it yet, maybe because simply he was filming it.

but I'm not sure why they would just assume it was for social media. I would say more did you keep it in your phone for so you could look back on it and like get a kick of how you're, get a kick out of how you're scaring people and terrorizing people because he didn't post anything online. Well, I think it's important that we're covered in this story. It's probably already been up in the episode, but you can see a photo of, of the Chucky Mask and what he was doing and how frightening this would be for anybody walking around Philadelphia and you have this run up to you. So scary. And, you know, I'm glad we're covering it because in the world we live in now where everyone's trying to go viral, someone's going to get killed. And it's happened before. There are videos out there already where there's YouTube pranks and things of this nature and the other person involved in the prank who's not in on the prank ends up getting hurt or hurting the person

who's conducting the prank. So this is going to be more prevalent as social media continues to kind of promote this stuff and it goes viral. I think that on the on the surf, level, we got to be careful out there because there's no way for you to differentiate what's a prank and what's real. And I would always advise anybody who's listening or watching this channel that you always go with the latter, assume that this is real. And you treat it as such and you defend yourself as such. And so that's on them. That's on the person conducting the prank. You can't go into it assuming it's just a joke. And then you end up on the wrong side of the story. Yeah, so I also, I want to make it very clear that this is not just an innocent kid.

Like, he has a criminal history. Even if he didn't, though, it still holds true. He was on probation already for a separate crime. And as far as I can tell, they've identified who he is. But he hasn't been arrested yet. They think he might be headed to L.A. at this point. They said that they're actively searching for him. He basically went on this 30-minute terrorizing.

spree in Philadelphia on August 12th. And then they believe he fled Pennsylvania after packing his bags. And he does, all they know is that he has strong ties to L.A. and Las Vegas, Nevada, but they don't know where he is or what he's doing. And really, once again, they can keep saying, oh, we think it might be for social media. But they don't actually know that. So, you know, it's important to find out where he is. And that's why it's important to talk about this right now.

There's a Bolo for him. Yeah. Yeah, everyone's looking for them. There isn't a rest warrant. And the other thing I wanted to say about this just to make it more macro level was, yeah, we want to find a mirror. But also social media in general, right? We have to crack down on what's being promoted and what's being allowed to be uploaded. And there has to be teams in place, which there already are, but they got to be more active where there's any type of prank like this being put up there, even if it's like it appears to be innocent on the surface.

And if it's even in the gray area of it, there needs to be policies and procedures and practice. that are updated within all of the social media platforms where any indication or even the inference of it being some type of prank where you're attempting to scare someone else for clicks, it should be removed because on a lesser degree, there are people who are walking the streets and they're making comments toward people to try to get a rise out of them. And that can lead to violence, right? So we just got to nip it in the bud and just cut it out completely where there's a fine line

between having fun and then there's a and both parties are involved. And then there's another side to it where you're soliciting emotional reactions from people who have no idea why you're doing this. And it becomes and it goes more viral because it's organic, but the other person should have to give consent for that to even be uploaded like that, to be used in that context. I mean, technically, legally, they don't once again. That's a problem, though. That's, yeah. And then, and that's the issue where. The public recording laws are very, very.

Public recording's fine. But also, but also at the same time, public recordings are fine. but Instagram and Twitter and TikTok can decide what we see it on YouTube all the time. There are people who decide whether or not our videos are suitable for their platform. It is a private entity. And so, yeah, you have the right to record it, but these platforms have a right to take them down if they don't think it's suitable for their platforms. So yeah, I do think there needs to be more of a crackdown what is being uploaded because we live in a world right now where you have content creators who are trying to be as controversial, salation. and trying to get as much as they can out of it because those visceral reactions are what seem

to do the best in the algorithm. And we can change that by not promoting it. That would be my two cents. But we will keep you guys updated on this one. If you or someone you know is familiar with Zemir or sees him out in public, please do not approach him yourself. Contact law enforcement. Let them know and let them handle it.

This could be a dangerous person. We don't know. And therefore, we don't want anyone else getting hurt by this person. or someone else who's with them. So reported to authorities, stay at a safe distance. Well, actually, I have a number for you to call. And yeah, you'll give the number as well. So, and this is, you know, they say he's got ties to these areas, but he could be anywhere. Like Derek's in Rhode Island. I'm in New York. Yeah. The area of Pennsylvania he fled from is pretty close to both of those places.

So I think everybody in every area needs to sort of be on the alert for this. And it won't be hard to spot him if he's out there wearing a chalky mask. I would say if you see anybody wearing any type of mask at this point. That's like a Halloween or a scary looking mask in August that you should call this number. So if you have any information regarding this person's whereabouts or you see something that doesn't seem right, you can submit tips anonymously by calling the Philadelphia Police Central Detective Division at 215-6863093 or by reaching out to local law enforcement or dialing 911 immediately. They are taking this very seriously. They definitely want to locate this guy. So, yeah, if you see something, say something. Absolutely. Guys, we appreciate you being here.

If there's any updates in Hayden's case or this case or any other cases for that matter, we will be covering them on Crime Weekly News. We'll be back later this week with the Sonia X-LB part two episode. From what Stephanie's been telling me, we have a lot to cover. And even though last episode covered a lot, we're just scratching the surface. So until then, please, everyone stay safe out there. We'll see you soon. Bye.