Hayden Panettiere’s mother claims account of her daughter’s final hours is ‘full of holes’

Lesley Vogel has opened up about losing her daughter in a new interview, where she questioned the account of Hayden Panettiere’s final hours, claiming there are “holes” in what she’s been told about the day she died.

The Heroes and Nashville star died aged 36 on August 16 while staying at an Airbnb in Greenville, South Carolina. According to a police report, her on-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach were the last people to see her alive.

The case remains under investigation, with authorities yet to announce an official cause of death. Police previously said there were no signs of trauma or foul play, and the DEA is now assisting with the investigation.

As the investigation continues, Hayden’s mother has spoken out and publicly questioned the timeline surrounding her daughter’s final hours, telling the Daily Mail that she believes Brian’s version of events is “full of holes.”

Hayden Panettiere’s mother questions what happened during her final hours

According to Lesley’s account of what Brian allegedly told police, he left the Airbnb at around 10.30am while Hayden was doing her makeup to run an errand.

Lesley claimed Brian said he later returned and took a nap without having any further interaction with Hayden. His brother Zach then arrived and, after knocking at the door, Hayden was discovered unresponsive.

She has openly questioned this version of events, saying, “I don’t know how you can take a nap near someone who’s dying and not realise something’s wrong. When the EMTs came it was for a cardiac arrest. People in cardiac arrest aren’t just lying still. They make noise.

“I think Brian called his brother. My opinion. I think he knew she was deceased. Called his brother, and tried and built this story.”

Zach has since given his own account in a separate interview with TMZ, where he said he knocked loudly enough to wake Brian, before the pair attempted to wake Hayden for lunch and realised she was unconscious.

Brian allegedly administered Narcan – medication used to counter the effects of opioid overdose – while Zach called 911. Zach said the pair both performed CPR until the emergency services arrived. 

Lesley also questioned this, telling the outlet, “I think there will be a discrepancy in the timeline, meaning Brian had to go out and buy the Narcan while he left her there because I do not believe he happened to have two bottles of Narcan on him, like he carried them around in his back pocket.”

Brian does have a documented history of domestic violence involving Hayden. In 2021, he pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring a partner in connection with incidents involving the actress and was sentenced to 45 days in county jail.

However, it’s important to separate that history from Lesley’s current allegations. Police have said there were no signs of foul play in Hayden’s death, and Brian has not been accused by authorities of having any involvement in it. 

His lawyer has said the investigation should be allowed to proceed and declined to comment further.

Hayden and her mother were estranged when she died

Lesley herself had a complicated relationship with her daughter. Speaking in her first televised interview since Hayden’s death, she told Good Morning America that the pair hadn’t been speaking during the actress’s final months.

She claimed she had previously stayed with Hayden for around six weeks in an attempt to support her, and believed at the time that her daughter wanted Brian out of her life. But Lesley said she eventually noticed Hayden pulling away before returning home to Florida.

Their relationship deteriorated further when Hayden later called and told her mum, “I’m going to be with the person I love.”

Lesley understood her to mean Brian and said she “lost it”, explaining that she couldn’t believe Hayden had returned to the relationship. On the advice of her therapist, she then told her daughter she couldn’t continue speaking to her while Brian remained part of her life.

Lesley said she believed their estrangement would only last for a “pocket of time”, adding, “I did not by any stretch of the imagination think that this was going to happen to Hayden.”

But the difficulties between the mother and daughter stretch back years and had recently become public following the May release of Hayden’s memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning.

Hayden Panettiere says her mom’s response to ending their business relationship broke her heart. She says her mom just wanted the money.

“When I was 19, I finally worked up the courage to split from her business-wise because I desperately wanted a relationship with her. I just… pic.twitter.com/6diuPJppLB

— Nico (@Nicoki32) August 17, 2026

In the book, Hayden recalled that at age 19, she told Lesley – who had managed her career from childhood – she no longer wanted her as her manager. Hayden claimed her mother responded, “You owe me.”

Lesley disputed that account during the ABC interview, saying she remembered the conversation but insisted she did not make the comment. She instead described it as a brief conversation before Hayden returned to set.

When learning of her daughter’s death, Lesley said she initially felt “numb” and struggled to comprehend that it was real. “It’s going to be a process,” she said. 

Tragically, it’s the second time in just three years that she has lost one of her children.

Hayden’s younger brother Jansen Panettiere died suddenly in 2023

Jansen Panettiere, Hayden’s only sibling, died suddenly in February 2023 at just 28 years old.

At the time, his family revealed that the medical examiner determined his death was caused by cardiomegaly, or an enlarged heart, coupled with complications involving his aortic valve.

Jansen was an actor himself, appearing in projects including Even Stevens, The Perfect Game and The Walking Dead, and had also worked alongside his older sister.

His death had a profound effect on Hayden, something she spoke about in her memoir. 

Asked by ABC how she moves forward after losing both children in such a short space of time, Lesley said she has to find her “inner strength”.

“I have been knocked down throughout my life… It’s not if we fall, it’s how we get back up that defines who we are,” she continued. 

Featured image credit: ABC/YouTube/Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock