A neighbor of actress Hayden Panettiere said she witnessed repeated domestic abuse between Panettiere and her boyfriend before the actress died [1].
The testimony introduces potential contradictions regarding the timeline of emergency responses and the nature of the environment leading up to the death of the 36-year-old actress [3].
Mia Terrazzas, a neighbor at the apartment complex in Greenville, South Carolina, said she heard loud fights and abuse between Panettiere and boyfriend Brian Hickerson [1, 2]. Terrazzas said she called 911 six times to report the disturbances [4].
These reports conflict with other accounts of how first responders arrived at the scene. According to a CBS News report, Brian Hickerson and his brother, Zach, made the 911 call that brought first responders to the apartment where Panettiere was found unresponsive [3].
Terrazzas said to The Hollywood Reporter that she witnessed the disturbances, stating, "Oh, absolutely" [2]. Other unnamed neighbors described feeling "terrified" by the situation [5].
The events occurred on Sunday, during the weekend Panettiere was found unresponsive [3]. Local authorities in South Carolina are reviewing the circumstances surrounding the death and the reports of domestic violence [1, 2].
While the neighbor maintains she sought emergency help six times [4], official reports continue to list Hickerson as the primary caller who alerted police to the unresponsive actress [3].
“"Oh, absolutely."”
The discrepancy between the neighbor's claims of multiple 911 calls and the official report identifying the boyfriend as the caller creates a critical point of investigation. If documented emergency calls were made by third parties prior to the discovery of the body, it may shift the legal scrutiny toward the response time of local authorities and the history of domestic instability in the household.
