Charges Coming in Hayden Panettiere's Death?

Years of text messages reportedly right. up until the weak [music] actress Hayden. Penitentiier died were allegedly. exchanged with this apparent [music]. drug dealer. And now, according to TMZ, the DEA is focusing on those apparent. messages. And with the toxicology. results still pending, [music] but this. report that the actress may have. ingested an oxycodone pill that [music]. was laced with fentanyl, we are bringing. on a forensic chemist to answer all our. questions. >> [music]. >> Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and.

Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Oh, by the way, if you're putting things. out on social media, if you're into. content creation, you might be. wondering, how do we get all of our long. crime clips out there so quickly? Well, we use something called Opus Clip. OpusClip is an all-in-one AI editor that. makes it so easy to cut, create, and. upload videos across any platform. Because Opus Clip, it generates B-roll, it refframes footage, and it even cleans. up audio through AI. They find the best. moments from your content. You just. visit opus.pro/sidebar.

You sign up, you upload. In minutes, you'll have perfectly edited clips that. your audience is going to love. Use. OpusClip as your source for Tik Tok, shorts, reels. This is the most powerful. tool to edit like a professional. Go to. opus.pro/sidebar. to get a free week, then 50% off for the. next three months. That's. opus.pro/sidebar. We're back with a new development in the. investigation into Hayden Panitier's. death. So TMZ is reporting that the DEA. is now zeroing in on text messages,

these apparent messages between Hayden. and an alleged drug dealer. And I should. also tell you that there's a counter. statement to this, a counternarrative to. this. I'll read it to you in a minute. But according to this reporting, those. apparent messages are now central to. this investigation. And this is. important because there have been other. cases, right? High-profile cases like. that of Matthew Perry where messages. surfaced that helped put people behind. bars. You remember the infamous I wonder. how much this moron will pay text. But. we have more to cover here because. according to TMZ, the DEA was reportedly.

looking for evidence of pills just 9. days after her death. As the outlet. reported and we covered here in a. previous sidebar, sources are telling. them that Hayden may have taken an. oxycodone pill that was laced with. fentanyl right before she died. And. we're also going to be speaking with a. forensic chemist to explain what's. really in these pills, why she thinks. more than half of the elicit pills on. the market contain fentanyl or fentinyl. analoges. It's a really disturbing. situation that's out there, and just. going to help answer some questions we.

have about this. But look, what do we. know? We know that Hayden Panitier was. found unresponsive and in cardiac arrest. on Sunday, August 16th. She was at an. apartment where she was temporarily. staying in Greenville, South Carolina. EMS responded to a 911 call that. afternoon, attempted to resuscitate her, but she was pronounced dead at the. scene. This was shocking. We've talked. about the outpouring of support and. heartache from this. And there's so much. mystery. There's a mystery here as to. what happened here. Because look, we're. still waiting for the coroner's office. to release the official cause and manner. of death. And with reportedly no visible.

signs of trauma or injury, there becomes. a question of what happened here. But. now, according to TMZ, the DEA is. focused on these apparent text messages. between Hayden and an alleged drug. dealer. And TMZ claims that a source. described them as a quote slew of. messages about drugs, and that the. conversations reportedly went on for. years, right up until the week that she. died. And that brings us to another. development because TMZ is also. reporting that federal agents searched.

Hayden's Los Angeles home on August. 25th. So that's 9 days after her death, testing pills to see if they were laced. with fentanyl, looking for drug. paraphernalia, prescription meds, recreational drugs, and then there's. this. Attorney General Todd Blanch was. asked directly about the case at a press. briefing on Tuesday. Now, he didn't. comment on Hayden's case in depth, but. he did speak broadly about fentanyl. He. did talk about the law. Listen to this. >> So when it comes to fentanyl, they're.

not fake pills. They're death pills, right? So there are pills that kill. people and there's a federal statute. that allows us to go after assuming we. can we can prove who the dealer is to go. after them and put them in prison for. murder. In the cases where we where we. know who the dealer was and we can prove. beyond a reasonable doubt that that the. person sold the the death pill to the to. the victim who who then dies, that's a. that's a federal crime and that's. something that we will readily prosecute. um as often as we can. Now, I want to.

get into what I believe is this statute. that he referenced. We'll get more into. that in a second. Actually, I think. there's several areas of law that come. into play here. But to understand why. these text messages or these apparent. messages matter so much, again, you just. have to look at the Matthew Perry case. because Perry died in October of 2023. and this was from a ketamine overdose. And since then, five people have been. prosecuted, sentenced in connection with. his death. his living assistant, Kenneth. Iwamasa, a drug counselor named Eric.

Fleming. You have one physician, Salvador Placencia. You have another. person, Mark Chavez, though he only. received eight months of home detention. And then, of course, Jasine Sanga, the. woman who supplied the ketamine that was. used in the fatal injections, received. 15 years in prison. Remember, she was. coined the ketamine queen. She pleaded. guilty to federal drug charges including. distributing ketamine resulting in death. or serious bodily injury. And that. investigation in a similar way involved. a trail of text messages that helped.

connect the suppliers to Perry. It was. used by the prosecution. And this also. happened in another high-profile case, M. Miller. So M. Miller died from what. authorities claimed were fentanyl lace. pills. He apparently texted his dealer. asking for bars of Xanax, a ball of. cocaine. It was those messages that. became part of the evidence against a. man accused of supplying Miller with the. drugs. A dealer in that case was. sentenced to 17 and a half years in. prison. And so that brings me somewhere. else. Okay, the charges, the potential.

charges in this case that are on the. table. Now I look at this as both. federal and state. So if you talk about. federal, there is a federal statute we. got to talk about. It is 21 USC841. It's. punishing the distribution of a. controlled substance that results in. death. And when death or serious bodily. injury is involved in this distribution, that charge can carry a mandatory. minimum of 20 years in prison and a. maximum of life in prison. Again, that. was used against Jasine Sanga. Also, I.

have to say 21 USC 846, that's. conspiracy to distribute. So, if you. have more people involved, a legal. criminal agreement, that's where you see. that. And we've seen this play out. recently. I mean, just this month, there. was a man in Minnesota who pleaded. guilty to conspiracy to distribute. fentanyl resulting in death. He's facing. at least 20 years in prison. Out in. Kentucky, man got 25 years for the same. kind of charge. And not to mention, you. also have to make the case from a state. charge, a state level manslaughter, a. homicide charge. Give you an example.

Last year, Delaware made history with. its first successful conviction for. manslaughter, a homicide charge against. a fentanyl dealer who caused an. overdose. In other words, recklessly. caused the death of another. Now, we. don't know all the circumstances. surrounding Hayan Penitent's death, but. this is something that has to be part of. the conversation that if perhaps she was. supplied a pill that was laced with. fentanyl, it could fit into these. categories. We did even more research. into this, and this is something that.

you have to pay attention to. There are. actually efforts in Congress right now. to make fentanyl distribution a death. penalty eligible offense. A bill was. introduced in Congress earlier this. year. It's called the Deal Death Face. Death Act. It was introduced by. Representative Chip Roy, a Republican. from Texas. It was in May of 2026. And. essentially, it would provide the death. penalty as punishment for those who. knowingly distribute fentanyl or any. drug that's mixed with it that results. in death. Roy said, quote, "Fentanyl is. killing hundreds of Americans every.

single day, and the people trafficking. this poison should face the harshest. penalties available. If a dealer. distributes fentanyl or fentanyl laced. drugs and someone dies as a result, that. dealer has effectively signed that. person's death warrant. The deal death. face death act closes a dangerous. loophole and gives prosecutors the. ability to pursue capital punishment. against the worst offenders who are. profiting off the deaths of Americans. Congress must stand with the families. devastated by this crisis and send a. clear message. If you deal death, you.

will face the full weight of justice. Now, it hasn't passed yet, but this is. one you got to keep your eye on because. this could seriously change the criminal. justice system. Okay? This could. seriously provide an effect in a number. of different ways. But when you think. about this, the New York Post reported. that in the last decade, almost 490,000. Americans have died from fentanyl. This. is according to CDC data. That is one in. every 700. It's pretty scary to be. thinking about. Now, before we go any. further into this, there is something I.

have to read to you. There's been a lot. of reporting, as we said, from TMZ about. what this investigation may look like, about the text messages, about the. search warrant, about, you know, how she. may have died. Well, Panitier's. representative released a statement. yesterday, and I want to read it to you. As reported yesterday by the Greenville. County Coroner's Office, Hayden's death. remains under investigation pending the. completion of toxicology results, despite reports from some outlets. stating otherwise. Recent reports. attributed to unnamed sources are.

unverified hearsay and have attributed. to conflicting information that. continues to circulate. While we are all. eager to find closure and better. understand the circumstances surrounding. her passing, we must remain patient and. allow the investigative process to. unfold. The answers we are all seeking. will come. Totally fair because you. don't want conflicting information. We. don't have the full picture. We're. basing this on the reporting that we're. seeing. We'll see what officials. ultimately determine. But I want to get. into this. I want to understand if we're. talking about a potential lace drug, how.

it works. Okay. So, now I want to bring. on forensic chemist Bethany Prient um to. talk about this. Bethany, we're so lucky. to have you. Um I'm going to be. completely honest with you. I know what. I know. I know what I don't know. I. don't know anything about this. So, I'm. going to ask you questions that might. sound juvenile, but I also have a. feeling that our audience might not have. all the answers either. Let's just start. here. When we say elicit pills, which by. the way, you and I were just talking. right before we came on. What do you. mean by elicit pills? What are we. talking about when we say elicit pills?

>> So, what we're talking about um are. pills that are not uh prescribed and uh. from a pharmacy that is regulated and. they're not prescribed to the person. So, in in the past when we talked about. elicit pills, usually we were talking. about actual pharmaceutical pills that. were made by pharmaceutical companies. that were being sold illegally. So, outside of the the prescription and. pharmacy world now, we see most of the. illicit pills that we're looking at are. pills that are being manufactured.

um essentially on the illicit market. So, there are people that are kind of. they're acting as chemists on their own. They're producing these products. They're using synthetic compounds and. then they're mass- prodducing pills that. look like the prescription pills that. are that are given legally, but they are. illicit because number one, they're not. the actual pharmaceutical product and. they're also sold without any any. control behind them. >> How many people can do something like. this? In other words, if there's an. investigation to track a pill or pills,

how what kind of tools, supplies, resources would you need to do something. like this? Well, unfortunately, u a lot. of the elicit pills that are seen on the. market were, uh, initially created. through scientific discovery. You know, some some of them as far back as, you. know, the ' 60s, '7s, and then. determined that they were not great. products to be used like as a. prescription medication, but the. research is out there, the information. is out there on how you would develop. these products. So a lot of the these.

synthetic compounds is it's relatively. easy especially in other countries. So. even though the US may um control the. sell of some precursor what we call. products that would help you make. different elicit substances um other. countries don't necessarily have all of. those same controls. So um it's not. they're not that hard to produce if you. get access to the precursor products. that you need. So, the compounds you. need to make the product, the chemistry. behind it relatively simple. And then to.

make the pills look like pharmaceutical, the actual pharmaceuticals, there's. databases online where you can see what. those pills look like. Um, it's very. easy to buy pill presses that uh are. manufactured with the same markings that. manu like real pharmaceutical. manufactured pills have. Um, and then. they just have to make sure that they. pro provide the right color dyes to make. the pills look the same color, uh, same. shape, same markings. Um, so it's. relatively easy. Um, and um,

unfortunately that's why this is such a. problem because it's not there's not. difficult science behind the production. of these compounds. >> Let's talk about this for a minute. So. if you're talking about potentially an. oxyill laced with fentanyl, um, how do. you detect that? How do you test that? how how do you determine that that's the. case? >> So, in the actual lab, how we we test. it, we would actually crush the pill or. a portion of the pill and you actually. analyze it um against the essentially.

the structural um fingerprint of known. compounds like fentanyl and oxycodone. As an individual, you know, like you. know, just like a person who doesn't. have access to analytical testing. equipment, just looking at the pill, there's really no way to know for sure. Um, and so the assumption should always. be made that if it's not received from a. pharmacy through a prescription, then. it's most likely uh contains fentanyl. >> How much fentanyl has to be in an oxy.

pill for it to be deadly? >> Well, it doesn't take much. Fentanyl is. about 50 to 100 times more potent um. than oxycodone. Um, and so it's it takes. relatively small amounts. So the other. thing that we that I should note is. though that these oxy pills that are. sold typically don't have any oxycodone. in them. They're just exipients or uh. other powders and products to make the. pill look like a pill and there's a. little bit of fentanyl added to it. And. so that stretches the overall fentanyl.

product further because you are able to. create these kind of larger sized pills. that look like a pharmaceutical and you. just need you know just a very small I. mean trying to think how I could give. you an example. Um, but it's kind of. like if you just poured maybe quarter or. an eighth pack of sugar, little sugar. packet into your hand, that might be. enough. The problem with fentanyl is. that each person has uh their own. tolerance. So, if they're used to. opioids, some people can have a high. they could take the same pill that.

another person could take and it could. be fatal to one person and not to the. other. Can it brush up against fentanyl. that's out in the open or touch it or. have contact with it that creates a. toxic drug? >> It could for for a specific individual. who is essentially naive to the drug. Um. so for example, if a little bit of. fentanyl was on a pill that wasn't. pressed into it or was on a substance. and a child consumed it, that could. potentially cause fatal or serious. interaction. just breathing or around.

fentanyl or fentanyl powder or touching. it would not necessarily cause that. But. if there's any type of ingestion, that. could potentially create a negative. reaction. >> Is it possible that dealers wouldn't. know that they're selling products that. are laced with fentanyl? >> Um, I mean, it's possible uh that the. the lowest level street dealers may not. know exactly what's in the compound. And. I know when fentanyl first hit the. markets, at least in um on the east. coast where I was in 2012, um the. products were being sold exactly like.

heroin was being sold. But then suddenly. in the lab, we started seeing fentanyl. instead of heroin on our analytical. results. Um but a lot of the street. level um you know drug dealers were not. aware that it was something different. It was packaged the same. So they were. buying it already prepackaged to sell. So it's possible that they wouldn't. know. Um, but it's pretty common this. day and age for uh it's pretty common. knowledge in the forensics world and in.

the world of illicit drugs obtaining. elicit substances um outside of. pharmaceuticals. It's pretty well known. that the oxycodone pills on the market. are um not oxycodone and that they will. likely contain fentanyl. Um, I recently. spoke to um a a colleague of mine in. Southern California who runs a seized. drug testing lab and she said that um. more than 50% of the illicit pills that. they were seeing come into the lab had. fentanyl in them. >> If someone's purchasing drugs on the.

market like this, right? Is there any. telltale signs they can see that there's. fentanyl in the product or is there any. test they can do? I'm not encouraging. people to go onto the black market and. buy drugs, but I'm just curious. Is. there any way you'd be able to tell? >> I mean, there's there's no easy test. And again, because I mean, I even the. DEA says some their their percentages. are 79 to 90% of these illicit oxycodone. pills on the market contain fentanyl. So. really, what people should assume is if.

they're not obtaining these pills. legally, they most likely will have. fentanyl in them. >> If someone thinks they're getting an Oxy. pill, what are the odds that they're. actually getting just that? I mean, I. think with the percentages we're seeing, 50 70 90% of them not having oxycodone. and containing fentanyl, I mean, I would. I would say that they're most likely not. going to get an oxycodone pill. >> Wow, that's that's so scary. That's so. crazy. What does it do to the body for. people who don't know? And and I imagine. it depends upon the dosage, but just.

generally, what does fentanyl do to your. body? >> Right. So, fentanyl is meant to be a. very I mean, medically it's given for. for very severe pain. Uh people get. fentanyl usually right after a surgical. procedure, during surgical procedures. Um so it there is a positive use for. fentanyl in the medical world. Um but. there it has to be closely monitored. when it's given. And so what fentanyl. does is essentially depresses the. central nervous system. Fentanyl is very. what we call lipid soluble. So it likes.

the fat and tissue. So fentanyl is a. able to cross into what we call the. bloodb brain barrier. So the brain. controls all of our functions in the. body and so fentinel is able to get into. the brain tissue very quickly and then. it can start acting on the receptors. that allow us to breathe properly, our. heartbeat to be at the at the speed that. it should be and it it it um depresses. those um natural functions of the body. So it slows down breathing. It slows. down the heart rate. And so if you have.

more than you can handle. So if you're. not monitored, it can slow those. processes down to where you stop. breathing your heart. >> and you go into cardiac arrest. >> And you go into cardiac arrest. Yes. >> How long does that take? >> Um depending on the dose and also the. person's exposure. But again, fentanyl. moves very rapidly into the blood brain. through the bloodb brain barrier and so. it can happen relatively quickly. depending on um what we usually call the. root of administration. So through a.

pill it might take more time um like. maybe 30 minutes or more for it to start. acting on the body. If it's injected it. could be almost immediate. >> As I'm sure you know, everybody's. waiting for the toxicology report from. the Hayden case. What do you expect to. find there? What are you going to be. looking out for? What should we expect. in that? >> Well, I mean, I think we're all kind of. anticipating uh with the past history uh. the potential for there to be some type. of uh opioid in in the system that. caused the early um death, which is.

super unfortunate. One of the things. that I will be also looking for is um. there's a new uh family of opioids on. the market that are even more potent. than fentanyl, about 10 times more. potent. They're called orphines and um. they are starting to be seen in drug. overdose deaths. Uh there was a actually. a story in New York Times two days ago. about um a 16-year-old first case in San. Francisco with an overdose uh found from. an orphan. And so I am interested to see. if that is the potential compound that's.

there as well. Again, it's a different. type of synthetic opioid than fentanyl. Much more powerful, but it's becoming. more and more common in the illicit. market. >> Where's that coming from? How did that. come out? Is that what you're saying? >> Again, it's a synthetic opioid. I. believe that one was produced initially. by scientific research back in the 60s. or 70s. Um, it was not, you know, a. compound that was really selected for. for mass use in the medical or. scientific world. Not that difficult to. make. Um, and again, uh, you know,

people who are trying to make money off. the elicit market are always looking for. more powerful compounds. Again, people. build tolerances. So, if you're used to. taking these types of drugs, you're. looking for something that's stronger. that's going to give you that effect. that you had when you initially started. using it. >> Um, so a lot of our elicit uh substances. come from China. Uh, that's a a big. country that we see a lot of those uh. compounds coming from. But um again when. there's less control in different. countries a lot of times these um pills. and products are being produced and then.

they're coming into the US um uh through. different avenues and then people are. able to again produce these uh you know. illicit pills that look like a normal. pharmaceutical. >> and going back to something I mentioned. earlier um there's reports that. authorities have been searching Hayden. Penitentiier's home in Los Angeles. Now. again, there was a kind of push back. from her representative saying just wait. for the investigation to take its. course. I know there's a lot of hearsay. out there, unverified reports, but just. thinking for a moment if this is true. that there was a search warrant and. they're looking for drug paraphernalia,

recreational drugs, what have you. What. do you think exactly they're looking for. there and how are they testing whatever. they find? I mean, I imagine that they're I mean, they're looking for um you know, just. what maybe if they can get an idea of. what types of compounds were or were not. being used um in in the home. Um they. may be looking for any type of. manufacturer. There's been no um no no. talk of that, but maybe looking to see. uh if there's prescription pill bottles, if the if there were, you know, uh pills.

present. Um, and I think that they're, you know, essentially trying to just. find, unfortunately, in these. situations, it's hard to trace the pill. back to a specific manufacturer because. there's no real tracing. Um, you know, there there's no like. >> there's no label. There's no there's no. label, >> right? And so, and there's no real. quality control in the illicit market. So, um, so [clears throat] they're. having to use that kind of, you know, um, base level investigation. What can. they find? Is there anything that would. point them to um anyone who would have.

information about where you know this um. these elicited substances were coming. from? >> You know, is there any like specific. markings like you've seen on the. packaging, on the product itself, the. potency, how pure it is where you could. say it's traced to a particular dealer. or organization, or is that just. something in the movies? I mean, it's. it's not done typically. Um, the DEA has. the ability to like test purities and.

try to find source source products. I. think the market's so massive right now. with these elicit substances and and. with the compounds coming from all over. the world that it is really difficult to. find a way to trace. And then in terms. of the marking, the markings are made. intentionally to look like an actual. pharmaceutical pill. So, what you. typically see with these oxycodone. pills, most commonly, they're round, they're blue, they have a square, kind. of a rounded um rounded corner, square.

around a the capital letter M. Um and. then the back usually has the number 30. So, they're like M30s, blue M30 pills. Um and that's what the elicit um. oxycodone pills tend to look like. I. mean, there are other varieties, but. that's the most common. And they look. almost just like the pharmaceutical. >> So scary. So scary. All right. I listen, so happy to have you on, Bethany, to. talk about this. I don't think we've had. a conversation like this before on. Sidebar, but obviously with what's going. on in this case and as I laid out.

before, how many lives this has. affected, how many lives have been. taken. It's an important conversation. It's important education. Bethany and. Pigen, thank you so much for coming on. and thank you for the work that you do. Really appreciate it. >> Thank you, Jesse. It was great being on. >> That's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar, [music] everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. Like, subscribe, and I'll see you next time.