Hayden Panettiere's boyfriend Brian Hickerson was secretly pursuing another woman months before the actress died


Brian Hickerson reached out to a 26-year-old woman he had encountered at Greenville nightclub Cat's Pajamas on March 28, just months before Panettiere died at a Greenville Airbnb on August 16 in what officials suspect was a drug overdose. The woman, who said she had been heavily intoxicated that night and recalled little of it, only discovered Hickerson's identity after Panettiere's death made headlines. The Instagram account he used to contact her has since been deactivated.
Hickerson wrote to the woman: 'Great meeting you last night pretty lady. I owe you a date.'
Panettiere's estranged mother Lesley Vogel, 70, is pressing law enforcement with questions about Hickerson's account of her daughter's final hours, with the DEA now investigating.
A source says Hickerson is 'terrified' and complaining Vogel is 'putting him through a trial in the media and he can't fight back.'
