Coroner: Aaron Carter drowned in tub due to drug, inhalant
Singer and rapper Aaron Carter accidentally drowned in his bathtub due to sedatives he'd taken and gas used in spray cleaners he had inhaled, a coroner's report said Tuesday.
Carter, the younger brother of the Backstreet Boys' Nick Carter, was found submerged and dead at age 34 in the bathtub of his home in Lancaster, California, on Nov. 5, the autopsy report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner said.
The sedative alprazolam, often sold under the brand name Xanax, was found in his system, as was the compressed gas difluoroethane, which the report says is "a gas commonly used as a propellant in air spray cleaners," which "can induce feelings of euphoria when inhaled."
The two substances made him incapacitated in the tub, and caused the drowning, the report said.
The autopsy was performed the day after Carter's death, but the results were withheld for toxicology tests, which often take months.