Once one of the brightest young singers, Aaron Carter, the younger brother of Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter, died in November 2022 at the age of 34. Reports at the time said that Carter was found unresponsive in his bathtub at his Lancaster, California home by his housekeeper. However, the details and true cause of Aaron Carter’s death were only revealed by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner on Wednesday, April 18.
According to the coroner, Carter drowned after taking alprazolam, the generic form of Xanax, and inhaling difluorethane. The gas difluorethane is often used in compressed air, which many people “huff” in an attempt to get high. However, it can be dangerous and even deadly, especially when combined with other substances.
Prior to his death, Aaron Carter had been in and out of rehab, most recently in September 2022 in an attempt to get custody of his son, then 10 months old. It was his fifth attempt to get clean. Sadly, it looks as though he was unsuccessful in this endeavor. His struggles with mental health conditions including schizophrenia, manic depression, acute anxiety, and multiple personality disorder likely also made recovery difficult. At the time of his death, Carter was said to have been in mourning after the death of his sister Leslie, 25, who died of an overdose, and dad Robert, who suffered a sudden heart attack.
The coroner’s report, obtained by People, stated that Aaron Carter was “incapacitated while in the bathtub” due to the drugs. He then slipped under the water and, unable to save himself, drowned. Investigators found prescription medication and other drug paraphernalia in his bedroom after his death.
Carter is not the first star to lose his life in this tragic way. Singers including Whitney Houston and Delores O’Riordan of The Cranberries also drowned while under the influence of various substances.
