Aaron Carter‘s ex-fiancé has said that the autopsy report into the singer’s death has not given her “closure”.
The pop artist was found unresponsive at his house in Lancaster, California last November, and was subsequently pronounced dead after paramedics reached the scene. He was 34 years old.
On Tuesday (April 18), a document shared by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner confirmed that Carter’s primary cause of death was drowning.
Secondary causes of death listed were the effects of alprazolam, a generic form of Xanax, and inhaling difluoroethane, also known widely as huffing. The manner of Carter’s passing was deemed accidental.
In a recent statement to TMZ (via Billboard), the singer’s ex-fiancé Melanie Martin disputed the findings of the coroner’s report.
“The results of the autopsy are not closure for me,” she said. “It claims death is by drowning but also adds [Carter] was wearing a t-shirt and necklace in the bathtub which doesn’t make sense, why would he be in a bathtub with clothes on?
“I am still in shock and still miss Aaron every day. I don’t understand the chain of events and this report only has us asking more questions.”
Martin and Carter shared a son, Prince, who was just weeks away from turning one year old at the time of his father’s death. To mark her baby’s first birthday, Martin posted an emotional message on social media.
“Happy birthday to my baby boy Prince Lyric Carter,” she wrote alongside a montage of photographs. “Today is going to be a tough one for me but I know your daddy is playing birthday songs for you up in heaven I love you baby boy!!!”
Following Carter’s death, his brother Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys fame paid tribute online. “My heart is broken,” he wrote.
“Even though my brother and I have had a complicated relationship, my love for him has never ever faded. I have always held on to the hope that he would somehow, someday want to walk a healthy path and eventually find the help that he so desperately needed.”
Nick added: “I will miss my brother more than anyone will ever know. I love you Chizz. Now you can finally have the peace you could never find here on earth….I love you baby brother.”
The Backstreet Boys star also set up a children’s mental health fund in the wake of Carter’s passing.
