Aaron Carter’s Death Ruled Accidental

Aaron Carter, the singer and actor who briefly became a teenage sensation in the early 2000s and who was known for the hit song “I Want Candy,” accidentally drowned in his bathtub on Nov. 5 after taking sedatives and inhaling a spray cleaner, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Tuesday.

According to a police report included in the coroner’s findings, Mr. Carter, who was 34 when he died, was last seen alive by Sheriff’s deputies, who visited his home at about 2 a.m. on Nov. 4 to conduct a welfare check, after Mr. Carter was seen “huffing” an inhalant on an Instagram live video, The Associated Press reported.

Mr. Carter had asked the authorities to leave, and they did, according to the police report obtained by the A.P.

The following day, a housekeeper who heard Mr. Carter’s dogs barking and did not receive a response from him let herself into his home, according to the police report. She found Mr. Carter, wearing a T-shirt and necklace, submerged in the Jacuzzi-style bathtub with the jets running, and called 911, according to the report. The operator told the housekeeper to pull Mr. Carter out of the tub and perform CPR. Paramedics immediately declared him dead when they arrived, the police said.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office said in a report published on Tuesday that Mr. Carter’s death had been caused by “drowning” and the “effects of difluoroethane and alprazolam.” Alprazolam is a generic version of the anxiety medication Xanax, and difluoroethane is a gas commonly used in spray cleaners that can produce feelings of euphoria when inhaled.

The coroner’s office did not immediately respond to requests for further information on Tuesday evening.

Mr. Carter, who was described in The New York Times in 2004 as a “tween heartthrob,” began performing at age 7, singing lead for the band Dead End for two years, according to an online biography. At 9, he was opening for the Backstreet Boys in Berlin for his first solo appearance. The performance led to a record contract and then the release of his first single, “Crush on You.” He also opened for Britney Spears.

At 12, he released the popular album “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It),” which peaked in 2003 at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling some three million copies. Mr. Carter became a fixture of teenage programming and magazines and made appearances on shows like “Lizzie McGuire.” He released five studio albums and was a contestant on the show “Dancing With the Stars.”

But Mr. Carter’s career later stalled, and in recent years, he became embroiled in legal trouble. He also shared his struggles with addiction. In 2018, he released his first album in some 15 years, “Love,” to lukewarm reviews.

According to the police report cited by the A.P., Mr. Carter had a “known history of substance abuse,” including abuse of inhalants, that had led to multiple interactions with the police. Investigators found several prescription bottles and cans of an electronic duster that he used for inhaling, the report said.

At the time of Mr. Carter’s death, Nick Carter, his older brother and a member of the Backstreet Boys, said in a statement that even though he and his brother had a “complicated” relationship, his love for him had “never ever faded.”

He added, “Addiction and mental illness is the real villain here. I will miss my brother more than anyone will ever know.”