Was Aaron Carter ‘huffing’ again? Police find cans of compressed air at death scene, report says

The discovery of cans of compressed air in Aaron Carter’s Lancaster home suggests he was struggling with his addiction of “huffing” at the time of his death Saturday, TMZ reported

Law enforcement sources told TMZ that the multiple cans were found at the site of his death — his bathroom, where his body was found in his tub, and in his bedroom. Law enforcement sources also said prescription pills were found in both locations.

Police have so far said the 34-year-old singer drowned, and it won’t be known for sure whether huffing or other addictive behaviors led to this tragedy until the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office gets the results of a toxicology report, which could take several weeks, but the discovery of these items could provide clues.

Carter, a former child singing sensation who was the younger brother of Back Street Boys’ Nick Carter, was last seen alive at 2 a.m. Friday when police came to his home in the Mojave Desert city to do a welfare check, although it’s not clear who called authorities, TMZ said.

The housekeeper opened the door to police but Carter told them to leave and ordered his housekeeper not to bother him, TMZ said. The housekeeper reportedly didn’t see Carter all day Friday, TMZ added. On Saturday morning, she went to his bedroom door to see if he wanted anything, heard his dog inside sounding distress, so she opened the door and found him in the bathtub. He was already dead.

Friends, family and fans believed Carter, who had long struggled with mental health and substance abuse disorders, was “in a dark place” and feared he may have started huffing again or abusing other drugs, TMZ also reported Monday. The term huffing refers to people getting high by inhaling substances contained in common household or workplace products, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The substances can be found in spray paints, markers, glues, and cleaning fluids. When inhaled, these substances can cause an immediate rush of euphoria, as well as possible hallucinations and delusions, experts say.

In a video allegedly captured from a live stream Carter posted days before his death, he read a message that he said was from his fiancée, Melanie Martin, who said, “You’re going to die,” TMZ reported. Apparently, the text from Martin was a plea for him to stop huffing on Instagram Live, as alleged by fans.

Martin told him, according to TMZ, “If it’s true what you’re doing, you’re not going to end up alive. You’re going to die. I love you, this is not safe. Please don’t do this to yourself.”

In an interview in September with the UK tabloid The Sun, Carter said he had checked into month-long rehab program in an effort to stay on the wagon after five years of sobriety, and to avoid falling back into his dangerous habit of “huffing and dusting.”

The singer said he was eager to regain custody of his 10-month-old son. Under a court order, the boy was placed in the care of Martin’s mother, amid concerns about drug use and domestic violence.

“I want my son back. That’s the headline right there, I want my son back,” Carter told The Sun. “Being a dad is the most important thing to me. Just being domesticated and civilized and adulting and taking care of my responsibilities.”

Carter told The Sun that he hoped the treatment would held him deal with “triggers,” stop him from smoking marijuana, and help him to stabilize his turbulent relationship with Martin, which often played out in public or, reportedly, in front of their neighbors in Lancaster, as the Daily Mail reported.

The tattooed artist insisted to The Sun that narcotics were never an issue for him but that huffing “duster cans” had messed up his brain and caused more than 100 seizures. He said he was legitimately prescribed Xanax, a prescription anti-anxiety medication that also can be addictive, to help him through rehab.

“Xanax is a part of my regimented medication that … was prescribed to me in rehab, so I take a regimented medication, a series of medications which helps keep me clean from huffing dust,” Carter said.