Aaron Carter‘s neighbour has recalled hearing “chilling screams” in the moments before the singer was found dead inside his home in Lancaster, California.
Speaking to The US Sun, Carter’s neighbour, local photojournalist Tony Cheval, said it was a local police scanner he used for work that alerted him about an unresponsive male in his bathtub in the house next door.
So Cheval and his wife, who is a nurse, grabbed her AED (automated external defibrillator) and “headed over and banged on the door”.
READ MORE: Nick Carter reacts to death of brother Aaron Carter
“A woman answered the door and was screaming, ‘He’s dead, he’s dead,’ but wouldn’t let us in because she’d already called the cops,” Cheval recalled.
The concerned neighbour later saw Carter’s on-off fiancée Melanie Martin – the mother of his 11-month-old son Prince – crying outside his LA home.
“I spoke to Melanie afterward and she said it was his maid [screaming], and questioned why she wouldn’t let us in,” he said of the distraught model who drove from Orange County to LA after hearing of Carter’s passing.
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Reports from TMZ confirm the screaming from inside the house was from the housekeeper who found the singer in his bathtub on Sunday. According to the audio obtained by the site, a dispatcher noted an “adult female” frantically “yelling” and mentioning someone “in a tub”.
Homicide detectives were then dispatched to the property at 11am as a standard procedure. An official cause of death is not known, though reportedly no foul play has been detected.
READ MORE: Hollywood and friends pay tribute to Aaron Carter after shock death aged 34
Carter is the younger brother of former Backstreet Boys star Nick Carter and rose to fame in his own right in the late ’90s with his hits I Want Candy and That’s How I Beat Shaq.
Shortly after his death, Nick released a heartfelt tribute on Instagram.
“My heart is broken. Even though my brother and I have had a complicated relationship, my love for him has never ever faded,” Nick began.
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“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. Sometimes we want to blame someone or something for a loss, but the truth is that addiction and mental illness is the real villain here.”
“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.”
If you, or someone you know would like to talk to someone confidentially about addiction, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit Reach Out. In an emergency, call 000.