After months of speculation, an autopsy has revealed the cause of death of 9-1-1: Lone Star and The Rookie star Tyler Sanders, who was found dead at his Los Angeles home in June.
According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, the 18-year-old “Fear The Walking Dead” actor died as a result of complications from fentanyl, in what authorities have declared an accident, TMZ reported.
The coroner found that Sanders texted his friend the night before he died, telling them he was taking the narcotic. However, the former child star didn’t respond to messages after his first text.
Authorities also discovered a straw and white powder in the room where he died, according to the report.
And while Sanders had no known medical problems, he had a reported history of abusing various substances, including heroin, cocaine, LSD, shrooms and Xanax, the outlet reported.
Sanders sported a stylish blue suit in his last Instagram post before his death.Instagram/Tyler Sanders
The report comes after the Californian was found dead on June 16 at his Los Angeles home, where he was living alone. Police responded to a call about a man not breathing, after which they discovered the teenager alone and pronounced him dead shortly afterwards.
At the time, Sanders’ cause of death was listed as “postponed,” meaning the coroner is “requesting further inquiries into the death, including additional studies.” Once the tests/studies come back, the doctor will re-evaluate the case and determine the cause of death.”
Sanders entered show business at the age of 10.Instagram/Tyler Sanders
Sanders, who got into showbiz at the age of 10, is perhaps best known for starring alongside Rob Lowe in 9-1-1: Lone Star. He has also appeared in The Rookie, Fear the Walking Dead, and the Amazon Prime series Just Add Magic: Mystery City.
The rising star, who also studies stand-up comedy and improv, earned a 2021 Daytime Emmy nomination for his role as Leo in the spin-off Just Add Magic and currently has two independent films in post-production on my IMDb.com profile .
Sanders was also active on social media and boasted an Instagram page with over 12,000 followers where he frequently shared photos of himself with his co-stars, friends and other outdoor adventures.
At the time of his death, Sanders had over 12,000 Instagram followers.Instagram/Tyler Sanders
In his last post before his death, the young talent posted a snap of himself in a smart blue suit with glasses while visiting Vail, Colorado. The post was captioned: “Styling.”
The tragic news comes less than two weeks after authorities revealed that the late TikTok star Cooper Noriega, also found dead in Los Angeles in June, had died from “combined effects of alprazolam, fentanyl and lorazepam.”
Meanwhile, fentanyl seizures at the US-Mexico border continued to mount in 2022, with multiple arrests throughout the year setting mixed records.
“A decade ago we didn’t even know about fentanyl, and now it’s a national crisis,” US Attorney Randy Grossman said in a news release in August. “The amount of fentanyl we are seizing at the border is staggering.”
Grossman’s comments came as the Justice Department revealed that ports of entry in San Diego and imperial counties in Southern California were at the center of a wave of fentanyl seizures at the border, accounting for about 60% of the deadly drug’s seizures in 2022.
That surge has been seen in ports across the border, however, with law enforcement making record-breaking arrests on both the Mexican and American sides in 2022. Here are just a few of the fentanyl arrests at the border that made headlines in 2022.
With mail wires