Late teen actor Tyler Sanders’s cause of death has been revealed six months after he died at the age of 18.
According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner autopsy report, Sanders’s death was caused by “fentanyl effects”.
The teen star, best known for his Emmy-nominated performance as Leo in the Amazon spinoff series Just Add Magic: Mystery City, was found dead in his L.A apartment in June.
The autopsy report further revealed that Sanders’s friend, who had discovered his unresponsive body at the apartment, “had been texting with him the night prior and he reported using fentanyl. Drug paraphernalia was identified on scene”.
Later, toxicology tests confirmed Sanders had the “potent” drug in his system. “Fentanyl … is a synthetic opioid, which is approximately 50-100 times as potent as morphine,” the report added.
Following the release of the coroner's report, Sanders' family released a statement, advocating mental health awareness.
"Tyler was an ambitious, hard-working actor who was dealing with deep and persistent depression. Although actively seeking treatment, Tyler struggled to find relief and chose to experiment with drugs," the late actor's father, David Sanders, said in a statement on Thursday.
"Tyler fell into drug use, not as a way to have fun socially, but rather as an attempt to overcome his profound mental health struggle. While we continue to mourn his death, we are determined to share Tyler’s story in hopes of furthering the conversation around this pervasive issue," the statement read.
Sanders had appeared in season 3 of 9-1-1: Lone Star. He also appeared on ABC's The Rookie, NBC's What About Barb? and in the 2019 film The Reliant.
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