The medical examiner in the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences revealed that former child star Skye McCole Bartusiak died from an accidental overdose after consuming a lethal cocktail composed of a pain killer, muscle relaxer and difluoroethane, a refrigerant.

According to the gossip site TMZ, "According to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, the primary cause of death was the combined toxic effects of hydrocodone - typically Vicodin - and difluoroethane with carisoprodol.   Difluoroethane is a colorless gas used as a refrigerant, something huffed to get a high. Carisoprodol is a muscle relaxer."

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The actress is believed to have been huffing, i.e. inhaling a rag soaked with chemicals in order to get high, before she died. The medical examiner doesn't believe that she had intentionally caused her death.

Bartusiak, who was known for her roles in "The Patriot", "24" and "The Cider House Rules" passed away on July 19 in her sleep while she was at home in Houston, Texas. She was only 21 years old.

Bartusiak was living in an apartment behind her parents' home at the time of her death. Her boyfriend was the first to have found her lifeless, sitting up in her bed. He called her mother immediately, who did CPR on her before the paramedics arrived.

"She was a kind and really beautiful girl. This girl has lived such an amazing life," Bartusiak's mother, Helen, shared.

Helen had previously shared with CNN that her daughter was suffering from epileptic seizures before her death, but she said that Skye did not drink or do drugs.

Physicians studying Bartusiak's case believe that her seizures could have also contributed to her untimely death.

Dr. Dexter Sun, M.D., Ph.D., the Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology at New York Presbyterian Hospital & Hospital For Special Surgery Cornell University Weill Medical College, shared that there are several causes of seizures, including head trauma, alcoholism or alcohol withdrawal and, anticonvulsant drug abuse.

TagsSkye McCole Bartusiak, death, overdose, The Patriot