A former child actress who played Mel Gibson's young daughter in the 2000 film The Patriot died July 19 in part as a result of huffing, Texas Authorities revealed Monday.
Tests reveal 21-year-old actress Skye McCole Bartusiak had muscle relaxers, painkillers and a chemical refrigerant difluoroethane in her system at the time of her death, reports Her death has been ruled an accidental overdose likely caused by the mixture of Vicodin, the muscle relaxant carisoprodol and the refrigerant often abused as an inhalant.
Accidental overdose: Tests reveal 21-year-old actress Skye McCole Bartusiak had muscle relaxers, painkillers and a chemical refrigerant difluoroethane in her system at the time of her death
Bartusiak was best known for her role in Gibson's Revolutionary War epic The Patriot, where she played the daughter of militia leader Benjamin Martin who struggles to speak with her father.
Bartusiak's mother, Helen Bartusiak, told The Associated Press the actress had been living in a garage apartment at her parents' Houston home.
She said the actress' boyfriend found her there unresponsive on her bed.
Helen Bartusiak said she tried to resuscitate her daughter but could not. She said at the time that the actress had been healthy and did not drink or do drugs.
'We think she had a seizure and choked and nobody was there,' Bartusiak told shortly after her daughter's death.
Child actress: Bartusiak was best known for her role in Mel Gibson's Revolutionary War epic The Patriot, where she played the daughter of militia leader Benjamin Martin who struggles to speak with her father