A forensic expert with over 40 years of experience in crime investigation is casting doubt on Aaron Carter’s mother’s claim that the late singer was the victim of a “potential homicide,” citing inconsistencies about police procedure.
Carter, a former child star, was found dead at age 34 in the bathroom of his Lancaster, Calif.., home on Nov. 5, 2022.
His official cause of death has not been determined, but he was reportedly discovered alongside multiple cans of compressed air and prescription pill bottles.
“Any time you have an unexpected death, it’s always treated as a homicide [by police] until proven otherwise,” Thomas P. Mauriello, a senior lecturer and lab instructor in the University of Maryland’s Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, told The Post Thursday.
Mauriello, who also spent over 30 years with the Department of Defense, was wary of Jane Carter’s suggestion that the five graphic images she shared Wednesday of the scene where her son was found proved he was the victim of a more suspicious incident.
“[The photos] were not taken by the police. But they allowed people to go in and out,” Jane wrote in her initial statement. She also alleged that the police “never investigated it as a possible crime scene” because of Carter’s public struggle with addiction.
“Police are not going to let anybody into the scene until they’ve photographed it,” Mauriello insisted.
Even if people were allowed to “tromp through” the scene, as Jane suggested, Mauriello said the interference cast more doubt on her version of events.
“Who knows when [the photos] were taken?” he questioned.
“The fact that the towels are like that … it’s meaningless,” he added, referring to towels on the bathroom floor that Jane argued were too “perfectly placed.”
“Even if the scene was staged, [the supposed perpetrator] didn’t’ stage the body. If somebody caused the death of the victim, there had to be some type of physical evidence on or in the body [like defensive wounds] to indicate that. It really doesn’t matter what the scene looks like at that point.”
Mauriello did, however, share Jane’s skepticism about reports that Carter’s maid dragged him out of the tub and tried to perform CPR on him hours after he apparently died.
“When you’re trying to drag a body out of water, they’re pretty heavy,” he noted.
Ultimately, the decision not to investigate Carter’s death more closely was up to the medical examiner, not the police, Mauriello said.
“If the medical examiner told police at the scene that it was an accidental death, then police are out of it [in terms of investigating]. There’s nothing the police can do at that point,” he said.
Although medical examiners do not typically respond to the crime scenes themselves, Mauriello said it was possible that the ME visited the scene of Carter’s death in person, given his notoriety.
“The question I would have is, when did the police get the information from the medical examiner that this was accidental? They should have held the crime scene until then,” he acknowledged.
Mauriello’s comments come as rumors continue to swirl about Carter’s charmed but troubled life and tragic death.
Melanie Martin, Carter’s on-again, off-again fiancée, told TMZ last month that the coroner ruled out drowning as a cause of death, but the family still wanted officials to investigate possible threats from drug dealers.
Just a few weeks later, fans of the “I’m All About You” singer were reportedly “pissed” that he was left out of the Grammys’ “In Memoriam” tribute.
A representative for Carter’s brother, Backstreet Boys member Nick, told The Post that the snub was “so sad” for the family.