 Story highlights Bartusiak, 21, suffered from epileptic seizures in recent days, her mother says 
 
 "We think she had a seizure and choked and nobody was there," her mother says 
 
 Bartusiak played the young daughter of Mel Gibson's "Patriot" character 
 
 Her movie acting career began when she was just 6 
 
 Actress Skye McCole Bartusiak, who played Mel Gibson's youngest daughter in "The Patriot," died Saturday at her home in Houston, her mother said Sunday. She was 21. While investigators have not determined a cause of death, Bartusiak had been suffering from epileptic seizures in recent days, according to her mother. Bartusiak appeared in several films as a child actor including “The Cider House Rules” in 1999 and “Don’t Say a Word” opposite Michael Douglas.
– The young actress best known for playing Mel Gibson's daughter in The Patriot died at her home in Houston on Saturday, her mother says. Skye McCole Bartusiak was 21. "She was a kind and really beautiful girl," her mother tells CNN, explaining that while no cause of death has been determined, the epileptic seizures Bartusiak had suffered since she was a baby returned last week after disappearing for a few years. Bartusiak was found by her boyfriend in her garage apartment next to her parents' home. "We think she had a seizure and choked and nobody was there," says the mother, who performed CPR on her daughter before emergency workers arrived. "I've done CPR on that kid more than one time and it just didn't work this time." Bartusiak made her movie debut in 1999's The Cider House Rules and also appeared opposite Michael Douglas in Don't Say a Word, as well as in TV shows including 24 and CSI, reports Variety. Her last movie role was in the 2012 thriller Sick Boy. She had been working on directing and producing her first film, her mother says.