Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Four overdose deaths in five hours in NCCo

Delaware Public Media

New Castle County Police are investigating what appears to be four heroin-related overdose deaths in a span of five hours.

 

The deaths occurred Sunday morning and show signs of a fentanyl overdose, but JP Piser of the New Castle County Police said it’s too early to know for sure.

 

“Right now we know that each one of these incidents have heroin as a common factor to it,” said Piser.

 

There’s no clear connection in any of the deaths, which makes the investigation increasingly complicated, according to Piser.

The dead include three females and one male ranging from ages 23 to 63, living in Claymont, Newark and Wilmington.

The news of these deaths come as fentanyl-related overdoses are on a dramatic upswing in Delaware.

 

Dave Humes is with atTAcK Addiction, which educates people about the dangers of addiction in Delaware. He said opiate addicts are facing an increasingly dangerous supply of heroin on the street.

 

“It’s become so much more pure and strong before you even get dealers lacing it with the fentanyl. And the fentanyl is 50 times stronger than the heroin itself,” Hums said.      

Fentanyl-related overdoses jumped nearly 200 percent last year, accounting for ? of all drug related overdose deaths in the state in 2016.

Piser said it will probably be months before we know the exact cause of the deaths.

 

Related Content