Police scramble to find cause of rash of heroin overdoses

The first overdose call came early Sunday morning from Claymont Terrace.

A young woman was unresponsive and needed immediate medical attention in the blue-collar neighborhood mixed with apartments and homes.

Soon after, another 911 call came from The Elms Apartments in Ogletown. Then Richardson Park near Elsmere. Finally, Pike Creek.

In just over five hours, four people were dead in homes throughout New Castle County, and all indications point to heroin, said Officer First Class JP Piser, a spokesman with the county police department. Three women, ages 23, 26 and 59, were pronounced dead, along with a 63-year-old man, Piser said. Police have not released the names of the victims.

Though cause of death has yet to be determined by the state Division of Forensic Science, evidence of heroin use was clear at all four residences throughout the county, Piser said. It's too early to determine whether the drugs came from the same dealer, Piser added.

BACKGROUND: 4 dead in one day from heroin in Delaware

INVESTIGATION: Heroin: Delaware's deadly crisis

It's a tragic scene playing out in homes across the country, and Delaware has not been spared. Last year, 308 people fell victim to fatal drug overdoses statewide, with 120 being linked directly to fentanyl. That represented a 186 percent increase in deaths specifically related to fentanyl from the prior year, according to the state Division of Forensic Science and the Department of Health and Social Services.

The powerful synthetic painkiller originally used to treat terminally ill cancer patients looks almost identical to heroin and has been found mixed with the drug, as well as cocaine and other substances.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who lost loved ones this weekend,” said Dr. Kara Odom Walker, secretary of the state Department of Health and Social Services in a statement Monday. “Addiction is a chronic disease with people and their families potentially fighting a lifelong battle together.”

Most of the heroin consumed in New Castle County comes from Philadelphia. In December, that city saw 35 fatal overdoses in a five-day span in the city's Fair Hill and West Kensington neighborhoods, said Patrick Trainor, a special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Philadelphia. An investigation into the source of the potent fentanyl-heroin blend remains ongoing, he said.

“Due to Delaware’s proximity to Philadelphia, and the availability of inexpensive and potent heroin that is available in the city, we have seen numerous seizures of heroin by our offices in Delaware where the source of these drugs was in Philadelphia," Trainor said. "There were over 900 fatal overdose deaths in Philadelphia County alone in 2016, so it’s reasonable that the potent drugs in Philadelphia could be responsible for overdose deaths in Delaware, as well.”

Lt. Col. Vaughn Bond Jr., the county's new police chief, said the department has seen similar "bad batches" of heroin.

“This is a stark reminder that the drug dealers don’t care what they lace the heroin with and couldn’t care less about the addicted person’s life," Bond said. "Drug dealers simply see drug users as a means of making money."

That's why law enforcement are scrambling to find what's causing the outbreak in overdoses and get it under control. It's not typical for police departments to release overdose information. But given the widespread reach of Sunday's overdoses, police wanted to issue a warning.

"The toughest thing is trying to get word out to this community that is still using," said Dave Humes, a board member for atTAcK Addiction, a grassroots organization fighting addiction in Delaware. "It's not your father's heroin. ... [Dealers are] stuffing [heroin] with fentanyl. Why do you want to do something that potentially kills your customers? That's what I don't understand."

A new Delaware law allows for the prosecution of dealers who supply drugs that kill another person. But the charge, drug dealing resulting in death, had not been used yet by prosecutors, said state Attorney General Matt Denn, partially because of the specificity required to prosecute.

Law enforcement must be able to show that a "dealer quantity" of drugs was delivered to a person, ultimately resulting in their death, Denn said.

"The law was written in this manner to address concerns raised by families of overdose victims that they did not want the legislature to undermine the state’s new 'Good Samaritan' law by causing individuals who might have shared drugs with a person who then overdosed to hesitate in calling 911, for fear that they would be prosecuted," Denn said. "Because of this requirement that the state be able to prove the delivery of a ‘dealer quantity’ of drugs and then tie those drugs specifically to a person’s death, there have not yet been cases that were eligible for prosecution under the statute."

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The Good Samaritan law protects those reporting drug and alcohol overdoses of friends or themselves. The immunity covers those reporting in good faith, so long as "the person provides all relevant medical information as to the cause of the overdose or other life-threatening medical emergency," according to the statute.

However, a federal grand jury indicted 28-year-old Donte Jacobs on indicted Oct. 13 under a similar statute and charged him with conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl that resulted in the death of another person. Authorities used phone taps, Uber car service records, GPS tracking and information from a low-level dealer to arrest Jacobs and secure a grand jury indictment based on claims he distributed thousands of bags of heroin, including the batch with fentanyl that led to a woman's overdose.

Denn has proposed a rewrite to Delaware criminal code surrounding issues of repeat-offender drug dealers. The revision doubles the current minimum mandatory sentence for people convicted of manufacturing or dealing large quantities of drugs, upping the new minimum mandatory sentence to four years for those previously convicted of the same crime.

The attorney general also announced legislation last week that would improve access to treatment in the state of Delaware and remove barriers many families face when looking for treatment. New legislation, if passed, would guarantee 14 days of rehabilitation before any review by an insurance company rather than the arbitrary number of treatment days currently granted by insurance companies.

"These overdose deaths are the latest chapter in what has been a dramatic surge in overdose deaths over the past several years," he said. "This is the public health epidemic of our generation, and it needs to be addressed as such."

The state Drug Overdose Fatality Review Commission hopes to get answers soon on what led up to Delaware's more than 300 deaths last year, but an actual review of individual cases has not yet begun, said Humes, who also sits on the commission. Part of the review process will involve interviews with families who are willing to participate, but an exact protocol on how to move forward has not yet been determined.

"Every overdose will be investigated," Humes said. "We're more than happy to reach out, but we need a hint whether to make the call."

Contact Brittany Horn at (302) 324-2771 or bhorn@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @brittanyhorn.

How to get help

New Castle County: (800) 652-2929

Kent and Sussex counties: (800) 345-6785

Online: HelpisHereDE.com