Toxicology reports for two Ole Miss students who died Sept. 21 are expected to be completed “in due course,” a Mississippi official told News Outlet. The families will be informed of the findings before the results are made public.
Aidan Hamilton, 18, and Robert Strang, 20, were found dead on Sept. 21. Court documents state that similar packages containing kratom or synthetic kratom were found in their possession. Officials said Hamilton “could have died due to a Pulmonary Edema,” a condition that can be consistent with a drug overdose. Strang was “cold to the touch” when first responders arrived at his home near campus.
Alex Gibert, press secretary for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, told News Outlet that the commissioner met with the medical examiner’s office and that officials expect the reports to be finalized “in due course.” He added, “The families will be the first to know.”
The update came as the American Kratom Association held a news conference Wednesday, criticizing what it called a “delay in publicly identifying the specific products purchased by two Ole Miss students before their deaths.”
The organization said the tablets were “not natural kratom leaf” and argued that students should have received specific warnings about the products under investigation.
Robert Strang and Aidan Hamilton in a split image provided by their families. (Strang family, Kathleen Hamilton/Facebook)
Packages found near both men were labeled “Smax, Pseudo-DHM” tablets. Court documents described the product as a “kratom like substance at gas stations or tobacco shops” that people purchase for its “narcotic like effect.”
In September, Hamilton made several purchases at Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer Store in Oxford. Employees Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and Islam Mohamed, 18, were arrested and face charges of possessing a controlled substance with intent to distribute. Court documents do not state that the kratom found near Hamilton came from the store. One of his purchases was made the day before he was found dead.
Packages of synthetic kratom products, including Smax Pseudo-DHM and Smax Pseudo tablets, that authorities say were found at the scene where Robert Strang was discovered dead. (Court records)
About an hour after Hamilton was found dead, police were sent to a home near campus, where they found Strang deceased. A package of “Smax, Pseudo-DHM” tablets was on his nightstand, along with 20 to 30 nitrous oxide canisters, commonly called “whippets.” Strang’s roommates told officers that he used the canisters daily. They also said he had been watching football and took a Xanax bar the day before he was found.
Officials said Strang purchased the synthetic kratom-derived product at a gas station roughly 30 minutes from Oxford.
Stewart Hall, a dorm building on the University of Mississippi campus where an 18-year-old student is believed to have died on Monday. Dispatch records show first responders arrived within a minute of being sent to the address. (Adam Sabes/News Outlet)
The exact role kratom may have played in the deaths of Hamilton and Strang has not been determined.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This report has been updated to clarify that officials had not completed the toxicology reports as of Wednesday morning.
