Court records say Ole Miss students Robert Strang, 20, and Aidan Hamilton, 18, were found dead Sept. 21, with similar packages of synthetic kratom discovered near both of them. Authorities said Hamilton “could have died due to a Pulmonary Edema,” a finding that can be consistent with a fatal drug overdose. Dispatch audio described Strang as “cold to the touch” when first responders reached his residence near campus.
In an affidavit, a narcotics agent identified the pills found near the students as Smax Pseudo-DHM. The package recovered near Hamilton listed pseudoindoxyl and MGM-15(DHM) among its ingredients. On Aug. 26, the Drug Enforcement Administration temporarily placed mitragynine pseudoindoxyl in Schedule I, making its sale illegal.
A Mississippi law enforcement agent investigating the deaths said he believes the label term “pseudoindoxyl” refers to mitragynine pseudoindoxyl. Court documents say laboratory testing to confirm the pills’ contents remains pending.
Robert Strang and Aidan Hamilton in a split image provided by their families. (Strang family | Kathleen Hamilton/Facebook)
Interviews with Strang’s roommates led investigators to Express Mart #7, a gas station in Water Valley, Mississippi, located just over 20 minutes from Ole Miss. An undercover agent with the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics later purchased a similar Smax Pseudo product at the store. Its packaging listed pseudoindoxyl as an ingredient, which the agent believes is an abbreviated reference to mitragynine pseudoindoxyl.
Ibrahim Aydah, who owns the gas station, told News Outlet he does not believe the Smax package found near Strang came from his store. Aydah said he does not place price stickers on his merchandise and does not sell the 200-milligram version. The package recovered near Strang had a price printed on it, he said.
“The package that I see on the news… it wasn’t from my store,” Aydah said. “The package… the Smax is 200. I never carry 200. And it has different ingredients in it than mine.”
Court documents state that a store clerk told the undercover agent the 200-milligram product was out of stock.
General view of Express Mart #7 in Yalobusha County, Mississippi. (Google Maps)
Aydah said federal agents removed every kratom product from the store Friday. He said he wishes the federal government had warned him that the products he was selling were illegal.
“Yes, they took all my stuff. I lost everything, and it’s a law,” Aydah said. “The federal law bans it. I was shocked.”
Aydah said the raid involved roughly 15 police and undercover vehicles. “You see about 15 cars [of] police, undercover, everywhere. I was at the house and I came and dropped by. I opened the office…they checked everything. They took everything,” he said, adding that he believed the DEA conducted the search. “I’m a businessman. I’m not a drug dealer.”
When asked what he would say to the students’ families, Aydah expressed his condolences.
“I feel sorry for the young kids who lost their lives to an overdose. You know, it hurts. I feel them. Their friends, their classmates, and everyone…you know, he’s a young kid,” Aydah said.
A DEA spokeswoman told News Outlet that the agency executed a search warrant at the gas station Friday as part of an “ongoing investigation.”
“The Aug. 26 scheduling order does cover products that list ‘pseudoindoxyl’ on the label,” she said.
Authorities have not charged Aydah, and he has not been accused of wrongdoing.
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)
In a statement issued Wednesday, Lafayette County Metro Narcotics, a division of the sheriff’s office, stopped short of saying that investigators had recovered kratom itself near either student.
“During the investigations, packaging associated with kratom-related products was discovered at both locations,” the statement said. The Sept. 25 affidavit noted that toxicology results from the medical examiner were still pending.
American Kratom Association Senior Fellow on Public Policy Mac Haddow said Wednesday during a news conference that the specific drug found near both students is illegal.
Haddow pointed out the sale and possession of some synthetic kratom has been illegal federally as of August and illegal to sell or possess in Oxford, Mississippi since 2019, and illegal in Lafayette County, where Oxford is located, since 2021.
News Outlet reached out to the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and the DEA for comment.
