Investigators recover kratom at both Ole Miss death scenes

Packaged kratom bought from a retail store was recovered at both locations where two University of Mississippi students died Monday, and no cause of death has been determined in either case.

The university identified the students Thursday as Aidan Hamilton, an 18-year-old freshman from Englewood, Colo., and Robert Strang, a 20-year-old junior from Atlanta. Shawnboda Mead, the vice chancellor for student affairs, said the school had withheld the names until both families gave permission to release them.

Hamilton was found unresponsive on campus and died after attempts at CPR, the university said. Strang died at a house off campus the same day. Investigators with the Lafayette County Metro Narcotics Unit have said there is no evidence linking the two deaths, and the cases are being handled as separate investigations.

What investigators recovered

First responders were dispatched to Stewart Hall, a dormitory on the Ole Miss campus, just after 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 21, for a report of a possible overdose, according to a Lafayette County dispatch recording obtained by WMC Action News 5. They were told the student was unresponsive and that CPR was in progress.

Dispatch records show first responders arrived within a minute of being sent to the address, Fox News Digital reported. Lafayette County Coroner Glenn Coleman confirmed the students' ages, 18 and 20, and said one died in a campus residence hall and the other at a house off campus.

The narcotics unit said Tuesday that store-bought kratom, a leafy substance that causes opioid-like effects, was found at each location. Whether other drugs were involved remains under investigation. Officials have stressed that kratom has not been confirmed as a contributing factor in either death, and have urged the public not to speculate while test results are pending.

The causes of both deaths remain under investigation. Coleman has said toxicology results should take two to three weeks.

The university said it was aware that considerable unverified information was circulating on social media and in the community about the deaths. The coroner's office has confirmed two student deaths, and university police are not aware of any additional ones. The school asked its community not to repeat information that has not been officially confirmed.

State agencies join the inquiry

Gov. Tate Reeves said Wednesday that state agencies were stepping in to speed up the investigation. The Mississippi Department of Public Safety and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics are helping Oxford law enforcement expedite toxicology results. In a post on X, Reeves said illegal drugs were a serious problem at colleges and universities throughout the country.

Sean Tindell, commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, told Fox News Digital that investigators had found no indications of foul play but had not ruled it out. He said the deaths happened at around the same time, or within a few hours, and called the timing suspicious. If both students ingested a substance from the same source, he said, investigators would try to track it back.

The Oxford Police Department posted the narcotics unit's news release on Sept. 22, the first official notice that packaged kratom had been recovered at both scenes and that the two cases were being investigated separately.

Officials have said the kratom recovered at the two scenes was bought at a retail store, but they have not identified the store or said whether both packages came from the same place.

A drug sold without regulation

Kratom is marketed to help with pain and anxiety, but medical professionals say it mimics hard drugs such as heroin and oxycodone. It is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration and is sold without regulation, a gap that has worried experts for more than a decade.

The substance is not illegal statewide in Mississippi. Oxford put its own ban in place years ago, and sales are also banned in Lafayette County, where both students died. Tennessee made kratom illegal this summer, and Arkansas had already banned it.

There's the possibility of contamination, alteration, so we really don't know what we're putting in our system and especially when it's sold without any clear proof that it's being monitored

A main component of kratom was found in the system of Memphis native and Grammy-nominated producer Tay Keith after his death in June, WMC Action News 5 reported.

Narcan training a week earlier

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch posted on social media the week before the deaths that her office had trained students at the University of Mississippi on how to administer Narcan. Her office said Tuesday that it had contacted partners, including the Magee Center and HarborPath, to surge resources and information to the campus.

Free Narcan vending machines in dormitories and in a parking garage near the Square had been emptied, WMC Action News 5 reported. Students described knocking on dorm doors in the days afterward to check on one another.

What the families have said

The family of Robert Strang, the 20-year-old junior from Atlanta, said in a statement released through a spokesman, Scott Sayres, that they were heartbroken by the loss of their son and were trying to process an unimaginable loss. They thanked friends and family for an outpouring of support and asked for privacy as they grieve.

Hamilton's family said Aidan was a bright, wonderful young man who was taken too soon and is greatly missed. They thanked everyone for their prayers and support and asked that the family's privacy be respected during a time of great loss.

Strang was a member of the Mississippi Alpha Chapter of Phi Delta Theta, and posts by the chapter identify him as one of seven co-chairmen of the 2026 Rush. The national fraternity said it had refrained from public comment until his name was released and called the loss of two young lives a profound tragedy.

What is still unknown

Nothing released so far establishes what killed either student. The narcotics unit has said there is no evidence linking the deaths, and investigators have not confirmed that kratom or any other substance contributed to either one. Mead, the vice chancellor, urged the public not to rely on speculation or unverified information while both investigations continue.

Until the autopsy is reported, and the investigators have an opportunity to get statements and collect evidence, then that final determination will not be made until later

Another Ole Miss student, Mary Harvey, told Fox News Digital that she believes she was drugged at a bar in Oxford on Saturday night while watching the Rebels' game against LSU, and that her roommate later found her unconscious in a dorm hallway. Investigators have not publicly connected her account to either death.

At least three Greek-life events were canceled after the deaths, and some Oxford bars tightened screening of what patrons brought inside, Kenneth Tonos, a student who works security for several fraternities and sororities, told Fox News Digital. Black ribbons were hung outside fraternity houses on campus.

The university has pointed students who need grief counseling to the University Counseling Center and to UMatter: Student Support & Advocacy. Anyone struggling with substance use can call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.