Bad drug may have caused two deaths

Two suspicious deaths in as many days have police concerned a bad batch of crack cocaine is making the rounds in Kamloops.

“We’re not saying they are connected. We can’t conclusively say they were both drug overdoses but all indications certainly point that way,” Staff Sgt. Garry Kerr said Tuesday.

An autopsy performed earlier in the day on a woman found dead in a North Shore alley stairwell showed no evidence she met with foul play. That has Kerr convinced she died from an overdose.

RCMP were also called to a death at the Village Hotel on Tranquille Road Tuesday morning. Witnesses told police the 33-year-old man had been drinking homemade wine, taking pills and smoking crack cocaine.

“Obviously you have to wait for a toxicology test to come back. In all likelihood it was a drug overdose,” said Kerr.

He said the death at the hotel is just blocks from where the woman was found dead Sunday night. If two people met with similar fates, that’s a concern.

Police received information Tuesday that there is bad batch of crack cocaine in the city. Kerr said anyone thinking of using drugs should give extra thought to where they are getting them.

“We’ve had two likely overdoses here in the last two days. We don’t need any more,” he said. “Just be careful.”

Bob Hughes, executive director of the ASK Wellness Centre, said his staff gave a similar warning to clients Tuesday. He said two deaths so close together is alarming.

“As soon as we heard that he (the man at the Village) was taking crack, we put the word out,” he said.

Hughes said staff never recommends people use drugs, but if they are, he wants them to be careful.

A spokeswoman for the Interior Health Authority was unaware of a spike in overdoses.

Investigators have an idea of who the woman might be. If the information is correct, she is a street worker, said Kerr. He hoped to know for sure by today.

Once police confirm her identity, officers can unravel her history and get a better idea of how she ended up dead in the alley, he said.

A man collecting bottles found her body behind a vacant business on the 500 block of Tranquille. She was fully clothed lying in a pile of garbage at the foot of the stairs.

Kerr said she is petite and her brown hair was tied up in a bun when she was discovered.

Anyone with information is asked to phone Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.

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