Two Porter County men, one of them a Chesterton resident, are believed to have died of a heroin overdose on Monday but authorities are investigating the possibility that their fix may have been tainted or otherwise unusually pure.

The victims have been identified as Troy Wright, 32, of Chesterton; and Daniel Leggitt, 31, of Porter Township. Their bodies were found by an acquaintance at 11:30 p.m. in Leggitt’s residence at 29 Sunset St. in Porter Township, the Porter County Sheriff’s Police said.

Suspected heroin, syringes, and other paraphernalia were recovered at the scene, Porter County Coroner Vicki Deppe told the Chesterton Tribune today, and the fact that the men died together, presumably after ingesting a quantity from the same batch, indicates at least the possibility that the heroin may have been tainted with another substance or that it was uncommonly pure. “It’s very strange, very odd,” she said.

“But there’s absolutely no evidence of foul play,” Deppe hastened to add.

Results from a toxicology screen may not be available for some weeks, Deppe said, but she has requested an expedited test of the suspected heroin itself to determine its content. The results of that test may be available in three days.

Both local and federal agencies have committed resources in an effort to identify the suppliers of this batch of suspected heroin, police said.

Between April 2005 and August 2006 some 200 deaths in Cook County, Ill., were attributed to heroin laced with fentanyl, a powerful pain killer, and hundreds more were across the country. At least one death in Porter County was blamed on the fentanyl-spiked heroin, in 2005, and possibly several lives were saved when the Drug Task Force, in February 2006, seized a quantity of the stuff in an undercover operation in Portage.

These “deaths tragically illustrate the lethality of substance abuse,” Sheriff David Lain noted. “Law enforcement continues to seek the source of illegal drugs but we cannot arrest our way out of this abyss. Until we find a way to reduce the demand for these drugs, people will continue to use them.”

“We ask that if you have reason to believe a loved one is addicted to illegal or prescription drugs, please find help,” Lain added. “If they will not go into treatment voluntarily, make a potentially life saving call to your local police department. Many people have been saved by the criminal justice system mandating treatment.”

Posted 1/30/2008