Heroin death investigated as homicide
Published 9:03 am Tuesday, December 15, 2009
MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Police are investigating the apparent heroin overdose death of an 18-year-old Everett woman. They suspect it may be a homicide by controlled substance.
A Mountlake Terrace man, 26, called 911 around 8 a.m. Friday morning to report the woman was unconscious and was foaming at the mouth, Mountlake Terrace police Sgt. Doug Hansen said.
The woman’s identity was not immediately released. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office planned an autopsy.
Rescue crews rushed to the home in the 23100 block of 54th Avenue W. but were unable to revive the woman, Hansen said.
The man told police he and the woman had used heroin the night before. He allegedly admitted supplying the drugs.
They had gone to sleep. When he awoke the woman was dead, Hansen said.
The man was hospitalized for problems associated to his drug use.
Controlled substance homicide happens when a person gives somebody drugs and the recipient dies as a result.
Hansen said detectives have a suspect in the death.
Heroin use has been a problem in Snohomish County in recent years, said Caleb Banta-Green, an epidemiologist and research scientist with the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute at the University of Washington.
The problem is that during that time more young people increasingly have started abusing prescription narcotics, which can lead to heroin use.
“Eventually they run out of money and they switch to heroin because it’s far cheaper,” Banta-Green said.
Heroin often is used in combination with other drugs, its potency varies and people’s tolerance to the drug changes, he said. That means users never can be certain how much they’re taking and how their body will react, Dr. Bill Dickinson said. He’s an addiction specialist at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.
Heroin and other opiates slow the body’s respiratory system and some people simply stop breathing, he said.
“People don’t believe that teens have access to such powerful chemicals,” Dickinson said. “It’s everywhere. It’s all over.”
A Kamiak High School student, Sean Gahagan, 17, died in July 2008 of a heroin overdose.
Parents can watch teens for signs of drug use including a change in grades, social circles and secretive behavior, Dickinson said.
Still, statistics show that deaths among teens due to heroin are relatively rare, Banta-Green said.
Even less common are arrests for homicide by controlled substance, he said.
“Very rare,” he said, “My understanding is it’s very rare.”
Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com.
