Two area men in their early 20s have died of apparent drug overdoses within about 15 hours of each other.
A 25-year-old Hope resident was pronounced dead at Johnson Memorial Hospital in Franklin at 9:23 a.m. Thursday by the Johnson County Coroner’s office after police were called to a home in Edinburgh about a suspected overdose.
Edinburgh police responded at 8:36 a.m. Thursday to the 900 block of South Roosevelt Street, where CPR was being performed on the man, assistant police chief David Lutz said.
Officers administered a dose of the overdose antidote naloxone, which was not effective, Lutz said. The man was then transported to the Franklin hospital, where he was pronounced dead by Johnson County Coroner Craig Lutz.
Cause of death was listed as undetermined, pending toxicology results, although an overdose is suspected, the coroner said.
In the second case, the North Vernon Police Department has opened an investigation into the death of a 21-year-old North Vernon man who was found unresponsive and not breathing on the floor of a residence in the 10 block of Harms Street at 12:20 a.m. Friday, said Lt. Randall Marshall, department spokesman.
Two people were attempting to revive the man when police arrived and officers administered several doses of naloxone, but it was not effective, Marshall said in a press release.
Jennings County Coroner Gene Rudicel pronounced the man dead at the scene, Marshall said.
Officers determined the man had been unresponsive for at least 10 minutes before any calls for help were made to police, Marshall said. After obtaining a search warrant for the residence, officers found drug paraphernalia in the house. An investigation into the death is continuing, Marshall said.
No autopsy is planned but toxicology tests are underway to determine what substance might have been in the man’s system, Marshall said.
