Four dead inside home in Bicknell Court in Broadmeadows
Police will probe whether a mass drug overdose involving fentanyl led to the deaths of two men, a woman and a teen dad in Melbourne’s north.
Victoria
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Police will probe whether a mass drug overdose involving fentanyl – a potent opioid up to 50 times stronger than heroin – was behind the “unusual” deaths of four people, including a 17-year-old, inside a Broadmeadows home.
Teenager Abdul El Sayed, the father of an 18-month-old daughter, was among the group found dead in the living room of the Bicknell Court house in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
His uncle Cory Lewis made the horrific discovery after breaking through the window about 2am when he saw his nephew unresponsive inside.
There, he also found the bodies of 37-year-old Michael Hodgkinson, as well as a 32-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman.
Police are not ruling out an overdose from fentanyl – a highly potent synthetic opioid that has wreaked havoc in the US – caused the deaths.
They are also looking at whether another synthetic opioid called nitazene was involved or if the group died from carbon monoxide poisoning, which may occur from a faulty heater.
“We don’t know what has caused their death,” Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said.
“We have to keep an open mind, it is unusual that we find four people deceased in the one property, potentially from a drug overdose. Until we confirm that is the case it could be anything.”
Forensic investigators donned full hazmat suits, including oxygen tanks, as they collected evidence that included what was believed to be drug paraphernalia.
One of the dead was a resident at the property while the others are believed to have been visiting. Inspector Thomas said three of the people were known to police.
Mr Lewis, Abdul’s uncle, said he knocked on the door and when he got no response went to a window.
He smashed the glass to enter the home where he found his nephew, the two other men – including his brother-in-law – and a woman also unresponsive.
“I’ve come home to find family members in the house deceased,” he said.
“I found them and it’s tortured me. It may have been a drug overdose, I’m not too sure. I hope people take a lesson from it, not to fall into this type of stuff.”
Devastated family members spent all of Tuesday at the house where the group died.
The grieving family could be heard playing The Nights by Avicii.
Its lyrics include: “One day you’ll leave this world behind, so live a life you will remember”.
Investigators were on Tuesday night awaiting the results of a toxicology report to shed more light on the mysterious deaths.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
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