Broadmeadows deaths cause ‘could be anything’ as police probe overdose link

Still in their pyjamas and dressing gowns, residents of a sleepy neighbourhood in Broadmeadows gathered outside a grey weatherboard house early on Tuesday morning.

Four people, including a teenager, had died in the living room together just hours earlier, the potential causes of death said to include opioid overdose and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Grieving family members outside the Broadmeadows home where four people were found dead.Credit: Luis Ascui

The four included a 17-year-old boy, whose body remained inside the Bicknell Court property when his mother arrived about 8am after rushing from interstate. He was found dead with two men, believed to be aged 32 and 37, and a woman, 42.

Later on Tuesday, another life was lost nearby. Victoria Police said homicide squad detectives were investigating after a man, who is yet to be formally identified, was found dead outside a home on Warnock Street about 2pm.

A 42-year-old man of no fixed address, who police believe knew the dead man, was arrested at the second scene in Broadmeadows.

Earlier, police said items found at the quadruple fatality scene in Bicknell Court would be analysed and post-mortem examinations conducted before a report was prepared for the coroner.

The boy’s mother burst into tears as she was met by her brother, a man who identified himself as the boy’s uncle, Cory, and said he had discovered the bodies about 2am on Tuesday, not long after neighbours reportedly last saw the group alive.

Cory said he had seen his nephew, who has an 18-month-old daughter, motionless through a window. He could not rouse anyone, so smashed his way in and found the bodies.

He said he lived next door, and speculated that the group had died of drug overdoses. Some at the scene suggested it could have been the potent synthetic opioid, fentanyl.

“It may have been a drug overdose, I’m not too sure,” Cory told Nine’s Today program. “I found them, and it’s tortured me, it’s really got to me.”

A forensic police officer at the site where the bodies were found on Tuesday.Credit: Luis Ascui

One person resided in the house and the other three were visiting, police believe. Emergency services were called to the property just before 2am.

A woman who said she lived with her children a few doors down said the man who had lived at the property was known in the street for having a revolving door of visitors who arrived at all hours of the day.

Other residents of the street said the man had moved into the unit less than a year ago.

Homicide squad Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said the deaths were not being treated as suspicious and the cause of death was unknown.

Loved ones are seen outside the home where two men, a woman and a teenage boy died in Broadmeadows overnight.Credit: Luis Ascui

“We don’t know what has caused their deaths,” Thomas said. “We’ve got to keep an open mind to this. It’s unusual that we find four people deceased in the one property, potentially from a drug overdose, but we’ve got to keep an open mind until we can confirm that’s the case, it could be anything.

“The families will want answers as to what has occurred.”

Thomas described the scene as “very confronting and very traumatic” for Cory and said determining the cause of death could take days or weeks. Forensic police wore full hazmat suits and breathing apparatuses to investigate the scene.

He said he was “mindful” of the synthetic drug fentanyl that was linked to overdoses overseas.

While accidental carbon monoxide poisoning was also raised as a possibility, Victorian drug experts warned new, extremely toxic opioids known as nitazenes had arrived in Australia in the past year, and evidence of them had been detected in every state.

Associate Professor John Fitzgerald, a drug and alcohol policy expert with the University of Melbourne, said nitazenes were 20 to 50 times more potent than fentanyl and there was “significant concern” that they were being sold here mixed with common drugs such as benzodiazepines, making them even more dangerous.

Fitzgerald is part of the group, Emerging Drugs Network of Australia, which examines 20 drug overdoses each week to ascertain which drugs are in circulation.

“We are noticing there’s quite a high prevalence of these substances [nitazenes] in the blood toxicology of those who present with drug overdoses,” he said.

“On their own, benzodiazepines [often sold as sleeping tablets] don’t cause too much of a problem, but when they get combined with opioids, in particular synthetic opioids, that’s when they can cause a lot of trouble: basically people stop breathing.”

A large amount of drug substitution was also being seen.

Harm-reduction group the Pennington Institute’s chief executive, John Ryan, said the proliferation of opioid drug derivatives made it more difficult to respond to them, and “it definitely seems the drug market is becoming more potent and more dangerous”.

“[Nitazenes and derivatives] are extremely dangerous, and there is no safe quantity, and there is also an incredible lack of knowledge about them in the community,” Ryan said.

Police outside the house where two men, a woman and a teenage boy were found dead.Credit: Luis Ascui

Should carbon monoxide poisoning eventually be determined to have caused the deaths, these would not be the first in the state. Three fatalities from carbon monoxide poisoning by malfunctioning gas space heaters were confirmed in Victoria between 2010 and 2017.

As he left the scene after speaking to police for several hours, Cory said his family were still grieving the loss of both of his parents, who had died within months in the past year.

“Now I’ve lost my nephew, too. It is just shattering,” he said. “Our family have had such a rough time. We can’t catch a break.”

He described his nephew as a “brilliant boy” who had his whole life ahead of him.

“He was just a kid,” Cory said.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. The investigation is ongoing.

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