OXFORD, Miss. — New documents released by investigators alleged a gas station convenience store and a smoke shop may have sold kratom-like products linked to the deaths of two University of Mississippi students.
Robert Strang, a 20-year-old junior from Atlanta, and Aidan Hamilton, a 18-year-old freshman from Colorado, were found dead on Sept. 21 at different locations.
Investigators said they found similar pills labeled as “Smax, Pseudo-DBM” at both scenes, but toxicology reports for both students are pending.
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ABC News obtained a copy of the new affidavit that was filed in court on Monday. It lists two stores near the Ole Miss campus: Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer Store in Oxford and Express Mart #7, a gas station convenience store in Yalobusha County.
The affidavit says Strang purchased pills at Express Mart #7 on Sept. 9 and Sept. 11. ABC News reports that officers purchased similar pills to send off to a crime lab for analysis. No store employees or owners have been charged.
The affidavit also says that Hamilton made multiple purchases at Puffs Vape, including the day before he was found dead, and that a confidential informant went undercover at the store on Sept. 24.
The informant “specifically requested if the store sold 7 0 Kratom based pills” and the clerk told him yes and pulled out a product package, according to the affidavit.
“The informant stated that is what he wanted, and the clerk pulled out multiple other similar packages and placed them on the counter. The clerk, told the informant to be careful taking the pills because people were dying from them,” according to the affidavit.
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The Lafayette County Metro Narcotics Unit obtained search warrants, seized the products and arrested two store employees with possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute.
The deaths of Strang and Hamilton have raised conversations about kratom products and the differences between natural and illegal products.
The American Kratom Association plans to hold a news conference at 10 a.m. central time at the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office.
The association has already requested independent testing of the products that investigators recovered at the scene.
“These families deserve answers grounded in evidence, and the Ole Miss community deserves clear information,” said Mac Haddow with the American Kratom Association. “A package labeled ‘kratom’ does not establish what was inside it, whether it was consumed, or whether it contributed to a death. Once authorities publicly identified those packages, explaining those limitations and establishing their contents became critically important.”
ABC News contributed to this report.
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