3 Overdose Deaths Within 24 Hours Raise Questions

A noted Baltimore-area drug addiction specialist has told Patch that many questions remain unanswered following the drug-related deaths of three young Harford County residents this week.

Three individuals—between 19 and 20 years old—died of suspected heroin overdoses within a 24-hour period between Tuesday and Wednesday. The deaths of Alyssa Whelan, John Deckelman IV and Jaime Lidlow occurred less than eight miles apart. Whelan and Deckleman appeared to have died together. 

“It is not real common to have three overdoses like that in one setting,” said Michael Gimbel, an addiction specialist and former Baltimore County substance abuse director. “To have three people die from an overdose of heroin it makes me question a lot of things."

Around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Whelan, 19, and Deckelman, 20, were found dead by Deckelman's father in the Deckelman home in the 100 block of Fallston Meadow Court in Fallston, according to Monica Worrell, public information officer with the

The couple was cuddling in bed when they were found, Worrell said. Whelan lived in the 200 block of Drexel Drive in Bel Air, according to police.

Less than 24 hours later, around 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Lidlow, 19, of the 1100 block of Royston Place in Bel Air, was found dead in a home in the 1300 block of Roman Ridge Way, according to Worrell. The homeowner, who is unrelated to Lidlow, found her, Worrell said.

"They are not connected except all had past or present substance abuse issues," Worrell said, adding that there was no suspected foul play.

Gimbel said he was told by someone associated with a drug program in Bel Air that the three young people had all attended the drug treatment facility together. No one at the facility would comment.

Worrell said investigators do not believe Whelan and Deckelman shared any attachment to Lidlow.

Gimble, the former director of substance abuse education at Sheppard Pratt Health System, postulated a scenario that often occurs in an unusual string of overdoses: "That someone was out to get them and they got a bad batch of drugs."

Police spokeswoman Worrell said there was no initial indication that a bad batch of drugs was involved. While all three victims died of a suspected heroin overdose, Worrell said the definitive determinations regarding the substances involved are pending lab results.

Gimbel said a number of causes are possible, other than tainted drugs.

He said when drug users relapse, they often take the same dose used prior to treatment. At the time of relapse, however, their bodies are not accustomed to the drug.

"That could have been one of the factors, that they just did the same dose they did before and this time it killed them," Gimbel said. Another scenario, Gimbel offered was that the heroin the victims took was "super, super pure."

He said heroin in the current illegal drug market is very pure and very potent, leading some users to snort it.

"The fact is I think it shows that heroin isn’t just in the city, it’s in the suburbs, it’s everywhere," Gimbel said.

"It's a horrible, horrible tragedy," he added.

Gimbel also said that county and state government should work on creating more long-term treatment options.

"We are in desperate need in the state of Maryland for residential, long-term treatment for those kids, the 19-year-olds, the 20-year-olds, who aren’t getting in treatment long enough," Gimbel said.

He added, “It all says something terrible about where we are."