Ole Miss IDs 2nd Student as Task Force Probes Deaths
The University of Mississippi has identified the two students found dead earlier in the week, as a county narcotics task force investigates the fatalities and state officials rush to expedite toxicology testing. The university named Aidan Hamilton, an 18-year-old freshman from Englewood, Colorado, and Robert Strang, a 20-year-old junior from Atlanta, on Thursday, according to WMC Action News 5, after their families granted permission to release the names.
Both students were found dead in separate locations on the same afternoon, a timing coincidence that Mississippi Commissioner of Public Safety Sean Tindell has called suspicious. Investigators have recovered packaged kratom at both scenes but stress that no substance has been confirmed as a factor in either death.
What Happened
First responders were dispatched to Stewart Hall, a male dormitory on the Ole Miss campus, where Hamilton was found unresponsive and later died after CPR attempts, WMC reported. Strang was discovered at an off-campus home, according to the Lafayette County Coroner’s Office. Both deaths occurred on Sept. 21.
Lafayette County Metro Narcotics said retail-purchased kratom was found at each location, but emphasized there is no confirmed information connecting the substance to either death. In a public warning, the agency urged residents to avoid kratom and any substance not obtained from a trusted, regulated source.
“We do not have confirmed information indicating that kratom or any other substance was a contributing factor in either death,” the agency said, per Fox News.
Authorities have not ruled out foul play but say they have no indication of it. Tindell told Fox News that the two deaths happened close together in time, which he described as suspicious, while cautioning that a final determination will not come until autopsy results are complete.
“The timing of it is suspicious, but I don’t know that they have any direct relation other than if they both had ingested the substance from the same source,” Tindell said. “Then at some point we would try to track it back to that source and take appropriate action.”
Grieving Families and a Campus in Mourning
Strang’s family, through spokesman Scott Sayres, said they were heartbroken by the loss of “our dear son” and grateful for the outpouring of support. Hamilton’s family described him as “a bright, wonderful young man who was taken too soon.”
Ole Miss Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Dr. Shawnboda Mead asked the community to remember that two grieving families are at the center of the case and urged the public to avoid speculation amid unverified claims circulating online.
“We recognize that inaccurate information is being shared by individuals who do not have access to the facts,” Mead said. “We can all help by not repeating information that has not been officially confirmed.”
The Phi Delta Theta fraternity, which counted Strang as a member of its Mississippi Alpha Chapter, said the loss of two young lives was “a profound tragedy” and called for a renewed commitment to health and safety on college campuses.
What Is Kratom?
Kratom is an herbal extract from a tree native to Southeast Asia that acts as a stimulant at low doses and a sedative at high doses. As The Associated Press reported, it is sold in capsules, powders and liquids, often in gas stations and smoke shops—earning it the nickname “gas station heroin.”
The substance is legal federally but has drawn increasing scrutiny. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns it carries risks including liver toxicity, seizures and substance use disorder, and has recommended a ban on products with concentrated levels of 7-hydroxymitragynine, a chemical found only in trace amounts in natural kratom.
Kratom is banned in both the City of Oxford and Lafayette County, though it remains legal and regulated for adults 21 and older elsewhere in Mississippi. Eleven states have banned it outright. Proponents, including the American Kratom Association, argue that regulators conflate natural kratom with synthetic and chemically manipulated derivatives.
Use has climbed despite restrictions. Researchers at the University of Michigan and Texas State University found U.S. kratom use at an all-time high, with more than 5 million lifetime users, including more than 100,000 children ages 12 to 17.
Mallory Pullman, managing director at Mississippi Poison Control, cautioned that consumers often cannot tell natural kratom from highly concentrated derivatives. “Until you know what product you’re working with… you really have to be careful about buying a product and just taking it arbitrarily,” she told the AP.
Enforcement and Campus Reaction
The deaths have coincided with a broader local crackdown. On Sept. 24, a search warrant at Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer Store in Oxford led to two arrests and the seizure of more than 500 units of kratom along with THC products, according to WLBT/WLOX. Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and Islam Mohamed, 18, were charged with possession of Schedule I controlled substances with intent to distribute. Authorities noted the shop’s owner, Amer Alowdi, was indicted in 2022 for narcotics trafficking but fled the country.
Separately, a freshman’s account of being drugged at an Oxford bar over the weekend has added to campus anxiety. Mary Harvey said she blacked out after watching the Ole Miss football game against LSU and was later found passed out in her dorm hallway. Oxford Police disputed key elements of her account, saying she did not report that her drink was tampered with or that a crime had occurred, and that officers remained with her and arranged transportation, WMC reported. Police said they have no evidence that women are routinely drugged in Oxford.
On campus, at least three Greek life events have been canceled and some bars have tightened screening, Fox News reported. Raegan Settle, editor-in-chief of the student-run Daily Mississippian, said students are frustrated with what they see as limited communication from the university, and she urged peers to carry naloxone.
What to Watch
Toxicology reports are pending and can take weeks, even with state assistance. Gov. Tate Reeves said the Mississippi Department of Public Safety and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics are helping expedite the testing. Until those results arrive, the cause of both deaths—and whether any substance played a role—will remain officially unknown. The central unanswered question is whether the two deaths are connected, which investigators say they have not established.
The case also arrives amid a national reckoning over kratom regulation and a broader campus drug-safety debate. As families and a close-knit college town seek answers, officials are urging patience and caution against the spread of unverified claims.