‘Hot pills.’ Tri-Cities brothers among 3 to die over weekend of suspected tainted drugs

Three men, including two brothers, died over the weekend from what officials believe was the same batch of bad drugs.

Diego Aviles, 30, a computer programmer, was found in his Holborn Lane home Saturday evening. And his brother, Aron Aviles, 25, a construction worker, was discovered early Sunday at his 12th Avenue home.

A third man, Alejandro Lopez, 24, died Sunday evening at a 15th Avenue residence in Pasco.

While the Franklin County Coroner’s Office is waiting for blood tests for an official determination, early tests show the men all had fentanyl in their system, said Coroner Curtis McGary.

Because of the timing and the men’s relationship, investigators believe they all got the illegal drugs from the same source.

“Our investigation is still ongoing and we will work hard to get to the bottom of this,” Pasco police said in a Facebook post about the deaths.

In addition, Pasco police posted that they arrested a man Friday with 90 pills that looked like Oxycodone, but were laced with fentanyl. Police did not name the suspect.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While fentanyl has caused overdose deaths in the Tri-Cities for a few years, methamphetamine was killing more people.

That has changed in the last couple of years as fentanyl began causing more deaths in the counties during 2020.

McGary said it’s common to see drug overdose deaths tied to each other.

“It seems like every time when we have a drug overdose death there is going to be one or two more,” he said. “It seems like there is a bad batch of drugs coming through.”

Fentanyl tends to be more risky because of its potency.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, federal Drug Enforcement Administration and local Tri-Cities police agencies have been targeting the fentanyl pipeline that runs from Mexico through the Tri-Cities.

They recently announced that $133,000 from the sale of the synthetic opioid was being given to Tri-Cities police to continue their efforts. The money came from three cases involving major fentanyl dealers.

“It is an incredibly dangerous drug that is coming into this area and pills are being sold on the street in these communities,” William Hyslop, the former U.S. Attorney for Eastern Washington, said a few weeks ago. “They are incredibly dangerous. A person can take a hot pill and drop dead instantly.”

And the drug is inexpensive to produce. The DEA has said illegal drug makers can produce the pills for as little as a $1 per pill and then sell them for $15 or $20 each.

Larger problem

The state and the University of Washington have reported an increase in fentanyl deaths statewide.

Preliminary data shows there were 835 overdose deaths in the first six months of 2020 compared to 607 deaths in the first half of 2019. Fentanyl deaths in that period more than doubled from 137 to 309.

The University of Washington addition researcher Caleb Banta-Green was interviewed for a Feb. 5 post about the increase in fentanyl deaths.

Banta-Green said it seems the drug has become entrenched in Washington state.

“The profit motive is high and the supply lines seem limitless,” he said. “Synthetic compounds have really overtaken the botanicals, and I struggle to see how you can meaningfully impact supply of a synthetic chemical, compared to a poppy field.”

It’s not clear how much of a role the COVID-19 pandemic has played in the increase.

Banta-Green said it is more likely that people would be alone during the pandemic while using drugs, which generally leads to worse outcomes, but the information doesn’t show an increase in deaths for other drugs.

This story was originally published February 22, 2021 at 2:16 PM.