Investigators found signs of heroin and fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate, at the Ward Street residence where two brothers died in the same room June 18 in Burlington.
Police suspect that brothers Sean and Dennis Thibault, ages 32 and 34 respectively, died from a drug overdose. If so, they will be the latest fatalities in a record-breaking string of drug overdoses in Burlington, police say. Thirty cases of drug overdoses, not all fatal, were reported to the Burlington Police Department through June 12.
The presence of fentanyl residue at the scene suggests that the drug may have been responsible for the brothers’ deaths. In recent years fentanyl has become more widely seen as a recreational drug in Vermont. The Vermont Department of Health reported 17 fentanyl-related deaths in 2014, compared to 11 the previous year and none the year before that.
Heroin cut with fentanyl poses a threat to heroin users, who aren’t always aware of – or concerned with – the presence of fentanyl in the drugs they use, and fail to adjust the dosage accordingly.
“Someone who is an opiate addict is taking whatever they can get. Whatever they can get at the moment is likely what they’ll take,” said Barbara Cimaglio, deputy commissioner of the Department of Health. “One day you might buy heroin that’s 50 percent pure and the next day you might take 90 percent pure – so you don’t know what you’re getting.”
The cause of the brothers’ deaths has not been officially determined, police said, but full toxicology results from the autopsies are expected in the next few weeks.
