GBI lab: Macon man who died amid street-drug scare didn’t have ‘yellow pills’ in system

As more toxicology results gradually become known for five Middle Georgians who died of suspected drug-related causes during a street-pill scare in June, it still isn’t clear if the toxic, counterfeit Percocets caused any of the deaths.

The Telegraph has reported in recent days on GBI lab reports for a couple of the dead, but none of the results indicates that the yellow pills had been ingested by the people who died.

Dozens of people in the area were sickened over the course of about a week when officials issued warnings about the dangers of the bogus pills.

In Macon, there were three possible drug deaths between June 4 and 11. Because those deaths coincided with the bad-drug scare, the people who died were autopsied to see if they had fallen prey to the pills.

On Friday, The Telegraph learned that a Unionville man named Gregory Mitchell, who died June 6 in the midst of the street-pill illnesses, died of what were deemed “natural causes.”

Toxicology tests showed that Mitchell, 52, had hydrocodone in his system but showed no traces of the fentanyl analogue that the GBI has said was in the counterfeit Percocets.

Mitchell’s sister told the newspaper last month that Mitchell may have overdosed on the painkilling opioid Lortab, a drug whose ingredients include hydrocodone.

The Macon deaths began the night of June 4 with the death of 36-year-old Amirrah Gillens, who lived in the Kings Park neighborhood east of the Ocmulgee National Monument. A relative of hers told The Telegraph that she may have committed suicide by overdosing on pain medication. Results of lab tests for her were pending on Friday.

Earlier this week, a law enforcement source said the death of another Macon man, Robert Ketchup, who died a possible drug-related causes on June 11, had no fentanyl in his system. Ketchup, 34, did test positive for cocaine, Valium and morphine, though.

Another source, one familiar with GBI lab results from tests on 21-year-old Jackson Carson Moore III of Monroe County, who died June 4, said the results did not mention whether Moore had taken any of the counterfeit Percocet.

The source said Moore tested positive for traces of the elephant tranquilizer carfentanil, a fentanyl derivative thousands of times more powerful than heroin.

This story was originally published July 21, 2017 at 2:10 PM with the headline "GBI lab: Macon man who died amid street-drug scare didn’t have ‘yellow pills’ in system."