Chilling new details have emerged about the ‘unusual’ deaths of four people inside a Melbourne home, as a second of the victims is identified.
Michael Hodgkinson, 32, was one of four people discovered in the loungeroom of the unit in the northern suburb of Broadmeadows just before 2am on Tuesday.
Abdul El Sayed, 17, was also killed along with an as-yet unidentified 37-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman inside the Bicknell Court home.
Mr al-Sayed’s uncle Cory Lewis discovered the group when he looked in one of the windows.
When he saw them motionless and they did not respond to his knock, he smashed the window to gain access and then contacted emergency services.
Victoria Police will investigate whether an overdose of fentanyl – an opioid up to 50 times stronger than heroin – caused their deaths.
The synthetic opioid prescribed for chronic pain is the main cause of overdoses in the United States, and there are fears the drug will wreak similar havoc if it becomes widespread in Australia.
Detectives will also probe whether the group overdosed from another synthetic opioid called nitazene, or from carbon monoxide leaking from a gas heater.
Officers on Tuesday donned full hazmat suits and oxygen tanks while accessing the property as emotional family members grieved just metres away.
‘We don’t know what has caused their death,’ Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said.
‘We have to keep an open mind, it is unusual that we find four people deceased in the one property, potentially from a drug overdose, but we’ve got to keep an open mind and until we confirm that is the case it could be anything.
‘I cannot say definitively whether [fentanyl] is involved.’
Detective Inspector Thomas said while there was no suggestion there had been any ‘acts of violence’ there were some injuries that needed to be accounted for.
He added that items from the property would be taken from the scene but stopped short of confirming if any drug paraphernalia had been collected.
Mr El Sayed’s devastated mother Jessica Lewis visited the scene of the tragedy on Tuesday morning, supported by her siblings.
Cory could be seen rubbing his sister’s back as they shed tears out the front of the unit block, which was taped off by police as a possible crime scene.
Mr El Sayed leaves behind a partner and an 18-month-old daughter.
Cory, who is also brother-in-law to one of the dead men, told 7News he believed the deaths were caused by a drug overdose.
‘I’ve come home to find family members in the house deceased and it just tortured me, shocked me,’ he told media.
‘I think [it was] an overdose but I’m not too sure exactly.’
Cory said the tragedy was the latest of several to hit his family.
‘We haven’t had a break. We’ve just lost mum and dad too. Mum in November last year and dad on his own birthday,’ he said.
Aside from the drug speculation, Cory said his family remained in the dark as to the precise cause of the deaths.
‘We’re just as clueless as you guys. We don’t know what, but it looks like an overdose,’ he said.
Cory’s brother Brendan said Mr El Sayed ‘doesn’t even take drugs’.
‘Bit of choof [marijuana] here and there but that’s it,’ he said.
Cory agreed that while the teenager may have fallen under bad influences, he insisted Mr El Sayed ‘wasn’t on meth’ and ‘was no junkie’.
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