Heroinpacket

Heroin deaths in western Massachusetts

  • Harrison "Ozzie" Klate

    17-year-old Harrison "Ozzie" Klate died of a heroin overdose at his Amherst home.
  • Patricia L. Jenkins

    24-year-old Patricia L. Jenkins, a mother of one from Amherst, was removed from life support at The Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton after being declared brain-dead from a heroin-induced coma.
  • Mitchell Frank

    Mitchell Frank, a 33-year-old man living at Chabad House in Amherst, died of a heroin overdose September 4, 1996.
  • Todd DeLue

    Todd DeLue, 32, died of a heroin overdose on Green Street in Northampton.
  • Edguardo Torres

    A heroin overdose killed 22-year-old Edguardo Torres of Holyoke, a father of three, on July 20, 1999.
  • Edward Thompson

    On July 21, 1999, at approximately 5:34 p.m., investigators responded to an apartment at 19 McKinstry Ave., Chicopee, where three men had apparently suffered heroin overdoses. Two of the men, ages 20 and 26, were hospitalized; 24-year-old Edward Thompson was taken to Baystate Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
  • Christopher M. Mercure

    Christopher M. Mercure, 24, of Hampden, died of a heroin overdose on July 22, 1999. Police believe Mercure had overdosed on the same batch of heroin, sold under the name "me salve", as Edguardo Torres and Edward Thompson.
  • Unidentified female

    In October 2002, a 50-year-old woman died of a heroin overdose in a Riverbank Road residence.
  • Unidentified male

    In July 2003, a 49-year-old man overdosed in a house on Bridge Street in Northampton.
  • Sonja Burgos

    Dolores Bafumo, 46, of Windsor Locks, Conn., was sentenced in 2006 to 18 months in prison after being convicted of failing to prevent her teenage daughter’s fatal drug overdose. Her daughter, 15-year-old Sonja Burgos, died in October 2004 after overdosing on heroin that her older brother, Emilio Burgos, had hidden in the basement of their home.
  • Tayler Cameron

    In 2004, Tayler Cameron, 23, of Wales, died of a heroin overdose.
  • Unidentified South Hadley High School student

    A South Hadley High School senior died in 2005 from a heroin overdose. A specific date is not available in the archives of The Republican.
  • Jason Albro

    In 2006, Jason Albro, 25, of Agawam, overdosed and died in a rest room of the Haymarket Cafe in Northampton.
  • R. Derek Pelley

    Deborah Pelley found her 18-year-old son R. Derek dead in April 2006; he was a heroin user and his mother spoke at a recent forum about drug prevention in Agawam.
  • Unidentified female

    A unnamed Springfield woman died from a heroin overdose in July 2006 after police said a strong batch of heroin made its way into the city.
  • Stefanie J. Dubuc

    Stefanie J. Dubuc, 26, a 2001 graduate of Southwick-Tolland Regional High School, died in May 2008 from taking strong heroin; her mother told a judge in February, 2010 that Dubuc turned to the drug for relief from the pain and disabilities that conventional therapies and medication had not softened.
  • Darby Fassett

    Darby Fassett, 22, a University of Massachusetts student, died May 9, 2008, after overdosing on a brand of heroin called “American Gangster.” His friend, Justin P. Morin, 21, was sentenced in 2009 to two years in jail for providing that heroin.
  • Unidentified male

    On February 5, 2010, Holyoke police responded to Holyoke Health Center on Maple Street, where a man was found in a rest room with a syringe in his arm and several opened and unopened packets of heroin on the floor. The man was later pronounced dead at Holyoke Medical Center.