5 Found in Colorado Apartment Likely Died Instantly

DA says they ingested cocaine laced with fentanyl
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 21, 2022 2:10 PM CST
Updated Feb 22, 2022 12:10 PM CST
5 Found Dead in Apartment in Denver Suburb
The baby and the surviving adult were hospitalized.   (Getty Images/Matt Gush)

Update: The five people found dead in a Commerce City, Colorado, apartment on Sunday afternoon were killed by fentanyl ODs, officials say. The victims include two men and three women who range in age from 24 to 32. A 29-year-old woman who was hospitalized and an unharmed 4-month old infant were also found in the apartment, and KUSA reports one of the dead women was the child's mother. It's unclear if either of the male victims was the father. District Attorney Brian Mason said it's believed the victims thought they were inhaling cocaine and didn't realize it contained fentanyl, per the Denver Post. They likely died instantly. Our story from Monday follows:

Five adults were found dead in a Colorado apartment on Sunday along with substances described as "illicit narcotics," authorities say. Another adult and a 4-month-old child were alive inside the unit. Commerce City Police Chief Clint Nichols said officers responded to a call about an unconscious person at the North Range Crossings Apartments in the Denver suburb at 3:45pm, the AP reports. Upon entering the apartment they found six adults and an infant. "While they thought that most of them were unconscious, one of the parties was awake and was transported by medical," he said. The infant was also transported to a hospital. "Unfortunately, the other five people inside the apartment were deceased," Nichols said.

Of the three women and two males, Nichols said, "There does not appear to be any blunt trauma or any violent incident of any nature." The fire department was called out to conduct a hazardous gas test, and that was negative. "There was some substance inside. We don’t know exactly what anything is as of yet," he said. "The next step, Nichols said, is to have the apartment "cleanly swept" and then police will get a search warrant to begin their investigation. "There were some substances that could be described as illicit narcotics, but again, for me to speculate on that would be improper. I just don’t know," Nichols said. A hazmat team was called to the scene.

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Nichols said that if drugs were involved, "they were very, very bad" because nobody had been able to call 911 to report a medical emergency, the Denver Post. Nichols said that he did not know who the victims were but that some of them lived inside the unit. The infant appears to be doing fine, Nichols said, adding that is unclear whether the baby's parents were among the deceased adults found in the apartment. "I hope the parents were not in there, but I’ve been doing this long enough... it would probably be safe to suggest the parents probably were inside and so for the infant, that’s going to be a long time without parents." He said the adult was "lucid" and talking to police.

(More Colorado stories.)

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