Ole Miss student deaths

True crime · Heat 1.0 / 10 · 4 shows · 1h 1m airtime

On September 27, 2026, University of Mississippi students Robert Strang, 20, and Aiden Hamilton, 18, were found dead hours apart in Oxford, Mississippi. Kratom packages from a store prohibited in Lafayette County were recovered at both scenes, though the substance's role is unconfirmed. Dispatch records show responders were sent to Stuart Hall just after 1:30 p.m. Monday, where friends found Hamilton and began CPR on the phone with 911; 911 was not informed of CPR being performed for Strang. Reporting has since widened to the regulatory fight over 7-OH, which the DOJ moved to schedule on an emergency basis last month, and to a $500,000 donation to a MAGA PAC by JW Ross. Toxicology is expedited; foul play is neither…

How 4 podcasts covered it

1. The Fox News Rundown, 2026-09-25 (0:58 to 10:19)
   Explains why toxicology misses kratom
   Emergency physician Stephanie Widmer walks through the Ole Miss deaths and the wider kratom problem: standard hospital and autopsy toxicology screens do not detect kratom or many designer drugs, kratom is unregulated but has opioid effects, and naloxone access should widen.
   New angle: Standard hospital and autopsy toxicology screens do not detect kratom or many designer drugs.
2. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-27 (3:53 to 6:01)
   Names both men and the Kratom packages
   First coverage of the two Ole Miss student deaths: names both men, places the discoveries at an off-campus home and Stewart Hall, and reports Kratom packages from a county-banned retail store were found at both scenes.
   New angle: Kratom packages from a retail store prohibited in Lafayette County were found at both scenes.
3. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-28 (1:02 to 2:32)
   Adds the dorm discovery and dispatch times
   Adds the discovery details: Hamilton found unresponsive in his Stuart Hall dorm room, friends starting CPR while on the phone with 911, and dispatch records showing responders sent just after 1:30 p.m. Monday; Strang found at an off-campus residence on Van Buren Avenue.
   New angle: Dispatch records show responders were sent to Stuart Hall just after 1:30 p.m. Monday; friends found Hamilton and began CPR on the phone with 911.
4. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-28 (5:50 to 6:51)
   Contrasts the two death timelines and 911 gaps
   Contrasts the two deaths: for Strang, investigators have released neither who found the body nor the circumstances, and 911 was never told CPR was being performed - details absent from the Hamilton timeline.
   New angle: 911 was not informed of CPR being performed for Robert Strang.
5. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-28 (7:11 to 8:22)
   Recaps the kratom packages and the coincidence debate
   Recaps the kratom packages found at both death scenes and debates whether the overlap is coincidence. It stays inside the detail already on the record from the first day of coverage.
6. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-28 (8:22 to 10:08)
   Debates whether kratom overlap proves a case
   Legal expert Randy Kessler argues the kratom coincidence is not enough to convict anyone while toxicology and autopsy reports are pending; Grace pushes back on the coincidence framing. A debate over what is already on the record, with no new facts.
7. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-28 (11:53 to 14:13)
   Explains kratom's pharmacology and risks
   A medical expert explains kratom's pharmacology - respiratory depression, rare death alone, danger in combination with fentanyl, opiates, benzodiazepines or alcohol - while Grace presses on seizures, coma and liver damage. General mechanism talk, not new reporting on the two deaths.
8. Ask Dr. Drew, 2026-09-30 (0:02 to 0:40)
   Names the kratom derivative in the deaths
   Opens the episode on the two Ole Miss overdose deaths, naming Smax Pseudo-DHM as a concentrated 7-OH kratom derivative and stressing the benzodiazepine-plus-opioid combination and nitrous oxide addiction.
   New angle: Two Ole Miss students died after buying Smax Pseudo-DHM, a concentrated 7-OH kratom derivative, plus Xanax and nitrous oxide.
9. Ask Dr. Drew, 2026-09-30 (26:39 to 51:43)
   Adds the kratom ban briefing date
   Returns to the Ole Miss deaths with Dr. Daniel Amen, who adds the brain effects of kratom, benzodiazepines and nitrous oxide, and notes a congressional briefing on the 14th on a possible federal kratom ban. The rest is Amen's ADHD subtypes and imaging work.
   New angle: A congressional briefing on a possible federal kratom ban is scheduled for the 14th.
10. Ask Dr. Drew, 2026-09-30 (53:27 to 59:57)
    Explains the pharmacology behind the deaths
    Returns to the Ole Miss deaths to explain the pharmacology: the opioid-benzodiazepine combination is what stops breathing, and nitrous oxide abuse brings mania, psychosis and a Guillain-Barre-like syndrome. A fuller retelling of the same event, with no new development.
11. Today, Explained, 2026-10-02 (2:07 to 12:05)
    Interviews a journalist on kratom and 7-OH
    Interviews journalist Maita Busby on kratom and 7-OH: the Southeast Asian plant's opioid-like action, the extract's potency, the 2016 DEA ban that activists and Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders beat back, and the two University of Mississippi student deaths now under investigation.