INDIANAPOLIS — Police believe two people found dead outside a west side home Saturday died as a result of an overdose.
Officers were called just before 3:30 p.m. to a report of two people possibly dead in the backyard of a home in the 2900 block of Mars Hill Street, which is near the intersection of Troy Avenue and Holt Road.
Officers arrived to find a man and a woman who had both died inside a van.
Homicide detectives and members of the Marion County Coroner's Office were called to the scene to investigate. The coroner's office has not yet identified the man and the woman pending notification of their families.
Investigators believe both deaths were the result of overdoses and, according to IMPD, foul play is not suspected at this time.
Overdose deaths have become a tragic trend both locally and across the country.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates more than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year, setting another record in the nation's escalating overdose epidemic.
The CDC released that estimate in May. The provisional 2021 total translates to roughly one U.S. overdose death every 5 minutes. It marked a 15% increase from the previous record, set the year before. The CDC reviews death certificates and then makes an estimate to account for delayed and incomplete reporting.
In central Indiana, authorities are investigating more overdoses than ever before - especially those caused by fentanyl.
In 2021, Marion County had 641 fentanyl deaths. That's more than the county's 2020 total of all overdose deaths combined.
Johnson County's coroner reports 95% of their overdose deaths involve fentanyl. In Madison County, the coroner said they had 42 fentanyl deaths in 2021. By the first week of May this year, they already had 20 and, on May 3 alone, they had two, back-to-back.
