Packages on Nightstands, and a Store Raided Too Late

There are warnings that arrive too late, and there are warnings that were never meant to be ignored. In a vape shop near the University of Mississippi, a clerk allegedly told an undercover informant to be careful with the pills he was selling because "people were dying from them" . Weeks earlier, according to court documents, an eighteen-year-old freshman named Aidan Hamilton had walked into that same store and bought the same product .

Hamilton was found dead in his dorm room on September 21. That same day, twenty-year-old Robert Strang was found unresponsive at an off-campus residence. Both had packages of "Smax Pseudo-DHM" near them—a chewable, concentrated tablet marketed as a kratom-like substance but banned for sale in Oxford since 2019 .

Court records filed in Lafayette County describe a quiet but troubling commerce. Hamilton's bank records showed purchases at Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer Store on September 9, 14, and 20—the last just a day before he was found dead . Strang bought his from an Express Mart in Yalobusha County . When investigators sent a confidential informant into Puffs on September 24, the clerk allegedly pulled a package from a drawer beneath the register, told the informant to keep quiet when other customers entered, and warned him to be cautious because the pills were killing people .

The search warrant that followed yielded more than 500 units of kratom, along with THC cartridges, gummies, and other suspected substances. Two employees—Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and Islam Mohamed, 18—were arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute . The store's owner, Amer Alowdi, had been indicted in 2022 on narcotics trafficking charges and reportedly fled the country before prosecution .

What role kratom played in the students' deaths remains undetermined. Toxicology results are pending, and the affidavit explicitly notes that the pills have not been confirmed as the cause . Strang's roommates told investigators he had taken a Xanax bar the day before and used nitrous oxide "whippets" daily . Hamilton's roommate said he smoked marijuana but did not use hard drugs . The medical examiner believed the deaths were consistent with overdose, but the investigation continues .

The affidavit describes a product that occupies a gray space in American commerce: sold openly in some jurisdictions, banned in others, marketed as herbal but capable of producing narcotic-like effects. Preliminary testing found 7-hydroxymitragynine in some of the seized pills, a compound found in kratom, but the lab could not test for several other compounds listed on the packaging . The full picture awaits further analysis.

Aidan Hamilton loved the outdoors, his family wrote in an obituary—hiking, backpacking, a life "marked by warmth, energy, friendship" . Robert Strang "passed away peacefully in his sleep," his family said, leaving "an immeasurable void" . Ole Miss has offered counseling to students. The investigation into what happened to these two young men, and why a clerk felt compelled to whisper a warning to a stranger, is not yet complete.

Image Disclaimer: This article's illustration was created using artificial intelligence tools.

Sources: New York Post, Fox News, WLBT, WAPT, SuperTalk Mississippi, Total News