Utah teen deaths probed amid national synthetic drug wave
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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Police are investigating the deaths of two 13-year-old boys in the Utah ski-resort town of Park City that may be connected to a new synthetic drug found at entertainer Prince’s estate as law enforcement around the country struggles with a national epidemic of opioid drugs.
The deaths of best friends Grant Seaver and Ryan Ainsworth, found by their parents separately within days of each other, were initially a mystery. There were no clues as to what killed the otherwise healthy kids, one of whom was a talented skier, said Park City Police Chief Wade Carpenter.
But on other social media, investigators found conversations about a drug called U-47700, sometimes known as “pink,” Carpenter said. Though they’re waiting on toxicology results to confirm how the two boys died, police have since found evidence of other local kids ordering the drug online, according to search warrants.
It’s among the new drugs being synthesized in clandestine labs and is too new as a recreational drug to be listed among illegal substances in the U.S.
Nearly eight times stronger than morphine, U-47700 has been connected with at least 50 deaths nationwide. It was found in pills at Prince’s estate after the entertainer overdosed on another synthetic opioid, the painkiller fentanyl.
U-47700 was developed by a pharmaceutical manufacturer in the 1970s as a possible alternative to morphine. It’s among the drugs chemists in places like China and Eastern Europe can make with recipes published in online patent records and old scientific journals.
In Park City, two other teens connected with the deceased 13-year-olds ordered the drug online from China and had it shipped to a friend’s house, according to search warrants.
