Composite story
Two Ole Miss students found dead in Oxford as officials warn on kratom
Oxford, MississippiPublished 25 Sep 2026
Adam Jones, Ph.D. / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Aidan Hamilton, 18, and Robert Strang, 20, died Monday. Packaged kratom was at both scenes. A cause has not been confirmed.
University of Mississippi students Aidan Hamilton, an 18-year-old freshman from Englewood, Colorado, and Robert Strang, a 20-year-old junior from Atlanta, were found dead on Monday, Sept. 21, in Oxford. Hamilton was at Stewart Hall on campus. Strang was at an off-campus house on Van Buren Avenue. Lafayette County Metro Narcotics said packaged retail kratom was found in both investigations and urged people to avoid it, while saying there is no confirmed evidence the deaths are connected or that kratom caused them. Toxicology is still pending. Gov. Tate Reeves said state narcotics investigators are helping speed those tests. Greek organizations had already warned members about cychlorphine, a synthetic opioid officials have not linked to these deaths.
Disputed facts
None yet.
Disputed opinions
None yet.
‘They’re all scared’: Grief and unanswered questions surround deaths of two University of Mississippi students
Published 23 Sep 2026 accessed 25 Sep 2026
Facts
Dispatch records say responders attempted CPR on Hamilton at Stewart Hall.
The university declined to confirm or deny the names of the two students who died.
In Mississippi cities and counties where kratom is legal, it is sold at convenience stores, CBD stores, and smoke and vape shops.
Those announcements told members to avoid unprescribed substances and to use naloxone for a suspected overdose.
The FDA has not approved kratom.
Kratom use led to more than 3,400 poison-control reports from 2014 to 2019, including reports of death.
Lafayette County Metro Narcotics said it will release any public-safety threat through official sources.
Many Greek organizations canceled social events that week out of respect for the deaths.
Rafters, a bar on the Oxford Square, closed for the evening of Sept. 22 because of the deaths.
Alpha Tau Omega held a prayer vigil on Wednesday, Sept. 23, at the chapter house.
Many students posted on Yik Yak, where enrolled Ole Miss students can write anonymously.
About 150 students and local religious leaders attended the vigil.
Darryl Harlan, a senior from Pearl and a resident assistant at Residential Hall 3, spoke about the deaths.
Neither Hamilton nor Strang was in Alpha Tau Omega, but the chapter wanted a place for students to grieve.
Opinion
The Daily Mississippian said criticism of the university’s response is widespread while the deaths remain under investigation.
The Daily Mississippian said students across campus are widely concerned about how little the university has said and about kratom and similar substances.
The graduate student said there is an element of shame in the deaths.
The Daily Mississippian said those posts were largely disparaging of the university’s response.
Chapter chaplain Adam Spector, a junior from Brentwood, Tennessee, said he wanted to bring the grieving community together.
2 University of Mississippi Students Found Dead, Causes of Death Unknown
Published 23 Sep 2026 accessed 25 Sep 2026
Facts
Police found one student on campus and the other in the city of Oxford.
One call to police suggested one death might be some kind of overdose.
State Health Officer Dan Edney told the Mississippi Free Press on Sept. 23 that the risk of narcotic contamination is serious whatever the causes were.
Edney said any Mississippian can get free Narcan, a nasal spray that can revive someone in a respiratory overdose.
Free Narcan and instructions are available at odfree.org.
The Daily Mississippian first reported the Greek organizations’ cychlorphine message.
The plant’s main alkaloid is mitragynine, and a concentrated derivative, 7-hydroxymitragynine, is now sold at gas stations and convenience stores.
Edney told the Mississippi Free Press that the health department had not yet tracked cychlorphine in Mississippi, but that he was sure it was coming.
Tennessee has had confirmed deaths from cychlorphine.
Gov. Tate Reeves offered condolences and said the investigation into the deaths would move quickly.
Reeves said the state will keep supporting the investigation and providing resources local law enforcement requests.
Opinion
Edney said the Legislature should let the health department watch drugs arriving on the coasts and schedule them before they reach Mississippi.
2 Ole Miss students found dead, officials urge public to disregard misinformation
Published 22 Sep 2026 accessed 25 Sep 2026
Facts
Free Narcan is in vending machines on campus and at the downtown Oxford parking garage.
Opinion
No opinion marked.
Ole Miss students grapple with loss after two classmates die in separate incidents
Published 23 Sep 2026 accessed 25 Sep 2026
Facts
Fort said the student lived in Stewart Hall with him.
Allen said he was walking from class to his building when he saw the response.
Kratom is not illegal across the rest of Mississippi.
Black ribbons were placed on fraternity houses on Fraternity Row in memory of the two students.
Opinion
Fort said that if it was a drug death he would not recommend taking any drugs.
Pain and precaution at Ole Miss after two mysterious student deaths
Published 23 Sep 2026 accessed 25 Sep 2026
Facts
Narcan vending machines in dorms and at the Square parking garage were sold out as welfare checks spread across campus.
Ole Miss student Ethan Prince said students are checking on each other to make sure they are safe.
Reeves wrote that parents should talk to their children about the dangers of illegal drugs.
Pope said the bureau’s message is not to take pills that were not prescribed by a doctor and dispensed by a pharmacy.
The deaths came after a football win over LSU.
About 400 miles away in Knoxville, the University of Tennessee is preparing to host Texas.
Opinion
Reeves said Mississippi will put those criminals behind bars and do everything it can to stop them.
Reeves said there has never been a more dangerous time to be a young person in America.
Bureau of Narcotics director Phillip Pope said “one pill can kill” is not an exaggeration.
Reeves said drug dealers and traffickers keep chasing profit no matter the damage they leave.
Pope said taking those pills is playing Russian roulette.
Reeves called that a terrible reality of living in 2026.
WMC called that weekend celebrated.
Ole Miss names students found dead as official addresses potential for foul play
Published 24 Sep 2026 accessed 25 Sep 2026
Facts
The school identified the students and said the names were being released with their families’ approval.
Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell said authorities have not found indications of foul play but have not ruled it out.
Strang’s family spokesman Scott Sayres said the family is heartbroken and trying to process the loss.
Tindell said both deaths happened around the same time, or at least within a few hours, which was suspicious.
Hamilton’s family said Aidan was a bright, wonderful young man who was taken too soon and is greatly missed.
Tindell said the timing is suspicious, but he does not know of a direct link unless both ingested a substance from the same source.
Hamilton’s family thanked people for prayers and support and asked for privacy.
Social media posts from Ole Miss Phi Delta Theta identify Strang as one of seven co-chairmen of 2026 rush.
Vice Chancellor Shawnboda Mead said two grieving families are at the center of the deaths.
Phi Delta Theta’s Ole Miss chapter issued a statement after the university and asked for prayers for both students.
Opinion
Fox News described those circumstances as suspicious.
Fox News said kratom has been derided as gas-station heroin.