Second Avon High school student dies from suspected drug overdose in just over a month
Noah Pillow was an Avon High School freshman and active member of the club lacrosse team when he died.
Hendricks County Sheriff's Office deputies found him after they were called Saturday before 11 a.m. to the 1000 block of Scarlet Quarry Circle, near Avon. Pillow died at an Indianapolis hospital.
The school had lost one of its own with his passing, Principal Matt Shockley wrote in a message to families. The principal said he had spoken to Pillow’s father after hearing the news.
Out of that conversation, Shockley said, he wanted to share — with permission — some of the circumstances surrounding Pillow’s death out of concern for the rest of the school’s students.
Pillow died from a drug overdose.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of this young man,” Shockley wrote.
It isn't the first time an Avon student had died from drugs this year.
The teen’s death marks the second Avon High student to pass away under similar circumstances in a little over a month.
On March 15, a 15-year-old Avon High Schooler was found dead in his bed. A plastic bag with blue pills was nearby. The Hendricks County Coroner's Office later ruled he died from fentanyl intoxication. Police arrested an Avon High Schooler on preliminary drug-dealing charges stemming from the 15-year-old's death after investigators in court records said he told them he’d sold about 10 pills laced with fentanyl the day before.
Synthetic fentanyl has caused fatal overdoses across the country to markedly increase in recent years, including in Marion County. The opioid is about 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Often, the illicit drug is laced with other drugs or counterfeit pills, sometimes without the user's knowledge.
The Hendricks County Sheriff's Office declined to say what drug may be involved in Pillow's case, citing the ongoing investigation.
Crisis counselors were made available for students and staff following his death. Special accommodations were offered to the lacrosse team and their families, district officials said.
In the aftermath of Pillow’s passing, the district also has scheduled a public information session about the substance abuse epidemic at Avon Middle School’s North Auditorium at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 18.
Contact Sarah Nelson at 317-503-7514 or sarah.nelson@indystar.com
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Avon student dies from suspected drug overdose weeks after teen died