2 friends found dead in same neighborhood an hour apart

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Investigators are searching for the source of a dangerous drug they believe killed two friends Friday morning.

Authorities now fear others may die if they unknowingly take the dangerous drug.

Police say the bodies were found in their homes in the Turtle Creek Lakes subdivision.

Investigators believe they were accidental overdoses due to tainted drugs and they are desperately trying to find the source before more teens die.

“They'd been buddies for a while,” Jake Tupper told Channel 2’s Tony Thomas.

Tupper knew the men who passed away. Their bodies were discovered within an hour of each other just 18 houses apart.

TRENDING STORIES:

• World falling in love with Georgia father's letter to Ariana Grande
• Police: Teens die an hour apart from tainted drugs
• Watch your step! Snakebites on the rise

“It really scared me. I woke up this morning to a couple of texts from my friends,” Tupper said.

Neighbors say one of the teens was just hours from his graduation ceremony at Mountain View High School. The other was just finishing his first year of college.

Thomas was in the neighborhood Friday as police spoke with family members and neighbors, trying to spread the word about the danger.

Investigators say they aren't sure what the drug was, but the packaging appeared to be the same.

Police said they found white pieces of paper near both bodies.

“It's folded up several different ways to create an envelope and next to that larger piece of paper is a smaller piece of paper shaped like a rectangle. And that's possibly what the drugs were being held in,” Cpl. Michelle Pihera with the Gwinnett County Police Department told Thomas.

Police fear there will be more victims unless the source of the drugs is found and the sales stopped.

“They may not know that they are holding something that is potentially deadly to other people,” Pihera said.

Already, two lives lost on a day they had planned on celebrating.

“It's scary that it's around and it's affecting my friends like that,” Tupper said.

Thomas spoke with the medical examiner’s office Friday. An investigator told him it could be weeks before they know exactly what the drug is. They have to send samples off for testing.

Cox Media Group