DRUG-DEATH LIST GROWS BY THREE NAMES

Source Is Still Unknown

Three names were added to the list of people suspected of dying from a drug
overdose, the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office said Tuesday.

Fourteen of the 18 weekend victims had a mixture of cocaine and opiates --
possibly heroin -- in their systems, the medical examiner's office confirmed.

Preliminary toxicology testing continued Tuesday -- one day after officials
scrambled to warn the public about the rash of suspected drug-related
deaths in northeast Houston. The victims ranged from a 16-year-old girl to
a 46-year-old man, officials said.

The fatal heroin-cocaine mixture ultimately was not detected in four of the
suspected victims. While the tests indicated 39-year-old David Torres had
opiates in his system, pathologists said it was "certainly possible" they
had been prescribed for a medical condition that included kidney failure
and diabetes.

Kimberly Klein, 33, also later tested negative for the combination, a
medical examiner's release said.

Four people died Saturday and 11 on Sunday. Of the three people added
Tuesday, authorities detected the cocaine and opiate mixture only in the
system of Marco A. Martinez, 26.

The cocaine and opiate mixture is commonly referred to on the street as a
"speedball."

"Historically, it is normally a single pure drug that causes these kinds of
deaths. A combination is new," said Dr. Joye Carter, the Harris County
medical examiner.

A syringe containing a brown substance discovered on one of the victims had
a mixture of heroin, cocaine and lidocaine. Small bags of a similar brown
powder -- also containing the cocaine-heroin compound -- were found on
another victim.

Although the combination appears to be the most likely single culprit
behind the deaths, the potency of the narcotics also may have played a role.

"It could be extremely high-grade heroin," said Lt. Gray Smith of the
Houston Police Department's narcotics division.

Mexican black tar heroin -- so named because of its dark coloring and
pliable appearance -- is the most common variety in Houston and is about 40
percent pure, Smith said.

However, a more lethal variety of heroin comes from Colombia or the Golden
Triangle of Southeast Asia.

"It could very easily be 90 percent plus" pure, Smith said.

Carter said her office would be working "hand in hand" with law enforcement
officials to get to the bottom of the outbreak.

"It gives a lot of information for the police to continue to work with us
as a team," Carter said.

Because there hasn't been a repeat of the initial rash of victims, HPD
Chief C.O. Bradford said the wave of overdose deaths may finally have crested.

"It appears that the stuff is all used up now, or people are responding to
the signal: `Don't take it,' " Bradford said.

However, police investigators are working to determine where the narcotics
came from and how much was released into the community, Bradford said.

"What we're trying to do is work as rapidly as we can through our street
sources to get to the source of this particular substance," Bradford said.
"We have several agencies involved working leads and working intelligence
to determine the source of this."

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has joined the investigation to
determine whether the pipeline runs outside the state.

HPD, however, couldn't confirm whether there was any connection between the
deaths here and a recent outbreak of fatalities in upstate New York
believed to have resulted from a similar cocaine-heroin combination.

Most of the Houston-area deaths occurred in an area bordered roughly by the
Hardy Toll Road, Crosstimbers, Eastex Freeway and Aldine Bender.

"The geographic area is obviously a strong link," said the HPD's Smith.

Marco Martinez, however, died at his home in the 300 block of Sunnyside in
Montgomery County.

"This is the first out of (Harris) county case," said Rudy Flores,
executive administrator for the medical examiner's office.

Officials didn't know if the narcotics were purchased in Harris County and
brought to Montgomery County.

Police said there were a number of overdose cases that weren't fatal. A
young man about 17 or 18 years old survived but a teen-age girl he was with
apparently died of an overdose.

Jennifer A. Rivera, 16, died, but the boy with her Sunday afternoon at a
house in the 400 block of East 16th Street was admitted to Memorial Hermann
Hospital Northwest, police said.

The boy was unable to immediately talk to investigators and has since been
released from the hospital.

Chronicle reporter Peggy O'Hare contributed to this story.