Did the designer drug dubbed "N-Bomb" — said to be the deadliest to date — play a part in the double-murder and face-biting tragedy that occurred near Tequesta, Martin County, Florida?
As suspect Austin Harrouff remains hospitalized following the alleged stabbing deaths of a Jupiter couple and the injury to a neighbor who jumped in to try to save them, some medical professionals say that Harrouff’s bizarre behavior may be the result of a relatively new super drug that some takers may think is LSD.
Toxicology tests on double-murder suspect Austin Harrouff were negative for cocaine, marijuana, meth and opiates, and further blood tests are being processed that will be able to identify chemicals used in flakka and bath salts.
Deborah Mash, a professor and director of the Excited Delirium Education, Research and Information Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said bath salts remain very hard to detect in drug tests.
That was the case with Rudy Eugene, who in May 2012 attacked a homeless man in Miami for 18 minutes, beating him unconscious and then chewing off most of his upper face. Police shot Eugene dead after he refused to heed their warning to stop biting the victim.
>>Read more about the double murder case
The N-Bomb bath salt — its name derived from its chemical acronym 2C-I-NBOMe — hit the market in 2010, and unlike other bath salts, it works on both of the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin, Mash said. Neurotransmitters communicate information between the brain and the body.
“High concentrations of serotonin has been shown in tests with lab rats to induce this type of gnawing,” Mash said.
Harrouff stormed out of restaurant on Monday night, and ended up near his father’s home in southern Martin County. He attacked John Stevens and Michelle Mishcon, who were lounging in their garage, with his pocket knife, killing both.
Deputies came upon Harrouff, hunched over Stevens, biting his victim’s face to the point that it left substantial damage, according to Martin County Sheriff William Snyder.
Mash speculated that a drug like N-Bomb triggered an already underlying mental illness, such as bipolar disorder, in Harrouff resulting in a psychotic violent break.
“They get this stuff through the Internet. These new designer drugs are made in China, and they think they are taking LSD,” Mash said. “These are very potent drugs with other contaminants. These kids don’t know and they get this stuff and it is just dangerous and deadly crap.”
While other drugs, such as crack cocaine, have been linked to excited delirium — a type of violent psychosis — Mash said what appears to have occurred with Harrouff is a different kind of toxic reaction.
“Excited delirium people don’t bite,” she said. “It is only recently that we are hearing of this because of these new designer bath salts.”
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