Pills found near dead Ole Miss student didn't come from gas station after feds raid store, owner says

FIRST ON FOX: The owner of the gas station where investigators say Robert Strang bought synthetic kratom denies that the pills found near the student's body came from his store.Court documents show that Ole Miss students Strang, 20, and Aidan Hamilton, 18, were found dead on Sept.21, each discovered near similar packages of synthetic kratom.

Authorities said Hamilton "could have died due to a Pulmonary Edema," a conclusion consistent with a drug overdose.First responders who arrived at Strang's residence near campus found him "cold to the touch," according to dispatch audio.A narcotics agent wrote in an affidavit that the pills found near both students were Smax Pseudo-DHM, and listed pseudoindoxyl and MGM-15(DHM) among the ingredients found on the pack near Hamilton.

The Drug Enforcement Administration temporarily placed mitragynine pseudoindoxyl in Schedule I on Aug.26, which bars its sale.A Mississippi law enforcement agent investigating the Ole Miss students' deaths said he believes "pseudoindoxyl" refers to that compound, and lab results confirming the pills' contents are pending, court documents say.KRATOM INDUSTRY WARNS SYNTHETIC OPIOIDS SHOULD NOT BE CALLED 'KRATOM'Robert Strang and Aidan Hamilton in a split image provided by their families.

(Strang family, Kathleen Hamilton/Facebook)After speaking with Strang's roommates, agents learned he had been buying "Smax" pills at Express Mart #7, a gas station in Water Valley, Mississippi, a little over 20 minutes from Ole Miss.An undercover Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics agent later bought a similar form of Smax Pseudo pills at the store.

The package lists pseudoindoxyl as its ingredient, which the narcotics agent says he believes is short for mitragynine pseudoindoxyl.Ibrahim Aydah, the owner of the gas station, told Fox News Digital he doesn't believe the "Smax" pills found near Strang came from his store.He said he doesn't put price labels on his products, while the pack near Strang had a price on it, also...