A 24-year-old man who overdosed on Friday afternoon has died. It is the third overdose death in La Porte County in the last seven days.

The La Porte County Sheriff's Office says there has been a spike in overdose cases in the county.

In the last week, ambulance crews have responded to 18 overdose cases. Of those, 15 involved heroin and three involved synthetic marijuana.

Eleven of the patients received doses of Narcan.

The patients have been between the ages of 18 and 58.

Three people have died of suspected overdoses.

A 19-year-old male died Saturday on Montrose Street in La Porte and a 58-year-old female died Friday in the 7800 block of US 6.

The third victim, a 24-year-old on I Street in La Porte, overdosed on Friday and has since died, according to deputies.

The La Porte County Drug Task Force is investigating.

They have only been able to recover a small amount of the narcotics suspected in these cases. Evidence that is recovered will be sent to a lab for analysis.
"We have been finding that in a few cases, the scenes are cleaned up before emergency responders arrive which makes this even more difficult. Complicating matters, we are also learning that some people are treating the overdose on their own without every calling for medical assistance," said Task Force Sergeant Andy Hynek.

“Obviously this information is unsettling and we take this matter very seriously. It is shocking to see the numbers and see so many affected. We continue to aggressively investigate the overdose cases. Our partners in law enforcement, including the Indiana States Police, La Porte and Michigan City Police departments, remain as committed as ever to helping stem the tide of narcotics related sickness and death," said La Porte County Sheriff John Boyd.