Court documents unsealed this week detail the final days of two University of Mississippi students who died hours apart earlier this month, tracing purchases of a product called SMAX Pseudo-DHM to convenience stores in Oxford and nearby Water Valley before their deaths. Robert Strang, a 20-year-old junior from Atlanta, and Aidan Hamilton, an 18-year-old freshman from Englewood, Colorado, were found dead on Sept. 21 — Hamilton in his on-campus dorm room and Strang at a separate location in Oxford.
Strang's death was confirmed by his family, who said he was one of two Ole Miss students found dead over the weekend, according to 95.5 WSB. Strang was a 2024 graduate of North Atlanta High School, according to 11Alive. Law enforcement officials are conducting investigations into the deaths of the two students, one of whom was from Atlanta, per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
What Investigators Found
Court documents detailed by Atlanta News First lay out a timeline of purchases in the days leading up to both deaths. Investigators found a packet of SMAX on Strang's nightstand and traced his purchases to Express Mart #7 in Water Valley, where he visited the store twice — on Sept. 9 and again on Sept. 11, the outlet reports. Bank records showed Hamilton made purchases at Puffs Vape Tobacco and Beer in Oxford on Sept. 9, Sept. 14 and Sept. 20, the day before he died, and investigators also found SMAX pills in his dorm room.
The autopsies on both young men remain pending, and the cause and manner of death have not been determined, per the same account. Officials had not confirmed that kratom or any other substance was a contributing factor in either death, the AJC reported. Packaged kratom was found during each of the death investigations, but no definitive link has been made between kratom and the deaths, according to NBC News.
Arrests at an Oxford Store
The deaths led investigators to a search warrant executed at Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer Store on Heritage Drive in Oxford, according to Action News 5. Yahya Mohamed Mosleh and Islam Mohamed were arrested and charged with possession of Schedule I controlled substances with intent to distribute, the station reports. Officials have not officially linked the arrested employees or the stores to the Sept. 21 deaths, according to ABC News.
The Drug Enforcement Administration temporarily placed mitragynine pseudoindoxyl and MGM-15 — compounds tied to synthetic kratom-like products — on the federal Schedule I list on Aug. 26, according to Atlanta News First's review of court records. American Kratom Association senior fellow Mac Haddow said people are being misled about initial reports on Strang's death, arguing that natural kratom is not implicated in the case. The organization has said it has fought to keep the kratom marketplace safe, while separately describing the synthetic products purchased by the two students as federally banned substances that should not have been sold.
Calls for a Statewide Ban
The deaths have prompted Mississippi leaders and lawmakers to call for a crackdown on kratom and kratom-like products, according to Atlanta News First. Mississippi Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell raised the question of whether the state needs to go further, asking, “are we at the point where we need a statewide ban on kratom?” A bill introduced for the state's 2026 legislative session, House Bill 1750, proposes adding kratom to Schedule III of Mississippi's Uniform Controlled Substances Act.
Kratom is an herbal extract that can be stimulating or sedating depending on the dosage taken, according to NBC News. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported an increase in poison calls involving kratom, including synthetic 7-OH products, according to NewsNation. The Food and Drug Administration has separately warned consumers not to use kratom because of the risk of serious adverse events, including liver toxicity, seizures and substance use disorder, per the FDA. Officials have reported there is no confirmed connection between Strang and Hamilton beyond the timing of their deaths and the products found in their possession, and investigators have cautioned against drawing conclusions before toxicology results are complete.
