OXFORD, Miss. – An Ole Miss student says she believes she was drugged at an Oxford bar over the weekend, just days before two students were found dead. The incidents have heightened concern across the college town, prompting local bars to increase security measures.
Lafayette County Metro Narcotics said investigators are examining the deaths of two college-aged people whose bodies were found at separate locations. Authorities have not identified a link between the cases, although packaged kratom bought from a retail store was recovered during both investigations.
“We do not have confirmed information indicating that kratom or any other substance was a contributing factor in either death,” the agency said.
Fans enjoy tailgating before the Mississippi Rebels play the LSU Tigers at The Grove near Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss., on Sept. 30, 2023. (Getty Images)
Ole Miss student Mary Harvey told News Media that she went to Oxford bars Saturday night to watch the Rebels play Louisiana State University. She said she later realized she had been drugged and remembers little of the evening.
“Later into that night, around the time when the game ended, I do not remember a single thing. And I was told by a boy that was there that I fell down,” Harvey said.
Ole Miss, also known as the University of Mississippi, expects an immense turn out of attendees for the TPUSA event featuring JD Vance and Erika Kirk. (News Media)
Harvey said police placed her in an Uber and sent her to her dorm. Once she arrived, other students had to assist her in reaching her room.
“Later after that, my roommate got in the shower and she said while she was in the shower, I went missing. And she left the dorm to find me and was searching everywhere, searched every floor. But on her way back from searching, she found me passed out in the hall of my dorm,” Harvey said.
Harvey said she no longer feels “safe in my dorm building.” In a Facebook post, she wrote that “people are scared to leave their dorm rooms.”
“I feel like everything is just kind of getting swept under the rug and covered up when it should be addressed like immediately,” she said.
Ole Miss student Kenneth Tonos, who provides security for several campus fraternities and sororities, told News Media that at least three Greek life events were canceled after the two deaths. He said bars are also adding precautions, including stricter screening to monitor exactly what patrons bring inside.
Ole Miss cheerleaders run the flag through the end zone during the Rebels’ game against LSU at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Sept. 19, 2026. (John Korduner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
A University of Mississippi spokesman told News Media that both people who died were enrolled as students at the university.
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Authorities are handling the deaths as separate investigations and have not determined whether drugs or another substance played a role. The county coroner’s office told Fox News on Wednesday that both victims were male. One was 18 and died in a dorm room; the other was 20 and died at an off-campus home.
The coroner’s office has not released their names. Toxicology testing remains pending and may take several weeks to complete.
Officials urged the public “to avoid speculation regarding the circumstances or cause of either death while these investigations remain ongoing.”
A crowd gathers in The Grove before the college football game between the LSU Tigers and Ole Miss Rebels on Sept. 27, 2025, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss. (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“Local, state and federal partners are working collaboratively to gather the facts and provide answers as quickly and responsibly as possible. We are also working closely with the families involved and ask that their privacy be respected during an incredibly difficult time,” Lafayette County Metro Narcotics said.
A University of Mississippi spokesman told News Media Wednesday that several viral claims about drugs on campus are untrue, including reports that additional students were missing or unaccounted for.
Daily Mississippian Editor-in-Chief Raegan Settle told News Media that she wants more transparency from campus officials after the deaths of two students and subsequent drug investigation, urging leadership to issue safety warnings as national media attention mounts.
“The one main thing that I’ve heard repeatedly today is students being frustrated with the university that they haven’t said more,” Settle told News Media. “I think people are just waiting for more warnings and communication from the university and not just local law enforcement.”
The two student deaths are under investigation. (Via: Trey Wallace. OutKick)
Settle urged her peers to carry life-saving harm reduction tools like naloxone (Narcan).
“Getting a high or getting a nicotine feel is really not worth your life and risking your safety,” Settle warned. “And also… be the one who keeps Narcan in your purse. I know that I keep it in mine just in case.”
News Media reached out to the Oxford Police Department and Ole Miss for comment.