The Milwaukee County medical examiner is trying to determine if a four-year-old boy died from a drug overdose. They’re still working to confirm a tentative cause of death for Tyranne Beckless — and it will take a few weeks for toxicology test results to come in.
Two people are in jail in connection with the boy’s death. Tyranne was found dead in his north side Milwaukee home last Saturday. Ken Hartenstein is a drug counselor at Rogers Memorial Hospital. “Some of these drugs that are out there are powerful enough to kill a fully grown adult,” he said. “A young child . . . absolutely. It’s quite a danger.”
At least six other children younger than five have died from drug overdoses in Milwaukee County during the past 19 months. In addition, the medical examiner’s office said that as of Tuesday, 57 of the 72 deaths in Milwaukee County this year have been linked to opioids.
On Monday, the medical examiner’s office reported Wisconsin’s first death linked to carfentanil, a dangerous synthetic opioid which has been linked to overdose deaths in a dozen states.