39 More Heroin Deaths: 2018 Will County Breakdown

JOLIET, IL - On Friday, Will County Judge Dave Carlson sentenced 38-year-old Dwight Musson, a convicted drug pusher from Shorewood, to 24 years om prison for drug-induced homicide. Musson was found guilty of the June 2013 heroin death of 18-year-old Joliet West graduate, Becky Sova.

Now, Joliet Patch is examining the number of heroin deaths across Will County so far in 2018. Halfway through the year, at least 39 people have died from heroin and fentanyl drug overdoses, according to the latest statistics compiled by Will County Coroner Patrick K. O'Neil's staff.

At the current rate, Will County will likely approach the county's 2017 overdose totals of 85 heroin and fentanyl deaths. It's also worth noting that the current totals for the first half of 2018 may still increase. It often takes four to six weeks for toxicology results. At the time of Will County's most recent data set, updated July 10, only two heroin deaths were listed for the entire month of June.

Here's a by the numbers breakdown for Will County's 39 heroin and Fentanyl deaths so far in 2018:

COMMUNITY BREAKDOWN

13

The number of heroin deaths around Joliet. Eleven were in the city and two were in Joliet Township.

5

The number of heroin deaths in New Lenox or New Lenox Township. After Joliet, which is the third largest city in the state, New Lenox was the only community in Will County to have had at least five heroin deaths through the first half of 2018. Two of those deaths were the younger brothers Mark Harmon, a criminal defendant who is slated to stand trial in the coming weeks for the December 2014 heroin death of a 30-year-old New Lenox resident.

6

The combined total of heroin deaths for Homer Glen and Lockport Township. Each jurisdiction has had three fatalities already this year.

16

The number of communities around Will County with at least one heroin death in 2018.

3

That's how many communities have lost two people to heroin in 2018: Mokena, Bolingbrook and Romeoville.

9

The number of communities with one heroin death in 2018: Braidwood, Channahon, Crest Hill, Frankfort, Manhattan, Plainfield Township, Shorewood, Tinley Park and Wilmington.

AGE DEMOGRAPHICS

17

That's how many people in their 30s have died from heroin in 2018. People in their 30s have been the largest group of Will County heroin users to die during the first six months of the year.

11

The number of deaths involving people in their twenties.

6

A half dozen people in their forties have died from heroin this year.

2

Two people in their fifties as well as two teenagers have died from heroin in 2018.

1

One person in their sixties, a 62-year-old Crest Hill resident, died in late March.

FOR MORE PATCH COVERAGE ABOUT HEROIN IN WILL COUNTY:

• Mark Harmon Loses Second Brother To Drugs
• 85 Heroin/Fentanyl Deaths In 2017
• Dwight Musson Guilty In Becky Sova's Heroin Death
• Carlson Gives Dwight Musson Long Prison Term

Main image via from 2016 Joliet Patch article on the winners of State's Attorney James Glasgow's Dangers of Heroin Art Scholarship Contest.