Dangerous, addictive opioids – whether they come in the form of a prescription or are bought off the street – are creating one sad story after another, including this recent one from Pennsylvania.

The UK’s Daily Mail reported that a husband and wife were found dead from suspected heroin overdoses after their 7-year-old daughter told school officials she could not wake them up. The medical examiner for Allegheny County identified the deceased as Christopher Dilly, 26, and Jessica Lally, 25. They were discovered in their apartment in McKeesport.

When they were found, police said they also discovered a 9-month-old girl, a 3-year-old boy and a 5-year-old boy inside the apartment. The children were taken to a hospital to be evaluated.

Police Lt. Andrew Schurman said it appeared as though the couple may have been dead a day or two before they were discovered.

The death toll was not limited to Dilly and Lally, however. The Daily Mail reported that on the same block, earlier that day, another fatal heroin overdose occurred.

Cops said they were called to the couple’s home in the 900 block of Evans Ave. around 5 p.m., after their oldest daughter told a counselor at her school that she thought something was wrong with her mom and dad.

Authorities found evidence of drug use inside the apartment where the bodies were found.

A neighbor, Jordon McCallister, told TV station WPXI that he saw the couple’s children the day before, but had not seen their parents.

Family members were shocked and dismayed by the deaths.

“My sister wasn’t the person she became when it came to drugs. She wasn’t the person I knew. It was like the drugs had taken over and at first we didn’t know it was heroin,” Courtney Lally said, as WPIX reported. “She loved her kids — she did. She loved her mom, she loved me, she loved us.”

She also said that once she discovered her sister was a heroin addict she tried to get authorities involved, an effort she said began in February. She also tried contacting local media, sending them pictures of the couple’s deplorable living conditions inside the apartment, and posting pictures to her Facebook page of what appeared to be outrageous squalor. She said people should “flood Facebook with this in till it gets to them,” adding, “I want people to see what dirty bad parents they truly are.”

Courtney Lally said her sister became outraged when she found out and moved the family to McKeesport.

Sources:

DailyMail.co.uk

WPXI.com