BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | Two men found lifeless in a Lower East Side apartment three months ago died due to “acute intoxication” from a combination of substances — including acetyl fentanyl, a highly dangerous street drug — according to the city’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner.
Both men also had been drinking, while one had also been using oxycodone and the other, cocaine, the M.E. said.
Police responding on March 21 to Apartment 6D at 155 Ridge St. found the bodies of Loren Kirby, 59, who lived there, and Julio Fabian, 47, a resident of E. Fourth Walk in the East Village’s Lillian Wald Houses. The two were declared dead at the scene.
Kirby’s roommate had reportedly become worried after the pair didn’t emerge from the room for sometime — possibly as long as a day or two — and had opened Kirby’s door to find the grim scene, after which he called police.
Following toxicology tests for each man, last week, Julie Bolcer, the medical examiner’s director of public affairs, gave their causes of death.
“For Kirby, the cause of death is acute intoxication by the combined effects of acetyl fentanyl, oxycodone and ethanol,” she said. “For Fabian, the cause of death is acute intoxication by the combined effects of cocaine, acetyl fentanyl and ethanol.”
The manner of death for both was listed as “accident.”
Acetyl fentanyl is a designer-drug opioid that is reportedly 15 times more powerful than heroin. Fentanyl derivatives have killed hundreds in Europe and former Soviet Union countries.
Linda Griggs, a friend and neighbor of Kirby’s, tipped The Villager off about his and Fabian’s deaths after they occurred this spring. Griggs said Kirby was a “hairdresser to the stars” with a national clientele.
Back in April, when The Villager called the police press department to confirm the two men’s deaths and their identities, a spokesperson did so — yet gave Kirby’s gender as female. The police spokesperson said he couldn’t give an explanation for the confusion and suggested calling the M.E. But M.E. spokesperson Bolcer said that, due to privacy reasons, they couldn’t provide any information other than cause and manner of death.
Kirby’s final entry on Facebook was Fri., March 18, at 9:39 p.m., when he shared a post by Lady Bunny — the famed New York drag queen and founder of Wigstock.
