Dance drug molly now linked to FOURTH overdose as police fear killer tainted batch has spread throughout East Coast
Mary 'Shelley' Goldsmith, 19, died August 31 at one of Washington, DC's largest nightclubs
While toxicology results are pending, the honors student's father admits Shelley was likely on 'molly,' a term for MDMA or ecstacy
Olivia Rotondo, 20, and Jeffrey Russ, 23, died at New York City's Electric Zoo dance party after taking the drug
Brittany Flannigan, 19, from New Hampshire, died August 28 after apparently overdosing on MDMA at a Boston concert
Another promising young student’s death has now been linked to the club drug called molly, this time in Washington, DC.
University of Virginia sophomore Mary ‘Shelley’ Goldsmith, 19, died August 31 at one of the largest dance clubs in the nation’s capital and her family has now come forward to announce she likely overdosed.
Her death is among four that have been blamed on the drug in East Coast cities in the last several weeks and authorities are investigating whether a single bad batch is to blame for the tragic string of deaths.
Toxicology results have yet to come back for Goldsmith, or any of the victims, but an anonymous DC police source told the Washington Post that ‘Goldsmith’s friends told detectives that she had taken Molly at the club early Saturday.’
As authorities wait to determine if a single batch is to blame for the deaths that now stretch from Boston to Washington, Goldsmith’s father chose to come forward in hopes of preventing more deaths.
Robert G. Goldsmith told the Washington Post that he and his family briefly weighed whether or not to come forward about their daughter’s death after her friends admitted she’d used molly at Echo Stage in Northeast Washington.
‘If her death can open someone’s eyes, then we need to talk about it,’ Goldsmith said.
‘Shelley deserves a legacy of being someone who cared for people, someone who achieved, someone who contributed, and not a druggie who died,’ he said. ‘That’s not who she was.’
Goldsmith hailed from Abingdon, Virginia and was admitted to her prestigious university with the highest possible merit scholarship. She hoped to one day have a career in politics and had the resume full distinctions to help her on her way.
Goldsmith was rushed to Providence Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 3am Sunday.
Her father told the AP she had some sort of ‘heart and pulmonary’ attack.
Managers of the 30,000 square foot Echo Stage said in a statement that they are saddened to hear about her death and that they will cooperate in the ongoing investigation.
The same Saturday as Goldsmith, at the Electric Zoo music festival in New York City, two young people died after taking molly and four other party-goers were sickened.
The deaths of Olivia Rotondo, 20, and Jeffrey Russ, 23, have both been linked to the pure form of ecstasy.
Rotondo reportedly suffered a seizure as she collapsed in front of paramedics before telling them, 'I just took six hits of molly.'
The festival was scheduled to last through Sunday, but its third day of trance music and dancing was cancelled in light of the tragedies.
Rotondo, a Providence, Rhode Island native, died at the hospital Saturday night.
Police believe all six Electric Zoo attendees either overdosed or took tainted doses of the party drug Molly - a potent powder form of MDMA, aka Ecstasy.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...r-killer-tainted-batch-spread-East-Coast.html
