A cluster of heroin overdoses — including one fatal — in late July don’t appear to be connected, but police and health officials remain concerned.

A 38-year-old Rainier man who died July 21 was one of five heroin overdose victims admitted to the St. John critical care unit the weekend of July 18.

“(He) knew it was bad news,” said the victim’s cousin, Jodie Langdon of Rainier. “I guess the pressure just got so bad and he tried it.”

The unusual number of heroin overdoses caused St. John staff, the Cowlitz County Health Department and police detectives, including the Street Crimes Unit, to take a close look.

As of Tuesday, detectives had not found any links between the users or any suggestion that particularly potent heroin is circulating in the area, said Longview Police Detective Sgt. Mike Hallowell. Detectives found plausible explanations for the bad reactions, such as low tolerance due to not using in a long time, or drinking alcohol while high on heroin, he said.

In one Longview case, two 20-year-olds split a bag of heroin and smoked it July 20. Although both had used heroin in the past, the man overdosed and the woman didn’t. The man who overdosed had not used heroin in seven months, according to his friend.

She told police they got the heroin from “an unknown source” — a typical story, Hallowell said.

“The circumstances of narcotics overdose are somewhat secretive,” he said.

Based on available information, “We’re not finding there’s a pattern through the Street Crimes Unit talking with sources on the street in that lifestyle,” he said. Also, “we’re not gathering info that there’s a hot batch or a bad batch here in town.”

PeaceHealth St. John spokesman Randy Querin said Tuesday the hospital alerted the health department to get information out to affected groups.

“It’s not unusual to have heroin (cases) in the critical care unit,” Querin said. “It is unusual to have five over the course of three days.”

Querin said nine overdose patients came into the hospital’s Emergency Department between July 17-21. He did not know how many of those cases involved heroin. Some of the patients were transferred to critical care, some to regular hospital units, and the rest were discharged, he said.

Langdon, 49, blamed her cousin’s overdose on inexperience. The doctor found no evidence of prior heroin use, such as needle marks, she said. She had warned him about it because she is a former addict, she said.

“I told him, ‘Don’t ever think you can do a hit of heroin and it’ll be OK,’ ” she said.

She said her cousin, a construction worker, caved to pressure from a co-worker who has since left town. The man should have given him instructions, she said.

“There’s rules to that drug,” she said. “You don’t just sell it to someone and say, ‘All right then, have a good time.’ ”

Deputy Cowlitz County Coroner Brent Dundas said the victim aspirated, robbing his brain of oxygen. He died after his family agreed to have life support removed. The death has been ruled accidental, Dundas said.

The doctor told the family the amount of the drug in his system was relatively small, Langdon said. “A junkie could have injected 10 times that much and not died.”

Since that week, there has not been another spike in heroin overdoses, but detectives are continuing to look for a cause in the July cases, Hallowell said.

“We’re consistently and confidently looking for something that would put the public in danger, no matter their lifestyle or personal choices,” he said.