San Diego

5 Pounds of Fentanyl Found in Apartment Where Chemistry Teacher Overdosed

The DEA said the amount of fentanyl found was more than 220,000 lethal doses.

A man who died of a fentanyl overdose Friday in his San Diego apartment — where several hundred thousand deadly doses of the illicit synthetic opioid were also found — was identified Monday as a former college chemistry professor.

Multiple sources identified the deceased victim as Gregory Bodemer. Cuyamaca College confirmed Bodemer was an adjunct chemistry professor at the school in the fall of 2016.

Another overdose victim, 46-year-old Rose Griffin, was found in the apartment along with Bodemer, according to the DEA. Griffin was hospitalized and will face drug sale and possession charges.

The DEA Narcotics Task Force said it seized approximately five pounds of pure fentanyl and fentanyl-laced product and a pill press from the apartment, which is more than 226,000 lethal doses.

Fentanyl is 80 to 100 times more powerful than morphine and can be lethal to the touch, according to the DEA.

A hazmat crew was called to assist in the investigation due to the dangers the illicit drug imposes to anyone who comes in contact with it. The hazmat crew, San Diego Police Department officers and DEA investigators were set up in the complex’s parking lot Friday night and into Saturday morning.

Michelle Andretta, a neighbor of Bodemer's, told NBC 7 San Diego Friday she'd recently noticed odd behavior at the apartment. Andretta said Bodemer was once a family man, but said things changed about two years ago when the man’s children and their mother moved out.

On Monday she said she's been tossing and turning at night since Bodemer's death, thinking about everything she didn’t know was going on in the apartment right above her.

"It is very disturbing that Greg died and that I knew there was something weird going on with all these suitcases going in and out. I should have probably maybe investigated a little more," she said.

Bodemer also worked at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, from February 2010 to May 2013, a school representative told NBC 7. He served the Academic Department.

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