The couple was found dead side-by-side. Source:Facebook''It was like Romeo and Juliet.''
A young couple in the US have been discovered laying together in an embrace, after having died from an apparent drug overdose.
Michelle Avila and Christian Kent were young, loved surfing and were known for their 'perfect' relationship.
However their family and friends would be left shattered out of the blue, after the couple came home from a party one evening.
The couple wished Michelle's parents goodnight and went to bed.
But sadly when her mother went to check in on the couple later, she found them dead in Michelle’s bed.
Their shocking deaths have highlighted the growing problem of opioid addiction in the Orange County beach community in Southern California.
Michelle’s father Paulo Avila searched his daughter’s room for clues that she was a drug user, and found none, The Orange Country Register reported.
He said, through tears, the only reason he could find strength to talk about their drug overdose was to let other parents know “their kids are not safe.”
Michelle and Christian had both been sick with a cold and were taking antibiotics. Michelle wasn’t drinking because she was unwell.
Michelle Avila, 23, and Christian Kent, 20. Picture: Facebook''What happened to get to that point?''
According to Michelle’s parents, she wasn’t much of a party person, choosing instead to spend her time with Christian and their close group of friends in their Newport Beach area.
After they came home about 12.30am, Michelle wished her mother good night and laid out her clothes for a 6am shift at a Newport Beach coffee shop where she worked.
When her mother Adriana Avila came home from work at 4pm, she found the couple dead in bed.
“Two beautiful kids,” Mr Avila told Coast Report Online. “It was like Romeo and Juliet. They both died and they were hugging each other.”
It will take months for Michelle and Christian’s toxicology reports to be completed, but Mr Avila is now certain they died from a drug overdose after talking to police and experts.
However, he told The Orange County Register that he has more questions than answers.
“What happened to those kids?” he asked. “What did they do? What happened to get to that point?”
A study released last year by The Orange County Health Agency found that drug overdose deaths have increased by 88 per cent between 2000 and 2015, and nearly half of all deaths were due to accidental prescription drug overdoses.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for Michelle, which has so far raised more than $7000, which her father hopes to use for a program educating young people about drug use.
“My mission is to send a message,” Mr Avila said. “To show how beautiful people can go through something like that. You’re protected by nothing.”
