Two more deadly drug overdoses leave families grieving and police seeking justice.

It was not the ending that anyone wanted for Forrest Eggleston’s life of 42 years. The local artist and off-road skateboard pioneer who was well-liked throughout the Monterey Peninsula, thanks to his friendly nature and collaborative spirit, was found dead of a suspected drug overdose on the Monterey Peninsula College campus on Tuesday morning, May 14. His friends and family say they knew addiction had been a struggle for Eggleston, but it was not the thing that defined him.

Eggleston’s light “shone brightly” even though he struggled with addiction, says his cousin, Zarosh Eggleston. The two spent time together the day before Eggleston was found dead. “He was the happiest he had ever been,” Zarosh says.

Just three days before, Eggleston spent Mother’s Day with his mom, Maura McPadden. “We had a great day,” she says. Although she knew he had an addiction, “he never went to a dark place, he stayed in the light,” she says. “He was just the friendliest person, he could talk to anyone – and he would.”

Now McPadden is planning his celebration of life, to be held in July, possibly around Eggleston’s birthday on July 30.

“What I realized is nobody chooses [addiction]. It’s something that takes over people and they don’t have the power to stop,” she says. “Nobody chooses this, it just gets a hold of you. As far as fentanyl goes, we have a real scourge in our world right now, because it’s straight-up deadly.”

It won’t be known what drug caused Eggleston’s overdose for up to three months, as toxicology tests are completed by the Monterey County Coroner’s Office, says Monterey Police Lt. Jake Pinkas. Fentanyl is suspected because of how it’s flooded the local drug supply over the last several years.

Another person was found dead of a suspected drug overdose a day later, on Wednesday, May 15, on Lottie Street in Monterey. Both deaths are being investigated by police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Two overdose deaths a day apart and a surge in all overdoses this year prompted MPD to issue a notice to the public. From Jan. 1-May 1, there were 283 reported overdoses, most non-fatal. According to the California State Department of Public Health, Monterey County saw 31 opioid-related deaths in 2022. The total numbers for 2023 are not available, but what is known is that in the second quarter of 2023, the number of overdose deaths was 109.

Every year overdoses and related deaths are increasing, Pinkas says. “We get overdoses every week now,” he adds.

Spike alerts – issued in the county every time there are two or more overdoses reported in a 24-hour period – are happening more frequently. Highly addictive fentanyl is often the cause. And while previously the issue was counterfeit drugs laced with fentanyl with users unaware of the opioid’s presence, police are seeing more straight powdered fentanyl in searches.

Recently, the City of Monterey began making naloxone – the antidote to opioid overdoses – more widely available through free distribution boxes at the Monterey Transit Plaza in downtown, the Monterey Outreach and Navigation Center (401 Camino El Estero), and the Monterey Police Station at 351 Madison St.