Crime & Safety

Police ID Man Who Died from Possibly Tainted Heroin

Simone Sclafani, 37, died after being found unconscious and not breathing in a Portsmouth apartment on Wednesday.

Portsmouth Police on Friday released the name of the man who died of an overdose from possibly tainted heroin.

The man, Simone Sclafani, 37, is not a resident of Portsmouth and at the time of his death did not have a permanent address.

Portsmouth Police and Fire responded to a Portsmouth apartment at 4 p.m. on Wednesday and found Sclafani not breathing. Police are not releasing the location where he was found at this time. Sclafani was transported to Portsmouth Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:40 p.m.

The medical examiner has not yet determined a cause of death, but Portsmouth Police are pursuing the incident as a heroin overdose. Two other overdoses were reported in the same 24-hour period, and police are investigating the possibility that there's a tainted strain of the drug going around.

Anyone with information about this incident or with other drug information is urged to contact Detective Adam Kozlowski at 603-610-7538.

You can also contact Seacoast Crime Stoppers by leaving an anonymous tip at 603-431-1199 or at seacoastcrimestoppers.org. Or you can text your tip to CRIMES (274637) with the letters "TIPSCS" and leave your tip that way. If your tip leads to an arrest or indictment of the individual, you could receive a cash reward of up to $1,000.


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