Coroner: Lyndhurst woman who died June 28 in Lorain County Jail was killed by accidental overdose (UPDATED)

An accidental drug overdose killed a Lyndhurst woman who died in the Lorain County Jail in June, the Lorain County Coroner's Office has ruled. Coroner Dr. Frank Miller ruled 30-year-old Melissa Boylan's death accidental, caused by acute intoxication from four different substances. Boylan had the synthetic opioids fentanyl and fluorofentanyl and the veterinary medications medetomidine and xylazine in her body, Miller said. "It's not clear" where Boylan got the drugs, Miller said. Whether she brought them into the jail with her when she was booked 30 hours prior to her death or obtained the drugs from another inmate is still under investigation by the Lorain County Sheriff's Office, he said. Maj. Steve Scharschmidt, commander of the Major Crimes Task Force, said there was "no question" Boylan got her hands on the drugs after she was booked into the jail 30 hours before her death. Scharschmidt said Friday that the ongoing investigation still hasn't revealed how Boylan got the drugs into the jail. No witnesses saw them given to her and no corrections staff are suspected because Boylan was being monitored including by video while in custody, he said. No other inmates overdosed when Boylan did, and her autopsy didn't find any illicit drugs or residue left over as if she had smuggled them in in a body cavity, but Scharschmidt said it is believed she got them in herself then ingested them. "Not that drugs aren't in the jail: We know they are," he said, despite efforts to stop them. Inmates are searched, put through body scanners and the Sheriff's Office employs drug-sniffing K-9s, "but unfortunately, it's still an issue," Scharschmidt said. "When she went into the jail, she wasn't under the influence when she got there," Miller said. "The rest is kind of a mystery." Boylan was found dead at about 7 a.m. June 28 in a housing unit at the jail. She was in a plastic shell bed known as a "boat" used when there are too many inmates and not enough beds. Boylan was being monitored as part of a "detox protocol" because of a history of substance abuse. Deputies did not find any drugs or near her, Scharschmidt said. Boylan had been booked on an Elyria Municipal Court warrant after failing to surrender to serve a 10-day sentence. Middleburg Heights police arrested her during a June 27 traffic stop, handed her over to North Ridgeville police and they took her to the jail 30 hours before her death. Fentanyl and fluorofentanyl are synthetic opioids commonly found mixed with other drugs in the illicit drug supply. Fentanyl can be legally prescribed for pain by a doctor, but it can also be illegally obtained and abused. An analog, meaning a compound with a similar chemical structure to fentanyl, fluorofentanyl has no legitimate medical use, according to the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education. Medetomidine is an anaesthetic prescribed for dogs. It is illegal for human use, but "it's sneaking into the drug supply," Miller said. Xylazine, a veterinary sedative sometimes called "tranq," also isn't approved for human use, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Contact Dave O'Brien at dobrien@chroniclet.com.