Two Tennessee teenagers have died and two others were hospitalized after possibly drinking a mix of methanol and Mountain Dew.
Logan Stephenson, left, and J.D. Byram.
Logan Stephenson, 16, was found dead in his home last week after possibly consuming the mixture, called "dewshine," Randy Pack of the Greenbrier Police Department told BuzzFeed News.
Shortly after officers found Stephenson, emergency personnel were called to the home of a second teenager who was having seizures.
The teen, identified as 16-year-old J.D. Byram, died on Monday, the Vanderbilt University Medical Center told the Tennesseean. The medical center didn't return a request for comment from BuzzFeed News.
The teens were best friends and classmates at Greenbrier High School, the newspaper reported.
After interviewing friends of the pair, Pack said investigators learned the teens may have been drinking the concoction before they collapsed.
Logan Stephenson, left, and J.D. Byram.
"We interviewed several teenagers that alluded to they may have consumed this," Pack said, adding that investigators are awaiting the official cause of death pending autopsies.
Officials said that the teens may have confused methanol, a poisonous ingredient in gasoline, with ethanol, which is the primary type of consumable alcohol.
"[The teens were] confusing methanol with ethanols and that's not a good thing," Pack said.
Donna Seger, the director of the Tennessee Poison Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told BuzzFeed News that the center has seen two other cases of this poisoning recently.
The two other victims survived.
Seger said that investigators haven't determined if the problem is more widespread.
"I've never heard of it before, so I don't know if it's an isolated incident," she said.
Officials said they are working to tell local teens about the dangers of consuming such a mixture.
Stephenson's family wrote in his obituary that they also plan to use his death as a way to raise awareness, and are raising donations for his high school in his memory.
"{The family's] desire is that it will be used to educate children of the many dangers which they face which parents are not aware of and therefore not able to warn them," the obituary states.
A GoFundMe page claiming to have been established by friends of Byram's family echoed a similar sentiment.
"This memorial fund has been set up to honor J.D.'s life, in the hopes of educating children of the many dangers they may face in their lifetime, which parents may not be not aware of," the page reads.