A couple found dead in bed, entwined, died from a drug overdose

Michelle Avila and Christian Kent were young, in love and shared a passion for surfing.

One night they came home from a party. Michelle wished her parents a good night and they went to bed.

But what happened next would leave their family and friends helpless.

When Michelle's mother went to check on the couple, she found them dead in Michelle's bed, news.com.au reported.

According to the police, the couple, known for its sun-kissed blonde curls and "perfect" relationship, died of a drug overdose on October 14 – a month before Michelle's 24th birthday.

Their shocking death highlighted the growing problem of opioid addiction in the wealthy seaside community of Orange County, Southern California.

Michelle's father, Paulo Avila, searched her daughter's room for clues about her drug use and found none, the Orange Country Register reported.

He said, through his tears, that the only reason he could find the strength to talk about their drug overdose was to let other parents know that "their children are not safe."

Michelle and Christian had both caught a cold and were taking antibiotics. Michelle did not drink because she was sick.

According to Michelle's parents, she was not really a party girl, she instead chose to spend time with Christian and his group of close friends in the Newport Beach area.

After returning home around 12:30 pm, Michelle wished her mother a good night and put on her clothes for six hours at a coffee shop in Newport Beach, where she worked.

Michelle also wrote very specific notes as reminders: "Study for geo, work on your speech, love Christian."

For their family and friends, they just seemed to be coming out of a magazine's pages.

When her mother Adriana Avila returned from work at 4 pm on that terrible day, she found the couple dead in bed.

"Two beautiful children," Avila told Coast Report Online. "It was like Romeo and Juliet, they both died and kissed."

It will take months for Michelle and Christian's toxicology reports to be completed, but Avila is now certain that they have died from a drug overdose after talking to police and experts.

However, he told the Orange County Register that he had more questions than answers.

"What happened to these children?" He asked. "What did they do? What happened to get to this point?"

Michelle's parents had moved their daughters to Newport Beach when they were young, thinking it would be a safer place for their daughters than Los Angeles, the Daily Mail reported.

Michelle, 23, and Christian, 20, immediately fell in love with each other. They stayed together for about a year.

"It's crazy to see how two souls can connect so deeply and quickly … I can not wait for other incredible memories to form," wrote Michelle on social media in August, when Christian went to university.

"Today, I had to say goodbye to my best friend and partner in crime," she wrote.

"I remember the day you came into my job, you smiled at me from those eyes and asked me for my number.You found me at the right time, and life was a hell ever since!

"It's crazy how two souls can connect so deeply and quickly.You are so special and smart and you're going to kill him at the university!"

Michelle was a star student and received a letter from President George W Bush to pay tribute to her achievements, reported the Orange Country Register.

She loved to travel. She spent the last years in Bali, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Japan and Brazil before embarking on the modeling and study of communication.

Michelle's father said that she dreamed of being a journalist.

"She was going to follow her sister," he said. "She liked to write, she liked to write, she liked to talk."

Christian, who also grew up in Newport, was tanned after days spent catching the waves, his blond hair long, touching his broad shoulders, reported the local publication.

In a local online publication called What Youth, a tribute reads:

"Christian and his beautiful girlfriend, Michelle Avila, were found unresponsive last weekend at her home in Huntington Beach.

"We saw them for the last time at our last skate concert about a month ago, in love, at home and happy, and his death was a big blow to us."

His close friend, Andeaux Borunda, described him as a "real" soul, always present to lend him a helping hand "in times of worry".

"In times when you feel the world was turning back, it would help you get ahead," wrote Brounda on What Youth.

"He was pacing the coast in a blue Volkswagen Squareback 72. The girls were whistling and he was gasping, so the problem actually solved more problems than he had, he was" The Boy. "

"At home, he sat down and played a vintage and blond Stratocaster whose fingers could tell millions of stories … it was the guitarist."

They now have their loved ones to write tributes to the couple.

"I would like to yell at you and tell you how difficult it was," said Michelle's sister Nicole on the occasion of her 24th birthday.

Mr. Avila can not help reproaching himself for the death of his daughter.

"You are supposed to worry about what God has given you, and it was a gift from God," he told the Orange Country Register. "It's what's eating me from the inside, how come I've failed? It's destroying me."

A study published last year by the Orange County Health Agency found that the number of drug overdose deaths had increased by 88% between 2000 and 2015, and that nearly half of the deaths were due to accidental overdoses of prescription drugs.

There were 1,711,809 opioid prescriptions in 2015, according to the Advisory Council on Alcohol and Drug Addiction.

A GoFundMe page has been created for Michelle, who has so far raised more than $ 7,000, which her father hopes to use for a youth education program on drug use.

"My mission is to send a message," Avila said. "To show how beautiful people can live in such a situation, you are not protected by anything."