AUBURN — Police said an Auburn man found dead Monday was likely deceased for several days while his live-in girlfriend lay passed out nearby.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner performed an autopsy Wednesday on Kyle Tyburski, 24.

His death had been labeled suspicious because it was determined Tyburski had been dead for several days in an apartment occupied by his girlfriend, Pamela Chasse, 29.

Police said it appears Chasse was unconscious for several days due to drug use. When she regained consciousness and found Tyburski dead, she called 911. She was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, where she was listed in satisfactory condition.

Tyburski’s body was found with several prescription drug bottles nearby, police said in a written statement released Wednesday morning.

According to police, initial autopsy results don’t indicate foul play. Autopsy results won’t be finalized until toxicology tests are completed, possibly six weeks from now.

Maine Drug Enforcement Agency Supervisor Gerry Baril said the death is another indication of how problematic abuse of prescription drugs has become.

“Which untimely and unexpected death is going to be the wake-up call?” he asked Wednesday.

The numbers bear him out. Between 1999 and 2006, the number of overdose deaths in Maine tripled. In Maine in 2005, the number of deaths from overdoses exceeded deaths from automobile accidents for the first time ever.

Between 2007 and 2008, the rise of drivers found impaired by hydrocodone — the generic form of Vicoden, among the most frequently prescribed drugs — rose by 750 percent. The number of impairment cases involving oxycodone rose by 450 percent and cases involving methadone, 150 percent.

“This is not just a local problem, it’s a national one,” Baril said. “People don’t always get that. There needs to be some desire by the public to say enough is enough.”

In many of the overdose deaths, the victim had no criminal history of drug use, Baril said.

“A lot of these folks became dependent on these opioids because they took them long term for an underlying health problem,” Baril said. “Then they developed a tolerance.”

Tyburski’s criminal history was not immediately available. Locally, he had been arrested twice in recent years on charges of driving while intoxicated and related charges.

His death remains under investigation.