Don’t come downstairs, the police told her. You don't want to see him this way.
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Serena Fallon did as the officers said and stayed upstairs while her son lay dead on the basement floor of her Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, home.
Connor, 25, had returned the night before from Florida, where he had recently attended a drug rehab program. After showering and getting ready for bed, he slumped over into his suitcase.
Serena and her husband, Doug, found him in the morning and called 911. The police, suspecting a fentanyl overdose, urged her to stay away from Connor while they worked.
At one point, a detective walked through the house, she said, but left without leaving his card. Connor lay on the floor for six hours before the medical examiner was ready to take his body away. The whole time, she paced upstairs, calling and texting her family, but mostly unsure of what to do.