Dec. 19, 2016
Jessica Bliss

Her daughter had nine broken ribs and had a blood clot that required surgery to remove it. 

So, when Judy Jenkins called about her upcoming visit, the two women made plans to take it easy, go out to eat and visit a spa to get their nails done. Fun, low-key mother-daughter activities.

Before they said goodbye, Jenkins also reminded her daughter to heed the instructions on the bottles of pain pills and take only the prescribed amounts.

The next day, Jenkins — a single mom and nurse who retired to Tennessee — drove 10 hours from Tullahoma and arrived at her daughter’s house in northern Virginia.

She tried the door, but no one answered. Maybe she had been called into work or was with her boyfriend and had lost track of time, Jenkins thought.

Then it dawned on her.

Her daughter hadn’t responded to anything. Not a knock on the door. Not a phone call. Not a text message.

Not all day.

That’s when Jenkins called the landlord.

“Please meet me at the front door of your townhouse,” she told the man. “Because if you do not unlock the door, I am going to break it down. … I just need to get to my daughter.”

Read more in The Tennessean.