When Judy Jenkins called her daughter, Lydia, to confirm their upcoming visit, she didn’t know it would be the last time she ever spoke to her daughter. Lydia had recently come home from the hospital after suffering nine broken ribs and surgery to remove a blood clot, and her mother was set to come visit her to make sure she was doing OK.

So, when Judy – a single mom and retired nurse – made the 10-hour drive from Tullahoma to northern Virginia and knocked on the door, she was surprised when her daughter didn’t answer. Judy thought her daughter had been called into work or was with her boyfriend, but then it dawned on her.

Lydia hadn’t responded to any of her phone calls or text messages. Judy quickly called the landlord to open the door, and when she did, she found her daughter slumped over in her bed, dead from a prescription drug overdose.

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This was taken from a longer piece that previously ran in The Tennessean.