Police advised Serena Fallon not to come downstairs, warning her she wouldn’t want to see her son in that state.
Following their instructions, Serena remained upstairs while her son lay deceased in the basement of their Bay Ridge, Brooklyn home.
Connor, 25, had just returned from a drug rehabilitation program in Florida the previous night. After showering and preparing for bed, he collapsed onto his suitcase.
Serena and her husband, Doug, found him the next morning and immediately called emergency services. Suspecting a fentanyl overdose, the police urged Serena to keep her distance as they worked.
A detective briefly toured the house but left without providing contact information. Connor’s body remained on the basement floor for six hours before the medical examiner arrived. During that time, Serena anxiously paced upstairs, reaching out to family but uncertain how to proceed.
Years later, she reflected in a letter to a judge, questioning why she didn’t insist on comforting her son in his final hours. “My last act as a mother was paralyzed by shock,” she wrote.
On the evening of April 12, 2022, Connor was carried out of the home in a body bag, tagged for identification.
Serena described the heartbreaking moment as seeing her son treated like “labeled garbage in a bag.”
Determined that this tragedy should not be dismissed as mere consequence of addiction, Serena became convinced that a crime had occurred and set out to ensure accountability.
Connor was one of more than 73,000 Americans who died from fentanyl or other synthetic opioid overdoses in 2022, marking the deadliest year of the fentanyl epidemic to date, according to health authorities.
While linking drug dealers directly to overdoses can be challenging for law enforcement, Serena remained resolute in seeking justice for her son.
In late 2023, interviews with Serena and Doug Hoch, Connor’s stepfather, along with court hearings and documents, revealed their unwavering commitment to holding those responsible accountable.
Though she maintained composure publicly, Serena’s grief was always close to the surface.
“A mother is only as happy as her saddest child,” she wrote to a judge. “Now I understand what that means.”
Growing up in Queens and Brooklyn, Connor was known for his kindness and curiosity. He rescued stray animals and maintained a prayer table in his room. Raised Catholic, he once expressed an interest in becoming a priest.
However, his demeanor changed during adolescence. He exhibited bouts of anger and anxiety, often preferring gloomy weather.
Diagnosed with multiple psychiatric disorders—including intermittent explosive disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and attention deficit—Connor faced repeated hospitalizations and therapy sessions across the country.
Despite treatment efforts, he rejected prescribed medications, fearing they would harm him, according to Serena.
Serena tried various methods to administer his medication, including disguising pills in food and supervising ingestion, but Connor chose instead to self-medicate with substances including marijuana and opioids.
In pursuit of a fresh start, the family relocated multiple times, moving from New York to Connecticut, then Charlotte, North Carolina, yet Connor continued to struggle.
At 20, he entered a rehab program in Florida but was discharged early after disciplinary issues, knowing that misbehavior would send him home.
Serena, a former Medicaid fraud investigator, and Doug, recently retired from finance, invested heavily in Connor’s treatment—sending him through more than ten rehab programs and thirteen sober living facilities across several states.
When not in treatment, Connor lived in the furnished basement of his parents’ home in Bay Ridge.
On occasion, Serena enforced tough love by asking Connor to leave when his behavior became disruptive, only to realize that psychiatric challenges cannot be resolved through such measures alone.
After Connor’s death, Serena pressed for an investigation, but nearly a week passed without contact from authorities.
Seeking assistance, she reached out to a local city council representative who assured her the case would be prioritized.
Detective James Harkins from the Brooklyn Narcotics unit soon visited, gathering details about Connor’s final hours.
Serena recalled receiving a bank alert that Connor withdrew $100 from an ATM at a Brooklyn 7-Eleven shortly before arriving home, leading her to suspect he intended to purchase drugs.
The family provided Detective Harkins with receipts and phone records, including text messages sent by Connor that night.
Though fatal overdose cases are typically difficult to build, the evidence offered was substantial.
In the weeks following, Serena withdrew from her job and social contacts, overwhelmed by grief.
Her colleagues, who had been close to her and aware of Connor’s struggles, were concerned by her sudden silence.
When asked, Serena explained that she could no longer provide support to others while grappling with her own loss.
To cope, she attended support groups for bereaved parents but felt isolated, sensing a stigma surrounding deaths by overdose.
Her faith, once a source of comfort, waned, leading her to consult a psychic medium in search of solace, though no message from Connor came through.
Doug supported Serena by providing resources on grief, while her family encouraged her to reengage with life.
One night, Serena discovered online communities of parents who had lost children to fentanyl overdoses, hearing stories of sudden and hidden tragedies.
Though she found little personal comfort in these groups, they revealed the vast scale of the crisis and the widespread frustration among grieving families.
Many recounted being told the identity of the dealers responsible, only to feel that law enforcement failed to take action.
Approximately five months after Connor’s death, police arrested Caleb Apolinaris, a 25-year-old Brooklyn resident charged with selling fentanyl to Connor.
Known as Kappa, Apolinaris was described as a low-level dealer struggling with heroin addiction himself. Text messages between Connor and Apolinaris indicated a drug transaction on the night of Connor’s death.
Connor’s taxi ride from Penn Station was captured on video, showing an exchange outside an apartment in Bay Ridge, followed by Connor snorting a substance inside the cab and discarding an empty bag.
The evidence provided by Serena and Doug was crucial in identifying the dealer, as Detective Harkins obtained surveillance footage from the ATM and taxi.
The arrest renewed Serena’s hope that Apolinaris might reveal his suppliers, enabling law enforcement to dismantle larger fentanyl networks.
Serena and Doug remained present at every court hearing, closely following the case.
Serena was angered by Apolinaris’ calm demeanor during proceedings, especially as his parents advocated for bail on grounds that addiction was the real adversary.
During a hearing, Serena voiced her grief and frustration, insisting that addiction did not excuse Apolinaris from responsibility for her son’s death.
The courtroom tension escalated as Apolinaris’ father disputed Serena’s claims, prompting intervention from the judge to maintain decorum.
Ultimately, bail was denied, and Apolinaris pled guilty to selling fentanyl to Connor.
He was not charged with distribution resulting in death, a more serious offense with a minimum 20-year sentence. Sentencing was scheduled for November 2024.
Following the plea deal, Serena reached out to former colleagues, explaining her absence and urging them to advocate for a harsh sentence.
She also launched an online petition calling for tough penalties, which garnered over 1,700 signatures from across the country, many sharing their own stories of loss.
Supporters voiced calls to imprison those responsible to prevent further tragedies.
On sentencing day, Serena’s former coworkers filled the Brooklyn courtroom alongside family members on both sides.
The plea agreement recommended a prison term between 11 and 14 years. Apolinaris’ court-appointed attorney requested a lighter sentence, noting that a dealer involved in the death of actor Michael K. Williams had received a decade-long sentence despite a more extensive criminal record.
Apolinaris had a comparatively limited criminal history, though he had been arrested the previous year for leaving his young daughter unsupervised after reportedly overdosing on Suboxone.
His lawyer acknowledged the family’s demand for justice but cautioned that vengeance should not be mistaken for justice.
Apolinaris expressed remorse in court, describing a violent and troubled past and stating that jail had helped him overcome opioid addiction for the first time in a decade.
He pleaded for the judge’s belief in his potential for rehabilitation, without requesting immediate release.
However, Apolinaris did not reveal his supplier, a point of contention for Serena and her supporters who believed it should have been a condition of the plea.
His father argued that exposing the source would have endangered his son and family.
Chief Judge Margo K. Brodie of the Brooklyn federal court emphasized the need for a sentence that was appropriate but not excessive.
A former federal prosecutor, Judge Brodie sentenced Apolinaris to 14 years, the upper limit recommended in the plea agreement.
As he was escorted out, Apolinaris nodded and called out “Love you” to his family.
Serena and Doug were taken aback, having anticipated a sentence closer to 20 years and feeling the plea deal was too lenient and poorly explained to them.
Meanwhile, Apolinaris’ family considered the sentence harsh, believing there was no intent to harm Connor.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office acknowledged the profound pain experienced by Connor’s family and many others affected by the epidemic, affirming their commitment to justice based on law and evidence.
During sentencing, Serena stressed the importance of speaking for Connor, who could no longer share his story.
She described his love of history, fascination with different countries, and collection of global flags and currency.
She recalled that he disliked math but kept his bedroom neat and tidy.
Serena recounted finally descending to see Connor’s body that day, lying on the cold basement floor, and embracing him for the last time in their home.
The courtroom fell silent as she spoke.
Judge Brodie acknowledged Serena’s steadfast support of Connor through his many struggles and her pursuit of justice following his overdose.
“He fought hard to live and to find his way through his many challenges,” the judge said.
“And it is clear that he never fought alone.”
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