While most of the world rang in the new year with champagne and sparkles, a mother cradled her son for the last time.
Linda Zeller spent her New Year's Eve at work. When she arrived home just after the crack of dawn, she found her son, Murray, facedown on the floor. He was Lorain County's first fatal overdose of 2018. He was 25 years old.
"The nice kind of part was, the coroner couldn't get there right away, so I had time to hold him," Zeller recalled. "That helped."
Murray struggled with depression and drug addiction, leading to bouts in rehab. He went to recovery in Florida, where also found a job to keep busy. He started school at Florida Atlantic University, but slipped back into his drug habits.
The night Murray died, his mother received a text from him around 1:15 a.m. He had bought food from Taco Bell, which Zeller found in the fridge after his death.
"He looked gone and he was," Zeller said. She tried chest compressions until medics arrived. They didn't administer Narcan. Murray was already gone and Zeller says it was a moment she'd always feared might happen.
"That thought never leaves your mind when you have an addict for a child," she said.
Murray's friend, Tyler Srokowski, says losing Murray broke his heart and made him angry. Not angry at Murray or anyone in particular, but angry at drug addiction.
Srokowski understands that anger all too well. He's also struggled with drug addiction. He's lost 15 friends to overdose and gone through it three times himself.
Srokowski noted that no one wants to become a heroin addict. He said he'd only planned to try it once or twice before continuing on with his life.
"Next thing you know, I was strung out on heroin for a year and I reached that point where I'm taking a look at myself, and looking at life and looking in the mirror and hating the person I'm seeing, but I can't stop. I'm stuck," he said.
Srokowski became so stuck, he found himself using the day after an overdose.
"I swore off it one night, and then to go back the next night and do it again? That's the power it has over you," he explained. "There's no words to describe it. Just look at it. It's crazy."
Srokowski says there's no outsmarting addiction. Instead, he says recovery all starts with a plan.
"For me, I've chosen a new life," he said. "Most importantly, I'm doing this for my friend, Murray, because he would want that I shed light on the situation. If he could be here with me right now, today, helping? He would be here, I promise you that."
Even before Murray's death, his mother has spent time with addicts, speaking to them and offering support. She also picks them up and takes them to church on Sundays.
"It's such a common thing for them, they all think they're invincible," Zeller said with tearful eyes.
Now, Zeller urges parents to pay attention to their children, from what they're doing to who are their friends. She begs parents to be skeptical of their children rather than buy all their stories. She encourages them to be aggressive.
"Because it doesn't get more real than finding your kid dead on the floor."
See Murray's full story in the player above.