Derrek Cocchiarella died slowly, lying in his mother’s bed on a warm afternoon in late June, in a house full of family.
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He was napping, they thought, sound asleep. Over the course of four hours, they checked on him often.
They didn’t recognize his breath gurgling. They didn’t see the bits of foam forming around his mouth.
Then one of Derrek’s younger sisters tried to wake him for a slice of cake, and found him cold to the touch.
In the moments and days after his death, Linette Cocchiarella, Derrek’s mom, struggled to understand. Derrek had freshly returned from rehab. He was finally doing better.
How could he just suddenly die?
She called the county attorney’s office, which in Nebraska doubles as the coroner’s office, to ask about an autopsy.
No, she was told, your son’s cause of death has already been determined: Natural causes.
“And I’m like, ‘No,’” said his mother. “‘That’s not even possible. He’s 23.’”