COLUMBUS, Ohio — It's a call no parent wants to receive.
"She's 21 years old, how can she go into cardiac arrest? That's impossible," Rich Iller said of his reaction to a late-night phone call he received in May concerning his daughter Tiffany.
He thought it was a prank. Once he understood the call from Ohio State Wexner Medical Center was real, Rich Iler got into his rental car and drove from Chicago to Columbus to be by his daughter's side.
Tiffany died later that day at the hospital. She was 21.
"She took her last breath and that was it," Rich said as he fought back tears. "I never thought I'd see my daughter take her last breath. I thought she'd bury me."
According to a Montgomery County coroner's report, Tiffany died as a result of fentanyl intoxication.
She and two other Ohio State students were hospitalized May 4 for an apparent accidental overdose. Jessica Lopez, 22, also died of fentanyl intoxication. The third student was treated and released from the hospital.
Columbus police confirmed investigators removed a powdery substance from the house near campus the students were at on the night of the incident.
"She had everything in the world going for her," Rich Iller said of his daughter. "She loved life and people loved to be around her. It's hard... when you see somebody that wanted all the things that she had in front of her and to see it wiped out."
Watch the emotional interview:
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