Security Cam Captures Dad of Three With Kids, but in Hours He'll Be Gone

Newsweek

19-07-2025

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A home-security camera has captured a father's last moments with his three children in Phoenix, Arizona.
Adriana Sansam (@adriana.sansam) shared the footage to her TikTok account, where the clip shows her husband, Eric, holding their son and saying goodbye to his daughter before walking out of the house for the very last time.
"There was nothing dramatic about that day," 31-year-old Adriana told Newsweek. "No big goodbye, no final hug that felt like the last one.
Split view of home security camera footage showing father walking down the stairs holding son (left) and father walking outside to truck (right).
Split view of home security camera footage showing father walking down the stairs holding son (left) and father walking outside to truck (right).
@adriana.sansam
"He held our son, our daughter said, 'Bye, daddy,' like she always did. He walked down the stairs, got in his truck and drove off; just like any other day."
Eric, a recovering addict at the time, was heading out on what was supposed to be a one-night work trip.
Halfway through his journey, he checked into a hotel, but he never made it out, and he died in his hotel room from an accidental overdose.
"What happened to my husband didn't start the day he got in that truck; it started long before that," Adriana said.
Eric carried deep pain from a traumatic childhood that never fully healed. Though he found recovery and hope in the years before meeting Adriana, addiction remained a lifelong battle.
"Like so many others who struggle with addiction, he didn't have the tools to cope with life's stressors in a healthy way," Adriana said.
She recalled how Eric was the kind of father who went on countless hikes and adventures with their children and spent hours on the floor playing Barbies without rushing.
"He was so patient, present, and completely in it with them," Adriana said. "They miss their dad deeply, and their lives are forever changed because he's not here."
Losing him, she added, shattered her as well: "I died that day with my husband. I will never be the same; my best friend, the one I did life with, my partner in crime.
"I've never felt so alone. The one person I wanted to call to help me through the pain was the only person I couldn't talk to. I didn't know how to handle it all," Adriana said.
In the aftermath, she spiraled into deep grief and suicidal ideation. Then, one day, she found a message—a phrase Eric had learned from Narcotics Anonymous and written in his recovery journal. In his handwriting, it read: "Just for today."
It was something she would repeat for herself. "Just for today, stay alive. Just for today, keep going. That note saved my life," Adriana said.
The family found strength in a support system, mainly down to her parents who stepped in when she couldn't.
Adriana and her children also talk about Eric often as a family. "We tell stories, look at pictures and videos; we laugh at memories; we imagine what he'd say or how he'd react in certain situations," Adriana said.
"He may have physically died that day in March, but we've made it our mission to keep his memory alive. That's what helps us cope."
Adriana also began sharing her journey online. Her video of Eric's final moments has been viewed over 40 million times across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
She has since launched a podcast called "Just for Today," where she hosts real, raw conversations around grief, mental health, addiction and resilience. It is named after the phrase that helped both her and Eric through their darkest moments.
Adriana said that, when you lose someone, the seemingly ordinary moments are all you have.
"The way he carried our son, the way he waved goodbye, the sound of him walking down the stairs. Those ordinary moments—the ones you think nothing of at the time and then suddenly they became everything," she said.
"That's what grief does. It turns what once felt routine into sacred memories. He's still here. He never truly left us."