It started off as a family vacation to remember: walks on sandy beaches, poolside relaxation and a tropical atmosphere.

But what was supposed to be a relaxing getaway quickly turned into a horrific nightmare, and now, a Wisconsin family is searching for answers after their 20-year-old daughter suddenly died at a Mexico resort earlier this year.

The family of Abbey Conner says the college student was on winter break with her older brother, mother and stepdad in Playa del Carmen when Conner mysteriously suffered a "traumatic brain injury."

John and Ginny McGowan, Conner’s mother and stepdad, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel they had spent their afternoon relaxing by the pool while their children swam. Just before 6 p.m., the couple went up to their rooms to get ready for dinner with their children, but when they arrived in the lobby to meet them an hour later, they realized something was wrong.

Ginny McGowan said she asked the hotel desk to call her children’s room, but the employee quickly appeared flustered. She told the Journal Sentinel hotel workers said her children had been in an accident and she needed to go to a nearby hospital.

Both Abbey and her brother Austin, who had spent part of their afternoon at a poolside bar, were found unconscious, face down in chest-deep water.

Iberostar Paraiso Resort confirmed the two received "immediate medical attention" by on-staff doctors, paramedics and security guards before they were taken to a hospital. 

Austin survived, but Abbey Conner was transferred to a hospital in Cancun and later flown to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the publication reports. There, doctors confirmed Conner was brain-dead.

On Jan. 12, the family decided to withdraw life support and donate Conner’s organs.

But months later, they still don’t know what actually happened to their daughter.

The Journal Sentinel reports the official cause of death was "accidental drowning," but family said they have doubts about that ruling.

Conner’s brother reportedly told the publication the duo had done a few shots together before a group invited them to do a shot together. They all drank one, and that was the last thing he remembers before waking up in an ambulance.

According to the report, Austin Conner's blood-alcohol level was 0.26 and Abbey's was 0.25. 

A police report was given to the family for the first time last week, which includes statements from three staffers who arrived at the scene and pulled the kids from the water, family members told the Journal Sentinel. It does not contain any statements from hotel guests, the bartender or a woman who alerted hotel staff after seeing the Conners in the pool, the family said.

"My kids were at this hotel for less than two hours. The last thing my son remembers is having a drink in the pool," the children's father, Bill Conner, who was not in Mexico at the time, told NBC affiliate WMTV in April. "The next thing my son remembers is they woke up in the hospital. Somebody got to them… This was at 5:30 in the afternoon, daylight, exclusive hotel and you just don't think it'll happen to you."

"It's all too convenient," the McGowans’ attorney, Florentino Ramirez, told the Journal Sentinel. "If it was an accident, where was everybody? It just doesn't make sense. There are too many open ends."

Iberostar Paraiso Resort released a statement to say they are taking the situation "very seriously" and that the company "has always remained cooperative."

"The safety and security of guests is utmost priority for us," the statement said. "We are deeply saddened by this incident and reiterate our deepest sympathies and condolences to the family."

A State Department official confirmed to NBC 5 the department is “aware of this case.”

“We extend our sincere condolences to family and friends,” the official said in a statement. “In cases of U.S. citizens injured overseas, the Department of State works to provide all appropriate consular assistance. Out of respect for the family, we have no further comment.” 

Conner's organs went on to save the lives of four others, her family said. 

Bill Conner has since rode his bicycle 2,000 miles across the country, from Madison to Fort Lauderdale, to the hospital where his daughter took her last breath. The ride raised money for Donate Life America in an effort to honor his "daughter's good deeds and empower others to the same." 

"Organ donation and carrying Abbey's name forward, that's what she'd want me to do," Conner told WMTV.

A GoFundMe page for the ride raised more than $23,000. 

The sound of planes taking off from Tweed New Haven Regional Airport has never really bothered resident Cynthia Dasilva.

"The traffic in the street makes more noise than the planes sometimes," Dasilva said.

But because her East Shore home of 40 years is so close to the airport, it was eligible for a series of upgrades like new windows, doors, central air conditioning and insulation.

Dasilva said the additions have made, "a big difference".

"We can hardly hear, when the windows and doors are closed you can hardly hear the planes going by," Dasilva said.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is allocating nearly $3 million for Tweed’s Airport Authority to continue its residential sound insulation program.

"It really lets us know that the FAA thinks that Tweed is a viable airport," New Haven Mayor Toni Harp said.

An 18-month noise evaluation study a few years back determined which houses would qualify for the program.

"If you’re a homeowner and I came to you and said we’re going to sound insulate your home for free, you’d be a very, very happy resident," Tweed New Haven Airport Authority Executive Director Tim Larson said. 184 properties were identified as being within the FAA approved 65 Ldn noise contour for Tweed Airport.

So far, Larson said work has been completed on more than 30 properties in the first two phases of the program and 49 are up next thanks to the new federal funding.

"We’re going to continue to do this until each of those 184 houses are complete in some form or fashion," Larson said.

For residents like Dasilva, there may be a benefit to these renovations in addition to less noise.

"I think it will make a big difference in energy savings," she said and she’s now encouraging her neighbors. "If they got the opportunity to do it, they should."

Homes on the East Haven side of the airport are also part of the sound insulation program.

Harp told NBC Connecticut she would like to see more direct flights out of Tweed to places like Florida and Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin a second time during the G-20 summit earlier this month, a White House official confirmed to NBC News.

Trump spoke to Putin at the end of a couples-only social dinner at the summit in Hamburg, Germany, the official said. The pull-aside conversation is considered less formal than an official bilateral meeting, which Trump and Putin also shared at the summit.

The White House did not previously disclose or offer a record of the meeting at the dinner, where Putin was seated next to first lady Melania Trump.

The New York Times described it as a private, hourlong conversation and the contents of the meeting remain unknown. 

A Hartford woman said she ran out of options for her faulty, but new, refrigerator.

She noticed the appliance, which at the time was just six months old, wasn’t cooling properly. As a result, she said, she had to throw out a bunch of food.

She called her retailer, Sears Outlet, which then sent a repair technician to fix the problem.

Six months later, she experienced the same story all over again. However this time, the appliance was slightly past its one year warranty, leaving the woman with no other option than buying a new fridge.

She went back to Sears Outlet and did just that, in the meantime, contacting NBC Connecticut Responds to see if our consumer team can help her get rid of the broken refrigerator, also hoping to get reimbursed since she bought another appliance.

Sears Outlet immediately made this right for this customer, offering her a full reimbursement for the refrigerator, worth $410.

A New Haven homeowner is thrilled with the company planning to redevelop an old firearms factory site kept its word to clean up the mess next to his home.

"As you can see, this about 95 percent of it cleaned up," Jesse Hameen II told NBC Connecticut on Tuesday.

Over the years, Hameen grew accustomed to the overgrown bushes next to his house on Munson Street. He regularly would need to use a machete or clippers to trim the plants sticking through the fence onto his property.

"The leaves, the branches," Hameen said. "They just attacked my house, my garage. It was terrible. All of the poison ivy, the weeds that had intertwined like you do basket weaving, it was like basket weaving in the fence."

Double A Development Partners are planning to build a new housing complex on what used to be the Olin Corporation manufacturing plant. Olin purchased the factory at 201 Munson Street from Winchester Repeating Arms in the early 1930s.

As the necessary remediation of contaminated soil begins this summer, the developer followed through on bringing in a landscape to work on the area right next to Hameen’s home.

"I was so surprised and elated," Hameen said.

"The goal long term, of course, is to try to landscape the site in a way the community, neighborhood finds attractive," said Steve Fontana, New Haven’s Deputy Director of Economic Development.

The developer who purchased the land from Olin is experienced at cleaning up dirty sites, Fontana said.

"We’ve got an expert developer from California who is proposing to build 300 units of housing on the site," Fontana said. "He will clean up the site and the construct the housing over the next year or so."

While the developer works with city planning officials and the Board of Alders on finalizing a design for approval, Hameen said he is looking forward to less yard work around his house.

"They did a great job," he said. "Now I won’t have to use my machete anymore."

The Minneapolis police officer in the car with the fellow patrolman who fatally shot an Australian woman said he was "startled by a loud sound" before the shooting, NBC News reported.

Officer Matthew Harrity spoke with investigators Tuesday about the incident. He "indicated that he was startled by a loud sound near the squad" and that Justin Ruszczyk then approached the car's driver's side window, according to investigators.

"Harrity indicated that Officer [Mohammed] Noor discharged his weapon, striking Ruszczyk through the open" window, investigators said, though the significance of the sound in the shooting was not clear.

Ruszczyk, who had taken her fiance's last name of Damond, was fatally shot by Noor on Saturday night as he and Harrity responded to her 911 call about a possible assault near her home, authorities said. Noor has declined interviews at this time.

Police are searching for two people who stole hundreds of dollars worth of Nike men's apparel from a Dick's Sporting Goods in Lison on Monday. 

Connecticut State Police responded to the store in Lisbon after the suspects left the store around 2 p.m.

The two suspects stole approximately $300 to $500 worth of Nike's men's apparel from the sporting goods store. 

The first suspect is described as a man in his early to mid-twenties, thin build with a dark complexion and short hair. The second suspect is described as a female, between 25 and 30 years old, thin build with a dark complexion and dread locks.

Anyone with any information about the shoplifting, stolen Nike apparel, or believe they may know the identity of the suspects is asked to please call Troop E at (860) 848-6500 ext. 5104 or text TIP711 with any information to 274637. All calls and texts will remain confidential.

In countries that helped give Donald Trump the presidency in 2016, voters support his stances on American jobs and foreign affairs but don't seem to like his personal style, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

In the 439 key "Trump counties" polled, 75 percent support his bargaining with global companies to keep jobs in America. There was also majority support for his response to North Korea's missile tests and Syria's chemical weapons, as well as his travel ban.

However, 62 percent oppose Trump's use of Twitter to express his opinions. A majority also opposed his attempt to replace "Obamacare," his refusal to release his tax returns and his dealing with Russian interference in the election.

The NBC/WSJ poll, conducted July 8-12, surveyed a total of 600 adults in the 439 counties and has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 4.0 percentage points.

A Bloomfield man sustained serious injuries when he was attacked by a dog in West Hartford Monday, the day before his 79th birthday, and the dog has been euthanized, according to police. 

Police officers responded to Iroquois Road around 7 p.m. on Monday after the dog attack was reported and said witnesses were holding the dog down. Several neighbors saw the attack and came forward to help the victim. 

"The dog came out of, I believe, they said the garage, ran across the street and for some reason, picked that person to go after," West Hartford Lt. Eric Rocheleau said. "No one else-- he actually went around people to get to that individual."

The dog, a Boxer mix, was pulled away from the man several times, but it kept attacking, according to police. 

"The dog was pretty aggressive. (It) went after the male victim several times," Rocheleau said. "They were able to restrain the dog but he kept on getting back on the male victim."

Animal control also responded and secured the dog, which police said was able to get free from the residence it was in. 

The victim, a Bloomfield man, had injuries to his ribs, hand, bicep and a fractured pelvis and was transported to St. Francis Hospital, according to police. Authorities said he turned 79 on Tuesday. 

A neighbor who did not want to be identified spoke exclusively with NBC Connecticut. She said she was walking down her driveway when they saw a group of people surrounding the dog and the man. 

"He was limping and I couldn’t tell where the blood was coming from because he seemed to have a lot going on with his injuries," the neighbor said.

The neighbor said they yelled for towels to hold the victim's wrists because they were heavily damaged. 

A woman who identified herself as the victim's daughter said her dad was at St. Francis Hospital and is expected to be OK. 

Police said the victim and the dog’s owner were visiting separate people on Iroquois Road when the attack happened. 

Because of the incident, the dog’s owner decided to euthanize her pet, which will be tested for rabies. 

West Hartford Animal Control and police are investigating.

A North Stonington Man is dead after being hit by a vehicle on Route 201 in North Stonington on Tuesday afternoon, according to state police.

State police said 41-year-old Christopher Bosma was walking on Route 201 around 1:50 p.m. when a car traveling north went off the road and hit him.

Bosma sustained fatal injuries in the crash.

The driver of the vehicle was not hurt, police said.

The case remains under investigation.

Police are searching for six teens after a man and woman were struck Tuesday and badly injured while walking on the sidewalk on Ashley Street at Sigourney Street in Hartford.

Police said the teens were in a stolen Toyota Highlander when they hit the victims. A video shows the car jump the curb around 1 p.m. Tuesday, drive toward a crowd standing near a bus stop and hit the victims. After the crash, the teens fled from the car and ran off, according to police.

The woman, who is in her late 50s, lost one of her legs after it was severed from the impact of the SUV and the man is in critical condition but is expected to survive, police said. Police have not released the names of the victims but said both are from Hartford. 

"One of my neighbors saw some of the people running out of the car and they said one of them was a little boy," George Millner, who lives near the crash scene, said.

Hartford police are hoping their network of cameras in the city will lead them to suspects.

“This area is covered by Crime Center cameras. We should have some pretty strong footage” said Hartford Police Deputy Chief Brian Foley.

The car was reported stolen in West Hartford on Tuesday morning.

Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call the Hartford Police Department.

A New York City family is outraged and seeking answers after being booted from a JetBlue plane at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport over what the airline called "a verbal altercation." 

Tamir Raanan, Mandy Ifrah and their three young children were headed home to New York on July 2 after attending a wedding in South Florida, according to a statement from family attorney David Templer on Wednesday. Ifrah said she got into a dispute with a nearby passenger on the plane when Ifrah's 1-year-old daughter kicked the back of the passenger's seat. 

Ifrah said the matter was soon resolved with the passenger after exchanging a few words and apologizing, according to the statement.

JetBlue gave its own account of the incident in a statement Wednesday: "After a verbal altercation that included physical threats and profanities against a nearby customer, the aircraft door was reopened and our airports team politely asked the customers to step off to discuss the situation." 

Cell phone video recorded by the family shows a JetBlue manager speaking to Raanan and Ifrah and asking them to exit the plane but not giving a reason why. The couple soon became angry and repeatedly asked the flight attendant why they were being asked to leave. 

JetBlue said, "the customers refused repeated requests and our crewmembers deplaned the entire aircraft."

A second cell phone video shows the family at the gate repeatedly questioning the same JetBlue manager. Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies were also at the gate to help mediate the situation. The officers can be heard asking the couple to calm down and to leave.

Ifrah said the airline told them they would be booked on a flight the next day. The family claimed they didn’t get their checked luggage until a week later, that JetBlue never explained why they were removed from the flight, and that they were banned from all future flights.

JetBlue confirmed that the airline provided the family a refund but that "the customers were not removed due to the actions of their children."

"We are investigating whether the customers’ behavior warrants restrictions on JetBlue travel and we thank our crewmembers for their professional handling of this unfortunate incident," the statement said.

It’s unclear what legal action the couple plans to take.

With temperatures expected to soar past 90 degrees the next few days, cities and towns are opening cooling centers.

Bloomfield

The Alvin & Beatrice Wood Human Services Center
330 Park Ave.
9 a.m. - 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday

Prosser Library
1 Tunxis Ave.
10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday

McMahon Wintonbury Library
1015 Blue Hills Ave.
10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Wednesday
1 p.m. - 8 p.m. Thursday.

New London

Senior Citizens' Center
120 Broad Street
8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Simsbury

Simsbury Public Library (Lower Level Entrance)
725 Hopmeadow Street
9:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday
9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Friday

Eno Memorial Hall (Senior Center)
754 Hopmeadow Street
8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday
8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday

Connecticut 211 provides information on cooling centers. For more information and a list of available cooling centers, visit their website.

For a detailed forecast from the NBC Connecticut meteorologists, click here.

At less than a month old, Iowa baby Mariana Sifrit has died just 10 days after she was hospitalized on her parents' wedding day with an unexpected illness that may have been caused by contact with someone who had a cold sore. 

"Our princess Mariana Reese Sifrit gained her angel winds at 8:41 am this morning in her daddy's arms and her mommy right besides her," her mother Nicole Sifrit wrote on Facebook Tuesday. 

Mariana had been fighting for her life over the last few weeks after being rushed to the hospital earlier this month. 

"In her 18 days of life she made a huge impact on the world and we hope with Mariana's Story we save numerous newborns life," Sifrit wrote. 

Mariana Sifrit was born on July 1, but less than a week later, the infant was being rushed to the hospital for what would become a life-threatening infection her parents never anticipated.

Nicole and Shane Sifrit, of West Des Moines, said they noticed their daughter wasn’t eating and wasn’t waking up.

The couple quickly left their own wedding to rush Mariana to the hospital, where they discovered she had Meningitis HSV1, or meningitis caused by the herpes simplex virus, which also causes cold sores.

Both parents tested negative for the virus, meaning Mariana couldn’t have contracted it during pregnancy or from her parents, but likely got it from someone carrying the virus.

“They touch her and then she touches her mouth with her hand,” Nicole Sifrit told NBC affiliate WHO-TV.

According to the Meningitis Research Foundation, many people carry the herpes simplex virus without ever knowing they have it. They can even transmit the virus without showing symptoms.

Mariana was quickly admitted to the NICU, where her parents said things “immediately went down hill.”

Mariana quit breathing on her own and her organs began failing. She was life-flighted to the University of Iowa Hospital and placed on life support, her parents told WHO.

But the young baby continued to fight.

“She has a kidney team, a liver team, a blood team, a neurology team,” Nicole Sifrit said.

Mariana’s parents said they don’t want what happened to them to happen to other parents.

"I always thought this stuff happens and it's a shame and never thought it would happen to me. I was not prepared at all,” Shane Sifrit said.

The couple reminded parents to be careful of who they let around their newborns and make sure anyone handling your baby washes their hands.

“Don’t let people kiss your baby and make sure they ask before they pick up your baby,” Nicole Sifrit said.

The Meningitis Research Foundation says most causes of viral meningitis are not preventable, but emphasizes that handwashing is a good precaution to take.

A GoFundMe page had been launched to help the family with hospital bills.

For more than 25 years, children between the ages of 8 and 18 who suffer from severe burns spend one week at the Arthur C. Luf Children's Burn Camp in Union to do whatever they please. 

"We instill in them that we don't want them to be judged by their scars and that they can do anything in life," Stephen Lupinacci, the camp director, said. 

This year, more than 70 children took part in the free camp. 

"I don't have to be afraid of people looking at me, taking off my shirt, just be me," Brando Martinez, camper, said. 

Most counselors are volunteers and retired firefighters. 

Children from all over the country attend the seven-day camp, counselors said, and they enjoy games and activities aimed at improving self-esteem and creating friendships.

Today will mark the second day of a four day heat wave with inland high temperatures once again reaching the low 90s.

Temperatures will be a bit cooler along the shoreline with a light wind out of the southwest. 

Here's a look at today's forecasted high temperatures,

The increased temperatures has led several towns and cities to open cooling centers throughout the state. Click here for a complete list.

Great weather if you're hitting the beaches. Temperatures along the beaches will reach the middle 80s. The only caveat is the humidity we're forecasting oppressive humidity along the Connecticut shoreline. 

Temperatures will be a bit cooler by the weekend with high temperatures in the low to middle 80s and scattered rain showers. 

Firefighters responded to a small fire at a barber shop in Hartford this morning. 

No one was inside when the fire started at 649 Maple Ave. An extinguisher was used to knock down the flames. 

Fire officials said there was some smoke damage to the barber shop and the H&R Block shop next door.

A Norwalk mother who has lived in the United States for 24 years faces deportation, and now a lawyer in New Haven and a group of advocates are working on her behalf against an immigration policy that isn’t in her favor.

Nury Chavarria left her native Guatemala in 1993, when she was 19, and applied for asylum. Her application was denied, but she remained in the US, with nothing to go back to at home.

Since 2011, she has had yearly check-ins with immigration officials. Each year she was given the approval to remain in the US.

Chavarria said she has no criminal record, works as a housekeeper, and pays taxes. She believed those factors would allow her to remain in the US, despite the Trump Administration’s focus on deportations. All that changed at her June check-in, when ICE officials told her in five weeks she would have to pack up her life and leave.

“I told him I’m not a criminal. I’m a mother with four children. They are citizens. USA. I want to stay here to help them and keep my family together,” she said.

ICE issued Chavarria an ankle-monitor to track her movements ahead of her removal. Meanwhile, her 9-year-old daughter has a plea for President Donald Trump.

“Please let my mom stay because she has four children and I’m one of them and I really want her to stay,” Hayley Chavarria said.

New Haven attorney Glenn Formica and volunteer activist group Connecticut Shoreline Indivisible have taken on the case, hoping to reverse the order that will separate Nury from her four children on July 20.

"The current policy doesn’t allow common sense adjudication…. Doesn’t allow them any discretion them to say 'Yeah, it doesn’t make sense to force Nury to leave her four children here and become burdens on the state,'" Formica said.

“This is just inhumane. Things have to change. This is not who we are as a people. We have compassion, we care about people,” added Charla Nich of Connecticut Shoreline Indivisible.

NBC Connecticut reached out to ICE on the case, and they released the following statement Monday:

"Nury Chavarria was allowed to voluntarily depart by a federal immigration judge in 1998, and failed to comply, rendering her subject to final order of removal in 1999. In 2010, the agency deferred her removal for one year on humanitarian grounds.

As a current exercise of discretion, the agency has allowed her to remain free from custody while finalizing her timely departure plans. The agency will continue to closely monitor her case to ensure compliance."

Nury's request to stay was denied Tuesday. Nury and her attorney will again request to stay, but if that request is denied, she will have to leave on Thursday.

Two people were taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries after a dump truck and a Toyota Camry crashed near the Cumberland Farms on Route 44 in Ashford around 6:18 a.m. Wednesday.

State police said the driver of a 2002 Toyota Camry crossed over the double yellow line and hit the front of the dump truck.

LifeStar was initially requested but did not fly.

Both drivers suffered minor injuries, police said. An ambulance brought the dump truck driver to Windham Hospital and another brought the driver of the Camry to Hartford Hospital.

The Camry driver was cited for failure to drive right, according to state police.

Police have arrested a 37-year-old Bristol man after an investigation into a fatal crash in Southington in March.

Police arrested Jason Dominguez in connection with the crash at West and West Queen streets around 2:14 a.m. on March 19 that killed Jimmy Cintron-Guzman.

Police said Dominguez was the driving a Lexus ES300 westbound on West Queen Street that collided with a Nissan Altima when both cars entered the intersection at West Street. 

Cintron-Guzman, a passenger in Dominguez's car, was seriously injured and later died at St. Mary’s Hospital. 

Dominguez was charged with second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle, operation while under the influence of liquor or drug or while impaired by liquor and failure to obey a traffic control signal. 

He was released on a $5,000 non-surety bond.