The night before he died, Lewis Fish carried a bottle of whiskey with him when he picked up a friend in Atlanta.

Thomas Stuart Carpenter, the friend who stayed with Fish in his dorm room that night, recalled the events of Saturday night and early Sunday morning in a phone interview Tuesday.

Fish, a 19-year-old first-year student from Atlanta, was found dead in his Russell Hall dorm room Sunday morning, and police suspect alcohol was involved.

Carpenter said Fish picked him up in Atlanta Saturday and already had the whiskey with him. He doesn’t know how his friend got the whiskey but said he knew Fish had a fake ID.

Carpenter, a student at Georgia College and State University, said he and Fish partied all night Saturday.

The men went to a party around 11 p.m. at the home of Michael Crocker, a white, two-story house, he said.

Police served a search warrant Sunday in connection with Fish’s death at 555 Riverhill Drive, a white, two-story house where police said Fish had been Saturday night. About 50 people attended the Crocker party, Carpenter said.

He said he saw Fish only for about 20 minutes at the party, where his friend may have drank beer. Carpenter said he did not drink that night.

Crocker declined to be interviewed by The Red & Black for this story. When a Red & Black reporter went to 555 Riverhill Drive Monday, men outside the house told the reporter to leave and never send any reporters back.

After the Crocker party, the two men went to the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house, where Fish was a member, to “hang out,” Carpenter said. Fish drank the whiskey he brought to the house, where Carpenter said there was a “party.”

SAE President Tyler Stephens said his fraternity did not have any parties or events Saturday night and would not comment on whether any SAE brothers saw Fish that night.

Carpenter said he thought Fish seemed “a little too drunk” at the SAE house and was acting “really zoned out,” although he could still walk and talk.

The men went to Fish’s Russell Hall dorm room at 4 or 5 a.m., Carpenter said, and watched SportsCenter on ESPN. Carpenter said he went to bed at about 6 a.m.

He said he woke up at 8 a.m. and saw Fish lying on his back, unconscious and vomiting.

“There was definitely throw-up in his mouth,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter shook Fish and turned him over on his side when he threw up again. Carpenter then went to the Russell Hall front desk and had a desk assistant call the police.

Police and emergency medical personnel arrived shortly after 8:30 a.m., but Fish already was dead, police said. The Athens-Clarke County coroner was called to the scene and pronounced Fish dead at 10:30 a.m.

An autopsy was performed Monday and results could be available by the end of the week, Athens-Clarke County coroner Bobby Tribble said.

Brandon Weghorst, director of communications for the SAE National Headquarters, said “Our members are expected to adhere to risk management guidelines. If Fish had been drinking at the house, then it is up to the chapter leaders to intervene.

“It’s unfortunate that a member died but it was not at an SAE event,” he added.

Fish’s funeral will be held 1 p.m. today at Haygood United Methodist Church in Atlanta.

-Contributing: Lauren Morgan