Five Dead in Ohio Garage Murder-Suicide; Grandmother Suspected in Killing Three Children
Tragedy struck an Ohio home where five people were killed in a suspected murder-suicide plot.
The incident occurred at a home in Toledo, Ohio on Monday that included the deaths of two adults and three children from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Police discovered the bodies in a parked car located in the garage on Monday afternoon after call was placed by a family member.
According to the Toledo Blade, police are reporting that the deaths did "not appear accidental."
The victims were identified as 54-year-old Sandy Ford; her 32-year-old son, Andy Ford; and her grandchildren, 10-year-old Paige Hayes, 6-year-old Logan Hayes and 5-year-old Madalyn Hayes. The children were nieces and a nephew of Andy Ford. Two dogs and a cat were also found dead at the scene.
Police were called by Randy Ford, Mrs. Ford's 60-year-old husband, who became concerned when he found suspicious notes from his family and was unable to get into the garage.
The family barricaded themselves in the garage and firefighters had to use a sledgehammer to break inside.
Emergency personnel found the family members inside a blue Honda Civic with hoses attached to the exhaust pipe from an adjacent truck pumping poisonous gas into the cabin of vehicle.
Inside the garage, emergency responders found a truck with hoses leading from the exhaust pipe into a car where the five victims were found, according to.
"Nobody wants to see five dead people. It's a very unpleasant scene," Toledo Police Sergeant Joe Heffernan told local television station WNWO.
Police say that children were at the center of a custody battle between their parents and their grandparents, whom they primarily lived under. Grandmother Ford was upset that the children's parents were seeking to regain custody of the children and that may have been a motive for the murder-suicide.
