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Crime

Unthinkable: Grandmother, Uncle Kill 3 Kids in Disturbing Murder-Suicide

Nov. 13, 2012 10:30pm Jason Howerton

Sandy Ford and Logan Ford Kill Three Kids in Disturbing Murder Suicide

A lone teddy bear sits on the steps of the home in Toledo, Ohio, Tuesday Nov. 13, 2012. Three children, their uncle, and their grandmother were found dead inside a garage at the house Monday in what appears to be a murder-suicide amid a custody dispute. (Credit: AP)

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Caught up in a family disagreement over who should care for three young children, a grandmother and her son barricaded themselves and the kids in a garage and filled it with deadly carbon monoxide gas. All five died.

Police spent Tuesday trying to explain the heartbreaking scene discovered a day earlier at the home of 54-year-old Sandy Ford and her son Andy in a quiet Toledo neighborhood.

Firefighters using a sledgehammer broke down the garage door to find the bodies of 5-year-old Madalyn Hayes, her 6-year-old brother, Logan, and 10-year-old sister, Paige, slumped inside a car, along with their grandmother and uncle. Two hoses attached to the exhaust of a pickup truck pumped gas fumes through the car’s rear window.

Police said letters inside the house indicated the woman and her son plotted the murder-suicide, beginning by picking up the children from school Monday morning after their mother had dropped them off earlier.

They also had disabled the garage door opener and nailed plywood over the windows, said Toledo police Sgt. Joe Heffernan. He wouldn’t say what was in the letters, but it appeared some were written by the children.

“We’re trying to figure out all the why’s in this,” he said.

Authorities were called to the home by the children’s frantic grandfather after he discovered the letters and was unable to force open the garage door. Despite the grisly scene, investigators found no signs the children were forced into the car and believe all five died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Until last week, the children had spent the last three years living with their grandparents, Sandy and Randy Ford, and their uncle at the house in a residential neighborhood close to the Michigan state line.

A lone teddy bear sits on the steps of the home where three children, their uncle, and their grandmother were found dead inside a garage Monday in what appears to be a murder-suicide amid a custody dispute in Toledo, Ohio, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012. (Credit: AP)

A lone teddy bear sits on the steps of the home in Toledo, Ohio, Tuesday Nov. 13, 2012. Three children, their uncle, and their grandmother were found dead inside the garage at the house Monday in what appears to be a murder-suicide amid a custody dispute. (Credit: AP)

Their mother, Mandy Hayes, had asked her mom for help caring for the three children because a fourth child at the home was becoming disruptive, said children’s services representatives and a family friend.

“She was just being protective,” said the friend, Cammie Turner.

While the children were living with their grandparents, their parents saw them almost every day and went on outings to parks and the zoo, Turner said.

“Their kids mean everything to them,” she said.

But recently Hayes had decided they should all return home, and the children moved back in with their parents last week, upsetting Hayes’ mother, Turner said.

“Mandy wasn’t taking the kids away from her entirely,” she said. “She wanted them home. It wasn’t like she was taking them and grandma could never see them again.”

Turner said Hayes had confided that her mother was controlling, but she never seemed alarmed by it.

“It doesn’t make sense,” she said. “I can’t imagine. To have your mom …”

Police were at the house last week and children’s services workers met with both sides of the family, most recently on Saturday, said Dean Sparks, executive director of Lucas County Children Services.

“We only know that there were a lot of allegations back and forth,” he said, adding that Sandy Ford was worried about placing her grandchildren back in the home with their 9-year-old brother, who had been disruptive in the past.

But the agency had no authority to decide who should keep the children, Sparks said, and the parents had every right to bring them back into their home.

Turner said she never saw any indication of a strained relationship between Hayes and her mother, and they never went to court over the issue of custody.

Family members declined to comment.

Doug Hall, a neighbor who lives across the street, said he often saw the children with their uncle, raking leaves or shoveling snow. He said the only unusual thing he noticed was a police car at the house last Thursday. He said he didn’t know why it was there.

Neighbors said the family spent a lot of time together and that the Fords had put in a swimming pool this summer for the children.

Another neighbor said he saw the kids playing in the leaves just a few days ago.

“One minute they’re doing the leaves, and then the next there are cop cars all over,” Eric Pieper said

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Comments (25)

apojoe69
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 12:23pm
Look, I don’t like Obama, but, he does not cause all the ills of the nation. Give it a rest.

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- rickc34
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 7:41pm
  Wow this is sad on so many levels. A father lost his wife his son and his grandchildren all in one selfish act. A daughter lost her children mother and brother…what has America become? A nation of the mentally ill. Lord comfort those family members at this time show them your love and grace.
  
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piper60
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 9:03am
With the Obama minions in charge, get ready to read about more stories like this one. People crack under pressure.

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Azzman
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 9:01am
Day by day America turns its’ back to God and day by day God turns its’ back to America.

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- ZaphodsPlanet
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 2:08pm
  I’m sure as hell not turning my back to Yahweh(God). I’m on my knees trying to face him and the music we’ve all earned every day. This article is a description of what evil does. Turn you back on that once and for all America or we’re all doomed, and not just in this life but after.
  
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- Zac
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 4:21pm
  People turn their backs on him. He will never turn his back on us. He will however not be able to provide blessings to those who refuse him. As we slowly turn down the lights it lets in the dark until all there is, is darkness. It is a choice we make, not one he makes. He only grants us the agency to choose.
  
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Mr.Fitnah
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 6:21am
Very sad when these desperate people fail to find an appropriate target to eliminate .

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Moozmom
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 3:20am
I want to second guess the parent’s decision to send 3 of the 4 children away and instead send the 1 child to serious counseling our out of the home and keep the 3 AT home, but this is beside the point. Desperate people to desperate things and an out of control kid can split a family up in so many ways. The grandmother must have had mental issues as did the uncle?

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- NeilChapin
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 5:39am
  This is a sad, sad story. God have mercy on all their souls. Read fresh political commentary at: http://smallcraftadvisorychronicles.blogspot.com/
  
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netmail
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 1:44am
There is a hopelessness sweeping across this land that I have never seen in my 63 years of living. I’m afraid we will see much, much more. No surprises now, just heartbreak.

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- kcares
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 6:27am
  Netmail, I agree with kyou, I’m 63 and really fear for the people of this country. So many people don’t want to get their head out of the concrete and talk about what is happening. They are keeping their heads in facebook and talking about where and what they are going to do this weekend, like nothing is happening.
  
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- Dismayed Veteran
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 10:45am
  NetMail
  
  My wife and I were just talking about this yesterday. I no longer recognize the US I grew up in. Desolation and dispair seem to be a common emotion.
  
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SilentReader
Posted on November 13, 2012 at 11:59pm
What a tragedy!

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Metallicat
Posted on November 13, 2012 at 11:39pm
whats the point of fighting over children,if you would murder them anyway? What logical reason could anyone have for killing children?

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- Exrepublisheep
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 12:52am
  The devil laughs.
  
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- FunFunFun
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 6:37am
  One more Sin should be added to the list of 7 Sins – Peoples need for Control.
  
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- starman70
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 8:04am
  In the Bible, it talks about the natural love by parents for children (In this case, an uncle and a grandmother) growing cold in the end times. Now, seeing more and more stories about parents and other relatives killing their children and them themselves, I know that: 1) the Bible is correct. 2) We are approaching the end times at a rapid pace.
  
  There is a feeling of desperation and hopelessness in America today. It pervades all stratas of society, both rich and poor. The Satanic influence is alive and well.
  
  Pray for this family. I cannot imagine the torture and pain the mother and father aregoing through.
  
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- im4data
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 8:07am
  @FUNFUNFUN It already is one…. it’s called PRIDE!
  
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sonnybethel
Posted on November 13, 2012 at 11:36pm
Sad so sad!!!!!!!!

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TJexcite
Posted on November 13, 2012 at 11:19pm
Said Story…. All long the lines “If can’t have them, no one will.”

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lel2007
Posted on November 13, 2012 at 11:15pm
In this Age Of The obama Nation the unthinkable occurs nearly every day.

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offbrat56
Posted on November 13, 2012 at 10:57pm
The surviving grandfather and the daughter have some inkling of what was going on here. The public may never know, and the family services people may never know (or admit to knowing anything), and perhaps it is better if none of us know why this happened. 1. The way the system is set up nowadays, you cannot fight family services once they become involved. 2. You cannot convince/expect your grown child do sensible things/make sensible decisions regarding their children, as a grandmother, or as a knowledgeable outsider. Knowing now what was going on in any of these people’s lives before the garage was blocked up will not change a thing nor will it help anyone prevent such a happening in the future. Very sad, to the nth degree.

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- loriann12
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 6:21am
  Having an autistic child, I can understand why the mother would send the other three to the grandmother. Maybe she wanted to deal with the “disruptive” child on her own. I wouldn’t send a child to child services, EVER, because you may never get that child back. Maybe the mom thought the “disruptive” child had it under control, but the grandparents disagreed. I think other posts are right and we may never know all the details. We don’t need the details to pray for the family.
  
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- Leslie Anne
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 1:06pm
  They should have kept the three good kids and sent the disruptive kid to go live with grandma.
  
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JUSTANOTHEROPINION
Posted on November 13, 2012 at 10:45pm
What a horific crime, just heart breaking. The poor parents will be in my prayers.

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