Five Dead in Ohio Garage: Murder-Suicide by Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, Grandmother, Son, Three Children, Family Dogs and Cat Dead

Five individuals - a grandmother, her grown son, and three innocent children - were found dead in an Ohio garage on Monday, apparent victims of carbon monoxide poisoning.  According to reports, the deaths were the result of a murder-suicide prompted by a bitter family custody battle. Sandy Ford, 54, was about to lose custody of her three grandchildren - Paige Hayes, 10, Logan Hayes, 6, and Madalyn Hayes, 5. Authorities believe Sandy and her son (the children's uncle), 32-year-old Andy Ford, killed themselves as well as the three Hayes children at their Toledo, Ohio home so that Sandy's daughter Mandy would be unable to regain full custody of her own kids. A family cat and two dogs were also in the garage at the time and were found dead along with the other five bodies.

Sandy Ford's husband Randy returned home from work on Monday afternoon (Nov. 12) and was unable to gain access to the garage. He promptly called the police after finding suspicious notes in the house penned by Sandy, Andy, and the three children. When law enforcement arrived, firefighters eventually used a sledgehammer to pry open the garage door, which had been barricaded shut. A truck with the engine running had hoses leading from its exhaust into a Honda Civic - the five lifeless bodies (as well as the family pets) were all found in the Civic, each individual having suffocated from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Sgt. Joe Heffernan claims that Sandy Ford had taken care of the Hayes children from her home for the past four years (one other Hayes sibling, Blake, was not home at the time and survived). Ford's daughter Mindy and her husband Chris were currently attempting to regain full custody of their four kids. Heffernan suspects Sandy was upset about potentially losing the children, that she decided murder-suicide was the next best option. If Sandy couldn't maintain full custody the children, then no one could.

Neighbor Doug Hall told authorities he saw the Andy Ford and the Hayes children raking leaves last week. The only unusual thing Hall observed was a police car at the house last Thursday - he didn't know why it was there.

Another neighbor Eric Pieper also witnessed Andy Ford and the kids raking leaves just a few days ago - "One minute they're doing the leaves, and then the next there are cop cars all over."

Thoughts and condolences go out to the Ford and Hayes family and friends during such a time of tragic loss.