An Indiana father is turning the loss of his 16-year-old son into a mission he hopes will prevent other families from experiencing the same tragedy.
According to an online fundraiser, Steve Ford of Howard County said his son, Joe, was found unresponsive inside an ice-fishing tent on a local farm pond on Jan. 26, 2025.
“Upon further investigation while fishing the night before as it was very cold, he used a propane heater to keep warm, not thinking of the danger involved, the carbon monoxide that it produced took my son‘s life,” Steve wrote.
In an interview with ABC affiliate WRTV posted on Sunday, Feb. 1, Ford described Joe as an active outdoorsman who loved hunting and fishing.
“Just finding out that your child’s gone…it makes you sick to your stomach,” Ford said of the incident last year in Russiaville. “You think about all these things that could happen, you know, he was 16, did he get in a car accident?…the last thing on my mind was carbon monoxide.”
A coroner later determined Joe’s cause of death was acute carbon monoxide toxicity and ruled the manner of death accidental, NBC affiliate WTHR reported.
The CDC says more than 400 people in the U.S. die each year from unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning.
“As a parent, you go through all of those steps before you even know the details,” Ford told WTHR. “But it’s still not enough to prepare you for the truth when that finally arrives. It just, it just takes a piece of you, just removes that, and it’s gone.”
According to an obituary, Joe was a sophomore at Kokomo High School and an eight-year member of Howard County’s 4H program.
“He treated his GMC truck as his baby and took great care of it,” the obituary said. “He loved music and dabbled in playing guitar. He had dreams of a career in guide services and was taking welding classes at the Kokomo Area Career Center.”
“Joe loved being a brother to his siblings and will be remembered for being the most kind-hearted boy and having an infectious smile,” the tribute added.
A GoFundMe created to support Joe’s family raised more than $33,000 as of Tuesday, Feb. 3.
One year after Joe’s death, Ford said he wanted to honor his son with something that could save lives. He is now raising money to buy and distribute 1,000 carbon monoxide detectors across the Kokomo area, WRTV reported.
Each detector will be paired with a flyer featuring safety tips and information about the Joe Ford Legacy Fund, as well as a memorial sticker for Joe, according to WTHR.
“They’re going to say, ‘Hey, this is what happened to Joe Ford, and this is what I want to stop from happening to someone else,’ ” Ford told WTHR. “That’s just a reminder that, ‘Hey, when I see that sticker, I should maybe check my batteries or check my smoke alarm.’ ”
Ford also told WRTV he plans to distribute the detectors on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.
“If one person is saved or changes their mindset about when they’re hunting or when they’re fishing or when they’re working in their shop, about their heat source and how the ventilation is able to save one person, it’d be worth it all,” he said, WRTV reported.
