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.

A truck was running with hoses leading from the exhaust into a car in the family's Toledo garage Monday. Inside the vehicle were the bodies of 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.

Sandy Ford's husband, Randy, called police Monday afternoon to say that he had returned home and found suspicious notes in the house from his wife, son and grandkids. He said he wasn't able to enter the garage.

Firefighters used a sledgehammer to open a door to the garage, which had been barricaded shut. The bodies of the five people, two dogs and one cat were found inside the car.

Investigators believe they died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

The five victims lived in the house with Randy Ford.

Sgt. Joe Heffernan says the children had been primarily living with their grandparents for the last four years, but their parents -- the Fords' daughter, Mandy Hayes, and the children's father, Chris Hayes, were trying to regain full custody of them. He said Sandy Ford was upset about that, and he believes that was the motive for the murder-suicide.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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