EXCLUSIVE
A father has opened up about the moment he picked up his ten-week-old son and realized he was dead – and has lashed out at neighbors who wrongly claimed he was aggressive towards his partner.
Renee Lockett put her son Chance Ford to bed when she arrived home after a day out with the extended family in Ballarat, Victoria, before 9pm on January 20.
Her partner Jake Ford dropped her and the little boy off at home in Alfredton while he took his children from a previous relationship back to their mother’s house.
The couple, who also have a three-year-old together, planned to go out again and continue celebrating birthdays with uncles and cousins, so Mrs Lockett started preparing bottles and a diaper bag while Chance slept.
Within the time it took Mr. Ford to take his other children home and drive back, his youngest son had stopped breathing.
After a much-discussed police investigation, Chance’s cause of death turned out to be cot death, in which an otherwise healthy child dies suddenly in his sleep.
Now Mr Ford has broken his silence, telling Daily Mail Australia that neighbors did not find his son dead on the living room floor as they claimed, but that he was the one who found his lifeless body.
Pictured: Chance Ford laughs with one of his brothers before he died on January 20
Jake Ford and Renee Lockett (pictured) had two children together. Their eldest son is three
“He was upstairs and I went to pick him up,” Mr. Ford said.
‘My heart sank as soon as I picked it up.
“I immediately screamed and was filled with a feeling I couldn’t even describe.”
Mrs Lockett and her 13-year-old stepson ran into the room when they heard screaming.
She grabbed Chance while Mr. Ford grabbed his eldest son and they ran to a nearby relative’s house for help.
Despite what neighbors told the media at the time, Mr. Ford said he was not aggressive toward his partner; he followed her around the backyard alone that night because he wanted to know what happened.
Neighbors also falsely said on social media, in a series of now-deleted posts, that he chased her into the road – with some falsely accusing him of wielding an axe.
“At no time did I believe that Renee had done anything wrong or would hurt our baby,” he said.
“I was just trying to process what happened if anything unusual had happened, trying to understand what was wrong with our boy and how I could help him.”
“As parents, it hurt that people believed my son was left alone on a living room floor to be discovered by strangers.”
Chance Ford’s father said his youngest son’s personality began to emerge in the days before he died
Chance Ford’s cause of death was cot death, in which a baby dies suddenly and unexpectedly in his sleep (scene shown)
Mrs. Lockett gave the baby to a trusted loved one and felt so panicked and overwhelmed that she fled.
Mr Ford said she believed Chance was with people who cared for him when she left and still believed everything would be OK.
“While I will never know exactly what was going through Renee’s mind or why she became so overwhelmed, I do understand that everything just became too much to handle,” he said.
“I guess she just couldn’t handle staying any longer to see the baby not doing well.”
Mr Ford recalled the moment he stood outside with his 13-year-old and watched through the front door as paramedics tried to revive his son.
He tried to comfort his eldest son and didn’t want him to see the scene happen.
Neighbors had gathered around the house to see what was happening, including someone watching from the back door.
Mr. Ford had been asked to leave the house by emergency workers.
“She watched as my son was being worked on while I was told to leave and not to come in,” he said.
“I couldn’t be with my son in what would be his final moments.”
“His last breath took place in a room full of strangers, and I felt as if my rights as a father had been taken away from me.”
Mr. Ford wanted his son to know he was there for him and that he was not alone.
The police arrived on the scene and started an extensive investigation into the boy’s death
“I just wanted to hold him as long as I could make him feel loved and give my boy a kiss,” he said.
He said Chance’s personality began to shine through in the days before he died, babbling and showing off his “big, beautiful smile.”
“He was an extremely adored brother and son who will be missed more than I could ever express,” he said.
Chance’s uncle Joseph Ford created one GoFundMe page to help pay for the funeral.
Chance was just ten weeks old and lit up our world,” he said on the fundraising page.
“The impact this little bubba boy had on his parents, siblings and extended family is immeasurable.
“We are all devastated that our world is changing and that life as we know it, or knew it, is completely different and unrecognizable as we navigate through it.”