A woman says she is heartbroken after her husband died when a tunnel he was digging collapsed. Michelle Valles reports for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 25, 2017.
The widow of a 65-year-old man who died when the backyard tunnel he was in collapsed Saturday is speaking out.
"I can't help it, but I keep thinking of his last thoughts when everything was caving in on him," Jodi Carlson told NBC4.
Jodi and her husband Jim Carlson were married for 42 years. The couple got married straight out of high school, she said.
Jim, who was retired from Chevron, spent his spare time digging a fish pond in the backyard of the couple's Ontario home.
She says digging became Jim’s hobby.
"He started finding little artifacts and stuff so he got really interested in it so he kept digging."
Family friend Charlene Newport always kept a watchful eye on Jim. She said he definitely knew the dangers of the dirt caving in.
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On Saturday evening, Newport says she went inside to eat lunch. When she came back outside she didn't see Jim.
"The hole was collapsed and I ran around the whole house," she said while fighting back tears. "Jim! Jim!"
They called 911, but it was too late.
"I don’t know what I’m gonna do [without him]. It’s scary," Jodi Carlson said of her late husband.
