KELLYVILLE, Okla. — Leo Towe would have turned 5 years old Aug. 25, though he passed away two years ago.
Court documents say he died after ingesting fentanyl.
WATCH: LEO'S LAW: Kellyville dad working to prevent child fentanyl deaths
“I talked to him on the phone, the night he passed away, he was perfectly fine,” Leo’s dad, Jacob Towe said.
The next morning, Towe’s lawyer called him to deliver the impossible news of Leo’s death.
“I remember throwing my phone, and it was like in one of the neighbors' house backyards,” Towe said, “It just didn’t feel real.”
Court documents say Leo's mother, Jordan Burks, let fentanyl within her son’s reach. He ingested it, killing him.
“It’s not just killing people that are trying to get high. It’s killing innocent people,” Towe said.
Towe reached out to 2 News Oklahoma’s Brodie Myers, who listened during an Aug. 26 interview.
Towe is hoping to turn his anger and grief into impactful action. He hopes Leo’s Law will become reality. It would require parents with known fentanyl cases to submit to drug testing before taking in their child.
“If they did that, my son might still be alive. You know, if they even drug-tested her one time for fentanyl,” Towe said.
Towe is circulating a petition.
“If anybody would like to volunteer and collect signatures, if anyone … has a store, that I could maybe put the petition so I could come in and sign them, things like that really go a long way,” Towe said.
CONTACT TOWE >>> Jacob can be reached my emailing jakebleazy@gmail.com
Leo’s Law could help in situations like this one. Towe and Burks were never married. When the two split up, Burks got custody of Leo.
“She said she had gotten sober, I mean, DHS thought she was sober, she told me she was sober. So I thought she was sober. I thought everything was cool. I mean, I was talking to him every day on the phone, you know, it was all cool, but I wasn’t you know, first hand, able to see,” Towe said.
Burks faces a felony count of child neglect. Court proceedings are ongoing.
“I miss everything about him. I miss his voice, I miss his eyes, his laugh, the way that he would think about things. I miss everything about him,” Towe said.
Towe said he could not have survived the trauma without the help of his support group, Oklahoma Families Supporting Families.
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