When Carole Adler lost her 21-year-old son, she was heartbroken. No parent wants to outlive their child, and losing the ability to communicate with them can make the situation even more heartbreaking. To help her deal with the terrible pain, Adler decided to continue to send texts to her son’s phone number. She knew she would never get a response, but it didn’t really matter.
According to Yahoo Parenting, Adler sent the following message in August:
“The urge to text you talk to you is strong tonight. I miss you. So much. I just want to see you feel you and hear you. I don’t want you gone from me.”
Then, one day, a text appeared.
The message wasn’t from the Great Beyond. Rather, it came from a more earthly source. A police sergeant named Kell Husley was the new owner of the phone number and had been receiving Adler’s messages for some time. Husley chose to brush off the texts at first, but he eventually decided to reveal himself.
According to an interview with KUSA, this is the message the sergeant sent:
“I’m with the Greeley Police Department, and I don’t think your texts are going where you think they are.”
Adler and Husley struck up a friendship and continued to stay in touch. Husley offered to change the number, but Adler was happy with the fact that the number now belonged to someone in law enforcement. After all, her son was training to become a Colorado State Trooper when he died.
Taylor Thyfault was just beginning his life when he was struck and killed by a driver during a high-speed police chase. Though the young man is no longer around, his legacy is still going strong.
Husley put it this way:
“[Thyfault is] still trying to make a difference.”
Thyfault was posthumously promoted to Trooper according to his ODMP memorial page.
