A family in Michigan is mourning the sudden death of a mom and her teenage daughter. Nicole Moore and her daughter Kyli died after being in a vehicle with the engine running. The pair were talking about the ways they were planning to improve their lives, which was reportedly going to come with a big move. Sadly, the SUV they had gotten to take them to their dreams ended up being the cause of the family’s downfall. Because of some major structural issues, part of the vehicle was damaged in a way that made it easier for the pair to be poisoned as they sat and dreamed of the better life that never got to happen.
Police knew something was off immediately.
On March 24, 2026, about 2:30 p.m., deputies from the Kent County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of two individuals in a vehicle who were unresponsive, a new release read. When authorities arrived at the Maplewood Mobile Home Park, they found a vehicle parked in a community parking lot. It had a “strong exhaust smell,” according to the release.
At the time, the two were only identified as a 38-year-old female and a 16-year-old female. “Both appeared to have been deceased for an extended period of time,” the news release noted.
Based on early police investigation, the mother and daughter were temporarily sleeping in their vehicle “due to a condition at their residence.”
“Detectives examining the vehicle found the floorboards and exhaust system to be in poor condition,” the release shared. As a result, it was believed their deaths likely had something to do with carbon monoxide poisoning, but autopsies would determine the cause of death.
In an update, the sheriff’s office shared that the women’s deaths were ruled accidental carbon monoxide asphyxiation. A CO2 meter was brought to test the SUV, and the levels of carbon monoxide were quite literally off the chart.
The mom and daughter were planning for a different life.
The Kent County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the identities of the two women as 38-year-old Nicole Moore and her teenage daughter, 16-year-old Kyli Dodge, WWMT reported.
“It’s just one of those things where it was a complete freak accident,” Kent County Sergeant Scott Dietrich said of their deaths, per WWMT. “The vehicle sitting there, running for hours and just let that carbon monoxide seep into the vehicle.
According to family, the mother and daughter had returned that morning from a trip to Tennessee. Apparently, they were making plans to move there and fell asleep in the Honda SUV while talking about it.
“I still can’t believe she’s actually gone, my mind wants me to think she is back in the trailer right now,” Moore’s son Jayden Dodge, told the outlet. He told them that all his mom wanted was for her kids to have a better life.
“I will live a better life for my mom, like she would have wanted me too,” he said, per WWMT. “I am really going to miss them.”
Nicole Moore allegedly knew about the problem with her SUV.
Moore’s great-grandparents, Bobby and Linda Fillipo, spoke with WZZM, telling them that she had been in Tennessee to see her new boyfriend.
“The officers over here tell me that the carbon [monoxide] went way beyond the capability of what their machine was,” Linda Fillipo said.
Another relative, Sherri Dannah, said Moore had only recently purchased the vehicle, reportedly buying it from a guy at the local park.
“I said ‘but you have a bad exhaust. It gets loud and it finally dies down a little bit. You’ve got carbon monoxide coming in. You gotta get that fixed before you leave.’” Dannah said. But Moore apparently never fixed it.
Their community is coming together to mourn them.
A GoFundMe account was started to cover funeral costs. The person who created the fundraiser claims to be the girlfriend of Moore’s son. According to the organizer, the son is the one who found the bodies in the SUV.
“This unexpected tragedy has left us heartbroken and facing overwhelming costs that we cannot manage alone. They meant everything to us, and their passing has created a void that cannot be filled,” the fundraiser page reads. “They will be forever 16 and forever 38 in our hearts.”
