Mom's Texts to Fallen Son, Heroic Trooper, Get Response

The grieving mother of a Colorado highway patrolman who died in the line of duty says that the texts she's still been sending to him are being answered.

Carole Adler told NBC affiliate KUSA that she started texting her 21-year-old son, Tyler Thyfault, a few weeks after he was killed, as a way to keep him close. After a few messages, she reportedly got this response, from a police sergeant with a new work phone:

"I'm with the Greeley Police Department, and I don't think your texts are going where you think they are,'" Sgt. Kell Hulsey told KUSA.

Two months into his training at the Colorado State Patrol Academy on May 23, 2015, Thyfault was helping with a three-car accident on Highway 66 when he was killed. Thyfault and another trooper were hit by a speeding car that was evading another trooper, according to the state patrol. Right before impact, the Army vet told a truck driver to get out of the way, likely saving his life. He is the last Colorado state trooper to die in the line of duty.

Though Hulsey offered to change his number, Adler said that she wanted him to keep it, knowing that Hulsey was doing the job Thyfault had hoped to do.

"If you asked him, he'd do it again, because he sacrificed himself, for someone else," Adler said.

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