Widow of Deputy Koontz working on special project for young son

KOKOMO (WISH) — In an interview with 24-Hour News 8, the widow of Howard County Deputy Carl Koontz is speaking to local media for the first time since her husband’s death.

Deputy Koontz was shot and killed in the line of duty back in March while serving a warrant in Russiaville.

• COMPLETE COVERAGE: Fallen Howard County Deputy Carl Koontz

“I think about him every second it comes and goes. It hits me at different times,” Kassandra Koontz, Carl’s widow, said. “I have bad days of course just like anyone else.”

Koontz said not a day goes by where she doesn’t think about her husband of three years. She lost her best friend and she’s now trying to raise their 9-month-old son, Noah.

“Noah is Carl’s mini-me. I mean just his looks, he looks exactly like his dad,” she said. “To me, it’s nice to see him because every time I see him I think of Carl.”

She said she’s forever thankful for the support from the community.

Koontz met with a group supporting law enforcement Friday afternoon, and they’re working on a very special project for Noah in memory of his dad.

In a conference room in Kokomo Friday afternoon, Koontz said she can’t help but to feel overwhelmed.

“It is very amazing for the whole county, state, the whole world to come together,” she said. “It helps us feel comfort; it helps us feel like Carl is never gone.”

She’s been laying out more than 1,200 uniform patches on the table. It’s all part of a project with Indiana Going Blue to make a quilt for Noah. They’re even using a piece of her husband’s uniform.

“When we all first met when I was giving Carl shirts away, we were laying them out, we were talking about cutting out the stars,” she recalled. “I lost it knowing that I’m giving a shirt away that he’s never going to wear again.”

Koontz said people have been reaching out to support her. She’s received messages, letters and handmade gifts like a teddy bear for her son.

“Like I told everyone, I don’t hurt for me I hurt for Noah,” she said. “I had nine years with Carl; he had eight months.”

Despite the struggle, Koontz knows she has to stay strong for her son, who is too young to understand.

“I’m excited about telling him you’re just like you’re daddy, you know? I really am because then he’ll know daddy is a part of me. I am daddy.”

Koontz hopes this quilt will provide Noah with some level of comfort when he’s older, because to her it’s much more than just a quilt.

“He did his job. He went out doing the best job he could do to me that’s comfort knowing that he died in the line of duty doing what he loved,” she said.

The quilt should be done by the end of summer just in time for Noah’s first birthday.

Koontz said she’s also hoping to travel with her son when he’s older. They want to go to different counties in Indiana to thank the men and women in blue for their support and for submitting a patch.

“You see everybody in blue and red from the different departments. I just feel like that’s the whole goal, there’s not a dividing line,” she said. “Everybody comes together there shouldn’t be a divided line with anything or anyday and it shows right here they all came together.”