A foster mother, her disabled son and adopted 11-year-old daughter were killed in a murder-suicide in suburban Cincinnati on Thursday.
Pat McCollum, 77, was a pillar of the community’s strength and was described as ‘a local hero’ having cared for more than 70 children over a period of 20 years.
She was found dead along with her adopted son DJ McCollum, 32, and Kaydence McCollum, 11, in the College Hill area of the city after police received several calls from concerned neighbors.
By the time police officers arrived, 66-year-old suspect Anthony Mathis had retreated deep into the house – still armed with a knife.
Pat McCollum, 77, a renowned foster mother, her disabled son together and adopted 11-year-old daughters were all stabbed to death in a murder-suicide
She was found dead next to her adopted son DJ McCollum, 32, seen here, and Kaydence McCollum, 11
It led to a SWAT team being called in, but they were stopped by Mathis and had to negotiate with him for several hours before they could enter the house.
Mathis was found with self-inflicted knife wounds, while the McCollum’s had died from stab wounds.
Investigators have not said what led to the killings, but court records indicate they saw Cincinnati.com show Mathis was charged with strangulation in an alleged incident involving Patricia last year.
Mathis was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center but later died of his own injuries.
The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office reported Mathis’ death as a suicide, while the other deaths are being treated as homicides.
DJ was adopted by Pat McCollum when he was a young child, at the age of seven.
McCollum, 77, was a pillar of community strength and was described as ‘a local hero’ as she had cared for more than 70 children over a 20-year period
He became severely disabled when he was an infant after an older child dropped a lit match in his crib. He was left with burns over 85 percent of his body, lost all his limbs and was wheelchair-bound.
McCollum eventually adopted him at age 10 in 2002 and continued his recovery. Eventually, she was able to see DJ walk on prosthetic legs and graduate from Woodward High School.
There was such a strong bond between her and DJ that she said during a 2012 interview that she expected him to live with her for the rest of her life.
‘Either I die first, or he dies. “I will never divorce him again,” she said.
McCollum, a longtime member of New Jerusalem Baptist Church, specializes in caring for children with special needs.
She adopted at least four children in the more than twenty years she was a foster parent.
McCollum appeared to help countless individuals and foster parents throughout the community
Those in McCollum’s care regularly returned to visit her
That was the experience she had of caring for children. She started teaching at university, where she would train new foster parents.
She earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in social work from the University of Cincinnati.
McCollum, who never married, had raised more than seventy children over the course of two decades and adopted at least four.
She was also a longtime member of New Jerusalem Baptist Church, according to her pastor, the Rev. Damon Lynch Jr.
“She was a great mother and good to children,” the Rev. Damon Lynch Jr. said The researcherand noted how she often arrived with several children next to her.
Other community members praised McCollum for what she did.
‘Madam. Pat truly impacted so many lives; advocating for and caring for hundreds of children in foster care, adopting, loving and continuing to love and support these children and their families after they return home,” Amy Marie wrote on Facebook.
McCollum took an interest in all of her foster children and would stay in touch as they grew up
A GoFundMe page has been set up help pay for the funerals of the three who were killed.
“Memaw, Pat for the People, Patricia McCollum, social worker, Guardian Ad Litem, attorney, trauma trainer for both the city and state, and a trainer of foster parents,” reads a tribute to her.
“She was a friend, a former teen mother, the first black playboy bunny in Cincinnati; She was a hero. She advocated for foster youth, trauma victims, the disabled and teen parents by being a founding member of Rosemary’s Babies Co.
‘She was president of The Black Social Workers and a member of POCWA. She helped license thousands of foster parents.
“She lived her life serving and loving; this is her LEGACY. She departs this life less than a week after her 78th birthday.”