An adoptive mother, her disabled son and her 11-year-old adopted daughter died in a murder-suicide outside Cincinnati on Thursday.
Pat McCollum, 77, was a pillar of community strength and was described as “a local hero” having raised more than 70 children over a 20-year period.
She was found dead alongside her adopted son DJ McCollum, 32, and Kaydence McCollum, 11, in the College Hill area of the city after police received multiple calls from concerned neighbors.
When police officers arrived, suspect Anthony Mathis, 66, had retreated inside the home, still armed with a knife.
Pat McCollum, 77, a well-known adoptive mother, her joint disabled son and her 11-year-old adopted daughters were stabbed to death in a murder-suicide.
She was found dead alongside her adopted son DJ McCollum, 32, seen here, and Kaydence McCollum, 11.
This led to a SWAT team being called in, but Mathis stopped them and forced them to negotiate with him for several hours before they could enter the house.
Mathis was found with self-inflicted knife wounds, while the McCollums had died from stab wounds.
Investigators have not said what led to the murders, but court records show they were seen by Cincinnati.com show that Mathis was charged with felony strangulation in an alleged incident involving Patricia last year.
Mathis was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center but later died from his own injuries.
The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office reported that Mathis’ death was a suicide, while the other deaths are being treated as homicides.
DJ had been adopted by Pat McCollum as a child, at the age of seven.
McCollum, 77, was a pillar of community strength and was described as “a local hero” having taken in more than 70 children over a 20-year period.
He was severely disabled while still a baby after an older child dropped a lit match into his crib. He was left with burns on 85 percent of his body, lost all his limbs and was left in a wheelchair.
McCollum finally adopted him at the age of 10 in 2002 and persisted in his recovery. He finally got to see DJ walk with prosthetic legs and graduate from Woodward High School.
There was such a strong bond between her and DJ that during an interview in 2012, she said she hoped he would live with her for the rest of his life.
Either I die first or he dies. I will never part with him,’ he said.
McCollum, a longtime member of New Jerusalem Baptist Church, specialized in caring for children with special needs.
She adopted at least four children in the more than two decades in which she had been a foster mother.
McCollum seemed to help countless people and foster parents throughout the community.
Those whom McCollum hosts regularly would visit again.
Such was the experience she had gained caring for children that she later taught at the university, where she would train new adoptive parents.
She herself earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from the University of Cincinnati.
McCollum, who never married, had raised more than 70 children over two decades and adopted at least four.
He was also a longtime member of New Jerusalem Baptist Church, according to his pastor, the Rev. Damon Lynch Jr.
“She was a great mother and good with kids,” the Rev. Damon Lynch Jr. said. The researchernoting that he often arrived with several children at his side.
Other community members praised McCollum for what he did.
‘EM. Pat truly impacted many lives; advocating for and caring for hundreds of children in foster care, adopting, loving, and continuing to love and support those children and their families after they returned home,” Amy Marie wrote on Facebook.
McCollum took an interest in all of his adopted children and would continue to stay in touch as they grew up.
A GoFundMe page has been created to help pay for the funerals of the three who were murdered.
‘Memaw, Pat for the People, Patricia McCollum, social worker, Guardian Ad Litem, advocate, trauma trainer for both the city and state, and foster parent trainer,’ 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 serving as a founding board member of Rosemary’s Babies Co.
‘She was the president of the Black Social Workers and a member of POCWA. Helped obtain licenses for thousands of adoptive parents.
‘She lived her life serving and loving; this is his LEGACY. She leaves this life less than a week after turning 78 years old.