Phyllis Shores Hopson has photos of more than a dozen loved ones hanging in her Matteson home. But in September pictures of three of her relatives were missing from the wall where they once hung.
She had sent their pictures out to be used for their obituaries.
Jream Washington and Wyatt Patton, her great-niece and great-nephew, and Drake Patton, the children’s mother, were all pulled from Lake Michigan and pronounced dead in early September. Jream and Wyatt’s deaths were ruled homicides, and Patton’s death was ruled a suicide by the Cook County medical examiner’s office. All three drowned, the medical examiner’s office said.
“[I’m] very much hurt and devastated,” Shores Hopson, 61, said.
Her relatives’ deaths were not an isolated tragedy. Over the past year, there have been several headline-grabbing cases in which parents have harmed or taken the lives of their children and themselves in Chicago.
In addition to Patton’s, the cases include:
- Surah Amon, 31, who was accused of “letting go” of her 14-month-old son, Sir Amir Watson, resulting in the boy drowning in Lake Michigan in July. She’s been charged with his murder.
- Also in July, Wendy Tolbert allegedly locked her three children in their Logan Square home and stabbed them before setting the house on fire. She faces charges of murder, attempted murder, aggravated arson and aggravated battery and has pleaded not guilty.
- In May, Aurionah-Rakii-Karie Parker-White, 23, allegedly stabbed her 1-year-old daughter and 3- and 5-year-old sons in their wrists. She faces attempted murder and various aggravated battery charges.
Cases of children dying as a result of abuse are rare in the Chicago area. According to police data, domestic violence led to the deaths of 63 people in 2025. While some autopsy reports are pending for cases in which children’s deaths are alleged to have resulted from domestic violence, at least four deaths have been determined to be a result of child abuse, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Statewide, parents or caregivers were accused of committing four child homicides in 2024, down from 12 in 2023 and 18 in 2022, according to statistics kept by the Department of Children and Family Services. Data for 2025 has not yet been released.
But as families and loved ones struggle to pick up the pieces, experts say many injuries and deaths could have been prevented had more support reached parents sooner.
“Heartbreaking situations like this do not just happen in a vacuum,” said Dr. Brandon Hage, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Illinois Chicago. “They are overwhelmingly the result of failures at various levels to provide the support that a family needed.”
‘I ain’t got nothing left’
The weight of untreated mental health conditions combined with financial pressures and the daily stressors of caring for children can push parents over the edge, experts said.
“We are seeing a lot of folks that are struggling with basic supports in day-to-day living,” said Margaret Waugh, clinical supervisor for the infant and early childhood mental health program Bright Futures, an Illinois nonprofit program with locations in Chicago and the suburbs. “We know that puts mothers at a far greater risk of mental health concerns.”
Brandon Washington, Jream Washington’s dad and a father figure to Wyatt Patton, had been living with Drake Patton in Englewood until they got evicted from their apartment. After that, transmission problems with Drake’s car the day of the incident might have been the “breaking point” for her, Washington said.
“When she lost the car, it felt like she had to depend on me,” Washington said. “I know it was one of those ordeals where [she felt like], ‘Damn, I ain’t got nobody left. I ain’t got nothing left.’”
He called the police on Sept. 13 to request a wellness check after a relative told him Drake Patton’s phone last pinged near the lakefront.
He wasn’t yet aware they had already been pulled from the lake.
“When the police officer told me they were gone, [it felt like] somebody with a knife was just tearing it apart,” Washington said.
Broader socioeconomic issues, like a lack of affordable child care options, can exacerbate the problems.
“I treat numerous families where this is the case. They cannot work because they don’t have child care, and they can’t afford child care because they don’t or can’t work,” Hage said.
Prosecutors say Aurionah-Rakii-Karie Parker-White, the woman accused of stabbing her children in Greater Grand Crossing, was so stressed about taking care of her kids on her own that she wanted to kill them and herself, even though she knew it was wrong.
Tow truck driver DeVaughen Stringfellow, who came across the three children and their mother in the 7100 block of South Harvard Avenue, drove the family to the hospital. On the way there, he said, Parker-White told him the kids had three separate fathers and she had harmed her children because she was struggling.
According to police reports, Parker-White told hospital staff she “did it because she had no help.”
Clinicians acknowledged that although it can be hard to know what a mother is experiencing behind closed doors, there are warning signs loved ones and community members should take seriously.
Dr. Aparna Chatterjee, medical director of the reproductive psychiatry division at Meridian Psychiatric Partners, said it’s important to differentiate between short-lived “baby blues” and the ongoing symptoms of postpartum depression, like persistent low mood and feelings of guilt and hopelessness.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in eight women experiences symptoms of postpartum depression, which is a leading cause of death for women in the first year of motherhood in the U.S.
Stigma may play a role, too, making struggling parents hesitant to reach out for support.
Waugh says that although stigma has decreased, “it’s still for many people a thought of, ‘People will think less of me’ or ‘People’s trust in my ability to parent will be compromised if I share the extent to which I’m suffering,’” she said.
Sir Amir Watson’s father, Erick Watson, 30, said he and family members had observed changes in Amon’s mental health over time, including increased paranoia, physical aggression and escalating delusions. He now wishes she had gotten her more help for her problems.
Leading up to Sir Amir Watson’s drowning July 18, multiple relatives had called police on Amon — who lived on the South Side with Erick Watson and his mother — after she had repeatedly argued with and attacked them, records show.
The petition filed by Watson’s mother claimed Amon “tried to fight” her.
A judge issued an order of protection July 11, and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office failed to locate Amon on multiple attempts to serve the order over the next several days. Police responded to another emergency call July 17 and served the order, but because Amon was not able to find immediate housing, Watson’s mother allowed her to stay.
According to prosecutors, another relative called 911 the next day and reported that Amon was “having mental health issues.” Watson’s mother called 911 twice that evening, but by the time police arrived, Amon had left with her son for South Shore Beach. After trying to hurt herself, she walked into the water and “let go” of her infant son. The boy drowned.
Amon’s attorney declined to comment on the case.
Prosecutors said in July that Wendy Tolbert had a history of mental illness and had recently been diagnosed with cancer. According to her public defender, she depended on food stamps and supplemental Social Security income.
But for Julius Davis, the children’s grandfather, her hardships don’t make sense considering what she is accused of doing.
“There was nothing that ever led us to believe that she’d hurt those children,” said Davis, 66.
Court records show Tolbert, 46, armed herself with a kitchen knife at home in the 3600 block of West Palmer Street and first stabbed her 10-year-old son from behind in the arm as he sat on a couch. She stabbed her 4-year-old son, Jordan Wallace, in the back, face and chest and kicked him down the stairs. After her 13-year-old daughter called 911 and told a dispatcher that “her mother was trying to kill her,” Tolbert confronted her and stabbed the girl in the face, neck and chest, officials said.
Minutes after officers arrested Tolbert outside, the building went up in flames with the children still inside, prosecutors said.
Jordan died as a result of his injuries, officials said. The girl needed multiple surgeries to repair lacerations that had left her in critical condition.
Tolbert admitted to stabbing her children and told officers they were “possessed by the devil,” court records show. At a court hearing in November, Tolbert blew a kiss to relatives and made a heart motion with her hands.
Tolbert’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Her next court date was scheduled for Jan. 27.
Davis said his son, the father of the two boys, is “devastated.”
“This is one of those things you can’t ever get over,” he said.
‘What could’ve been?’
Experts also said it was important to remember that even parents who take drastic measures against their children love them deeply.
Shores Hopson said Patton was a “very nice young lady who was family-oriented.”
“She, like any loving mother, did everything with them,” she said. “You’d never see her without them. That’s why this is just devastating, because this is not something that you could’ve seen coming.”
Washington said Jream was beginning to take her first steps, while Wyatt was continuing to ask questions and get a better understanding of the world around him.
“Wyatt was a bundle of joy. He knew what was going on, but he still needed some guidance,” Washington said. “My daughter was only 1 year old. I didn’t get that much time with her.
“It’s like, ‘Damn, what could’ve been?’” he said.
Washington stressed the importance of seeking help for mental health struggles.
“There’s nothing wrong with asking for help. I’m learning that,” he said. “I don’t know what I need. It’s hard to tell a person what I need besides God. I’m gonna fight my way out of all this [and] stitch my heart back up.”
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