5-year-old found dead in Yough River, Aug. 11
“You could be having a bad day, but when (Malik) started laughing, you had to laugh, too.”
– MICHELLE WALKER, mother of Malik Patterson
Malik Patterson spoke at least six languages, and he was only 5 years old.
His favorite color was yellow.
He loved watching Baby Shark, he knew his numbers up to 100, he loved cars, he loved going to the zoo.
“He would always make me make elephant noises,” his mother, Michelle Walker, told the New Pittsburgh Courier, Aug. 14. “And he would make loud elephant noises.”
Patterson’s mother called him loving and affectionate.
Walker’s life changed forever when, on Monday, Aug. 11, Patterson walked out of a home in the Harrison Village apartments in McKeesport, and hours later, was found dead in a nearby river.
Patterson had autism.
The story rocked not just the McKeesport community, but the entire region.
Walker spoke to the Courier’s Chief Ikhana on Aug. 14 in an exclusive interview. There were tears, there were smiles, there were laughs. Walker had a range of emotions as she spoke openly about her son. She discussed how, prior to her son’s death, she had just gone through the trauma of losing her sister to cancer in late July. Her sister lived in McKeesport, which is why Walker and her son, Patterson, were there in the first place. Many of Walker’s sisters helped raise Patterson, helped speak life into him.
“We understood that children with autism are brilliant, their minds are wired differently, but they are extremely brilliant, and they will shine as long as you allow them to shine when they are ready to shine. So we did everything we could to help bring that out of him on his own time,” Walker told Chief Ikhana.
Walker also talked about how every time she saw him, she would say, “I’m so…” and Patterson would say, “Proud of you.”
“I would always say, ‘Mommy’s little…’ and he would say, ‘Angel.'”
Patterson would say the “Good Night Prayer” every night, Walker told the Courier.
“You could be having a bad day, but when he started laughing, you had to laugh, too,” Walker said about her son.
At Courier press time, Aug. 19, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office had not released an official cause of death.
On the Courier’s Facebook page, where the exclusive interview is housed, there has been a wealth of support for Walker and Patterson’s family members during this difficult time.
“We’re gonna keep speaking his name,” Walker said. “My son’s life will not be in vain.”
About Post Author
