Driven to succeed - Dead UTech student worked as cabbie and security guard

"I did not like the idea of inDrive, I did not support it and now this."

Those were the painful words of 56-year-old Charmaine Grant, mother of third-year University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) engineering student, Michael Patterson, whose partially decomposed body was found in a canal in the Hartlands district, which is located off Old Harbour Road, of St Catherine last Tuesday.

The 39-year-old had been pursuing a Bachelor of Electrical and Computer Engineering while working as a security guard.

Determined and driven, Patterson, his mother said, had accumulated multiple certifications but remained focused on completing his degree.

"He had a lot of certificates and stuff like that, and he could have stopped, but he said this last one, he wants to do it so he can secure a proper job," Grant said.

She told THE STAR that when his work hours proved insufficient to cover tuition costs, he turned to ride-share driving in an effort to stay afloat financially.

Grant said she immediately objected.

"I said to him, 'What are you talking about? No, you can't do that. There are always a lot of bad stories'. But he said he didn't have any other choice since he is not getting as much shifts where he could pay his tuition comfortably," she said.

Grant, who lives in England, said she maintained daily contact with her son and closely monitored his movements online.

"Because of all the news I hear, I monitor him. I could see when he is online and he would say, 'Mommy, I am going here; I am picking up someone there', and I would sometimes sleep and wake up and check his 'last seen'. Mike is a person that is never offline," she said.

Her concern grew so intense that she tried to help him think through ways to stay safe.

"I told him let's discuss some security measures. I said don't take up any men, but then I said what am I saying because these men use women too."

She pleaded with him more than once.

"'Mike, just leave it alone man, something else will come up'."

But Patterson had already invested in a vehicle -- and when mechanical problems began draining his finances, the pressure to earn intensified. Driving, he felt, was no longer optional.

Grant said her alarm was raised on Friday, February 20, when she noticed that her son's online status had stopped updating -- something she immediately found unusual.

"For someone who is never offline, that was not right," she said.

"I started to feel like something was not right. I started to call and message and then I started to think about other scenarios and say maybe he is with a girl or his phone died and he fell asleep."

By Sunday morning, her unease had turned into urgency. Unable to reach him after repeated attempts, she asked his sister to check on him. When she did, neighbours said he left for work and hasn't returned.

"Then we got into action," Grant said.

Days later, the family's worst fears were realised when Patterson's body was found.

Senior Superintendent of Police Hopton Nicholson, of the St. Catherine North Division, said the authorities are awaiting the results of a post-mortem.

"The body was partially decomposed, so we need the examination before we can make any assessment," he said.

He said, further, that Patterson's motor car was found in Manchester. He said an investigation is ongoing to determine how the persons who were in the vehicle came into possession of it.

Meanwhile, now grappling with the loss, Grant struggles to understand how someone she describes as gentle and non-confrontational could meet such an end.

"This hit me," she said. "It is one of the hardest things to process. My son shouldn't die and leave me. He had so much to offer. If it was a robbery, Mike would give them everything and wouldn't even raise his voice. They never had to kill him," she said.