Mother of Rutgers University freshman struck by train wants answers

Claudia Patterson is desperate for answers.

Why was her 18-year-old son, a freshman at Rutgers University, alone at the edge of town on a cold December night?

How did he wind up 2.6 miles from the university's New Brunswick campus?

And most of all, why was a promising student and athlete — someone friends described as always smiling and "bubbly" — killed by a train as he wandered along the railway, trying to return to his dorm?

"We need answers," Patterson said.

Kenneth Patterson was struck and killed by an Amtrak train on the morning of Dec. 9, near the Jersey Avenue train station in New Brunswick.

According to a New Brunswick police report, a conductor of the Amtrak train, Shawn Savage, 45, told police he saw Kenneth Patterson “crossing over the tracks. He then tripped on one of the tracks causing him to fall.”

Amtrak is continuing to investigate the death and is leading a probe with Rutgers University Police and the New Brunswick Police Department. The agencies are working to map out Patterson's final hours, said Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams.

Meanwhile, Kenneth Patterson's mother and friends have launched #JusticeforKJP — a social media campaign to help in their search for answers.

Claudia Patterson said her son's friends last saw him at 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 9.

Kenneth Patterson's family and friends want to know if anyone has information about his whereabouts between 1:30 a.m. and 3:15 a.m. on Dec. 9. Specifically, the campaign seeks to know "who he was with and how he got to the train station or that general area on Jersey Ave."

She has posted flyers on the university's campus seeking answers and said she hopes the social media campaign will deliver answers.

Text message chain

Friend and classmate Troy Sweeney said he was on the phone with Kenneth Patterson moments before his death trying to help him find his way back home.

“All I know is that he was on the train tracks at 3 o’clock,” said Sweeney. “I know he was at a party before that and then he called me at 3:30 in the morning.”

Sweeney said he texted and talked to Kenneth Patterson up until minutes before his death.

According to screenshots of texts between the two friends taken from Sweeney's iPhone, Kenneth Patterson texted: “Yo” to Sweeney at 3:21 a.m. and asked if he was “at the dorms” at 3:22 a.m. “Yeah” he replied. “Alright word I’ll be back soon nd I’ll hit you up latet,” Patterson replied.

Claudia Patterson said Amtrak called in the accident at 3:43 a.m. The New Brunswick Police Department arrived on the scene and declared her son dead at 4:10 a.m.

"The victim had expired prior to our arrival," the New Brunswick Police Department police report reads.

Sweeney said, based on their conversation, that he was worried that Kenneth Patterson seemed drunk. In order to help him get back home, Sweeney said he tracked him with the Find My Friends app on his iPhone. Sweeney said Kenneth Patterson was at the edge of New Brunswick. It was a “ridiculously far walk” from their campus dorm, Sweeney said.

During a phone call, Sweeney said he asked Kenneth Patterson how he ended up so far from campus, but said his friend was slurring his words and he could not understand what he said.

“He tripped while he was on the phone,” Sweeney said. “He was not in a condition to be able to walk home from there.”

Friends mourn

Kevin Bonner was Kenneth Patterson’s roommate at Frelinghuysen Hall, and said the two along with Sweeney planned to share a house sophomore year.

Bonner, who last saw Kenneth Patterson before dinner on the night of his death, described his friend as “very friendly and bubbly ... There was not a mean bone in his body."

“The last time I saw him was at 8 and I said, ‘OK just text me later.’ I know he was going to a party and I was going to a friend’s house," said Bonner.





Kenneth Patterson's friends, Bonner said, all have tried to come up with reasons for him to be on the tracks, but nothing made sense.

“We have never gone over there before and he never mentioned going over there,” said Bonner. “We never even went near the train tracks. The farthest we would ever go would be like Hamilton Street for food. There was no reason to walk that far to get food or anything. We have looked at all the maps to see if there is anything that would draw his attention over there. There’s nothing.”

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Kenneth Patterson was an avid sports fan who was a football player at Morris Knolls High School and played on the Rutgers Club Lacrosse team.

Rutgers University spokesperson Neal Buccino said, "the University is deeply saddened by the death of Kenneth Patterson and we continue to offer our sympathy to his family."

Rutgers is offering counseling services for students.

"The University is actively cooperating with the Amtrak Police Department’s ongoing investigation into his death," said Buccino.

A toxicology report will be released when the investigation is complete, Abrams, the Amtrak spokesman, said.

The Patterson family has retained the Morristown-based law firm Stephen S. Weinstein, PC and asks that anyone with information call 908-328-1441.

Email: myers@northjersey.com