The murder of 27-year-old Lindsay Elaine McCollum and 51-year-old Eddie Wayne Tate on December 18, 2016, in San Francisco, California, remains a painful and unresolved case that exposed both the violence faced by vulnerable people and the human stories often hidden behind homelessness. Lindsay and Eddie were killed in the Mission District, near 16th Street and South Van Ness Avenue, while living in or around a wooden box that served as shelter. Their deaths shocked those who knew them and left their families, friends, and community members searching for answers.
Lindsay and Eddie were both unhoused at the time of their deaths, but that word alone does not tell the story of who they were. Lindsay was a daughter, an animal lover, and a woman remembered by her family as someone whose life had meaning beyond her struggles. Eddie, also known by the nickname Tennessee, was remembered by some in the area as a helpful man who could fix things and who had become familiar to people living on the streets nearby. Their lives were difficult, but they were not disposable. Their deaths mattered, and the fact that their case remains unsolved has only deepened the grief surrounding it.
The shooting happened at night in one of San Francisco’s most active neighborhoods. The Mission District is known for its restaurants, bars, murals, shops, transit lines, and heavy foot traffic. Yet even in a place where people are constantly moving through, Lindsay and Eddie were attacked and killed. The location was public, but the answers have remained hidden…