Sentenced: DCFS Worker Stabbed To Death During Home Visit, His Lawyer Makes Him The Victim

[Sugar Cookie]

Diedra Silas, a 36-year-old child protection specialist with the Department of Children and Family Services was stabbed to death while performing a home visit in Thayer on Tuesday afternoon. The Sangamon County Coroner’s office performed an autopsy on Silas Wednesday morning, and said the woman died of “multiple sharp force injuries and blunt force trauma.”

Six children, ages 1 to 7 years old, were present in the home in the 300 block of West Elm Street, according to Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell. Officers investigated the stabbing in the small rural town just after 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

"The Department of Children and Family Services is deeply saddened by the tragic death of our colleague, Deidre Silas,” agency director Marc Smith said in an emailed statement. “Our most heartfelt condolences, thoughts and prayers are with her family during this very difficult time. Social work is more than just a job, it is a calling. Deidre responded to this call and dedicated herself to the children, families and communities she served, and we will be forever grateful for her work. She was an incredible person, and her brightness and positivity will be missed not only by her family and friends, but also her second family at DCFS."

Police officers from Pawnee, Divernon, Auburn, and deputies from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office all responded to the scene and had to force their way inside the home where they found the victim’s body, but no sign of the suspect.

Later that night, Decatur police took 32-year-old Benjamin Reed into custody in connection with the stabbing. Officers located him at a hospital in Decatur where he was seeking medical treatment for a minor wound. Sangamon county detectives traveled to Decatur and interviewed Reed about the incident.

Preliminary charges included first degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

MSN

Silas had just begun working for DCFS last August after spending more than seven years with the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, according to the union that represents state workers.

Silas has two children.

DCFS worker stabbed to death while visiting home in town south of Springfield, suspect charged with murder

Deidre Silas, 36, was attacked Tuesday afternoon as she was checking on six children, ages 1 to 7 , in a home in Thayer, about 20 miles south of Springfield, according to the Sangamon County sheriff’s office.

chicago.suntimes.com

 

[Satanica]

If he was trying to avoid having his children removed, he failed miserably. I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

One time a birth father showed up with a gun to my agency. It can get crazy.

 

[Sejanus]

A .50 cal headshot would sort him out nicely.

 

[McDanel]

A cop should always be there.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

I really want to know what the scenario was.

If the children were to be removed (planned) from the home officers would be there or at least another worker.

I wonder if she was at the home and while there mentioned the children being removed and that is why he killed her.

Only speaking for NY but even while the children are in a foster home the child's caseworker has to visit the home of the bio-parent. I was pretty lucky that my caseload had siblings and only a few cases where there were actual parents planning for their children.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

The family of the Illinois child services worker who was brutally stabbed to death while investigating a report of a “child in danger” at a home is completely devastated by the woman’s senseless murder.

Deidre Silas, 36, was allegedly killed Tuesday on a visit to home of six kids in Thayer by Benjamin Reed, 32, who was taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder, officials reportedly said.

Silas’ grief-stricken father Roy Graham tried to make sense of the tragic loss of his daughter, a married mother of two daughters.

“Why do you really attack my daughter? I can’t understand why you’d do that,” Graham told The Associated Press. “I know she’d be begging for her life. Why? She didn’t come to talk to you … That’s brutal, mischievous, hardcore stuff.”

Police said they found Silas dead at around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday after they were called to the house, found signs of blood outside and forced their way in. Silas died from “multiple sharp force injuries and blunt force trauma,” Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon told The (Illinois) State Journal-Register.

The circumstances that led up to the killing weren’t clear. Officials haven’t disclosed Reed’s relationship to the children that were inside the home at the time of the attack, but said they were now in protective custody.

Reed is being held on a $5 million bond.

“This tragedy is a stark reminder that frontline DCFS employees like Deidre do demanding, dangerous and essential jobs every day, often despite inadequate resources and tremendous stress,” Lynch said in a statement.

Silas’ husband, Andre Silas, told TV station WICS / WRSP he was worried his 2-year-old daughter wouldn’t remember her mother. The couple also has a 5-year old.

“Don’t take her death for granted,” Andre Silas said as a message to the department. “Use it for information and make sure you guys come up with something to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Family of murdered child services worker devastated by her ‘brutal’ end

The family of the Illinois child services worker who was stabbed to death while investigating a report of a “child in danger” at a home is devastated by the woman’s murder.

nypost.com

 

[Sugar Cookie]

It will be interesting to find out the backstory.

Was this a family Silas had been working with and she had no reason for concern?

Or was it her first contact with the family so that again she would not have had any concerns.

What happened to this woman is horrible and it shows that social workers have difficult jobs that can put them in danger.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Thursday was the final day in the trial for Benjamin Reed the man charged with killing Deidre Silas, a DCFS child protective specialist who was stabbed to death back in January of 2022 inside a home in Thayer.

After four days of testimony, the judge ultimately declared Reed guilty of murder but mentally ill.


Reed was found guilty on all charges, which includes first degree murder, aggravated battery and aggravated unlawful restraint.

During the trial, the state argued Reed was a liar and was using his symptoms to get away with his behavior, while the defense argued he was mentally ill.

The judge, however, said two things can be true at once.

“Can he manipulate? Yes. Is he a manipulator? Absolutely. Did he try and do it here to gain a sanity edge, absolutely, he sure did," said Judge Madonia, "can you be a liar and a malingerer and still have documented and established mental illness? Absolutely.”

The judge continued to say that five qualified experts testified saying they each diagnosed him with some kind of mental health disorder in his lifetime, and that while the mental illness impaired his judgement during the crime he was still aware that what he was doing was wrong.

Reed’s attorney Mark Wykoff describing this verdict as a hollow victory, and said that while it is the verdict they wanted he feels for Silas’ family.

"There is elation in the victory, not today," Wykoff said, "Ms. Silasas the state stated, was a lady that was just doing her job. Terrible loss for her, for her family, for the DCFS, but at the same time, terrible for Benjamin Reed and his lifelong history of mental illness. I'm most pleased that now he will receive the treatment he needs and, quite frankly, as a human being deserves to receive."

Wykoff said in the meantime reed will remain at the Sangamon County Jail until his sentencing.

Ben Reed found guilty for murder of Deidre Silas, but mentally ill

Thursday was the final day in the trial for Benjamin Reed the man charged with killing Deidre Silas, a DCFS child protective specialist.

newschannel20.com

 

[hiitsme]

Very sad.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

A Sangamon County man who was found "guilty but mentally ill" in the Jan. 4, 2022, slaying of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services child protection services worker Deidre (Graham) Silas was sentenced to 100 years behind bars last week.

Benjamin Howard Reed stabbed Silas, a 36-year-old mother of two children, 43 times in his home on the southern tip of the county and also bludgeoned her to death with a sledgehammer.

Sangamon County Presiding Circuit Judge John Madonia told Reed, a 35-year-old former roofer, that whatever rehabilitative potential he had, "you neglected, you ignored, you let it consume you, and it cost Ms. Silas her life."

Reed is not eligible for parole.

Silas had been called to the home to investigate "a report of abuse and neglect" against the parents of two children living in the home.

The report didn't initially involve Reed or his wife's four children and stepchildren, but since the environment was a concern, Silas had a responsibility to assess all the children. Twelve people, six adults and six children, lived in the two-bedroom home, which witnesses described as "chaotic" during Reed's trial.

Reed was later apprehended and arrested the day of the murder in Decatur, where his mother lived.

Reed told Dr. Terry Killian in a 2023 interview to determine sanity, that he saw Silas as "an intruder." Voices inside and outside his head, Reed said, told him that Silas was there to kidnap his kids "and hurt us."

Killian, a Springfield psychiatrist, testified that Reed had "bona fide (Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)-documented mental health conditions and disorders."

Man sentenced for murder of 2022 Illinois DCFS worker in Sangamon County

At the time of the verdict in August, the judge called it "one of the most brutal and heinous" cases he has seen in his legal career.

www.sj-r.com