DCFS worker from Springfield was 'doing her job protecting kids' on day of fatal stabbing

A former first assistant in the Sangamon County State's Attorney's office said Deidre (Graham) Silas was "just doing her job protecting kids" when the child protection specialist was fatally stabbed in a home on the southern tip of Sangamon County on Jan. 4, 2022.

Benjamin Howard Reed, 35, is accused of killing the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services worker.

Reed's trial, delayed earlier this year, began in Sangamon County court on Monday with opening statements and several witnesses, including Reed's mother, Jennifer Askins, who admitted through tears to calling police after Reed told her "he lost it" and killed Silas.

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Reed, sporting a long black beard and wearing a striped jail-issue uniform, sat at the defense table and appeared to make little eye contact with witnesses. Reed did not speak at the trial.

Several of Silas' family members were in court along with some of her former DCFS workers.

Askins testified that Reed and his wife, Amanda, and her four children stopped by her apartment in Decatur late in the afternoon of Jan. 4, 2022.

Askins said Reed didn't say who he killed, but his wife told her it was "the DCFS lady."

"I almost dropped my grandbaby," Askins said in response to what Reed did.

Askins testified she told Reed and his wife that they couldn't stay at the apartment. Both went to HSHS St. Mary's Hospital where Reed was getting treated for a knife cut.

Askins then called police and told them where Reed was headed.

Earlier, Silas' former supervisor, Jamie Bramblett, testified that Silas was called in to investigate "a report of abuse and neglect" at the home in Thayer, a village of about 700 people 22 miles south of Springfield, where Reed resided, though the complaint wasn't about Reed or his children.

Since the environment was a concern, Bramblett said Silas had a responsibility to assess all six children living in the home, including Reed's.

Bramblett said there were "no plans to remove children" from the home that day.

In the opening statement, Derek Dion, who is now with the Office of the State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor but is trying the case with Kendra Hansel, said that Reed's wife told Silas she couldn't see her kids. That's when Reed armed himself with a knife, Dion said, and stabbed Silas 43 times.

Reed also struck Silas in the head with "a shot hammer," Dion said.

The autopsy photos, with forensic pathologist Dr. Nathaniel Patterson narrating, were viewed in open court.

In a brief opening remark, defense attorney Mark Wykoff said "the only question for the court was what was (Reed's) mental state at the commission of the crime."

The defense could call Terry Killian, a psychologist, as an expert witness to speak to that mental state.

The state has filed a motion indicating that rebuttal witnesses have been contacted to match Killian's potential testimony.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie .

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: DCFS worker from Springfield was 'doing her job protecting kids' on day of fatal stabbing