An Illinois child welfare worker was stabbed to death as she conducted a visit at a home with six children, authorities said.
32-year-old Benjamin Reed has been arrested over the attack on 36-year-old Deidre Silas after she entered his Thayler home alone for the welfare check on Tuesday afternoon.
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, who was hospitalized for a gash on his hand, is being held on a $5 million bond.
At a press conference this week, law enforcement authorities didn’t discuss the nature of the call that brought Silas to the home or say why she responded alone – but the labor union that represented Silas confirmed in a statement that the call was on “children in danger.”
AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said Silas joined the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services in August after seven years with the Department of Juvenile Justice.
“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, said 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.”
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