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Man convicted of murdering Illinois DCFS employee Deidre Silas

A Sangamon County man found “guilty but mentally ill” in the Jan. 4, 2022, slaying of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services child protection worker Deidre (Graham) Silas of Springfield was sentenced to 100 years in prison last week condemned.

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

Sangamon County Presiding District Judge John Madonia told Reed, a 35-year-old former roofer, that whatever rehabilitative potential he had, “you have neglected it and ignored it, you have let it consume you and it has.” Cost Mrs. Silas her life.”

More: Mann was found “guilty but mentally ill” in the 2022 killing of a DCFS worker in Springfield

At the Aug. 29 sentencing, Madonia called it “one of the most brutal and heinous” cases he has seen in his legal career.

Reed is not eligible for parole.

Sangamon County Prosecutor John Milhiser had asked Madonia to impose a prison sentence “long enough to ensure that (Reed) cannot get out and hurt someone else.”

Silas had been called to the home in Thayer, about 35 minutes southwest of Springfield, to “investigate a report of abuse and neglect” against the parents of two children living at the home.

The report initially did not concern Reed or his wife's four children and stepchildren, but because the environment was a concern, Silas had the responsibility to examine all of the children. Twelve people, six adults and six children, lived in the two-bedroom house, which witnesses during Reed's trial described as “chaotic.”

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

Reed told Dr. Terry Killian stated in an interview in 2023 that he viewed Silas as “an intruder”. Voices inside and outside his head, Reed said, told him that Silas was there to kidnap his children “and hurt us.”

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

Silas' death brought the faces of DCFS employees into the spotlight.

Both Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, and Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, introduced legislation that would address workplace safety and provide survivor benefits to a DCFS worker's family if the worker dies on the job.

“The court’s ruling (Friday) holds the defendant responsible for this brutal murder,” Milhiser said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Deidre Silas and with child advocates across the state who work every day to protect the most vulnerable members of our community.”

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; [email protected]; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

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