Illinois DCFS director mourns the loss of an investigator who was fatally stabbed

Posted on January 6, 2022
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Director Marc Smith. (Dave Dahl/WJBC)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – A news conference the day after a fatal stabbing – that killed an Illinois Department of Children and Family Services investigator near Springfield – offered little new information. What it did offer was DCFS director Marc Smith’s attempt to console Deidre Silas’ loved ones.

“We’re not avoiding any responsibility,” Smith said, flanked by the sheriff and the state’s attorney of Sangamon County. “At DCFS we take responsibility for all of our staff as well as the children and family that we serve.”

A father in the house Silas was visiting – Benjamin Reed – is in custody, having been caught two hours later in Decatur.

Smith sums up what happened when Silas went there alone.

“In this tragic circumstance, the family we were there to help had a negative response to our presence.”

It was more than a negative response. It was a fatal response. With a knife. And it was the final response of Deidre Silas’s career and her life.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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