Illinois man convicted in fatal stabbing of child welfare worker attacked during home visit

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois man accused of stabbing a state child welfare worker to death as she was making a home visit to check on children has been found guilty but mentally ill in her killing. A Sangamon County judge convicted 35-year-old Benjamin Howard Reed on Thursday of first-degree murder in the killing of Deidre Silas. Silas was a child protection specialist for the Department of Children and Family Services. She was slain in January 2022 as she responded to a call about possibly endangered children at a home south of Springfield. Authorities say Reed stabbed the 36-year-old mother of two children 43 times in his home and also bludgeoned her to death with a sledgehammer.