Saying it ranked as "one of the most brutal and heinous" cases he has seen in his legal career, Sangamon County Presiding Circuit Judge John Madonia found Benjamin Howard Reed "guilty but mentally ill" Thursday in the Jan. 4, 2022, killing ofIllinois Department of Children and Family Services child protection services workerDeidre (Graham) Silas of Springfield.
Reed, 35, stabbed Silas, a 36-year-old mother of two children, 43 times in his Thayer, Ill., home and also bludgeoned her to death with a sledgehammer.
Thayer is at the southern tip of Sangamon County.
More:Springfield psychiatrist: Reed had 'bona fide mental health conditions and disorders'
While acknowledging that Reed, a former roofer, could be manipulative, Madonia, in rendering the decision, refused to believe that he lied through a parade of evidence. That included Reed's sexual and physical abuse at the hands of his father starting at age 7.
According to Illinois Compiled Statutes, mentally ill is defined as "a substantial disorder of thought, mood, or behavior which afflicted a person at the time of the commission of the offense and which impaired that person's judgment, but not to the extent that he is unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of his behavior."
Madonia set Reed's sentencing for Nov. 15.
Reed faces 20 years to natural life in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Several of Silas' family members, who had been following the four-day trial all week, were in the gallery when Madonia pronounced the verdict. They declined to speak to the press afterwards.
Representatives from DCFS were also on hand, including Jamie Bramblett, Silas' former supervisor who testified for the state on Monday.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with Deidre Silas' family," said Sangamon County State's Attorney John Milhiser, reached Thursday.
"The court's ruling today holds the defendant accountable for the brutal murder of Deidre Silas. When he is sentenced on Nov. 15, we will be asking Judge Madonia to impose a prison sentence sufficient in length to ensure this defendant cannot get out and hurt anyone else."
Silas, who emigrated from Jamaica with her family in 1996, had been called to the home to investigate "a report of abuse and neglect" against Brandon Eberwein Sr. and Ariel Minor, the parents of two children living in the home.
Though the report didn't initially involve Reed or his wife's four children and stepchildren, since the environment was a concern, Silas had a responsibility to assess all the children. In all, 12 people, six adults and six children, lived in the two-bedroom home.
While it would have been the normal course for Silas to talk to her supervisor and make an assessment about next steps, Bramblett testified there were "no plans to remove children" from the home that day.
Witnesses testified that Reed was asleep when Silas came to the home in the early afternoon. Reed's wife, Amanda Eberwein, confronted Silas about not being able to see her kids.
Eberwein woke up Reed, who became agitated when he learned that Silas was a DCFS worker. Reed said DCFS had taken away children from several family members.
Reed told Dr. Terry Killian in a 2023 interview to determine sanity, that he saw Silas as "an intruder." Voices inside and outside his head, Reed said in the same interview, told him that Silas was there to kidnap his kids "and hurt us."
Killian, a Springfield psychiatrist who spent Wednesday on the stand, said Reed had "bona fide DSM-documented mental health conditions and disorders."
"DSM" is "The Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders."
Special prosecutor Derek Dion, speaking in rebuttal to defense attorney Mark Wykoff during closing statements Thursday, said Reed "definitely" wasn't mentally ill.
Killian's own diagnosis of "guilty but mentally ill" was "reliant on what Reed is telling him and he's lying about things he doesn't have to lie about," Dion told the court.
There was also the possibility of Reed's malingering, Dion said, which wasn't in Killian's Jan. 4, 2024 report.
"He definitely knew what he was doing," Dion said of Reed, who declined to take the stand on his own behalf.
Earlier Thursday, the state put on a number of professionals who treated or consulted on Reed's past trips to hospital emergency rooms, which resulted in hospital or mental health stays.
Dr. Ajay Jeetwani, a psychiatrist who treated Reed at Elizabeth Packard Mental Health Center (formerly McFarland Mental Health Center) in Springfield in 2014, said "he seemed to enjoy violence," which was a pattern of anti-social behavior.
Jeetwani diagnosed Reed with a major depressive disorder and a personality disorder not otherwise associated with borderline personality disorder.
Jeetwani and others noted that Reed "seemed oriented to things," meaning that Reed knew his surroundings.
Madonia, who helped create Sangamon County Mental Health Court nearly 10 years ago, said all five experts who took the stand diagnosed Reed with a disorder.
Most convincing, Madonia added, was a mood disorder that affected Reed's judgement.
Reed had opted for a bench trial instead of a jury trial late last year.
Wykoff, speaking afterwards, said Reed suffered "a lifetime of mental illness" and, despite the guilty verdict, found solace that Reed would now get the treatment he needed in IDOC.
At the same time, "the result is tragic for the victim, for the victim's family," Wykoff added. "It's tragic for Mr. Reed."
Silas' death led to two Illinois laws addressingDCFS worker safety.
Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, introduced a bill allowing front-line DCFS employees to carry pepper spray on the job for personal protection if they take a training program developed by the Illinois State Police.
Another bill introduced by Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, provides survivor benefits such as health insurancefor a DCFS worker's family if the worker dies on the job.Silas' family received benefits laid out inthe bill.
Contact StevenSpearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
