Springfield psychiatrist testifies in murder trial of DCFS employee

A Springfield psychiatrist who has twice examined Benjamin Howard Reed, a Thayer man charged in 2022 with stabbing and beating child welfare officer Deidre (Graham) Silas, said in Sangamon County court Wednesday that there appears to be no doubt that Reed suffers from a “significant thought, mood and behavior disorder.”

Dr. Terry M. Killian testified that Reed, 35, suffers from dissociative disorder, complex post-traumatic stress disorder and probably a personality disorder.

Killian, who has been a lawyer for more than four decades, sat on the witness stand all day on the third day of Reed's murder trial.

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Reed, who claimed to have been “unconscious” for several hours and has never commented on specific facts about Silas' death on January 4, 2022, faces a prison sentence of 20 years to life.

When asked by defense attorney Mark Wykoff, Killian agreed that Reed had “real mental illnesses and disorders documented in the DSM.”

“DSM” stands for “Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders”.

Killian examined Reed for the first time three days after Silas was murdered.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services worker had been called to the home, located about 22 miles from Springfield in the southern tip of the county, to investigate “a report of abuse and neglect” at the Thayer home. Although the report did not initially involve Reed or his wife's four children and stepchildren, Silas was required to investigate all of the children because the environment was of concern.

Killian found Reed “competent to stand trial” in his first interview. In an October 6, 2023, evaluation, he found Reed “sane.”

Special Prosecutor Derek Dion, former first assistant Sangamon County District Attorney (center), questions a defense attorney as defendant Benjamin Howard Reed (right) and his attorney Mark Wykoff listen during Reed's murder trial on August 28, 2024.

Killian wrote a more detailed report on January 4, 2024, based on his first two evaluations, police reports, and medical and psychiatric records.

As part of the state's cross-examination, Reed's videotaped 2023 interview was played in which he described long-term sexual and physical abuse at the hands of his father.

Special Counsel Derek Dion sought to rebut some of Killian's assessments of Reed, and the state planned to call several experts to the stand on Thursday to further rebut them.