State officials say an Illinois Department of Children and Family Services worker has died who was severely beaten while trying to take protective custody of a child.
DCFS spokesman Neil Skene said 59-year-old Pamela Sue Knight of Dixon died Thursday morning. A Rock Falls man has pleaded not guilty to attempted first-degree murder and other charges in the Sept. 29 attack.
25-year-old Andrew Sucher is accused of kicking Knight in the head so severely that he fractured her skull, causing permanent brain damage and extensive physical disabilities.
Knight was at Sucher's parents' home in Milledgeville to take a 2-year-old boy into protective custody when she was attacked. Sucher remains jailed on $275,000 bond. A mental evaluation was ordered for him last month and a status hearing is set for Feb. 23.
