At the time of the coroner’s ruling of homicide, I made a post regarding this case. Over the last year, quite unintended on my part, this post has become a forum for those following Silven’s case to discuss their views. Commenters include those claiming to be family and personal friends of Erin Yocum (Silven’s mother) and Daniel Belknap (Erin’s boyfriend at the time of Silven’s death), while others claim to have been present in the waiting room at St. Francis when Silven was hospitalized and describe disturbing & inappropriate behavior displayed by Silven’s mother. I have no way to verify the veracity of these claims or the identities of those involved in the discussion, but it has certainly made for interesting reading.

This case has obviously evoked a lot of heated feelings and still captures the attention of many. There have been 152 comments to my original post to date, and over 50 of these comments have been posted in the last month. I have now closed comments on the old post. Those wishing to continue the conversation may pick up the thread here.

A grand jury in McDonough County has now brought indictments against Daniel Belknap and Erin Yocum (PJ Star story here, WGEM [Quincy NBC affiliate] story here). Belknap’s charges include first degree murder, and both Belknap and Yocum have been charged with two counts of endangering the life of a child.

The road to justice for Silven Yocum has been long, and is not yet over. For the sake of an innocent life needlessly lost, I hope justice is well served.

Read the article. There is a very easy answer. Here are the low-lights:

Detailed autopsy results shared during the inquest helped jurors understand the extent of the girl’s wounds, which ultimately led to her death. Three bruises marred the back of her head. More bruises, mostly fresh, but some old, covered the small of her back, shoulder, and right ankle and foot.

McDonough County sheriff’s Detective Steve Holt described one of the head injuries as “very deep that bruised through to her skull” and caused brain bleeding.

“This type of injury was severe,” Holt said. “It was a very painful injury. She would have cried out or went unconscious. We believe this injury is from blunt force trauma.”

The body of the article clearly tells us the answer … a coroner’s jury ruled the death a homicide last Thursday (January 4). Why the misleading byline? Someone beat this child to death. The difficult part is finding out who, since four different adults had access to the child.

Here’s the part that burns me – Silven’s mother claims that she laid the child down at 9 PM on September 9 and checked on her twice at 6:30 AM and 10:30 AM. She claims that at those times the child was asleep, snoring in her bed. The ambulance was called at 1:30 PM on September 10.

Who the #$%& let’s their five year old sleep until after one o’clock in the afternoon without trying to wake them up??? That’s the biggest load of crap story I’ve ever heard. The mom claims that she was sick at the time and just thought her child had the same bug she did. Even more reason to actually GO IN AND CHECK ON HER.

At least through organ donation this poor child provided a chance for a longer and better life to three other children. Small blessings, I guess.