Illinois child welfare worker's death ruled a homicide

CHICAGO (AP) - This week's death of an Illinois child welfare worker who was beaten last year has been ruled a homicide.

Sauk Valley Media reports that the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said after an autopsy Friday that 59-year-old Pamela Knight died Thursday in a Chicago hospital of "complications of blunt force head injuries due to assault."

Knight was trying to take a child into protective custody last September at the Carroll County home of Andrew Sucher's parents when Sucher allegedly kicked her in the head with such force that she suffered a fractured skull.

The 25-year-old Sucher was indicted in December on a number of charges, including attempted first-degree murder. Prosecutors in Carroll County did not immediately return a call for comment on whether the charges against Sucher would be upgraded.