Round Lake Beach mother charged in son's death worked at special needs school, despite DCFS complaints
How was a Round Lake Beach woman, now charged with the murder of her 8-year-old son, allowed to work with children with special needs despite years of hotline calls about her own kids to the Department of Child and Family Services?
Markell Pierce's mother, 33-year-old Dominique Servant, and her boyfriend, 38-year-old Joey Ruffin, were charged in the 8-year-old's murder in February. The police said he showed signs of long-term abuse and malnourishment.
CBS News Chicago learned that DCFS complaints about the family date back to September 2022.
Servant was the subject of four separate DCFS investigations and four child welfare service referrals between Sept. 9, 2022, and Aug. 26, 2025. The complaints ranged from "whooping" her children as a form of punishment, to Markell's eating food out of the garbage, to the boy being forced to hold a weight over his head as a form of punishment, to his concerning absences from school.
Mandated reporters said they were glad DCFS got involved.
"There was already an open case, so we just assumed it was going to follow the correct course of action," said Carrie Pinske, director of Markell's former daycare.
However, in every case, DCFS never tried to remove the children, but instead offered services that were voluntary, which Servant declined. The final DCFS hotline call resulted in a referral to K.A.M Alliance, a child welfare agency in Waukegan.
DCFS's timeline shows that after a month of trying unsuccessfully to make contact with Servant, the social worker closed the case. A spokesperson for the agency said that families are "not required by law to answer or agree to a services referral."
"DCFS expects its child welfare service contractors to make good faith attempts to offer these voluntary services," the spokesperson said.
So far, the contractor has not responded to CBS News Chicago's request for comment.
Another glaring question—how was Servant able to work with students with special needs at the Special Education District of Lake County during this period of constant abuse allegations and investigations?
CBS News Chicago obtained personnel records showing she was hired to work with students at Fairhaven School in Mundelein in October of 2023, which was after DCFS found credible evidence that Servant had injured her children as a form of discipline.
That finding would have come up in a check of the State Central Register's Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking System. However, it was learned that school districts aren't required to check it.
"The public, through your efforts, are seeing the results of a director who wants to help the system," said Illinois Sen. Seth Lewis.
Sen. Lewis (R-24th) pledged to meet with DCFS Director Heidi Mueller after CBS News Chicago raised concerns about transparency in this case.
"It was emotional to her and her team, because they know that the safety net did fail, unfortunately," he said. "They're trying to improve, and I took away a sense of obligation and a sense of commitment to improving, so that we do not have to face this situation again."
Sen. Lewis said that if DCFS believes it needs more oversight into cases like Markell's, he's happy to further any legislation to make that possible.
CBS News Chicago reached out to the district to find out if they checked that system before hiring Servant, but has yet to receive an official response.