Was DCFS aware of past abuse allegations before death of 8-year-old Markell Pierce in Round Lake Beach?

CBS News Chicago is tracking what led to the death of an 8-year-old boy in Round Lake Beach, and pressing the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services about whether they were aware of any past abuse allegations involving the boy's mother and her boyfriend, who have been charged with his murder.

DCFS has said the family was not receiving services, but the agency would not comment on any past interactions with the family of 8-year-old Markell Pierce.

Illinois law does have strict rules about disclosing information, but there are exceptions when a child has died.

Carrie Pinske, director of a daycare that 8-year-old Markell Pierce and his 10-year-old sister recently attended, tells me she first noticed bald spots on Markell's head and the fact that the children were always hungry.

When an investigator from DCFS called her in April, Pinske was open about the red flags she'd witnessed, including strange attendance patterns.

Three days after that call, she said the children's mother, Dominque Servant, pulled them out of school and daycare altogether.

"There was already an open case, so we just assume that it's going to follow the correct course of action, and hopefully these children will be taken care of correctly," she said. "I think that there's a lot of missing pieces, and I think that somewhere along the way, maybe something took precedence to this, and it resulted in a little boy's death."

Servant and her boyfriend, Joey Ruffin, are now charged with first-degree murder and child endangerment after Markell was found dead in a Round Lake Beach home last week.

In court, Lake County prosecutors said he showed signs of long-term abuse and malnourishment that spanned almost two years.

Servant allegedly claimed she took Markell and his sister out of school because she was frustrated by complaints from DCFS.

But on Tuesday, DCFS would not discuss or confirm any prior interaction with the family at all, citing Illinois law about disclosure in such cases.

But Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert explained that DCFS does have explicit authority in Rule 431 to publicly release information when a child has died or has been critically injured.

"DCFS clearly has discretion, if it chooses to, to release information to the public," he said. "And unless there's a really good reason in this case, like law enforcement specifically asking them to, they should release a detailed timeline in this case as well."

Asked if prosecutors asked that DCFS not release certain information in this case, a spokesperson for the Lake County State's Attorney's Office said, "Decisions regarding what information DCFS may release are made by DCFS, and our office does not control those decisions."