April hearing set for Oregon woman accused of killing her 7-year-old son

OREGON – A public defender representing an Oregon woman accused of killing her 7-year-old son in 2021 will have more time to seek an expert to help in her client’s defense.

“Our intention is to appoint an expert to help in the defense of Mrs. Safranek,” Ogle County Public Defender Kathleen Isley told Judge John Redington on Wednesday. “We are asking that a further status hearing be set.”

Isley is representing Sarah Safranek, 36, of Oregon, who has pleaded not guilty to five counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery for the suffocation death of her son, Nathaniel Burton, in February 2021.

Isley said she might need 45 days to find the expert.

“Any objection?” Redington asked Ogle County State’s Attorney Mike Rock.

“We have no objection,” replied Rock.

Redington said motions related to the case needed to be filed by March 29 and set Safranek’s next status hearing for April 5.

On Nov. 3, 2022 Redington ruled Safranek was fit to stand trial for the offenses after reviewing a mental health evaluation requested by the defense. The case was continued to February following another December hearing.

Nathaniel, a first-grade student at Oregon Elementary School, was found unresponsive and not breathing in his bed at his home in the 400 block of South 10th Street about 2:30 a.m. Feb. 17, 2021. He was pronounced dead at KSB Hospital in Dixon later that day.

An autopsy showed the boy also suffered a ruptured liver.

Safranek was arrested two months later, April 21, and indicted May 4, 2021. She pleaded not guilty May 6, 2021, and remains in the Ogle County Correctional Center on a $2 million bond.

Safranek, who appeared in court on Wednesday in an orange jumpsuit, handcuffs, and leg irons, faces 20 years to life in prison if convicted of murder and six to 30 years if convicted of aggravated battery.

According to records obtained by Shaw Local News Network in a Freedom of Information Act request, the Department of Children and Family Services had visited the Safranek/Burton household about a dozen times over two years, following up on five reports of suspected abuse and neglect.

Each time, DCFS closed the case after finding no indications of parental wrongdoing.

Nathaniel was 4 when the allegations first surfaced.