He was not a match, Bode reported. May 7, 2021 3-year-old Riley Fox was found inside a creek a little distance away from her home in Wilmington, Illinois. Already, the shocking news had been splashed across the front of every local newspaper-Fox was being charged with an unspeakable crime, murdering his three-year-old daughter. The men, the family learned, were Will County detectives. See what happens, when you dont look close enough, mistakes are made. The murder of Riley Fox has since turned into a mystery extraordinary for reasons beyond the heartbreaking death of a little girl. Kevin says Swearengen's tone changed abruptly. "That door was paper thin," Zellner says. Not even close. The DNA had been sent to the state crime lab, not Virginia, and then returned to Joliet. Kevin's knees buckled. "He admitted duct-taping the child's mouth. Finally they were brought out into a waiting room, where Curt, Dawn, Chad, and Stacy had already gathered. A "source," his face hidden behind a black blob, his voice disguised, repeated the rumors in Jacobson's "exclusive" interview. (A water usage report from that night suggests that the washing machine did not run.) Kevin Fox and his family refused last year to pay $100,000 to Trisha Kiefer, the former girlfriend of Scott Eby, who was convicted of killing 3-year-old Riley Fox. The interrogation and arrest of Fox, the suit alleges, was part of a last-ditch effort by Tomczak to win re-election. What more can they possibly want to know? Not fair! The weekend of June 5 and 6, 2004, Melissa Fox left Wilmington to participate in a breast cancer walk in Chicago. AGE 40s Kevin J Fox Saint Jacob, IL View Full Report Used To Live In Relatives Reaching into a tiny white basket, she doled red rose petals along the aisle like a pixie spreading fairy dust. Seventeen years ago, Zellner's client, Kevin Fox, was wrongly arrested and charged with killing his little girl. A federal jury awarded Fox and his wife, Melissa, $15.5 million for false arrest and. She quickly became known around town as the precocious little girl who loved Dora the Explorer, the kind of child who insisted on picking out her own flower girl dress-only after plis and curtsies in front of a mirror. To the people who knew Kevin Fox, the hearing seemed unreal. More than 6,000 people attended the wake-nearly 1,000 more than the entire population of Wilmington. Some expressed bitter feelings of betrayal to reporters. Hundreds more turned out the next day for the funeral, many wearing pink ribbons and ties and butterfly pins. Zellner is such a bad ass!!! At the time, it seemed like a happy though standard family portrait. You'll serve half. But the sense of betrayal he felt at the hands of the detectives, especially when he learned that he would not, indeed, be "bonded out" to go home and straighten things out, was crushing. At the small brick and concrete station, just off Main Street, police put Kevin in one room and Melissa in another. 79/63F. The boy weeps. In the cold, shallow, murky water of Forked Creek, Riley's body floated, face-down. Tomczak, now in private practice in Joliet, was added in July 2005. 81/63F. Very sad. "For it is to such as these the kingdom of God belongs.". Why was no blood or other physical evidence found in the Ford Escape? In preparation for the possible interrogation, the detectives contacted several polygraph experts, including Fred Hunter, a Hinsdale-based examiner with more than 30,000 tests under his belt. Fox Born: July 26, 1947 in Joliet, IL Died: April 8, 2021 in New Lenox, IL Age 73 of Wilmington, formerly of Joliet, passed away Thursday, April 8, 2021 at Silver Cross. On October 25th, a little more than a week before the election, the four detectives working on the Riley Fox murder-Scott Swearengen, John Ruettiger, Michael Guilfoyle, and Edward Hayes-convened at the Will County sheriff's office in Joliet to discuss bringing Kevin in for an interrogation. She put her hand on Kevin's leg. The relationship evolved quickly and, just after Kevin started college at Illinois State University, Melissa, then 18, became pregnant with Tyler. How could a lightweight bathroom door knock a little girl out so completely that she appeared dead? It had all happened so quickly-had seemed to make so much sense in the moment. Local 630-955-1212 | Toll . Tomczak wrapped up the hearing by asking for a $25-million bond, a request that drew gasps from the gallery. Her father, an avid fisherman, had learned he had cancer, and he wanted to spend what time he had left in a peaceful place along a river, she says. "That night she asked me to her homecoming," Kevin recalls with a laugh. ", Kevin's account of the interrogation continues: Swearengen burst into the room, out of breath and saying he had just talked to Tomczak. But when one of Zellner's assistants tried to do so with a 40-pound bag-the approximate weight of Riley at the time of the murder-the bag was blocked by debris. On this night, however, leafing through a picture book, with Kevin holding Teagan, and Tyler peering over Melissa's shoulder, they can smile when they reach the photograph of the happy family they once were, when the biggest worries were a best man's toast and a little girl wanting to stand beside her daddy. The timing of the charges also seemed curious, coming just six days before a tight election for state's attorney between Tomczak, the incumbent, and a bitter rival, James Glasgow. Par for the course. He shakes his head one final time. "Say it was an accident. Still, both wept when they learned Melissa was carrying a girl. It wasn't always this way. They simply broke him down psychologically to a point where he believed that the only way he was going to get this nightmare to stop was to confess. "Everything that [detectives] had was still pointing to this guy," says Will County Sheriff's spokesman Pat Barry. And, most telling, how could detectives ignore that Kevin had not provided a single piece of information that only the killer would have known, such as the whereabouts of Riley's capri pants? Phone: (910) 343-3900. . ", They were greeted at the door by Swearengen. "Within minutes he was sitting there saying he felt like they'd tricked him, they'd lied to him." At a press conference, Glasgow stopped short of directly criticizing Tomczak, but the implication was clear: he thought the case had been mishandled, particularly when it came to the long delay in DNA testing. "But Scott said not to worry, that they just needed to ask us a few questions before they told us whatever they wanted to tell us.". (Williams refused to comment because of the pending litigation. All told, Kevin was interrogated that night for more than 14 hours; only 20 minutes were taped. Before putting the girl in the water, he inserted his finger inside her to make it look like she had been sexually assaulted. According to a statement he later gave police, he picked the kids up and drove them home at around 1 a.m. Then, too tired to make up their beds, he laid them down in the living room-Riley on the couch and Tyler on a chair with a footstool. When the FBI began its investigation in 2009, it was two years after a jury awarded Fox and his then-wife, Melissa Fox, $15.5 million for the Will County Sheriff's Office investigators' false. He still holds Riley close to his heart and cherishes the beautiful memories his daughter left him with. Zellner also began looking into an element that seemed to have been forgotten: the DNA evidence taken from Riley. On 27 October 2004, investigators from the Will County, Illinois Sheriff's Office coerced a false confession from Kevin Fox to the sexual molestation and murder of his four-year-old daughter following a polygraph "test" administered by polygrapher Richard Williams. Thus, he contacted the police on the non-emergency phone line (an action that would later raise suspicion against him). With the case against Kevin collapsing, the new Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow held an immediate court hearing. For the first time publicly, Kevin and his wife, Melissa, talk about their ordeal, an account of pain, mystery, and undying faith, wrapped around an enduring tragedy. (The DNA was subsequently retested at a different laboratory, and the results again excluded Kevin.). The enormity of what had just happened, what he had just done, had not yet sunk in. Other family members were less comfortable. "I don't know," Tyler says. WSFX-TV (channel 26) is a television station in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. I can help this kid if he acts now," the detective quoted the state's attorney as saying. But Zellner, who has viewed a copy of the videotape, says it's too fuzzy to make out a license plate or even to positively identify any vehicle. His image hovers ghostlike in the frame. Respect! ', "I started shaking and crying," she says. We've got to get this to the laboratory so that we can process it quickly.'" Yet, despite the overwhelming implication of guilt produced by the hearing, a number of troubling questions lurked within the prosecutor's case. The sheriff's summary report portrays Melissa as expressing doubts about her husband's innocence. Kevin Corke currently serves as an FNC correspondent based in Washington, DC. He looks away. Get your help from the State's Attorney so you can go home to your family. By Guilfoyle's account, the boy also said things that seem to contradict known facts-that Kevin had dressed Riley in pajamas, for instance. But Bode, insisting on following protocol, said they'd have to wait for the final report. In early October, Chad, a stockbroker, approached Zellner, who coincidentally worked across the hall from Chad in Naperville. . 21244 W Highway 113 Rte #113, Wilmington, IL 60481. "Isn't that your niece?" The Fox 8 Meteorologist gave birth to a son in 2017 alongside her husband Ryan. "I tagged around when we were in high school. After Kevin graduated high school and entered college, Melissa got pregnant with their first child Tyler. (Today, Jacobson tells Chicago that she later "felt awful" and regretted the report. Gone were any underwear and capri pants. ", In the sorrow-filled twilight of their little girl's death, in the aftermath of an ordeal that could have sent Kevin Fox to death row, Kevin and Melissa have searched for meaning in their anguish. "She is in pain and needs closure. Chad hugged Kevin as the room burst into applause. Trying not to panic, Kevin searched the house. ", By now, Melissa's brother had arrived at the jail, as had Kevin's father. But he agreed with Zellner. Once the hearing was under way, Glasgow came right to the point: the DNA resulted in an "absolute exclusion of Kevin Fox as a donor," the prosecutor told the judge. He'd barely had time to grab a bite to eat all day. His lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, says that when she asked to see the handwritten notes from which the summary was drawn, Will County authorities told her that they were gone. Three years later, in 2000, with Kevin having found work as a union painter and Melissa as a waitress, the two were married. Many other people assumed he was guilty. Greater Philadelphia. Melissa got the word when she called Kevin to arrange to meet the family at the finish line. His little chest heaves and his thin shoulders shake. Kevin Fox was eventually released, and the case against him was dismissed. "We put all our faith in them. "We'll see," the defense attorney shot back. "So when you send something to the lab, you monitor it," the Tribune quoted Glasgow as saying. Zellner also re-examined the bathroom door that had supposedly hit Riley. A faded water tower bearing the words "Wilmington Wildcats" overlooks Main Street, and a collection of modest ranch homes, ornamented with basketball courts and large American flags, lie sprinkled along the tree-lined streets. What did he want to do on his first night out, he was asked. On a recent April evening, however, their attentions are devoted to gentler undertakings: their new baby girl, Teagan, who was born on March 8th. "Any charges of politics are baseless," Tomczak said in a statement the day after Fox's arrest. Kevin says he was incredulous. An Amber alert for Riley Fox had flashed on the scoreboard. "I kept saying, What's going on? Nine days later, Chad and Stacy packed more than 100 T-shirts bearing the words "Test Before Arrest" and "376 Days of a Killer on the Loose" in bold black lettering into a van that Zellner had rented for the occasion. 82/55F. As a result, Fox spent nearly eight months in prison on a capital murder charge before being exonerated by DNA evidence. What about DNA testing? Among the allegations was that the father had made illegal contributions to his son's campaign. Next. More than six months later, DCFS reported finding no evidence to support the allegation. As the day wore on, local merchants pitched in with food and pop. They agreed to tell their story to Chicago, they say, in hopes of calling attention to the injustices they believe they have suffered and to breathe new life into an investigation that, even authorities admit, has not yielded any promising leads for months. But if he could get out on bond, he could straighten this mess out. "It's now or never," the lawsuit claims the detective said. About a mile away as the crow flies, a Wilmington mother and daughter had decided to search Forsythe Woods, a sprawling forest preserve with dense growth cut by a tributary of the Kankakee River called Forked Creek. After Champagne and pizza at Zellner's office, Kevin, Melissa, and Tyler spent the evening at Chad and Stacy's apartment in Chicago, safely away from the media. IL NewsDrunken Driver On Wrong Side Of Jefferson Street: Joliet Police ; Joliet, IL News Subscribe to one or more of our free e-mail newsletters to get instant updates on local news, events, and opportunities in Chicago. He had been undergoing questioning for nearly 12 hours. "I didn't know what had happened to her," he says. but we firmly believe, and the sheriff firmly believes, that [the detectives] did a good job . Her mouth had been covered with duct tape, and adhesive residue on her arms led authorities to surmise she had been bound. Instead, Guilfoyle later wrote up a summary of the interview. To accommodate the expected crowds, Riley's viewing, five days after the murder, was held at the town's largest church, St. Rose Catholic. . Go home now on bond.". A steady drizzle fell, while inside, mourners wept to a slide-show collage set to the songs "My Girl" and Sarah McLachlan's "Angel." Also added were the polygraph examiner, Richard C. Williams, Pluth, Kaupas, and a jail guard. The ruling elite is now past retardation for many centuries. Months went by with no breaks in the case. Until the night of Kevin's long interrogation several months later, authorities never told him and Melissa what Tyler allegedly had said. "Before people simply say, There's no way I would ever do that,' you have to put yourself in the position of someone like Kevin Fox," says Drizin, legal director of Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions. Suddenly, at about three that afternoon, police jumped in their cars and sped off. Five months later, a gallery of stunned observers packed the hearing at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet. He locked the front door and retired to his room. He was born October 8, 1968 in Silver Spring, Maryland, the son of Helen (Niles) Fox and the late Allen Wayne Fox.. At 12:20 a.m. on October 27th, according to the detectives' summary of events, detective Richard Williams arrived to administer the exam. Immediately, we both started crying. Little did he know that a few hours later, he would be waking up to the worst nightmare of his life and that his beloved daughter would be taken away from him forever. As far as Glasgow knew, the little girl's rape kits had not contained sufficient genetic material to yield a usable profile. "The state's attorney's office at that point needs to get involved and say, Wait a minute. Maryland Man Arrested After Crashing Stolen Vehicle. The girl's body lay in a small polished white casket with stainless steel handles. Kevin worked as a union painter to earn a living, while Melissa got a job as a waitress. The claim triggered an investigation from a representative of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The two had clashed on nearly everything, from elections to court cases to ethical conduct. When pressed, however, the boy seemed less sure. ", The town of Wilmington, struggling to heal, tends a small garden that honors Riley's memory. He grabbed the back of Kevin's shirt and pulled his face close. "You're overcome by grief. 2 bds; 1 ba; 1,000 sqft - Active. The Rossi family had moved to Wilmington when Melissa was in the third grade. It is owned by American Spirit Media, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Gray Television, owner of NBC affiliate WECT (channel 6), for the provision of certain services. "Something didn't feel right," Chad recalls. "There are some red flags that are making us look at Kevin," Melissa recalls the detective saying. Born in Atchison, Kansas, November 6, 1928, Jim was the second son of Jared Copeland Fox III and Ethel Carroll Fox. TueWedThuFriSat. On April 5th, Zellner says, she learned why. The boy shakes his head. "What's happened?" "But I lost so much there. "We were still young, so it was scary," Kevin says. Among the questions the two men fielded were queries about whether politics influenced the timing of the interrogation. (Today, Fox's legal team says that the results were at best unreliable.) You don't need your father.'". At one point, he asks for his "mommy and daddy." A year after their marriage, they added a daughter to the family-an apple-cheeked princess with a pile of light brown hair. But after briefly talking to one lawyer, Kevin dismissed the idea. Protocols should be revised and people in positions of authority need to be accoutable for their actions! High 24F. Indeed, he had promised to press ahead with the death penalty. Riley Fox Riley Fox (March 31, 2001 - June 6, 2004) was a 3-year-old girl from Wilmington, Illinois, who was murdered on June 6, 2004. "So just say you did it." Now he was free. People wonder: who would do it? From that moment, Melissa says, she never doubted Kevin. The questions quickly shift to what Kevin did or didn't do that night. "That's failed. ", And yet, "I'm sitting there thinking there's videotape of the car," she says. "We really tried to stay the course," he told reporters. Even though Kevin was freed of all charges, he claimed that the false imprisonment had a massive impact on his life. His voice trails off. He also holds a journalism master's and . "I knew he was innocent, and I knew my family was in for the fight of its life," he says. After the bailiff called the court to order, Tomczak laid out what he called cold, hard evidence of the father's guilt, including a confession. Both stations share studios on Shipyard Boulevard in Wilmington, while WSFX-TV's . Elsewhere in the building, in a small, cramped room with a low ceiling and a one-way mirror about the size of a cereal box, Kevin sat in a corner, facing a group of detectives, including an intense man with strawberry-blond hair and a flushed complexion: Ed Hayes. "I feel sad for the whole community that we were betrayed." Spend a night with my wife and son," Kevin Fox said after being released. Pat Barry insists that Tomczak knew nothing of the meeting, and that, no matter how questionable the timing appears, politics had nothing to do with it. "I had never even met him before and he was just screaming in my face. Authorities initially charged the young girl's father, Kevin Fox, with the murder, based largely on a videotape confession that he'd killed Riley. Tomczak, 44 at the time, had earned his law degree in Chicago, but settled in Will County with his wife, who today is a judge there. Tomczak did not return calls requesting an interview, but in court pleadings he has denied any wrongdoing, including any suggestion that Kevin Fox's arrest was related to his re-election campaign. Also, Tomczak alleged during Kevin's initial hearing that "the autopsy report indicated [Riley] was alive and struggling when placed in the water." But now that I have a wonderful wife, and the two most beautiful children in the world, you get to finally follow me and make a family. According to court documents about the case, Kevin Fox's wife Melissa was in Chicago for a two-day breast cancer research walk and he had gone out on the evening of June 5, 2004, with his. She adored her father. . After a brief reunion with Melissa and Tyler, Kevin emerged from the jail with his arms raised in triumph and stood before a mob scene of cameras and well-wishers. Unfortunately, however, their world turned upside down on the fateful date of June 6, 2004. That night, Kevin drove to Chicago, too, to attend a concert with a friend and one of Melissa's brothers. He has also, on matters unrelated to the case, been in error in at least 13 instances, according to the Fox suit. A few years later, Kevin and Melissa became proud parents of baby Riley, and the family seemed to be quite happy. The answer is: far too many people. Television satellite trucks roared into town, deploying their parabolic dishes and disgorging reporters. And what were the circumstances of the "confession"? Outside the courtroom, more than 100 friends and family greeted them. It put stress on the couple, and soon, they separated with Melissa moving out with both children. Then, on June 7th, came the answer. Melissa first saw Kevin at a high-school volleyball game. Glasgow was trim with a blow-dried pompadour of silver. Pluth pursues. "I felt like a zoo animal.". Bewildered and frightened, Kevin and Melissa prayed that the sudden departure was less ominous than it looked. "Riley's gone," the boy said. He spent eight months in prison before he was released and ultimately cleared through DNA evidence. The extended Fox family danced the night away, though before too long Riley and Tyler had curled up under a table and fallen sound asleep. Riley Fox story: '20/20' unveils new details in Wilmington girl's death Braidwood mayor charged with DUI after 3-car crash Victim ID'd in deadly crash on I-55 near Wilmington As they had wanted to do all along, the family began to offer a reward, for $20,000. I looked at him square in the eyes the whole time, and I knew my brother was not lying to me. Until now, the Foxes have remained silent about their ordeal. On one level, the couple could understand that the authorities might hold them-or at least Kevin-under suspicion. It was one of the first times she had spent the night away from the kids, but for her, it was a worthy venture-a way to honor her late father. Chad was on the phone to his father, desperately urging Kevin and Melissa to leave. Find a suspect, any suspect, and nail him/her. He immediately noticed that the front door and screen were ajar. An appeals court Wednesday agreed with a federal jury's 2007 finding that Will County police framed Kevin Fox for the rape and murder of his 3-year-old daughter Riley, but reduced the damages . WILMINGTONRoger J. Johnson, 62, of Wilmington, passed away Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023 at his home. The detective surmised that Kevin had applied the duct tape and committed the sexual assault to make it look as if the little girl had been kidnapped. Tags: Crime & Law, Design Controls - Google AMP, Long Reads, Politics & City Life, Print-Specific Tags - Feature, Writers - Bryan Smith. Who would admit to such horrible things if he hadn't really done them? A break in the case could well tip the scales. He wore a red jump suit and was shackled at the legs and hands. Sensing his shyness, she took matters into her own hands. Did he know his car had been spotted passing the Mobil station at four in the morning? "I'm asking leave to file same." (Through his attorney, Gerald Haberkorn, Hayes denied any allegations of impropriety. "You guys are nuts!". Ke 11 Share Kevin Fox, who could have faced the death penalty, was released with all charges dropped. They love to see innocent children tortured and defiled for their indigent minds because it elevates an idiot. Kevin, after all, had been the last person known to have seen Riley alive. They describe a codified series of emotional and intellectual manipulations designed to break down even the strongest of personalities. "They thought they had me convinced," she says. Dawn's current home is located at Wilmington, IL. Meanwhile, the mystery of what happened to Riley Fox remains. . Not fair! The lab had found a man's saliva-just enough to extract a full DNA profile. Panicking, he scooped her up and carried her to his car, retrieving some duct tape from the back. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. "If someone was abusing my child, I would have known about it. He then ran next door, where Riley's best friend lived. the cops, the judge, the seeming confidence of the state's attorney, and, most of all, the confession. Dimitre Dimitrov, 64, allegedly killed his wife, MaryAnn Dimitrov, and himself at the Holly Tree Racquet Club in Wilmington last Tuesday evening. Case closed. Worse, when Bode finally got the DNA, the family was told testing would take two months, and that the chances of finding male saliva in Riley's DNA were slim because there was so little genetic material to test. The original defendants included Will County detectives Hayes, Swearengen, Guilfoyle, Ruettiger, and two others. Five months after three-year-old Riley Fox of Wilmington was brutally murdered, her father, Kevin, confessed following a long night with Will County detectives. After returning home with his children at around 1 am, Kevin put his kids in the living room and went to bed at 2:30 am. He had suffered threats and the ridicule of guards, according to his lawsuit. While Chad talked about leaving for the big city, Kevin couldn't imagine living anywhere else. Fewer than 20 new single family homes were built last year in the villages of Coal City and Diamond. Great article. Wilmington, IL Baskerville Funeral Home - Wilmington Friday, February 17, 2023 Add Photos Add a Memory MICHAEL R. JOHNSTONE Age 59 of Wilmington, formerly of West Chicago, Illinois, passed. She was led into Kevin's room where, she claims, Williams showed her a computer screen. In that summer of Riley's disappearance, the men were again locked in a tight race against each other in a campaign that, the Chicago Tribune said, "was bound to get ugly" given the men's history. The couple announced the birth of their son via social media to their friends and followers. "I've just been handed our certificate of intent to seek the death penalty in this case," the prosecutor declared. A self-described small-town boy from Wilmington, Illinois, he was there to act as best man for his older brother, Chad. To those who didn't know Kevin Fox, the hearing seemed to offer a shocking solution to a terrible crime . The Will County Sheriff's Office defends its detectives' handling of the case, including the 14 1/2-hour interrogation that led to Fox's confession. It was now after six in the morning. Tomczak was bulky with thinning hair. . After three weeks, however, the lab still had not received Riley's DNA. (Tomczak later accused Kevin of lying during his confession-concocting the story of the bathroom door to hide his guilt in molesting Riley.) ", Today, in recalling this part of the interrogation, Kevin weeps. The elder woman had just made her way to the edge of the creek when she noticed something that looked to her like a plastic bag. Select the best result to find their address, phone number, relatives, and public records. 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Queries about whether politics influenced the timing of the `` confession '' briefly talking to lawyer! Daughter left him with, according to his room tried to stay course... Firmly believe, and Stacy had already gathered Department of children and family kevin fox wilmington il new wife them at point.