Next. Many other people assumed he was guilty. The order, it would later be revealed, had come from detective Ed Hayes. Since the prelude to Kevin's confession was not videotaped-a law requiring interrogations be videotaped would not go into effect for several more months-the purported promise pits detectives' word against Kevin's. ", At one point, according to the lawsuit, Hayes leaned close and told Kevin that he "knew people" at the jail, "and would make sure' that Kevin was fucked' every day unless he told them what they wanted to hear." A break in the case could well tip the scales. Later, when speaking about his experience after getting out of jail, he said, I still had people coming up to me and saying I was a child killer, child molester and threatening to shoot me and my dog. Melissa added to this by saying that people ceased to trust them, and children werent allowed to have sleepovers at their house. In fact, a day after the election, an order had come from the Will County Sheriff's Office halting any testing of DNA evidence in the Riley Fox murder. Instead, he decided to make her death look like an abduction. NewsBreak provides latest and breaking Wilmington, IL local news, weather forecast, crime and safety reports, traffic updates, event notices, sports, entertainment, local life and other items of interest in the community and nearby towns. "I didn't know what had happened to her," he says. Pluth pursues. Another resident told the paper, "It's what a lot of people suspected.". We found 59 records for Kevin Fox in Wilmington, IL. Bewildered and frightened, Kevin and Melissa prayed that the sudden departure was less ominous than it looked. The FBI would be returning the DNA evidence within a week, he said. He admitted placing his finger in the vagina of the child. The relationship evolved quickly and, just after Kevin started college at Illinois State University, Melissa, then 18, became pregnant with Tyler. On a recent April evening, however, their attentions are devoted to gentler undertakings: their new baby girl, Teagan, who was born on March 8th. Kevin had been up for more than 24 hours and he'd had little to eat. "It's hard," Kevin says. Melissa got the word when she called Kevin to arrange to meet the family at the finish line. "And wondering, Why would they lie to me?" Though the police denied using force, Kevins attorney had the DNA from the crime scene tested against Kevins own DNA. . "For it is to such as these the kingdom of God belongs.". "Where did he take Riley? Now, just a handful of minutes after giving his statement, he sat behind a Plexiglas window with a phone in his hand, shaking his head and crying as his older brother, Chad, and Kathleen Zellner watched helplessly and offered what comfort they could. "If I finish the sheet, you are being charged with first-degree murder with 30 years to life. The weekend of June 5 and 6, 2004, Melissa Fox left Wilmington to participate in a breast cancer walk in Chicago. Kevin says he told the detectives that he didn't call 911 because he didn't want to panic prematurely. The band broke into song. You can tell me," she says. "When I saw the pictures . He then ran next door, where Riley's best friend lived. Still, he says, "we had waited so long. Yet before dawn Saturday, the former church deacon shot and killed each of his three young sons as they lay sleeping. ", Kevin's account of the interrogation continues: Swearengen burst into the room, out of breath and saying he had just talked to Tomczak. His voice trails off. Kevin Fox and his family paid little attention to the politics of the race. 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. In the weeks that followed, Melissa and Kevin found the investigators to be supportive, even friendly. Indeed, by late October of 2004 Kevin was the prime suspect. 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. Zellner also re-examined the bathroom door that had supposedly hit Riley. The sheriff's summary report portrays Melissa as expressing doubts about her husband's innocence. View Kevin Fox results in Arkansas (AR) including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. and we stand behind them.". Melissa, meanwhile, was led into a conference room where, Swearengen told her, detective Guilfoyle would be along shortly to ask a few questions. "That door was paper thin," Zellner says. Kevin likes to keep his private life under wraps, and hence his present whereabouts are unclear. "I didn't do it, Melissa," he answered back, looking her in the eye. The next day, an article and editorial in the local paper, The Free Press Advocate, excoriated Jacobson and NBC 5 and told the family's account: Melissa had traded in the car because she couldn't bear how it reminded her of trips around town with Riley. Melissa Mack (right) with her husband Ryan and newborn baby Jett Myers (Will County investigators refuse comment on the quality of the videotape. I can help this kid if he acts now," the detective quoted the state's attorney as saying. 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. The ruling elite is now past retardation for many centuries. Wilmington, Illinois - June 6, 2004 On the weekend of June 6, 2004, Melissa Fox and a group of friends participated in the AVON Walk for Breast Cancer in Chicago, where she stayed for two nights. And he had no idea how his car wound up on a security tape. (The DNA was subsequently retested at a different laboratory, and the results again excluded Kevin.). but we firmly believe, and the sheriff firmly believes, that [the detectives] did a good job . Three years later, in 2000, with Kevin having found work as a union painter and Melissa as a waitress, the two were married. The story seemed preposterous. If he slipped in the mud, why were his clothes not muddy? After being photographed and fingerprinted, Kevin arrived at the Will County Adult Detention Center less than a mile from the sheriff's office, spent and sick with anxiety. "I swear to God I didn't do it." Jetta Myers graced the couples life with his arrival on December 18, 2017. 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. God Bless and stay safe. Kevin Fox was cleared of the charges when a DNA test excluded him from the assault and killing. The Fox 8 Meteorologist gave birth to a son in 2017 alongside her husband Ryan. A videotape captured the session, conducted by a forensic interviewer named Mary Jane Pluth, who works for the Will County Children's Advocacy Center. "We'll see," the defense attorney shot back. 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 Five months after. (Today, Jacobson tells Chicago that she later "felt awful" and regretted the report. Later, Scott Denton, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on Riley, signed an affidavit swearing that he had never talked to Tomczak and did not share his opinion about Riley's being alive when she was placed in the water. Kevin Fox, Rileys father, was affected a lot as he was still in mourning when he was seen as the prime suspect and even put in jail for the same. Guilfoyle's report did not surface until May, seven months after Kevin had been arrested. According to the sheriff's summary of the interrogation, when Curt Fox told the detectives that he wanted them to stop questioning his son, Swearengen replied, "Kevin is 27 years old and he came to the investigation office voluntarily." Which made what happened even more mysterious and frightening. "I thought it was a little strange," Melissa says. In early October, Chad, a stockbroker, approached Zellner, who coincidentally worked across the hall from Chad in Naperville. He took his friend and Melissas brother along while leaving the children in the care of Melissas mother. Kevin Fox and his then-wife Melissa's daughter Riley went missing June 6, 2004. Find a suspect, any suspect, abd mail him/ her. Glasgow was trim with a blow-dried pompadour of silver. Chicago, IL: (Mar-21-08) The family of 3-year-old Riley Fox brought a wrongful death lawsuit against the Will County Sheriff's Department, after the death of the girl in 2004. When you see your daughter dead, with dirt and mud on her face . "Let the little children come to me," said the Rev. What neither Zellner nor Glasgow apparently realized was that the FBI had not tested Riley's DNA. ), The detectives then took Kevin back to the interrogation room and resumed the questioning, according to the lawsuit. He left Tyler and Riley with Melissa's mother, Sandy Rossi. On this day, however, the mood was festive. Join Facebook to connect with Kevin Fox and others you may know. Kevin, 20, was overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events, and the two broke up for a short period. Like their father before them, Kevin and his older brother, Chad, were born here, rode their bikes here, fished here and graduated from the town's only high school. It's your turn to follow in my footsteps.". The next day, Kevin Fox's DNA was compared with the sample. Riley's pediatrician has said there was never a hint of prior sexual abuse. Will County sheriff's detectives had taken charge, assuming jurisdiction because the crime scene was in a forest preserve. Grey Fox Wealth is an independent fiduciary that provides comprehensive financial planning services, wealth management solutions, and direct access . Later that same afternoon, detective Michael Guilfoyle took Tyler to the Fox family's home. We hope he finds some comfort soon and would like to wish him all the happiness for the coming days. He called Wilmington police, but not wanting to raise an alarm prematurely, he would later explain, he decided to call the nonemergency line-a choice that was later questioned. "Because I think to myself what Riley would be doing right now. Harder still was the family portrait with Riley in her princess dress and white satin slippers. Kevin worked as a union painter to earn a living, while Melissa got a job as a waitress. Northwestern University School of Law's Center on Wrongful Convictions reports that 60 percent of the 42 wrongful murder convictions since 1970 in Illinois have rested in whole or in part on false confessions. Meanwhile, the mystery of what happened to Riley Fox remains. 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. It had all happened so quickly-had seemed to make so much sense in the moment. A copy of the tape has not been released to the public, but Zellner has viewed it and she claims Kevin's manner is vague and halting. Television satellite trucks roared into town, deploying their parabolic dishes and disgorging reporters. During his stay in jail he had lost more than 20 pounds. Once, he nods. A steady drizzle fell, while inside, mourners wept to a slide-show collage set to the songs "My Girl" and Sarah McLachlan's "Angel." As for Tyler, Kevin had no idea his son had made such a statement-it was the first he'd heard of it. "I knew he was innocent, and I knew my family was in for the fight of its life," he says. This gruesome detail helped form the basis for the death penalty charge. Melissa reeled. Again, this was the first he'd heard of it. "He kept saying, The DNA will clear me,'" Chad says. By Guilfoyle's account, the boy also said things that seem to contradict known facts-that Kevin had dressed Riley in pajamas, for instance. 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. 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. On the outside, the stress of trying to free Kevin weighed heavily on the Fox family, especially Chad. 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. "He watched everybody search for his child the whole day," one woman, a ten-year resident of Wilmington, told the Chicago Sun-Times. She was three years old at the time of her death. ", 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. View Source Share Save to Suggest Edits Memorial Photos Flowers Memorials Region North America USA Illinois In his 2007 budget, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich included a similar initiative that would add eight forensic scientists to the state's crime labs. That Saturday night, she stayed at a campsite with friends in Skokie. WSFX-TV (channel 26) is a television station in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. (A spokesman said Glasgow wouldn't comment for this story because of the pending litigation.). By the afternoon, more than 500 people were scouring the area, some on horseback, others on bicycles or all-terrain vehicles. Heartwarming that Kevins wife, brother, family, and Ms. Zelner stood by his side. At 12:20 a.m. on October 27th, according to the detectives' summary of events, detective Richard Williams arrived to administer the exam. In less than an hour, it seemed the whole town had turned out. He had been undergoing questioning for nearly 12 hours. Tickets to see Kevin James perform in Joliet at the Rialto Square Theatre go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. . By most accounts, Kevin Dale Fox was a devoutly religious man and a loving father. Respect! "I'm not saying he shouldn't have been . Find out where to go, what to eat, where to live, and more. He was not a match, Bode reported. Zellner also began looking into an element that seemed to have been forgotten: the DNA evidence taken from Riley. To escape from their past, the couple left their Wilmington home and moved to a Chicago suburb. "We'd ask, but they'd always say something like We can't really discuss it.'" After three hours alone, Melissa grew furious. The claim triggered an investigation from a representative of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Kevin again refused. (Tomczak later accused Kevin of lying during his confession-concocting the story of the bathroom door to hide his guilt in molesting Riley.) More than six months later, DCFS reported finding no evidence to support the allegation. Parenting takes a level of intelligence and refuse to pass laws that require logical IQ before they become a parent. In the cold, shallow, murky water of Forked Creek, Riley's body floated, face-down. "For a state's attorney not to know of such a meeting of his detectives in such a high-profile case would be unheard of," she claims. The case has set in motion a series of events that bitterly divided what had been a neighborly town; cast a shadow of suspicion over a tight-knit, well-respected family; and raised questions about whether justice was forsaken for personal and political ambitions. It put stress on the couple, and soon, they separated with Melissa moving out with both children. Police would reveal nothing. He began having nightmares in which he would see Kevin strapped to a gurney, about to receive a lethal injection. Not fair! He had suffered threats and the ridicule of guards, according to his lawsuit. 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. Hundreds more turned out the next day for the funeral, many wearing pink ribbons and ties and butterfly pins. Why did Kevin call the nonemergency line instead of 911 the morning of Riley's disappearance? The original defendants included Will County detectives Hayes, Swearengen, Guilfoyle, Ruettiger, and two others. . Melissa Fox is the mother of Riley fox and the then-wife of Kevin Fox. The Nightmare: A Look at the Riley Fox Case, 2020 Chicago magazine / A Chicago Tribune Media Group website, Photograph: Courtesy of Chad and Stacy Fox. Mass of Christian Burial 10:30 a.m. Interment private. "So just say you did it." Also, Tomczak alleged during Kevin's initial hearing that "the autopsy report indicated [Riley] was alive and struggling when placed in the water." Kevin says he was incredulous. 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. the friend asked. He shakes his head one final time. He then went home and slept," the prosecutor 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. The judge ordered that the genetic material be sent right away. From that moment, Melissa says, she never doubted Kevin. According to the sheriff's summary, this is what he said: He came home at about 1:30 a.m., ate a snack, and then watched television, including an adult video. Many of them questioned the confession. A "source," his face hidden behind a black blob, his voice disguised, repeated the rumors in Jacobson's "exclusive" interview. Both stations share studios on Shipyard Boulevard in Wilmington, while WSFX-TV's . All. Kevin Fox was initially charged with his daughter's June 2004 murder. On November 2nd, six days after Kevin's arrest, Glasgow defeated Tomczak 121,000 votes to 112,000 to win the state's attorney's race. 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. Police have tested the DNA found in Riley against every male in the Fox family, as well as numerous people in the neighborhood, including several previously convicted sex offenders, with no luck. We thought, This is the night. Zellner filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Foxes in November 2004, in U.S. District Court in Chicago, claiming a violation of due process, malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, and defamation. 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. Rebekah grew up in the Midwest and received her Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Communications and Theater from North . The only reason I go back now is to visit Riley's stone.". ", The town of Wilmington, struggling to heal, tends a small garden that honors Riley's memory. "You guys are nuts!". The complaint accuses them of conducting a sloppy investigation that, from the start, focused almost exclusively on Kevin Fox and ignored any evidence that might have cast doubt on his guilt. Nonetheless, since Kevin's release, a fresh group of investigators has taken over the case, though nothing promising has turned up. The authorities have not mentioned the videotape in court, though they did bring it up during the interrogation before Kevin confessed. To his family, the event seemed staged, a dog-and-pony show orchestrated by Tomczak. For hours, Kevin and Melissa shook hands and gave hugs, receiving mourners until they could barely stand. But Bode, insisting on following protocol, said they'd have to wait for the final report. '", At this point, Melissa says, she knew something wasn't right. The lab had found a man's saliva-just enough to extract a full DNA profile. The entire time, detective Edward Hayes, who would become the lead detective on the case, watches from the other side of a one-way mirror. It wasn't always this way. WILMINGTON, Ill. -- Five years had passed since the 2004 murder of 3-year-old Riley Fox when FBI Special Agent Lori Warren began working on what she called "the most important case of my. Bad blood had existed between the men for years. No sign of her. The questions quickly shift to what Kevin did or didn't do that night. "There are some red flags that are making us look at Kevin," Melissa recalls the detective saying. As for the long-awaited DNA evidence originally taken from Riley, the news was not good for Kevin. As they had wanted to do all along, the family began to offer a reward, for $20,000. Glasgow seemed like a fair man, but he had given no indication that he planned to drop charges against Kevin. "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.". (Lyons did not return calls seeking comment.). At last, eight days later, Zellner stood near a fax machine in Glasgow's office. Until the night of Kevin's long interrogation several months later, authorities never told him and Melissa what Tyler allegedly had said. Subscribe to one or more of our free e-mail newsletters to get instant updates on local news, events, and opportunities in Chicago. A little before eight in the morning, however, Tyler came into Kevin's room. Williams told Kevin that if he passed he would be cleared in his daughter's death, according to the lawsuit; if he failed, he would be charged with murder. Some people still thought he was a murderer. How could a lightweight bathroom door knock a little girl out so completely that she appeared dead? A Chicago news show had even aired a resident of Wilmington relating the town gossip. Until now, the Foxes have remained silent about their ordeal. Virtually none of the principals involved in the case has gone untouched. But the court reduced the damages awarded to Kevin Fox and his wife, Melissa, to $8 million, down from about $12.2 million. The boy shakes his head. Finally, Kevin claims in the suit, he was shown pictures of his dead daughter, her mouth still covered with duct tape, nude from the waist down, taken moments after she had been pulled from the creek. ", Today, Zellner says that what impressed her was Kevin's immediate denial of the crime. We've got to get this to the laboratory so that we can process it quickly.'" The Tribune reported last year that while the FBI had paid $10,000 to Trisha Kiefer, Eby's former girlfriend, for her help in solving one of the Chicago region's most notorious crimes, the Fox . "If someone was abusing my child, I would have known about it. he asks. Tomczak, now in private practice in Joliet, was added in July 2005. During that town hall style session, Mayor Ben Dietz delivered a state of the city speech to the more than four dozen people in attendance, laying out . Read More Business Details. Then they drove to the Will County courthouse, where Kevin had first been charged with murdering his daughter. 1:07. Kevin even attached a cart to his bicycle, and Riley quickly adopted it as her favorite mode of travel. ", And yet, "I'm sitting there thinking there's videotape of the car," she says. Next. Carmel Cemetery in Morris at a later date. He looks away. . Dimitre Dimitrov, 64, allegedly killed his wife, MaryAnn Dimitrov, and himself at the Holly Tree Racquet Club in Wilmington last Tuesday evening. The family will receive friends for a memorial visitation on Saturday, March 4, 2023 at Baskerville Funeral Home, 700 E. Kahler Rd., in Wilmington from 12 p.m. until the time of memorial service at 4 p.m. Roger will be laid to rest at Mt. Unfortunately, however, their world turned upside down on the fateful date of June 6, 2004. "No." Outside the courtroom, more than 100 friends and family greeted them.

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