In fact, it would be the last photo of all of them together, taken as it was just two weeks before the little girl would be found floating face-down in a creek. "You look at a stone with your daughter's picture, knowing that her body is in the dirt rather than in your arms. From that moment, Melissa says, she never doubted Kevin. There would have been some sign. Instead, he decided to make her death look like an abduction. Grey Fox Wealth is an independent fiduciary that provides comprehensive financial planning services, wealth management solutions, and direct access . Info: 773-581-9000. Though the police denied using force, Kevins attorney had the DNA from the crime scene tested against Kevins own DNA. He admitted placing his finger in the vagina of the child. But after briefly talking to one lawyer, Kevin dismissed the idea. "I hated leaving him there," Chad says. "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. After Kevin graduated high school and entered college, Melissa got pregnant with their first child Tyler. Kevin Fox in Illinois We found 15 records for Kevin Fox in undefined. An autopsy would later reveal that the girl had been sexually abused and probably died from drowning. Kevin Fox, who could have faced the death penalty, was released with all charges dropped. The detective shook his head. Shameful how Politics, selfishness, and greed were more important. "Spend it with my wife and son," he said, something he had dreamed about "every day, every single day" since the ordeal had begun. What's more, investigators would be able to place the car along the route that led to Forsythe Woods, where Riley's body had been found. She'd be a great big sister.". IL NewsDrunken Driver On Wrong Side Of Jefferson Street: Joliet Police ; Joliet, IL News Kevin would have to be freed. 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. Despite the elimination of all charges against Kevin, some still wonder how a child could be abducted from under a father's nose. At the small brick and concrete station, just off Main Street, police put Kevin in one room and Melissa in another. (Today, Jacobson tells Chicago that she later "felt awful" and regretted the report. 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. 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. She put her hand on Kevin's leg. Three years later, in 2000, with Kevin having found work as a union painter and Melissa as a waitress, the two were married. "Isn't that your niece?" As for the murder of Riley, "You did it," the lawsuit quotes Williams as saying. During his stay in jail he had lost more than 20 pounds. I looked at him square in the eyes the whole time, and I knew my brother was not lying to me. He had been moved to protective custody, but that didn't protect him from threats on his life and threats of being raped. In late June, Kevin and Melissa consented to letting the authorities question Tyler. Kevin's knees buckled. For all his initial trepidation, Kevin took to fatherhood in a way that surprised even his closest family. The media played a role in this suspicion. 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. Zellner returned to her office facing the daunting prospect of going to trial with a client who had confessed. Pat Barry continues to defend the work of the Will County detectives. By the afternoon, more than 500 people were scouring the area, some on horseback, others on bicycles or all-terrain vehicles. "Throughout my life, I've always followed in your footsteps," Kevin said. He planned to drive the kids to Chicago in the morning to catch Melissa at the finish line. "You don't have much time," Hayes warned. 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. Why can't I see my husband!'" Three miles away, a Wilmington police cruiser returned to Kevin and Melissa's house. 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. "I told my mom that they should not answer any questions. 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 defendants have sought to have the claim dismissed, arguing among other things that prosecutors are immune from such claims. No sign of her. "And wondering, Why would they lie to me?" "We think you were involved." The original detectives on the murder have been reassigned, the former state's attorney is now in private practice, and the little town where it occurred has suffered a loss of innocence, as well as wounds to its pride that may take years to heal. He then went home and slept," the prosecutor said. But because so many people had called with similar observations about the Foxes' spending habits, the station decided it couldn't ignore the rumors.). He took his friend and Melissas brother along while leaving the children in the care of Melissas mother. The estranged couple was in the middle of a . According to the summary, Kevin thought of driving to his mother-in-law's house, or perhaps taking Riley to the hospital. Kevin Corke currently serves as an FNC correspondent based in Washington, DC. He wore a red jump suit and was shackled at the legs and hands. 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. Chad hugged Kevin as the room burst into applause. ", 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. "I can make a deal for him. "What kind of Cracker-Jack-box cops don't have the decency to tell the parents of a murdered little girl that their daughter is dead?" View Source Share Save to Suggest Edits Memorial Photos Flowers Memorials Region North America USA Illinois Television satellite trucks roared into town, deploying their parabolic dishes and disgorging reporters. They first tested where Kevin said he had left the body-according to his confession, he had placed it in the water at the base of the Kahler Bridge, slipping once as he made his way down the muddy embankment. Chicago magazine newsletters have you covered. They later portrayed his statement as an attempt to provide a possible alibi. Pluth asks again. According to that report, Tyler became much more specific and descriptive. In early October, Chad, a stockbroker, approached Zellner, who coincidentally worked across the hall from Chad in Naperville. "But she was right.". Kevin, 20, was overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events, and the two broke up for a short period. Hayes made Kevin watch as he filled out an arrest sheet for first-degree murder. As Glasgow spoke, Kevin began to weep. "Riley is in the room with you right now," the lawsuit quotes Guilfoyle as saying. Sun and clouds mixed. TueWedThuFriSat. 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. 82/55F. A few years later, Kevin and Melissa became proud parents of baby Riley, and the family seemed to be quite happy. An Amber alert for Riley Fox had flashed on the scoreboard. To the people who knew Kevin Fox, the hearing seemed unreal. You're put into a cramped room and subjected to an unusually long interrogation. "Hurry back. As to the question of who would confess to a crime so heinous if they didn't do it, Steven Drizin, a leading authority on false confessions, says that is the least mysterious part of the story. And if it became clear that there was no new information they should leave immediately. He then ran next door, where Riley's best friend lived. ", Kevin says that Swearengen suggested the same "accident" scenario that he had proposed to Melissa nearly nine hours earlier. Also added were the polygraph examiner, Richard C. Williams, Pluth, Kaupas, and a jail guard. If charges were to be filed, he would be the one to bring them. He claws his sweatshirt hood over his head. 81/63F. Published by Chicago Sun-Times on Mar. "But the awful truth is," he says, "I wanted to see more. Both stations share studios on Shipyard Boulevard in Wilmington, while WSFX-TV's . . She initially hired Ernie Rizzo, the big, blustery, and controversial private eye. "In a way, though, it's hard," Kevin admits. See what happens, when you dont look close enough, mistakes are made. His little girl had seemed to hold a special place in his heart. "And you'd have to have hit her on the head with a hammer to get the effect" Kevin described in the interrogation. His little chest heaves and his thin shoulders shake. The state's attorney, a heavyset man named Jeffery Tomczak, swept into the room, shaking hands and nodding toward a line of police officers who stood stone-faced and imposing near a cadre of assistant prosecutors arrayed around the prosecution table. I said, What are you talking about?'" But several days later, while reviewing the state crime lab's report, Zellner puzzled over the "inconclusive" finding for the presence of male saliva. Kevin Fox and his then-wife Melissa's daughter Riley went missing June 6, 2004. What did he want to do on his first night out, he was asked. Almost a year later, Fox was freed from the Will County Jail, and his murder. Heartwarming that Kevins wife, brother, family, and Ms. Zelner stood by his side. Then they drove to the Will County courthouse, where Kevin had first been charged with murdering his daughter. Kevin says Swearengen's tone changed abruptly. When pressed about the car, Kevin recalls, he became exasperated and suggested sarcastically that someone must have snuck into his house, stolen his keys, taken the car, and returned it later. Born in Atchison, Kansas, November 6, 1928, Jim was the second son of Jared Copeland Fox III and Ethel Carroll Fox. Now he was free. But if he felt out of place as the ceremony began, his discomfort melted at the sight of his two children now making their way down the aisle. Disappearance [ edit] 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. Kevin knew virtually nothing about such statistics or the theories of interrogation techniques. What more can they possibly want to know? Riley Fox was sexually assaulted, bound with duct tape, and drowned in a creek in Wilmington, Illinois. "Rape kits"-samples of DNA collected from Riley's body-were sent to the Illinois State Police crime lab for analysis. But early Sunday morning, Tyler woke up Kevin to tell him that Riley was missing. The interrogation and arrest of Fox, the suit alleges, was part of a last-ditch effort by Tomczak to win re-election. He knew he was innocent, he says. Before putting the girl in the water, he inserted his finger inside her to make it look like she had been sexually assaulted. ", By now, Melissa's brother had arrived at the jail, as had Kevin's father. She had traded in the Ford Escape for a new car. His voice trails off. She phoned a forensic scientist, who explained what that meant: the state crime lab simply didn't have the sophisticated capabilities that would be needed to test properly for the substance. Who would admit to such horrible things if he hadn't really done them? 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. I made you drive me around when you got your license. Then, after calling his estranged wife to tell her about the shootings, he turned his gun on himself and . The Rossi family had moved to Wilmington when Melissa was in the third grade. I knew it wasn't true. If you pass it up, you will spend your life in prison. His image hovers ghostlike in the frame. Zellner also began looking into an element that seemed to have been forgotten: the DNA evidence taken from Riley. Rebekah grew up in the Midwest and received her Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Communications and Theater from North . With bond set at $25 million, the family decided, on Zellner's advice, not to try to get Kevin out, but to put their money toward clearing his name. Weather forecast Wilmington, North Carolina . The trip to the Ozarks had been for another friend's wedding. "I've had other families come in a situation like this and they've had some hesitancy-Well, he's always been kind of troubled but I don't think he'd do anything violent.' Yet, despite the overwhelming implication of guilt produced by the hearing, a number of troubling questions lurked within the prosecutor's case. deaddeath.com Kevin Fox Wilmington IL Obituary - Death | Kevin Fox Has Died - Passed Away Kevin Fox Death - Obituary - Funeral - Passed Away : Deaddeath learnt on May 07, 2021, that in Kevin Fox was pronounced dead, leaving friends and family in total devastations. "Todd, what the hell! "I swear to God I didn't do it." 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. He would eventually become such a fixture that the family would refer to him simply as "Scott.". Subscribe for free today! Beyond that, she says, the details left several obvious questions unanswered. Meanwhile, several statements by Tomczak, which later proved unfounded, cast another shadow over Kevin. Did he take Riley somewhere?" A self-described small-town boy from Wilmington, Illinois, he was there to act as best man for his older brother, Chad. Harder still was the family portrait with Riley in her princess dress and white satin slippers. The girl's body lay in a small polished white casket with stainless steel handles. Kevin Fox was eventually released, and the case against him was dismissed. Kevin, after all, had been the last person known to have seen Riley alive. "They found her at Forsythe Woods," Curt answered in a broken voice. The weekend of June 5 and 6, 2004, Melissa Fox left Wilmington to participate in a breast cancer walk in Chicago. Police would reveal nothing. Experts on interrogation and false confessions say that's not uncommon. and we stand behind them.". But if Kevin was joking, the police apparently didn't get it. "I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful sight," he says. On February 26, 2023, at approximately 8:34 a.m., a trooper was dispatched [] "We were still young, so it was scary," Kevin says. "Did he leave the house?" "I had never even met him before and he was just screaming in my face. What neither Zellner nor Glasgow apparently realized was that the FBI had not tested Riley's DNA. Her mouth had been covered with duct tape, and adhesive residue on her arms led authorities to surmise she had been bound. "I guess we were going out on a limb, but it turned out she was the one.". Though the girl has Riley's apple cheeks and sweet disposition, neither parent would ever look on the child as a replacement for their lost daughter. For hours, Kevin and Melissa shook hands and gave hugs, receiving mourners until they could barely stand. Maybe the boy thought Kevin had left when he stepped outside for a quick smoke. "When I saw the pictures . The Fox family had called Wilmington home for generations. However, there are no details about his exact age and birth year. Indeed, he had promised to press ahead with the death penalty. But it slowly dawned on him that the whole thing-the supposed sympathy of the detectives, the "friendship" of "Scott," the seemingly cordial questioning-had been a ruse. They were vacationing in the Ozarks. A federal jury awarded Fox and his wife, Melissa, $15.5 million for false arrest and. By the time the state's attorney had finished, Kevin's shoulders were shaking. The girl appeared "lifeless," and Kevin thought she was dead. By the end he has answered "no" approximately 178 times. Greater Philadelphia. Instead, Guilfoyle later wrote up a summary of the interview. To do on his first night out, he inserted kevin fox wilmington il new wife finger inside her to make it look like abduction... A cramped room and subjected to an unusually long interrogation trip to the Will County detectives and slept, and... 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