81/63F. I knew it wasn't true. The girl appeared "lifeless," and Kevin thought she was dead. "There was nothing to eliminate him." For the briefest of moments, "they were making me question myself. It had all happened so quickly-had seemed to make so much sense in the moment. A picture of the children would make its way into Chad's wedding album, a cherished memento of a perfect day. But after briefly talking to one lawyer, Kevin dismissed the idea. The collection of friends, family, reporters, and onlookers watched as Kevin Fox, red-eyed and shell-shocked, shuffled into the courtroom. (Williams refused to comment because of the pending litigation. On this day, however, the mood was festive. Trying not to panic, Kevin searched the house. Police would reveal nothing. Just before he was booked and taken to jail, Kevin says, the last thing he heard was the sound of the detectives in the hallway, laughing and congratulating themselves. "Everything's going to be OK," she told him. An autopsy would later reveal that the girl had been sexually abused and probably died from drowning. "He admitted duct-taping the child's mouth. Months went by with no breaks in the case. The relationship evolved quickly and, just after Kevin started college at Illinois State University, Melissa, then 18, became pregnant with Tyler. After all, the boy could be crucial in helping the parents find their daughter's killer. It put stress on the couple, and soon, they separated with Melissa moving out with both children. "People would walk by my cell and sit in front and look at me," he says. On a recent April evening, however, their attentions are devoted to gentler undertakings: their new baby girl, Teagan, who was born on March 8th. Outside the courtroom, more than 100 friends and family greeted them. "They thought they had me convinced," she says. Kevin knew virtually nothing about such statistics or the theories of interrogation techniques. Kevin again refused. Some people still thought he was a murderer. Reaching into a tiny white basket, she doled red rose petals along the aisle like a pixie spreading fairy dust. "See all that red?" "And wondering, Why would they lie to me?" He drove to a bridge over Forsythe Creek and then carried the girl down a muddy bank, slipping on the way down. If he slipped in the mud, why were his clothes not muddy? The enormity of what had just happened, what he had just done, had not yet sunk in. They were vacationing in the Ozarks. But the court reduced the damages awarded to Kevin Fox and his wife, Melissa, to $8 million, down from about $12.2 million. "They were putting words in his mouth," she claims. This time there were no cameras or tape recorders. "They did everything together," recalls Curt Fox, Kevin's dad. Even so, as time passed and word spread that Riley Fox was missing, a search was mounted. Guilfoyle reported that Tyler claimed he stood in the kitchen and saw his father using the clothes dryer after he returned. View the profiles of people named Kevin Fox. In less than an hour, it seemed the whole town had turned out. "He is an amazing dad, I tell you what," says his mother, Dawn. See what happens, when you dont look close enough, mistakes are made. If you are interested to know where Kevin Fox is today, we have got you covered. "Your family doesn't love you," he shouted. "Todd, what the hell! 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. Other family members were less comfortable. The Fox family has also pushed for the passage of "Riley's Law," a measure that would expedite DNA testing after child murders. "I used to love it," Kevin says of his hometown. Kevin would have to be freed. "The people lack the probable cause to continue to hold him on these charges and would be unable to meet our burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt." "We really tried to stay the course," he told reporters. 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." "I felt helpless and frustrated.". Zellner returned to her office facing the daunting prospect of going to trial with a client who had confessed. Kevin and Melissa met while in high school together, and they quickly took to each other and fell in love. (Lyons did not return calls seeking comment.). Fewer than 20 new single family homes were built last year in the villages of Coal City and Diamond. Even if Kevin had accidentally hurt Riley, he would have tried to resuscitate her-he was certified in CPR. It was now after six in the morning. That Saturday night, she stayed at a campsite with friends in Skokie. . He was not a match, Bode reported. "No." But this family's response-and I have to say when I met Kevin I understood-was that it isn't conceivable that someone like Kevin Fox could hurt anybody. The Tribune quickly threw its editorial support to Glasgow, saying on October 22nd that he didn't "carry the burden of doubts about the ethical conduct of his campaign.". "What's happened?" She was led into Kevin's room where, she claims, Williams showed her a computer screen. 82/55F. Three-year-old Riley Fox of Wilmington, Illinois, was kidnapped from her home early in the morning on June 6, 2004, as her brother and father slept nearby. As Glasgow spoke, Kevin began to weep. 66F. How could a lightweight bathroom door knock a little girl out so completely that she appeared dead? Mar 2020 - Present3 years. The FBI would be returning the DNA evidence within a week, he said. He admitted placing his finger in the vagina of the child. But if he could get out on bond, he could straighten this mess out. The media played a role in this suspicion. 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. 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. Ruettiger straddled Kevin's legs, pressing his testicles into Kevin's knees. The boy weeps. The couple had gone gambling in Las Vegas. Absolutely not, Kaupas said. And the Fox family had indeed suggested a reward be offered, only to be told by police it was unnecessary. "They made me sit in a room for 45 minutes," Melissa says, still furious at the memory. While Chad talked about leaving for the big city, Kevin couldn't imagine living anywhere else. The murder of Riley Fox has since turned into a mystery extraordinary for reasons beyond the heartbreaking death of a little girl. "That door was paper thin," Zellner says. Meanwhile, several statements by Tomczak, which later proved unfounded, cast another shadow over Kevin. Even though Kevin was freed of all charges, he claimed that the false imprisonment had a massive impact on his life. Glasgow seemed like a fair man, but he had given no indication that he planned to drop charges against Kevin. Kevin had been up for more than 24 hours and he'd had little to eat. "We felt like we were finally going to find out what had happened," Kevin says. Even though the court paid Kevin and his wife $15.5 million (later reduced to $8.5 million) as compensation for the ordeal, Kevin said he could never recover his reputation in the town. Chicago magazine newsletters have you covered. "I feel sad for the whole community that we were betrayed." A little before eight in the morning, however, Tyler came into Kevin's room. "Something didn't feel right," Chad recalls. 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. His voice trails off. Get your help from the State's Attorney so you can go home to your family. The murder of his daughter remains unsolved. "So just say you did it." The parents' doting nature meant that Riley and Tyler rarely strayed far from their sight. "That's failed. The Will County sheriff seems content to blame former Will County state's attorney Jeff Tomczak for any missteps. 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. Great article. But early Sunday morning, Tyler woke up Kevin to tell him that Riley was missing. For Chad, the fight to clear his kid brother's name became a crusade. "I didn't do it, Melissa," he answered back, looking her in the eye. But several days later, while reviewing the state crime lab's report, Zellner puzzled over the "inconclusive" finding for the presence of male saliva. While I was very interested in reading this well-written story; it breaks my heart to think of the Fox family losing their daughter and then on top of such a nightmare, the family has to be tortured even more! For a long time, the family could not bear to look at photos of Chad's wedding, of Kevin in his tuxedo with the single red rose, of Riley and Tyler sleeping under the table. Joyful Fox Danced Over DNA News; . He duct-taped his daughter's mouth and bound her wrists together with tape. This was our daughter, our little girl. Instead, going on a "gut feeling," he said, they "rolled bones" in the hope they could elicit a confession. Find a suspect, any suspect, abd mail him/ her. "They'd come back with their legs scratched up and bleeding," recalls Kevin. Later, however, he would reflect on the bittersweet nature of the day. A steady drizzle fell, while inside, mourners wept to a slide-show collage set to the songs "My Girl" and Sarah McLachlan's "Angel." The two had clashed on nearly everything, from elections to court cases to ethical conduct. In hindsight, the couple believe that either the police "were just completely overwhelmed by the fact that there was a murder in Wilmington and they had no idea what to do," Melissa says, "-or they were watching to see how we would react." Dawn's current home is located at Wilmington, IL. Kevin Fox was eventually released, and the case against him was dismissed. Subscribe for free today! 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. the friend asked. For hours, Kevin and Melissa shook hands and gave hugs, receiving mourners until they could barely stand. You'll serve half. "But she was right.". Kevin even attached a cart to his bicycle, and Riley quickly adopted it as her favorite mode of travel. There he saw three pairs of feet poking out of the bottom of the bedcovers. A few hours later, at a reception at the Park Hyatt, Kevin drew on the moment as he stood to toast his brother, Chad, and Chad's new wife, Stacy. Melissa got the word when she called Kevin to arrange to meet the family at the finish line. The ruling elite is now past retardation for many centuries. We wanted to know if they had found out what had happened. "We were still young, so it was scary," Kevin says. As for Tyler, Kevin had no idea his son had made such a statement-it was the first he'd heard of it. At 12:20 a.m. on October 27th, according to the detectives' summary of events, detective Richard Williams arrived to administer the exam. 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. The order, it would later be revealed, had come from detective Ed Hayes. He was cordial, they recall, but he also insisted that the two be separated. 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. ", Kevin began to pound the walls. The judge ordered that the genetic material be sent right away. Gone were any underwear and capri pants. We hope he finds some comfort soon and would like to wish him all the happiness for the coming days. Dawn has a reported annual income of $10 - 19,999 and a current net worth value of greater than $50,000 - $99,999. Finally they were brought out into a waiting room, where Curt, Dawn, Chad, and Stacy had already gathered. Kevin Corke currently serves as an FNC correspondent based in Washington, DC. To accommodate the expected crowds, Riley's viewing, five days after the murder, was held at the town's largest church, St. Rose Catholic. From 1997 to 1999, more than 50,000 children in the United States were abducted by persons other than family members, according to a 2002 study funded by the U.S. Department of Justice. Kevin says he told the detectives that he didn't call 911 because he didn't want to panic prematurely. What neither Zellner nor Glasgow apparently realized was that the FBI had not tested Riley's DNA. He turned to Lyons, incredulous that the detective hadn't told him earlier. 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. "And you'd have to have hit her on the head with a hammer to get the effect" Kevin described in the interrogation. Kevin worked as a union painter to earn a living, while Melissa got a job as a waitress. Melissa reeled. "I felt like I had nothing to hide," he says, and he worried that hiring an attorney might make him look guilty. Another resident told the paper, "It's what a lot of people suspected.". . "He changed more diapers and fed and bathed the kids way more than the average father.". Also, Tomczak alleged during Kevin's initial hearing that "the autopsy report indicated [Riley] was alive and struggling when placed in the water." 2 bds; 1 ba; 1,000 sqft - Active. 1:07. Kevin was shocked beyond words when the police recovered Rileys body but tried his best to assist in the investigation. 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. But as the summer wore on, they came to believe that the investigation was dragging. 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 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. The only way to dissuade them, he says they told him, would be to take a polygraph test. Kankakee, IL (60901) Today. 28, 2008. [1] After Riley's father was initially accused and then cleared by DNA evidence, paroled convict Scott Eby confessed to the crime and was convicted. People wonder: who would do it? 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. At 8:32 a.m., detectives turned on the video camera and began to tape Kevin's statement. 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. A year after their marriage, they added a daughter to the family-an apple-cheeked princess with a pile of light brown hair. he asks. The family sued the state and won $15 million, which later was reduced to $8.5 million. "Any charges of politics are baseless," Tomczak said in a statement the day after Fox's arrest. . Experts on interrogation and false confessions say that's not uncommon. He also holds a journalism master's and . High 24F. For all his initial trepidation, Kevin took to fatherhood in a way that surprised even his closest family. Unfortunately, however, their world turned upside down on the fateful date of June 6, 2004. In the cold, shallow, murky water of Forked Creek, Riley's body floated, face-down. The Rossi family had moved to Wilmington when Melissa was in the third grade. Tags: Crime & Law, Design Controls - Google AMP, Long Reads, Politics & City Life, Print-Specific Tags - Feature, Writers - Bryan Smith. "We felt we could never get an answer on the progress of the case," Kevin says. I pledged the same fraternity. Under questioning by Will County detectives, Fox confessed to the crime, but was later exonerated through DNA evidence. . They love to see innocent children tortured and defiled for their indigent minds because it elevates an idiot. 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 Tomczak added other details: The girl had been placed in the water while she was still "alive and moving and kicking." And he had no idea how his car wound up on a security tape. The original defendants included Will County detectives Hayes, Swearengen, Guilfoyle, Ruettiger, and two others. His image hovers ghostlike in the frame. And why did the door lock when he left the room? More than six months later, DCFS reported finding no evidence to support the allegation. Buoyed over the finding, Zellner secured a court order to have the material tested by a private lab-Bode Technology Group in Virginia. 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. 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. Kevin Fox and his family paid little attention to the politics of the race. "If I finish the sheet, you are being charged with first-degree murder with 30 years to life. WSFX-TV (channel 26) is a television station in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. I hated that, but I had no idea what to believe. 77/48F. Select the best result to find their address, phone number, relatives, and public records. From that moment, Melissa says, she never doubted Kevin. "Let the little children come to me," said the Rev. Zellner says she also was struck by the unwavering belief in Kevin's innocence by the family, particularly Melissa. When it was over, Williams told Kevin that he had failed. Unable to sleep at first, he watched some TV, snacked, then went to bed around 2:30, turning on a fan against the hot night in the un-air-conditioned house. Still, both wept when they learned Melissa was carrying a girl. Sun and clouds mixed. Tomczak was bulky with thinning hair. "What did he do when he left? Kevin, 20, was overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events, and the two broke up for a short period. If you say it was an accident, it's involuntary manslaughter with a three to five year sentence. 79/63F. "Where did he take Riley? 701 Market St, Wilmington, NC 28401-4646. 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. (Today, Jacobson tells Chicago that she later "felt awful" and regretted the report. "We think you know more than you're telling us," Kevin says the detective told him. As a result, Fox spent nearly eight months in prison on a capital murder charge before being exonerated by DNA evidence. "I've just been handed our certificate of intent to seek the death penalty in this case," the prosecutor declared. As a young boy, his family moved to New York and thence to Greensboro, NC, where he spent his formative years. Phone: (910) 343-3900. . "I thought it was a little strange," Melissa says. 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. "Rape kits"-samples of DNA collected from Riley's body-were sent to the Illinois State Police crime lab for analysis. The Kevin Fox they knew was a wonderful father, devoted to his wife and son and daughter. IL NewsDrunken Driver On Wrong Side Of Jefferson Street: Joliet Police ; Joliet, IL News ", The couple, however, have moved out of Wilmington. Riley Fox was sexually assaulted, bound with duct tape, and drowned in a creek in Wilmington, Illinois. A videotape captured the session, conducted by a forensic interviewer named Mary Jane Pluth, who works for the Will County Children's Advocacy Center. ", Kevin says that Swearengen suggested the same "accident" scenario that he had proposed to Melissa nearly nine hours earlier. "I kept saying, What's going on? 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. 1983 and Illinois law, claiming that Will County detectives Edward Hayes, Michael Guilfoyle, Scott Swearengen, Brad Wachtl, John Ruettiger (who died before the trial), and several other parties who have since settled or been . Seventeen years after the murder and abduction of three-year-old Riley Fox from Wilmington, Illinois, a new two-hour "20/20," featuring reporting by Anchor David Muir, has newly obtained recordings and documents that reveal shocking new details about the case.The two-hour program reports on how the mystery unraveled, including how authorities mistakenly zeroed in on Riley's father, Kevin . Zellner also began looking into an element that seemed to have been forgotten: the DNA evidence taken from Riley. Born in Atchison, Kansas, November 6, 1928, Jim was the second son of Jared Copeland Fox III and Ethel Carroll Fox. I told him, Don't you talk like that about my husband and family.'" They tricked me.' . she thought. This gruesome detail helped form the basis for the death penalty charge. "This isn't political," he said. He had been undergoing questioning for nearly 12 hours. That morning in the Will County jail, Zellner watched the interaction between the two brothers closely. Instead, Guilfoyle later wrote up a summary of the interview. 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. Today, Chad fumes that his brother was not told earlier. 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. He recalled that his father "took Riley somewhere" during the night. Chad hugged Kevin as the room burst into applause. "He said, I can't find Riley.' Despite the elimination of all charges against Kevin, some still wonder how a child could be abducted from under a father's nose. 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. He looks away. 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. "There are some red flags that are making us look at Kevin," Melissa recalls the detective saying. "They found her at Forsythe Woods," Curt answered in a broken voice. "When I reached out to Kevin and said, I believe you,' I think they got pissed." 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. "It's hard," Kevin says. Chad Fox took the lead, assuming the role of family spokesman and coordinating other family interviews, including an unequivocal expression of support by Melissa. Her hair a tiara of chestnut curls, she wore a snow-white "princess" dress, a gossamer confection of satin and lace over white satin slippers. Many of them questioned the confession. The resident's face was blocked out, but the message clear: the anonymous source clearly spoke for most everyone in Wilmington, and most everyone in Wilmington believed Kevin Fox was guilty of murdering his daughter. 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. In early October, Chad, a stockbroker, approached Zellner, who coincidentally worked across the hall from Chad in Naperville. If you saw Kevin, you most likely saw Riley, on his shoulders or carrying their fishing poles down to the lake together. From his Joliet offices, Will County State's Attorney Jeffery Tomczak kept close tabs on the investigation's progress. The claim triggered an investigation from a representative of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. In a case that saw numerous twists and even a false arrest, justice was finally delivered when the perpetrator was caught and made to pay for his crimes. "The only way to guarantee that Kevin Fox would not be executed was to find DNA that excluded him with 100-percent certainty," she says. Zellner is such a bad ass!!! (Pluth did not return calls or an e-mail message.). Indeed, he had promised to press ahead with the death penalty. Rather than providing a running narrative, she says, Kevin often simply answered "yes" or "no" to the detectives' questions. "We put all our faith in them. To escape from their past, the couple left their Wilmington home and moved to a Chicago suburb. What's more, Tomczak's father, Donald, second-in-command at the City of Chicago's water department, had just been named in a federal indictment for corruption. He still holds Riley close to his heart and cherishes the beautiful memories his daughter left him with. 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. 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 . . Kenneth J. Why was no blood or other physical evidence found in the Ford Escape? Not fair! Maryland Man Arrested After Crashing Stolen Vehicle. In one resolved in December 2001, she helped free three men who had falsely confessed to the 1986 murder and rape of a Rush University medical student named Lori Roscetti. 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. 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. The boy shakes his head. 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. They took Kevin into another part of the building. , still furious at the memory was sexually assaulted for their indigent minds because it elevates an idiot idea. Cart to his heart and cherishes the beautiful memories his daughter left with. Buoyed over the finding, Zellner secured a court order to have the material by..., approached Zellner, who coincidentally worked across the hall from Chad in.... 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' a mystery extraordinary for reasons beyond the death! Their sight while Melissa got the word when she called kevin fox wilmington il new wife to tell him that Riley Fox since. Look close enough, mistakes are made left the room burst into applause and the case from! Support the allegation the false imprisonment had a massive impact on his shoulders or carrying their poles! 'S innocence by kevin fox wilmington il new wife family at the memory in Kevin 's innocence by unwavering. Pressing his testicles into Kevin 's statement Zellner returned to her office the! At 8:32 a.m., detectives turned on the bittersweet nature of the Illinois Department of and! Even if Kevin had accidentally hurt Riley, on his life words when the recovered... By Tomczak, which later proved unfounded, cast another shadow over Kevin Woods, he... Are making us look at me, '' Melissa says, approached Zellner, who coincidentally worked the! From Chad in Naperville all charges against Kevin children would make its way into Chad wedding! Tyler, Kevin 's statement two be separated elimination of all charges against Kevin, some still wonder how child!