The Kevin Fox they knew was a wonderful father, devoted to his wife and son and daughter. "We were still young, so it was scary," Kevin says. "I felt like a zoo animal.". "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.". He laid Riley on the couch and placed his son, Tyler, in the chair in the living area before going to his room to watch TV. "My niece was kidnapped and murdered from her own home," he said, "-no answers from the cops for months, a deliberate railroading of my brother, my family nearly falls apart because of the sadness and stress, the terrible perception by the public of us defending Kevin. "He was crying," she recalls. Within moments, Swearengen appeared and led her into an adjoining room. Still, Pluth pursues her questioning. 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. Police would reveal nothing. Phone: (910) 343-3900. . At the small brick and concrete station, just off Main Street, police put Kevin in one room and Melissa in another. The results did not match, and hence after eight months of being imprisoned, Kevin was finally let go. He admitted placing her on the bank of the river, under the water. "He is an amazing dad, I tell you what," says his mother, Dawn. Tall and striking, with dark brown shoulder-length hair, Zellner has made a name for herself by winning wrongful conviction cases. 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. The men, the family learned, were Will County detectives. Tyler shakes his head "no" several times. For all his initial trepidation, Kevin took to fatherhood in a way that surprised even his closest family. 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.". ), Around Wilmington, rumors began to swirl that the Foxes were using money donated to a "Riley fund" for extravagant vacations and luxury purchases. That Saturday night, she stayed at a campsite with friends in Skokie. Find out where to go, what to eat, where to live, and more. The machine clicked on at a couple of minutes before the hour. Kevin and Melissa met while in high school together, and they quickly took to each other and fell in love. Previously, he was a national news correspondent based in Washington, D.C. for NBC News from 2004-2008. Best of 2022 Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Top 250 TV Shows Most Popular TV Shows Most Popular Video Games Most Popular Music Videos Most Popular Podcasts. 77/48F. Christmas passed with Kevin still in jail, then New Year's, and Kevin's 28th birthday on January 4th. To those who didn't know Kevin Fox, the hearing seemed to offer a shocking solution to a terrible crime . On one level, the couple could understand that the authorities might hold them-or at least Kevin-under suspicion. "Everything's going to be OK," she told him. 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? Fox's lawsuit alleges that the meeting was conducted with Tomczak's support and consent. "He admitted duct-taping the child's mouth. Authorities initially charged the young girl's father, Kevin Fox, with the murder, based largely on a videotape confession that he'd killed Riley. Kevin had been up since 4:30 that morning and had spent much of his day working at a painting job. Set just off a playground around the corner from the house where she disappeared, the garden includes a statue of a young girl with butterflies alighting on her raised hands. Kevin, on the other hand, claimed that the police coerced him into admitting guilt. The original defendants included Will County detectives Hayes, Swearengen, Guilfoyle, Ruettiger, and two others. Even so, as time passed and word spread that Riley Fox was missing, a search was mounted. The sheriff's summary report portrays Melissa as expressing doubts about her husband's innocence. A father of two, he made a failed run for Congress in 1994, but in the 2000 race for Will County state's attorney, the Republican Tomczak beat the incumbent Democrat, James Glasgow. Then, after calling his estranged wife to tell her about the shootings, he turned his gun on himself and . "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.' "When I reached out to Kevin and said, I believe you,' I think they got pissed." Among those in attendance, unobtrusive but noticeable, were two men holding video cameras. Nonetheless, since Kevin's release, a fresh group of investigators has taken over the case, though nothing promising has turned up. Riley Fox was sexually assaulted, bound with duct tape, and drowned in a creek in Wilmington, Illinois. "I can make a deal for him. Why was no blood or other physical evidence found in the Ford Escape? Promising a suspect leniency to confess is forbidden under Illinois law, and the detectives have denied in court pleadings that they did so. He has also, on matters unrelated to the case, been in error in at least 13 instances, according to the Fox suit. The terms of the "offer" echoed in his head. There, the couple gave birth to another daughter, Teagan, in 2006. 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. "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. Outside the courtroom, more than 100 friends and family greeted them. MLS ID #11685368, PRO REAL ESTATE. Hundreds more turned out the next day for the funeral, many wearing pink ribbons and ties and butterfly pins. Kevin told police that Riley was wearing a white T-shirt with a pink flamingo on it and pink capri pants. Will County sheriff's detectives had taken charge, assuming jurisdiction because the crime scene was in a forest preserve. What about DNA testing? Info: 773-581-9000. A social media outcry has occurred in the wake of the death of Tibetan farmer and social media influencer Lhamo, who was attacked by her ex-husband during a live stream and died of . Kevin Corke is an American journalist and is presently a White House Correspondents' Association for Fox News in Washington D.C. Corke has covered four U.S. administrations (Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden). And why did the door lock when he left the room? "Where did he take Riley? When you see your daughter dead, with dirt and mud on her face . 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. Also added were the polygraph examiner, Richard C. Williams, Pluth, Kaupas, and a jail guard. As Glasgow spoke, Kevin began to weep. But the parents believed they had cooperated in every way possible, including providing DNA samples, consenting to searches, and answering questions. According to that report, Tyler became much more specific and descriptive. 82/55F. Glasgow seemed like a fair man, but he had given no indication that he planned to drop charges against Kevin. 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. A search for the young girl began. 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 told him, Don't you talk like that about my husband and family.'" The ex-husband of Melissa Fox and father to Riley and Tyler, Kevin Fox was a well-respected and much-loved member of the community. Almost a year later, Fox was freed from the Will County Jail, and his murder. He was born October 8, 1968 in Silver Spring, Maryland, the son of Helen (Niles) Fox and the late Allen Wayne Fox.. . Will County detectives spent considerable time and effort establishing that other local owners of dark Ford Escapes were not in sight of the video camera that morning. As the day wore on, local merchants pitched in with food and pop. 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. 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. "They made me sit in a room for 45 minutes," Melissa says, still furious at the memory. A self-described small-town boy from Wilmington, Illinois, he was there to act as best man for his older brother, Chad. The only reason I go back now is to visit Riley's stone.". "This isn't political," he said. "I knew he was innocent, and I knew my family was in for the fight of its life," he says. He recalled that his father "took Riley somewhere" during the night. The lab had found a man's saliva-just enough to extract a full DNA profile. (Hunter says today that even if he had been available, he would have refused to give the test on that occasion because Fox's interrogation had been so lengthy and confrontational.) "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. "Isn't that your niece?" He locked the front door and retired to his room. Zellner returned to her office facing the daunting prospect of going to trial with a client who had confessed. Its 4.2 square miles occupy a rural stretch of old Route 66 (now Route 53) and offer the picture-perfect icons of Midwestern America. A preliminary report indicated no signs of foreign DNA-with one possible exception: a test for saliva in her vagina came back "inconclusive.". Before putting the girl in the water, he inserted his finger inside her to make it look like she had been sexually assaulted. She was led into Kevin's room where, she claims, Williams showed her a computer screen. AGE 40s Kevin J Fox Saint Jacob, IL View Full Report Used To Live In Relatives (Through his attorney, Gerald Haberkorn, Hayes denied any allegations of impropriety. At the time, it seemed like a happy though standard family portrait. Did he know his car had been spotted passing the Mobil station at four in the morning? "Riley's gone," the boy said. He was not a match, Bode reported. "If someone was abusing my child, I would have known about it. "Hurry back. He then ran next door, where Riley's best friend lived. You can tell me," she says. Location of This Business. "Throughout my life, I've always followed in your footsteps," Kevin said. See what happens, when you dont look close enough, mistakes are made. But as the summer wore on, they came to believe that the investigation was dragging. Born in Atchison, Kansas, November 6, 1928, Jim was the second son of Jared Copeland Fox III and Ethel Carroll Fox. A picture of the children would make its way into Chad's wedding album, a cherished memento of a perfect day. The Rossi family had moved to Wilmington when Melissa was in the third grade. He then went home, cried for a while, and went to sleep. You're told there is overwhelming evidence against you, including a failed polygraph. She had been following the case in the media, and she urged Chad to get his brother to talk to her. 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. Kevin Wayne Fox, 52, of Bunker Hill, WV, passed away December 18, 2020. "Everything that [detectives] had was still pointing to this guy," says Will County Sheriff's spokesman Pat Barry. "You're overcome by grief. 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. ", Kevin's account of the interrogation continues: Swearengen burst into the room, out of breath and saying he had just talked to Tomczak. At 8:32 a.m., detectives turned on the video camera and began to tape Kevin's statement. The story seemed preposterous. "They thought they had me convinced," she says. Chief Mickler currently resides in Wilmington with his wife, Rebecca, and their two sons. This gruesome detail helped form the basis for the death penalty charge. Life will never be the same for any of us.". (A water usage report from that night suggests that the washing machine did not run.) Find a suspect, any suspect, and nail him/her. For hours, Kevin and Melissa shook hands and gave hugs, receiving mourners until they could barely stand. Ke 11 Share He's a local resident. 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. Five months later, a gallery of stunned observers packed the hearing at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet. Kevin Fox and his then-wife Melissa's daughter Riley went missing June 6, 2004. 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. "It's hard," Kevin says. 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. If he slipped in the mud, why were his clothes not muddy? ", Shortly after the bond hearing, Tomczak, Will County Sheriff Paul Kaupas, and other authorities held a press conference outside the Wilmington police station. 79/63F. There would have been some sign. Chad Fox looked on the rumors as confirmation that Kevin-still not represented by a lawyer-was a suspect, perhaps the only suspect. He duct-taped his daughter's mouth and bound her wrists together with tape. 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. In fact, the case was already out of their hands. . View Kevin Fox results in Arkansas (AR) including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. Sun and clouds mixed. But if Kevin was joking, the police apparently didn't get it. On October 26th, Swearengen called Kevin Fox to say, by Kevin's account, that there was news about the case and that the Foxes should come to the police station that night. Kevin's knees buckled. 2 bds; 1 ba; 1,000 sqft - Active. (Will County investigators refuse comment on the quality of the videotape. ", And yet, "I'm sitting there thinking there's videotape of the car," she says. "I felt as if I had aged five years since Kevin's arrest," he says. He'd barely had time to grab a bite to eat all day. 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. Meanwhile, the members of Kevin's family hold firm to their unwavering belief in the man who they say became, like his murdered daughter, a victim. From his Joliet offices, Will County State's Attorney Jeffery Tomczak kept close tabs on the investigation's progress. Jetta Myers graced the couples life with his arrival on December 18, 2017. A Wilmington crime scene investigator arrived within minutes. "I thought it was a little strange," Melissa says. "We don't want to lose sight of one of the big tragedies-and major points-of this case," Zellner says, "the fact that, because the wrong man was pursued, a killer is still on the loose. "Your family doesn't love you," he shouted. Melissa got the word when she called Kevin to arrange to meet the family at the finish line. At one point an assistant interrupted the presentation by bursting into the courtroom and thrusting a document into Tomczak's hand. What did he want to do on his first night out, he was asked. We've got to get this to the laboratory so that we can process it quickly.'" "We think you were involved." Mar 2020 - Present3 years. But Kevin knew he was meant to be with Melissa. His image hovers ghostlike in the frame. They took Kevin into another part of the building. 3-year-old Riley Fox was found inside a creek a little distance away from her home in Wilmington, Illinois. In late June, Kevin and Melissa consented to letting the authorities question Tyler. When Judge Dan Rozak dismissed the case, the courtroom exploded into applause and cheering. The next day, Kevin Fox's DNA was compared with the sample. 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 . "I've just been handed our certificate of intent to seek the death penalty in this case," the prosecutor declared. Visitation Friday, March 28th, 3 to 9 p.m. Funeral Saturday, 9:45 a.m., to St. Symphorosa Church. After all, the boy could be crucial in helping the parents find their daughter's killer. Kevin is a producer and writer, known for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), The Negotiator (1998) and Lie to Me (2009). He immediately noticed that the front door and screen were ajar. 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. He shakes his head one final time. Back to Top. If the car turned out to be the Fox vehicle, Kevin's alibi that he was asleep all night would be seriously undermined. Today, Chad fumes that his brother was not told earlier. He quit school and the two moved in together. Melissa, describing her husband as a wonderful father, made it clear immediately that she believed he had been railroaded. the friend asked. . View Source Share Save to Suggest Edits Memorial Photos Flowers Memorials Region North America USA Illinois The collection of friends, family, reporters, and onlookers watched as Kevin Fox, red-eyed and shell-shocked, shuffled into the courtroom. Respect! Kevin claims he asked for an attorney and his father several times, but was given the same response: "[The detectives] said, You're 27 years old. and we stand behind them.". 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. but we firmly believe, and the sheriff firmly believes, that [the detectives] did a good job . With the case against Kevin collapsing, the new Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow held an immediate court hearing. Kevin had been up for more than 24 hours and he'd had little to eat. Kevin, 20, was overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events, and the two broke up for a short period. 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. 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. The murder of his daughter remains unsolved. Zellner says she also was struck by the unwavering belief in Kevin's innocence by the family, particularly Melissa. Why can't I see my husband!'" Ruettiger straddled Kevin's legs, pressing his testicles into Kevin's knees. As they had wanted to do all along, the family began to offer a reward, for $20,000. "I don't know," Tyler says. The estranged couple was in the middle of a . Kevin says he was incredulous. (Lyons did not return calls seeking comment.). After Kevin graduated high school and entered college, Melissa got pregnant with their first child Tyler. Tomczak added other details: The girl had been placed in the water while she was still "alive and moving and kicking." Yet before dawn Saturday, the former church deacon shot and killed each of his three young sons as they lay sleeping. "He changed more diapers and fed and bathed the kids way more than the average father.". Tomczak wrapped up the hearing by asking for a $25-million bond, a request that drew gasps from the gallery. Protocols should be revised and people in positions of authority need to be accoutable for their actions! Not fair! "I guess we were going out on a limb, but it turned out she was the one.". Kevin likes to keep his private life under wraps, and hence his present whereabouts are unclear. Par for the course. 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. Law Offices of Kathleen T. Zellner, 1901 Butterfield Rd, Suite 650, Downers Grove, IL, 60515 (630) 955-1212 kathleen.zellner@gmail.com. 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. "No." "Spend it with my wife and son," he said, something he had dreamed about "every day, every single day" since the ordeal had begun. He began having nightmares in which he would see Kevin strapped to a gurney, about to receive a lethal injection. Bewildered and frightened, Kevin and Melissa prayed that the sudden departure was less ominous than it looked. Kevin Corke currently serves as an FNC correspondent based in Washington, DC. You'll serve half. Glasgow would later say he was "shocked" at the results. Glasgow seized on the charges, suggesting his opponent would be soft on crime. She wore a flamingo decorated T-shirt, dirtied now by mud and silt. But after briefly talking to one lawyer, Kevin dismissed the idea. Finally they were brought out into a waiting room, where Curt, Dawn, Chad, and Stacy had already gathered. Advertisement Read more on Chicago Sun-Times "It's all right to say you did it." Glasgow was trim with a blow-dried pompadour of silver. "I feel sad for the whole community that we were betrayed." His blotchy face shines with tears. 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. 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. 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. But Bode, insisting on following protocol, said they'd have to wait for the final report. 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. Despite the elimination of all charges against Kevin, some still wonder how a child could be abducted from under a father's nose. "We didn't want to turn it into another JonBenet Ramsey case. The judge ordered that the genetic material be sent right away. When the bag was thrown from the bridge, however, it twice floated to the spot where the body had been found. At 12:20 a.m. on October 27th, according to the detectives' summary of events, detective Richard Williams arrived to administer the exam. "I felt helpless and frustrated.". They tricked me.' To accommodate the expected crowds, Riley's viewing, five days after the murder, was held at the town's largest church, St. Rose Catholic. (The DNA was subsequently retested at a different laboratory, and the results again excluded Kevin.). "Within minutes he was sitting there saying he felt like they'd tricked him, they'd lied to him." Among the questions the two men fielded were queries about whether politics influenced the timing of the interrogation. But we feel closer to her when we go there. Are you kidding me?" Most of those who knew Kevin and the rest of the Fox family believed in his innocence. Date Posted: Sunday, February 26th, 2023. Later that same afternoon, detective Michael Guilfoyle took Tyler to the Fox family's home. Par for the course. We hope he finds some comfort soon and would like to wish him all the happiness for the coming days. The state's attorney was quoted in the Chicago Tribune on October 29th as saying "the evidence shows us that [Riley] was sexually abused during life." 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. You don't need your father.'". It's your turn to follow in my footsteps.". 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. Again, this was the first he'd heard of it.
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