the friend asked. If he slipped in the mud, why were his clothes not muddy? "I felt like a zoo animal.". "He is an amazing dad, I tell you what," says his mother, Dawn. More often than not, the detectives would instead question Kevin and Melissa. "If someone was abusing my child, I would have known about it. Zellner is such a bad ass!!! Are you kidding me?" 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. He planned to drive the kids to Chicago in the morning to catch Melissa at the finish line. Trending. More than 6,000 people attended the wake-nearly 1,000 more than the entire population of Wilmington. "I was raised with the idea that authorities were good people and that they should be respected.". With a huge smile on her face, she headed straight to her daddy, who scooped her up into his arms. 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! Select the best result to find their address, phone number, relatives, and public records. What neither Zellner nor Glasgow apparently realized was that the FBI had not tested Riley's DNA. After the bailiff called the court to order, Tomczak laid out what he called cold, hard evidence of the father's guilt, including a confession. "That's failed. Still, both wept when they learned Melissa was carrying a girl. Melissa begged her husband, "Please hold me, hold me.". Though the police denied using force, Kevins attorney had the DNA from the crime scene tested against Kevins own DNA. And he realized he needed to take responsibility for his child. "You're overcome by grief. The claim triggered an investigation from a representative of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Not fair! (Through his attorney, Gerald Haberkorn, Hayes denied any allegations of impropriety. In the cold, shallow, murky water of Forked Creek, Riley's body floated, face-down. The parents' doting nature meant that Riley and Tyler rarely strayed far from their sight. Get your help from the State's Attorney so you can go home to your family. ", And yet, "I'm sitting there thinking there's videotape of the car," she says. Kevin is a producer and writer, known for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), The Negotiator (1998) and Lie to Me (2009). Melissa, who was also told that Kevin had failed, demanded to see the results. The girl's body lay in a small polished white casket with stainless steel handles. The media played a role in this suspicion. 28, 2008. "He said, I can't find Riley.' The couple had gone gambling in Las Vegas. It was here, after all, that the lanky, blond, gentle-natured teenager had met a pretty, impetuous girl named Melissa Rossi, who eventually became his wife. The estranged couple was in the middle of a . "I swear to God I didn't do it." he asks. '", At this point, Melissa says, she knew something wasn't right. Chad hugged Kevin as the room burst into applause. Nonetheless, since Kevin's release, a fresh group of investigators has taken over the case, though nothing promising has turned up. "I can make a deal for him. Life will never be the same for any of us.". "So when you send something to the lab, you monitor it," the Tribune quoted Glasgow as saying. Wilmington, IL Baskerville Funeral Home - Wilmington Friday, February 17, 2023 Add Photos Add a Memory MICHAEL R. JOHNSTONE Age 59 of Wilmington, formerly of West Chicago, Illinois, passed. 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. "We were not happy about [Fox's release]," says Pat Barry, spokesman for the Will County Sheriff's Office. Not fair! Within moments, Swearengen appeared and led her into an adjoining room. Most of those who knew Kevin and the rest of the Fox family believed in his innocence. Riley's pediatrician has said there was never a hint of prior sexual abuse. Thus, he contacted the police on the non-emergency phone line (an action that would later raise suspicion against him). They live in Naperville now, a place they feel has given them a fresh start. Spend a night with my wife and son," Kevin Fox said after being released. Melissa Mack (right) with her husband Ryan and newborn baby Jett Myers Back to Top. The machine clicked on at a couple of minutes before the hour. Instead, Guilfoyle later wrote up a summary of the interview. . In that summer of Riley's disappearance, the men were again locked in a tight race against each other in a campaign that, the Chicago Tribune said, "was bound to get ugly" given the men's history. The delay enraged the family. But several days later, while reviewing the state crime lab's report, Zellner puzzled over the "inconclusive" finding for the presence of male saliva. They agreed to tell their story to Chicago, they say, in hopes of calling attention to the injustices they believe they have suffered and to breathe new life into an investigation that, even authorities admit, has not yielded any promising leads for months. ), Around Wilmington, rumors began to swirl that the Foxes were using money donated to a "Riley fund" for extravagant vacations and luxury purchases. By the afternoon, more than 500 people were scouring the area, some on horseback, others on bicycles or all-terrain vehicles. . Guilfoyle reported that Tyler claimed he stood in the kitchen and saw his father using the clothes dryer after he returned. Even if Kevin had accidentally hurt Riley, he would have tried to resuscitate her-he was certified in CPR. 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. . Kevin had been up since 4:30 that morning and had spent much of his day working at a painting job. 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. I hated that, but I had no idea what to believe. There, the couple gave birth to another daughter, Teagan, in 2006. 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. . God Bless and stay safe. I had never been treated like that before. "I finally kicked the door really hard," she says. In fact, the case was already out of their hands. "He watched everybody search for his child the whole day," one woman, a ten-year resident of Wilmington, told the Chicago Sun-Times. "Rape kits"-samples of DNA collected from Riley's body-were sent to the Illinois State Police crime lab for analysis. A preliminary report indicated no signs of foreign DNA-with one possible exception: a test for saliva in her vagina came back "inconclusive.". The terms of the "offer" echoed in his head. Meanwhile, the family launched a public-relations counteroffensive against the barrage of media coverage suggesting Kevin's guilt. 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. View Source Share Save to Suggest Edits Memorial Photos Flowers Memorials Region North America USA Illinois Again, this was the first he'd heard of it. . At one point an assistant interrupted the presentation by bursting into the courtroom and thrusting a document into Tomczak's hand. The DNA had been sent to the state crime lab, not Virginia, and then returned to Joliet. On a recent April evening, however, their attentions are devoted to gentler undertakings: their new baby girl, Teagan, who was born on March 8th. Phone: (910) 343-3900. . After three hours alone, Melissa grew furious. Meanwhile, the mystery of what happened to Riley Fox remains. 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. Tomczak wrapped up the hearing by asking for a $25-million bond, a request that drew gasps from the gallery. Kevin, on the other hand, claimed that the police coerced him into admitting guilt. Reaching into a tiny white basket, she doled red rose petals along the aisle like a pixie spreading fairy dust. Kevin was shocked beyond words when the police recovered Rileys body but tried his best to assist in the investigation. But early Sunday morning, Tyler woke up Kevin to tell him that Riley was missing. Kevin likes to keep his private life under wraps, and hence his present whereabouts are unclear. 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. . Kevin Fox and his then-wife Melissa's daughter Riley went missing June 6, 2004. Chad was on the phone to his father, desperately urging Kevin and Melissa to leave. Fewer than 20 new single family homes were built last year in the villages of Coal City and Diamond. They took Kevin into another part of the building. Later, however, he would reflect on the bittersweet nature of the day. Why can't I see my husband!'" He immediately noticed that the front door and screen were ajar. Melissa first saw Kevin at a high-school volleyball game. "For some reason," she says, "I had this terrible feeling that I was never going to see her again.". There he saw three pairs of feet poking out of the bottom of the bedcovers. Around 2:15, he went to the bathroom and swung the door open quickly, striking Riley and knocking her down. . Kevin had been up for more than 24 hours and he'd had little to eat. 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. As often as not, the town's dozen full-time police officers are looked on less as faceless authorities than as neighbors and friends and former high-school classmates. 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. Kevin knew virtually nothing about such statistics or the theories of interrogation techniques. By the time the state's attorney had finished, Kevin's shoulders were shaking. 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. High 24F. That night, before turning in, Chad peeked into the guest bedroom, where Kevin, Melissa, and Tyler had already crashed. "It's hard," Kevin says. "For it is to such as these the kingdom of God belongs.". Within minutes, Melissa and a friend were barreling down Interstate 55. June 6, 2004: Kevin Fox of Wilmington reports his 3-year-old daughter, Riley, missing about 8 a.m. Hikers find her body about 3:30 p.m. in nearby creek after massive search. Subscribe to one or more of our free e-mail newsletters to get instant updates on local news, events, and opportunities in Chicago. 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. ), The exam began at just before one in the morning and took a little over an hour. 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 . "He admitted duct-taping the child's mouth. "And wondering, Why would they lie to me?" They urged Kevin to hire an attorney. The murder of Riley Fox has since turned into a mystery extraordinary for reasons beyond the heartbreaking death of a little girl. Why did Kevin call the nonemergency line instead of 911 the morning of Riley's disappearance? 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. As they had wanted to do all along, the family began to offer a reward, for $20,000. During his stay in jail he had lost more than 20 pounds. 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. 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. 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. "They did everything together," recalls Curt Fox, Kevin's dad. 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. All. Melissa knew by their faces that the news was grim. Chicago magazine newsletters have you covered. Nine days later, Chad and Stacy packed more than 100 T-shirts bearing the words "Test Before Arrest" and "376 Days of a Killer on the Loose" in bold black lettering into a van that Zellner had rented for the occasion. Wilmington, Illinois, just south of Joliet, stands amid the vast cornfields and high grass prairies of the Kankakee River valley, a little more than 50 miles southwest of Chicago. Chad Fox looked on the rumors as confirmation that Kevin-still not represented by a lawyer-was a suspect, perhaps the only suspect. Despite the elimination of all charges against Kevin, some still wonder how a child could be abducted from under a father's nose. Delaware State Police have arrested 26-year-old Damiean Turner of East New Market, Maryland, for firearm and traffic-related offenses. 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. According to that report, Tyler became much more specific and descriptive. 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. Previously, he was a national news correspondent based in Washington, D.C. for NBC News from 2004-2008. According to the summary, Kevin thought of driving to his mother-in-law's house, or perhaps taking Riley to the hospital. (Lyons did not return calls seeking comment.). [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. Everything about the men, even their appearance, seemed at odds. but we firmly believe, and the sheriff firmly believes, that [the detectives] did a good job . They describe a codified series of emotional and intellectual manipulations designed to break down even the strongest of personalities. ABC News 20/20 features this murder in one of their episodes and takes the viewer through the harrowing ordeal Rileys family had to go through after losing their child. "Your family doesn't love you," he shouted. When Zellner told Chad, the older brother laid his head down on a table and wept. Advertisement Read more on Chicago Sun-Times He then went home and slept," the prosecutor said. Guilfoyle's report did not surface until May, seven months after Kevin had been arrested. "He was crying," she recalls. The story seemed preposterous. Kevin Fox was eventually released, and the case against him was dismissed. Fox's lawsuit alleges that the meeting was conducted with Tomczak's support and consent. 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. Local 630-955-1212 | Toll . "Because I think to myself what Riley would be doing right now. Case closed. "It's now or never," the lawsuit claims the detective said. He was born October 8, 1968 in Silver Spring, Maryland, the son of Helen (Niles) Fox and the late Allen Wayne Fox.. The Fox family had called Wilmington home for generations. Will County sheriff's detectives had taken charge, assuming jurisdiction because the crime scene was in a forest preserve. What about DNA testing? she asks. Today, Chad fumes that his brother was not told earlier. Yet, despite the overwhelming implication of guilt produced by the hearing, a number of troubling questions lurked within the prosecutor's case. . she thought. He admitted placing his finger in the vagina of the child. Then they drove to the Will County courthouse, where Kevin had first been charged with murdering his daughter. 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. "Riley is in the room with you right now," the lawsuit quotes Guilfoyle as saying. 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. And what were the circumstances of the "confession"? . The lab had said the results would arrive around 6 p.m. How do they sleep at night? He then went home, cried for a while, and went to sleep. The girl was kidnapped from. He spent eight months in prison before he was released and ultimately cleared through DNA evidence. Dressed in a tuxedo-dapper but slightly self-conscious-Kevin Fox took his place at the wedding altar inside Holy Name Cathedral, awestruck by the majesty that surrounded him: the light slanting through the stained glass windows, the arches soaring up to gilt ceilings, the bas-relief of Abraham offering to sacrifice his child. associates & neighbors include Melissa Rossi, Curtis Fox, Kevin Fox, Chad Fox and Carly Fox. (Tomczak later accused Kevin of lying during his confession-concocting the story of the bathroom door to hide his guilt in molesting Riley.) But the parents believed they had cooperated in every way possible, including providing DNA samples, consenting to searches, and answering questions. The detective shook his head. "Are you kidding me?" By her account, Swearengen said that he suspected that Kevin had bumped Riley's head, perhaps while opening the bathroom door, and had panicked when it appeared she was dead. "We need you to come to the police station," an officer told them. 82/55F. Her father, an avid fisherman, had learned he had cancer, and he wanted to spend what time he had left in a peaceful place along a river, she says. 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. He began having nightmares in which he would see Kevin strapped to a gurney, about to receive a lethal injection. "I didn't do it, Melissa," he answered back, looking her in the eye. 77/48F. The questions started out easy, but quickly became pointed. Dimitre Dimitrov, 64, allegedly killed his wife, MaryAnn Dimitrov, and himself at the Holly Tree Racquet Club in Wilmington last Tuesday evening. Bad blood had existed between the men for years. It wasn't always this way. "I'm asking leave to file same." By now, hundreds of townsfolk were clawing through brush and woods. 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