"I felt like a zoo animal.". It is owned by American Spirit Media, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Gray Television, owner of NBC affiliate WECT (channel 6), for the provision of certain services. She had traded in the Ford Escape for a new car. At last, eight days later, Zellner stood near a fax machine in Glasgow's office. The next day, an article and editorial in the local paper, The Free Press Advocate, excoriated Jacobson and NBC 5 and told the family's account: Melissa had traded in the car because she couldn't bear how it reminded her of trips around town with Riley. (Through his attorney, Gerald Haberkorn, Hayes denied any allegations of impropriety. He spent eight months in prison before he was released and ultimately cleared through DNA evidence. Melissa, meanwhile, was led into a conference room where, Swearengen told her, detective Guilfoyle would be along shortly to ask a few questions. Meanwhile, several statements by Tomczak, which later proved unfounded, cast another shadow over Kevin. 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. TueWedThuFriSat. Immediately, we both started crying. Best MatchPowered by Whitepages Premium Best MatchPowered by Whitepages Premium Best Match Kevin Edward Fox Morrilton, AR (previously lived in Wilmington, IL) AGE 40s AGE 40s Kevin Edward Fox 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." Tall and striking, with dark brown shoulder-length hair, Zellner has made a name for herself by winning wrongful conviction cases. Now he was free. "Your family doesn't love you," he shouted. He drove to a bridge over Forsythe Creek and then carried the girl down a muddy bank, slipping on the way down. A self-described small-town boy from Wilmington, Illinois, he was there to act as best man for his older brother, Chad. "We were not happy about [Fox's release]," says Pat Barry, spokesman for the Will County Sheriff's Office. 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. BBB File Opened: 12/28/2015. . But because so many people had called with similar observations about the Foxes' spending habits, the station decided it couldn't ignore the rumors.). 28, 2008. The Rossi family had moved to Wilmington when Melissa was in the third grade. The interrogation and arrest of Fox, the suit alleges, was part of a last-ditch effort by Tomczak to win re-election. On Feb. 9, the Wilmington City Council held a special meeting at Wilmington High School. The answer is: far too many people. He duct-taped his daughter's mouth and bound her wrists together with tape. "I hated leaving him there," Chad says. The questions started out easy, but quickly became pointed. Judge James Carroll Fox, 90, of Wilmington, NC, passed away March 23 rd at home surrounded by his loving wife and family. Twitter Lhamo. Guilfoyle's report did not surface until May, seven months after Kevin had been arrested. During that town hall style session, Mayor Ben Dietz delivered a state of the city speech to the more than four dozen people in attendance, laying out . "They made me sit in a room for 45 minutes," Melissa says, still furious at the memory. Indeed, by late October of 2004 Kevin was the prime suspect. The boy weeps. The media played a role in this suspicion. The next day, Kevin Fox's DNA was compared with the sample. "People would walk by my cell and sit in front and look at me," he says. And what were the circumstances of the "confession"? "He said, I can't find Riley.' Why was no blood or other physical evidence found in the Ford Escape? Read More Business Details. "You're overcome by grief. On October 11th, a report by Amy Jacobson, the tall blond reporter from Chicago's NBC 5, gave voice to the whispers. "So when you send something to the lab, you monitor it," the Tribune quoted Glasgow as saying. Five months later, a gallery of stunned observers packed the hearing at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet. With his help, an investigative team began to re-enact each element of Kevin's statement to test it for plausibility. Pluth pursues. When Zellner told Chad, the older brother laid his head down on a table and wept. But early Sunday morning, Tyler woke up Kevin to tell him that Riley was missing. 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. "I was raised with the idea that authorities were good people and that they should be respected.". You'll serve half. A preliminary report indicated no signs of foreign DNA-with one possible exception: a test for saliva in her vagina came back "inconclusive.". 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. In the weeks that followed, Melissa and Kevin found the investigators to be supportive, even friendly. Pluth starts off with basic questions about where Tyler lives and what kind of sports he likes. Melissa, who was also told that Kevin had failed, demanded to see the results. Chad hugged Kevin as the room burst into applause. "I'm asking leave to file same." As if in anticipation of unavoidable criticism, Tomczak had earlier stopped at the defense table where Kevin Fox's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, was seated. and we stand behind them.". Whats even sadder is that the detectives and all parties involved were not interested in finding the real monster who would take such a beautiful innocent child away from their family. At one point an assistant interrupted the presentation by bursting into the courtroom and thrusting a document into Tomczak's hand. The Fox family had called Wilmington home for generations. It put stress on the couple, and soon, they separated with Melissa moving out with both children. Kevin Fox, who could have faced the death penalty, was released with all charges dropped. From his Joliet offices, Will County State's Attorney Jeffery Tomczak kept close tabs on the investigation's progress. 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. '", At this point, Melissa says, she knew something wasn't right. "I used to love it," Kevin says of his hometown. 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. "Everything that [detectives] had was still pointing to this guy," says Will County Sheriff's spokesman Pat Barry. If you pass it up, you will spend your life in prison. she thought. 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. I can help this kid if he acts now," the detective quoted the state's attorney as saying. Then they drove to the Will County courthouse, where Kevin had first been charged with murdering his daughter. 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. Suddenly, at about three that afternoon, police jumped in their cars and sped off. But when she looked for confirmation from two detectives who stood in the room-including Todd Lyons, a burly, bald Wilmington investigator to whom Kevin had delivered papers when he was a boy-they "just stared at us," she says. Wilmington, Illinois - June 6, 2004 On the weekend of June 6, 2004, Melissa Fox and a group of friends participated in the AVON Walk for Breast Cancer in Chicago, where she stayed for two nights. Three years later, in 2000, with Kevin having found work as a union painter and Melissa as a waitress, the two were married. When the bag was thrown from the bridge, however, it twice floated to the spot where the body had been found. He left Tyler and Riley with Melissa's mother, Sandy Rossi. 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. It's your turn to follow in my footsteps.". Date Posted: Sunday, February 26th, 2023. (Will County investigators refuse comment on the quality of the videotape. 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. Trending. The authorities have not mentioned the videotape in court, though they did bring it up during the interrogation before Kevin confessed. Weather forecast Wilmington, North Carolina . How do they sleep at night? "We felt like we were finally going to find out what had happened," Kevin says. Nonetheless, since Kevin's release, a fresh group of investigators has taken over the case, though nothing promising has turned up. The couple announced the birth of their son via social media to their friends and followers. Hope they find some peace. All. ), Around Wilmington, rumors began to swirl that the Foxes were using money donated to a "Riley fund" for extravagant vacations and luxury purchases. In fact, a day after the election, an order had come from the Will County Sheriff's Office halting any testing of DNA evidence in the Riley Fox murder. As the day wore on, local merchants pitched in with food and pop. What neither Zellner nor Glasgow apparently realized was that the FBI had not tested Riley's DNA. "They were putting words in his mouth," she claims. Guilfoyle, meanwhile, began banging handcuffs on the table in front of Kevin. Suspicion hung over her family as time went by. "I kept saying, What's going on? A federal jury awarded Fox and his wife, Melissa, $15.5 million for false arrest and. 442-H New York Standard Operating Procedures New York Fair Housing Notice TREC: . 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 don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful sight," he says. The Kevin Fox they knew was a wonderful father, devoted to his wife and son and daughter. "I didn't know what had happened to her," he says. WILMINGTONRoger J. Johnson, 62, of Wilmington, passed away Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023 at his home. 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. 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. $271,900. Kevin is a producer and writer, known for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), The Negotiator (1998) and Lie to Me (2009). The delay enraged the family. 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. Under questioning by Will County detectives, Fox confessed to the crime, but was later exonerated through DNA evidence. Finally, after more than an hour of interrogation, Pluth reaches for a box of tissues and thrusts it at Tyler. Within moments, Swearengen appeared and led her into an adjoining room. At 12:20 a.m. on October 27th, according to the detectives' summary of events, detective Richard Williams arrived to administer the exam. If you saw Kevin, you most likely saw Riley, on his shoulders or carrying their fishing poles down to the lake together. At one point, Chad received a call from a friend watching the Cubs game. Joyful Fox Danced Over DNA News; . Guilfoyle reported that Tyler claimed he stood in the kitchen and saw his father using the clothes dryer after he returned. And that she did not have. Mass of Christian Burial 10:30 a.m. Interment private. Great article. 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. And if it became clear that there was no new information they should leave immediately. They describe a codified series of emotional and intellectual manipulations designed to break down even the strongest of personalities. "He kept saying, The DNA will clear me,'" Chad says. Yet before dawn Saturday, the former church deacon shot and killed each of his three young sons as they lay sleeping. "No." 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. There he saw three pairs of feet poking out of the bottom of the bedcovers. It was now after six in the morning. Zellner is such a bad ass!!! Court Upholds Finding that Police Framed Kevin Fox; Jury Awards Kevin Fox, Wife $15.5 Mil; Will Taping Interrogations Fix the System? Melissa was seen getting a fancy haircut at the mall. Police would reveal nothing. 79/63F. The girl appeared "lifeless," and Kevin thought she was dead. But he agreed with Zellner. The girl's body lay in a small polished white casket with stainless steel handles. I said, What are you talking about?'" View Kevin Fox results in Arkansas (AR) including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. "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.' By the time the state's attorney had finished, Kevin's shoulders were shaking. For Chad, the fight to clear his kid brother's name became a crusade. As she neared Wilmington, Melissa felt a chill. The story seemed preposterous. Next. he asks. 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 . That night, Kevin drove to Chicago, too, to attend a concert with a friend and one of Melissa's brothers. 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. At a press conference, Glasgow stopped short of directly criticizing Tomczak, but the implication was clear: he thought the case had been mishandled, particularly when it came to the long delay in DNA testing. And the Fox family had indeed suggested a reward be offered, only to be told by police it was unnecessary. Everything about the men, even their appearance, seemed at odds. But the court reduced the damages awarded to Kevin Fox and his wife, Melissa, to $8 million, down from about $12.2 million. 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 couple had gone gambling in Las Vegas. MLS ID #11685368, PRO REAL ESTATE. 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. Their lenses, the family later learned, were trained not on the ceremony, or the casket, but on the mourners, including Kevin Fox. As they had wanted to do all along, the family began to offer a reward, for $20,000. Mar 2020 - Present3 years. More often than not, the detectives would instead question Kevin and Melissa. The only way to dissuade them, he says they told him, would be to take a polygraph test. The Fox family has also pushed for the passage of "Riley's Law," a measure that would expedite DNA testing after child murders. In addition, the family has upped its reward to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of Riley's killer. This gruesome detail helped form the basis for the death penalty charge. The machine clicked on at a couple of minutes before the hour. Next. As for sexual abuse, "I'm not a stupid person," Melissa says. Rebekah grew up in the Midwest and received her Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Communications and Theater from North . Until now, the Foxes have remained silent about their ordeal. Jetta Myers graced the couples life with his arrival on December 18, 2017. If the car turned out to be the Fox vehicle, Kevin's alibi that he was asleep all night would be seriously undermined. A copy of the tape has not been released to the public, but Zellner has viewed it and she claims Kevin's manner is vague and halting. ", Today, Zellner says that what impressed her was Kevin's immediate denial of the crime. Facebook gives people the power to share. 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. Zellner returned to her office facing the daunting prospect of going to trial with a client who had confessed. IL NewsDrunken Driver On Wrong Side Of Jefferson Street: Joliet Police ; Joliet, IL News "We didn't want to turn it into another JonBenet Ramsey case. Kevin and Melissa were high school sweethearts, and through they fell out for a bit after Melissa got pregnant for the first time, they soon moved in together and gave birth to a beautiful boy, Tyler. associates & neighbors include Melissa Rossi, Curtis Fox, Kevin Fox, Chad Fox and Carly Fox. Zellner insists that there was exculpatory evidence-in the so-called rape kits with material taken from Riley. In his 2007 budget, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich included a similar initiative that would add eight forensic scientists to the state's crime labs. If you say it was an accident, it's involuntary manslaughter with a three to five year sentence. After three hours alone, Melissa grew furious. Chad recalls the moment vividly: "Kevin looked at me and said, I didn't do this. They tricked me.' Ruettiger straddled Kevin's legs, pressing his testicles into Kevin's knees. Kevin told police that Riley was wearing a white T-shirt with a pink flamingo on it and pink capri pants. Reaching into a tiny white basket, she doled red rose petals along the aisle like a pixie spreading fairy dust. "It wasn't like there was any time to cook up a story," she says. . Why was no duct tape found? ', "I started shaking and crying," she says. His image hovers ghostlike in the frame. 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. 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. 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. Before putting the girl in the water, he inserted his finger inside her to make it look like she had been sexually assaulted. On the outside, the stress of trying to free Kevin weighed heavily on the Fox family, especially Chad. To escape from their past, the couple left their Wilmington home and moved to a Chicago suburb. 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