After three hours alone, Melissa grew furious. The terms of the "offer" echoed in his head. Kevin Fox was eventually released, and the case against him was dismissed. He knew he was innocent, he says. the cops, the judge, the seeming confidence of the state's attorney, and, most of all, the confession. A few years later, Kevin and Melissa became proud parents of baby Riley, and the family seemed to be quite happy. She had been following the case in the media, and she urged Chad to get his brother to talk to her. Rather than providing a running narrative, she says, Kevin often simply answered "yes" or "no" to the detectives' questions. 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. he asks. 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. "I kept saying, What's going on? "That door was paper thin," Zellner says. Great article. $271,900. Heartwarming that Kevins wife, brother, family, and Ms. Zelner stood by his side. Riley Fox Riley Fox (March 31, 2001 - June 6, 2004) was a 3-year-old girl from Wilmington, Illinois, who was murdered on June 6, 2004. This was our daughter, our little girl. IL NewsDrunken Driver On Wrong Side Of Jefferson Street: Joliet Police ; Joliet, IL News Kevin, after all, had been the last person known to have seen Riley alive. According to the summary, Kevin thought of driving to his mother-in-law's house, or perhaps taking Riley to the hospital. "I had never even met him before and he was just screaming in my face. 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. 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. The girl's body lay in a small polished white casket with stainless steel handles. As for sexual abuse, "I'm not a stupid person," Melissa says. He had been undergoing questioning for nearly 12 hours. After returning home with his children at around 1 am, Kevin put his kids in the living room and went to bed at 2:30 am. 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. By Guilfoyle's account, the boy also said things that seem to contradict known facts-that Kevin had dressed Riley in pajamas, for instance. But the case that had shattered the Wilmington community was far from over. ", Kevin began to pound the walls. The sheriff's summary report portrays Melissa as expressing doubts about her husband's innocence. 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. 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." We thought, This is the night. A federal jury awarded Fox and his wife, Melissa, $15.5 million for false arrest and. If charges were to be filed, he would be the one to bring them. (The DNA was subsequently retested at a different laboratory, and the results again excluded Kevin.). "It wasn't like there was any time to cook up a story," she says. ", By now, Melissa's brother had arrived at the jail, as had Kevin's father. They first tested where Kevin said he had left the body-according to his confession, he had placed it in the water at the base of the Kahler Bridge, slipping once as he made his way down the muddy embankment. 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. 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. 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. Kevin says he was incredulous. The results did not match, and hence after eight months of being imprisoned, Kevin was finally let go. As Kevin and countless others in the sanctuary laughed with delight, he returned her to her mother, who shook her head with resignation and took the girl to the pew. As far as Glasgow knew, the little girl's rape kits had not contained sufficient genetic material to yield a usable profile. Elsewhere in the building, in a small, cramped room with a low ceiling and a one-way mirror about the size of a cereal box, Kevin sat in a corner, facing a group of detectives, including an intense man with strawberry-blond hair and a flushed complexion: Ed Hayes. The two had clashed on nearly everything, from elections to court cases to ethical conduct. He took his friend and Melissas brother along while leaving the children in the care of Melissas mother. Promising a suspect leniency to confess is forbidden under Illinois law, and the detectives have denied in court pleadings that they did so. 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. Within minutes, Melissa and a friend were barreling down Interstate 55. There's a bowling alley and a post office and a small movie house. "He admitted duct-taping the child's mouth. "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. They later portrayed his statement as an attempt to provide a possible alibi. He was cordial, they recall, but he also insisted that the two be separated. "But she was right.". The boy, who is extremely shy with strangers, answers reluctantly, with head shakes and nods. "We put all our faith in them. "I hated leaving him there," Chad says. The parents' doting nature meant that Riley and Tyler rarely strayed far from their sight. Life will never be the same for any of us.". It was one of the first times she had spent the night away from the kids, but for her, it was a worthy venture-a way to honor her late father. Pat Barry continues to defend the work of the Will County detectives. In his 2007 budget, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich included a similar initiative that would add eight forensic scientists to the state's crime labs. The lab had said the results would arrive around 6 p.m. She was wearing the same "princess dress" she had picked out and worn as a flower girl in Chad and Stacy's wedding. Chad recalls the moment vividly: "Kevin looked at me and said, I didn't do this. Grey Fox Wealth is an independent fiduciary that provides comprehensive financial planning services, wealth management solutions, and direct access . Chief Mickler currently resides in Wilmington with his wife, Rebecca, and their two sons. 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. A self-described small-town boy from Wilmington, Illinois, he was there to act as best man for his older brother, Chad. Find a suspect, any suspect, and nail him/her. "He changed more diapers and fed and bathed the kids way more than the average father.". Worse, when Bode finally got the DNA, the family was told testing would take two months, and that the chances of finding male saliva in Riley's DNA were slim because there was so little genetic material to test. The weeks dragged by. (Today, Fox's legal team says that the results were at best unreliable.) Kevin worked as a union painter to earn a living, while Melissa got a job as a waitress. "Isn't that your niece?" . The detective shook his head. God Bless and stay safe. . "I didn't know what had happened to her," he says. "We were not happy about [Fox's release]," says Pat Barry, spokesman for the Will County Sheriff's Office. 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. Local 630-955-1212 | Toll . The image was almost as precious, in fact, as the photo a few pages later of Chad, Stacy, Kevin, Melissa, Tyler, and Riley smiling back at the camera in their wedding formalwear. she quotes him as saying. . This gruesome detail helped form the basis for the death penalty charge. (Williams refused to comment because of the pending litigation. (Pluth did not return calls or an e-mail message.). He yelled, Your fucking husband killed your fucking daughter and he doesn't love you or her. 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 "I can make a deal for him. 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. But because so many people had called with similar observations about the Foxes' spending habits, the station decided it couldn't ignore the rumors.). The Tribune reported last year that while the FBI had paid $10,000 to Trisha Kiefer, Eby's former girlfriend, for her help in solving one of the Chicago region's most notorious crimes, the Fox . High 24F. 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. The estranged couple was in the middle of a . [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. 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