"When I reached out to Kevin and said, I believe you,' I think they got pissed." The relationship evolved quickly and, just after Kevin started college at Illinois State University, Melissa, then 18, became pregnant with Tyler. Chad hugged Kevin as the room burst into applause. There, the couple gave birth to another daughter, Teagan, in 2006. The timing was less than ideal for the couple. 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. Buoyed over the finding, Zellner secured a court order to have the material tested by a private lab-Bode Technology Group in Virginia. Kevin, on the other hand, claimed that the police coerced him into admitting guilt. But several days later, while reviewing the state crime lab's report, Zellner puzzled over the "inconclusive" finding for the presence of male saliva. . He wore a red jump suit and was shackled at the legs and hands. But if he could get out on bond, he could straighten this mess out. There he saw three pairs of feet poking out of the bottom of the bedcovers. The girl appeared "lifeless," and Kevin thought she was dead. He admitted placing his finger in the vagina of the child. It was now after six in the morning. The parents' doting nature meant that Riley and Tyler rarely strayed far from their sight. He has also, on matters unrelated to the case, been in error in at least 13 instances, according to the Fox suit. Date Posted: Sunday, February 26th, 2023. 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. He called Wilmington police, but not wanting to raise an alarm prematurely, he would later explain, he decided to call the nonemergency line-a choice that was later questioned. 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. You're told there is overwhelming evidence against you, including a failed polygraph. Parenting takes a level of intelligence and refuse to pass laws that require logical IQ before they become a parent. Kevin Corke currently serves as an FNC correspondent based in Washington, DC. "It's hard," Kevin says. 79/63F. The order, it would later be revealed, had come from detective Ed Hayes. By now, hundreds of townsfolk were clawing through brush and woods. On this day, however, the mood was festive. The Fox family has also pushed for the passage of "Riley's Law," a measure that would expedite DNA testing after child murders. I looked at him square in the eyes the whole time, and I knew my brother was not lying to me. But we feel closer to her when we go there. "I didn't know what had happened to her," he says. To those who didn't know Kevin Fox, the hearing seemed to offer a shocking solution to a terrible crime . Fox's lawsuit alleges that the meeting was conducted with Tomczak's support and consent. Winds light and variable.. 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. A steady drizzle fell, while inside, mourners wept to a slide-show collage set to the songs "My Girl" and Sarah McLachlan's "Angel." He then went home and slept," the prosecutor said. What about DNA testing? Tags: Crime & Law, Design Controls - Google AMP, Long Reads, Politics & City Life, Print-Specific Tags - Feature, Writers - Bryan Smith. His little chest heaves and his thin shoulders shake. Kevin knew virtually nothing about such statistics or the theories of interrogation techniques. As for sexual abuse, "I'm not a stupid person," Melissa says. Hundreds more turned out the next day for the funeral, many wearing pink ribbons and ties and butterfly pins. Among the questions the two men fielded were queries about whether politics influenced the timing of the interrogation. Beyond that, she says, the details left several obvious questions unanswered. Zellner is skeptical. His little girl had seemed to hold a special place in his heart. Three years later, in 2000, with Kevin having found work as a union painter and Melissa as a waitress, the two were married. 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. Par for the course. She'd be a great big sister.". On February 26, 2023, at approximately 8:34 a.m., a trooper was dispatched [] "I felt like a zoo animal.". How solid was the evidence? the friend asked. Among the allegations was that the father had made illegal contributions to his son's campaign. "I kept saying, What's going on? She was wearing the same "princess dress" she had picked out and worn as a flower girl in Chad and Stacy's wedding. You're offered a less serious offense and the chance to go home to your family and clear things up later in court. The claim triggered an investigation from a representative of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Glasgow seized on the charges, suggesting his opponent would be soft on crime. Until now, the Foxes have remained silent about their ordeal. But the case that had shattered the Wilmington community was far from over. Melissa says that Swearengen told her about the videotape of the car and about Tyler's statement and then laid out an "accident" scenario for the death of Riley. Phone: (910) 343-3900. . Melissa was seen getting a fancy haircut at the mall. Some people still thought he was a murderer. The couple announced the birth of their son via social media to their friends and followers. When the bag was thrown from the bridge, however, it twice floated to the spot where the body had been found. AGE 40s Kevin J Fox Saint Jacob, IL View Full Report Used To Live In Relatives As if the image wasn't terrible enough, he said, she had been "able to remove the duct tape from her wrists prior to succumbing to drowning in the water.". Melissa, meanwhile, was led into a conference room where, Swearengen told her, detective Guilfoyle would be along shortly to ask a few questions. [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. But the parents believed they had cooperated in every way possible, including providing DNA samples, consenting to searches, and answering questions. The Fox family wanted Kevin's immediate release. "They did everything together," recalls Curt Fox, Kevin's dad. 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. All. Ultimately the detectives went with a far less experienced examiner-Richard C. Williams, a Cook County detective who, according to the Fox lawsuit, had conducted only about 90 tests. The suit claimed. As far as Glasgow knew, the little girl's rape kits had not contained sufficient genetic material to yield a usable profile. she quotes him as saying. The Foxes owned a dark blue Ford Escape. 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. The girl's body lay in a small polished white casket with stainless steel handles. Kevin Fox was initially charged with his daughter's June 2004 murder. Tomczak, now in private practice in Joliet, was added in July 2005. One study suggests that, though rare, it happens. 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. At the time, it seemed like a happy though standard family portrait. The defendants have sought to have the claim dismissed, arguing among other things that prosecutors are immune from such claims. (Will County investigators refuse comment on the quality of the videotape. I told him, Don't you talk like that about my husband and family.'" 1:07. Still, both wept when they learned Melissa was carrying a girl. On a recent April evening, however, their attentions are devoted to gentler undertakings: their new baby girl, Teagan, who was born on March 8th. He shakes his head one final time. . 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. The two had clashed on nearly everything, from elections to court cases to ethical conduct. We wanted to know if they had found out what had happened. In less than an hour, it seemed the whole town had turned out. Sensing his shyness, she took matters into her own hands. On April 5th, Zellner says, she learned why. He was not a match, Bode reported. He claws his sweatshirt hood over his head. He struggles to catch his breath between sobs. 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. For all his initial trepidation, Kevin took to fatherhood in a way that surprised even his closest family. Not even close. It is heartbreaking to see such a devoted and doting father go through the seemingly never-ending and painful ordeal of losing his daughter and his entire family. A Chicago news show had even aired a resident of Wilmington relating the town gossip. If the car turned out to be the Fox vehicle, Kevin's alibi that he was asleep all night would be seriously undermined. "He changed more diapers and fed and bathed the kids way more than the average father.". The weeks dragged by. IL NewsDrunken Driver On Wrong Side Of Jefferson Street: Joliet Police ; Joliet, IL News Kevin had been up since 4:30 that morning and had spent much of his day working at a painting job. Chad Fox took the lead, assuming the role of family spokesman and coordinating other family interviews, including an unequivocal expression of support by Melissa. Mass of Christian Burial 10:30 a.m. Interment private. "Everything that [detectives] had was still pointing to this guy," says Will County Sheriff's spokesman Pat Barry. He began having nightmares in which he would see Kevin strapped to a gurney, about to receive a lethal injection. Months went by with no breaks in the case. 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. Seventeen years ago, Zellner's client, Kevin Fox, was wrongly arrested and charged with killing his little girl. "What's happened?" View the profiles of people named Kevin Fox. Previously, he was a national news correspondent based in Washington, D.C. for NBC News from 2004-2008. . 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. Almost a year later, Fox was freed from the Will County Jail, and his murder. Suddenly, she says, Ed Hayes "got right in my face. The results did not match, and hence after eight months of being imprisoned, Kevin was finally let go. People wonder: who would do it? Zellner says she also was struck by the unwavering belief in Kevin's innocence by the family, particularly Melissa. Most of those who knew Kevin and the rest of the Fox family believed in his innocence. On Feb. 9, the Wilmington City Council held a special meeting at Wilmington High School. His lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, says that when she asked to see the handwritten notes from which the summary was drawn, Will County authorities told her that they were gone. The lab had said the results would arrive around 6 p.m. Greater Philadelphia. By midnight that night, Kevin says, the detectives had dropped all pretense of friendliness. Kevin told police that Riley was wearing a white T-shirt with a pink flamingo on it and pink capri pants. Join Facebook to connect with Kevin Fox and others you may know. 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. Kevin Fox and his family refused last year to pay $100,000 to Trisha Kiefer, the former girlfriend of Scott Eby, who was convicted of killing 3-year-old Riley Fox. 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. I knew it wasn't true. ", Kevin says that Swearengen suggested the same "accident" scenario that he had proposed to Melissa nearly nine hours earlier. She was led into Kevin's room where, she claims, Williams showed her a computer screen. (The DNA was subsequently retested at a different laboratory, and the results again excluded Kevin.). Within moments, Swearengen appeared and led her into an adjoining room. "Spend it with my wife and son," he said, something he had dreamed about "every day, every single day" since the ordeal had begun. 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. Under questioning by Will County detectives, Fox confessed to the crime, but was later exonerated through DNA evidence. "I was raised with the idea that authorities were good people and that they should be respected.". Authorities initially charged the young girl's father, Kevin Fox, with the murder, based largely on a videotape confession that he'd killed Riley. "I don't know," Tyler says. Did he take Riley somewhere?" "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. "They made me sit in a room for 45 minutes," Melissa says, still furious at the memory. Heartwarming that Kevins wife, brother, family, and Ms. Zelner stood by his side. The family will receive friends for a memorial visitation on Saturday, March 4, 2023 at Baskerville Funeral Home, 700 E. Kahler Rd., in Wilmington from 12 p.m. until the time of memorial service at 4 p.m. Roger will be laid to rest at Mt. ", Kevin alerted his parents and Chad, who was immediately wary. Par for the course. Dawn has a reported annual income of $10 - 19,999 and a current net worth value of greater than $50,000 - $99,999. The Fox family had called Wilmington home for generations. Williams told Kevin that if he passed he would be cleared in his daughter's death, according to the lawsuit; if he failed, he would be charged with murder. To his family, the event seemed staged, a dog-and-pony show orchestrated by Tomczak. But Kevin knew he was meant to be with Melissa. The Nightmare: A Look at the Riley Fox Case, 2020 Chicago magazine / A Chicago Tribune Media Group website, Photograph: Courtesy of Chad and Stacy Fox. 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. "Are you kidding me?" "Let the little children come to me," said the Rev. Instead, going on a "gut feeling," he said, they "rolled bones" in the hope they could elicit a confession. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. 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. The Las Vegas trip was to attend a friend's wedding and had been planned and paid for months before Riley's death. The next day, Kevin Fox's DNA was compared with the sample. ", Today, Zellner says that what impressed her was Kevin's immediate denial of the crime. "I'm not saying he shouldn't have been . 81/63F. While his wife was in Chicago, Kevin, then 27, and the kids spent Saturday afternoon making posters in anticipation of celebrating Melissa's walk at the finish line, where they planned to meet her the next morning. Yet, despite the overwhelming implication of guilt produced by the hearing, a number of troubling questions lurked within the prosecutor's case. Rather than providing a running narrative, she says, Kevin often simply answered "yes" or "no" to the detectives' questions. The terms of the "offer" echoed in his head. By most accounts, Kevin Dale Fox was a devoutly religious man and a loving father. 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. As Glasgow spoke, Kevin began to weep. They simply broke him down psychologically to a point where he believed that the only way he was going to get this nightmare to stop was to confess. 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. I said, What are you talking about?'" "Isn't that your niece?" No sign of her. They describe a codified series of emotional and intellectual manipulations designed to break down even the strongest of personalities. 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. WILMINGTONRoger J. Johnson, 62, of Wilmington, passed away Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023 at his home. Kankakee, IL (60901) Today. Not only was he not being charged with involuntary manslaughter, as he believed he'd been promised, but he was now facing first-degree murder, a charge that carried the possibility of the death penalty. 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. A "source," his face hidden behind a black blob, his voice disguised, repeated the rumors in Jacobson's "exclusive" interview. The authorities have not mentioned the videotape in court, though they did bring it up during the interrogation before Kevin confessed. Melissa, describing her husband as a wonderful father, made it clear immediately that she believed he had been railroaded. "Hurry back. 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. 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