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. (Through his attorney, Gerald Haberkorn, Hayes denied any allegations of impropriety. He'd barely had time to grab a bite to eat all day. Now he was free. Still, he says, "we had waited so long. 79/63F. In late June, Kevin and Melissa consented to letting the authorities question Tyler. While much of his work there involved coverage of the Bush Administration as a member of . I said, What are you talking about?'" Kevin, 20, was overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events, and the two broke up for a short period. That morning in the Will County jail, Zellner watched the interaction between the two brothers closely. Some people still thought he was a murderer. "We know you killed your daughter," they said, according to the suit. ", The town of Wilmington, struggling to heal, tends a small garden that honors Riley's memory. "They thought they had me convinced," she says. A Chicago news show had even aired a resident of Wilmington relating the town gossip. As a young boy, his family moved to New York and thence to Greensboro, NC, where he spent his formative years. . 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. "You guys are nuts!". Melissa was seen getting a fancy haircut at the mall. Some questioned why a reward had never been offered. But we feel closer to her when we go there. The entire time, detective Edward Hayes, who would become the lead detective on the case, watches from the other side of a one-way mirror. No sign of her. 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. 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. ", In the sorrow-filled twilight of their little girl's death, in the aftermath of an ordeal that could have sent Kevin Fox to death row, Kevin and Melissa have searched for meaning in their anguish. They live in Naperville now, a place they feel has given them a fresh start. While Chad talked about leaving for the big city, Kevin couldn't imagine living anywhere else. 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. "I thought it was a little strange," Melissa says. If the car turned out to be the Fox vehicle, Kevin's alibi that he was asleep all night would be seriously undermined. "Did he leave the house?" She was led into Kevin's room where, she claims, Williams showed her a computer screen. Harder still was the family portrait with Riley in her princess dress and white satin slippers. Kevin says he told the detectives that he didn't call 911 because he didn't want to panic prematurely. Reaching into a tiny white basket, she doled red rose petals along the aisle like a pixie spreading fairy dust. That Saturday night, she stayed at a campsite with friends in Skokie. "This isn't political," he said. 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. He then ran next door, where Riley's best friend lived. Dawn's current home is located at Wilmington, IL. The tactics that produced Kevin Fox's statement, he says, are a case study in how to get someone to railroad himself. Tyler shakes his head "no" several times. A tip came in claiming that video surveillance cameras at the town's Mobil station might have captured a car like that at four in the morning of Riley's disappearance. . . . 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 interrogation and arrest of Fox, the suit alleges, was part of a last-ditch effort by Tomczak to win re-election. But after briefly talking to one lawyer, Kevin dismissed the idea. "I used to love it," Kevin says of his hometown. 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. Hope they find some peace. The couple announced the birth of their son via social media to their friends and followers. In hindsight, the couple believe that either the police "were just completely overwhelmed by the fact that there was a murder in Wilmington and they had no idea what to do," Melissa says, "-or they were watching to see how we would react." "I didn't know what had happened to her," he says. He says the police told him he was right not to panic, that "in a lot of cases a child wanders off, and they can't find them at first." Chad Fox took the lead, assuming the role of family spokesman and coordinating other family interviews, including an unequivocal expression of support by Melissa. The weeks dragged by. Meanwhile, the mystery of what happened to Riley Fox remains. "If I finish the sheet, you are being charged with first-degree murder with 30 years to life. He had suffered threats and the ridicule of guards, according to his lawsuit. Delaware State Police have arrested 26-year-old Damiean Turner of East New Market, Maryland, for firearm and traffic-related offenses. Case closed. "We were still young, so it was scary," Kevin says. Sun and clouds mixed. Before that, she was a television news reporter for ABC and FOX affiliates in North Carolina and Illinois. Melissa first saw Kevin at a high-school volleyball game. 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. "So just say you did it." "What's happened?" They took Kevin into another part of the building. I had never been treated like that before. . The defendants have sought to have the claim dismissed, arguing among other things that prosecutors are immune from such claims. Melissa Mack (right) with her husband Ryan and newborn baby Jett Myers "I felt like I had nothing to hide," he says, and he worried that hiring an attorney might make him look guilty. Go home now on bond.". Kevin told police that Riley was wearing a white T-shirt with a pink flamingo on it and pink capri pants. 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? As for Tyler, Kevin had no idea his son had made such a statement-it was the first he'd heard of it. Tomczak wrapped up the hearing by asking for a $25-million bond, a request that drew gasps from the gallery. Judge James Carroll Fox, 90, of Wilmington, NC, passed away March 23 rd at home surrounded by his loving wife and family. The Fox family had called Wilmington home for generations. Glasgow seemed like a fair man, but he had given no indication that he planned to drop charges against Kevin. 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. Zellner is such a bad ass!!! I looked at him square in the eyes the whole time, and I knew my brother was not lying to me. "I didn't do it, Melissa," he answered back, looking her in the eye. and we stand behind them.". "We'll see," the defense attorney shot back. The timing was less than ideal for the couple. 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. It had all happened so quickly-had seemed to make so much sense in the moment. 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 Five months after. "We think you know more than you're telling us," Kevin says the detective told him. 66F. Most important, Kevin says, he trusted the detectives' motives. Seventeen years ago, Zellner's client, Kevin Fox, was wrongly arrested and charged with killing his little girl. In the weeks that followed, Melissa and Kevin found the investigators to be supportive, even friendly. 77/48F. On the tape, her manner suggests a strict schoolteacher. The delay enraged the family. She adored her father. , Inc. holds real estate brokerage licenses in multiple provinces. 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. With the death of a child under these circumstances, the police look first to the family. Kankakee, IL (60901) Today. The couple had gone gambling in Las Vegas. High 24F. 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. Melissa, describing her husband as a wonderful father, made it clear immediately that she believed he had been railroaded. 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. But it slowly dawned on him that the whole thing-the supposed sympathy of the detectives, the "friendship" of "Scott," the seemingly cordial questioning-had been a ruse. No. He immediately noticed that the front door and screen were ajar. For all his initial trepidation, Kevin took to fatherhood in a way that surprised even his closest family. Another resident told the paper, "It's what a lot of people suspected.". The medical examiner also noted light bruising on Riley's head. I knew it wasn't true. Kevin Fox was eventually released, and the case against him was dismissed. 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. Melissa recalls asking, still holding out hope that their daughter was alive. Yet, despite the overwhelming implication of guilt produced by the hearing, a number of troubling questions lurked within the prosecutor's case. 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. 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. They tricked me.' But because so many people had called with similar observations about the Foxes' spending habits, the station decided it couldn't ignore the rumors.). Even though Kevin was freed of all charges, he claimed that the false imprisonment had a massive impact on his life. ", The couple held hands as they made their way across the parking lot to the Will County sheriff's office in Joliet at about 7:30 that night. 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. Zellner says she also was struck by the unwavering belief in Kevin's innocence by the family, particularly Melissa. Tomczak was bulky with thinning hair. "I hated leaving him there," Chad says. (Today, Fox's legal team says that the results were at best unreliable.) Maybe the boy thought Kevin had left when he stepped outside for a quick smoke. I pledged the same fraternity. He was born October 8, 1968 in Silver Spring, Maryland, the son of Helen (Niles) Fox and the late Allen Wayne Fox.. 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. Greater Philadelphia. If you are interested to know where Kevin Fox is today, we have got you covered. 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. Kevin, on the other hand, claimed that the police coerced him into admitting guilt. A little before eight in the morning, however, Tyler came into Kevin's room. He was cordial, they recall, but he also insisted that the two be separated. Absolutely not, Kaupas said. When the bag was thrown from the bridge, however, it twice floated to the spot where the body had been found. In the past, Dawn has also been known as Dawn R Fox. 81/63F. Subscribe to one or more of our free e-mail newsletters to get instant updates on local news, events, and opportunities in Chicago. 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. "I was raised with the idea that authorities were good people and that they should be respected.". And why did the door lock when he left the room? Did he take Riley somewhere?" he asks. ), Around Wilmington, rumors began to swirl that the Foxes were using money donated to a "Riley fund" for extravagant vacations and luxury purchases. Instead, he decided to make her death look like an abduction. But as the summer wore on, they came to believe that the investigation was dragging. "Riley is in the room with you right now," the lawsuit quotes Guilfoyle as saying. I made you drive me around when you got your license. 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. "They were putting words in his mouth," she claims. Back to Top. Carmel Cemetery in Morris at a later date. Are you kidding me?" Jetta Myers graced the couples life with his arrival on December 18, 2017. After an hour, the boy draws into a fetal position. Kevin Wayne Fox, 52, of Bunker Hill, WV, passed away December 18, 2020. The collection of friends, family, reporters, and onlookers watched as Kevin Fox, red-eyed and shell-shocked, shuffled into the courtroom. Kaupas acknowledged that the detectives had had no substantial new evidence when they called in Kevin. Kevin knew virtually nothing about such statistics or the theories of interrogation techniques. You're offered a less serious offense and the chance to go home to your family and clear things up later in court.
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