Instead, he decided to make her death look like an abduction. "I can make a deal for him. He then ran next door, where Riley's best friend lived. After being photographed and fingerprinted, Kevin arrived at the Will County Adult Detention Center less than a mile from the sheriff's office, spent and sick with anxiety. "Are you kidding me?" "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.' On October 21st, his father, Donald Tomczak, was arrested on a federal indictment in the Hired Truck scandal in Chicago. Very sad. Location of This Business. "Todd, what the hell! Most important, Kevin says, he trusted the detectives' motives. 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 . He also holds a journalism master's and . He still holds Riley close to his heart and cherishes the beautiful memories his daughter left him with. Christmas passed with Kevin still in jail, then New Year's, and Kevin's 28th birthday on January 4th. But several days later, while reviewing the state crime lab's report, Zellner puzzled over the "inconclusive" finding for the presence of male saliva. What more can they possibly want to know? After all, the boy could be crucial in helping the parents find their daughter's killer. Instead, going on a "gut feeling," he said, they "rolled bones" in the hope they could elicit a confession. View the profiles of people named Kevin Fox. He would eventually become such a fixture that the family would refer to him simply as "Scott.". Kevin Fox was cleared of the charges when a DNA test excluded him from the assault and killing. "What kind of Cracker-Jack-box cops don't have the decency to tell the parents of a murdered little girl that their daughter is dead?" 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 . Kevin Corke currently serves as an FNC correspondent based in Washington, DC. How do they sleep at night? "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. Pluth pursues. And they turn the page. Melissa first saw Kevin at a high-school volleyball game. The ceremony's original choreography called for Riley to turn right at the front of the aisle and join her mother's pew. But if Kevin was joking, the police apparently didn't get it. 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. "There was nothing to eliminate him." Kevin Fox, Rileys father, was affected a lot as he was still in mourning when he was seen as the prime suspect and even put in jail for the same. "You look at a stone with your daughter's picture, knowing that her body is in the dirt rather than in your arms. Among those in attendance, unobtrusive but noticeable, were two men holding video cameras. (A spokesman said Glasgow wouldn't comment for this story because of the pending litigation.). 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. "We know you killed your daughter," they said, according to the suit. He looks away. 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. His little girl had seemed to hold a special place in his heart. With the death of a child under these circumstances, the police look first to the family. Promising a suspect leniency to confess is forbidden under Illinois law, and the detectives have denied in court pleadings that they did so. Guilfoyle's report did not surface until May, seven months after Kevin had been arrested. "I kept saying, What's going on? The case has set in motion a series of events that bitterly divided what had been a neighborly town; cast a shadow of suspicion over a tight-knit, well-respected family; and raised questions about whether justice was forsaken for personal and political ambitions. In late June, Kevin and Melissa consented to letting the authorities question Tyler. He was born October 8, 1968 in Silver Spring, Maryland, the son of Helen (Niles) Fox and the late Allen Wayne Fox.. If the car turned out to be the Fox vehicle, Kevin's alibi that he was asleep all night would be seriously undermined. When you see your daughter dead, with dirt and mud on her face . 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. High 24F. . He quit school and the two moved in together. "For some reason," she says, "I had this terrible feeling that I was never going to see her again.". 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. Not even close. It had all happened so quickly-had seemed to make so much sense in the moment. "Something didn't feel right," Chad recalls. Advertisement Read more on Chicago Sun-Times Sensing his shyness, she took matters into her own hands. Three miles away, a Wilmington police cruiser returned to Kevin and Melissa's house. Melissa Mack (right) with her husband Ryan and newborn baby Jett Myers 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. In the weeks that followed, Melissa and Kevin found the investigators to be supportive, even friendly. The detective shook his head. "I thought it was a little strange," Melissa says. You'll serve half. Tickets to see Kevin James perform in Joliet at the Rialto Square Theatre go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. . ", The town of Wilmington, struggling to heal, tends a small garden that honors Riley's memory. That morning in the Will County jail, Zellner watched the interaction between the two brothers closely. No sign of her. For all his initial trepidation, Kevin took to fatherhood in a way that surprised even his closest family. Did he take Riley somewhere?" Kevin likes to keep his private life under wraps, and hence his present whereabouts are unclear. He recanted almost immediately, but spent eight months in jail before DNA evidence led to his release. Riley Fox story: '20/20' unveils new details in Wilmington girl's death Braidwood mayor charged with DUI after 3-car crash Victim ID'd in deadly crash on I-55 near Wilmington 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. Just before he was booked and taken to jail, Kevin says, the last thing he heard was the sound of the detectives in the hallway, laughing and congratulating themselves. Immediately, we both started crying. I hated that, but I had no idea what to believe. At a hearing on January 28, 2005, Will County prosecutors turned over several police reports to Zellner and her defense team. As they had wanted to do all along, the family began to offer a reward, for $20,000. On this night, however, leafing through a picture book, with Kevin holding Teagan, and Tyler peering over Melissa's shoulder, they can smile when they reach the photograph of the happy family they once were, when the biggest worries were a best man's toast and a little girl wanting to stand beside her daddy. "Because I think to myself what Riley would be doing right now. Also added were the polygraph examiner, Richard C. Williams, Pluth, Kaupas, and a jail guard. Before putting the girl in the water, he inserted his finger inside her to make it look like she had been sexually assaulted. Heartwarming that Kevins wife, brother, family, and Ms. Zelner stood by his side. "They'd come back with their legs scratched up and bleeding," recalls Kevin. Ruettiger straddled Kevin's legs, pressing his testicles into Kevin's knees. In less than an hour, it seemed the whole town had turned out. On the outside, the stress of trying to free Kevin weighed heavily on the Fox family, especially Chad. Kevin is a producer and writer, known for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), The Negotiator (1998) and Lie to Me (2009). By the afternoon, more than 500 people were scouring the area, some on horseback, others on bicycles or all-terrain vehicles. They live in Naperville now, a place they feel has given them a fresh start. 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 shakes his head one final time. When the bag was thrown from the bridge, however, it twice floated to the spot where the body had been found. "Where did he take Riley? The couple had gone gambling in Las Vegas. ", At one point, according to the lawsuit, Hayes leaned close and told Kevin that he "knew people" at the jail, "and would make sure' that Kevin was fucked' every day unless he told them what they wanted to hear." The sheriff's summary report portrays Melissa as expressing doubts about her husband's innocence. How could a lightweight bathroom door knock a little girl out so completely that she appeared dead? "Everything's going to be OK," she told him. 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. Even though the court paid Kevin and his wife $15.5 million (later reduced to $8.5 million) as compensation for the ordeal, Kevin said he could never recover his reputation in the town. $271,900. Tomczak did not return calls requesting an interview, but in court pleadings he has denied any wrongdoing, including any suggestion that Kevin Fox's arrest was related to his re-election campaign. Guilfoyle reported that Tyler claimed he stood in the kitchen and saw his father using the clothes dryer after he returned. He recalled that his father "took Riley somewhere" during the night. The Fox family wanted Kevin's immediate release. "You guys are nuts!". Winds light and variable.. 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. There's a bowling alley and a post office and a small movie house. "You don't have much time," Hayes warned. Twitter Lhamo. Zellner insists that there was exculpatory evidence-in the so-called rape kits with material taken from Riley. 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