At 7:50 that morning, 6-year-old Tyler woke his father and told him that his three-year-old sister, Riley, was gone. Her yellow blanket was lying on the couch. The front door was open. Kevin Fox searched the house and the yard, then called the neighbors. Riley was nowhere to be found. Within hours, hundreds of people were searching Wilmington.
Then two female volunteers walked into the woods a few miles from the Fox family home. In a shallow creek, they saw something that looked like a bag. It was Riley. Traces of duct tape were left on her wrists. Nine separate injuries were found on her head. Her pants and underwear were missing entirely. The autopsy confirmed the horrifying truth.
She’d been sexually assaulted and then drowned. But instead of hunting down whoever took a child from her home in the middle of the night, investigators turned their attention to her own father. A few months later, Kevin Fox got a call to come down to the station. They told him there’d been a breakthrough in the case.
They walked him into an interrogation room, read him his Miranda rights, and asked him just one question. Did you kill your daughter? Kevin said no. After that, the door closed. Hey guys, let me grab you for just a second. I’m really curious where my audience is watching from. So, I’d love for you to drop a comment and tell me what city you’re in and what time it is for you right now.
Thanks for taking a moment. Go ahead and share that in the comments. And now, let’s keep going. This is a story of what happens when police and a community turn on an innocent man. I could hear people saying we got the baby Riley killer kind of singing it. And that is when it all had begun.
The journey through the second nightmare of my life. I was the furthest person to do this to Riley. But yet here I am. Saturday, June 5th, 2004, Wilmington, Illinois. Melissa Fox was taking part in a two-day charity walk in Chicago with friends, raising money for breast cancer research. She had left the family home in Wilmington, Illinois, while her husband Kevin stayed behind to look after their two children, 6-year-old Tyler and 3-year-old Riley.
That day, Kevin took the kids to an art supply store to buy poster boards and markers. The next morning, they were supposed to head to Chicago where they planned to make signs to congratulate Melissa on finishing the event and meet her at the finish line. That evening, Kevin dropped the children off with their grandmother, Melissa’s mother, then went back to Chicago with Melissa’s brother, Tony.
They planned to catch a concert in the city and enjoy their Saturday night. After the concert, they met up with another friend at a nearby restaurant, had a few drinks, ate burritos, and finally made it back home a little after midnight. Kevin insisted that even though it was late, he wanted to pick up the children. At 12:50 a.m.
, Kevin arrived at Melissa’s mother’s house to get Riley and Tyler. Both kids were sound asleep in the living room, so Tony helped carry them out to Kevin’s Ford Escape. Kevin then drove home through the quiet streets of Wilmington. When they got there, Kevin carried Riley and Tyler inside. But there was a problem.
Before leaving for Chicago the day before, Melissa had taken the bedding off the beds and left it out to dry, and Kevin had forgotten to put fresh sheets on. It was almost 1:00 in the morning, and he was too tired to deal with it, so he put Tyler on an ottoman in the living room and Riley on the couch, covering them both with blankets.
He tucked Riley in with her favorite yellow blanket and left the children sleeping there for the night. There was nothing unusual about it. Many times before, one or both of the kids had fallen asleep in the living room. Before going to his own bedroom, Kevin checked on Riley and Tyler. They were both still asleep.
Then he went to bed, turned on the television, and let a fan circulate air through the room. Kevin fell asleep at 2:30 in the morning. At 7:50 a.m., Kevin woke up to find Tyler standing in his bedroom doorway, saying that Riley was gone. At first, Kevin did not panic. He knew the children often played hide-and-seek, so he assumed Riley had simply found a really good hiding spot.
Maybe she was in her room, where there were plenty of toys, blankets, and places to hide. Kevin got out of bed and walked into the living room, where he saw Riley’s yellow blanket still lying on the couch. That was when he noticed the front door was open. In that moment, he thought and hoped that maybe Tyler had opened it while looking for his sister.
Kevin walked through the house calling Riley’s name, but she was nowhere to be found. He searched the bedroom, the children’s playroom, and the backyard, but he could not find his daughter anywhere. The back door was unlocked, but the lock had been broken for some time, so it did not seem especially alarming to him at that point.
Kevin thought Riley might have gone to a neighbor’s house, so he headed next door. But when he got to the door, he suddenly realized it was still pretty early, so he went back home and called the neighbors instead. When they answered, they said they had not seen Riley either. At 8:30 a.m., about 40 minutes after Tyler had first woken him up, Kevin called the police.
He believed Riley was somewhere nearby, maybe hiding or simply wandering around on her own. That was why he did not call 911 at that point. Instead, he called directory assistance and asked to be connected to the local police department. Hello, police department. Yeah, I was wondering if you found an officer over here. My name is Kevin 5.
I woke up the morning and uh my daughter is nowhere nowhere to be found. How old is she? Three. You’re kidding me. No. Cannot find your three-year-old daughter. No. When Kevin explained that his 3-year-old daughter was missing, police reportedly told him he had done the right thing by not panicking. In many cases, a child simply wanders off somewhere and cannot be found at first.
Even so, officers soon arrived at the house and asked what Riley had been wearing before she disappeared. Kevin said she was wearing a white t-shirt with flamingos on it and pink capri pants. Not long after that, even more officers arrived. Kevin was told to wait outside while they searched the house. By then, a major police operation was already getting underway, but Melissa was more than an hour away in Chicago and had no idea what was happening.
One of the officers involved in the initial search told Kevin not to call Melissa so he would not worry her, so Kevin did not. But Melissa happened to call Kevin herself. At that moment, he was walking the streets near their home, calling out Riley’s name. His phone rang and when he answered, he broke down.
He started crying and told Melissa that their daughter was missing. Melissa collapsed when she heard it. Her friend, who was with her, took Melissa’s phone and arranged for her to get back to Wilmington as quickly as possible. When Melissa arrived, she was met by a massive police presence. Neighbors, officers, and police cars were everywhere, lining the street and gathered in front of her house.
She got out of the car and found Kevin in the yard across the street from their home. She asked him, “Did you do something stupid?” You’d better not lie to me. At 2:30 that afternoon, more than 6 hours after Kevin realized Riley was missing, an Amber Alert was issued. Kevin’s brother Chad, whom he was extremely close to and who had been his best man at his wedding, got a call from a friend who was watching a Cubs baseball game.
The friend had seen Riley’s Amber Alert displayed on the stadium scoreboard. He asked Chad, “Isn’t that your niece?” Riley’s picture was everywhere, and hundreds of people came out to help search for her. I don’t like the circumstances, but it’s amazing to see how much people are willing to do for us. At around 3:30 that afternoon, two of the 500 searchers decided to go a little farther out.
The volunteers were a mother and daughter, Christine Lopez and Lisa Romano. They were making their way through foresight woods about 2 and 1/2 miles from the fox home. Christine noticed what looked like a bag floating in a creek ahead of her. The water was fairly shallow and she assumed it was just some discarded food.
But as she got closer, she quickly realized what she was looking at. I can’t even explain it. I just had this really bad feeling about this place, and that’s why I came here. We went in a little ways and the brush started getting thicker and that’s when I saw her. She was face down in um she was face down in in the creek.
A crime scene investigator from Wilmington arrived within minutes. Riley was lying face down in the water. Her pants and underwear were missing. The autopsy showed marks from adhesive tape on Riley’s hands, suggesting she may have been bound at some point. Investigators also found nine injuries to her head.
It was determined that Riley had been sexually assaulted. Saliva DNA evidence was found on the adhesive tape that had been placed over her mouth. The cause of death was drowning. At that point, detectives from the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office took over the case because the crime scene fell within their jurisdiction. Kevin and Melissa Fox are living a parents worst nightmare.
But on this night at least, they have the support of an entire community. Remember that you came together, find one of our own. Their three-year-old daughter, Riley, who’d been missing all day, had been found dead. Today, I let my children play out in the backyard, fenced, backyard. We’re not in the front, and that’s not normal.
The next day, Kevin and Melissa were both asked to come to the police station where they agreed to provide fingerprints and DNA samples. Lead detective Scott Swearing told the couple he was considering the possibility that the murder had been an act of revenge by someone who knew them and was angry with them. But that was not true.
In reality, the detective suspected that Riley’s death had been an accident involving someone who knew her and that it had later been covered up to make it look like murder. At that point in the investigation, neither Melissa nor Kevin had been told that Riley had been sexually assaulted. On June 11th, 2004, a memorial service for Riley was held at Saint Rose Catholic Church in Wilmington.
More than 6,000 people attended, including those who knew her and a huge number who had never known her personally. During the funeral, two detectives were assigned to be there and watch Kevin Fox’s behavior. They recorded parts of the service on video and took photographs throughout the funeral. And that was when behind closed doors, a theory began to take shape.
Maybe the killer was much closer to home than anyone had thought. In the weeks and months after the murder, Kevin and Melissa moved in with Kevin’s parents. His parents, Kurt and Dawn, spoke regularly with Detective Swearing, offered him coffee, and discussed the progress of the investigation with him. On June 22nd, the detective asked Melissa and Kevin to come to the Child Advocacy Center, a facility that provided free counseling services.
There, they met Mary Jane Plute, who introduced herself as a counselor and asked the foxes if she could speak with Tyler. Just have a seat there for me. She wanted to find out whether he had woken up during the night when Riley disappeared. Kevin signed a consent form allowing the conversation to take place.
But Kevin did not know that the form also included a plan for Mary Jane Pluth to conduct a VSSsi, a video recorded interview with a vulnerable victim or witness. That recording was intended to be reviewed by Detective Swearing and his colleague, Detective Brad Val. Kevin also did not know that the purpose of the VSSsi was to obtain information from a vulnerable witness that could be useful in a criminal investigation.
When you woke up, what did you see? What was the very first thing you saw when you woke up from the chair? When daddy put Riley’s jams on her, was he angry? No. So, Dad doesn’t like it when you cry. What else would make Dad so mad? You said he went outside. Was he with somebody? No. Did Riley go with him for a little bit? No.
Okay. Is there something you know about Riley? Is there something you know about how she left the house? No. If there is something to say, Tyler, you know, you’re real upset. What’s up you right now? [laughter and snorts] The questions became increasingly leading, but six-year-old Tyler kept answering no.
In fact, he said no 168 times before he began to cry, asked for his parents, and curled up. Throughout the interview, various officials watched what was happening, but none of them did anything to stop the questioning. Afterward, Detective Michael Gilfoil drove Tyler home. On the way, the detective conducted another interview with him.
It was not an official interview. It was done without parental consent, without anyone else present, and without a child specialist. Later, he wrote a report about what allegedly happened during that informal conversation. In it, he claimed Tyler said that his father had in fact taken Riley away that night.
It was also claimed that when Tyler woke up later, he said his father was ironing his clothes. All of that information was documented solely by Detective Gilfoil. It was not recorded on video or audio. In September, one of Melissa’s friends told her about a child who had been abducted from a home in Leaport, Indiana.
Melissa told Detective Swearing about it and asked him to look into a possible connection. In her view, the detective showed little interest in any potential link. Melissa was surprised that he had not even heard about the case until she brought it to his attention. For her, it was one of the first signs that something was seriously wrong with the investigation.
On October 26th, 2004, at 700 p.m., Detective Swearing called the Foxes and asked them to come to the police station. There had been a break in the case. Kevin and Melissa believed they were about to receive new information about their daughter’s murder and what had happened to her. But when they arrived at the station, they were taken through three locked doors and introduced to Supervisor Ed Hayes.
Melissa was then taken to a waiting area in a conference room while Kevin was led into an interrogation room where Detective Swearing and Detective Vocal were waiting for him. Another 30 officers watched the interrogation through a video feed from a separate room. Kevin was read his Miranda rightites and then asked whether he had killed Riley or knew who had. Kevin answered no.
After that, the detective continued asking questions. Kevin once again gave his account of the night Riley disappeared. This continued until 8:10 p.m. when Kevin was accused of being the one who killed Riley. Kevin was devastated. He denied any involvement in his daughter’s death and tried to push past the detectives to leave, but when he did, he was ordered to sit down.
The detectives continued the interrogation, repeating that they knew he had killed Riley. They even claimed they had fiber evidence that implicated him. That was not true, but in Illinois, police are allowed to lie during verbal interrogations. Kevin then asked for a lawyer. In response, both detectives left the room and locked the door behind them.
A few minutes passed and Detective Swearing returned, this time with Ed Hayes. Kevin was told they had more information. They claimed to have CCTV footage showing his SUV driving past a mobile station at 4:50 in the morning on the day Riley was killed. That was also not true. Kevin was told that if he admitted it had all been an accident, he would only be charged with involuntary manslaughter.
But if it was not an accident, he would likely spend anywhere from 30 years to life in prison. While Kevin was being questioned, Melissa was waiting nearby, locked inside the conference room. She was told Detective Gilfoil would come find her and speak with her, but after 3 hours, he still had not appeared.
She began kicking the locked door and screaming for someone to come and talk to her. At 11 p.m., Detective Swearing left the room where Kevin was being questioned and went to see Melissa. That was when he told her he believed Kevin had killed Riley, that it had been an accident, and that he had then covered it up in an attempt to make it look like sexual assault was the motive.
Melissa immediately made it clear that she did not believe it for a second. Back in the interrogation room, Ed Hayes told Kevin he knew he would not pass a polygraph test. So, Kevin agreed to take one. It was 1:30 in the morning when Kevin took the polygraph. By then, he had been awake since 4:30 the previous morning when he had gotten up for work.
After the test, the examiner told him the results showed he was lying. Once again, Melissa did not believe it and told Kevin she was fully behind him. But after that, Kevin was taken back into the interrogation room where Ed Hayes told him that he knew everyone in prison and would make sure other inmates raped Kevin Dailyy.
He repeated that threat several times throughout the conversation. Meanwhile, Detective Gilfoil sat across from Kevin, calling him names and banging handcuffs on the table in front of him. A little later, Ed Hayes and Detective Gilfoil left the room and another detective, David Drosski, came in with Detective Rutiger. Kevin claimed Detective Rutiger said he thought the story was unclear, then moved his chair so close to Kevin that his testicles pressed against Kevin’s knee.
Kevin took it as a sign that the rape threats were real. According to Kevin, the detective also kept telling him that his family had abandoned him and that Melissa would eventually marry another man who would raise Tyler. The two detectives then left the room and a short time later, Ed Hayes and Detective Swearing returned.
Ed Hayes showed Kevin several photographs, including one of Riley’s body in full rigor mortise. Until that point, Kevin had not known she had been bound with adhesive tape. Detective Swearing told Kevin that the state’s attorney would offer him a deal if he admitted it had been an accident. He would be able to go home the next day on bond and would spend only 3 to 5 years in prison.
The detective began suggesting different possible scenarios for what might have happened. Maybe Riley had fallen off the couch, but Kevin said no. Still, given everything happening around him, Kevin said he felt he had no choice but to agree to the accident story. He was guaranteed that he could go home the very next day if he did.
After spending 14 hours in that room, Kevin confessed. He later claimed detective swearing told him to make something up, anything at all. That was when he decided he would agree to any story just to get out of there. Once he was free, he believed he could prove the story was a lie. Kevin came up with an implausible version of events.
He said he hit Riley with a door and she fell and struck her head on the bathtub. In his version, it had all been an accident. And importantly, what he left out was that this account was impossible because the bathtub was several feet away from the door. In response, Detective Swearing told Kevin he needed to say that he believed Riley was dead, but that she had actually been unconscious.
That was meant to explain why the cause of death was drowning rather than, for example, blunt force trauma. The detectives needed more. So Kevin was asked what he had done with Riley’s underwear, and he replied, “In the creek.” But Kevin was told he could not say that because the creek had already been searched and no underwear had been found there.
So Kevin described the route he supposedly drove from his house to the creek as well as the way back home. While describing that route, he added that he had thrown the adhesive tape into a trash can that did not exist anywhere along it. He knew that detail would show his story was impossible. Now, police say Fox has given a videotape statement implicating himself.
I just can’t believe it. No, he was a loving father. Totally. We’ve been to the the the ceremonies. We the benefits, the everything for the family. It’s all been an act. These detectives, I I want to say, and it’s their instincts, their instincts, their their investigative instincts that led to this statement coming down.
Kevin Fox was charged with firstdegree murder and held on a $25 million bond. The young child in this case uh died a terrible death and and for that reason the penalty deserves to be death. After the confession, Kevin was finally able to speak with an attorney his brother Chad had found for him, Kathleen Zelner.
By that point, Kathleen Zelner was already becoming one of the best known wrongful conviction attorneys in the United States. She had built a reputation by taking on cases involving disputed confessions, prosecutorial misconduct, and flawed investigations. At the same time, Ed Hayes called the FBI and told them not to test the DNA evidence in Riley’s case.
Kathleen Zelnner began building a case to prove Kevin Fox’s innocence. A 30 lb bag simulating the body of 3-year-old Riley Fox. Police gave a scenario of what happened, and that’s what we’re checking out. She also cast a critical eye on that fuzzy video of the car seen passing the gas station that night.
They really actually believed that this was strong evidence and that tells you everything about this case. Did it look like his car? No, it did not. The wheelbase is short. The angle of the windshield is different. You would have to have the license plate or a very clear picture of his face to ever have that hold up in court.
The team examined the door investigators claimed had struck Riley in the head and knocked her unconscious. They determined that because of the material the door was made from, it could not have caused such catastrophic head injuries. Riley did have head injuries, but it was extremely unlikely they could have resulted from an accidental blow from that door.
Kathleen’s team also tested the water in the creek where Kevin said he had placed Riley’s body. They found the current was far too weak to carry Riley’s body to the place where she was ultimately found, much farther downstream. They also discovered that the DNA collected from Riley’s body had never been fully tested. 8 months passed after Kevin’s arrest before Kathleen’s team was able to obtain that DNA evidence and send it to a private lab.
The lab conducted its analysis, and within days, it showed with 100% certainty that the DNA did not belong to Kevin. On June 17th, 2005, the day after the DNA test results were released, all charges against Kevin Fox were dropped. He was released from custody after 243 days in jail. Kevin Fox is free after prosecutors concede there is now considerable doubt about his guilt.
Prosecutors dropped all charges against the Wilmington father. If you want to take away one thought in this case is do the test before you make the arrest. By then, more than a year had passed since Riley Fox was murdered, but detectives were no closer to identifying and charging a suspect.
They had spent critical time and resources accusing Kevin of the crime, which meant the real killer had still not been brought to justice. In December 2007, a federal jury ruled in favor of Kevin and Melissa in their case against Will County detectives. The jury found that the detectives had coerced Kevin into falsely confessing to Riley’s murder.
Jurors determined that investigators had violated Kevin’s constitutional rights and intentionally inflicted emotional distress on both parents during the investigation. Kevin and Melissa Fox leave court comforted by the verdict and confident it sends a strong message. It was uh 10 people on the jury and they found that I wasn’t in the wrong that that I did everything right.
The jury decided five Will County Sheriff’s investigators violated Fox’s due process and intentionally inflicted emotional distress as they zeroed in on him as their prime suspect in the sexual assault and murder of Fox’s three-year-old daughter, Riley. During an all-night interrogation, Fox claims the detectives threatened him with being raped in jail, told him his wife and father had abandoned him, and said he could go home if he confessed to accidentally murdering his daughter. A jury has stepped up to
protect the rights that we all hold dear and they have sent a message to Will County and I hope Will County is listening. Kevin Fox spent eight months in jail before his attorney tested DNA that investigators failed to send to a lab for processing. It showed someone else was involved in Riley’s murder.
That should have been done within the first month of Riley Fox’s death because the DNA was the uh biological substance was discovered the next day when they did the autopsy. They had it all that time. All they had to do was pick up the phone. Former Will County States Attorney Jeff Tomzac reached a settlement with the Foxes just before the civil trial began.
The current head prosecutor, Jim Glascow, released a statement saying, “We continue to stand behind and support our detectives and the manner in which they conducted themselves throughout this investigation. It has always been our contention that the sheriff’s deputies acted properly during the interview of Kevin Fox and that they had probable cause to arrest him.
” Melissa Fox says she hopes to put part of the $15 million verdict to good use. We’re going to continue our fight and our next step is just to fund uh fund the investigation to find our daughter’s killer. Okay. Is there something you know about Riley? No. Is there something you know about how she left the house? No.
So, if there is, it’s okay to say, you know, you’re real upset. What’s up you right now? The [snorts] interviewer on that tape settled with the Foxes out of court and denied any wrongdoing. The investigator captured on that recording reached an outofc court settlement with the Fox family and denied any wrongdoing.
At first, the Fox family was awarded $15.5 million in compensation. But after appeals, the amount was reduced and the final payout came to approximately $8.5 million. None of the people involved in Kevin’s arrest and prosecution were ever formally disciplined. Once Kevin was no longer a suspect, police had to consider other possibilities.
But that did not happen right away. Another 6 years passed before a different suspect came into focus. That eventually happened because the FBI took over the case and re-examined various pieces of evidence. On the same night Riley was murdered, a burglary was reported at a house directly across from the Fox family home.
There was a possibility it could have been connected to Riley’s abduction and murder. In addition, two white sneakers were found near Riley’s body. They were covered in mud and the names E and E B Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y were written on the tongues.
The shoes were logged as evidence, but very little was ever done with them afterward. There was also a men’s restroom near the stretch of creek where Riley’s body was eventually found. It was never taped off or examined by crime scene investigators. Even though Riley’s pants and underwear were found in a trash can right beside it.
Officers who arrived at the scene even used that restroom as a public bathroom throughout the day. Then just a few hours after Riley disappeared, a 911 call came in that would later be considered a possible link to the case. A man called 911 and said his friend Scotty needed a welfare check. He was worried because Scott had threatened to harm himself.
Officers did carry out the welfare check and when they arrived at Scott’s home, they found him barefoot and covered in mud. When Scott realized police were standing at his door, he vomited. Then asked, “Have you found the little girl yet?” It was never documented as anything significant, even though a little girl was missing and a pair of shoes marked with the name E had been found near the crime scene.
The officers conducting the welfare check decided Scott was not an immediate danger to himself, ended the check, and left. In an exclusive interview with ABC News, an anonymous woman said that after the FBI took over the case, she spoke with them about her ex-boyfriend. I just had a bad feeling about him, but I didn’t know who to tell.
She said that a few months after the murder, when she visited Riley’s memorial garden, she spoke with her ex-boyfriend about how she could not believe anyone could do something like that to such a sweet little girl. Her ex-boyfriend allegedly replied, “Oh, what a tragedy that was, wasn’t it?” She added that his response stayed with her.
It felt like he knew more than he was saying, like an actor reading from a script, but unable to perform it convincingly. her ex-boyfriend was Scott Iay. After that, the FBI looked into Scott Iay’s background. They learned that he had a lengthy criminal record for various offenses, including burglary.
At the time Riley was murdered, he was living with his mother in Wilmington, just one mile from Riley’s home. The FBI went to speak with Scott, but he was no longer living with his mother. By then, he was at Lawrence Correctional Center, serving a 14-year sentence for sexually assaulting a relative.
Scott denied knowing anything about Riley’s murder and agreed to provide a cheek swab for DNA testing. A few days after the FBI’s visit, Scott attempted to take his own life. He left behind a note titled, “Murder confession.” In the letter, Scott confessed to the murder and wrote that some of Riley’s final words were, “I want my daddy.” Will you do a dance? Yeah.
All right. Riley, watch where you’re going. Hi. Hi. I love you. I love you. The DNA results came back and matched the DNA found on Riley’s body as well as on the adhesive tape used to bind her. Scott survived the suicide attempt, and the FBI interviewed him again. He confessed to everything.
He wrote a five-page confession to Riley Fox’s murder and also gave detailed statements that were recorded on video by the FBI. He said he had been drunk and high on cocaine when he decided to burglarize homes in Wilmington. First, he went to the house across from Riley’s home, cut through a window screen, and stole several items.
Then, he entered Riley’s house through the back door and found Riley and Tyler asleep in the living room. It was at that moment that Scott decided to attack Riley. He became fixated on her. He briefly left the house to get his vehicle, which was parked about a block away, then returned, parked directly outside the home, pulled a bandana over his face, and took Riley from her house.
He covered her mouth with his hand so she could not scream, and carried her to the vehicle. He put her in the trunk and bound her with adhesive tape. Scott then confessed that he drove to Foresight Woods where he took Riley into a public restroom and sexually assaulted her. At some point, his bandanna either slipped down or he removed it because he became too hot and Riley saw his face.
Scott claimed he was afraid she would be able to identify him. So, at that moment, he decided to kill her. He led her from the restroom to a nearby creek, held her underwater by the shoulders, and drowned her. That was also when the FBI learned more about the shoes found at the crime scene, the ones marked with the name E.
The FBI determined that Scott had bought those shoes at Danville Correctional Center before he was released on parole in 2003 and had written his name on them for identification. The discovery of 3-year-old Riley Fox’s body in the Fork River in Wilmington 6 years ago sent shock waves through the small town.
Investigators sealed off the area while they gathered potential evidence. And among what they found near the body were two gym shoes with the name Eie written on the inside tongue. Had they looked into it more closely, they might have quickly learned the shoes were issued by the Department of Corrections.
And Scott Eie, who was on parole at the time, might have entered their radar as a suspect. Instead, several months later, they charged Riley’s father, Kevin Fox, with the murder and announced they were seeking the death penalty. Kevin and Melissa Fox spoke to ABC’s 2020. I still had people coming up to me and saying I was a child killer, a child molester.
DNA tests eventually excluded Kevin Fox as a suspect and he was released after 8 months. I think they deliberately did it because they didn’t want anything to interfere with their theory that Kevin was guilty. Kathleen Zelner says she just became aware of the shoes within the last few weeks after authorities filed murder charges against the alleged owner of the shoes, Scott Eie.
She says it’s one of several examples of possible evidence against EIE investigators overlooked. The same DNA that excluded Kevin Fox now implicates Scott Eie. I think they should look into obstruction of justice charges because that’s exactly what happened here. He stole something very important from the world.
You know, she’s gone and there’s not this amazing girl here anymore, but there’s disgusting people like him here. [snorts] Kevin and Melissa Fox won an $8 million civil judgment against Will County. It’s still under appeal. The sheriff’s department spokesperson for Will County declined to comment on this case. Scott Eie, meantime, is scheduled to be indicted by the grand jury for murder tomorrow morning in court.
It was just two weeks ago Evan and Melissa Fox got the call they feared they would never get. Prosecutors say they have a new suspect, an arrest in the murder of their three-year-old daughter, Ryland. I’ve never dealt with a case, you know, this heart-wrenching that took so long to get a resolution.
I mean, just to hear those words, I I we caught your baby’s killer. It was um pretty emotional. What did the two of you say to each other? We just cried together. We just Nothing really to say. It was a lot. Like one second we were sitting there just like smiling and then the next minute crying so hard that you couldn’t even breathe.
For any parent, the loss of a child is crushing. But for the foxes, it hardly ended there because they say that instead of hunting for the real murderer, investigators were consumed with the notion that Kevin, the father, was the killer. I know that they did what they did to Kevin on purpose.
And I know that because they did that, they almost completely ruined our chances of ever knowing what happened to our daughter. And so I hate them for that. Everybody was so supportive. I mean, I still I I can’t thank everyone enough. It was really unbelievable. We’re a town that comes together in happiness and sadness.
The turnout was a testament to just how close this community is. In November 2010, Scott Iay reached a plea agreement with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty. He pleaded guilty to five counts of firstdegree murder and one count of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. The five murder counts were filed because Illinois law allows prosecutors to bring multiple murder charges based on different legal theories connected to a single death.
These included murder committed during another felony such as kidnapping or sexual assault, intentional murder, murder carried out in an especially brutal or heinous manner, and murder connected to predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. During victim impact statements, Riley’s mother, Melissa, spoke about the joy of watching her daughter grow.
Riley loved to sing, dance, tell jokes, and catch butterflies. She also addressed Scott directly. She will never get the chance to play with her friends, have sleepovers, get her driver’s license, go to prom or graduation, attend college, get married, or have a family of her own. I never got the chance to say goodbye to her, to kiss her one last time, or to hold her.
Instead, I visit a headstone that I decorate for the holidays and on her birthday. Kevin Fox said, “After today, you will no longer be part of my daughter’s memories.” After the hearing, he told reporters, “I hope he rots in hell.” Scotty was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. After Riley’s murder, the Fox family moved away and they had another daughter.
But over time, everything became too difficult and the couple grew apart. Kevin and Melissa divorced and both later remarried. Kevin moved to Arkansas, started a painting business, and became the father of two more children. In 2023, a tragic update on a story that grabbed headlines back in 2004. Kevin Fox was accused of killing his three-year-old daughter, Riley, in Will County.
He was cleared by DNA, but his life was never the same. This week, Kevin Fox was killed in a head-on crash in Arkansas. Tragic, tragic loss. Kathleen Zelner, Kevin Fox’s attorney, reacts to the news of her client’s tragic death. Fox was killed Monday in a head-on crash in Arkansas where he lived. He was traveling down a two-lane highway and a car that was coming towards him crossed over the center line and hit him head on.
Fox made headlines when he was wrongly arrested by the Will County Sheriff’s Department, accused of raping and murdering his three-year-old daughter, Riley Fox, in 2004. I blame myself I guess for a while like always because I was home at the time. He was in jail for 8 months charged with a murder before DNA evidence exonerated him and the killer confessed.
He and his then wife were awarded millions of dollars in damages. But what was most important to him was clearing his name. We had been offered millions of dollars to settle the case and he refused to do that um on the eve of trial. He said that he didn’t care if we got 25 cents, but he wanted his name cleared.
Since his exoneration and his name was cleared, Fox left Illinois and moved to Arkansas. He remarried, started a business, and moved on with his life. He now leaves behind three children. He led an incredible life. He was just, you know, the nicest, warmest person. And of course, Kevin will be greatly missed by those who knew him.
He was just 46 years old when he was killed. As for what caused the crash, that has not been identified just yet. The other driver of the vehicle that hit him was killed as well. Evrock Casemi, NBC5 News that same year. You probably remember the shocking murder of 3-year-old Riley Fox in southwest suburban Wilmington back in 2004.
The man who confessed to that crime is now died in a southern Illinois prison. Scott Eie was serving a life sentence. The cause of his death was never publicly disclosed. That detail remained outside the official explanations. Another quiet gap in a story already filled with too much pain, loss, and unanswered questions. More than 20 years have now passed since Riley Fox was taken from her family home in the middle of the night.
But even decades later, this case has not lost its disturbing power. It remains one of the most painful and revealing examples of how a biased investigation can lead investigators away from where the facts point and toward the answer they find most convenient. Kevin spent 8 months of his life in jail for a crime he did not commit.
8 months behind bars under the pressure of accusations, the weight of suspicion, and a devastating label that cannot simply be erased. He and Melissa lost more than their daughter. They lost their sense of safety, their trust in the system, and the life they once knew, the life in which their family was still whole.
Today, Riley Fox is remembered not only as the little girl in a white dress, smiling beside her family just weeks before her murder. That image has become a painful reminder of a childhood cut short far too soon, and of a family forever shattered by one night. But she is also remembered as the central figure in a case that changed the conversation in America about false confessions, coerced interrogations, and wrongful convictions.
The Riley Fox case became a reminder of just how dangerous an investigation can become when it stops looking for the truth and starts looking for proof of its own theory. Dance. Yeah. All right. Riley, watch where you’re going. She just make your heart melt. Your hugs, her smile. Hi. Hi. I love you. I love you.
Disclaimer : This content may be created by AI for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.
