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Charges Dropped Against Father In Riley Fox Murder


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Charges Dropped Against Father In Riley Fox Murder

 

CHICAGO -- Charges have been dropped against a man accused of murdering his 3-year-old daughter.

 

Kevin Fox was released from jail Friday afternoon after spending nearly 8 months behind bars, Jacobson reported. Fox was accused in the sexual assault and killing of his daughter, Riley, whose body was found in a creek near her Wilmington home in June 2004. Fox said he was coerced into confessing to the crime.

 

The charges were dropped at a courtroom hearing Friday. Fox's attorney appeared filed a motion Friday morning to present new DNA evidence in the case that cleared Fox, Jacobson reported.

 

"I don't even know what to think," Fox told reporters as he left jail. "I'm happy. I'm excited."

 

When asked what he planned to do on Friday, Fox said he would, "spend the night with my wife and son."

 

"I dreamed [of being set free] every night -- every single night."

 

"We knew that he didn't do anything wrong, and we knew that would eventually come out," said Fox's wife, Melissa.

 

"Kevin's the best dad in the world," said one man through tears. "He's been in that place [jail] too long. He was railroaded."

 

The current Will County State's attorney said Friday that the past administration made crucial errors in the murder investigation of Riley Fox.

 

NBC5's Amy Jacobson reported that current Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow blamed the previous administration for sitting on the evidence, and not processing the DNA. More than a year ago, the DNA evidence taken from the crime scene and from Riley Fox's body was taken to the FBI lab in Quantico, Va. Nothing was ever done with it.

 

"Your assistant state's attorneys should know, 'Hey, this is an unreasonable delay -- we need to find out from the FBI that they've a nine-month backlog and let's get it somewhere where it can be tested, because public safety is at stake," he said.

 

Defense attorneys said prosecutors should have had the results in hand before taking action.

 

"If you want to take away one thought in this case, it's do the test before you make the arrest," said attorney Kathleen Zellner.

 

Meanwhile, Fox's friends and family said they were overjoyed that he had been freed.

 

"I'm his big brother, and it's just a natural instinct to want to protect your baby brother," said Chad Fox. "That's what I felt like I had to do."

 

Fox's neighbors said they never doubted his innocence, NBC5's Phil Rogers reported.

 

"Somebody's screwing up," said one man. "I still believe it was a political move."

 

Two weeks ago, the court honored attorney Zellner's request to take DNA samples from the accused man for comparison to those taken from the girl's body.

 

"We knew Kevin, Melissa and the family," said neighbor Christy Ziller. "We're a deep-rooted community, and we've always believed it [Kevin Fox's innocence]. No matter what anyone else wants to turn [it into] or change a story or put their twist on it, we always knew the core truth. That we'd look into his eyes, his parents, Melissa, the kids whenever they'd run around and play. We could just see it in their eyes -- there is no way they could have done this."

 

Attorneys for Fox have filed civil rights lawsuits against the Will County Sheriff's Department and former county State's Attorney Jeff Tomczak.

 

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I can't understand how they had this guy in prison so long and didn't do a DNA test until the defnse attorney had one. That state's attorney should be fired immediatly.

 

:pray for the Kevin Fox and his family so they can properly grieve and find the scum that did that to his daughter.

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QUOTE(knightni @ Jun 18, 2005 -> 08:40 PM)
Not to get off topic too much here but...

 

Did anyone else notice the "Old School" White Sox shirt that Kevin Fox was wearing?

 

Unfortunately, I think he also had either a Sox cap or jersey on when he was arrested,...... or maybe it was in old photos. Anyway, I remember getting the phone calls from Cub fans telling me about 'the Sox fan who killed his kid'. :headshake :headshake

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Well...ummm...I think at one point I called for him to be strung up right away. Heh...ummm...yeah...pass the crow.

 

Didn't he admit it right away though? Or something? Or am I thinking of another case?

 

I might be confusing this one with the poor girl with the stuffed dolphin. That thought still haunts my nights. What was her name?

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Here's what probably happened: They took him in and wanted to have a suspect arrested ASAP to calm the community and the general public. Eager Beaver/asshole cops interrogate the guy, probably keep him up for like a day and a half, tell him they have all kinds of evidence to put him away and the he's better off just confessing to it.

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QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Jun 20, 2005 -> 02:57 PM)
Here's what probably happened: They took him in and wanted to have a suspect arrested ASAP to calm the community and the general public. Eager Beaver/asshole cops interrogate the guy, probably keep him up for like a day and a half, tell him they have all kinds of evidence to put him away and the he's better off just confessing to it.

 

 

I think I can safely say that no amount of Hell would ever get me to say I killed my child. Not saying he confessed, as I can't remember the case. But that always confused me when people would do that.

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QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Jun 20, 2005 -> 09:05 PM)
I think I can safely say that no amount of Hell would ever get me to say I killed my child. Not saying he confessed, as I can't remember the case. But that always confused me when people would do that.

 

A buddy of mine is a member of the force, he tells me you'd be surprised how often they bulls*** people into confessing to things.

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