The Murder of Riley Fox

 

As I stated in my last blog, I have several cases put together that involve the murder of children. I also discussed the issue of false confessions in my last entry. In my last blog there was a confession and while the person later apparently pleaded not guilty and took his case to trial, he never seemed to not only change his story, but never claimed he was coerced in any way, and he told the same story to several different people at different times. This case is not like that and while I cannot tell you exactly how the confession came about, or what was said, I can tell you that the man who confessed almost immediately recanted and claimed coercion. The other difference in this case is that while investigators had a confession, DNA would later prove that confession to be false. We talk so often about mishandled investigations and crime scenes and this case is one in which this was very evident.

On the morning of June 6, 2004 six year old Tyler Fox woke his father, Kevin, up and told him he could not find his three year old sister, Riley in their Wilmington Illinois home. The night before their mother, Melissa, had been out of town and the children had spent the evening with their grandmother. Kevin had picked the children up about one in the morning and the kids were obviously exhausted. He let them sleep in the front room; Tyler in a chair and Riley on the couch. Kevin would later report that he had gone into his own bedroom and had fallen asleep about 2:30 in the morning. After spending time checking with neighbors and searching for a bit, Kevin made a call to 9-1-1.

Later that day the body of three year old Riley Fox was found in a public park just two miles from the Fox home. She had been bound, gagged and sexually assaulted and then drowned where she was found face down in a creek. Near the creek where the body was found was a pair of mud covered shoes. On the inside of at least one of them was the word “Eby” written on the tongue. It is unclear if these shoes were collected or photographed for certain but it was reported in some way, however nothing more was done with them. There was also a report that home near the Fox home was burglarized on the same night. It is also unclear whether that home was examined forensically but what is clear is that the two incidences were not investigated enough to consider a link between them for investigators. It was later discovered that nothing else in the local park was searched including outbuildings such as bathrooms or garbage cans.

Of course Kevin Fox was interviewed by law enforcement. It is unclear what exactly went on in that interview or even exactly what was said throughout. What is clear that in some way Kevin made some sort of a confession. As is often the case in “false confessions” Kevin almost immediately stated that it was in fact a false confession and that he was coerced into making it. Where I find this most interesting, and wish I knew more, is that in most false confession cases the person is generally described as being quite young, as in a juvenile, and/or mentally challenged. I did not hear any of this about Kevin Fox.

Kevin Fox hired well known attorney Katherine Zellner. She's currently best known as being the attorney for Steven Avery, the man known from the Netflix series Making a Murderer. But, Zellner is also known for many other cases in which she has gotten several people exonerated. It was said that it was Zellner was “responsible” for finding DNA in this case and having it tested. Kevin spent eight months in jail after being charged in the murder of his daughter. However, once the DNA was tested it was determined not to match Kevin. Now, it is unclear whether DNA was discovered connected to the sexual assault but I can say that DNA was discovered, at least a partial profile, on duct tape that had been used to bind Riley.

When it was discovered that the DNA did not match and Kevin, along with Zellner, were claiming that the confession was coerced and false, charges were dropped and Kevin was released from custody. The Fox family would later file a federal civil rights lawsuit against the sheriff's department and the detectives that procured the confession in 2008. Initially they won $15.5 million. That was later reduced to $8.5 million.

Kevin Fox would say that once he was released it was hard to go out in public because despite the fact that there was no evidence that he was involved in the murder of his daughter there were people who still believed he was a murderer. When they won their case the family moved out of the Wilmington area but Kevin and Melissa Foxes marriage did not survive.

In the summer of 2009 Will County sought the help of the FBI on this case. They knew it was already bungled, that was obvious. Not only had they been forced to drop charges against the person they claimed was the perpetrator, one that by the way, they were seeking the death penalty against, but it had been proven that not only did they not have any evidence against him, but that his confession had been coerced and they were made financially responsible for those actions. The FBI began canvasing Wilmington and in June of 2009 they came across a woman named Trisha Kiefer. Kiefer would later say that it was common knowledge that the FBI was going around her neighborhood asking people about the Riley Fox case. There did not seem to be any indication that she lived near the Fox home, and to be fair I cannot even say that she lived in the same lace in 2009 that she lived in during 2004. Kiefer would say that while she did not necessarily suspect that her ex-boyfriend Scott Eby, murdered Riley Fox, and she had no direct evidence of such but she “knew” the FBI would want to know if she knew “someone creepy” and he was who came to mind.

Trisha Kiefer and Scott Eby dated about seven months beginning about four months after the murder of Riley Fox. The murder of Riley Fox was a big deal not just in Wilmington but the nation. But, to Kiefer's defense by the time she began dating Eby Kevin Fox was in jail and charged with the murder. She would later say that she and Eby had gone to the park in which Riley had been found and there was a makeshift memorial there. She claims that while he did not obviously confess to her that he made comments that made her uncomfortable. So again, when the FBI was going around and asking questions she mentioned Scott Eby.

Now, if you remember very early in this blog I mentioned that there were muddy shoes found near the crime scene and the word “Eby” was in one of them. Nothing was ever done with that evidence. In fact, it does not appear that even with the new investigation that investigators were made aware of this evidence. It is completely unclear exactly when it was “re-discovered” and how that came about. Still Trisha Kiefer really had nothing to go on when she mentioned Eby's name to the FBI and since he was not a suspect in any way it took nearly a year before they even spoke to him.

The FBI first spoke to Scott Eby on May 18, 2010. He was actually already in jail serving two seven year sentences for the sexual assault of a family member. It was said that the FBI asked him for a DNA sample so apparently at that time there was no requirement for him to have submitted his DNA upon conviction. While Eby denied being involved with the murder as soon as the investigation was over he called his mother and insisted that he needed to see her. She went to visit him the following day. It was then that Eby confessed to his mother. His mother called his brother who was in law enforcement who then called officials in Will County and the FBI. The following day Scott Eby wrote a ten page letter confessing to the murder of Riley Fox. He then attempted suicide by hanging himself in his jail cell. Just as he had done two other times since the murder of Riley, he failed in his attempt.

In the confession letter Eby stated that in the early morning of June 6, 2004 he had burglarized a home in Riley's neighborhood. He then cut the screen door at the Fox home and entered. He admitted to taking Riley, putting her in his car and driving to the park. He then stated that he assaulted her in the park bathroom, throwing evidence in the trash can and then took her to the creek where he drowned her. Eby stated that some of Riley's last words were “I want my Daddy.” He would officially plead guilty in November of 2010. He was later given a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

The story does not completely end there. By the time Eby was sentenced the Fox family had successfully sued those involved. The next issue seemed to revolve around reward money. The FBI had a $10,000 reward in which they gave to Trisha Kiefer for providing the tip that led to the arrest of Eby. The Fox family had offered a $100,000 reward but apparently were reluctant to give it to Kiefer, at least in the beginning. The Fox family claimed their initial reluctance was due to the fact that they questioned why Kiefer had not come forward earlier and felt there should be an investigation. Katherine Zellner would later say that the Fox family did provide Kiefer with the reward money but it was not clear whether she had received it all. It was said that Kiefer was suffering from cancer and wanted the money to help provide for her own child.

There was also apparently an investigation into just how the local police had bungled the investigation. It still was not made clear, at least to me, when the issue of the shoes was officially discovered but it was later said that if that information would have been shared a Wilmington police detective, who was familiar with Eby would have known the name and likely helped in the investigation. It seems that the initial police investigation was done with tunnel vision and focused in on Kevin Fox. Thankfully this was one of the cases where this was caught.