
Get every episode summarized
Each time 20/20 publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
About this episode
20/20 is made possible by:
“When fall comes back around, there's a sense of a reset. And new pieces from Lululemon's fall drop are an inspiration to push your goals and elevate your routines. As your calendar fills, easy to layer styles meet the demands of your day.”From the transcript
Get every episode summarized
Each time 20/20 publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
Transcript ready
1,082 searchable segments. Every word is indexed and playable.
Full transcript
20/20 — True Crime Vault: The Accused. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
When fall comes back around, there's a sense of a reset. And new pieces from Lululemon's fall drop are an inspiration to push your goals and elevate your routines. As your calendar fills, easy to layer styles meet the demands of your day. And as you challenge yourself to try even more, versatile sets transition with you. The Lululemon fall lineup brings new levels of comfort and confidence, whether you're starting something fresh or starting something over. Check out the latest arrivals in store at on Lululemon.com now. You're listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault. Living the dream, and it all just shattered. Three-year-old Riley Foxx was taken from her home in the middle of the night. It was something out of a movie. In an instant, my life was forever changed. Truth is a broken heart still beats. You know, we have followed this case for more than a decade and we've never been able to
get this out of our mind. My daughter is nowhere to be found. All this you three. She cannot find a three-year-old daughter. No. Did you have anything to do with the death of your daughter? Not at all. Not at all. There was this police interrogation 14 hours in this room and then the young father confesses. It was just unthinkable. Some of you about that just it was like, oh my god. Most of us say I would never confess to something I didn't do. People would be surprised. The family believes 100% in Kevin's innocence. They were so focused on this young father that there were signs all over the neighborhood. The same night, Riley disappeared. There was a burglary at the house right across the street. How could all of these signs be missed? That's when things really get intense. The first time we're now hearing from the FBI, they started the case all over again. And only then did we learn what really happened.
But truth is, I'm back in heart still beats. My first day is jailbird. For one, I should not be here at all. I'm very disappointed in myself. I go to hear people saying we got the baby Riley killer kind of singing here. And that is when it all had begun. The journey through the second nightmare in my life. I was the furthest person to do this to Riley. But yet here I am. One family, they were living the dream. And I'll just shatter. Will you do dance? Yes. All right. Dance it up, dance it up, baby.
Kevin Fox is your all-American guy. A good union job as a painter. Melissa and Kevin went to high school together. They met after a volleyball game. And she asked him out for a date. We went to homecoming together, and we went to prom together. They were high school sweethearts. He's on the basketball team. She's a cheerleader. We were still dating when God made plans for us, and we had Tyler. And then we got married when he was three. And had Riley a year after that. He was just such a loving, doding father. I feel like that's what I was put on the serve to do, honestly. That's my joy in life. Riley. He had an especially close relationship with Riley.
The two of them were inseparable. What's where you going? What? She had this perfect black hair and perfect little round face. She just light up a room. Go real fast. She was like a little pocket rocket. Run, run, run, run, run. Riley was a lot like Melissa. She was a spunky, sassy little girl. Hey, where you going? She could be a little princess. She loved to have her nails painted. She was funny. She was silly. She was just a sweet heart. Did you go fishing last night? Yes, I did. She wasn't afraid to get dirty and play. When I think of Riley, I picture her on Kevin's shoulders. She was always a daddy's girl. Hi. Hi. Hi. I love you. I love you. She didn't make your heart melt. Their hogs.
Her smile. A really great portrait of the family emerged at the wedding of Kevin's brother. Riley stole the show. In a little snow white princess dress, she had her hair whipped up into this confection of curls. There was a real long aisle and she was supposed to take a right hand turn. She kept on going up the stairs. She just wanted to be up in Kevin's arms. She didn't really care about throwing the flowers. One of the most moving images from that wedding was this photo of the family together. Kevin and Melissa, Tyler and Riley, this beautiful young family, and what became heartbreaking about it, is that it was the last photo of them ever as a family together.
The weekend of June 5th is a turning point in the lives of the Fox family. Mom goes out of town on a breast cancer wall. Got up early Saturday and started the walk. It was a beautiful day. It was hard. It was long, but we had a really good time together. We were just excited. We had matching shirts and shorts and we got ribbons for our hair. Kevin and my brother, Tony, were going to go to a concert that night, Saturday night, and my mom had the kids. We went down to Belmont Music Fest, had some beers. Stayed there for a while. Right afterwards, we went to a burrito place and then went back to Wilmington. I know that you were hearty and somewhat. I mean, how big of an issue was alcohol that night? I wasn't a big issue at all. I had some beers. I was definitely not wasted. Kevin was super adamant about picking the kids up at my mom's,
but it was pretty late. I remember looking at the back of the car and that was the last time I saw Riley. One a.m. he picks the kids up, brings them home. It's late, so he puts them down in the living room. Because their beds weren't made, he places Tyler in a chair with an ottoman, and he puts Riley on the couch. Watch TV, went outside and got my smokes. I had a cigarette on the porch. He remembers looking around and not seeing anyone out on the streets. It was just dead quiet. And then I went to bed myself. You went to bed the kids were sleeping in the living room. And what's the next thing that you remember? Tyler waking me up and said that Riley was gone.
At 8 a.m. Tyler came into Kevin's room. He shook my leg and said, Dad, Riley's gone. And it really didn't sink in at first. He gets up, he starts looking frantically all over the house. He thinks that she may be hiding somewhere. He looks in closets, he runs outside, and he calls the neighbor's house. It was a complete mystery. Nobody had any explanation for where she could have gone, where she would be. So then I started panicking. He decides to call the Wilmington Police Department. After about 30 or 40 minutes, he calls to say that he can't find his child. I was going to take some off through over here. My name's Kevin V. I woke up this morning and my daughter's nowhere to be found. She called this three. She can't meet me. She can't find a three-year-old daughter. No. For a three-year-old who go missing in Wilmington was a big deal.
This doesn't happen there. The worst news any parent could have met. Since chills through me? Not at all. Not at all. Wilmington, Illinois, is the quintessential American small town. 4.2 square miles, sedimented the corn fields of the Kankake River. A small community outside of Chicago. About 5,000 people. A small town where everybody pretty much knew everybody. On the morning of June 6th, Kevin Fox is increasingly panicked. He can't find his daughter Riley. The police come to help him search. When police showed up that day, one of the first things Kevin mentioned was the front door,
which he remembered having, he thought, closed and locked the night before, and when he got up that morning, that door was open. The police stated they found no sign of force in the military. Kevin told the investigators that the lock on the back door was broken. For the most part, the house appears normal. You could see toys scattered about throughout the house, posters that the kids had made for Melissa, still sitting on the kitchen table. But one of the things that they didn't find was that yellow blanket, still sitting on the sofa, where he put Riley to bed. Kevin was super distraught, on edge, crying, scared. Kevin's wife, Melissa, the day before, went to Chicago to go on a breast cancer walk with her friends. It was beautiful out. We all started walking. Obviously everybody's pretty sore. We were like, maybe an hour or so in.
I decided to call Kevin. He sounded so startled. I knew immediately something was wrong. You could just see a color from her face, just kind of drop. He just said Riley's gone. And I immediately hit the ground at the phone fell out of my hand. She just kind of collapsed. We got MacArthur and Gerald back to Walmington. We got off 55. And we turned left the stop sign to head back home. It was something out of a movie. I mean, something you never, in your wildest dreams. We saw people just combing the woods and the ditches. People on four wheelers, people aren't. But I feel like the entire town was out looking for her. I think that's when it hit me. That this was, you know, this was serious. Police and the community mounted a massive manhunt. The town mobilized immediately. Neighbors, relatives, friends, and volunteers,
numbering in the hundreds joined in the search. They had tables set up, tents set up, their cops all over. I don't like the circumstances, but it's amazing to see how much people are willing to do for us. I started out searching and then they told me to stick around. And I said, hey, I had any questions. And you just feel helpless. One of the places people began searching was four-cythew woods. Just a big area of meadow with a creek running through it. A mother daughter, when looking down the creek. I just felt compelled to come and look for her. Through the brambles and leaves and twigs. I can't even explain it. I just had this really bad feeling about this place. And that's why I came here. The mother caught a glimpse of something in screens.
It looked like it was a plastic bag, like a grocery bag that was bubbled up in the water. So I walked a little closer, and that's when I saw her. She was face-down and she was face-down in the creek. Hi. Hi. I love you. I love you. I remember they came together. I won a girl. Their three-year-old daughter, Riley, who'd been missing all day, had been found dead. There was like a lot of commotion, and they came over and grabbed me in heaven. They put us in separate cop cars. It felt strange. I didn't understand what was going on. When we got to the police station, they just started asking questions. And I was like, is someone going to tell me what's going on? We walked in to the room where they were at, and they looked at us, and we were all crying.
My dad said, it's not good. She's dead. I think I punched the wall a couple of times, the black wall. I just didn't want to believe it. I remember catching my brother, his knees gave out, and everybody just sobbed. Kevin and Melissa Fox are living a parents-worst nightmare. But on this night, at least, they have the support of an entire community. There had been a vigil that evening where the community came together. The community. They're like, there's some predator-crazy person running around, snatching children. Today I let my children play out in the backyard, fence backyard, we're not in the front. And that's not normal.
On this day, a lot is happening. Not only does Riley Fox go missing, but the police are responding to a burglary on the very same block. There is a neighbor literally across the street from Kevin. She had a section of her screen cut out, the door was unlocked. I think she initially reported that nothing was taken. She felt that someone had broken into her house. Got a wonder. Are these things connected? The police, the first day or so, received a couple of tips about a suspicious vehicle that neighbors had seen in the area overnight. It was a red Chevy Beretta. The Wilk County Sheriff's Office says that initial reports that an unknown red car had been prowling the neighborhood early Sunday are not credible. At this point, there is no description of a vehicle used by a possible kidnapper. At one point it seemed like there were not a whole lot of leads, and it was like, how did this even happen and who was responsible?
Police weren't saying much publicly. They were remaining extraordinarily tight-lipped in the case, but behind the scenes, they were already heading out into that creek, searching for evidence. And as we got a little closer, I'm like, wow, there's a shoe in there. It can be difficult to sift out the clues. You might even overlook a piece of evidence that could perfectly spell out the killer's name. Not at all. Not at all. Three-year-old Riley Fox drowned body was found in a creek about three miles from her home. Volunteers found the little girl's body in a creek in the four-site woods. Police say whoever killed her took her to these woods to try to hide her body. The thing that stood out was the fourth-site preserve, because unless you were from that area, you would never, never find that place.
This is the location where Riley was found. This is where she floated up to. Four-site woods and four-creek where Riley's body was found suddenly become ground zero for this investigation, and the Wilk County Sheriff's Department is tasked with leaving the investigation. Investigators tonight brought boats to the scene to comb for evidence. There was a log jam per the downstream that went from bank to bank, and anything that got thrown into the water was going to get caught. That's the location where I found the shoe. A little while later, they come across a matching sneaker. There was a tree branch that was in the water, and a shoe flipped up. It was caught on a shoe lace. 20 years, they never found a match shoe. They take the tennis shoes, put them in evidence, and that was the end of it. And here's the thing, there's actually something written in the tongue of the shoe. The letters E, B, Y.
They never looked at those shoes. Hi! When Riley is found, she has duct tape across her mouth. She has residue on her wrist that would suggest that she may have been duct taped on her wrist. She just had on like a top-type shirt. Her partially clothed body was soon discovered. The toddler's drowned body was found in the creek. The child was held under the water. Her mouth taped shut. The forensic examination revealed that Riley Fox was alive at the time she entered the creek. Additionally, the autopsy revealed that Riley Fox suffered non-lethal head injuries, and that a sexual assault had taken place. The police were hoping to get DNA evidence from her clothing or from her body. They did a rape kit, and they did test for blood, bodily fluids, not belonging to Riley. There were about 20 items that were eventually sent to the FBI for forensic testing.
The rape kit, the duct tape, Riley's clothes, the problem was there was this enormous backlog at Quantico. The funeral services were held at St. Rose Catholic Church. 6,000 people showed up. We all decided that we were going to our pink. We had ribbons and pins with her picture. The little girl who loved pink is mourned by family and friends in this small southwest of urban town of Wilmington. Bits of pink were seen throughout the funeral service for Riley Fox. There were lots of photographers and reporters watching people come in and out of the church. The police are there too, but to surveil, to observe, to watch for the killer. There were two detectives with video cameras pointed at Kevin Fox.
Within an hour of the funeral ending, police came to my house and they asked if there was any reason that I would believe Kevin to be capable of doing something like that. I was going to take this and before the question even came out of their mouth, my answer was no. At one point officers asked if they would mind if they asked Tyler the son a few questions. Tyler Fox is an incredibly important witness. He's the first person who sees that his sister is missing. He should have been interviewed on day one. He told me if they just wanted to see if they could jog his memory. If he might have remembered something from that night that he might have been afraid to tell Kevin or I. Fast forward 16 days, he's interviewed by the child advocacy forensic interviewer. You have a seat there for me? The interview was a disaster from minute one. Oh right.
I'm Julianne Himmelstein and I'm a former federal prosecutor. I had the opportunity to interview thousands of children. I normally do not have a desk in between me and the child. I have a box of crayons and paper. Where was Friday? I'm coming. How did she get on the couch? I'm coming. The interviewer continued to ask him about where the father was, where Kevin was. To the point where he became upset, I mean sobbing. Crying. He was visibly shaken. He pulls the hood of his sweatshirt over his face. He curls up in his chair. Can you take mine, Watson? Did you see Dad? Here you are. Just for a little bit. It's okay. If you did, just you dad take her out for just a little bit.
Was he carrying her? 168 times. He says his father had nothing to do with Riley's disappearance. 168 times. 168 times. He says he didn't see anything. He was asleep. But they won't take no for an answer. I need to know what you're trying to learn. I know. Where did she go? I know. A detective was behind one way mirror. His form was outlined ghostly, like a specter watching every move. Tyler made every word he spoke. I'm not gonna say that. Sorry. I don't think I can do more questions. She shuts it down finally. The kid is hysterically crying. Obviously he's in so much pain. It's just very disturbing. She's so watch it. It hurts your stomach.
She made me cry. I had just lost a child and then to see the way that they decided to treat. The one that I still had is really terrible. After they had questioned Tyler, I knew that that was a red flag. Chad felt that the police were focusing on Kevin. They kept dropping by the house. One officer would come over just to play catch with Tyler. I said, would you please talk to an attorney? No obligation. Kevin and I were like, we're fine. What do we need an attorney for? Kevin and Melissa don't realize this, but there is this dark cloud of suspicion beginning to form over Kevin Fox. One of the things detectives are looking at is this piece of grainy surveillance video from a mobile station right there in town. Of an SUV, a vehicle scene in those early morning hours when Riley disappeared. And they believe that whoever's driving that car might be Riley Fox's killer. We were getting ready to have dinner and the police called me. They said, Melissa, we need you and Kevin to get here immediately.
We've got something to tell you about the case. The Fox's thing, this is it. This is what we've been waiting for. But, you know, the old saying, be careful what you wish for. Not at all. Not at all. This episode is sponsored by HomeServe. Think about the last time something went wrong in your home, like a burst pipe hours before you were set to have company or a total AC failure on the hottest day of the year. It's chaotic, overwhelming and scary. And if you don't know where to turn, you might feel desperate. The worst way to feel before reaching out to professionals who might charge a whole lot of money. HomeServe doesn't want you to ever feel that way again. So for as little as $4.99 a month, they'll bring you peace of mind. With HomeServe, when something goes wrong, you just make one call. All you need to do to get started is just choose a HomeServe plan that works for your needs and budget. Then when something on your plan goes wrong, call their 24-7 hotline to start the repair process. No more scrambling, just clear, helpful support.
Your next costly home repair is already coming. Act now and get protected with a plan through HomeServe. For 50% less your first year, go to HomeServe.com slash 2020 to find the plan that's right for you. That's HomeServe.com slash 2020 for 50% less. Savings compared to renewal price, void and Florida. Today I want to tell you about an exciting new deal from our friends at CozyEarth. Take a moment and close your eyes and think back to the best night of sleep you ever had. Did it feel like you'd never sleep that well again? Well, good news. You can give yourself an amazing night of sleep every night by upgrading your bedding to CozyEarth. CozyEarth offers luxury bedding at an incredible price. Their ultra soft, temperature-regulating sheets, coverlets and duvet covers are the perfect companion for a night of uninterrupted food. Their sheets come in all different colors and stripes so there's something for everyone. Whether you're doing a big fall refresh of your master bedroom or updating a guest room in time for the holidays. And as comfy as they are on day one, they only get better from there because they're designed to get softer with every wash.
Best of all, with our limited time deal, the already great prices are even better. You can get 50% off of a wide assortment of bedding options by going to our unique link. That's right, 50% off. But hurry, this deal is only for a very limited time. Get yourself the bedding of your dreams. Right now, go to ABCSecretSavings.com slash 2020 for 50% off the best bedding you'll ever sleep on. That's ABCSecretSavings.com slash 2020. It had been four and a half months since Riley Fox disappeared and there's this growing pressure on the Chief Prosecutor Jeff Tomzack for some sort of break in the case. And there's this other dynamic playing out that people recognize, which is that he was in the fight of his political life. I mean, Election Day was a week away. Jeff Tomzack wants to be reelected. He's got a tough opponent, the race is tight.
We have the toughest prosecutors office in Illinois. That's what I've done for Will County and that's what I'm proud to continue to do for the next four years. Tomzack seemed to be an increasingly losing battle for the state's attorneys race. There are some who begin to wonder, you know, with a high profile arrest, help his campaign. On October 26th police contacted Kevin and Melissa. There had been developments in the case. And I was just like, oh my gosh, this is it. They found the person. Like, we're going to know what happened. Now it's the evening. Kevin's been working since 4.30 that morning. But of course, he and Melissa want to know what happened to their little girl. They go down to the police station. And then when they get there, they immediately separate them. They took her down a hallway and they took me. It was like a room up on the stage.
You walk up the stairs and then it was a real, real small room. It's a little tiny room more comparable to a cell and they have him pinned back in the corner of the room. Most interrogation rooms inside police stations are specially designed. No windows and no clock. Nothing to connect the suspect to the outside world. They have the capacity to videotape the entire interrogation. But they don't. I am the CEO of Evidence Video. We've been asked to do a recreation based on the testimony at Kevin Fox. I hired actors and I actually had Kevin involved in it. And we recreated the whole interrogation of what had happened. We have actors and we are recreating the interrogation based on the best of your recollection. Sit down over there.
Scott told me to sit down and then they were asked me about the night. And then all of a sudden I don't know where he looked at me and said we have reason to believe that you killed Riley. Tell us the truth. I didn't kill Riley. Sit your ass down. I freaked out. I stood up and started pointing at his face and you know I didn't do this. I took a couple steps and he's like sit your ass down. Well what he said he was just berated, I was like yelling, swearing, being threatened. I didn't kill my daughter. They just warmed down psychologically, emotionally just tag team in him, left to right, left to right, left to right. Kevin says detectives then offer him a lie detector test. And he says one of the things they tell him is that this test could actually prove that he wasn't involved in his daughter's death. They asked you will you take a polygraph test? They kept on saying that they knew I'd flunk the polygraph test.
And so you said I'll take it. It was kind of like they were they're egging me on. The test says you killed Riley. $10,000 piece of equipment says you killed your daughter. I did not kill my daughter. Yes you did. Now this is a commonly used route during police interrogation. Get this suspect to take a lie detector test. And tell them they failed it. As part of that process of breaking them down, of making them feel hopeless. I was just shocked. I couldn't have failed it. That's when things really get intense. The police bring Melissa into Kevin. Kevin failed the test. Inzi killed your daughter. I don't believe that at all. I think they were really upset that second I let Kevin know I don't believe them. It's okay. They didn't want me anywhere near him. In that moment, Detective Ed Hayes, according to a lawsuit later filed, blew up. A liar could murder and got right in Melissa's face and said,
You're a liar. But you're a liar. Your daughter and she's a liar. The Wilk County Sheriff's Office says that Kevin's account of this interrogation is exaggerated that it's not accurate. They deny you know, ever trying to intimidate or threaten him. And Sergeant Hay says that he never yelled at Melissa. Kevin says the police came to him during his interrogation and said, Look, either you're this cold-blooded baby killer in which case it's life in prison. Or if you tell us that this was a result of some accident, things will be easier for you. That's how they get Kevin talking. Just tell us about an accident. To keep in mind, he'd been up since 4.30 that morning. He'd gone to work. Now he's in the middle of this 14-hour interrogation and he confesses to it. The police construct a theory that he adopts in which Riley's killed accidentally and he then stages it to look like a murder. Kevin, I've gotten up in the middle of the night, open the bathroom door, struck her in the head with this door, knocked her out.
And he didn't know what to do. So then he said, Well, he would make it look like a stranger had come in and done this. He said, I thought everybody would see it as crazy. He said, I really thought that they would understand that this couldn't possibly have happened. Did you have anything to do with the death of your daughter? Not at all. Not at all. A lot of people will want to know that this is a murder case. I think it's a murder case. I think it's a murder case. I think it's a murder case. I think it's a murder case. Not at all. A lot of people will want to know if you didn't kill Riley, how do you possibly confess to it? Say you were trapped in a burning room and there was only one door and the fire was just flaming around you. So you looked at this as your only way out? It was my only way out. He thought this was his only way out. Well, can you tell me another way out? What would you do?
After an all-night interrogation, police and prosecutors gathered to announce Kevin Fox had confessed. Mr. Fox gave a statement that has led detectives to believe that he killed his daughter after placing her in a nearby creek. These detectives, I want to say, and it's their instincts. Their instincts. They're investigative instincts that led to this statement coming down. It was just unthinkable. But a father would do this to his own three-year-old girl, his daughter, a daughter that he adored. Oh my God. A young girl's father now accused of a brutal crime that's stunned this world community. We were sitting there saying to ourselves, do we get fooled by this guy? Was that an act? It gets arrested. It gets taken to the Royal County jail and book. They're in connection with a death of his three-year-old daughter. They brought me to the booking room and the first thing I heard, one of the guards said, hey, we got the baby Riley killer and Ari, I kind of looked around because I wanted to see him too.
And she realized she was talking to me. What about the issue of this being politically motivated? You know, this is about your upcoming election. It's just crazy. I mean, the rest of the defendant was caused by his actions himself. Prosecutors announced they plan to seek the death penalty against Kevin Fox. The judge set bond at $25 million. I wasn't going to let my brother be executed. So, Chad approached Kathleen Zohner, a terrific attorney, and said my brother needs help. I decided to take a chance on him. Our position is that my client's innocent. And I just felt like he was somebody that was really worth trying to save. Whenever fall comes back around, it always feels like a fresh start. This year, I've been layering in some styles from the new Louis Leman fall drop, because the weather is shifting and I find I have to be ready for the entire day and not just one part of it.
Louis Leman's fall line has some really versatile transitional pieces, so I can just wake up, throw on a matching set, add a jacket or a fleece, and head out. Knowing that I'll feel comfortable enough to go wherever the day takes me. Check out the new fall arrivals in store and online now at LouisLeman.com. Based on the best telling novel, I was hired to help Verdi, right? Verdi had a car accident. She'll ever walk her talk in. On a tuber second, discover the truth. This place is insane. Yeah, here you are. A Bel Verdi. She was standing right there. She can't walk. I know what I saw. Anathaway, Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnack. I feel like I'm losing my mind. Morning, darkness ahead. Verdi, directed by Michael Schoelalter. Meeting our under 1790, without a pair at October 2nd. Not at all. Not at all. A young girl's father now accused of a brutal crime that's stunned this rural community. The second he's arrested, Chad goes in, the older brother, and retains.
Kathleen Downer has a surgery. Kathleen Downer is one of the best criminal defense attorneys in the country. We will see them in court. She is... can I say badass? I actually need a big gun like this because it's very powerful. And I like mastering it. She is help exonerate 20 innocent people. Today, he walked out of Julia Prison of Free Man. Kathleen Downer's bio is filled with names from cases all over the country that have made national headlines. She represents Stephen Avery, who famously has been portrayed in making a murderer. I have one goal, and that's to vacate the conviction of Stephen Avery. Part of Downer's great success comes from her ability to work with DNA evidence. So, Kevin Fox was sure lucky when she took his case. Kathleen goes in interviews, Kevin, hit the jail.
He looked completely totally in shock, like someone who's staying in a car crash. I met her at the jail. I said we needed her help because obviously I believed in Kevin's innocence 100%. Kevin issues a statement that says there's no way that he did this, that he was coerced in to the confession. Kevin Fox, in a written statement to the media, denies killing his three-year-old daughter. He says, I tried to cooperate and answer their questions. However, they became very abusive, yelling and screaming at me that I killed her. Was there ever a quiet, dark moment when you thought, is my husband capable of this? Absolutely not. No. I know Kevin. Way too well. I've watched him be a parent to our children every day. The family believes 100% in Kevin's innocence. There wasn't just the Pat response that a wife gives when a husband is accused of doing something horrible.
He knows he's innocent, I know he's innocent. She believed that, and she knew that. What was life like for you in the jail? I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat. I was a zoo animal where people just wanted to just see me in a cell. Would they say anything to you? Oh yeah, child molester, baby killer. What I was in there for is the worst possible thing you could be in jail for. The worst. Everyone hated me. You kept this diary fearful that you might not survive the ordeal? Absolutely. With all the people that were threatening me, I thought that my family would get it if I was killed. November 15th. What a restless night. Days in here go by so slow that your mind starts thinking about things that I do not need to be thinking about if I'm going to make it through this. To lose my daughter and then to lose my entire family five months later, it was very hard.
November 25th. When I get out, I will definitely appreciate life more than I ever have. Love is a powerful thing and the Lord sees my love for my family so he will reunite us. I know he will. Well, I thought about killing myself a couple times. But I knew I'd get out one day and be with my family again. Riley Fox's murder shocked the small town of Wilmington. It united residents together. Now, Kevin Fox's arrest has divided Wilmington. Some residents feeling betrayed. There were definitely a lot of people who turned on the family at that point. To find out all the stuff we've been finding out, it's terrible. How can somebody even do that, especially to their own child? We went from being the victims of the crime and having everybody's sympathy. To all of a sudden, we were bad people.
We're at a location that convinced me that Kevin's confession was untrue, that it was false. The first thing Zeller did was begin to reenact the crime, to see if it comported with the way detectives were describing it. They got out a bagged, weighed 40 pounds. The same was a rising weight of time. Police reportedly say Kevin Fox confessed to leaving his daughter's body just under a bridge. But Fox's attorneys say that's impossible, because the current here isn't strong enough to have carried the girl a quarter mile downstream to where she was found. Then, Zeller and her investigators went to the house, looking at the bathroom door. The bathroom door was a hollow corridor, which would never have caused any kind of serious damage, even if he had struck her while she was sitting on the toilet. The state's attorney should have checked all of that out, because a confession has to be corroborated.
In spite of her long list of courtroom victories, Kathleen Zeller is really concerned that this confession from Kevin Fox will be enough to convince a jury to convict him. I was extremely worried about what I'd gotten myself into. No matter how good an attorney I am, and I actually think I'm quite a good attorney, he was going to be convicted. So, as you're sitting there with your client, what are you thinking about his chances? I felt like I was looking at a dead man. Zeller is convinced that the only way Kevin Fox can avoid a guilty verdict and can avoid the death penalty now is DNA. While Zeller's team continued to try to poke holes in the story, offered by investigators, Zeller discovered that there actually was DNA evidence. There was saliva found in the rape kit. DNA samples collected from the body of Fox's daughter, three-year-old Riley.
DNA evidence was available in the murder of Riley Fox last June, but it required sophisticated testing. It was the type of DNA that you couldn't absolutely 100% say it matches person A or person B, but you could use it to eliminate people. In court today, his attorney in an unusual agreement with prosecutors moved to allow an outside lab to do sophisticated DNA testing. That could either implicate or exonerate Fox. Do you remember the day she came to give you the news? She said that we got the test results back for the DNA and I just collapsed. I woke up this morning and my daughter's nowhere to be found.
She told us three. We have followed this case for more than a decade and we've never been able to get this out of our mind. He just said Riley's gone and I immediately hit the ground. The phone fell out of my hand. There are three-year-old daughter Riley who'd been missing all day had been found dead. There was this police interrogation and then the young father confesses. Kevin Fox was questioned for 14 and a half hours. We see this commonly in false confession cases. Mr. Tom's at, dated me or with ABC News. We let you talk to you about the Riley Fox case. Actually, I wouldn't, I have court this morning. They were so focused on this young father that there were signs all over the neighborhood. How could all of these signs be missed? One of the things that they found was a pair of shoes. That was something that was never followed up on.
The incredible thing is for the first time we're now hearing from the FBI. They started the case all over again. We're not going to show your face, all right? And only then did we learn what really happened. I haven't seen these boxes. I would say for probably 10 years. Three-year-old Riley Fox was taken from her home in the middle of the night. It brings back a lot of memories about the criminal case, the civil case, everything. And it's just such an incredible story. After an all night interrogation, police and prosecutors gathered to announce Kevin Fox had confessed. Most of us say I would never confess to something I didn't do.
People would be surprised. Police interrogation unfolds in two stages. The first stage is about reducing a suspect to hopelessness. I denied the whole thing all night and said I didn't do it. And said I didn't do it. I didn't do it. And they would not believe me. They'd go back and forth between promising and threatening. It was a classic case of a false confession. If I get done filming this sound, you don't admit you murder your daughter. You get 30 years to life. Kevin and Melissa agreed to actually re-enact the interrogation as best as they could remember what it was like inside that room. Listen to me. You f***** killed your daughter. The Child Killer. The Will County Sheriff's Department? They dispute what Kevin Fox said went down in there. I didn't kill my daughter though. Yes, you did. Kevin Fox was questioned for 14 and a half hours.
We see this commonly in false confession cases that's not by accident. It only adds to the suspect's desire to get out of that room. I was exhausted. I had guys yelling at me, saying I was going to get raped. They told them, I know people in prison that will rape you every day. The detectives and that surgeon, they denied that they ever threatened Kevin Fox during that interrogation. And there was something else that they denied. They denied ever showing Kevin a crime scene photo of his dead daughter. They showed me the picture of Riley and the Creek. Dead, bound, mud on her face. That was just the breaking point. The fact that he had to actually see it just breaks my heart for him. Now this goes on and on and on until another ruse happens during this interrogation. An officer rushes in and says, I've just spoken with one of the prosecutors.
It's just going to be like a misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter. You can get out on bond. Everything will be okay. That you did it. They can work on a deal for you. Those are the words that led him to give the statement he gave. Some of the sheriff's investigators actually acknowledged that they did discuss involuntary manslaughter with Kevin Fox. They said they made no promises. By the time Kevin Fox confessed, it was about eight o'clock in the morning. He'd been awake for more than 24 hours. I pretty much went along with their story to get out of there. Now police say Fox has given a videotape statement implicating himself. These are really powerful psychological tactics. They are very good at getting confessions from guilty people. But they are so powerful that they can also cause the innocent to confess. I would never in a million years prosecute a case with only one piece of evidence and that one piece of evidence being a confession.
I need confession plus DNA, confession plus fingerprint analysis. A whole array of other bits and pieces of evidence to corroborate the confession. A confession isn't magic. It's a piece of evidence just like any other piece of evidence. You have to test it against what you know, against what the facts tell you happen in this case. It's the worst hand you can be dealt as a defense attorney because jurors are going to convict somebody who's confessed to something unless you've got DNA evidence. And remember something with Kathleen Zellner. DNA is how she has been able to free people to get them exonerated. They did get some genetic material from Riley. The DNA was collected two days after the toddler's body was found in a creek near Wilmington.
The problem is five months later it still had been analyzed. In November then Jim Glasgow defeated Jeff Tomsack and took over the state's attorney's office. After Glasgow came in there was that DNA evidence that had been sent to the FBI and been sitting there was recalled. They sent it back to us. That DNA evidence was sent out to a private lab. They're pinning their hopes to the DNA test, hoping they might prove his innocence before the case ever goes to trial. He knows he's innocent, I know he's innocent. The answer is like we say lie in the DNA testing. It's bear in mind if that DNA analysis had come back as Kevin it was game over. He was going to be on death row. It makes all the difference. It makes all the difference. Test results arrived last night. The DNA did not match Kevin Faunces. They came back and said this is not his DNA. We can't tell you who it is but we can tell you it's not his.
We never expected the DNA result to come back in this fashion. We were shocked at the result. Glasgow sees this. Today's credit does the right thing. I said well there's one thing that's certain to me. I can't prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt. In the moment that I reached that decision I cannot continue to prosecute that person. And that's when he said to me I'm going to release him tomorrow. Kevin Faunces is free after prosecutors concede there is now considerable doubt about his guilt. Prosecutors dropped all charges against the Wilmington father. It was a nightmare and I don't want to lose it right now. I don't want to be happy. If you want to take away one thought in this case is do the test before you make the arrest. Even after I got out of jail I still had people coming up to me and saying I was a child killer, a child molester and threatening to shoot me and my dog. This was after the DNA after the DNA after I got out of jail. Kevin Faunces rolled out. This is a game changer. Now you have to refocus this investigation.
The DNA proves that you didn't know what to do. But then the question becomes who did? And then the other question becomes what else may have gotten missed left out. Witnesses reported seeing a strange red car parked right in front of the fox at home. When we found out that they had the killer shoes in evidence and had never pursued that it's like, you know, you have to be careful. Right in front of the fox at home. When we found out that they had the killer shoes in evidence and had never pursued that it's like, wow, all this time right there. Whenever fall comes back around it always feels like a fresh start. This year I've been layering in some styles from the new Lou Lemont fall drop because the weather is shifting and I find I have to be ready for the entire day and not just one part of it. The evidence fall line has some really versatile transitional pieces so I can just wake up, throw on a matching set, add a jacket or a fleece and head out knowing that I'll feel comfortable enough to go wherever the day takes me.
Check out the new fall arrivals in store and online now at loulemont.com Breathe in. Now let it all out with Lincoln Rejuvenate, a multi-sensory feature available in the 2027 Navigator SUV, experience a gentle massage, expansive visuals and digital sense to help you relax in the driver's seat. It's your time for a reset. Visit linkin.com to learn more. Lincoln Rejuvenate is not operating unless the vehicle is in park when the vehicle is off or if any doors open do not use the feature in a closed garage or another in closed areas. The sea owner's manual for important operating instructions. Not at all. Not at all. Box is stewing County Sheriff detectives. Kathleen Zellner files of federal lawsuit accusing Wil County Sheriff's Department and the Wil County prosecutor of wrongful arrest. I felt like the civil trial was our way of shedding light on what they had done.
I was going to retain my reputation to get my story out there to tell the truth. Wil County detectives on trial insist that they did not manipulate rush to judgment or coercive confession. They're attorney saying they had probable cause to arrest and charge Kevin Fox. It's extremely hard for the detectives. They believe that they did the right thing. I believe that they did in their heart what was right to this day I do. Attorney Kathleen Zellner told jurors detectives focused on Fox ignoring other evidence. One key thing they don't do is look at burglaries. A neighbor across the street from the Foxes she said that she'd had an attempted burglary. They told us the whole time that there is no connection at all. They didn't really investigate that that would be a momentous mistake down the road. One of the reasons that the police stated that they suspected Kevin was they found no sign of forceful entry.
In fact the back door was the lock was broken and couldn't be locked. The two of you sat across from me and said there must have been an intruder. We knew they had to have been. We said from day one that someone went in the back door and then took her and went out the front door. I talked to one of our lieutenants in charge of investigation who advised that it doesn't appear to be any force entry. If I heard one more time from Wilk County that there was no force entry I think I was going to snap. You don't have to force yourself into a door that's already broken. Kathleen Zellner believes that these detectives are obsessed with a piece of security video from a local gas station that shows a vehicle going by at about the time that Riley Fox disappears. She says detectives are convinced that that could be Kevin Fox's Ford escape driving past that gas station. Did it look like his car? No, it did not. You would have to have the license plate or a very clear picture of his face to ever have that hold up in court.
Kathleen Zellner and her investigators believe that detectives are so focused on this vehicle that had been seen driving past that gas station, that piece of security video, that they actually overlooked what they've been told about in that neighborhood. This is suspicious other car, a red Chevy bretta. It's a happy look down on it and I did see a red car. I've never seen it there before. They said they didn't think that had anything to do with it. And you'll remember that DNA that had been sent to the crime lab to be tested and it wasn't actually even tested until months after Kevin Fox had been arrested. Well, suddenly a trial, there's another explanation as to why so much time had come by. Someone from the Will County Sheriff's Department contacted Quantico. Somebody calls the FBI and says stop testing the DNA. Then it furiates me. How dare you? The Will County investigator, the sergeant who says he called that lab, says it was all a misunderstanding. He says that he called them and told them to stop testing for DNA only on some of the items, not all of them.
Which again is another sign that they were so certain in their false assumption that Kevin did this, that they didn't continue to pursue other avenues. Today, a jury decided that Will County Sheriff's investigators crossed way over the line. The jury agreed that Will County Sheriff's detectives failed to follow up on DNA that eventually cleared Fox after he spent eight months in jail. After a federal civil trial and 16 hours of deliberation, jurors awarded Kevin and Melissa Fox $15.5 million. jurors rejected the most serious charge that investigators conspired to frame Fox. The jury awarded damages to the Foxes for false arrests and other claims, but not conspiracy or false imprisonment. An appeals court later reduced the amount to about $8 million. It's over now and it feels great. They have sent a message to Will County and I hope Will County is listening because this kind of behavior needs to stop.
All of the detectives except for one who died remain on the job. Many of the officers involved in the Riley Fox case went on to have long careers with the Will County Sheriff's Department. Jeff Tomseck, the chief prosecutor in this case, it turns out he negotiated some sort of resolution with the Foxes before this actually went to trial without admitting any kind of wrongdoing. We wanted to know what he thought about this DNA, you know, suddenly excluding Kevin Fox and being awarded millions by this jury. Mr. Tomseck, David Murew with ABC News. We'd like to talk to you about the Riley Fox case. Actually, I wouldn't, I have court this morning, so I'm going to run over there and do my court. Can we do it after court? Because we call it a several times on the case and we'd like to talk about it. Actually, no thanks. Do you think the Kevin Foxes treated fairly? I stand by the decisions I made on their case. You stand by the detectives? I stand by the decisions I made on the court. I stand by the detectives. I stand by the detectives. Kevin and Melissa Fox hope the jury's decision sends a message not only to the Will County Sheriff's Department, but also to those who still harbor suspicion that Kevin somehow played a role in his daughter Riley's death.
We're going to continue our fight and our next step is just to fund the investigation to find our daughter's killer. I think most people in the media and also the community and even to a degree the family had resigned themselves to maybe never knowing what really happened. You know, who was really responsible? In June of 2009, five years after the death of Riley Fox, the case gets a jolt of new energy when the FBI sends a team to Wilmington and starts an investigation. I asked my supervisor if we could work the case. His initial responses were no, no, no, no, no, but I kept asking him day after day after day and I finally broke him down. She was on that case and she wanted to solve it and just kept pushing, pushing, pushing. When you do that, things will break your way out of the blue.
They came across a young lady who told them that she had a suspicion this person might have been involved. I just had a bad feeling about him and I didn't know who to tell. Not at all. Not at all. When Kevin Fox walked out of the Will County jail after being cleared of charges, he killed his three-year-old daughter Riley. The investigation essentially went back to square one. Since it's not him, because the DNA rules him out, says he's not, he's not the person. Who is? Now you have to go back over the evidence and figure out who did this because you know it isn't Kevin Fox. The authorities say they have no strong new leads in the search for Riley's killer. The Fox family still offers a $100,000 reward for information that leads to the killer's conviction. Do my daughter's killer. You will be caught no matter how long it takes.
In 2009, I just got to the point where I said we've got to do something drastic here so I asked the FBI if they would get involved. The Riley Fox case is to me the most important case of my career. When I see this little child that was just so beautiful and ran punctures, there's no way you can't want justice for this child. They took 30 agents and descended on Wilmington and did a massive amount of interviews. She's kind of saturate the area with agents and task force officers and just to conduct a boatload of interviews and see what we could find. They came across a young lady who told them that she had a suspicion but had no reason other than gut feeling that this person might have been involved in the murder. We are wrong. So the FBI talks to this woman and then 2020 ends up talking to her as well.
She has since died but at the time she agreed to do the interview as long as we blurred her face. We're not going to show your face, is that correct? When Riley Fox was abducted and killed, this woman lived right there in Wilmington, right down the street and she actually remembers that her family helped in the search effort the day of Riley's disappearance. She was a little hesitant to speak with us at first and then we identified who we were, why we were there and she stepped outside to talk to us outside her house. She told us about a guy that she was having a relationship with who had since left the neighborhood. I just had a bad feeling about him and I didn't know who to tell so when the FBI came I said I'm really glad you guys are here and I just gave him his name. She told us about Scott Eby, a guy by the name of Scott Wayne Eby. You knew a guy named Scott Eby, right? Who is Scott Eby? An ex-boyfriend of mine. Just describe him for me, tell me what kind of person he is.
I'm a creep. The summer that Riley Fox disappeared, Scott Wayne Eby was 33 years old, he'd been married, in and out of prison, he was living right there in Wilmington with his mother and it turns out he was living with her one mile from the Fox family home. They'd had a very peculiar conversation when they were out for a walk together walking through Riley's garden. And he had made some comment that left her chill. I was saying I can't believe somebody did that to this little girl and he said oh that was such a shame wasn't it. And the way he said it was like cold like he didn't mean it. She told us that he had since moved out of town and she knew he was incarcerated for a sexual assault of a family member. Scott Eby was five hours away in prison in southern Illinois. I asked Jeremy hey let's go ahead and try to get the sky interviewed.
He was way in the southern portion of the state. It was it was a hike. In all honesty he was someone I was just going to check off my list. He had no idea we were coming. We kind of showed up out of nowhere and that that was intentional. He was very respectful, very responsive to our questions. Did hesitate, didn't seem nervous. He was just trying to kind of collect his thoughts as to why in the world the FBI is here to talk to me. And what I should do about that. He said he had heard about the case but other than that there wasn't really anything that he could tell us or help us with. He did remember where he was the day which makes him no different than anybody else that we talked to really. I shook his hand and we left. And as we were walking from the building to the car I looked at Jeremy and I said that is the clamiest hand I have ever shaken. When they left he got on the phone with his mother on a recorded call.
Hello you have a free-paced call from Scott Eby. An email art. Lawrence Correctional Center. Scott Eby had contacted his mother to tell her that he wanted to see her immediately. He had something to tell her. Hello. What's the matter? Mom, um... I don't know how to tell you this but I got an emergency. You got to drop everything you're doing. They come down here and say me as soon as you can. We went to interview the mom. Scott Eby's mom. 2020 obtained a recording of an FBI interview with Scott Eby's mother. I'm here with Sharon Eby and special agent Delory Warren, a special agent, Sharon Marisa. He told me that I needed to get down to the person to see him immediately. The person has to rest my life until I get to get home.
You can also bother me. You got to come down here. So I can give you a hug and a kiss. Let's try it. Please. And he said that he did something horribly, horribly, horribly wrong. It's not that really, really, really bad. You said something really, really, really bad. I drove down there and when he came in, you know, he hugged me and he said you remember the little rally girl. Not at all. Not at all. All of a sudden my phone started ringing off the hook from the prison where Scott Eby is in. Scott Eby had attempted to commit suicide. And he has written a letter that was actually addressed to the FBI agents who had spoken with him.
This is a confession to murder with two exclamation points at the end. And then that started a succession of admissions and finally a videotape confession. You're no dummy. So you know there should be prayers. I'm going to talk to you, okay? We knew that we needed to get down there and interview him to do the follow-up interview based upon everything that we learned at this point. Well, we ask you a question too. Mr. University of the Rights, you're the right term. The insilent anything you say can be used against you. A court you're the right term. As we do with any other interview, he's in custody at the time. We read him as Miranda rights and he immediately advised us that he wanted an attorney. Knowing that you have those rights, one cock lies. I think I really have a lawyer. All right. That's certainly your decision. I'll candidly tell you some frustration. You know, it was obviously our hope to talk to him. But nevertheless, both of us were completely understanding the fact that we could not talk to him at that point.
That's your decision. That's certainly your right. Okay. Okay. So we left the room and of course very disappointed. Thanks for your time, Scott. Good luck. Good luck to you, man. All right. I'm going to tell everyone that. About 75 seconds later, he looked up at the camera and as it was still running and said that he had changed his mind. All right. If you guys can hear this, I changed my mind. I'll talk to you. We went back in and Scott E.B. basically told us the story from beginning to end as he wrote in the letter. I really don't remember much of that evening. I mean, I remember drinking a lot. At that night, he advised that he had been drinking and using cocaine and looking for homes to burglarize.
I guess I got it into my head to go rob people. He told us that he got a thrill out of robbing homes. That's what I've been to the penitentiary for several times and stuff. You know what I mean? I grew drunk and I go and commit residential burglaries and stuff. He goes on to reveal several other things that the police missed. I drove around a little bit, I think. I don't remember how I ended up in the neighborhood or whatever, but I did. And I started walking around from house to house and checking doors and windows and stuff like that. You know, an easy access into somebody's house. The same night, Riley disappeared. There was a burglarie at the house right across the street. It turned out that he was a person who would burglarize the home across the street.
I discovered the old lady's house a few doors down from Riley's. I cut the screen door, walked through the lady's house, seen her sleep in inside her bedroom, went into her wallet, found $40 inside her wallet. She didn't have anything else really just, you know what I mean. So I left out of her house. Authorities say that Ebi said he walked from that neighbor's house right to the back door of the fox home and that door you'll remember had that broken lock. When he got to the fox's house, he tried the back door and he said it was open, unlocked. So he didn't have to break in, he just walked in. One instant of living room and that's where the babies were sleeping on the couch. Scott Ebi said he entered their home and didn't find anything of value to steal. And that's when he saw the children sleeping in the family room and had a sudden urge to take Riley.
But it didn't have nothing to steal or nothing like that, you know what I mean. Otherwise I probably would have been in and out of there too. You know what I mean? I was getting ready to leave and I looked back and I don't know for some reason. I just, I fixated on him and look around. Once I decided that I was going to go through with her or whatever I went and got my car and I packed it into the fox's driveway. Remember Kathleen Zellner said detectives were so focused on that one vehicle that they saw in that security video, driving past that gas station. Even though witnesses in the neighborhood had mentioned another car, this red Chevy Beretta. And then Scott Ebi's mother eventually describes the car that she says her son was driving that night. Do you remember what kind of car he had at the time? He was driving a red Beretta. Okay, Chevy. I picked her up and I put my hand over her mouth. I don't know that I've ever seen a horror movie as excruciatingly evil as his confession.
I almost put it right back down. You know what I was doing? Yeah. And I was together all over the room. And I do. He blames the foxes for not having enough for him to steal. So he steals their daughter. And the most precious thing that they have. He took her from the house, put her under the trunk of his car. Close the lid and then got in the car and left it. He had been wearing a bandana to cover his face and it came down and Riley saw him. I realize that my mask is no longer on my face. And I really panic. Not at all. Not at all. Hi. Hi. Hi. I love you. I love you.
One of the things that Melissa Fox always said was that she hoped that when they found Riley's real killer. That it would provide closure for the family. But what it did was it opened a whole new chapter of pain when they realized what had happened to their little girl. I needed to know what happened to her and what she went through. But now it's kind of like torture. Now it's like I'm torturing myself with those details. When you walked into a crapper that she was on a couch. Yes. I'm just like in her anything over her. How was she kind of situated? No, I can't recall exactly. She was laying. If you're facing a couch, she's laying on this into the couch. As Eby keeps talking, he describes how he put Riley Fox in the trunk of his car and took her to Forsyth Woods. And his account reveals even more mistakes in the investigation.
Eventually we found that she was sexually assaulted in that bathroom that was on that property. To our knowledge, that had never been processed. For evidence. He had been wearing a bandana to cover his face and then it came down and Riley saw him. She's looking directly at my face and stuff and I realize that my mask is no longer on my face. And then I'm really panic. He made that leap from sexually assaulting her to this warped idea in his head that he needed to take her life at that point. I can't find out unless someone can do that. And this is evidently the last thing. She says to him, I want my daddy and want my daddy. The man who was accused of killing her was the man she was crying out in her last moments. He decided to take her and drown her in the nearby river. And Scott Eby admits to leaving clues at the scene of that horrific crime. His shoes, his size 12 sneakers.
One of the things that they found and didn't realize the critical importance of it was a pair of shoes. They were white, all white, high tops. I think they were rideels. They threw the shoes into the river because I had that shoe cramps. I know. I'm a money bank. I got rid of the shoes, which was stupid. And you remember right back to the very beginning, the shoe inside it, the letters Eby. It wasn't super clear but you could see what looked like an E, a B, and a Y on the inside of the tongue that it was handwritten. His last name. It's a two-year tooth, I expect somebody to be coming to the top and be a long time ago because it had my last name printed on the tongue of the shoe. The only thing I ever heard about a shoe, they wanted to know what size shoe Kevin wore.
And their sizes didn't match the size of that shoe and we never heard about a shoe again because it didn't fit their crime. That was something that was never followed up on. Very much like the burglary at the house across the street. And so when we found out about that as we put, we were like, oh my god, it was just like, are you kidding me? You've now learned that there was a suicide call at this man's house. In Wilmington Police, we're at his house. One of the things in looking back at this case all these years later, it's incredible when you realize that Scott Eby, who killed Riley Foxx, he had an encounter with Wilmington Police Officers just hours later that same day. No pill bottle of aces coding. I spa with him, hoping to kill myself. Scott Eby said he attempted suicide the day that he killed her later that day.
Next thing I remember about police officer was knocking on my door. I actually needed a family right there in front of him and stuff. The very day of the murder at Wilmington Police, not the Wilmington Police County Sheriff's Office, visited Scott Eby's home because they had been told by a friend of his that he had threatened to commit suicide. I asked him how I was like, what's up with that little girl that's stuck in the finder? So the date Riley Foxx disappears, they're called to his house. Correct. On a suicide attempt. And had they run his name for a system, they would have seen a criminal history? Yes, and he has all the red flags that they should have picked up on from the burglary convictions, to the suicide attempts, to the inquiries about Riley. I mean, he did everything but set a siren off at his house. I'm the guy. I can forgive a mistake. People are human. I get that.
But they almost completely ruined our chances of ever knowing what happened to our daughter. And so I hate them for that. For almost six years, you thought this was going to be like a celebration day and it feels quite opposite. He stole something very important from the world. She is gone. And there's not this amazing girl here anymore but there's disgusting people like him here. That's disappointing. So you have to remember Kevin and Melissa Foxx are now about to be face to face with the man who killed their daughter and who was going to allow the daughter's father to be sent away and face the death penalty himself. I'm sad that that was the last face that she saw. He's scary. He's terrifying. Not at all. Not at all.
I just bring fresh flowers every time I come. I focus more on her birthday on March 31st. I like to think more about the day she was given to me not the day she was taken from me. I just wonder for Riley, if you've had a moment to say we did it. We never gave up. But yeah, it was nice going there and putting some roses on her stone and saying that it was over and then I'd see her sometime in the future. Good afternoon. About an half an hour ago, I appeared before the last time I saw her. I was like, what's wrong? Good afternoon. About an half an hour ago, I appeared before the honorable Gerald Kinney, the chief judge of Wil County and obtained a warrant for the arrest of Scott Eby. Scott Eby pleaded guilty in 2010 and as he was about to be sentenced to life without parole, Kevin and Melissa Foxx came face to face with their daughter's killer in that courtroom.
I came to face you so you would know how important standing up for Riley was to me. She was defenseless that night and that makes you a coward and a monster. It was given a life sentence and he pledged guilty to a multiple counts of murder and aggravated criminal sexual assault. It ensured that he would be behind bars for the rest of his life. Melissa was unwavering in her support for Kevin even as members of the community began to turn against them. They had another daughter together after all of this teagant, but we always wondered how much can a marriage actually take. Careful. It just was too much for our marriage to withhold, I guess. Melissa is a remarkably courageous, resilient person who had the character to stick with him because she knew he was innocent. It was an extraordinary story of tragedy, about redemption. Both Kevin and Melissa would go on to find new love, new lives.
Kevin and I are both happy and healthy, we're both remarried and have amazing families. The truth of the matter is they'll never get their daughter back. The little girl who was the flower girl at her uncle's wedding ran down that aisle and right into the arms of her father. She had an unmistakable bond with her father, whose family never gave up on him and the family that will never forget. It's little girl. You got thick? Yeah. It will forever be devastating and I'll forever have a hole in my heart. But I think because I have suffered such great loss, I see the world in the blessings and the love that I have in such a different way. Hi! Hi! Hi! I love you! I love you! You've been listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault. Friday nights at 9 on ABC you can also find all new broadcast episodes of 2020.
Thanks for listening! When fall comes back around, there's a sense of a reset. And new pieces from Lululemon's fall drop are an inspiration to push your goals and elevate your routines. As your calendar fills, easy to layer styles meet the demands of your day. And as you challenge yourself to try even more, versatile sets transition with you. The Lululemon fall lineup brings new levels of comfort and confidence, whether you're starting something fresh or starting something over. Check out the latest arrivals in store and on Lululemon.com now.
More episodes



