I want to throw up...

[MYSONSDAD]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0410310255oct31,1,1724351.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Child's dad says he was coerced
Sheriff denies cop wrongdoing in slaying probe
 Advertisement
   
 
By Hal Dardick
Tribune staff reporter

October 31, 2004

A father charged in the death of his 3-year-old Wilmington daughter, Riley Fox, alleged Saturday that Will County sheriff's deputies told him he would be repeatedly raped in jail unless he confessed.

And Kevin E. Fox's lawyer said charges were brought against Fox before test results were back on DNA the man had voluntarily submitted to investigators.

Sheriff Paul Kaupas declined to comment on the specifics of a written statement from Fox released by his lawyer Saturday, citing Illinois Supreme Court rules. But he said his deputies acted appropriately in extracting Fox's videotaped statement, which authorities say implicates him in the crime.

"I was told by the investigators that if I did not give a statement saying I was involved in my daughter's death that they `knew inmates at the jail' that would make sure that I was [sexually assaulted] every day I was there," Fox said.

Sheriff's deputies turned on him, becoming "very abusive, yelling and screaming at me that I had killed her" after he went to the Sheriff's Department to cooperate, he said.

Fox, 27, of Wilmington, who Thursday was charged with first-degree murder and predatory sexual assault in the death of Riley, also claimed deputies fed him details about the murder he did not know--details authorities later said were in his videotaped statement to police.

He was being held at the Will County Jail in lieu of $25 million bail. He issued the written 456-word statement through his attorney, Kathleen Zellner.

"I cannot comment on any statement issued by Mr. Fox in reference to his interview after the court proceedings have begun," Kaupas said. "I've basically got full confidence in the detectives and other people who were involved in this investigation, that they used proper procedure and protocol.

"I'm not going to try this case in the media," he added. "She's trying to try the case in the news media."

Zellner, however, said Kaupas gave case details to the media. "The only reason we are responding now is because of all the statements he has made from the arrest forward," she said. "He has put all of these statements into the record. I am just trying to defend my client."

Fox cooperative, lawyer says

She said Fox was cooperative and even voluntarily submitted DNA. "He readily gave his DNA, and the arrest occurred before they got the DNA results back," she said.

"We're not going to comment on that," sheriff's spokesman Pat Barry responded. "I don't know how she knows whether it has come back or not."

Will County State's Atty. Jeff Tomczak, who has said he will seek the death penalty in the case, declined to comment through his spokesman, Brian McDaniel.

Tomczak--locked in a tough election battle against Democrat James Glasgow that will be decided Tuesday--last week denied the charges against Fox were brought for political reasons after Zellner suggested the timing of her client's arrest was suspicious.

Kaupas said last week that Fox told his deputies that he "somehow" hit Riley in the head with the bathroom door and thought she was dead.

In his videotaped statement to police, Fox said he panicked and, in an attempt to make it look like Riley was kidnapped and murdered, bound her hands and mouth with duct tape before dumping her in a creek, Kaupas said.

Tomczak suggested last week that Fox bound, gagged and drowned Riley to cover up a sexual assault. He said evidence indicates Riley was "alive and struggling" when she was placed in Forked Creek, about 4 miles from her home, where she was found during an hours-long search by hundreds of emergency workers.

Fox initially told police he returned from a concert June 5, picked up Riley and her brother Tyler, now 7, from a relative's house and put the children to sleep on a couch. He said that when he woke up on June 6, Riley was missing.

Kaupas said Fox went to the Sheriff's Department voluntarily between 7 and 8 p.m. Tuesday. His videotaped statement to police came before 9 a.m. Wednesday, when police concluded their interrogation.

In addition to the videotaped statement, there is physical evidence in the case, Kaupas said, declining to be specific.

During the interrogation, Fox's wife sat with him during four or five breaks, but not during questioning, Kaupas said. Fox also took a short nap, he said.

Fox was not under arrest, never asked for an attorney and signed a waiver allowing deputies to videotape his statement, Kaupas said.

"[If] the guy asks for an attorney, that's it. The interview is over with," Kaupas said. "This isn't the 1930s."

But the version Fox details in his written statement differs substantially. "I asked them repeatedly to call my father so that he could get me a lawyer," Fox said in the written statement, alleging he was kept in a locked area for about 14 1/2 hours. "I was told I did not need to speak to my father or a lawyer."

Deputy threats alleged

After deputies told him he would be repeatedly raped in jail, "one of the investigators actually straddled my leg, pushing his testicles into my knee to try to scare me about the sexual attack," Fox said.

He also said deputies threw a picture of his dead daughter on a table in front of him and screamed that he duct taped her mouth and hands. "This was the first time that I learned she had been bound," he said.

"They wanted me to say that there had been an accident at home and that she had hit her head," he added. "That was the first time I learned that she had lumps on her head."

Deputies also told him that if he panicked and tried to cover up an accident, he could only be charged with involuntary manslaughter, would immediately go home on bond and face no more than five years in prison, Fox alleged. They also told him to say he tried to make it look like a sexual assault, he said.

"I was isolated, alone and terrified," he added. "I trusted the authorities and they betrayed me and my family. I can only hope the truth will come out."

[StPaulieGirl]

"I was isolated, alone and terrified," he added. "I trusted the authorities and they betrayed me and my family. I can only hope the truth will come out."

[p]That was his first mistake.  I can see why he trusted them.  His daughter was dead, and he wasn't thinking clearly.  Pass the bucket, I'm feeling a little sick myself.

[DecentDad]

Not all parents are good parents.  Not all accused are innocent.

Of course, not all accused are guilty either.  None of us know the truth between the two sides.

Each side in that story has a vested interest in the public believing a portrayed version of a story.

I agree with wanting to vomit... here's a dead 3 year old, no matter who did it, and daily butt-raping seems like too lenient a sentence for whomever is the true perpetrator (be it the father or some other person).

Not to be macabre, but things like this remind us that even if we don't have primary custody, or even 50/50 custody, our lives could certainly be much more tragic.

Saying a prayer for that little girl's soul to have peace...