Litigation

AUTHORITIES IGNORE KEY EVIDENCE IN RILEY FOX MURDER CASE

By Mark P. Loftus, Esq.

Just hours after finding the body of 3 year old Riley Fox[pictured above] near a Will County, Illinois creek in 2004, investigators located two shoes less than 100 yards from the body. The shoes had been discarded by Scott Eby[pictured below] who recently confessed to the murder. Eby discarded the shoes because they had become muddy when he dragged the poor child to the creek to drown her after sexually assaulting her. And, he had written his name in the shoes. But despite finding the shoes in virtually the same spot as the body, and having the owner's name, authorities never followed up. And there were other clues authorities missed. Like the fact that Eby lived only about a mile from Riley at the time of her murder. And that Eby's mom had called police the morning the Riley had been reported missing. She was concerned about her son who was vomiting and agitated. Incredibly, authorities never put all those clues together. Instead, police focused exclusively on Kevin Fox, the girl's father. He was ultimately charged with her murder in October 2004 and spent 8 months in prison. He was released after DNA evidence excluded him as a suspect. Kevin Fox and his wife later sued Will County and ultimately received an $8.1 million dollar verdict. That case is still on appeal.

Full post as published by Illinois Lawyer Blog on June 17, 2010 (boomark / email).