INTERNATIONAL TIS) ToC Ue ace OEMS Ucn TRA SLC een MeN RLU December 16, 2010 The information contained in this report is confidential and is the sole property of Will County Sheriff's Office enterprise secu.$$$ Table of Contents INTRODUCTION.. 3 ‘DIE RILEY FOX CASE, ITS INVESTIGATION AND ITS REINVESTIGATION.......6 The Crime ener ssnsne : eZ ‘The Initial Investigation 7 ‘The Case against Kevin Fox. 9 The Confession ..... ‘The DNA Evidence... ‘The Re tigation and Real Story of the Crime. . CRITIQUE OF THE FOX INVESTIGATION... RECOMMENDATIONS... ‘THE ANDREWS INTERNATIONAL TEAM Private & Confidentialed INTRODUCTION ‘There were no winners in the Riley Fox case. ‘The Fox family suffered, and continues to suffer, an unimaginable loss and, in its aftermath, a harrowing ordeal, Riley Fox, a child of three, was Kidnapped, sexually abused, and drowned in a muddy creek. Within five months, her father Kevin Fox, was wrongly accused of the crime and imprisoned for eight months, under threat of the death penalty, until DNA evidence exonerated him. His wife Melissa Fox, bereft of her daughter and her husband, was left alone to contend with the immense emotional consequences of the murder and the arrest. Tyler Fox, Riley’s older brother, suffered through an extended ‘interview about the crime shortly after Riley's death and eventually saw his father wrongly accused of, and arrested for, a crime he did not commit. “The Will County Sherifi’s office made major mistakes while investigating this case, targeting the \wrong man and missing opportunities from the beginning that potentially would have led ¢o the killer, Of course, it is far easier in hindsight to determine where the investigators went wrong, and it is important to note that Andrews Intemational found no indication that they did so intentionally. Instead, well intentioned, if overzealous, investigators followed what they believed to be sound leads and sound practice in the case. It is now clear that they ignored. or ‘were unaware of, other substantial leads and information that may have Ted them to very different conclusions regarding how this crime was committed and about Kevin Fox's culpability, It s also clear that management of the investigation by ranking supervisors in the Will County Sherif's Department chain of command wes almost nonexistent. responsibilities fell largely 10 the assigned investigator to direct and manage the acti ties of other investigators from different units in his department, as well as investigators from federal, state, and Jocal agencies. The investigators’ conception of sound investigative practice was flawed in many respects, including their then-current practice in conducting interviews, administering polygraphs, and recording confessions. Most ofall, they had a flawed conception regarding how 10 manage a case of this complexity in terms of Keeping options Pen, incorporating new facts, repeatedly revisiting known facts and evidence, and resisting the temptation to prematurely narrow the focus of the investigation to a single target. Private & Confidentialse _$$_______— Several of the investigators that Andrews International interviewed expressed profound regret and contrition about the course the case eventually took, ‘They were not out to “get” Kevin Fox. In some respects, they were victims themselves, of their own inadequate training for and limited experience with crimes of this severity and of the general lack of a management system and sound practice in the Criminal Investigative Section of the Will County Sheriff's Office. Recognizing these problems, Sheriff Paul Kaupas has retained Andrews International to review the entire Fox case and to make recommendations for improving the systems, protocols, and methods that failed so dramatically in this instance, Sheriff Kaupas urged the consultants to conduct a thorough review, shining a light on all the facts and circumstances of this case to improve the quality of the Sheriff's Office's investigative function. ‘Andrews International conducted an independent evaluation of the Criminal Investigations Section, reviewing and evaluating procedures, staffing, management, and organizational structure in addition to comparing Will County practice to best practices in policing and criminal investigations. Andrews International also reviewed the entire Riley Fox case file and interviewed most of the personnel from the Sheriff's Office, as well as investigators from other agencies involved in the case and its investigation. Although the sheriff urged all current and former Will County Sheriff's Office personnel to cooperate with the Andrews International study, several of the principal supervisors and investigators declined to be interviewed, as did the former State’s Attorney and his deputy. ‘This report summarizes Andrews International’s findings in the case and recommendations for going forward. Sheriff Keupas has committed to act decisively on the findings and recommendations. Conducting an investigation is never an exact science and cliciting confessions from guilty persons is a complex process in which mistakes will sometimes be made That is the reason why frequent training, procedural by investigators in pursuit of « crit safeguards, and sound management are so important to the investigative process. In serious cases, investigative managers should exercise continual oversight and critical review of the 4 Private & Confidential> $$$ investigative team, and the State's Attorney's legal team should thoroughly vet both the case ané the confession well beyond establishing probable cause, as they proceed to prosecute a defendant. ‘A-crime of these dimensions, a crime that shocks the conscience of the community, can never be treated as business as usual either by investigators or by their managers. Investigators will try to do whatever is necessary to bring the culprit to justice, but the managers and government attomeys play a somewhat different role. They too want to solve the ease, but their function is also to ensure that there is no rush to judgment and that innocent people are not ensnared in the ‘raps laid forthe guilty. Although Will County investigators etred in targeting Kevin Pox, the failures in oversight in this case, by both investigative managers and the State's Attomey's Office, were actually more glaring. Andrews International hopes that the recommendations of this report will help correct the problems we have identified in the Sheriff's Office and in the interactions between the Sheriff's Office and the States Attorney’s Office so that Future cases have a better foundation in both the established evidence and in sound investigative practice. 5 Private & Confidentialse THE RILEY FOX CASE, ITS INVESTIGATION AND ITS REINVESTIGATION The Crime Riley Fox was kidnapped and murdered on June 6, 2004, She was taken from her home in Wilmington, Illinois in the carly morning hours, and her body was found in Forked Creek in a part of the Forsythe Woods Forest Preserve at about 3:15 pm the same day by volunteers who had joined the search for the missing girl. Kevin, Riley's father, had been caring for her and her brother Tyler on the day of June 5! because their mother Melissa had left for Chicago where she planned to spend the night and participate in a march the following day in support of breast cancer research. During the day on June 5, Kevin had taken the children to an art supply store to purchase materials to make posters that they were to hold up at the Chicago march, which they ‘were all planning to attend the following day. During the evening of June 5", Kevin left both children at the home of their maternal grandmother Sandy Rossi while he and his brother-in-law ‘Tony Rossi attended a concert in Chicago. Kevin and Tony returned to Wilmington between midnight and 1 pm, They had been drinking in Chicago and may or may not have been intoxicated by the time they reached Wilmington. Kevin dropped off Tony, picked up the kids, and returned home. The children’s beds were unmade, so Kevin put them to sleep in the living room, with Riley on the couch and Tyler on a chair and an ottoman. Kevin smoked a cigarette ‘on the porch and watched television before going to sleep at about 2:30 am, It is now been established that Scott Eby, a person known to the Wilmington Police, whose criminal record included three burglary convictions, entered the Fox residence in the early morning hours of June 6", while Kevin was sleeping, and carried off Riley Fox. He drove her to the Forsythe Woods Forest Preserve, some three miles from the Fox residence, sexually abused her, and drowned her in Forked Creek. Kevin Fox was awakened by his son Tyler at 7:50 am on June 6". Tyler told him that Riley was gone. Kevin began to search for her, queried a neighbor by phone about whether she had seen Riley or not, and continued to search until he called a non-emergency 411 number to report her Private & Confidential