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Wilmington girl, 3, found dead after massive search
Dad reports her missing; hikers find body in creek

Chicago Tribune
Gina Kim, Angela Rozas and Patrick Rucker
June 7, 2004

A 3-year-old Wilmington girl reported missing from her home Sunday morning was found dead hours later in a creek several miles away after a frantic search, police said.

A couple hiking through a southwest Will County park found the body of Riley Fox about 3:30 p.m., said Wilmington Police Chief James Metta. The body was found in a section of Forked Creek that runs through Forsythe Woods.

"We have no doubt foul play was involved," Will sheriff's spokesman Pat Barry said.

The news shocked the hundreds who had participated in the search.

"Everybody was crying," said Jennifer Mietzner, a former neighbor of the family who helped comb the area. "It was just awful."

"Right now you're in a state of shock," said Bob Bolser, a neighbor and friend of the Fox family who also took part. "It makes you angry. You just lock your doors and hold your kids tighter."

Riley's father, Kevin Fox, reported her missing from the family home in the 400 block of South Outer Drive about 8 a.m. when he woke to find she was gone.

Fox went to a concert with friends Saturday night, leaving Riley and her brother, Tyler, 7, with their grandparents because their mother, Melissa, had gone to Chicago to participate in a breast cancer walk Sunday.

He picked up his children about midnight, brought them home and briefly watched TV with them before going to bed about 12:30 a.m. He said he left the children asleep on the couch and locked the front door.

Fox woke at 8 a.m. to find the front door ajar and his daughter missing, police said.

He immediately called Wilmington police, who requested that state police issue an Amber Alert bulletin notifying agencies across the state that the child was missing. Local officials directed a search involving more than 500 neighbors, friends and other townsfolk in a desperate sweep, some walking, others on horseback, in cars and all-terrain vehicles. The mother returned from Chicago, and she and her husband helped in the search, neighbors said.

About 3:30 p.m., a couple hiking in Forsythe Woods reported finding Riley's body, and the search ended. Many searchers wept at the news as the death sent shock waves through the town of just over 5,000.

Late Sunday, police had few clues about how she left her home and what led to her death.

Several neighbors reported seeing a red Chevrolet Beretta with a male driver parked in various locations during the night. Those details became part of the Amber Alert. A neighbor two doors down from the Fox home had their front screen door slashed, Metta said.

The police chief pointed out that the child was found several miles from her home, and that it was unlikely that she found her way there on her own.

Sheriff's officials will investigate now because the body was found on county property.

Neighbors who know the Fox family say the girl was particularly wary of strangers and that both her parents and others were vigilant about looking out for the nearly 40 children who live in the neighborhood.

"Whenever the kids were playing in the yard, a parent was always out with them," said neighbor Gwen Smith. "We have our own little private neighborhood watch here."

"[Riley] did not like strangers," said Shawn McDowell, a neighbor whose 4-year-old daughter was one of Riley's playmates. "If she didn't know you she did not want anything to do with you. If she knew you, you could not stop her. That little girl would look at you, and she would just melt you."

McDowell said Kevin Fox called his home early Sunday asking if his daughter was there. When they realized she was not, they started searching.

"When we did not find her in an hour, I was pretty scared," McDowell said.

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Girl's death ruled a homicide

Chicago Tribune
June 8, 2004

A 3-year-old girl whose body was found in a creek about 4 miles from her northern Illinois home was purposely drowned, authorities said Monday.

Riley Fox, who was reported missing from her home Sunday morning, was alive when she was placed in the water, said Will County sheriff's spokesman Pat Barry. He said investigators did not have any suspects Monday but were contacting known sex offenders in the area, which he said is normal procedure when a child is missing or found dead.

"We believe that this is an isolated incident," Barry said. "We have no indication at the moment that we have someone preying on kids out there."

Will County coroner Pat O'Neil said autopsy results show the girl died as the result of a "homicidal drowning." He declined to provide further details, including whether the girl had been sexually assaulted.

The girl's body was found by a pair of hikers Sunday in a section of Forked Creek that runs through Forsythe Woods about

45 miles southwest of Chicago, according to Wilmington Police Chief James Metta.

Between 500 and 600 volunteers had been searching for the girl, Metta said. Many people who joined the search said they were shocked by the child's death and worried about their own children.

Riley's father, Kevin Fox, reported her missing Sunday morning when he awoke and couldn't find her in the family home. The front door to the home was open, but the father said he did not know whether his daughter had opened it and wandered off or not.

Fox told police he had gone to a concert with friends Saturday night and left Riley and her brother, Tyler, 7, with their grandparents. The children's mother, Melissa, had gone to Chicago to participate in Sunday's breast cancer walk.

Kevin Fox said he picked up the children about midnight and put them to bed about a half hour later.

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Girl's slaying still a mystery
Cops reinterview family, neighbors

Chicago Tribune
Tara Deering, Gregory Meyer, Karen Mellen
June 9, 2004

Police said Tuesday they had no suspects in the slaying of 3-year-old Riley Fox, and investigators were conducting another round of interviews with neighbors and family in hopes of breaking the case.

Saying they were considering all possibilities, authorities were questioning anybody who had access to the home in an effort to systematically eliminate possible suspects.

Investigators were also exploring the possibility that Riley's disappearance over the weekend was not a case of a stranger abduction, said Will County sheriff's police spokesman Pat Barry.

"The question is whether she was abducted or not," Barry said.

Riley's barefoot body was found Sunday in a creek about 3 miles from her home, hours after her father had reported her missing.

Kevin Fox told police he left his daughter and son sleeping on the couch, with the door locked, when he went to bed early Sunday.

The boy awoke to find Riley missing and woke his father at about 8 a.m., police said.

Barry said there was no forced entry into the Fox house on South Outer Drive in Wilmington, a city of about 5,000 people on the Kankakee River.

Wilmington Police Chief James Metta said police have dusted the door for fingerprints, but he declined to say what was found.

Reached at a relative's house in Wilmington, Melissa Fox, Riley's mother, said police had not told her whether they have any solid leads.

"I wish I had some answers," she said, declining to talk further.

Christy Ziller, who lives across the street from the relatives, said they told her some members of the family had provided blood and other DNA samples to investigators Monday--"just to exclude all possibilities," Ziller said she was told.

Barry and Metta both refused to say whether DNA had been gathered at the scene, or whether samples would be tested against the evidence.

Riley's death resembles the unsolved slaying of Dalton Mesarchik, 7, of Streator, who was abducted from outside his home and found bludgeoned in the nearby Vermilion River last year.

A police source said Tuesday that the cases are different enough, however, for authorities to doubt that the same person is responsible for both deaths.

Nevertheless, Dalton's family called police in Streator to ask whether there was a connection.

Michelle Mesarchik, Dalton's mother, said she and her mother planned to attend Riley's funeral Friday to show sympathy and support.

"I'm just a mess," said Mesarchik.

"I know what this family is going to go through," she said. "Here I am, almost 15 months later, and I'm no better."

Visitation for the girl is scheduled from 2 to 8 p.m. Thursday. A funeral service will be held at 9:30 a.m. Friday at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Wilmington. The family is not Roman Catholic, said Rev. Frank Vitus, the pastor, but the church on South Main Street was chosen to accommodate a large crowd.

St. Rose will also hold a crisis management gathering for the community Wednesday evening, Vitus said.

Mark Strothmann, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Wilmington, who married Kevin and Melissa Fox in 2000, said he was looking through Scripture passages on Tuesday in preparation for the funeral, hoping to offer comfort after the violent death of a little girl.

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Frustration mounts as police probe girl's killing

Chicago Tribune
Karen Mellen , James Janega and Gregory Meyer
June 10, 2004

A radio call Sunday afternoon brought Wilmington Police Chief James Metta to Riley Fox's body in Forked Creek, where he fought a desperate urge to pull her from the muddy water. Paramedics wanted to try breathing life back into the 3-year-old. He stopped them too.

She was gone. What was left--maybe--was evidence.

From its first moments, police say, the investigation of Riley's death has been about patience. On Wednesday, they asked for more, as signs of frustration began to build in Wilmington.

The girl's barefoot body was found in a creek about 3 miles from her home on South Outer Drive in this Kankakee River community south of Joliet. Just hours earlier, her father, Kevin Fox, had reported her missing. He told police he left his daughter and 7-year-old son sleeping on the couch, with the door locked, when he went to bed early Sunday.

The boy rose to find Riley missing and woke his father around 8 a.m., police said.

Fox told police the door was ajar.

Since the girl was found dead, between 50 and 75 leads have come in to investigators each day, though police say they still have no suspects.

A top priority has been to interview and possibly rule out known sex offenders. Extra police presence has been added, both to reassure residents and deter possible thoughts of lashing out at sex offenders, whose addresses are posted on the Internet.

"The town is upset and rightfully so," Metta said, though no cases of harassment have been reported. Of the town, he said, "They're hurt. They want the person or persons to be brought to justice."

But he pleaded for time. He said police are still trying to determine if Riley was abducted, or, however unlikely it might be, let herself out of the house.

Will County Coroner Patrick O'Neil has determined her death was a homicide. She was drowned in a tributary of the Kankakee River.

The FBI and the Illinois State Police both have offered the use of their crime labs, and investigators are seeking the best labs in the country to analyze whatever evidence can be collected.

On Wednesday, Kevin Fox's brother Chad said Riley was the flower girl at his May 22 wedding in Chicago. Her brother, Tyler, was ring bearer.

The Fox family, including Chad and new wife Stacy, as well as Kevin and Melissa Fox and their son Tyler, are staying at Kevin and Chad Fox's parents' house in Wilmington. The entire family wakes up numb, Chad Fox said, then tries to make it through the day.

"She was a little princess," he said of his niece, who carried a basket of flowers in his wedding and wore a flowing white dress, her long dark hair piled on top of her head.

Stacy Fox said her niece loved lip gloss, nail polish, flip-flops--all things girly.

Whenever he told Riley she was cute, Chad Fox said the girl would correct him: "She'd say, `I'm gorgeous,'" Chad Fox recalled.

He said Riley would be buried in her white flower-girl dress.

On Wednesday evening, a service was held in Wilmington for others traumatized by the girl's slaying.

About 50 people, including parents with young children, attended the event in Wilmington's St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, where the girl's funeral will be held Friday morning. The service was sponsored by a local hospital and the town's fire department.

Metta said one challenge facing police is ruling out what is not connected to the girl's death. Among them, Metta and Will County sheriff's spokesman Pat Barry have said, are reports of a mysterious red car--now no longer being sought--and the May 22 slaying of 40-year-old Bobby Dransfeldt at a bar in nearby Braidwood. Dransfeldt once worked for a painting company that has employed Riley's father.

Another may be a neighbor's recollection of seeing Riley on her grandmother's porch early Sunday morning.

The death has taken a toll on police as well, Metta said. Holding a picture in his office of his 9-month-old grandson, Metta said dealing with the killing of a child is nightmarish.

He said he remembers the contrast between the girl's white T-shirt and her dark hair floating in the water by a creek bank.

"It's something I'd like to forget," he said. "But I don't think I ever will."

[Admin]

Town mourns slain 3-year-old
Evidence sought as wake is held

H. Gregory Meyer, James Janega
Chicago Tribune
June 11, 2004

She was laid out in a white flower-girl's dress. Her family members at the wake, even the men, wore some bit of pink, the 3-year-old's favorite color.

But as locals crowded into St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Wilmington for a last look at Riley Fox's body Thursday afternoon, investigators were again searching the wooded banks of Forked Creek, where she had been found slain by drowning five days before.

The girl's barefoot body was found in a white T-shirt, facedown about 3 miles from her home on South Outer Drive in the Kankakee River community south of Joliet.

Just hours earlier, her father, Kevin Fox, had reported her missing.

Investigators on Thursday said their case so far was built around forensic evidence. They seemed to be collecting more Thursday afternoon at the creek, where investigators believe Riley was killed. A white county sheriff's mini-van with the words "Evidence Unit" was parked beside a bridge over Forked Creek, a short distance from where the girl's body had been discovered.

Damp bouquets were still stabbed into a bridge railing, as close as the public could get to the place where a little girl they briefly hoped to find alive had died.

Tears filled the eyes of Shari Van Duyne, 38, of Wilmington as she walked Thursday out of Riley's wake just outside of Wilmington's downtown.

"It was comfortable to be here. Now you lock your windows, lock your doors, you watch your children every second," Van Duyne said.

Later, in a light rain, a black Ford Explorer full of detectives pulled into a parking lot across the street. Inside, they snapped pictures through telephoto lenses and videotaped mourners as they entered and exited the church.

Police said their investigation has moved methodically, though there still are no suspects as dozens of tips pour in each day.

"I think we've made progress by at least eliminating things that were of no use, to get to things that are useful," Wilmington Police Chief James Metta said. Leads, and not suspects, were eliminated, he said.

Will County Sheriff's spokesman Pat Barry said family members and any others known to come into regular contact with Riley had been asked to provide DNA samples to investigators. "No one refused to cooperate," he said.

Another crucial analysis authorities said they must perform is to determine a more precise time of death.

The reason such information is important is to further rule out or bolster other tips, said Metta--such as a report from Sue Beasley, a neighbor of Riley's grandmother. Beasley told police she saw the girl in front of the grandmother's house Sunday morning, miles away from where the girl lived.

"That's one of the things that they are trying to find out--if it is possible or not," Metta said of Beasley's statement.

Beasley said she saw the girl between 7 and 7:30 a.m. kneeling on the sidewalk across the street in pink pants and a white T-shirt. Riley was last seen wearing similar clothing, according to an Amber Alert issued early Sunday.

A feisty woman with deep convictions, Beasley sticks by her account even though it has been bluntly dismissed by Barry and she has been confronted by the girl's disbelieving family members.

"I will not back down," said Beasley, 48, a security guard. "I did see her."

Beasley's account seems to contradict what Kevin Fox told police. He said he returned with friends from a Saturday street festival and picked up Riley and her brother Tyler, 7, from their grandmother's house around midnight Saturday. He took them home and left them sleeping on the family couch, with the front door locked, when he went to bed early Sunday.

The boy rose the next morning to find Riley missing and woke his father around 8 a.m., police said. Fox told police the door was ajar.

"Right now, that's the only story we have, and he's the only witness," Metta said of Kevin Fox's account.

[Admin]

Tearful farewell for slain girl
Mourners told she `will never grow weary again'

Karen Mellen
Chicago Tribune
June 12, 2004

Riley Fox already is "running with God in a new home" where she is safe, a pastor told her parents and others attending the Friday funeral for the slain 3-year-old in the close-knit town of Wilmington.

Rev. Mark Strothmann, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, said in a prepared text that Riley was with her deceased grandparents and great-grandparents, and in a place "where she will never faint or grow weary again."

Gary Rabideau, a family friend, told the more than 500 people crowded into St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church and Riley's parents, Melissa and Kevin Fox, to carry on for the sake of their 7-year-old son.

"I was hoping to give them a little bit of hope, to look at something beyond this," Rabideau said after the service, which was closed to the media. "And I picked up on their little boy, Tyler. They need to focus on him."

Reading from his text, Rabideau said he told the Foxes "their reason for going on was sitting right next to them."

"That little boy is your life. That little boy is your future. And that little boy is going to save your well-being," he said.

Five days after Riley was found near the town south of Chicago in a tributary of the Kankakee River, following a frantic search by hundreds of volunteers, police said they were sorting through leads and had not identified a suspect.

Wilmington Police Chief James Metta said Friday he expected forensic tests on evidence taken from Riley's clothing and body to be completed by the middle of next week. He said he hoped the results would focus the investigation.

"The evidence gives us more to hang our hat on," Metta said, adding that relatives already have been interviewed and several neighborhoods in Wilmington canvassed for information.

Kevin Fox has told police that after going with friends to a concert Saturday, he picked up his children from their grandparents' house and took them home, then left them sleeping on the living room couch when he went to bed about 12:30 a.m. Sunday. Police said Tyler awakened his father about 8 a.m. Sunday to say the living room door, which Fox said he locked, was ajar and Riley was missing.

Friday the sanctuary of St. Rose was filled with more than two dozen baskets of pink flowers, a few pink balloons, stuffed animals and collages of photos of Riley throughout her young life. In the pictures she is fishing, sitting on her father's shoulders and posing for the camera in a white flower girl's dress.

The service was held at St. Rose because it is larger than the First Presbyterian Church, where Riley was baptized.

[Admin]

Garden site to honor slain girl
Wilmington police still press probe

Karen Mellen
Chicago Tribune
June 19, 2004

When Riley Fox of Wilmington was reported missing nearly two weeks ago, the Wilmington Garden Club helped put together trays of meats and cheeses and served hundreds of volunteer searchers.

After the 3-year-old was found slain, her body floating in Forked Creek, garden club members again wanted to do something. This time, they came up with a memorial garden to honor the little girl--what they hope will be an everlasting memorial.

On Friday afternoon volunteers with wheelbarrows, rakes and shovels began putting together the intricate garden, which will have a flagstone walk, a statue of a little girl and trees and shrubs--all donated by residents and businesses.

Rural Will County resident Edward Menz had read about the garden. When he was asked why he was shoveling gravel Friday for a child he had never met, Menz said, "I've just been in the area a long time."

Garden club members, of whom Riley's great-grandmother is one, said they wanted to do something positive. Some residents said they become more unnerved as days pass and no arrest is made in the slaying of Riley, who disappeared from her home June 6 and was found slain by drowning that afternoon.

"I hope it's going to help," said Judy Wunderlich, co-president of Wilmington Garden Club. "It's a positive thing; that's the most important thing."

Riley's great-grandmother, Marilyn Mollan, said the family was grateful for the garden and hoped it would bring some peace to the family, including Riley's older brother Tyler, whose birthday is July 15, the day the garden will be dedicated.

"It's just unbelievable--so much love and care," Mollan said. "Riley was so precious. We're still awestruck."

Meanwhile Friday, police continued to study the case, going over interviews with people who had contact with Riley before she died and other evidence, said Pat Barry, a spokesman for the Will County Sheriff's Department.

Barry said that as in any high-profile case, the investigation had been complicated by rumors spread in small-town Wilmington. Even bits of information have to be dissected, to make sure no true lead is left unturned, he said.

[Admin]

Slain 3-year-old girl has living memorial
Family, friends dedicate garden in Wilmington

Karen Mellen
Chicago Tribune
July 16, 2004

Dawn Fox of Wilmington said the fog and numbness caused by last month's murder of her 3-year-old granddaughter began to abate a little earlier this week.

"Now, it's at the point that the shock is over, and now it's, `Who did it?'" said Fox, a few minutes after she and her family on Thursday released monarch butterflies to dedicate a garden for Riley Fox, who was drowned in a creek near Wilmington.

Sadness and frustration continue to mount in the tight-knit community, in part because no one has been arrested in the case.

Riley's parents, who spoke publicly about their family after the dedication, said they are confident police will solve the mystery. For now, they are trying to make life normal for their other child, Tyler, who turned 7 on Thursday.

"We miss her, but we still have to live," said Melissa Fox, Riley's mother. "Not move on, but live."

She and her husband, Kevin, said they lean on family and faith to get through the murder of Riley, who disappeared from her house June 6 and was found dead that day.

They play soccer with Tyler, visit with relatives and honor Riley's memory. Melissa Fox said Riley's nursery was decorated in a butterfly and bug motif. So after the funeral, she, friends and relatives had butterflies tattooed on their feet.

Many volunteers for the garden said Thursday night that planting flowers and laying a stone path gave them something to focus on.

"An arrest might put a little closure to it," said Angie Hutton of nearby Braidwood.

Experts say that while child homicides can present special challenges, they are not necessarily more difficult to solve than adult cases. But they are almost always emotionally charged, with added pressure from relatives, community members and the media.

And even the most hardened police officers who work the cases find themselves choked up, said Lt. Teresa Kernc of the Bolingbrook Police Department. The department continues to look into the presumed homicide of Rachel Mellon, who disappeared from her home in 1996 at age 13.

"They didn't really have the chance to lead a full life," Kernc said of children who are murdered. "A lot of times, they're absolutely defenseless."

As for investigating a child homicide, police say the process is the same as for adult cases. The first steps are to find out who was last with the person, determine what may have been the reason for the violence and look for witnesses.

Adults who are found dead sometimes leave clues to track their last few hours or days: credit card receipts, e-mails or conversations about marital problems or other issues.

The same is not as true for children, said Sgt. Greg Lindemulder, an investigator with the Illinois State Police in Pontiac, who has been working on the 2003 killing of 7-year-old Dalton Mesarchik of Streator. That case also remains unsolved.

Master Sgt. Richard Roderick of the Illinois State Police, who works on the child homicide task force in Des Plaines, said the nationwide arrest rate on homicides is about 50 percent and that, in general, the arrest rate for murders involving children follows that pattern.

Lindemulder noted that unless there are reports from the Department of Children and Family Services or police agencies, there may be no paper trail of the child's life.

On the other hand, children come into contact with fewer people, which can make the suspect list shorter than for adults, police say.

"But the stranger abduction is the hardest case to solve," Lindemulder said.

Police have released little information about the investigation into Riley's death. They said the family is cooperating with police and that detectives are awaiting forensic tests on evidence.

Kevin Fox has told police he left Riley and her brother sleeping on the living room couch early on June 6, then was awakened by Tyler at 8 a.m. saying Riley was gone.

As of Thursday, police had not received any forensic results from the FBI crime lab, said Pat Barry, spokesman for the Will County Sheriff's Department.

In this case, police must search for multiple crime scenes, including where Riley's body was found in Forked Creek and where her body was likely placed in the water.

Barry said the results of forensic tests could help investigators focus the case. Unfortunately, unlike on TV shows about crime scene investigators, real-life labs are backlogged with many important cases, he said.

County detectives are in constant contact with workers at the FBI lab in Virginia.

"You have to sit and a lot of times wait," Barry said. "I know, as far as the victim's family and everybody else, including the media, is concerned, it becomes very frustrating. But it's the nature of the beast."

[Admin]

Cops say father killed girl
Authorities: Wilmington 3-year-old was abused before her death in June

Deborah Horan, Jennifer Skalka
Chicago Tribune
October 28, 2004

The father of Riley Fox, the 3-year-old girl whose slaying sparked fear and suspicion in the rural Will County town of Wilmington, will be charged in his daughter's death, authorities announced Wednesday.

Some in the audience sobbed as Sheriff Paul J. Kaupas announced at a news conference that officials decided to charge Kevin E. Fox, 27, with first-degree murder after police obtained a videotaped statement from him in a lengthy interrogation that began Tuesday evening.

Authorities said Riley was sexually assaulted and suggested she was drowned to cover up that crime.

"Mr. Fox gave a statement that has led detectives to believe that he killed his daughter after placing her in a nearby creek," Kaupas said, offering few details about a murder that has shaken people in the quiet town.

Kathleen Zellner, Fox's lawyer, told WLS-Ch. 7 that Fox was pressured by police and that he is innocent. She also said the timing of announcing the charges against Fox was suspicious because they come before local elections. The Will County state's attorney is one of the posts being hotly contested.

Riley's disappearance from her home the morning of June 6 sparked a search by hundreds of emergency personnel and volunteers that ended that day when her body was found partially submerged in Forked Creek about 4 miles away.

Prosecutors said they would decide whether to seek the death penalty by Thursday afternoon, when Fox is expected to be arraigned in Will County Criminal Court. He has been in custody in Joliet since Wednesday morning, police said.

State's Atty. Jeff Tomczak said Fox had "bound, gagged and drowned" his daughter in what the prosecutor called a "brutal and heinous" crime. He declined to provide details of forensic evidence that might link Fox to his daughter's slaying.

Coroner Patrick O'Neil said an autopsy showed that Riley had suffered head injures but was still alive when she was submerged in the creek. O'Neil said that the girl had been bound with duct tape and that her body showed signs of sexual assault before her murder, prompting gasps from people in the room.

Police would not say what led them to question Fox again Tuesday evening or what might have caused a father who had proclaimed his innocence to give the statement that led to his arrest.

When Riley disappeared, Fox told police that he had left the girl and her brother, Tyler, now 7, sleeping on the couch. Tyler awakened him at 8 a.m. on June 6, he said, and told him that Riley was missing. He said he found the back door ajar.

Kaupas and Tomczak lauded the detectives assigned to the case for following their intuition and sticking to an investigative strategy that would produce enough evidence to lead to an arrest.

Asked about a possible motive, Tomczak said, "The presence of the injuries consistent with sexual assault would be at this point in time considered to be a motive."

After months spent collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses and following leads, police said they were happy to have an arrest.

"It's been a long summer. I see a lot of faces in here, a lot of sad faces," said Wilmington Police Lt. Wally Evans. "It's a small community. Everybody knows everybody. It's taken its toll."

In the town of 5,000 south of Joliet, where people often don't bother to lock their doors, Riley's slaying ignited fear that a child stalker might lurk nearby. Children slept in their parents' beds and people bolted their doors, residents said.

The fear dissipated as some residents began to suspect someone in Riley's family might be involved, neighbors said. But news that Fox had been arrested provoked shock and outrage.

"Nobody would believe someone would do that to their own child," said Diana Naylor, a Wilmington resident who attended the news conference. "I feel so sorry for the family."

Naylor said she was outraged that a man who had participated in the search for his child could turn out to be her killer.

"It's all been an act," Naylor said.

Linda Busby, a neighbor, said she was "surprised but not surprised" by the news of Fox's arrest and allegations of sexual assault. The neighborhood, she said, had been rife with rumors for months.

"The bruises, stuff like that, was surprising," Busby said. "But there are so many mixed feelings. I had chills down my spine when I heard it. I just couldn't imagine. But I also feel relief."

Other neighbors along a residential street near the Fox home, where kids rode bikes and skateboards at a park, refused to believe a father had killed his daughter.

"I've known Kevin since we were little kids," said Dana Jackson, 30. "Kevin is very laid-back. He's smiling all the time. He was very relaxed and nice to anybody he saw.

"I still don't believe the charges."

Fox came to the station voluntarily at 8 p.m. Tuesday and gave a taped statement in the evening or early Wednesday morning, police said. By 8 a.m. Wednesday, he was under arrest for murder.

"My men have lost a lot of sleep over this," Lt. Evans said. After nearly five months of investigation, the announcement of an arrest came five days before the election for state's attorney, in which Tomczak is facing a strong challenge from Democrat Jim Glasgow.

Kaupas bristled at the suggestion that the timing of the arrest might be politically motivated.

"I have no dog in this race that you're speaking of," he said. "This was done by us. The state's attorney's office was called this morning with the results. Our decision to do this yesterday was from the investigation, the way that we thought it was going to go.

"This was strictly hard work on this case. ... To wait after an election would not do justice to this community or to Riley Fox."

By Wednesday afternoon, the news had spread through the town's tree-lined streets where Busby sat on her front porch. She pointed to a garden down the street made of plants and pictures dedicated to Riley's memory.

"I don't think it'll be over for us," she said. "We can see Riley's garden every day. The shrubs. The stones with her picture on them. The stuff people donated to build it.

"It's sad," she said. "I always thought of them as the perfect parents."

[Admin]

Girl's dad confessed, police say
Sheriff: Man says he was trying to hide accident

Deborah Horan and Jennifer Skalka
Chicago Tribune
October 29, 2004

The father of 3-year-old Riley Fox told police he bound, gagged and sexually assaulted his daughter, then left her in a creek--all to make it appear she was murdered by a kidnapper after he thought he had accidentally killed her in their home, officials said Thursday.

Prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty against Riley's father, Kevin E. Fox, 27, in the June 6 drowning that shocked the rural Will County town of Wilmington, where Kevin and Melissa Fox lived with their two children, Riley and Tyler, now 7.

Fox, who was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of predatory criminal sexual assault, showed little emotion as he stood for his arraignment.

Judge Edward Burmila set his bail at $25 million.

Outside the courtroom, Fox's family proclaimed his innocence through defense lawyer Kathleen Zellner. Zellner read a statement as Riley's mother, Melissa, stood beside her.

"The family believes 100 percent in the innocence of Kevin," Zellner said. "They have always known him to be a wonderful father to his children. To the citizens of Wilmington, the family thanks you for your support and love. No one wants the real murderer of Riley Fox brought to justice more than her family."

In court, State's Atty. Jeff Tomczak told the judge that Fox gave a videotaped statement in which he admitted to binding Riley with duct tape, sexually assaulting her and leaving her in the water.

"The young child in this case died a terrible death," Tomczak said outside the courthouse, explaining his decision to seek the death penalty. "The evidence shows us that the child was sexually abused during life. I think it was absolutely the appropriate decision to make."

Tomczak suggested Wednesday that Fox bound, gagged and drowned his daughter to cover up the sexual assault.

Sheriff Paul Kaupas said Fox told police in a 12-hour interrogation, from Tuesday night through Wednesday morning, that he committed the crimes so that when Riley's body was discovered, police would conclude she had been kidnapped.

"He stated that somehow he had hit Riley in the head with the bathroom door," Kaupas said. "He thought Riley was dead. He started to panic. He devised a plan with duct tape to look like she was abducted."

Frantic search

Riley's disappearance from her home sparked a search by hundreds of emergency workers and volunteers who combed Wilmington until her body was found that day, submerged in Forked Creek about 4 miles away.

Fox's arrest provoked outrage by some residents who had searched for Riley. As Fox entered the courthouse Thursday accompanied by police, one resident shouted at him, asking what he had to say to all the people who had helped search for his daughter.

Fox answered, "Thanks."

Kaupas said police "agonized" over when to move against Fox as they collected evidence. He said they delayed the move in part because they were waiting for the results of forensic tests related to a second suspect. He declined to discuss whether police have DNA or other forensic evidence against Fox.

"We had so many pieces of evidence," Kaupas said. "So many times people were saying we're not doing anything in this case, we wanted to accelerate what we had to do. But we said, no, we'll stay the course."

"I didn't want to turn this into a JonBenet Ramsey case," he said, referring to the high-publicity murder of the 6-year-old Boulder, Colo., girl whose killer has never been charged.

Zellner has suggested that the timing of Fox's arrest was suspicious because it came the week before an election.

Tomczak is locked in a tight race against Democratic challenger James Glasgow amid revelations that Tomczak's father has been indicted on charges in the Hired Truck scandal in Chicago.

Both Kaupas and Tomczak denied the timing of Fox's arrest was politically motivated to boost Tomczak's reelection chances.

"Any charges of politics I think are baseless," Tomczak said, adding that questions about political motivations are an insult to the law-enforcement community.

By Tuesday, Kaupas said, police decided they had enough evidence to call Fox in for another round of questioning. He arrived with his wife about 8 p.m. She sat with him during breaks in the interrogation, Kaupas said, but not during the actual questioning.

He did not have a lawyer present during questioning, Kaupas said.

Fox apparently retained Zellner after his arrest, but that could not be confirmed with Zellner, who declined to answer questions.

The interrogation ended about 8 a.m., and Fox was placed under arrest and taken to a Joliet jail, where he has been placed on suicide watch as a precaution, Kaupas said.

Zellner questioned whether the information obtained during the interrogation was reliable.

"Serious mistakes have been made in other high-profile child murder cases in Illinois," she said. "Numerous cases in Illinois have been dismissed because of false statements obtained by the police after long interrogations such as this one."

In previous questioning, Fox told police he had returned from a concert Saturday night, picked his children up from a relative's house and put his kids to sleep on a couch.

When he woke up in the morning, he discovered Riley was missing, he said.

Kaupas said that during the interrogation Fox said he injured Riley with the bathroom door, put her in the car and drove around while the child lay unconscious. He told police he bound her mouth and wrists with duct tape and put her in the water, Kaupas said.

Police said there was evidence that Riley was alive and awake and struggled before she drowned.

Asked whether the head injuries Riley suffered were consistent with being hit by a door, Kaupas answered: "No."

Kaupas suggested the evidence also did not support Fox's version of how Riley was sexually assaulted.

The sheriff said Fox did not respond when police asked him why he did not call 911 after he thought he had fatally injured his daughter.

"There was no answer," Kaupas said.

[Admin]

Child's dad says he was coerced
Sheriff denies cop wrongdoing in slaying probe

Hal Dardick
Chicago Tribune
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."

[Admin]

Glasgow urged to review Riley Fox murder case

Karen Mellen
Chicago Tribune
November 4, 2004

The attorney for Kevin Fox, who is charged with molesting and killing his 3-year-old daughter, Riley, said Wednesday that she hopes the incoming Will County state's attorney takes a hard look at the case, adding that her office is re-investigating the slaying that rocked Wilmington because of its viciousness.

Naperville attorney Kathleen Zellner said she did not believe there would be significant forensic evidence linking her client to the killing of Riley, who was found drowned in a creek in June.

"From what I know, there's nothing substantive," she said, referring to reports that police had sent evidence to an FBI lab for analysis.

Zellner, who was in court for routine matters Wednesday, said she planned to argue for a lower bail for Kevin Fox, now being held in lieu of $25 million bail, at the December hearing. She said typically bail in such murder cases is between $1 million and $2 million.

"Bond is currently set at the same as [the capture reward] for Osama bin Laden," Zellner said.

The defense is assembling a team that includes an expert on coerced confessions, a pathologist and an investigator, Zellner said.

James Glasgow, who won election as state's attorney Tuesday night, said he would as a matter of course review all cases when he takes over the position Dec. 1. Glasgow defeated incumbent Jeff Tomczak, who had unseated Glasgow as top prosecutor in the county four years ago.

But Glasgow was non-committal about the Fox case, saying he does not know enough about it yet.

"I've worked with Paul Kaupas for years," Glasgow said, referring to the Will County sheriff. "He's got the highest level of integrity in his police work."

The sheriff said Fox made a statement to police implicating himself in his daughter's killing, a statement that Zellner and Fox now say was coerced.

The Sheriff's Department has also said there is physical evidence tying Fox to the crime, but a spokesman for the office declined to comment further on the case.

"We're going to love to [respond] when the trial comes," said sheriff's spokesman Pat Barry.

On Wednesday, Zellner told Judge Gerald Kinney that she was in the process of being certified as a death-penalty attorney by the Illinois Supreme Court. Under state law, attorneys and judges working on death-penalty cases now receive such certification to ensure they are capable of handling the cases.

Zellner is a well-known defense attorney who has worked on postconviction appeals of former Death Row inmates. She said she is currently defending a death-penalty case out of Louisiana.

[Admin]

Family defends suspect
Riley Fox killer still free, they say

Karen Mellen
Chicago Tribune
November 12, 2004

The father and brother of a man charged with murdering his 3-year-old daughter on Thursday accused Will County authorities of lying to the family and allowing the real killer to go free.

On Wednesday, Kevin Fox, 27, filed a federal lawsuit against the Will County sheriff's police, contending his rights were violated when he was arrested last month for the June 6 murder of his daughter, Riley.

On Thursday, his father, Curtis of Wilmington, said police officers the family trusted to investigate the murder of Riley, who was found in a Wilmington creek the same day her father reported her missing from their house, had turned against the family.

While Fox was being interrogated by police the day before he was charged, a detective "said they had basically targeted Kevin from day 1," Curtis Fox said.

Curtis Fox, who went to the sheriff's office after hearing his son was being questioned, said at one point that night, he was shepherded into a waiting room and told to be quiet because Fox was walking down a hallway.

"I feel bad I didn't yell out and say something to him then," said Curtis Fox, who spoke to reporters Thursday with his other son, Chad. The two were at the office of Naperville attorney Kathleen Zellner, who is representing Kevin Fox.

Police have said Fox made a statement implicating himself, that he confessed to making Riley's death look like an abduction to cover up the fact that he had accidentally killed her. But supporters of Fox say that statement was coerced and that he had nothing to do with his daughter's death.

The family has started a campaign to prove Kevin Fox's innocence, including starting a Web site with family photos and offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the real killer.

Zellner said the defense will reinvestigate the case.

Chad Fox said the federal lawsuit was filed so soon after criminal charges were announced as a way to ensure his brother would have a voice in the process. Kevin Fox has maintained since his arrest that police threatened him and promised him leniency in exchange for a statement, and the federal lawsuit includes those charges.

Fox has been charged with murder and sexual assault, and the Will County state's attorney has said his office would seek the death penalty.

"What we're seeing here are a group of people who abused their power and got the wrong person," Chad Fox said of police.

A spokesman for the Sheriff's Department repeated Thursday that it stands by the actions of detectives who investigated the case.

"Again, this shouldn't be tried in the media," Pat Barry said. "When we get to court, I'm confident the truth will come out."

[Admin]

Coroner's jury rules girl's death a homicide
Defense attorneys attack confession

Karen Mellen
Chicago Tribune
November 19, 2004

About two hours after the Will County coroner outlined Riley Fox's injuries during an inquest Thursday, her father's defense team was throwing a weighted bag off a bridge in an effort to show that he did not kill her.

A Will County inquest jury took only a few minutes to determine the 3-year-old Wilmington girl drowned in a homicide.

The autopsy report released Thursday referred to cuts and scrapes as evidence that Riley had been sexually assaulted.

There also were non-lethal wounds on her head, said Coroner Patrick O'Neil.

According to the autopsy report, duct tape covered her mouth and the lower part of her face, tape residue was on her wrists and she wore only a pink flamingo T-shirt and white metal earrings.

Riley's body was found about 3:30 p.m. June 6 in Forked Creek, a tributary of the Kankakee River that runs through Wilmington. Her father, Kevin, reported her missing about 8:20 a.m., and hundreds of searchers fanned across the area until her body was found.

The coroner reported that Riley's body had been submerged for at least 12 hours before it was found.

Kevin Fox was arrested late last month and charged with murder and sexual assault after police said he gave a statement implicating himself. Police have said Fox told them he accidentally killed Riley, then staged the abduction to cover his tracks.

But his attorney, Kathleen Zellner of Naperville, says the statement was coerced and that he was not involved in Riley's death. She and defense investigators sought to prove Thursday afternoon that at least part of the statement cited by police was inaccurate.

Investigator Ernie Rizzo, who has worked on the Scott Peterson trial and other high-profile cases, said Fox told police he placed his daughter's body at the edge of the creek near the bridge on Kahler Road.

But the demonstration at the bridge overseen by Rizzo showed otherwise, he said.

When an investigator placed a bag containing about 40 pounds of lamb meat, the same weight as Riley, near the edge of the water, it was stopped from moving by rocks and plants. Riley's body was found about a quarter-mile from the bridge, caught on tree branches and other vegetation, police have said.

In a second demonstration, the investigators dropped the bag off the top of the bridge and it immediately began to float.

"Whoever did it threw her off the bridge," Rizzo said.

Zellner said her team will continue to investigate.

Sheriff's Department spokesman Pat Barry said he could not comment, but believes the police version of the crime will hold up in court.

"They have not seen any of the evidence in this case," Barry said of the defense team. "And we're really looking forward to the day we can go to trial and not perform stunts like this to grab media attention."

Legal experts say inconsistencies in statements made by suspects, though common, provide both opportunity and peril for prosecutors and the defense. Any statement by a suspect acknowledging involvement in a crime is "going to be very persuasive to a jury," said Janice Nadler, an associate professor at Northwestern University School of Law.

On the other hand, she said, any details in the statement that do not mesh with the police version of the crime put the entire statement into question, she said.

"That raises the specter the statement was, as a whole, coerced," she said.

[Admin]

Slain girl's mom says husband is innocent

Karen Mellen
Chicago Tribune (IL)
November 22, 2004

Melissa Fox of Wilmington said she has never, "not for a second," thought her husband was responsible for killing their daughter.

But Will County authorities have charged Kevin E. Fox, 27, with sexually assaulting and drowning his daughter Riley, 3, whose body was found in a creek in June, clad only in a pink flamingo T-shirt and earrings.

For the Fox family, grieving over Riley has yielded to the urgent fight against murder charges. The family has invested in an expensive defense team to try to prove that police officers leaned on Fox until he gave a false confession, spinning a tale that he accidentally killed Riley, then staged the death to look like a sexual assault and abduction.

Kevin Fox's relatives say they have received support from residents of Wilmington, but concede that they also encounter whispers and suspicion since Riley disappeared. "I'm going to fight back," Melissa Fox said. "And we're going to fix it. And then [their son] Tyler, Kevin and I will be back together. And we'll move on. And hopefully find out what really happened to [Riley]."

Kevin and Melissa Fox met when he was a senior basketball player at Wilmington High School and she was a cheerleader two years younger.

Melissa gave birth to Tyler when she was 18, and Kevin then quit Illinois State University (where he spent much of his time with fraternity brothers at the Sigma Chi house, his wife said) and returned to Wilmington.

Both attended Joliet Junior College, and Kevin soon began working as a union commercial painter, a job that one boss said he was a natural for because of his 6-foot-5-inch frame and long arms.

He made good money, eventually more than $30 an hour, but the couple--who married when Tyler was 3--were still repairing bad credit from when Kevin was in college. They rented a small Cape Cod house just a few blocks from his parents' house. Riley was born three years ago, and Melissa said she and Kevin thought their family was complete.

"We had a lot of support," she said. "I think, even though we were young parents, I think we were excellent parents. ... We were happy. We were like a picture-perfect family until that day," she said, choking back tears.

Melissa Fox spoke in a recent interview in the Naperville office of her husband's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, who would not allow Kevin Fox to be interviewed.

Melissa Fox said she planned to resume studying for a teaching degree after Riley started preschool and her husband wanted to start his own business. Until then, she spent her days helping out at Tyler's school, planning outings and caring for Riley, who loved to shop and do dishes.

Friends and relatives say Riley was unusually close to Kevin. She would allow only him to brush her long brown hair or get her out of her car seat.

"We worked together, and he'd get home from work and he'd be dog-tired," said a friend, Luke Hornberger of Wilmington. "But he'd go home and play catch with his kids."

Kevin was the best man at his older brother Chad's wedding in the spring and in his toast poked fun at himself for always following his brother around as a youngster.

"[Kevin] said, `Now is your time to follow me and get married and have a family,'" Chad Fox, 29, said. "And I always told him I was really jealous of his family and the way that he was a father to his children. Beautiful children."

Chad Fox works across the hall from Zellner's law firm and sought her counsel before his brother was arrested. He is behind a Web site that proclaims Kevin's innocence, pointing out that it was Kevin who persuaded the men in the family to provide a DNA sample because they had nothing to hide.

Melissa Fox steadfastly supports her husband in spite of police pressure. She said on the night Kevin was arrested, police reminded her that she told them she felt as though someone was watching her.

"And I said, `Yeah, but that's not Kevin,'" Melissa said. "Never once, for a second, did I think that Kevin did this."

Kevin Fox reported Riley missing the morning of June 6, saying he put Tyler and Riley to sleep on the living room couch the night before, when Melissa was participating in a charity walk. After a frantic search by hundreds of volunteers, Riley's body was found in a creek 4 miles from her house.

Zellner has filed a federal lawsuit against the Will County Sheriff's Department, saying police coerced Fox into saying something that is untrue. Zellner said there is no physical evidence linking Fox to the murder, but police have said they do have physical evidence and are awaiting more test results.

Sheriff's spokesman Pat Barry declined to comment on the evidence. He did say he understands the family's reluctance to believe Kevin Fox is guilty, but he pointed out that many people without violent histories are accused of horrific deeds.

"Is this something that, outwardly, you could have seen coming? No," Barry said. "But then again, the majority of these [crimes] are not what people can see coming. Usually, people are shocked at who's done it."

A search of records in Will and McLean Counties shows Kevin Fox had faced minor charges, such as stealing Halloween decorations from a house in Normal and writing bad checks. In 1999, he pleaded guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia and a small amount of marijuana in Will County.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Family Services said there had been no contact with the family before Riley's death. After Kevin Fox's arrest, the agency opened a file on Tyler, and a representative said that investigation is not completed.

Even before the arrest, the family had come under scrutiny in Wilmington over money donated in Riley's name being placed toward a reward to find "the real killer."

Melissa said she blocks out local gossip, such as criticism of her decision to buy a new sport-utility vehicle. (She said her car payment is just $30 more than in the past and she wanted to rid herself of painful memories of the old car.)

Wilmington Police Chief James Metta, one of the first on the scene after Riley's body was found, said the arrest has provided closure for many in town, but obviously not those who believe Fox is innocent.

"I'm confident the system we have in place will do the job," Metta said. "He has an excellent attorney. We'll see."

Maggie Tyler, a member of the Wilmington Garden Club who spearheaded the effort to build a park in Riley's honor, said she is reserving judgment until the case goes to trial. She has started to block out media coverage.

"Even if they do get this straightened out, it's going to be a tangled mess for a long, long time," she said. "You can tell them it's cloudy out today and some people are going to argue with you. And that's just the way human nature is."