Riley Fox (3) R.I.P.

Team Angels

Sex Offender Charged in 3-Year-Old Riley Fox's Slaying

Michelle Ruiz Contributor
AOL News
(May 28) -- Six years after 3-year-old Riley Fox was abducted, sexually assaulted and drowned in a creek near her Illinois home, prosecutors who once blamed Fox's father for her death have filed first-degree murder charges against an imprisoned sex offender.

Scott Wayne Eby, 38, confessed to killing Riley in a crime that began as a burglary at her family's home in Wilmington, Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said. Eby was charged Thursday with first-degree murder and predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. A year after Riley's slaying in 2004, Eby was convicted and sent to state prison on a 14-year sentence for the sexual assault of a female relative who is now 27.

Riley's parents, Kevin and Melissa, are "tremendously relieved" but have "mixed feelings," family attorney Kathleen Zellner told AOL News today.

"For Kevin, it's great thing to have his name finally cleared by having someone else linked to the crime," Zellner said. "At the same time, it was very difficult for them, because they learned details of what really happened to their daughter."

Glasgow tapped the FBI to assist in the investigation last year. He said a tipster to the federal agency led authorities to Eby, who was not an original suspect. He was living with his mother less than a mile from the Fox home at the time of the slaying, but authorities said Eby had no relationship with the Foxes.

After Riley's naked body was found facedown in the creek near her home, prosecutors focused on her father, ultimately charging him with his daughter's killing. He spent eight months in jail after giving a videotaped confession he later said was coerced by investigators. The charges against Fox were dismissed in June 2005, after Glasgow's election to the state attorney's office. He ordered DNA testing of the masking tape on Riley's mouth and found it did not match that of her father. The parents were awarded $8 million in a wrongful-arrest lawsuit.

"I have never dealt with a case this heart-wrenching," Glasgow told reporters. "While nothing can bring back Riley Fox, we hope that the events that led to today can bring some closure to the family."

The Foxes praised the FBI agents who assisted Will County officials in finding "the true killer," saying in a statement that "finally, there can be justice for Riley."

Glasgow addressed the legal missteps that led officials to target Fox, saying, "The FBI and my office feel comfortable in announcing Kevin Fox is innocent." He added that the charges filed against Eby prove "the system works."

"When everybody does their jobs, innocent people will not be convicted," Glasgow said.

Glasgow declined to say whether a DNA match was made between Eby and Riley. But he suggested the evidence against Eby was strong, saying his office had learned a valuable lesson after wrongfully charging Fox without DNA evidence, according the Chicago Sun-Times.

"We're not going to be in the situation we were in before with the DNA," he said.

Glasgow said he hoped Kevin Fox would work with his office to help it understand the circumstances of false confessions in an effort to avoid them in the future. Zellner said she found that statement "highly annoying."

"The statement that Kevin gave was not the product of anything about his personality. He is totally emotionally healthy and normal," Zellner told AOL News. "That was a law enforcement problem of people abusing their power in interrogations. They need to start by cleaning their own house."

At Thursday's news conference, Glasgow said he hoped the charges against Eby would bring peace to a community long haunted by the slaying of a young girl. Glasgow has four months to decide whether to seek the death penalty against Eby.

The case has "torn at the very fabric of Will County since 2004," he said. "It has torn at the hearts of everyone in law enforcement."

http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/sex-offender-charged-in-3-year-old-riley-foxs-slaying/19495330

Team Angels

Riley Fox Murder Still Unsolved 5 Years Later
Her Father Was Charged, But DNA Proved His Innocence=
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/riley.fox.murder.2.1049568.html

Justice for Riley~
http://www.justiceforriley.com/index.html

Orlando, Florida

Orlando, Florida

Justice for Riley Fox? Sex Offender Charged with 3-Year-Old's Rape and Murder

Posted by Caroline Black

Riley Fox (3) R.I.P. Riley-fox_370x278

Riley Fox (CBS Affiliate WBBM)

JOLIET, Ill. (CBS/WBBM) The road to justice for the family of Riley Fox has been long and difficult, but perhaps the family can begin to find closure, as police have now charged a convicted sex offender with Riley's rape and murder.
Pictures: Riley Fox

The charges allege that Scott Eby, a sex offender with a long rap sheet, abducted Riley Fox from her home on June 6, 2004, sexually assaulted her, bound her in duct tape, and then drowned her in a creek.
At first, prosecutors suspected the little girl's father, Kevin Fox, who first reported Riley missing from their home in Wilmington.
Five months later Kevin Fox was charged and convicted after prosecutors claimed he confessed to the drowning death of his daughter in a lengthy interrogation.
Kevin Fox spent eight months in jail before the FBI discovered that the DNA found on Riley's body did not match her father, but rather linked 38-year-old Eby to the crime. He was recently awarded $8.9 million in a civil suit for wrongful imprisonment and malicious prosecution.

Riley Fox (3) R.I.P. Scott-eby_370x278

Scott Eby (Illinois Dept. of Corrections)

"This case is a case that has torn at the very fabric of Will County," State Attorney James Glasgow told CBS affiliate WBBM.
Eby, who was on parole when this crime was committed, is currently serving a 14-year prison sentence for raping his sister in 2005.
Pictures: Riley Fox
Over six years ago, Riley was reported missing from the Fox's Illinois home. Volunteers scoured the area hoping that the little girl had just wandered off. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Hikers found Riley's body in a creek four miles away.

Riley Fox Murdered

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20007452-504083.html

» Riley Ann Sawyer-"Baby Grace" (2) R.I.P.