State’s Attorney Glasgow, FBI announce charges against IDOC inmate for 2004 murder of Riley Fox

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May 27

JOLIET – Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow announced today that his office has filed first-degree murder charges against a former Wilmington man in connection with the killing of Riley Fox in 2004.

Glasgow filed first-degree murder charges against Scott Wayne Eby, 38, who currently is serving a 14-year prison sentence in the Lawrence Correctional Center for an unrelated criminal sexual assault that occurred in July 2005 in Will County.

State’s Attorney Glasgow last year formally asked the FBI to join the investigation into Riley Fox’s murder. The FBI brought unprecedented resources and expertise to a long-standing investigation.

Thursday’s charges are the culmination of the FBI’s involvement, which began formally on June 18, 2009. On that day, a team of FBI agents, assisted by investigators from the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Will County Sheriff’s Department, once again canvassed the neighborhoods near where Riley Fox lived.

“The FBI greatly expanded the investigative resources of local law enforcement by bringing a large team of highly trained agents and a fresh perspective to this horrific case,” Glasgow said. “Through methodical and dogged police work, this team of agents developed and followed up on dozens of additional sources and leads that eventually led to Scott Wayne Eby and the charges we have filed today.”

State’s Attorney Glasgow dismissed charges against Riley’s father, Kevin Fox, on June 17, 2005. Kevin Fox had been charged by a prior state’s attorney in October 2004 with the murder of his daughter. Within a day of filing those charges, the prior state’s attorney also announced his decision to seek the death penalty against Kevin Fox. 

Glasgow, who took office in December 2004, reviewed the case he had inherited and ordered the testing of DNA evidence retrieved from the young victim. He dismissed the charges against Kevin Fox after learning that the DNA evidence excluded Kevin Fox as a donor.

The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office reminds the public that charges are not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.