Will County State’s Attorney’s James Glasgow asks FBI to join investigation into Riley Fox murder

June 18

JOLIET – Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow was joined today by Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in announcing that the FBI is assisting in the investigation of the murder of 3-year-old Riley Fox.

Discussions between the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office and the FBI regarding federal assistance in the investigation have been underway for 18 months. FBI agents have been reviewing investigative files for roughly a year.

On Wednesday afternoon, a team of FBI agents, assisted by investigators from the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office, conducted a canvass of the neighborhoods near where Riley Fox lived in Wilmington before she was killed in June 2004. During Wednesday’s sweep, the agents talked to neighbors and other potential witnesses in an effort to obtain new information and to revisit prior leads and evidence that might lead to the arrest of Riley’s killer.

The FBI agents also distributed fliers throughout Wilmington offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information that leads to the identification and arrest of the person or persons responsible for this crime.

“The FBI is bringing unprecedented resources and expertise to this investigation,” State’s Attorney Glasgow said. “It would be extremely difficult for a single local police agency to match the large number of highly trained law enforcement agents that the FBI sent to canvass Wilmington on Wednesday afternoon. In addition, the FBI will call upon the expertise of its highly regarded Behavioral Analysis Unit to assess the facts in this crime.”

In 2005, roughly a year after Riley’s murder, the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office assumed joint responsibility for the investigation in conjunction with a new team of investigators from the Will County Sheriff’s Department.

Since that time, local investigators have swabbed more than 70 individuals for DNA analysis, conducted more than 100 interviews and consulted extensively with national experts in a variety of fields including DNA and fingerprint analysis.

No significant finding in the investigation prompted the request for the FBI’s assistance. The FBI’s involvement will bring a fresh perspective to the case.

“The FBI’s assistance will greatly expand our investigative capabilities,” State’s Attorney Glasgow said. “We cannot allow this horrific crime against an innocent child to remain unsolved.”