Controversial Coroner Gets Crime-Busting Award
(CBS) -- He's been admonished by Lake County authorities and kicked off the ballot for re-election, but that hasn't stopped Lake County Coroner Thomas Rudd from winning an esteemed crime-fighting award.
CBS 2's Brad Edwards reports.
There is irony here, Rudd concedes. His 2015 was something, all right, starting with the case of Melissa Calusinski, who was convicted of the 2009 daycare murder of a toddler.
Rudd overturned the manner of death from "homicide" to "undetermined" and said he doesn't think the child suffered a skull fracture at the hands of Calusinski.
"She will be free, there's no question," Rudd says. "It's just cruel what they're doing by keeping her in."
He says it's possible a new coroner could do an about-face. Rudd is now off the ballot after admitting to a clerical error in signatures.
Rudd is perhaps best known for questioning the investigation into the September death of Fox Lake Police Lt. Joe Gliniwiecz. He theorized early on that the popular cop may have killed himself, even though the officer had radioed he was pursuing suspects. Investigators blasted Rudd for potentially jeopardizing their probe.
Rudd was proven right eventually and Gliniwiecz is now assailed as a bad cop and a monster.
"Dr. Rudd is honest and compassionate," says Dan McCollum, retired LaGrange Park police chief and head of the organization that has named Rudd the 2015 Illinois Law Enforcement Executive of the Year. "He exhibits the kind of leadership we find necessary and vital."
"In multiple high profile investigations while he has been the Lake County Coroner, Dr. Rudd has demonstrated that he is willing to be an independent thinker and exhibited an admirable willingness to seek the truth, regardless of how popular his actions might be," he said in a news release announcing the award.
After the primary, if Rudd is to run as an independent he'll have to collect 10,000 signatures in 90 days.
He says the power structure in Lake County has actually been nice to him, of late.
"Well, now they know I'm off the ballot they treat me much better," he says.
