Kevin Fox, cleared in 2004 murder of his daughter in Will County, killed in Arkansas crash
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A man who was wrongly arrested and later cleared of the 2004 murder of his 3-year-old daughter in Will County was killed in a crash Monday afternoon in Arkansas.
Arkansas State Police said Kevin Fox, 46, was driving north on State Highway 7 near Dardanelle on Monday afternoon, when 47-year-old Michael Glasscock, who was headed north on the same road, crossed into Fox's path, causing a head-on collision.
Both Fox and Glasscock were killed.
Fox's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, offered her condolences in a tweet.
"I just learned that one of our best, most courageous & kindest clients, Kevin Fox was killed in a car crash yesterday. Our sympathy goes out to his family and everyone who loved him. RIP," she wrote.
In 2004, Fox was arrested for the murder if his 3-year-old daughter, Riley, and spent eight months in jail until a federal appeals court tossed out the charges based on DNA evidence. That DNA evidence eventually led to Scott Eby, who later pleaded guilty to raping and drowning Riley, and is now serving a life sentence for the crime.
Eby says he was drunk and high on cocaine the night of the murder. He wanted to rob the Fox house, but when he saw Riley sleeping, he decided he wanted to molest her so he took her from the home.
It was later revealed that key pieces of evidence were overlooked in the case, including shoes with Eby's name that were found in Forked Creek near the girl's body within hours.
There was also a burglary across the street from the Fox home the day Riley was reported missing. A window screen Eby admitted cutting had been entered into evidence as being torn during a storm. At that time, Eby had already been convicted of three burglaries.
But police apparently didn't think anything of the shoes or other evidence, and instead focused on Kevin Fox, who was arrested following a lengthy interrogation.
Authorities said at the time that Fox told investigators he decided to make his daughter's death look like an abduction after he thought he accidentally killed her by hitting her in the head with a door.
But Fox claimed detectives coerced him into saying he had hit Riley's head, accidentally causing her death.
"I still can't believe that people thought I was the monster in front of me now," said Kevin Fox to Eby in his impact statement at Eby's sentencing. "You deserve everything that is handed to you. From the time you killed Riley… I changed for the worst. I built up a lot of depression, and that depression turned to hate, which affected a lot of people in my life."
Finally, DNA testing -- obtained by his own defense team -- proved Kevin Fox did not sexually assault Riley. He was released on June 17, 2005, and the case went unsolved for nearly five years until Eby was charged.
In 2007, a federal jury awarded Kevin Fox and his wife $15.5 million in damages, after he filed a lawsuit accusing Will County police of framing him for his daughter's murder. A federal appeals court later reduced the damages to nearly $8.2 million.
