Losing a 3-year-old daughter through murder is not what any parent would like. It becomes particularly surprising when the father of the child becomes a suspect in the murder of his daughter. Riley Fox’s parents had to go through this years ago after their daughter was found murdered. Many years have passed, and people still want information about the little girl’s parents, Kevin Fox and Melissa Fox Hodgen.
Riley Fox, a 3-year-old from Wilmington, Illinois, was killed on June 6, 2004, and she was born on March 31, 2001. Following Riley Fox’s father’s initial accusation and subsequent exoneration based on DNA evidence, parolee Scott Eby confessed to the crime and was found guilty.
Riley Fox’s father, Kevin Fox, had picked up his children from their grandmother’s home on June 6, 2004, the night of Riley’s abduction, at around one in the morning. He placed Riley on the couch and Tyler, Riley’s older brother, on the living room chair because the children’s beds were missing clean sheets and blankets. After watching TV in his room, he went to bed at 2:30. Tyler woke him up the following morning and informed him that Riley had died. He looked around and asked around, then dialed 911.
Riley Fox’s Parents: Meet Kevin Fox And Melissa Fox Hodgen
Kevin Fox and Melissa Fox Hodgen were Riley Fox’s parents. The murder of the little girl on June 6, 2004, devastated them. The details of Riley’s death are horrifying. The young child was discovered in a creek close to her Wilmington, Illinois, home on the day she vanished. She had experienced a sexual assault in addition to being bound and gagged. It was discovered after more research that the kid had drowned.
Riley Fox’s Father Initially Accused of Killing His Daughter
As Riley Fox’s parents were still struggling to come to terms with losing their daughter, what followed was what they did not expect.
Kevin Fox, the girl’s father, was initially accused based on a forced confession. At this point, you can imagine the situation Riley Fox’s mother, Melissa Fox Hodgen, was in. If you were Riley Fox’s mother, you wouldn’t know what to do at that point. Kevin Fox was imprisoned for eight months before DNA evidence indicating someone else had committed the crime allowed him to be released.
It was Fox’s lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, who discovered the DNA evidence and arranged for testing. The name Eby was scribbled inside a pair of muddy shoes that the police had discovered at the site, but they did nothing with this information.
They disregarded further crucial cues as well, such as the nearby home that was broken into the night Riley vanished. In a subsequent federal civil rights case against the Will County Sheriff’s Office and the detectives who had coerced Kevin Fox’s confession, the Fox family was awarded a $15.5 million jury verdict (later reduced to $8.5 million).
After DNA evidence connected Scott Eby to Riley, he was eventually charged with five charges of first-degree murder and one count of predatory sexual assault. Eby was already serving two consecutive seven-year terms for separate offenses when he was indicted. Eby said that he stole $40 by slicing the screen of a neighbor’s house across the street. He then crossed the street to the Fox residence.
It’s been years since the death of the young girl, but why are people still looking for information about Riley Fox’s parents? Well, it has been reported that Riley’s father, Kevin, has passed away.
Sadly, in 2023, a head-on collision in Arkansas claimed the life of Kevin Fox, who had been wrongfully imprisoned by the Will County Sheriff’s Department for his daughter’s murder. Wrongful conviction lawyer Kathleen Zellner remembered him as one of her bravest clients and expressed her sorrow for his passing by stating, “He will be regarded as the greatest parent a person could have ever been to his children. The fact that he passed away so young is tragic.”
Riley Fox’s parents were no longer together at the time of Fox’s reported death. Kevin had been residing in Arkansas with his new wife and their two young girls when Zellner announced his passing on her Twitter account. According to local news sources, a Ford Focus and Fox’s GMC Sierra collided in the deadly accident on State Highway 7.
