The Wrong Confession on Investigation Discovery features the case of Kevin Fox, who falsely confessed to the murder of his 3-year-old daughter Riley Fox, but DNA evidence later revealed that Scott Eby was the perpetrator.
When Kevin returned to his home in Wilmington, Illinois, around 1am on June 6, 2004, after picking up his children from their grandmother’s home, he was exhausted.
He laid Riley on the couch and placed his son, Tyler, in the chair in the living area before going to his room to watch TV. Kevin eventually fell asleep but was awakened hours later by Tyler.
He told him Riley was missing.
They searched the home, but Riley was nowhere to be found. During their search, Kevin noticed the front door and screen were open, but he continued searching for his little girl.
When Kevin learned that his neighbors had no knowledge of Riley’s whereabouts, he alerted police.
The search for Riley came to an end hours later when her body was found face down in a creek in Forsythe Woods County Forest Preserve, a public park not too far from her residence.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelRiley had been bound, gagged, and sexually assaulted before she was drowned.
Police collected dirt-covered shoes at the crime scene. It had the name Eby imprinted on the side, but they reportedly failed to follow up on the evidence as they had their eyes set on Kevin.
Investigators questioned him for 14 hours without allowing him to speak to an attorney.
Kevin said they broke him down “mentally, physically, and emotionally” to the point where he falsely confessed to murdering his daughter as he deemed it was “his only way out.”
Based on the videotaped confession, Kevin was arrested in connection to his daughter’s murder.
After spending eight months in jail and facing the death penalty, police dropped the charges and released Kevin when a DNA sample found at the crime scene was tested and revealed he wasn’t a match.
Six years later a tip led police to Eby, a sex offender who lived about a mile away from the Fox’s home and was already incarcerated for sex-related crimes.
When officials questioned Eby, he confessed to the murder.
Officials stated that after burglarizing another home on the same block, Eby broke into
Eby grabbed her and put her in the trunk of his car before driving to Forsythe Woods County Forest Preserve, where he raped her on the floor of the public restroom.
When DNA evidence linked him to the crime, he was charged with five counts of first-degree murder and one count of predatory sexual assault.
To avoid the death penalty, he pled guilty to the charges and was sentenced to life in prison in 2010.
The Wrong Confession airs at 9pm on Investigation Discovery.