Mom: Ready to face man accused of killing daughter
The mother of a 3-year-old whose 2004 rape and murder sparked a media furor said she hopes prosecutors seek the death penalty for the slaying of her daughter, Riley Fox.
Melissa Fox said she will attend every trial proceeding for Scott Wayne Eby, the imprisoned sex offender who was charged Thursday with Riley's death. She also said she'd be pleased with a guilty verdict that leads to a sentence of life in prison without parole.
"I'll be at anything and everything I can be at, because I feel that's my way of being able to stand up for Riley," Melissa Fox told the Chicago Tribune. "I'm not afraid of him or afraid of seeing him. ... I want to be there."
Eby, 38, was charged with first-degree murder and predatory criminal sexual assault of a child in the 2004 death of Riley Fox, who vanished from her home and whose body was later found in a creek four miles away.
According to the criminal complaint, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound Eby held the bound girl under water until she drowned.
Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow has said he has four months to decide whether to seek the death penalty against Eby, who is serving seven-year prison sentences on each of two unrelated Will County convictions of criminal sexual assault.
The little girl's death gained widespread media attention, both during the search in Wilmington, where authorities say Eby lived, and after authorities accused her father, Kevin Fox.
Kevin Fox was charged after he implicated himself under intense questioning. But he later said he only did so in exchange for leniency and after losing hope during an overnight interrogation that lasted more than 14 hours.
He spent eight months in jail in the killing before DNA evidence showed he was not her killer and was eventually cleared.
The parents were awarded more than $8 million in damages after they accused investigators of fabricating evidence.
Melissa Fox called Thursday's charges "bittersweet" after waiting years to find out if anyone would be changed in the investigated.
"I never thought I was going to hear those words," she said. "I was happy. I was sad. I was angry. It was unbelievable really, an unbelievable moment."
http://www.examiner.com/a-2654628~Mom__Ready_to_face_man_accused_of_killing_ daughter.html
I hope they´ll seek the DP and that the prosecution will be succesfull.
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