After searching most of the day volunteers found the body of 3-year-old Riley about 3:30 Sunday afternoon. Her body was found in a nearby creek...several miles from her home.
Her father last saw her when they went to sleep late last night. When he woke up this morning she was gone.
Neighbors tried to comfort Melissa Fox Sunday night. But there was no consolation for her and her husband Kevin. A short time earlier they got the worst news any parent could imagine. Their three-year-old daughter Riley, who'd been missing all day, was found dead.
Search coordinators who had marshaled more than 5-hundred volunteers broke the news.
"I worry about my 7-year-old," said Dave Carter, neighbor
Volunteers found the little girl's body in a creek in the Forsyth woods some three miles from her home.
Investigators brought boats to the scene to comb for evidence. Police say they have a lot of questions and only a few answers.
Kevin Fox put Riley and her 7-year-old brother Tyler to sleep Saturday night on a couch after picking them up at their grandmother's.
Tyler woke his dad up early Sunday morning to say Riley was gone. The front door was left wide open. Melissa Fox, who had spent the night in Chicago, rushed home.
Police say, unfortunately, Tyler apparently was sleeping when his sister disappeared.
"He doesn't remember a lot, no," said Chief Jim Metta, Wilmington Police
Investigators say its possible Riley woke up and walked out of the house on her own. But whoever killed her took her to the woods to try to hide her body. Police say it's too soon to jump to any conclusions.
"I don't think anybody should be getting all up, you know, worked up that we got some serial person going around abducting people. We don't know," said Pat Barry of the Will County Sheriff's Department.
Many of the volunteers who spent the day looking for Riley filled city hall to listen to police during the news conference. They are still trying to make sense of it.
Police have not revealed at this point how they believe Riley was killed, or whether there was any sign of forced entry into the family's home. But they were also looking at evidence from a house two doors down where the screen door was ripped overnight.
They are also interested in finding the driver of a red Chevy Baretta that was seen cruising the neighborhood Saturday night.
The coroner has scheduled an autopsy for Monday.
