It was five years ago, Tuesday September 1st 2015, when Fox Lake Police Lieutenant Joe Gliniewicz, was found shot to death in a remote spot of the Village he patrolled. This was a major story on the TV news with reporters, helicopters and drones covering every aspect of the situation. I was working from home at this time and watched all reports that came in every day on the news.
That morning at 7:52 a.m. Gliniewicz (nicknamed G.I.Joe for his macho gung ho law enforcement style) radioed in he was pursuing three suspicious men near an abandoned cement plant in a marshy area of Fox Lake. This locale was a minor crime area, the worst things happening being an occasional broken window and low money weed dealing.
Three minutes later, Gliniewicz made his last radio call as he asked that back-ups should be brought in for support. G.I. Joe calmly told the dispatcher,”Yeah, you better start someone.” Officers were on the scene in less than five minutes and after seeing their fellow officer’s empty car they did a search of the road and weeds to find Lieutenant Gliniewicz’s lifeless body with a gunshot wound to his torso.
Five years ago this week Fox Lake Police Lieutenant Joe Gliniewicz was found shot to death while on patrol. His ‘story’ never added up.
In short time FBI & ATF agents and nearby county and city cops spread out in a two mile perimeter to close in on the killers. Hundreds of law enforcement men and women were on this case. Less than twelve hours later, two thirds of this manpower was called off. There was still a pursuit for the shooting suspects but it appeared to be less intense.
This is when my spider sense started tingling. There were cop killers on the loose, why not go full bore to finding them? Earlier that summer two convicted murderers (but not cop killers) escaped from an upstate New York prison and were on the run for over three weeks before one was killed in a shoot-out and the other was apprehended. The manpower and intensity of that tracking was much bigger than that for the now dead Fox Lake police officer.
There was confusion of whether G.I.Joe’s service revolver was taken by the killers and who owned the gun found near his body. All that takes is a 30 second call or text to dispatch to check the .40 caliber gun’s serial number to confirm or deny if this was the cop’s pistol. Again, there was more curiosity on my part.
On the second day after Gliniewicz’s death the exact area where his body was found was re-visited by investigators. They used a weed whip to clip down the high grass in search of more evidence. THIS time they cordoned off the spot with police tape and barricades. Why didn’t do this from the start? More bad smells of curiosity were coming to me.
It was reported that the suspects had to have escaped on foot, their exit route was limited to one dusty road. Everywhere else was a marshy mess. By Friday September 4th, after reviewing the timeline of events and checking out the terrain with Google Earth as well as news footage, I came to the conclusion that Officer G.I. Joe Gliniewicz had taken his own life. I would never waver from this hypothesis.
Every few days there would be new updates on the case that would further make my case for suicide. This was way before learning about Gliniewicz’s extremely messed up disciplinary reports on his employment. Those details would not come out for weeks and after hearing about his drunk driving, threats to peers and numerous reprimands and suspensions from work I couldn’t believe this guy was still a Fox Lake cop let alone a lieutenant almost ready for retirement!
I kept telling friends, including my next door neighbor who is a part time policeman that nothing in this case added up. Officer Gliniewicz was a fitness buff, super tough and street wise; yet he lets three young men grab his own gun and shoot him twice? The first bullet mostly hit his bulletproof vest and the fatal shot went under his vest and into his chest quickly ending his life. This was beyond reasonable doubts and highly unlikely.
One big shoe to drop was a week in to the investigation when the three “suspicious men” G.I. Joe was tracking were cleared of any wrongdoing. At the time of the ‘murder’ the trio were eating at a nearby restaurant. There was security camera footage, eyewitnesses and a time stamped dining receipt to confirm their innocence. Upon hearing this I got the sick feeling that Gliniewicz must have seen these three men not too far from where he shot himself and planned to pin his ‘murder’ on them. Two months later I was proven right.
I don’t want to get much into the pomp of G.I. Joe’s wake and funeral. Of course his services were a major local and national story with police from all over the country in attendance to honor the fallen officer. Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner ordered flags to be lowered to half staff.
The Village of Fox Lake called on all citizens to contribute money for G.I. Joe’s widow Melodie and his family. Everyone stepped up in grand fashion. Over the next several weeks there were countless fundraising events for the Gliniewicz family happening all over Lake County, every one of them attended by his widow and children. Forgive the cynicism but to me it seemed like a frantic cash grab, especially considering G.I. Joe was supposedly killed in the line of duty and a major insurance pay-out would be coming to his Mrs. G.I. Joe and family. This all led to more curiosity on my part.
When talking to the press, Lake County officials insisted there were signs of a struggle at the death scene. It was reported Gliniewicz’s can of pepper spray was on the ground near his body as was his police baton, as if there was a battle. So you’re dealing with three guys and you try out the spray and baton but not your gun? This doesn’t add up!
It was known that for years Lieutenant Joe Gliniewicz ran Fox Lake’s Explorers youth group and he would stage crime scenes to show the kids how police investigations work. So my thinking was, “I bet this guy staged his own crime scene!”
Two more puzzle pieces kicked in. First there was Lake County coroner Dr. Thomas Rudd who told the press he could not rule out suicide in G.I.Joe’s death. This created a major hubbub among the village and county officers. There were rumors some Fox Lake officers first on the crime scene knew right away this was a staged scene and that county officials were purposely dragging their feet to arrive at the same conclusion. More bad smells for sure.
The other puzzle piece was watching the Channel 9 Morning News as former U.S. Marshall turned security consultant John O’Malley became a frequent on set guest to discuss the Gliniewicz case. Since the second week in September, former Marshal O’Malley would answer questions on new developments of the story; then he said the same words I did about this mystery, “It just didn’t add up.” I was tracking the same way as an expert lawman.
It wouldn’t be until November 4th at a stunning press conference that the entire Joe Gliniewicz story would unfold. He shot himself and staged it to look like a death in the line of duty; all to stop an investigation into years of money grabbing corruption from the Fox Lake Explorer’s Club. There were audits and inquiries hanging over G.I. Joe’s head and more ugliness and pilfering than anyone could imagine. To this day his widow Melodie faces legal charges of being in on her husband’s scams.
I look back at this story with sadness for the thousands of people in Fox Lake and surrounding areas who were to no fault of their own, taken in by the story of a disgraced and corrupt cop.
There’s also the self-satisfaction of me knowing pretty much from the get-go that there was way more to Lieutenant Gliniewicz’s story than what was first believed. I’ve always had a good bullshit detector, something I inherited from my late mother. If she were alive when this story happened, she would have seen the same story I did.
NEXT WEEK’S BLOG- Some stories behind popular songs