Fox Lake Police Officer Staged Suicide to Cover Crimes, Officials Say


A stunning turnaround in the case of a Fox Lake police officer who was thought to be murdered two months ago.

Today, Lake County officials said the officer, Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, died in a carefully staged suicide after facing increased pressure from an alleged embezzling and money-laundering scheme he'd conducted for years. It's a far cry from the image put forth of a heroic police officer who was memorialized by the community and allegedly murdered in the line of duty.

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After a two-month investigation, the Lake County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Task Force concluded today that the death of Joe Gliniewicz was a suicide, carefully staged to make it look like a homicide, in order to cover up an alleged scheme to embezzle and launder thousands of dollars from the Lake County Explorers, a program aimed at teaching youth about law enforcement.

“Our investigation has determined conclusively that Gliniewicz intentionally left a staged trail of police equipment at the crime scene.”

–Lt. George Filenko


In a tense press conference, Lt. George Filenko of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force recounted the events that transpired that day. Police radio transmissions show that Gliniewicz was off duty at an abandoned concrete factory around 7 a.m. on Sept. 1. He calls in saying he’s checking on three male suspects. He initially declines any backup. Three minutes later he says they’ve taken off, and tells his dispatcher to send someone out.

Below, click on the red map points to read details about the crime scene as they were initially reported.


Gliniewicz then fires two shots: one in his abdomen, which hits his cell phone and doesn’t hit him. He fires the second, fatal shot underneath his bulletproof vest. The scene afterwards became fodder for wall-to-wall coverage on local and cable news networks:  a massive manhunt that went on for hours; an investigation that ultimately cost $300,000.

Here is Filenko in his own words, explaining how the major crimes task force finally concluded death by suicide.

“Our investigation has determined conclusively that Gliniewicz intentionally left a staged trail of police equipment at the crime scene,” Filenko said. “Analysts determined this trail of equipment (consisting of pepper spray, baton and glasses) was an attempt to mislead first responders and investigators to believe it was a homicide scene. It was learned through investigation that Gliniewicz had significant experience staging ‘mock crime scenes’ for police explorer training. The FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit concurs this was a staged scene, in part because there were no signs of Gliniewicz being dragged after the initial shot and no physical signs he fought for his life. We also concluded that Gliniewicz strategically aimed the first of the two shots from his own gun at the lower abdominal area, striking his cellular phone and bulletproof vest, which absorbed most of the impact of the first shot.”

Filenko also explains the alleged crimes that Gliniewicz had, for seven years, tried to cover up.

“The investigation found that Gliniewicz had been stealing and laundering money from the Fox Lake Police Explorer Post. This had been occurring over the past seven years. Gliniewicz was also found to have forged signatures on official documents. Thousands of dollars were used by Gliniewicz for personal purchases (travel expenses, mortgage payments, personal gym membership, adult websites, facilitating personal loans and unaccounted cash withdrawals).

“We recovered electronic messages that were deleted from Gliniewicz’s personal and work cellular phones, including incriminating messages that had been deleted prior to his suicide.”

Lt. George Filenko, left, and detective Chris Covelli.Lt. George Filenko, left, and detective Chris Covelli.

Filenko went on to say that the task force had not classified the case as a suspected suicide until a week and a half ago. He says that only when bank statements came back, and FBI forensics teams could uncover deleted text messages, could they finally start to put the pieces together about the scheme.  Even so, many reporters at the press conference got heated, suggesting that perhaps the major crimes task force had misled the public.

“In the first several weeks of this investigation, there was nothing we had leading us to conclude suicide,” he said. “We conducted a thorough investigation with the support of the FBI and other agencies who worked in lockstep with us by providing us support and all of this information that ultimately led to this conclusion.”

“ We knew that he was depressed in the final few weeks. Untreated depression results in suicide 90 percent of the time. Based on that information, this, to me, is a suicide.”

–Lake County Coroner

Lake County Coroner Dr. Thomas Rudd, who, in previous media reports had raised the specter of suicide, says that his initial conclusion after the autopsy was that he couldn’t determine whether it was a homicide or suicide. Once he’d learned the other elements of the investigation and of Gliniewicz’s profile – the cause of death became clear to him.

“This individual obviously knew he had legal problems, he knew there was the possibility of incarceration, his view in the community would be greatly diminished. We knew that he was depressed in the final few weeks. Untreated depression results in suicide 90 percent of the time. Based on that information, this, to me, is a suicide.”

Despite the late conclusions, there were signs of Gliniewicz’s potentially criminal activities from the very beginning. Before his death, the new Fox Lake Village Administrator Anne Marrin had started to question the expenses of the Lake County Explorer’s program. Gliniewicz, according to recovered text messages with one of two alleged co-conspirators, was on to it.

In one, Gliniewicz tells “Individual #2”:

In another text, Gliniewicz and Individual 2 plot a scheme to plant evidence against or set Marrin up.

Marrin says today said feels vindicated by her initial questioning.

“You heard today about a side of Lt. Gliniewicz that is in stark contrast to how he was previously portrayed in the media. When I heard he was concerned that I was asking tough questions about the program, it only confirmed to me that asking the tough questions was the absolute right thing to do,” Marrin said. “The community is the real victim here. So let’s always bear that in mind going forward.

Filenko says the case is ongoing, and the identities of two others alleged to be involved have not been revealed. He says it has been turned over to federal authorities.


Below, watch Wednesday's full news conference.


Related 'Chicago Tonight' stories

Fox Lake Mourns Officer’s Death as Search Enters Day 2

The far north suburban community of Fox Lake is still grieving as dozens of local, state, and federal law enforcement officers search for three suspects who allegedly shot and killed Fox Lake police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz early Tuesday morning. Brandis Friedman visited Fox Lake on Wednesday and she joins us with the latest.


The Week in Review, Sept. 11

A week after the fatal shooting of Fox Lake Lt. Joe Gliniewicz, law enforcement officers blast the Lake County coroner for revealing “sensitive information” about the officer’s death. Joel Weisman and his panel of journalists discuss this story and others.


The Week in Review, Sept. 18

Joel Weisman and his panel discuss the tensions between the Fox Lake Police Department and the Lake County coroner who police say revealed “sensitive information” regarding Lt. Joe Gliniewicz’s death.

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