From The Start, Officials Knew Fox Lake Cop's Death Could Be Suicide

By Mae Rice in News on Jan 5, 2016 6:49PM

Fox Lake officials knew from the get-go that the death of Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, the infamous Fox Lake cop, could be what it ultimately was: a suicide staged to look like a murder.

According to newly-released police documents, an officer arriving on the scene of Gliniewicz's death noted that Gliniewicz’s right hand was in a position consistent with him having just shot himself, the Tribune reports. However, investigators “scoffed” at inquiries about suicide, and sent out hundreds of officers (and dogs, and helicopters) on a manhunt for Gliniewicz’s non-existent murderer.

Investigators were thrown off the scent by Gliniewicz’s own account that he was pursuing three murder suspects when he died.

They were also confronted with confounding, refreshingly rude testimony like this from fellow officers. From the Tribune;

“Sgt. (Dawn) Deservi said she didn't think he would do something like this to himself because he was too vein (sic) of an individual," task force investigators wrote. "If he missed and caused himself to be paralyzed, he wouldn't be able to live with himself in that condition."

Ultimately, the police investigated all the possibilities, and concluded his death was suicide after a two-month investigation (and, the Tribune notes, “following leaks of information about the investigation and public speculation that no killers existed”)..

However, two weeks after his death, investigators had made it decently clear that they were investigating murder without ruling out suicide. It doesn’t seem the Tribune has busted open a major coverup.