Fox Lake Shooting: Crime Scene Yields ‘Significant’ Evidence Pointing To Killer

The Fox Lake shooting of Police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz last week has investigators poring over a marshy area looking for any clue as to the identity of the killer or killers, and now it appears that officials have found something that might lead to a person of interest.

According to Lake County Sheriff’s Detective Chris Covelli, investigators have been at the scene every day, hacking away at heavy grasses which hinder the search for evidence, and have obtained video from a nearby resident’s home surveillance system that shows potential suspects. Lt. Gliniewicz reportedly stopped in the area to investigate “suspicious activity” and was found shot to death shortly after.

“The guys had to go out and buy machetes and weed whackers and they’ve been chopping this stuff out of the way and turning over every leaf and did locate something that will be significant down the road,” Covelli said.

The area is home to several businesses, and according to one owner, no one heard any gunshots that morning due to the fact that it’s a loud block. However, Skip Hjortland, who owns nearby Precision Chrome, said that any strangers in the area would have been noticed by business owners.

“They would have stuck out like a sore thumb. There are so many businesses, and we all have our doors open. It would have been something that would have attracted attention,” Hjortland told the Chicago Tribune. “I’ll feel so much better when these people are caught. One of them’s going to slip up, one of them’s going to get scared. Something’s going to break, I’m sure of it.”

A $50,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest of a suspect, but Detective Covelli says he believes they are getting closer now that they have a key piece of evidence from the crime scene. What that evidence is, he can’t reveal just yet.

“We’re getting closer. We can’t say that it’s imminent or that it’s going to happen anytime soon. We’re getting closer to identifying someone we’re interested in talking to,” Covelli said.

Lt. Gliniewicz was reportedly a well-regarded figure in the Illinois town and was often seen at local football games, where he was honored last week in a moment of silence. The players also wore his initials on their helmets in tribute.

“He used to come to all of our games. When he was here it was like he we another teammate on the field because every time he was here, he just brought life to our field,” student Mike Garcia told ABC7.

[Photo courtesy CBS]