Huge Manhunt for Illinois Cop's Killers Turns Up Empty

Search broadened outside Fox Lake
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 3, 2015 2:48 AM CDT
Updated Sep 3, 2015 5:00 AM CDT
Huge Manhunt Fails to Find Killers of Illinois Officer
This undated photo provided by the Fox Lake Police Department shows Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, who was shot and killed Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015, in Fox Lake, Ill.    (Fox Lake Police Department photo via AP)

Authorities broadened the hunt yesterday for three suspects wanted in the fatal shooting of a popular Illinois police officer, even as they acknowledged that they had no indication the men were still in the area where the slaying happened. After an intensive 14-hour "grid search" of homes, railroad tracks, and marshland in the village of Fox Lake, the second-day manhunt turned to the painstaking detective work of chasing down tips, collecting and reviewing surveillance video, and interviewing residents near the crime scene. Meanwhile, new search teams rippled out into subdivisions beyond the initial 2-square-mile perimeter established on Tuesday. At least 100 investigators were on the ground.

A major challenge was the lack of a description of the suspects beyond the vague one that came from Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, who told dispatchers he was pursuing three suspicious men—two white, one black—moments before he was shot. "That was the only description provided," says Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Cmdr. George Filenko, the lead investigator on the case. "So of course we're getting the public calling in every time they see that match of three individuals or even two individuals." He says a good tip from the public could break the case open, and he believes the suspects could still be in the area. "I know there have been a number of national incidents where suspects have cleverly escaped or hidden in place," Filenko says. "So anything's possible." (More Illinois stories.)

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