Straightout homicide, especially since Police Officers deb, were going to cut you off right now. The News Conference actually just started. Lets go to fox lake. Im detective christopher covelli, covelli for the Major Crime Task force. Im joined today by commander of the lake county Major Crime Task force, chief George Filenko and lake county coroner dr. Thomas rutt. Two months have passed since the death of lieutenant. Since day one of this incident, investigators have tirelessly worked day and night, diligently searching for answers. This Investigative Team included members of the lake county Major Crime Task force as well as our federal partners, the fbi, the atf, secret service, homeland security, and the u. S. Marshals service. This was an extraordinarily complex investigation with many moving parts which resulted in over 150 separate investigators spending over 25,000 hours investigating this case. Over 430 leads were examined. Over 250 pieces of evidence were collected and submitted to local and federal crime labs for analysis. Thousands of pages of financial documents were reviewed. Over 6500 pages of Text Messages were reviewed just from lieutenant glinowiczs personal cell phone. Over 30,000 telephone numbers were reviewed for comparison. Over 40,000 emails were reviewed. During this process, we appreciate the cooperation and assistance from the village of fox lake and village administrator ann marin. The interest of justice require a methodical, thorough and complete investigation. This has been done. Even though some develop their own theories or felt a need to criticize, we had a job to do, and we have done it. While some wanted the results fast, we wanted them right. We were obligated to prove our conclusions before we reported to you and the public we serve. We are thankful for the support and patience of the fox lake and surrounding communities while we inspected all of the evidence, systematically explored every tip, every lead and every possible option. Today we will discuss the findings and conclusions of our investigation into the death of lieutenant glinnowicz. We have two principal speakers. Lake county Major Crime Task force commander george filanko and coroner dr. Rudd. We will take questions at the end of the statement and ask that all questions be held until then. Im first going to turn the mike over to commander filanko. Good morning. Were here to wrap were here this morning to wrap up the investigation into the death of lieutenant Charles Joseph glinnowicz. This extensive investigation has concluded with an overwhelming amount of evidence that glinnowiczs death was a carefully staged suicide. We have determined this staged suicide was the end result of extensive criminal acts that glinnowicz had been committing. In fact, he was under increasing levels of personal stress from scrutiny of his management of the Fox Lake Police explore unit. We have the highest degree of confidence in the facts which led us to this conclusion which lake county coroner dr. Rudd will confirm. In addition, we have concurrence of our investigative partners, federal, state including the fbi, their Behavioral Analysis unit, and the atf. With those partners, our investigation strongly indicates criminal activity on the part of at least two other individuals. Because that part of the investigation is open and will be ongoing, we will have no further comment on that aspect of the investigation. Heres a brief summary of the important elements of the investigation which led us to these conclusions. Further elaboration and further detailed information regarding these facts are provided to all of you in your handouts. The investigation found glinnowicz had been stealing and laundering money from the Fox Lake Police explorer post. This had been occurring over the past seven years. Glinnowicz was also found to have forged signatures on official documents. Thousands of dollars were used by glinnowicz for personal purchases, travel expenses, mortgage payments, personal gym memberships, adult websites, facilitating personal loans, and unaccounted cash withdrawals. The documents discovered with forged signatures were rec decisions for federal surplus equipment and official police explore documents. We recovered electronic messages that were deleted from glinnowiczs personal and work cellular phone including incriminating statements that had been deleted prior to his suicide. A selection of those deleted messages is available in your media handout packets as well. Our investigation has determined conclusively that glinnowicz intentionally left a staged trail of Police Equipment at the crime scene. Analysts determined the trail of equipment consisting of pepper spray, a baton and his personal glasses was an attempt to mislead First Responders and investigators to believe this was a homicide scene. It was learned through investigation glinnowicz had significant experience staging mock crime scenes for Police Explorer training. The fbis Behavioral Analysis unit has concurred that this was a staged scene, in part because there were no signs of glinnowicz being dragged after the initial shot and no physical signs that he fought for his life. We have also concluded that glinnowicz strategically aimed the first of two shots at the lower abdominal area, striking his cellular phone and bulletproof vest which absorbed most of the impact of the first shot. Advanced ballistic testing with the use of ultraviolet photographic equipment conducted by the Northern IllinoisRegional Crime Lab confirmed both gunshots were fired at close range. Gunshot residue was found in the interior of glinnowiczs bulletproof vest cover when the second fatal round was fired which indicates the gun was placed underneath the vest carrier when the fatal round was fired. As we pursued the glinnowicz investigation, all possible death scenarios were considered including the possibility of homicide as well as suicide. In this matter, we presumed no facts prior to or during the investigation. We had no preconceived notions as to what occurred, nor did we prejudge the outcome of this investigation. Justice and our system of law demand nothing less. There are no winners here. Glinnowicz committed the ultimate betrayal to the citizens he served and the entire Law Enforcement community. The facts of his Actions Prove he behaved for years in a manner completely contrary to the image he portrayed. Thank you. Id like to introduce dr. Thomas rudd. Good morning. Im the lake county coroner. I have two statements to make before we reveal the findings of the autopsy. First i want to acknowledge the hard work done by all Law Enforcement agencies involved in investigating the scene and circumstances of the death of this officer. What appeared to be a slow process was done, in my opinion, in a very timely manner. Second, by law, the Lake County Coroners Office is mandated to investigate all deaths within our jurisdiction which means within lake county. We are to do the cause of death as well as the manner of death. The cause of death of lieutenant gliniewicz was established as a result of objective snfg medical evidence obtained at the autopsy. This office follows the principles and protocols of the National Association of medical examiners. The cause of death was published earlier, approximately ten days after his death by me in a newspaper article that said there was a catastrophic gunshot wound to the torso. We can now expand on that. As chief filenko said, this appears to be a staged suicide, and the first shot hit his right chest region. It went through the phone, lodged into his bulletproof vest. It did not penetrate his skin. Therefore it did not penetrate any body cavity, either the pleural or the abdominal. It was just below the ribcage. However, it did cause a bruise that measured four inches by four inches. It was reddish pink, indicating a recent injury by the bullet. This means that the small blood vessels ruptured in the superficial surface of the skin. These are the capillaries that are easily damaged. The fatal catastrophic gunshot wound, as the chief said, was in the left upper chest. It was located approximately two inches between below the collar of the bulletproof vest. Therefore the gun had to be placed in such an angle that the gun was close to the chest. It went under the vest at a 40degree angle, which was confirmed by the trajectory of the bullet. It hit the pulmonary artery, causing massive blood loss, approximately 1,200 ccs which would be equivalent to a little less than 3 pints of blood. As this officers bleeding internally, the lung is collapsing. There blood is filling up into the lung. The bullet then hits the left area where the blood vessels and bronchi go in and out. It courses through the bottom of the lung, continuing causing collapse and bleeding and lodges at the tenth rib. Now, there is an exit wound, but the bullet doesnt come out because it hits the bulletproof vest. Its called a short exit wound. Instead of being a cookiecutter sharp exit wound, its a raggededged wound. In summary, we have two bullets shot into this officer. I agree with the findings that this was a carefully staged suicide. This officer killed himself. Sorry, george. Well open it up now for questions and answers, understanding the fact that there are criminal investigations ongoing from what weve learned from the investigation into lieutenant gliniewicz. We ask that media personnel here raise their hands just so we can answer everybodys questions in a timely fashion. Chief . Sir. Was it your sense that investigators were closing in on him . Tell us specifically what you believe was the Pressure Point that led to the suicide. I think it was a culmination of issues over a sixmonth period. Thats what we learned in great detail from the Text Messages that we recovered in that 6,500 pages of Text Messages combined with bank records, thousands of pages of those that were analyzed by an fbi forensic accountant at our request. So this process probably began about six months ago and then culminated to a peak within the week of the staged suicide. Yes, sir. [ inaudible ] the fact that for many of us, phone calls were coming in within 24, certainly within 48 hours of a suicide. Certainly that must have come up. During this time, a Massive Community search was held which was attended by thousands of Police Officers. [ inaudible ] some in the community would probably ask at this point how you could allow that kind of thing to happen when questions were being raced about the veracity about the crime scene . Would you address that . The question is and im summarize it for those in the back is how we could allow a massive tribute to occur when there were rumors spreading throughout the community that this might be a suicide . It would be irresponsible on our part not to conduct a thorough and detailed investigation. And in the first several weeks of this investigation, there was nothing that we had that was leading us towards determining this as being a suicide. We conducted a thorough and detailed investigation that ultimately, with the support of the fbi who worked with us lockstep and other federal agencies by providing us support and all this information that ultimately led us to this conclusion. You knew pretty much right away [ inaudible ] the gun, and you knew on october 1st that the bullet came from his gun. What was the last month of the investigation . The last month of the investigation is entailed in the review of those documents that we have obtained, those Text Messages that you have a small sampling of. I mean, there are 6,500 of those deleted within a short period of time prior to the staged suicide. So the combination of all of that and other discoveries that we made throughout the investigation within the last 30 days led to this conclusion. [ inaudible ] were you made aware of this investigation into the financial activity [ inaudible ] . As is our protocol . The question was how soon after his death did we start looking into the financial aspect . Am i correct . Did i become aware of that . As is our protocol in any investigation in a homicide, we immediately start requesting financial and background information. Thats referred to as a victimology. Thats inclusive of that. Part of the delay in obtaining that is some of that isnt readily available or immediately available from the sources. In this case, we had to extract that information through quantico, specifically im referring to the text messaging, which took a substantial amount of time. The bank records banks, some cooperate very quickly. Others, it may take 30 to 60 to 90 days to retrieve some of those records. [ inaudible ]. Im sorry, sir, go ahead. Is it possible that lieutenant gliniewiczs might not have been discovered had he not taken his own life . I can tell you that eventually they would have been discovered because regardless of the fact that lieutenant gliniewicz staged his suicide, the village of fox lake had begun conducting a thorough internal audit of all of their assets. And eventually, as we found was indicated in some of those messages that we retrieved, that that was a concern that that audit was going to eventually lead to the discovery of this financial malfeasance. Was that prompted by suspicions of the lieutenant or prompted just because they were doing an audit . No. I believe and i dont want to answer out of turn for the village of fox lake, but i believe theyre doing a systematic audit of the entire village. I understand the village administrators will be making some closing comments here. That would be a question id defer to her. All right. Stunning developments from fox lake, illinois. Not just one, but i would say two bombshells involving the death of lieutenant Joe Gliniewicz died two months ago right now. He was found after being shot. At the time there was an intense manhunt. Intense manhunt following. They believed he had been murdered, perhaps. Now we are learning this. Officials there investigating this say it was a carefully staged suicide. The lieuatenant had been involvd in extensive criminal acts and stealing, Money Laundering for more than seven years. He had extensive experience staging crime scenes. They called this the ultimate betrayal. Stealing from the program that he was leading. This Explorers Program you heard referenced. This was a Community Outreach program where they work with young adults who aspire to get into careers in Law Enforcement, and thats where he would have this experience this experience staging mock crime scenes. The investigators also saying he spent thousands on travel, mortgage payments, gym memberships, adult websites, facilitating personal loans, and also unaccounted cash withdrawals. And one line that absolutely stands out when you talk about they talked about the betrayal that he had committed. He committed the ultimate betrayal, they said, to his community and to the force that he served. So much coming out in this. Lets discuss just some of the elements that were learning here. The forensics as well as this massive investigation in all the pieces of evidence that they have. With us right now, we have former nypd detective gill alba as well as forensic scientist larry kobilinsky. Were do we begin . There are so many elements. First to the investigative side. They listed everything they had gone through to get where they are today. Because we were going to ask at one point, why did it take so long . When you think of the thousands of pages of documents, the hundreds of pieces of evidence 6,500 Text Messages just on his phone that they went through, this is amazing that all of this came out. Tremendous job by the Police Department and not letting it come out before. Its not only this wasnt only the investigation of a suicide, this is the continuation of everything that he was involved with. The question is why did he kill himself originally . So thats, you know thats the biggest question. One of the things they suggested is there was an internal audit that was going on, and he feared that sooner or later, he would be found out. Larry, theres something very interesting here. So he was shot twice. Right. Right . One of the shots went into his cell phone and into his bulletproof vest. The other shot behind or underneath the bulletproof vest into his chest. There are people who have suggested, well, you know, a guy killing himself doesnt shoot himself twice. But the forensic the pathologist went into this evidence at length. Well, thats true. You know, i think many people think that you have an autopsy, you right away know the cause of death and the manner of death. Thats simply not the case. Its much more complicated than that. You know, the autopsy is going to reveal a lot about the ballistics, the track of the bullet, which shot was fired first. Remember, this started out as a homicide investigation. Right. So it wasnt complete until everything was tested. Enormous numbers of pieces of evidence had to be looked at. We havent even heard about dna on the gun, if he fired the gun himself, his dna would be on the gun. But was there any other kind of dna, any other donor of dna to that gun . I mean, we havent heard anything. But its much more complicated than people think. Obviously, realizing that he had not fired a lethal shot, he then proceeded to fire the second shot. And everything seems to match a selfinflicted wound. But remember, its still this is kind of still circumstantial. Until you put it all together, and putting it all together means the complete detective investigation, a psychological autopsy, if you will, the fbi behavioral unit was looking at his history and what was going through his mind and was there a reason that he might have