‘1,000-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle': Officials in Gliniewicz Investigation Discuss Suicide Conclusion

Days after the announcement that Fox Lake Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz staged his own suicide, investigators are detailing how they came to that conclusion

Days after the announcement that Fox Lake, Illinois  Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz staged his own suicide, investigators are detailing how they came to that conclusion.

Investigators struggled with the case partly because of Lt. Gliniewicz’s extensive training with the military and law enforcement.

“You have a 30-year police vet with unbelievable training he’s gone through himself and he’s been through,” Detective Chris Covelli of the Lake County Sheriff’s Department said. “In fact he was in the military and went through military training. He has experience leading the Explorer Post and staging crime scenes for them. So this is an experienced police officer who knows what the investigators are going to be looking at.”

Covelli said the investigation was like “dumping a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle on a table without a map on how to put it together, and putting it together piece by piece by piece."

According to investigators, some of the most important evidence was gathered not at the crime scene, but from the trail of texts and electronic messages Gliniewicz believed he had destroyed.

“When pieces started being put together and things started to sway, it wasn't until last week we definitively said this was a staged suicide,” Det. Covelli said.

This week, investigators revealed after the months-long investigation, the officer had “carefully staged” his suicide to make it seem like a homicide committed by three suspects.

Officials said his death came after approximately seven years of stealing and laundering money from the Village of Fox Lake’s Police Explorer Post. Detectives later disclosed Gliniewicz also tried to hire a hit-man to kill the village administrator who was looking into the program’s finances.

Investigators are now using the evidence gathered in Gliniewicz’ suicide for the investigation surrounding his wife Melodie, and son D.J. Neither have been charged with any crime.

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