'GI Joe' Gliniewicz — Fox Lake’s Shame 1 Year Later

FOX LAKE, IL — A year ago, hundreds of police officers swarmed through the tiny town of Fox Lake.

One of their own, police Lt. Charles “G.I. Joe” Gliniewicz, was shot to death in a remote, boggy area just as he was starting his shift on the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015.

Moments before he was killed, Gliniewicz, a 52-year-old Army veteran, called in that he was going to approach two white men and a black man that he considered suspicious.

That brief, vague description — two white men and a black man — was all the hundreds of cops had to go on when they flooded Fox Lake like an occupying army, flying over in helicopters, searching door-to-door and tracking with dogs.

The police were still out in force the next day, and by evening, the town came together to honor the beloved Gliniewicz with an emotional, patriotic memorial service.

Gliniewicz was put in the ground on Labor Day. Hundreds of police officers received holiday pay to attend the hero’s funeral. More officers collected holiday and overtime pay to cover for the cops at the ceremony. And all the while, the search continued, still with no sign of the two white guys and the black man.

They were never found. They didn’t exist. Gliniewicz made them up before carefully staging his suicide. He apparently figured he was better off dead and remembered fondly than still alive and looking at prison time for his years of stealing.

Gliniewicz killed himself before his sordid, secret second life of thievery, drugs and pornography could be exposed. For years, he ripped off the police Explorers post he had led, stealing thousands and spending the money on travel and vacations, restaurants, adult websites and a gym membership. But he had become anxious that Village Manager Anne Marrin was on to him.

Before deciding to kill himself, Gliniewicz considered having Marrin murdered instead. Afraid that Marrin was getting close to discovering his shady ways, he took steps to try contacting the leader of a motorcycle gang so he could put a hit on her, police said text messages showed.

While Gliniewicz ultimately took the easy way out, he left his widow holding the bag. The wife, Melodie Gliniewicz, was charged with conspiracy, unlawful use of charitable funds and money laundering. Melodie Gliniewicz, who helped her husband run the Explorer scouts, is free on bond while her case is pending.

Even though her husband was looting the Explorer scouts and she is facing her own felony case for allegedly helping him, Melodie Gliniewicz still wants her dead husband's pension. Village officials are trying to stop her. Gliniewicz's 2015 salary was $96,345.60.

During the two months of the G.I. Joe “murder” mystery, the lead investigator on the case, George Filenko, publicly insisted detectives believed the slain cop was the victim of a homicide.

When Filenko finally conceded that Gliniewicz had killed himself, he went on to reveal all of the lieutenant’s stealing and said G.I. Joe “committed the ultimate betrayal.”

Filenko retired less than six months later.

Filenko, along with Lake County Undersheriff Raymond Rose, were also critical of Coroner Thomas Rudd, who had the audacity to question the circumstances of Gliniewicz’s supposed homicide.

“This is an Army man,” Rudd said. “He’s 52, (but) he’s got the body of a 25-year-old. When you’re in the armed forces, obviously, you’re trained how to kill.”

Faced with a life-or-death struggle, Rudd suggested Gliniewicz would “take somebody with him” and “rip out the guy’s eyes or his throat.”

“This whole thing is getting a little sticky as far as the cause and manner of death,” Rudd said, which rankled Rose and Filenko.

“All of the progress made since this tragic incident is potentially in jeopardy,” said Filenko, who would not back off his public stance on the supposed homicide investigation for another 24 days.