Columnist: Fox Lake Community, Glinewicz's Family Deserve Answers

An investigation into the shooting death of Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz will soon enter a third week. And very few answers have yet to be released regarding the death as speculation continues to swirl surrounding whether he was killed, whether he killed himself or whether it was an accident.

Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass on Wednesday addressed the level of secrecy surrounding the investigation, which is headed by the Lake County Major Crime Task Force.

“The tragedy is that it’s been more than two weeks since Gliniewicz’s body was found and there is still no definitive word whether it was murder or a suicide,” he wrote.

Kass spoke with Lake County Coroner Thomas Rudd who was chastised by police in recent weeks for releasing information that they said could jeopardize their investigation. Rudd told Patch Gliniewicz died after being struck by a single, devastating gunshot wound and said that he could not rule if the death was a homicide, accident or suicide.

Kass reported Rudd has been excluded from closed-door meetings. Rudd told Kass there has been limited communication between him and Task Force Commander George Filenko.

Kass also questioned how long it has taken for ballistics results to be returned on Gliniewicz’s gun. He also said information on how close the gun was to Gliniewicz’s chest when it was fired or if the fatal shot came from Gliniewicz’s gun has not been released.

“Two weeks at the lab in the death of a police officer?” he wrote.

Gliniewicz’s body was found shortly before 8 a.m. on Sept. 1 in a remote, marshy area in Fox Lake and a hunt began shortly after for his alleged killers. Hundreds of police spanned the area for days with dogs and helicopters and never located the three men following up on a description given by Gliniewicz when he radioed that he needed back-up shortly before he was found dead. Gliniewicz said he was pursuing three men -- two black males and one white male.

Kass questioned the fact that no suspects were turned up. He wrapped up his column, stating the community and Gliniewicz’s family deserves answers.

“What’s worrisome is that this one could be listed ultimately, not as homicide or suicide, but as ’undetermined,’” he wrote. “And then there is no closure, no answers, nothing. His family and Lake County deserve more than that.”

Read the full column on the Chicago Tribune website.