Exchange Student Death Case: Defense Wants Phone Evidence Banned

GLEN ELLYN, IL — Defense attorneys for a man charged in the drug-induced death of a Spanish exchange student say Glen Ellyn police took the man's phone without a search warrant when they found him at his job in Westmont in 2016. As a result, the defense is pushing to have evidence from defendant Francis Emanuele's phone made inadmissible in court, Daily Herald reports.

The motion asserts that police waited until the day after they took the phone to get an official search warrant.

Emanuele, 38, of Downers Grove, was arrested in October in connection with the death of a 15-year-old exchange student who had been living with a family in Glen Ellyn. He had allegedly exchanged several nude photos with the student, who was found dead on May 3 after telling her host parents she felt ill.

When police responded to the scene, they found an oral syringe with a small amount of methadone remaining in it. Police were able to trace the methadone to Emanuele, whom the girl met through another exchange student.

Related: Exchange Student's Overdose Death Linked To Downers Grove Man: Cops

Emanuele was charged with felony counts of drug-induced homicide, manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance, possession of child pornography, indecent solicitation of a child, and grooming.

Image via DuPage County State's Attorney's Office

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