@@ThatChapter I appreciate it mate 🙏 👍 🙌 💙 Your story telling is Phenomenal + it relaxes me while engaging my intrest an Curiosity! You always do the story Justice while bringing new light to it!
@@ThatChapter Mike, I have to admit, you are one VERY handsome man! Your eye's, sense of humor and the way you tell a story is great! I hope you have a lucky lady! 😍
TRuth! I've tried! I'm always afraid I'll miss the Insurance Dance and I will beat down a door, knock over a baby and an old lady to be sure and see the ending..... *BECAUSE I LOVE YA* . *"Wink, Mike Out!"*
Some of the explorers came out to say that the way he was found, including the pursuit of 3 men, was almost identical to a scenario they had practiced as part of their training. Another great video, Mike!
I'm really confused.. he already posted this a few weeks ago..? Corrupt cop, fakes death, GI Joe. He already covered this story, why is it reposted haha? Im not familiar with the case at all but remember the episode, comes out hes corrupt, defaced signs, etc etc It's tripping me out, if he had to repost I don't think he'd do it on the release day I don't watch other true crime channels either
Having worked max sec, there are deeply corrupt people working in both corrections and police. One of my brothers was a cop, he has stories, he transferred after 10 years as cop he went back to school and became a meteorologist. He is much happier now, reporting weather for a local airport/community.
My brother was a cop in a small town in south Australia, and he had a run in with a colleague because his colleague was up to no good, but my brother got pushed out of the Dept and town. Turns out that that cop was a peado! He was protected by the dept and town, and my brother was scape goated. Let the force after a few more years.
As the daughter of a cop, and former dispatcher, I was completely unsurprised that he wasn't the good upstanding member of the community that he seemed to be. But threatening to murder a dispatcher is beyond what I was expecting.
As a former dispatcher I am not at all surprised by the behavior of law enforcement. It is a very fine line between crook and cop...too many temptations with so much ego. Many are just so proud of themselves to be able to carry a gun and boss people around.
I was very surprised, and understood why everybody in the city thought it was a homicide without knowing about his corrupted side. What a waste of time and money!
As a retired Soldier, I instantly recognized ‘GI Jokes’ D-bag signature moves, like wearing his veteran status as a badge of honor; donning ACUs during training exercises ; wearing Airborne and Air Assault badges on civilianized ACU uniform; ‘Ranger rolling’ patrol cap; Air Assault tattoo. What a joke…
It's wildly insecure behaviour. My husband was a Royal Marine. You'd never know in day to day life. He was once, now he isn't. Its right to have pride, but if you depend on that for your ego to function - well you're fucked.
Wait, people in authority can fake crimes and incidents? Why, if they can do that, they can scare us sheep into wars, bad laws, and just about anything else.
The real tragedy is that he had kids in that small community who were left to face the backlash and the judgement while coping with the loss of their father
They shouldn't have to deal with any backlash as they were not involved, excluding the one who was asked to loan his father money to pay back what he stole but even still he might not have legitimately known what was going on. Sadly ppl don't care about any of that, if they are related then they are responsible in so many ppls screwed up way of thinking.
One of his kids was apparently a dollar sucker. Daddy even arranged a marriage for him so he could collect married officers pay while in the army. There is a great podcast on this whole mess. Hunt it down.
@@boogityhoo7452 you’re right, they weren’t responsible for partaking in his shady behavior. But they benefitted from it, directly or indirectly in some ways - and, worse, just by being related to the scumbag means they would be viewed in a negative way. Especially in a small-town, the mob-mentally would be easy to go along with and just shame the whole family. Sad to know the biggest victims of his scandal are the ones closest to him.
I live about an hour away from where this happened. Trust me; you’ve never seen anyone go from HERO to ZERO so fast! The people who initially mourned his “murder” were furious to learn that they had been duped. Great job as usual, Mike! ❤️
Yeah I grew up where he was born and live like 20 minutes away from Fox Lake and yeah seeing all the responses from the community and how shaken everyone was... it was wild
I would like to bring special attention to the complaint that alleges that the officer "somehow obtained control over a certificate for a free tattoo that was donated to the department" and then, while on duty, went and got tatted up. Truly Michael Scott levels of workplace misconduct!
I feel like the fa t he stole thousands of dollars meant to teach young kids how to be a police officer and so forth is a bit more messed up than just stealing a free tattoo gift.
The thing that stands out to me the most is the fact that he was able to rise through the ranks with his tainted background. It shouldn't have been possible when they were putting all of those terrible details into his employee file. Then the agency makes him out to be a hero (lying to the public) initially so that they can just tear down his character later to save face? That's very odd behavior. This man was never supposed to obtain the rank of lieutenant. I wouldn't be surprised if his department knew what he was doing all along and turned a blind eye to it because of his long service with the department.
You'd be surprised. My old department had a guy who was sexually harassing just about every female employee in the department. He was sending them dick pics, saying foul things to them on the sly. Guy was a real scumbag. He was boys with some of the higher ups, so they kept promoting him and promoting him all the way to Lt. Finally, he groped one of his female officers by her vagina and she reported the incident. He was suspended, terminated, and criminally charged. The department acted like they didn't know he had been doing this shit for years, even though he had been suspended in past for doing the same shit. The real reason they fired him and took such a hard stance this particular time was, a few of the female employees who had been harassed/assaulted by this guy and reported it to no end, banded together and sued the department. They won a multi-million dollar suit. To mitigate the damages, I believe the department fired him so it looked better for them in the impending suit. They lost their ass anyway. This stuff happens at EVERY department.
It said the chief was in on it, thats why they all wrote the letter to the mayor. Also, I noticed the guy talking about the betrayal of the department ect was an Interim Chief, which happens when someone is quickly kicked out of a job, most probably with a quiet golden handshake to keep all the rest of the corruption quite, draw a line in the sand ect, get a new young face in, then have elections or whatever. I dunno if chiefs are elected like sheriffs are, but yeah, something like that.
Its interesting to me how many LEO-types refer to these _"few bad apples."_ Just totally ignoring the *warning* part of the axiom, which makes up _most_ of it: _"A few bad apples _*_will spoil the whole barrel."_*
I remember this case very well. An older friend of mine (I'll call her Ethel), who was as 82 or 83 at the time, said after only about five minutes of watching the live news coverage while we talked, she knew something was off. Ethel immediately said, "Something isn't right. Mark my word. There is going to be a weird twist." I guess if we all live that long, well have Spidey senses, too, like Ethel!
I never lived in Fox Lake, but I'm from the area. I too knew it was BS from the get go. This was compounded by the media coverage nationally and locally. I wasn't shocked when the truth started seeping out.
Back when I was in High school a girl had a sexual relationship with our school cop. He was very loved in the community and his WIFE and children were well known, they always were involved with the community. He was busted having relations with her in school and of course he was fired as a cop, divorced but people had a hard time believing he was a bad person. It still amazes me.
I had a pastor that was apart of naacp and he didn’t work his wife was a nurse and his son is autistic. He was having all kinds of Adair’s but one of girls in the church called him out during one of his services and people still gave him money after his wife divorced him he still was getting donations even though he was never religious he just used the church
At first I felt sorry for his wife, thinking she was in denial and didn’t want to believe her husband was a scumbag. Then it turns out she was in on the whole thing…. 🙄
generation why did an episode about him, they went into a little more detail about how crazy he was. How he planned out for the wife to get a pay out from his death. How other cops knew he wanted the supervisor dead because he ranted to a lot of ppl. Of course, nothing was done.
I feel sorry for all the kids that went through that Explorers program. It really plays with your mind when someone you like/respect turns out to be someone you shouldn't trust. It's especially hard when it happens in your formative years.
@@scotsman6712 Dumbest comment? Did you not see that footage? Thst wasn't teaching kids to be LEOs, it was GI Joe teaching kids to play war games with equipment from the DOD surplus program. What they were being taught was in no was appropriate for kids, or for policing a village of 10,000 people.
@@Tracymmo This. My first thoughts seeing that training footage was that it looked more like some kind of backyard militia training, kids in combat fatigues waving AR-15's around and yelling. It's kind of scary to think that's the impression of police work they were presenting to impressionable kids.
I totally remember when this happened. It was all over the news for a long time. When the truth came out about him, it really turned things upside down. I love when Mike does stories close to home. Man, I’m hooked on this channel. Thanks Mike!! Much love from Chicago
His family was probably due a big payout if he was killed in the line of duty, which may have influenced him in staging a crime scene. Excellent video as always, many thanks.
It's as obvious as it gets, by a long shot. It's an age old story told so many times that I'm surprised when a police officer isn't a a criminal, liar, and general scumbag.
I actually live very close to Fox Lake, and remember when this was going on. I worked at a convenient store at the time when Joe was found dead, and I remember when every cop that stopped by on their way to join the manhunt to find his "murderers." Everyone in the area found his death suspicious and it was wild when the truth unfolded. It's crazy knowing things happened like that so close to home
Kinda like the cop in my small town. Everyone loved him, until young girls started coming forward that he was inappropriately texting them and even molesting and blackmailing them. He was so loved that his ex wife was literally run out of town when she came out before all the allegations saying he was child predator and not someone who should be a police officer. He resigned an is now a cop in the next town over, but is under multiple investigations and an the truth is starting to come out more an more.
I know about a cop who sold OC 80s in a high school he worked in. All he got was a promotion in the next town lol. It was a complete joke! This city is known to be corrupt though, especially the police department. I actually got beat up in the same city by some roid head cop. I was like 18 and skinny af while cuffed and he’s hitting me for no reason. Idk why the FBI hasn’t shut them down.
Mike my dude, would you look into doing a video on Michael Schallert? He committed a double murder in West Frankfort Illinois in 2009. My sister actually dated him for a brief time about 5 years before that. He was at my house many times. He was honestly always a super nice guy when I knew him, but apparently he got addicted to meth after that, and killed two women. He ran to Colorado where they eventually caught him. It's an interesting case.
I did the Explorer program in New York when I was a teen. I am in my 40's now. The detective that was supposed to be our leader used us to cover for his many affairs. Even his own daughter (she was in the program and he was married to her mother during that time period.). He used the program's money to buy gifts for his many girlfriends. I got to see how dirty cops could be and I ended up quitting after 3 years. The boys in the program started to behave like him. There was a lot of sexual harassment. With that being said there are some really good cops out there, but I saw way too many being horrible and hiding behind the badge. I gave up my dream of being a police officer after that. I respect the good ones, but the horrible ones are trash.
Hi there. I live in NW lower Michigan between Elk and Torch lakes. I read your comment. Sad that the bad ones brought your dream to an end. Hope you are well
“The boys in the program started behaving like him.” Oh, man. That’s the worst. It’s the way this stuff keeps being perpetuated and hidden. We are all driven by both good and bad motivations, and we can’t expect anything to get better if the bad motives go unchecked and even encouraged. Just mentioning this helps, Mari Mar, because today, someone might double-check their own Explorer program, or Scout troop, or whatever.
I'm always shaking my head whenever I learn that people like him were written up on the job forever and never let go. I can say no to someone and get let go 😸
Yeah this was a crazy wild story, I remember all of the extensive news coverage from this and always wondered what happened with his wife. Turns out to be nothing thusfar...what I do know is that we live in one of thee most corrupt States in the Nation - so there's that. I've been trying to get behind the badge but sometimes feel like wtf for..way to many stories n horrific crimes commited by the boys in blue that are actually far worse than what they 'harass' an average civilian for. The same ones that pull people over for going 5 over the limit, are the exact same ones that are doing all sorts of sinister shiitt in the dark. Can't trust a dam soul nowadays...not a single one.
@@ChicagosSinfulSwede you're talking about such a small percentage. I'd be more focused on all the shootings, murders, and violent carjackings plaguing Chicagoland area right now. Kim Foxx and the other libs with their catch and release program of violent criminals is pathetic.
Holy shit, I remember this guy. I was in high school when this went down, and we were warned against walking alone on the sidewalk back home before the actual truth behind his death was revealed
thank you so much, Mike. my beloved 15. year old pupper passed a few days ago. I bottle fed her since birth. Lucy was my world and not a lot takes my mind off everything. you and your channel has been excellent in helping me get through this time. thank you, I love ya. see ya next time
Teresa I'm so sorry for your loss of Lucy. I've been through the same thing many, many times. I totally understand how you feel. Lucy knows you love her, & she will be with you always. You will see her again. Take care & God bless. 😢💔🙏💪🕊️🕯️✌️💙💐
Sorry for your loss. I lost my little pup of 16 yrs. last December. I know it hurts but I have no doubt she loved you and knew that she was loved. She'll always be with you. I hope your heart heals soon.
Dogs are such special animals that have been our buddies and protectors for thousands of years. It is very sad to lose our special friends and I certainly wish dogs had a longer life. My brother had to put his black labradoodle Max after 13 amazing years. It was very sad bc Max was really amazing when our Dad suddenly died. Max missed Dad too. But Max never had a bad day and was treated like the special boy he was. My brother was not going to get another dog but after a few months he said it sucked not having a dog so he found a Goldendoodle pup and named him Winston. The two could not have more different personalities but they are both caring sweet doggos. Sorry you lost your best friend. Dogs really do improve our human lives.
Thank you, Mike, for sharing some of the document listing matters of complaint against "Lt. Joe": The apparent theft or misuse of a tattoo certificate which had been gifted to the department, redeemed by Gliniewicz while on duty, with the time being somehow billed as part of the Explorer program (if I understood that part correctly), certainly was a colorful bundle of misconduct! That incident itself was worth the pausing it took me to read those individual items.
@@McSnezzly uhhhhh was that in the video? I heard the sexual harassment and having affairs with coworkers bit but I definitely missed that part. Not doubting you or anything.
This is my hometown where I grew up. Most of my family is still there. I knew Joe because he was in our high school all the time in the late 90's and was so good to so many kids. Really helped some of my friends out with drug issues and abusive homes. We were just shocked when all of this happened. It was devastating and scary and then became unthinkable when the real details came out. Never know what the hell is going on behind closed doors. I can't believe you're covering this! Love your channel and was shocked to see this one on here today.
@@Professor_GonZo I'm not sure if he did the Explorer's program then. I just remember him at the school and around town. He would let some things slide when kids were just being kids and helped a friend of mine get a safe place to stay when he was being abused at home. And yeah Becmer was there at least a couple of my years as well. 93-97
@@creationsmisfit I am not sure where I heard this quote but it helped me reconcile confused feelings for people I have known. Good men can do bad things and bad men can do good things. How can you decide what someone is? As humans we are not one dimensional and therefore not just one way for our personality. I hope that this makes sense to you.
@@Man_fay_the_Bru I am not going to disagree with you as I agree with you, BUT in my experience it can be confusing if you are trying to look at it in a black or white aspect and pass judgement while trying to figure out how you feel about a person. Just because someone does bad things doesn't mean everything they do is bad. I found it very challenging when I knew what evil someone had done, but I had only ever seen a good side of them, so I wanted to loathe them but I couldn't and then felt bad because I still liked them.
I had to watch this!! I live in lakemoor right next to Fox lake and the police searched my backyard the night the the 3 "killers". But my husband and I called it immediately. The whole thing was so suspicious.
Mr Ballen is the master of "story telling" but to call this channel "story telling" is not really accurate. This has some details told but for the most part it is reading a laundry list of facts.
@@icaanul Mikes came a long way from where he started, in a rather short period of time as well. They both have their own styles, but we love them both equally. 🤘🏻
Word! Between the robots, ppl with speech impediments (not shaming it’s just a weird choice), folks w/Scottish accents who drag every last word of a sentence etc Mike is a breath of fresh air
The new village administrator is trying to control (or administrate) everything in the village (the government funded programs at least, including the police Explorers) because that's her job. He's talking about framing her for felonies for doing her job.
Unbelievable!! After that memo he should have been at the least put on unpaid leave until being fired. Got to wonder did his wife get his pension...or hum...life insurance?
Imagine being 3 friends hanging out at the wrong place at the wrong time and all of a sudden you're being arrested and charged as a cop killer...... or worst getting murdered from some crime you didn't commit SMH
@@charlesjames1464 THANK YOU. And the original commentor here. People like Joe's wife tend to see their crimes- crimes like misallocation of funds- as victimless. (I really think there is some cluelessness still: that made-up Black perpetrators won't result in real-life Black men being impacted, arrested.) Real harm is done by their dishonesty. When money is misspent, and when manner of death is left an open question, other people can easily become victims, whether by the false accusations and/or a bad-faith insinuation, or by having funds wasted on situations which don't fit the criterium for which they were created. No matter if your victims are unseen or unintended, or if your crimes were financial, they still have the capacity to change, ruin, or even bring an end to the lives of other people. Recognizing that these crimes victimize other, probably unknown individuals, however- truly comprehending the potential harm done- demands some amount of caring about people who are outside one's own little circle of immediate self-interest. 😔The last, sickening bit of this was discovering that Joe's [self-righteous] family apparently shares his values.
Yeah I mean, when a cop gets shot at, or killed , the police tend to get about 100 or more people and go on a rampage turning someone into Swiss cheese. I mean yeah, I’m not gonna act like they just go merking random people and usually it is the result of an actual cop killer being tracked down and just absolutely obliterated by police…but in a situation like this where it was a false report and suicide, you could easily think of a scenario where 3 random people who happened to fit the same demographic joe put out just going about their day being merked.
No fucking way!!! This is from my hometown, I remember this story so well from when I was in highschool!! My friends & I were all nervous walking around town when we thought there were people on the run who shot him before we found out the truth! I thought about suggesting this one, nice job! I can't wait to watch this video!
It makes me sad that all these hours were spent searching for his killers, more work was probably put into this case than most, and other cases were put to the side for it. Cops always tell you they're working as hard as they can for you and your loved ones, but that's not ever true. They work ten times harder for their own
Whats worse is that the ones in charge knew from the beginning that there was no "3 suspects" and I find it funny that none of them have been investigated for "miss use of public funds" (or something along them lines) 🤔 but why would they investigated themselves...
It was called in as a chase though, if the police didn’t follow up with actually searching for the guys who allegedly did it, that department would be under so much fire if there actually were killers against their thinking.
@@CowboyredPedro hello, my issue is that the cop's service weapon was next to his body and they LIED about it. The supposed big danger to the community was that these anonymous young men had the gun and had killed a cop. The coroner would have known that Joe killed himself, so the cops knew a search was a waste of money and manpower. This was a cover-up and heads should roll. smh
There is no doubt in my mind that those pigs were looking for three random black people to incarcerate, only to come clean when they found out it was impossible.
Melodie Gliniewicz, the widow of disgraced Fox Lake Police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz, was sentenced to 18 to 24 months' probation Tuesday after pleading guilty in February to a felony charge of deceptive practices, connected to her late husband's financial misdeeds, avoiding a trial on more serious charges.
“good” people are secretly doing bad things. Nothing new under the sun. I would love Mike to cover the case of the swedish "kapten klänning" (captain dress) one of Sweden's highest ranked police officers who kept a dark, violent secret. Police chief Göran Lindberg liked the nickname "Captain dress", which he had been given for his work in championing gender equality in the police force. But he also led a secret life which led to his conviction in 2010 for aggravated rape, assault, buying sex and procuring young girls for other sex buyers. It was a paradox that he was one of Sweden's highest ranking police officer with a profile in gender issues and strong moral and ethical values and on the other side he had this interest in young girls, sadism and violent sex. They arrested Göran Lindberg (68 yo) in January 2010 as he was on his way to meet a 14-year- old girl complete with his black bag full of bdsm sex toys.
Good people dont do shi# like this good people dont steal tons of money from the community tax payer money and try to hire hit men to kill innocent people just cover their horrible deeds i dont think you understand what "good" means my friend ....yeah good people do little bad things but not horrible disgusting things we call those "bad" people ya know
What!? That’s insane! I would love to hear mike cover this. Only thing I think is an issue, is that Mike normally covers murder, not necessarily just brutal crimes…. Everything I looked up on Goran Linberg was in Swedish or Norwegian or Sami. The case is super interesting!
It's actually kind of a relief he didn't take his family with him. If I've learned anything about family annihilators from all my true crime viewings, it's that a lot of them were narcissists that saw no way out.
A life insurance policy actually might’ve saved lives in this one for once. Gave Joe the option of trying to have his family benefit from his death instead of just taking everyone with him.
@@Wazupiseeyou uhm then thank heavens you're not an insurer.. why would someone with an incredibly dangerous job not be allowed to have life insurance? that's the exact person who needs it
I’m literally going through the toughest time in my life. And let me say, Mike, you are amazing. Your show brings me a sense of calm and reality. Not saying in no way shape or form that murder makes me calm but your voice and editing skills are on 1000000000. Thank you for calming me on a daily basis.
Keep your head up! Don't hold things inside,talk to those you trust in your family or friends! Talk to a Priest or a cop or some stranger! There's help out there! God Bless you!
I've lost a son, a mum, a business, my health and my last two friends in the last two years alone. I watched my dad died Infront of me at 12 and ran away from my mum at 15, I'm 36 now and it's been painful, I want to die so much, I'm psychotic and constantly self harming but that's just to feel, I can't die as much as life is painful because their are people it would hurt and I simply can't hurt another after the pain I've felt, so I push on and suffer silently! I think of the Jews or the woman in Harlem or any other persecuted person in history and feel like maybe I haven't got it so bad, I try to anyway, I hope that helps dilute your pain........
The reason they took so long and were supposedly investigating it was because they were trying to find someone to convict instead if telling the truth, the paramedics knew right away it was self inflicted and the fact they "couldnt" find his gun which was right next to him until they "solved" the case is a big piece of evidence pointing to that fact. They had his gun the entire time and were going to plant it on the person who they were going to blame for it but whether it was stopped by a higher up or they ended up thinking better of that or whatever the reason they changed their mind, Im glad they did cause the person who would have been framed would have had no chance in hell to beat that case. It's really sad that it was even thought of to frame an innocent person just so it wasn't on record that a police officer killed himself because if how crooked he was. This is the type of behaviour that piss ppl off about police officers but the ppl who blindly support them refuse to see any if this corruption going on right in front of their faces.
Wrong. The guy who investigated this is a morally, stellar individual. There is a really great podcast on this whole mess. The podcast is: "Over My Dead Body".
Wrong, the "bad guy" killed himself making it easy to come out with HIS wrongdoing. They get to look good for coming out with a resolution while also having a scapegoat for wrongdoing bc the "bad cop" all ready killed himself.
@@TheSoonToBePurgedJackMeHoff55 of course it was their job and duty to admit all, but that doesn't mean it always happens. Thankfully, they didn't hide it, that's what makes it worse in the long run.
I have an extended family member that worked closely with him and was trained by him. This person was in total shock as to what he was doing and I quote "He was the last one I thought would be doing that"
I have a friend who is a nurse and vouched for another nurse to be hired. Turned out, he was a pedophile. Some people are predators and are very convincing.
@@snickerdoodles787 yes. It was totally about ethnicity. I'm glad you noticed that and that no other ethnicity has ever done anything like this. You're really on to something. 🤡
I lived not too far away when this happened. Although they did not publicly say it at the beginning, there were hints/rumors coming out that it was suicide. Also, it seems like Joe may have seen 2 dudes in the area and he described them to dispatch. As soon as they located and cleared those 2, the public skepticism (outside of Fox Lake) grew. Wonder why he didn’t just make something up instead of using real, although innocent, people. Lucky for those two they were apparently believable but I bet they were really scared for a while.
@@maycasper2661 I bang a shot of Mike at night just before bed to give me a good rest. I was just going into a bad withdrawal so thank god he showed .... On my feed sometimes I mix it with a bit of speed like 1.5,x just to get it in me quicker.
A story that starts like all the rest where the person who dies was perfect and never did a thing wrong….but this one tells the truth! Not everyone who dies was a perfect loving person who never did anything to anyone.
I was sad and actually had tears in my eyes........Love you Mike. I introduced you to my sad depressed Brother after he lost his wife to cancer. He enjoyed the final part of his life watching your Chapters.
This all happened in my backyard. I was home that day due to an injury I sustained on the job. Having police up and down my dead-end street and having 6 helicopters over my house was wild.
I spend alot of time in the chain area, mostly Antioch. I worked with a guy who was in the explorer progran and new joe personally. It was crazy when all of that shit happened. Once rumors started about suicide and his crimes, all of the support and stickers and posters vanished practically overnight.
@@amatteroftimeisuppose8900 Also originally from the area with family still there. It would not surprise me one bit if there were a lot more to the story, but this is what is officially known.
Omg yes, I remember driving home near the area, and all over people were making posters and had them out, on fb people had shirts made, restaurants were sending free food to the officers while on the search, the community was just like really trying to make it better, then like the next day everyone was so embarrassed for showing empathy and being tricked.. felt so sad seeing it all unfold.
Back in the 90s a friend of mine who was underage had a relationship with a cop. He used to pick her up at her fast food job in his patrol car. She said he even had her help put down traffic cones during an accident investigation. At the time it was a badge of honor (pun intended) for each of them and I didn't really judge. Looking back I find it incredibly creepy and it disturbs me even more how common it was. Guys like him and Drew Peterson operated with impunity for a long time.
yeah i lived in a small city near la and heard from my moms friend who had an addict son that his wife would sleep with the cops to get out of posession charges and other bs. even if she consented thats still unprofessional and she probably isnt the only one doing it over there and it probably happens in alot of other places. alot of women who do drugs prostitute to support their habit so sleeping with a cop to get out of charges isnt probably a big deal and the cops take advantage of their vulnerable situation. i dont agree with all this cop hating stuff recently but hopefully we will get some kind of positive changes.
@@whitebloodism Nothing. We were in our late teens/early twenties from dysfunctional families. She saw him as a protector and a lover. As far as I know he wasnt violent or controlling. I never met him but even if I had given all I just said, I probably wouldn't have done anything. And if I did it probably wouldn't have amounted to much. Possibly made things worse. As she got older she began to seek a different kind of man and is happily married now. The cop is probably retired by now...
@@idorus I 100% believe it. I'm not anti cop either. Had a rough upbringing in LA and saw a lot. There are some amazing cops out there and some that are absolutely disgusting and terrifying. I imagine even the best cops have to look away from certain things so I'm grateful for the level of scrutiny we are seeing now. I'm hopeful that significant positive change will come from it. Hope your friend has managed to get clean. That life is hell.
@jen30551 cop or not that’s grooming and damaging. Every one that is let off is a chance of abusing again. Hopefully that person hasn’t abused again in the time of your friends happy marriage.
the clips of the people who continue to think it wasn't a suicide and that Joe was setup through department corruption is the weirdest part of this whole story
This guy is a model for my ex-husband. Only he was a serial rapist. Everyone loved him but a few new him for who he really was. By the way he was a massage therapist, but before he was going to be charged for sexual assault he conveniently died accidently with a shot gun to the face. The woman who was gonna press charges had a nervous breakdown, cause she told him she had taped the session she had with him that day. I had divorced him 10 years earlier. Karma has a way of biting you in the butt.
Came for the true crime, stayed for the unparalleled lake-related humor! 🤣🤣🤣 Love ya Mike! Thanks for always giving us the best videos! I’m always here to give it a goo!!
I watched someone reacting to this channel last year so I followed his link to the original video and found Mike. Oh man. I can’t stop watching. I’ve gotten 3 or 4 of my True Crime lovers hooked as well. I wait excitedly for every new video. I think I might just need an intervention...
One thing stood out to me, he was reprimanded for not handing out enough traffic citations, only half as much as others.thats total bs! Not the reprimanded part but.....
I listened to the podcast Over My Dead Body not too long ago when they did a season on G.I Joe. I highly recommend it to those hearing about this case for the first time! Can’t wait to see Mike’s storytelling for this one
Once the cop announced he was chasing after someone, they had to treat it as a murder. Didn't matter that they may have suspected suicide an hour or two later. The town could be put into financial trouble if they were wrong, having gave no attempt to look for a suspect, and someone else was murdered.
That's right. And allowing one person to be in charge of the books for YEARS is just reckless! Did they never conduct audits? What a shady bunch of people in charge!
Hi, the coroner would have known right away that Joe killed himself. Just the fact that cops pretended that 'the suspects' had Joe's service weapon is evidence of a cover-up. There is zero evidence that two white guys and a black guy were in the area; no footprints, no random security footage, no suspicious autos. This case was a wrap before lunchtime. But, the cops had to put on a show for the benefit of civilians and their department. I'd like to know how much this show cost the taxpayers.
@@ShermThursby $300k if you really want to know. And that was just the first 3 weeks of the investigation. $196k of that went on paying overtime to the police officers and staff working during that time.
@@ShermThursby I think the officers got suspicious when he reported that there was a black guy to begin with. I’m from Chicago & there just aren’t that many black people in that Fox Lake area so they would’ve stuck out like a sore thumb & if they were outsiders they would’ve had to have a car already because the closest cities they could’ve come from while close, aren’t walking distance.
Great job as always. I live in North Chicago and remember this when it happened. People called bullshit on it in days after. It really was a Jussie Smollett situation where everyone raised an eyebrow. The news reports quickly dismissed any active threats to the community.
When this happened I was in North Chicago visiting an aunt of mine and I was there for almost 2 weeks after this and after maybe 8 days ppl started whispering and some of the foul things came out it was crazy how the praises of his year over the years instantly turned sour in less than 24hrs basically it’s like the citizens were praising him on a Tuesday but they nose was turn up that Wednesday I had never seen a community dislike someone that fast in my life!!
Mikes story telling is so animated that you don’t even need visuals to enjoy the videos. I put them on at night before bed and close my eyes and enjoy the stories. Thanks Mike!
I moved to Island Lake, a town away from Fox Lake, after a Cook County police station refused to charge or arrest the woman who killed my sister with her car. I loved the Lakes, spent hours of my life partying on Fox Lake, had my 21st bday at Blarney’s Island. But after watching this, it only justifies my moving across the country in 2011. And eff Libertyville too, talk about corrupt cops and just generally snobby people. Sorry, I clearly have a bias 😬Regardless, GREAT video as always - how you can make me laugh and cry at the same time is a gift ❤️
Mike, you are the absolute best True Crime channel across the board. Not only do we get to hear the best accent in the entire world, but we also get your amazing personality and ad libs. I really can’t recommend you enough!! 💕
No joke. This guy is always able to achieve comedy in a way that is so tasteful and respectful - something that a lot of people miss hard on in the true crime genre. I’ve listened to a billion true crime podcasts and seen a decent number of the channels but nobody compares to Mike.
Astounding that he committed suicide with his sidearm, yet they didn’t find it immediately. Did they not test for gunshot residue on his hands? They needed to conduct a heroic, bogus investigation because they blew it in the first 15 minutes of discovering his body. Pffft.
Honestly I think it was moreso for the reasons mike listed: the cops knew they were gonna get overtime pay, and they might’ve also potentially been waiting to plant the gun on someone to frame them too but decided not to. Big surprise that the piece of shit had piece of shit colleagues too
I was thinking the same as I continued to watch the video. I'm going to rewind to re.listen about the gun not being found immediately. How can one shoot himself and throw (or place) the gun a distance from the body? Where was the "lethal" shot on his body?
Crazy case. It happened a hop skip and a jump from me. My job had a sign on our marquee up for him. It came down real quick when the whole story came out. It quietly went away and no one talked about him any more.
Wow! I was here for this one. I live in the area. Locked doors, thinking cop killers were on foot, people in an uproar over this mans death and the subsequent shock upon the findings once the metaphorical veil was lifted. Super excited for this one! Edit to add I HAD NO IDEA FOX LAKE WAS SHAPED LIKE… well, like that. We have Round Lake, Lake Villa, Island Lake, Grayslake, Crystal Lake, Lake Forest (Michael Jordan’s old home there) Lake in the Hills and good old Fox Lake. (I’m sure I missed a few) this is (take a guess… ) Lake County IL! More fun facts: next-door to Fox Lake is Antioch, Where Kyle Rittenhouse resides recently found not guilty as I’m sure everyone knows. (Rittenhouse was a part of an explorer program- wonder if it was the same one?!) Then we also have in Crystal Lake where young AJ Freund was murdered by his mother and father, Who said he was missing but later found in a field. They are locked up now. Horrible. Then we have Volo, also mentioned in the video (Volo bog) which is actually home to Volo Auto museum, a pretty cool place where are you can find the Batmobile, The Ghostbuster car and my fave, the Scooby-Doo van. Plus a shit ton of other cars. They actually just recently got some giant robotic dinosaurs that you can see from the highway. Which was a bit of a scare we went to their huge thrift store. Oh yeah, they have a thrift store. It’s full of treasures. It’s the best part of this whole post. Anyway. GREAT VIDEO, Mike!
Thank you for the fun facts!! I have to ask, you guys only started locking the doors then? I have a mini "Fort Knox" in my home, and every night I make sure it's all secured... I lived on a small ranch in MT 16 years ago and people STILL tried to break into my house... twice... I can't imagine not locking everything!
@@wulver810 they thought there were dangerous murders on the lose, on foot. Also had reported that they had not found the officers gun so, armed. People tend to lock doors for that stuff, I guess. I didn’t, however. Which is actually probably strange.
Woah watch out guys we got an edge lord in the comments over here 😂 go take your hot takes over to the incel reddit page and get your validation there buddy
@@ziggyschumann5284 people commit suicide when the pain they're in outweighs their coping mechanisms. This is the viewpoint of one who's never experienced that kind of pain.
"he didn't represent the Fox lake police community" The same police community that rallied around him time and time again each time he did some disgusting or corrupt thing, the same police community that couldn't even set a standard of professionalism high enough for him to lose his job? Seems like he represented your police community just fine
The officer's voice breaking on the call when he's reporting his comrade down ... As much disrespect as Joe had for his own family, he really disrespected other cops, knowing they would be the ones who found him. He worked with them for 30 years, he was career military-to-cop, he knew what they were like and how they felt about him. Obviously the "thin blue line" only ran one way for that guy. (On a lighthearted note: I've watched a lot of That Chapter videos and ... "Illin-oying?" is one of my favorite Mike-isms yet. I genuinely LOLed; hats off!)
Good video Mike and relevant to what’s going on in the States. So many people believe in something without weighing or trusting the facts. I have much respect for the village administrator Anne Marrin for doing her job.
I’m originally from Chicago & as soon as I heard about the radio call of him saying one of them was a black male I said the story was bullshit because there aren’t many black folks in that area & if they were going to come from the outside they would’ve already had a car because they would’ve been coming from Waukegan, North Chicago (by Great Lakes naval base) or Kenosha. However where he reported the suspicious activity someone from the immediate area would’ve had to known about it to get away & seeing as how there are so few black people in Fox Lake they would’ve been able to quickly connect them with the shooting.
It's like the Jussie Smollett tale. They lost me completely when they claimed the assailants referred to Chicago as MAGA country 😂 As if MAGA heads are out and about in Streeterville like that.
I live near Fox Lake and I remember when this happened. I was teaching an after school drama class a couple towns over and the kids in my class who lived near there were wondering if they would even be allowed to go home because of the "active shooters." Then a couple weeks later my family and I were driving out of town and got stuck in the traffic for this massive parade the community staged for him. It was so huge! People loved this guy so much. Things changed real quick when more evidence got out :P
It's disgusting yet not shocking that they didn't mention his long standing history of sexually assaulting his subordinates, or ordering a friggin hit on that local administator. Only care about the embezzlement.
Literally watched every video of Mike's on a 64 hour round trip to California and back to Tennessee and haven't stopped watching since! Absolutely love Mike!
Eww nasty, that's a long-ass time to be stuck in a pressurized tube man. Bet that was a lifesaver have a nice, new bank of content to kill it with! ✌😉🍻
Before I discovered this channel I used to watch other true crime youtubers habitually but they just don’t do it for me anymore. Nobody tells a story quite like Mike ❤️
I remember being in the Explorers program in high school in 2005. I really enjoyed it, but because I was the smallest person in the group (size and weight) they made me do the perp acting rather than the cop training. I was able to fit into small crevices that the trainees would never suspect anyone was in. But, I remember Joe and the impact his death had on the state and the state police. I remember watching with my grandpa who was a cop while he sat there saying "I hope they get the people who did this! I bet it was some punks.." blah blah, and when everything about Joe came out, grandpa was just in shock. He didn't believe in a million years that someone as influential as Joe would ever do this. I wish my grandpa was still here so I could show him this episode. Thanks Mike.
I wish they had listed to your Grandpa! Why didn't they get them? The ones he was texting about killing the Trustee. They also found $2,000 worth of Coccain in Joes desk that he was going to plant on the trustee. If they had gotten the killers there might not have been a Police force!
I don't think he intended to kill himself. He waited for backup before shooting himself again. First one was into the body armor. I think he thought he'd be saved and become a wounded hero to detract from his crimes.
Don't think he would shoot himself in the head if he didn't intend to kill himself. At the time there was even speculation that his wife knew of his intentions because of his corrupt activities and, the vise was getting tighter on him and her.
@@ricoaztec1 18:30 called for backup, and when they arrived, shot himself again. Unless there's negligible latency between the call and their arrival, he waited for backup.
As a former dispatcher and now quite the opposite attitude towards cops, he probably held the belief that he was indeed f@cked and if an officer dies "on duty" the spouse gets almost 3 to 4 times the amount of life insurance payout
If you ever wonder where some of your audience watches your videos from. Currently watching from an offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Showed my whole crew your channel and they’re hooked. Keep up all the awesome hard work 🙌🏼🙌🏼
What a fascinating place to watch Mike! This may sound like a dumb question, but how do y'all get internet access way out there? I'm currently watching from my snow-covered house in South Carolina. (Six whole inches of snow! 😮)
Currently watching from a very small but very cozy (if not cluttered) short bus parked semi‐permanantly in a field in Portland OR, with a very talkative but snuggly black cat. :)
We should probably be doing full-scale audits on all cops. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be very surprised to find a large number of them getting away with the same type of behavior Joe had been getting away with for years. I don't think this kind of stuff is as uncommon as we would hope it to be.
I'm not so sure. I was shocked at the intense scrutiny over 3 late arrivals. I am not a late person, so perhaps I am naive, but they seem very regimented. That said, I think this is likely true in all vocations.
Like Catholic priests, police - despite being caught red handed and more then a few of the bunch doing the same, just get moved to new departments/perishes. The dirty deeds are swept under the rug, the angry public is told the problem has been taken care of, but they protect their own and just move them far enough away they won't be recognized.
DUDE. I remember when this happened!! I lived EXTREMELY close to where this happened and we went into hard lockdown in my middle school for 6 hours when the police got the call. We thought there was three shooters really close to our school
This is the craziest incident to happen in our town. It was so scary being in lockdown for 8 hours wondering if a gunman was going to break into the school, since he reported two males. I wasn’t even allowed into my house and if we were we couldn’t leave the subdivision, considering this happened so close to my house. Some people won’t accept what he really did because of the impact he had during his time.. Crazy how it unfolded!
I was working in fox ridge when this happened, I’ll never forget this time, but I also remember once the name got out, someone had said he prolly did it himself, how bad of a person he was, got eaten alive on Facebook by hundreds of people, weeks later he was laughing
Who else randomly came across this channel 1 day an now can't stop watching his videos!
Means a lot that youre still here!
Me, but few years back :D
@@ThatChapter I appreciate it mate 🙏 👍 🙌 💙
Your story telling is Phenomenal + it relaxes me while engaging my intrest an Curiosity!
You always do the story Justice while bringing new light to it!
Yes. I found his channel the beginning of last year & the binge begin lol 😆
@@ThatChapter I been here since day one of the aluminum alien hat ! Your the best Mike 👌🏽
You can just listen to this without watching because Mike is so animated. What an amazing job!
Means a lot to hear that Joseph, thank you!
And you already know what kind of shirt Mike will be wearing
@@ThatChapter Mike, I have to admit, you are one VERY handsome man! Your eye's, sense of humor and the way you tell a story is great! I hope you have a lucky lady! 😍
I usually only listen videos first time. Then later i have still new video to see. And i enjoy both times.
TRuth! I've tried! I'm always afraid I'll miss the Insurance Dance and I will beat down a door, knock over a baby and an old lady to be sure and see the ending.....
*BECAUSE I LOVE YA* . *"Wink, Mike Out!"*
Some of the explorers came out to say that the way he was found, including the pursuit of 3 men, was almost identical to a scenario they had practiced as part of their training. Another great video, Mike!
lul
I'm really confused.. he already posted this a few weeks ago..? Corrupt cop, fakes death, GI Joe. He already covered this story, why is it reposted haha? Im not familiar with the case at all but remember the episode, comes out hes corrupt, defaced signs, etc etc
It's tripping me out, if he had to repost I don't think he'd do it on the release day
I don't watch other true crime channels either
@@KaladinVegapunk Maybe you saw it on his Patreon? I didn't see it here recently.
@@KaladinVegapunk maybe he screwed up his schedule, released it and deleted it?
@@KaladinVegapunk I don't see the video you're talking about on his RUclips channel. You use his Patreon?
Having worked max sec, there are deeply corrupt people working in both corrections and police. One of my brothers was a cop, he has stories, he transferred after 10 years as cop he went back to school and became a meteorologist. He is much happier now, reporting weather for a local airport/community.
I did the same thing🥰
Talk about a "shift in wind." 😂
My brother was a cop in a small town in south Australia, and he had a run in with a colleague because his colleague was up to no good, but my brother got pushed out of the Dept and town. Turns out that that cop was a peado! He was protected by the dept and town, and my brother was scape goated. Let the force after a few more years.
Lesson be careful who you put on a pedestal
Now he'll find out about corruption in the weather department
As the daughter of a cop, and former dispatcher, I was completely unsurprised that he wasn't the good upstanding member of the community that he seemed to be. But threatening to murder a dispatcher is beyond what I was expecting.
👀 please tell us More My dear ☕
It sounds like you got stories… do tell :) same shit different day with corruption in the police force. The whole system is fucked
City administrator
I’m also the daughter of a retired cop and a former dispatcher!
As a former dispatcher I am not at all surprised by the behavior of law enforcement. It is a very fine line between crook and cop...too many temptations with so much ego. Many are just so proud of themselves to be able to carry a gun and boss people around.
I was a cop for 8 years in a major city. When Mike first described the scenario my first thought was this is a suicide.
Just wanna say that you are VERY handsome!
I was very surprised, and understood why everybody in the city thought it was a homicide without knowing about his corrupted side. What a waste of time and money!
you really don't have to be a cop to know that something wasn't right here; it was pretty clear from the beginning lmao
I thought cowardice.
🥓🐖
As a retired Soldier, I instantly recognized ‘GI Jokes’ D-bag signature moves, like wearing his veteran status as a badge of honor; donning ACUs during training exercises ; wearing Airborne and Air Assault badges on civilianized ACU uniform; ‘Ranger rolling’ patrol cap; Air Assault tattoo. What a joke…
It's wildly insecure behaviour. My husband was a Royal Marine. You'd never know in day to day life. He was once, now he isn't. Its right to have pride, but if you depend on that for your ego to function - well you're fucked.
@@susiew2521 🫡
A picture of this guy says it all. "jump from airplanes and kill people". Ok kid.
This is why it is so important for the truly good cops to call out the bad ones.
Wait, people in authority can fake crimes and incidents? Why, if they can do that, they can scare us sheep into wars, bad laws, and just about anything else.
The real tragedy is that he had kids in that small community who were left to face the backlash and the judgement while coping with the loss of their father
They shouldn't have to deal with any backlash as they were not involved, excluding the one who was asked to loan his father money to pay back what he stole but even still he might not have legitimately known what was going on. Sadly ppl don't care about any of that, if they are related then they are responsible in so many ppls screwed up way of thinking.
One of his kids was apparently a dollar sucker. Daddy even arranged a marriage for him so he could collect married officers pay while in the army. There is a great podcast on this whole mess. Hunt it down.
@@boogityhoo7452 you’re right, they weren’t responsible for partaking in his shady behavior. But they benefitted from it, directly or indirectly in some ways - and, worse, just by being related to the scumbag means they would be viewed in a negative way. Especially in a small-town, the mob-mentally would be easy to go along with and just shame the whole family. Sad to know the biggest victims of his scandal are the ones closest to him.
Right! What a COWARD! I'd rather Man Up about my mistakes than leave my kid's out here to face consequences like Bullying! Smh
They were in on it and enjoying the stolen money
I live about an hour away from where this happened. Trust me; you’ve never seen anyone go from HERO to ZERO so fast! The people who initially mourned his “murder” were furious to learn that they had been duped. Great job as usual, Mike! ❤️
Betrayal of trust in any situation is very painful.
Yeah I grew up where he was born and live like 20 minutes away from Fox Lake and yeah seeing all the responses from the community and how shaken everyone was... it was wild
I would be too! I can't imagine how his wife felt through this, I feel so awful for her
@@pelicanine Why? She knew.
@@cherijoseph7819 oh, I don't know, maybe because her husband of 26yrs is dead regardless of how?
I would like to bring special attention to the complaint that alleges that the officer "somehow obtained control over a certificate for a free tattoo that was donated to the department" and then, while on duty, went and got tatted up. Truly Michael Scott levels of workplace misconduct!
I feel like the fa t he stole thousands of dollars meant to teach young kids how to be a police officer and so forth is a bit more messed up than just stealing a free tattoo gift.
@@boogityhoo7452 you’re not wrong but just shows how dumb and low a person would go do the original comment is still relevant
And I'm sure everyone turned a blind eye and gave him an excuse.
😂 so ridiculous! ahhh
The thing that stands out to me the most is the fact that he was able to rise through the ranks with his tainted background. It shouldn't have been possible when they were putting all of those terrible details into his employee file. Then the agency makes him out to be a hero (lying to the public) initially so that they can just tear down his character later to save face? That's very odd behavior. This man was never supposed to obtain the rank of lieutenant. I wouldn't be surprised if his department knew what he was doing all along and turned a blind eye to it because of his long service with the department.
You'd be surprised. My old department had a guy who was sexually harassing just about every female employee in the department. He was sending them dick pics, saying foul things to them on the sly. Guy was a real scumbag. He was boys with some of the higher ups, so they kept promoting him and promoting him all the way to Lt. Finally, he groped one of his female officers by her vagina and she reported the incident. He was suspended, terminated, and criminally charged. The department acted like they didn't know he had been doing this shit for years, even though he had been suspended in past for doing the same shit. The real reason they fired him and took such a hard stance this particular time was, a few of the female employees who had been harassed/assaulted by this guy and reported it to no end, banded together and sued the department. They won a multi-million dollar suit. To mitigate the damages, I believe the department fired him so it looked better for them in the impending suit. They lost their ass anyway. This stuff happens at EVERY department.
It said the chief was in on it, thats why they all wrote the letter to the mayor. Also, I noticed the guy talking about the betrayal of the department ect was an Interim Chief, which happens when someone is quickly kicked out of a job, most probably with a quiet golden handshake to keep all the rest of the corruption quite, draw a line in the sand ect, get a new young face in, then have elections or whatever. I dunno if chiefs are elected like sheriffs are, but yeah, something like that.
Was this video the first time you found out all cops are corrupt sacks of shit?
Its interesting to me how many LEO-types refer to these _"few bad apples."_ Just totally ignoring the *warning* part of the axiom, which makes up _most_ of it:
_"A few bad apples _*_will spoil the whole barrel."_*
Not just the department. The mayor too
I remember this case very well. An older friend of mine (I'll call her Ethel), who was as 82 or 83 at the time, said after only about five minutes of watching the live news coverage while we talked, she knew something was off. Ethel immediately said, "Something isn't right. Mark my word. There is going to be a weird twist." I guess if we all live that long, well have Spidey senses, too, like Ethel!
maybe they got rid of him, clean up his mess
@@MikeMichaels1987 Can you elaborate on this theory?
My parents said 2 days after the case this suicide because the coverage was national one day, and seemingly swept under the rug the next
I thought Mike was going to tell us that Lt. Dan liked little boys or liked to dress in women’s lingerie! 👿
I never lived in Fox Lake, but I'm from the area. I too knew it was BS from the get go. This was compounded by the media coverage nationally and locally. I wasn't shocked when the truth started seeping out.
Back when I was in High school a girl had a sexual relationship with our school cop. He was very loved in the community and his WIFE and children were well known, they always were involved with the community. He was busted having relations with her in school and of course he was fired as a cop, divorced but people had a hard time believing he was a bad person. It still amazes me.
Sounds like every male gym teacher ever
@@shitneyb5562 ours was the football coach/math teacher 😂
I had a pastor that was apart of naacp and he didn’t work his wife was a nurse and his son is autistic. He was having all kinds of Adair’s but one of girls in the church called him out during one of his services and people still gave him money after his wife divorced him he still was getting donations even though he was never religious he just used the church
@@dorsebradford9844 What a scene that must have been. Like watching a soap.
@@shitneyb5562 I was just going to say that. Mr MacLean at my high school had quite the thing for young girls. Sick bastard
Joe’s wife Melodie was recently sentenced to 24 months probation. She still maintains her innocence in-spite of evidence to the contrary.
@@williamsullivan3967 It wasn't one of Trumps.
@@whichgodofthousandsmeansno5306 Rent free
Even better if she took a deal. I'm not guilty but I took a plea.
@@whichgodofthousandsmeansno5306who gives a shit? ALL politicians are dirt bags, including but not limited to Trump and Biden.😊
At first I felt sorry for his wife, thinking she was in denial and didn’t want to believe her husband was a scumbag. Then it turns out she was in on the whole thing…. 🙄
Hi Honey. Please don't text me about crime. See you tonight and we can talk.
generation why did an episode about him, they went into a little more detail about how crazy he was. How he planned out for the wife to get a pay out from his death. How other cops knew he wanted the supervisor dead because he ranted to a lot of ppl. Of course, nothing was done.
She married a cop. What do you expect?
Thought the same too, wonder of she knew he was going to off himself and stage it 🤔🤔
If your married to a crooked cop your either in on it or buried in the woods if he thinks your leaving.
The suspects were never found, because those "tree men" were hiding in the forest.
You couldn't resist, could you? 😆😆 I just had a proper belly laugh, thanks!
😂😂😂
Hiding in plain sight, the toughest hiding spot.
Only Mike knows or is able to tell us, the general public, about the “tree men.”
Well played friend, well played 👏
I feel sorry for all the kids that went through that Explorers program. It really plays with your mind when someone you like/respect turns out to be someone you shouldn't trust. It's especially hard when it happens in your formative years.
And the parents putting their kids through the explorers program are abusers for sending them through cop indoctrination school.
Never meet your heroes!
@@agoo7581 dumbest comment today! you win!!
@@scotsman6712 Dumbest comment? Did you not see that footage? Thst wasn't teaching kids to be LEOs, it was GI Joe teaching kids to play war games with equipment from the DOD surplus program. What they were being taught was in no was appropriate for kids, or for policing a village of 10,000 people.
@@Tracymmo This. My first thoughts seeing that training footage was that it looked more like some kind of backyard militia training, kids in combat fatigues waving AR-15's around and yelling. It's kind of scary to think that's the impression of police work they were presenting to impressionable kids.
I totally remember when this happened. It was all over the news for a long time. When the truth came out about him, it really turned things upside down. I love when Mike does stories close to home. Man, I’m hooked on this channel. Thanks Mike!! Much love from Chicago
Whoop whoop
I also live in the Chicago area, but I don't really remember this murder. Maybe that's because there are so many murders in Chicago.
His family was probably due a big payout if he was killed in the line of duty, which may have influenced him in staging a crime scene. Excellent video as always, many thanks.
This is extremely plausible
Yepp and the other shitty cops helped cover up for a brother in blue
That's exactly it. And nearly everyone in town had a huge fundraiser for her after he died as well. So much money raised and just handed over to her.
And if he was removed from the post due to fraud, his family might not have had his pension or survivors benefits, so he faked it
Yeah.
It’s the way this is titled “The Twisted Case” and I STILL didn’t see that twist coming. Excellent storytelling as always!
I want to see your heart
Lt. Crackhead
I think it`s hard to miss.
It's as obvious as it gets, by a long shot. It's an age old story told so many times that I'm surprised when a police officer isn't a a criminal, liar, and general scumbag.
my dead and blind grandma seen the "twist" coming
So grateful I've never had that burning want for money and I don't envy those who do. Thanks for another great story, Mike.
"Jews"
@@poppaganja3793 MLM scamers.
@@poppaganja3793 get help man. Whole lots of nasty things you can say about any race. This is a tragic story, not the time or place. Get help and meds
@@poppaganja3793 Didn't you just get arrested in Texas?
@@ImpossibleMusic69 i didn't say nothing racist might wana go back and read my comment and I didn't disrespect Noone or no race
I actually live very close to Fox Lake, and remember when this was going on. I worked at a convenient store at the time when Joe was found dead, and I remember when every cop that stopped by on their way to join the manhunt to find his "murderers." Everyone in the area found his death suspicious and it was wild when the truth unfolded. It's crazy knowing things happened like that so close to home
Kinda like the cop in my small town. Everyone loved him, until young girls started coming forward that he was inappropriately texting them and even molesting and blackmailing them. He was so loved that his ex wife was literally run out of town when she came out before all the allegations saying he was child predator and not someone who should be a police officer. He resigned an is now a cop in the next town over, but is under multiple investigations and an the truth is starting to come out more an more.
Women having terrible taste in men, what else is new.
Hope he’s not preying on children.
I know about a cop who sold OC 80s in a high school he worked in. All he got was a promotion in the next town lol. It was a complete joke! This city is known to be corrupt though, especially the police department. I actually got beat up in the same city by some roid head cop. I was like 18 and skinny af while cuffed and he’s hitting me for no reason. Idk why the FBI hasn’t shut them down.
Mike my dude, would you look into doing a video on Michael Schallert? He committed a double murder in West Frankfort Illinois in 2009. My sister actually dated him for a brief time about 5 years before that. He was at my house many times. He was honestly always a super nice guy when I knew him, but apparently he got addicted to meth after that, and killed two women. He ran to Colorado where they eventually caught him. It's an interesting case.
I did the Explorer program in New York when I was a teen. I am in my 40's now. The detective that was supposed to be our leader used us to cover for his many affairs. Even his own daughter (she was in the program and he was married to her mother during that time period.). He used the program's money to buy gifts for his many girlfriends. I got to see how dirty cops could be and I ended up quitting after 3 years. The boys in the program started to behave like him. There was a lot of sexual harassment. With that being said there are some really good cops out there, but I saw way too many being horrible and hiding behind the badge. I gave up my dream of being a police officer after that. I respect the good ones, but the horrible ones are trash.
If the good ones stay silent when they know what the bad ones are doing they are just as bad.
Pp OO
Hey! What do you do now for a living? I wish the police force would be less corrupt :(
Hi there. I live in NW lower Michigan between Elk and Torch lakes. I read your comment. Sad that the bad ones brought your dream to an end. Hope you are well
“The boys in the program started behaving like him.”
Oh, man. That’s the worst. It’s the way this stuff keeps being perpetuated and hidden. We are all driven by both good and bad motivations, and we can’t expect anything to get better if the bad motives go unchecked and even encouraged. Just mentioning this helps, Mari Mar, because today, someone might double-check their own Explorer program, or Scout troop, or whatever.
I'm always shaking my head whenever I learn that people like him were written up on the job forever and never let go. I can say no to someone and get let go 😸
This was in my hometown, it was such a crazy case and a shock to us all. Love to see you covering this!
omg same hometown
I’m just a few towns from you guys too. Remember how much chaos this brought?
Yeah this was a crazy wild story, I remember all of the extensive news coverage from this and always wondered what happened with his wife. Turns out to be nothing thusfar...what I do know is that we live in one of thee most corrupt States in the Nation - so there's that. I've been trying to get behind the badge but sometimes feel like wtf for..way to many stories n horrific crimes commited by the boys in blue that are actually far worse than what they 'harass' an average civilian for. The same ones that pull people over for going 5 over the limit, are the exact same ones that are doing all sorts of sinister shiitt in the dark. Can't trust a dam soul nowadays...not a single one.
@@ChicagosSinfulSwede you're talking about such a small percentage. I'd be more focused on all the shootings, murders, and violent carjackings plaguing Chicagoland area right now. Kim Foxx and the other libs with their catch and release program of violent criminals is pathetic.
Same. Go Bulldogs
Holy shit, I remember this guy. I was in high school when this went down, and we were warned against walking alone on the sidewalk back home before the actual truth behind his death was revealed
Grant?
thank you so much, Mike. my beloved 15. year old pupper passed a few days ago. I bottle fed her since birth. Lucy was my world and not a lot takes my mind off everything. you and your channel has been excellent in helping me get through this time. thank you, I love ya. see ya next time
Teresa I'm so sorry for your loss of Lucy. I've been through the same thing many, many times. I totally understand how you feel. Lucy knows you love her, & she will be with you always. You will see her again. Take care & God bless. 😢💔🙏💪🕊️🕯️✌️💙💐
I’m sorry for your loss❤️🇨🇦
An animal?
Sorry for your loss. I lost my little pup of 16 yrs. last December. I know it hurts but I have no doubt she loved you and knew that she was loved. She'll always be with you. I hope your heart heals soon.
Dogs are such special animals that have been our buddies and protectors for thousands of years. It is very sad to lose our special friends and I certainly wish dogs had a longer life. My brother had to put his black labradoodle Max after 13 amazing years. It was very sad bc Max was really amazing when our Dad suddenly died. Max missed Dad too. But Max never had a bad day and was treated like the special boy he was. My brother was not going to get another dog but after a few months he said it sucked not having a dog so he found a Goldendoodle pup and named him Winston. The two could not have more different personalities but they are both caring sweet doggos. Sorry you lost your best friend. Dogs really do improve our human lives.
Thank you, Mike, for sharing some of the document listing matters of complaint against "Lt. Joe":
The apparent theft or misuse of a tattoo certificate which had been gifted to the department, redeemed by Gliniewicz while on duty, with the time being somehow billed as part of the Explorer program (if I understood that part correctly), certainly was a colorful bundle of misconduct!
That incident itself was worth the pausing it took me to read those individual items.
Stealing money is one thing. The fact that he was willing for potentially innocent people to go to jail to cover up his crimes is despicable.
And willing to murder the person who was uncovering his embezzlement.
Well and he was a rapist
@@McSnezzly uhhhhh was that in the video? I heard the sexual harassment and having affairs with coworkers bit but I definitely missed that part. Not doubting you or anything.
That is how the badge wearing COWARDS are 'trained', to choose a person at random to intimidate, terrorize and arrest.
That's what police do. They are the definition of wolves in sheeps' clothing
This is my hometown where I grew up. Most of my family is still there. I knew Joe because he was in our high school all the time in the late 90's and was so good to so many kids. Really helped some of my friends out with drug issues and abusive homes. We were just shocked when all of this happened. It was devastating and scary and then became unthinkable when the real details came out. Never know what the hell is going on behind closed doors. I can't believe you're covering this! Love your channel and was shocked to see this one on here today.
Was he doing the explorers then? I don't remember ever seeing him. Becmer, oh yeah. I never bothered to learn the short, round replacement's name.
@@Professor_GonZo I'm not sure if he did the Explorer's program then. I just remember him at the school and around town. He would let some things slide when kids were just being kids and helped a friend of mine get a safe place to stay when he was being abused at home. And yeah Becmer was there at least a couple of my years as well. 93-97
@@creationsmisfit I am not sure where I heard this quote but it helped me reconcile confused feelings for people I have known.
Good men can do bad things and bad men can do good things. How can you decide what someone is?
As humans we are not one dimensional and therefore not just one way for our personality. I hope that this makes sense to you.
@@BobbieSmith46 if he was willing to frame people he was a piece of shit& DEFINITELY a bad man.
@@Man_fay_the_Bru I am not going to disagree with you as I agree with you, BUT in my experience it can be confusing if you are trying to look at it in a black or white aspect and pass judgement while trying to figure out how you feel about a person. Just because someone does bad things doesn't mean everything they do is bad. I found it very challenging when I knew what evil someone had done, but I had only ever seen a good side of them, so I wanted to loathe them but I couldn't and then felt bad because I still liked them.
"Lake shaped foxes." That's our Mike! 😂👍👏
I had to watch this!! I live in lakemoor right next to Fox lake and the police searched my backyard the night the the 3 "killers". But my husband and I called it immediately. The whole thing was so suspicious.
What made u guys so suspicious?
You have absolutely RUINED me for the boring monotony of the everyday storyteller. THANK YOU Mike, take care!
It honestly never gets better either.
Mr Ballen is the master of "story telling" but to call this channel "story telling" is not really accurate. This has some details told but for the most part it is reading a laundry list of facts.
@@icaanul Mikes came a long way from where he started, in a rather short period of time as well. They both have their own styles, but we love them both equally. 🤘🏻
Word! Between the robots, ppl with speech impediments (not shaming it’s just a weird choice), folks w/Scottish accents who drag every last word of a sentence etc Mike is a breath of fresh air
@@icaanul He is good at presenting facts in an entertaining and engaging way.
The new village administrator is trying to control (or administrate) everything in the village (the government funded programs at least, including the police Explorers) because that's her job. He's talking about framing her for felonies for doing her job.
Yeah, turns out Joe was a horrible person, with an equally awful wife.
Hopefully the Admin will look into how much the fake manhunt cost.
Unbelievable!! After that memo he should have been at the least put on unpaid leave until being fired. Got to wonder did his wife get his pension...or hum...life insurance?
thanks cpt Obvious.
I just can't believe that a police officer would do such a thing !!!!!
@@PFBM86 They would never!
Imagine being 3 friends hanging out at the wrong place at the wrong time and all of a sudden you're being arrested and charged as a cop killer...... or worst getting murdered from some crime you didn't commit SMH
happens more often than we hear about.
Joe was making sure his widow and children get some more money they don't qualify for 👏.
@@charlesjames1464 THANK YOU. And the original commentor here.
People like Joe's wife tend to see their crimes- crimes like misallocation of funds- as victimless. (I really think there is some cluelessness still: that made-up Black perpetrators won't result in real-life Black men being impacted, arrested.) Real harm is done by their dishonesty. When money is misspent, and when manner of death is left an open question, other people can easily become victims, whether by the false accusations and/or a bad-faith insinuation, or by having funds wasted on situations which don't fit the criterium for which they were created. No matter if your victims are unseen or unintended, or if your crimes were financial, they still have the capacity to change, ruin, or even bring an end to the lives of other people.
Recognizing that these crimes victimize other, probably unknown individuals, however- truly comprehending the potential harm done- demands some amount of caring about people who are outside one's own little circle of immediate self-interest.
😔The last, sickening bit of this was discovering that Joe's [self-righteous] family apparently shares his values.
That is everyone in prison and everyone killed by pigs.
Yeah I mean, when a cop gets shot at, or killed , the police tend to get about 100 or more people and go on a rampage turning someone into Swiss cheese. I mean yeah, I’m not gonna act like they just go merking random people and usually it is the result of an actual cop killer being tracked down and just absolutely obliterated by police…but in a situation like this where it was a false report and suicide, you could easily think of a scenario where 3 random people who happened to fit the same demographic joe put out just going about their day being merked.
I really question how many of his fellow police officers didn’t know the dirty underbelly. It’s sadly not as rare as we’d like to believe.
No fucking way!!! This is from my hometown, I remember this story so well from when I was in highschool!! My friends & I were all nervous walking around town when we thought there were people on the run who shot him before we found out the truth! I thought about suggesting this one, nice job! I can't wait to watch this video!
"Was he though???" 😂😂😂😂 You always know someone's been bamboozled whenever Mike utters these words. 😉
It makes me sad that all these hours were spent searching for his killers, more work was probably put into this case than most, and other cases were put to the side for it. Cops always tell you they're working as hard as they can for you and your loved ones, but that's not ever true. They work ten times harder for their own
Whats worse is that the ones in charge knew from the beginning that there was no "3 suspects" and I find it funny that none of them have been investigated for "miss use of public funds" (or something along them lines) 🤔 but why would they investigated themselves...
It was called in as a chase though, if the police didn’t follow up with actually searching for the guys who allegedly did it, that department would be under so much fire if there actually were killers against their thinking.
@@CowboyredPedro hello, my issue is that the cop's service weapon was next to his body and they LIED about it.
The supposed big danger to the community was that these anonymous young men had the gun and had killed a cop.
The coroner would have known that Joe killed himself, so the cops knew a search was a waste of money and manpower.
This was a cover-up and heads should roll. smh
There is no doubt in my mind that those pigs were looking for three random black people to incarcerate, only to come clean when they found out it was impossible.
That’s human nature.
People that claim “we’re all human” blah blah equality blah, live in a fantasy world were natural instinct doesn’t exist.
Melodie Gliniewicz, the widow of disgraced Fox Lake Police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz, was sentenced to 18 to 24 months' probation Tuesday after pleading guilty in February to a felony charge of deceptive practices, connected to her late husband's financial misdeeds, avoiding a trial on more serious charges.
“good” people are secretly doing bad things. Nothing new under the sun. I would love Mike to cover the case of the swedish "kapten klänning" (captain dress) one of Sweden's highest ranked police officers who kept a dark, violent secret. Police chief Göran Lindberg liked the nickname "Captain dress", which he had been given for his work in championing gender equality in the police force. But he also led a secret life which led to his conviction in 2010 for aggravated rape, assault, buying sex and procuring young girls for other sex buyers. It was a paradox that he was one of Sweden's highest ranking police officer with a profile in gender issues and strong moral and ethical values and on the other side he had this interest in young girls, sadism and violent sex. They arrested Göran Lindberg (68 yo) in January 2010 as he was on his way to meet a 14-year- old girl complete with his black bag full of bdsm sex toys.
I second that. People, please like this comment so Mike can Cover it.
Good people dont do shi# like this good people dont steal tons of money from the community tax payer money and try to hire hit men to kill innocent people just cover their horrible deeds i dont think you understand what "good" means my friend ....yeah good people do little bad things but not horrible disgusting things we call those "bad" people ya know
What!? That’s insane! I would love to hear mike cover this. Only thing I think is an issue, is that Mike normally covers murder, not necessarily just brutal crimes….
Everything I looked up on Goran Linberg was in Swedish or Norwegian or Sami. The case is super interesting!
Huh
True life stranger than fiction…not.
Just be alert to the red flags
@Kohai
Huh 🤔
I live in the town next to fox lake . This guy GI Joe used to be found drunk passed out in his camo truck .....all the time
It's actually kind of a relief he didn't take his family with him. If I've learned anything about family annihilators from all my true crime viewings, it's that a lot of them were narcissists that saw no way out.
A life insurance policy actually might’ve saved lives in this one for once. Gave Joe the option of trying to have his family benefit from his death instead of just taking everyone with him.
@TheDarkerKnight very true but then I wonder if I found out my husband or father did this, would I help cover it up? Honestly.. Probably.
Are cops allowed to get life insurance? If I was an insurer I wouldn’t do it.
@@Wazupiseeyou uhm then thank heavens you're not an insurer.. why would someone with an incredibly dangerous job not be allowed to have life insurance? that's the exact person who needs it
@@shitneyb5562 honest question, why? why would you help cover it up?
I’m literally going through the toughest time in my life. And let me say, Mike, you are amazing. Your show brings me a sense of calm and reality. Not saying in no way shape or form that murder makes me calm but your voice and editing skills are on 1000000000. Thank you for calming me on a daily basis.
Hey, bless you, life can be difficult sometimes. I hope things improve.
I hope things get better for you 🤗
Keep praying. You can do it I know you can.
Keep your head up! Don't hold things inside,talk to those you trust in your family or friends! Talk to a Priest or a cop or some stranger! There's help out there! God Bless you!
I've lost a son, a mum, a business, my health and my last two friends in the last two years alone. I watched my dad died Infront of me at 12 and ran away from my mum at 15, I'm 36 now and it's been painful, I want to die so much, I'm psychotic and constantly self harming but that's just to feel, I can't die as much as life is painful because their are people it would hurt and I simply can't hurt another after the pain I've felt, so I push on and suffer silently!
I think of the Jews or the woman in Harlem or any other persecuted person in history and feel like maybe I haven't got it so bad, I try to anyway, I hope that helps dilute your pain........
I'm impressed that they came out and told the public what he was up to. It must have been a hard thing to do!
It was their job to come out and tell the public... if they didn't they would be just as bad as him
The reason they took so long and were supposedly investigating it was because they were trying to find someone to convict instead if telling the truth, the paramedics knew right away it was self inflicted and the fact they "couldnt" find his gun which was right next to him until they "solved" the case is a big piece of evidence pointing to that fact. They had his gun the entire time and were going to plant it on the person who they were going to blame for it but whether it was stopped by a higher up or they ended up thinking better of that or whatever the reason they changed their mind, Im glad they did cause the person who would have been framed would have had no chance in hell to beat that case. It's really sad that it was even thought of to frame an innocent person just so it wasn't on record that a police officer killed himself because if how crooked he was. This is the type of behaviour that piss ppl off about police officers but the ppl who blindly support them refuse to see any if this corruption going on right in front of their faces.
Wrong. The guy who investigated this is a morally, stellar individual. There is a really great podcast on this whole mess. The podcast is: "Over My Dead Body".
Wrong, the "bad guy" killed himself making it easy to come out with HIS wrongdoing. They get to look good for coming out with a resolution while also having a scapegoat for wrongdoing bc the "bad cop" all ready killed himself.
@@TheSoonToBePurgedJackMeHoff55 of course it was their job and duty to admit all, but that doesn't mean it always happens. Thankfully, they didn't hide it, that's what makes it worse in the long run.
At least he ended up only taking his own life rather than the town administrator's.
And/or the dispatcher.
I have an extended family member that worked closely with him and was trained by him. This person was in total shock as to what he was doing and I quote "He was the last one I thought would be doing that"
I have a friend who is a nurse and vouched for another nurse to be hired. Turned out, he was a pedophile. Some people are predators and are very convincing.
Which basically means there’s PLENTY of other cops that are also up to shady stuff….& they’re armed.
@@Man_fay_the_Bru which also means that you never really know anyones true persona. Even if you think you do.
A white man stealing and laundering money is hard to believe??
@@snickerdoodles787 yes. It was totally about ethnicity. I'm glad you noticed that and that no other ethnicity has ever done anything like this. You're really on to something. 🤡
I lived not too far away when this happened. Although they did not publicly say it at the beginning, there were hints/rumors coming out that it was suicide. Also, it seems like Joe may have seen 2 dudes in the area and he described them to dispatch. As soon as they located and cleared those 2, the public skepticism (outside of Fox Lake) grew. Wonder why he didn’t just make something up instead of using real, although innocent, people. Lucky for those two they were apparently believable but I bet they were really scared for a while.
I love how Mike tells us the weather. Every. Single. Time. It's just great.
‘Hunk of badass’... not even a minute in and Mike has already made my day!
I'm a true crime junkie, & Mike is the perfect witty, respectful dealer that promises me my next fix without hesitation. Thank you, Mike!
I have a high tolerance I need a larger dose.
I was half asleep, then bam, shot of Mike.
@@maycasper2661 I bang a shot of Mike at night just before bed to give me a good rest. I was just going into a bad withdrawal so thank god he showed .... On my feed sometimes I mix it with a bit of speed like 1.5,x just to get it in me quicker.
@@heartlights too late.
A story that starts like all the rest where the person who dies was perfect and never did a thing wrong….but this one tells the truth! Not everyone who dies was a perfect loving person who never did anything to anyone.
Ever since I discovered Mike I haven’t missed a single episode. Mad love all the way from South Africa 🇿🇦
Same!
Same here 💘
Same here.... And also from South-Africa !!!!
Same here!
I wish I had something clever to say….
But I’ll just say, you’re the best Mike!
I was sad and actually had tears in my eyes........Love you Mike. I introduced you to my sad depressed Brother after he lost his wife to cancer. He enjoyed the final part of his life watching your Chapters.
This all happened in my backyard. I was home that day due to an injury I sustained on the job. Having police up and down my dead-end street and having 6 helicopters over my house was wild.
I spend alot of time in the chain area, mostly Antioch. I worked with a guy who was in the explorer progran and new joe personally. It was crazy when all of that shit happened. Once rumors started about suicide and his crimes, all of the support and stickers and posters vanished practically overnight.
I’m from the area too. I got to do some work with Lt Joe in lake county. Crazy case some of my friends still think there’s more to this story.
@@tcnshr i remember alot of people were saying he was the fall guy for something bigger.
@@amatteroftimeisuppose8900 Also originally from the area with family still there. It would not surprise me one bit if there were a lot more to the story, but this is what is officially known.
Omg yes, I remember driving home near the area, and all over people were making posters and had them out, on fb people had shirts made, restaurants were sending free food to the officers while on the search, the community was just like really trying to make it better, then like the next day everyone was so embarrassed for showing empathy and being tricked.. felt so sad seeing it all unfold.
Back in the 90s a friend of mine who was underage had a relationship with a cop. He used to pick her up at her fast food job in his patrol car. She said he even had her help put down traffic cones during an accident investigation. At the time it was a badge of honor (pun intended) for each of them and I didn't really judge. Looking back I find it incredibly creepy and it disturbs me even more how common it was. Guys like him and Drew Peterson operated with impunity for a long time.
What did you do about it?
yeah i lived in a small city near la and heard from my moms friend who had an addict son that his wife would sleep with the cops to get out of posession charges and other bs. even if she consented thats still unprofessional and she probably isnt the only one doing it over there and it probably happens in alot of other places. alot of women who do drugs prostitute to support their habit so sleeping with a cop to get out of charges isnt probably a big deal and the cops take advantage of their vulnerable situation. i dont agree with all this cop hating stuff recently but hopefully we will get some kind of positive changes.
@@whitebloodism Nothing. We were in our late teens/early twenties from dysfunctional families. She saw him as a protector and a lover. As far as I know he wasnt violent or controlling. I never met him but even if I had given all I just said, I probably wouldn't have done anything. And if I did it probably wouldn't have amounted to much. Possibly made things worse. As she got older she began to seek a different kind of man and is happily married now. The cop is probably retired by now...
@@idorus I 100% believe it. I'm not anti cop either. Had a rough upbringing in LA and saw a lot. There are some amazing cops out there and some that are absolutely disgusting and terrifying. I imagine even the best cops have to look away from certain things so I'm grateful for the level of scrutiny we are seeing now. I'm hopeful that significant positive change will come from it. Hope your friend has managed to get clean. That life is hell.
@jen30551 cop or not that’s grooming and damaging. Every one that is let off is a chance of abusing again. Hopefully that person hasn’t abused again in the time of your friends happy marriage.
the clips of the people who continue to think it wasn't a suicide and that Joe was setup through department corruption is the weirdest part of this whole story
Right! “It was a hoax!” You are right lady, it was a hoax a hoax named joe
This guy is a model for my ex-husband. Only he was a serial rapist. Everyone loved him but a few new him for who he really was. By the way he was a massage therapist, but before he was going to be charged for sexual assault he conveniently died accidently with a shot gun to the face. The woman who was gonna press charges had a nervous breakdown, cause she told him she had taped the session she had with him that day. I had divorced him 10 years earlier. Karma has a way of biting you in the butt.
Not me cracking my ass up at “THE LAKE SHAPE KIND!” 😂😂😂 I am so grateful for this channel ❤️❤️🙌🏽
Came for the true crime, stayed for the unparalleled lake-related humor! 🤣🤣🤣
Love ya Mike! Thanks for always giving us the best videos! I’m always here to give it a goo!!
The mix of our love for true crime, and how fun you are to watch, is the perfect combination!!!
I watched someone reacting to this channel last year so I followed his link to the original video and found Mike. Oh man. I can’t stop watching. I’ve gotten 3 or 4 of my True Crime lovers hooked as well. I wait excitedly for every new video. I think I might just need an intervention...
😂😂😂
One thing stood out to me, he was reprimanded for not handing out enough traffic citations, only half as much as others.thats total bs! Not the reprimanded part but.....
I listened to the podcast Over My Dead Body not too long ago when they did a season on G.I Joe. I highly recommend it to those hearing about this case for the first time! Can’t wait to see Mike’s storytelling for this one
Have you looked at the Snake Murder : lynlee renick
@@lovepet4565 Oh, I’d LOVE to hear Mike give that one a goo! 👀😂❤️😂
Thanks for the recommendation. It’s nice to have a more in-depth analysis of a case like this.
Yeah, that was a terrific podcast. I enjoy Mike's snark too much to give his take a pass. 😏
@@lovepet4565 no i haven’t, I’ll have to check it out and see if it’s a similar vibe. Thanks!
I love how that old lady was like "I think this is a big conspiracy!"
Yeah, grandma. There was. It was the cop. Hello.
Boomers are pro cop cause they need to justify their innate racism and twisted authoritarianism
You sure dunked on that rando old lady.
@@McSnezzly Fervid ideological babble.
@@eadweard. K
@@McSnezzly You are a bigot.
Once the cop announced he was chasing after someone, they had to treat it as a murder. Didn't matter that they may have suspected suicide an hour or two later. The town could be put into financial trouble if they were wrong, having gave no attempt to look for a suspect, and someone else was murdered.
That's right. And allowing one person to be in charge of the books for YEARS is just reckless! Did they never conduct audits? What a shady bunch of people in charge!
Hi, the coroner would have known right away that Joe killed himself.
Just the fact that cops pretended that 'the suspects' had Joe's service weapon is evidence of a cover-up.
There is zero evidence that two white guys and a black guy were in the area; no footprints, no random security footage, no suspicious autos.
This case was a wrap before lunchtime.
But, the cops had to put on a show for the benefit of civilians and their department.
I'd like to know how much this show cost the taxpayers.
@@ShermThursby it costs the taxpayers Thousands! There, now that you have that valid information, can you sleep better tonight?
Smh 🤦♂️🤦♀️🤦🤦🤦♀️🤦♂️
@@ShermThursby $300k if you really want to know. And that was just the first 3 weeks of the investigation. $196k of that went on paying overtime to the police officers and staff working during that time.
@@ShermThursby I think the officers got suspicious when he reported that there was a black guy to begin with. I’m from Chicago & there just aren’t that many black people in that Fox Lake area so they would’ve stuck out like a sore thumb & if they were outsiders they would’ve had to have a car already because the closest cities they could’ve come from while close, aren’t walking distance.
We love you, Mike! Thanks for being one of the absolute, best storytellers on RUclips ❤
Great job as always. I live in North Chicago and remember this when it happened. People called bullshit on it in days after. It really was a Jussie Smollett situation where everyone raised an eyebrow. The news reports quickly dismissed any active threats to the community.
When this happened I was in North Chicago visiting an aunt of mine and I was there for almost 2 weeks after this and after maybe 8 days ppl started whispering and some of the foul things came out it was crazy how the praises of his year over the years instantly turned sour in less than 24hrs basically it’s like the citizens were praising him on a Tuesday but they nose was turn up that Wednesday I had never seen a community dislike someone that fast in my life!!
Mikes story telling is so animated that you don’t even need visuals to enjoy the videos. I put them on at night before bed and close my eyes and enjoy the stories. Thanks Mike!
Damn , forgot what day it was. Let’s give it a gooo, now that I know. Cheers to you Mike and to all my That Chapter brethren!!!
Cheers!
I moved to Island Lake, a town away from Fox Lake, after a Cook County police station refused to charge or arrest the woman who killed my sister with her car. I loved the Lakes, spent hours of my life partying on Fox Lake, had my 21st bday at Blarney’s Island. But after watching this, it only justifies my moving across the country in 2011. And eff Libertyville too, talk about corrupt cops and just generally snobby people. Sorry, I clearly have a bias 😬Regardless, GREAT video as always - how you can make me laugh and cry at the same time is a gift ❤️
Mike, you are the absolute best True Crime channel across the board. Not only do we get to hear the best accent in the entire world, but we also get your amazing personality and ad libs. I really can’t recommend you enough!! 💕
dito!~
No joke. This guy is always able to achieve comedy in a way that is so tasteful and respectful - something that a lot of people miss hard on in the true crime genre. I’ve listened to a billion true crime podcasts and seen a decent number of the channels but nobody compares to Mike.
You had “tree” comments before eye commented!😂👍🏽
@@aliiita8402 I completely agree! He’s such a good egg.
@@DGLake1 I love this comment! 🥰
Astounding that he committed suicide with his sidearm, yet they didn’t find it immediately. Did they not test for gunshot residue on his hands? They needed to conduct a heroic, bogus investigation because they blew it in the first 15 minutes of discovering his body. Pffft.
Honestly I think it was moreso for the reasons mike listed: the cops knew they were gonna get overtime pay, and they might’ve also potentially been waiting to plant the gun on someone to frame them too but decided not to. Big surprise that the piece of shit had piece of shit colleagues too
I was thinking the same as I continued to watch the video. I'm going to rewind to re.listen about the gun not being found immediately. How can one shoot himself and throw (or place) the gun a distance from the body? Where was the "lethal" shot on his body?
What? Did you even watch the end of the video? That's not what was described.
@@fokinmohena Also the public wouldn’t have accepted the suicide explanation without a manhunt
They don't test for residue etc on the scene, these things are done at a Lab etc, so even if they were suspicious, they still had take it serious..
Crazy case. It happened a hop skip and a jump from me. My job had a sign on our marquee up for him. It came down real quick when the whole story came out. It quietly went away and no one talked about him any more.
22:06 I’m so impressed with whoever stylized that handwritten sign in the window!
Wow! I was here for this one. I live in the area. Locked doors, thinking cop killers were on foot, people in an uproar over this mans death and the subsequent shock upon the findings once the metaphorical veil was lifted. Super excited for this one!
Edit to add I HAD NO IDEA FOX LAKE WAS SHAPED LIKE… well, like that.
We have Round Lake, Lake Villa, Island Lake, Grayslake, Crystal Lake, Lake Forest (Michael Jordan’s old home there) Lake in the Hills and good old Fox Lake. (I’m sure I missed a few) this is (take a guess… )
Lake County IL!
More fun facts: next-door to Fox Lake is Antioch, Where Kyle Rittenhouse resides recently found not guilty as I’m sure everyone knows. (Rittenhouse was a part of an explorer program- wonder if it was the same one?!)
Then we also have in Crystal Lake where young AJ Freund was murdered by his mother and father, Who said he was missing but later found in a field. They are locked up now. Horrible.
Then we have Volo, also mentioned in the video (Volo bog) which is actually home to Volo Auto museum, a pretty cool place where are you can find the Batmobile, The Ghostbuster car and my fave, the Scooby-Doo van. Plus a shit ton of other cars. They actually just recently got some giant robotic dinosaurs that you can see from the highway. Which was a bit of a scare we went to their huge thrift store. Oh yeah, they have a thrift store. It’s full of treasures. It’s the best part of this whole post. Anyway. GREAT VIDEO, Mike!
Why would you lock your door? That makes no sense, people are strange.
Thank you for the fun facts!!
I have to ask, you guys only started locking the doors then? I have a mini "Fort Knox" in my home, and every night I make sure it's all secured... I lived on a small ranch in MT 16 years ago and people STILL tried to break into my house... twice... I can't imagine not locking everything!
Wow!! Thanks for so much great info😃
@@wulver810 they thought there were dangerous murders on the lose, on foot. Also had reported that they had not found the officers gun so, armed.
People tend to lock doors for that stuff, I guess. I didn’t, however.
Which is actually probably strange.
@@LúciaKitten oh people lock doors. We are an hour from Chicago. But it’s not common to be told to lock doors. 🤷♀️
I’m never surprised when “good” people are secretly doing bad things. It’s just really sad that suicide was his answer.
Cowards commit suicide. And people who swim in the ocean of self-pity.
@@ziggyschumann5284 I think that's a bit simplistic... People who see no way out commit suicide but pack animals set on people when they're down
@@ziggyschumann5284 and only cowards talk for the dead and assume there pain
Woah watch out guys we got an edge lord in the comments over here 😂 go take your hot takes over to the incel reddit page and get your validation there buddy
@@ziggyschumann5284 people commit suicide when the pain they're in outweighs their coping mechanisms. This is the viewpoint of one who's never experienced that kind of pain.
"he didn't represent the Fox lake police community"
The same police community that rallied around him time and time again each time he did some disgusting or corrupt thing, the same police community that couldn't even set a standard of professionalism high enough for him to lose his job?
Seems like he represented your police community just fine
He didn't represent the ones he couldn't intimidate., probably.
my thoughts exactly, what a load of BS
@@brycearmstrong2891 they stick together, thin blue line gang
G.I.JOKE!!!clever!! As always great vid 👌
@@ianmoone9036 they certainly do, in public. Usually they can't stand each other in private.
The officer's voice breaking on the call when he's reporting his comrade down ...
As much disrespect as Joe had for his own family, he really disrespected other cops, knowing they would be the ones who found him. He worked with them for 30 years, he was career military-to-cop, he knew what they were like and how they felt about him. Obviously the "thin blue line" only ran one way for that guy.
(On a lighthearted note: I've watched a lot of That Chapter videos and ... "Illin-oying?" is one of my favorite Mike-isms yet. I genuinely LOLed; hats off!)
Good video Mike and relevant to what’s going on in the States. So many people believe in something without weighing or trusting the facts. I have much respect for the village administrator Anne Marrin for doing her job.
Another thing to consider is just how little it takes to convince someone that another is righteous. Simply because they wear a fancy uniform.
Be scary to have a legit cop out there that wants to get you.
@@specificgravity-thedancing9700 have you heard of the lapd police gang initiation killings? They do it. That sentence alone makes me sick.
Wow, only 30mins after uploading, already more than 25k people watched this! Glad to see Mike's channel growing! Amazing storytelling. Thanks, Mike!
I think he releases it firsr for his Patreons
There's a reason he was featured in Netflix's Cecil Hotel doc...
@@comonena He uses a different link for the Patreon videos now.
❤❤❤
I’m originally from Chicago & as soon as I heard about the radio call of him saying one of them was a black male I said the story was bullshit because there aren’t many black folks in that area & if they were going to come from the outside they would’ve already had a car because they would’ve been coming from Waukegan, North Chicago (by Great Lakes naval base) or Kenosha. However where he reported the suspicious activity someone from the immediate area would’ve had to known about it to get away & seeing as how there are so few black people in Fox Lake they would’ve been able to quickly connect them with the shooting.
Damn, you know your shit, lol.
Thanks for the added info. I love when people who are from a particular area of a case give us unreported details.
I’m from Antioch and you’re right, not a lot of black people here and the ones that are here aren’t usually criminals
That's Fox lake for you
It's like the Jussie Smollett tale. They lost me completely when they claimed the assailants referred to Chicago as MAGA country
😂
As if MAGA heads are out and about in Streeterville like that.
You are such a good story-teller, Mike! I sure didn't see that coming! Thank you for another great video, Bud!
I live near Fox Lake and I remember when this happened. I was teaching an after school drama class a couple towns over and the kids in my class who lived near there were wondering if they would even be allowed to go home because of the "active shooters." Then a couple weeks later my family and I were driving out of town and got stuck in the traffic for this massive parade the community staged for him. It was so huge! People loved this guy so much. Things changed real quick when more evidence got out :P
Thank you for not giving away any spoilers 🙂 I read the comments whilst I listen, terrible vice but hey...
It's disgusting yet not shocking that they didn't mention his long standing history of sexually assaulting his subordinates, or ordering a friggin hit on that local administator. Only care about the embezzlement.
Literally watched every video of Mike's on a 64 hour round trip to California and back to Tennessee and haven't stopped watching since! Absolutely love Mike!
Eww nasty, that's a long-ass time to be stuck in a pressurized tube man. Bet that was a lifesaver have a nice, new bank of content to kill it with! ✌😉🍻
Before I discovered this channel I used to watch other true crime youtubers habitually but they just don’t do it for me anymore. Nobody tells a story quite like Mike ❤️
I’m sure he wasn’t the only one stealing, but his death sure gave them the perfect scapegoat, huh?
I remember being in the Explorers program in high school in 2005. I really enjoyed it, but because I was the smallest person in the group (size and weight) they made me do the perp acting rather than the cop training. I was able to fit into small crevices that the trainees would never suspect anyone was in.
But, I remember Joe and the impact his death had on the state and the state police. I remember watching with my grandpa who was a cop while he sat there saying "I hope they get the people who did this! I bet it was some punks.." blah blah, and when everything about Joe came out, grandpa was just in shock. He didn't believe in a million years that someone as influential as Joe would ever do this.
I wish my grandpa was still here so I could show him this episode. Thanks Mike.
I wish they had listed to your Grandpa! Why didn't they get them? The ones he was texting about killing the Trustee. They also found $2,000 worth of Coccain in Joes desk that he was going to plant on the trustee. If they had gotten the killers there might not have been a Police force!
I don't think he intended to kill himself. He waited for backup before shooting himself again.
First one was into the body armor.
I think he thought he'd be saved and become a wounded hero to detract from his crimes.
No..he knew he was fu@ked. The shot to the body armor was to make it believable. He didn't wait for backup, he just requested backup.
Don't think he would shoot himself in the head if he didn't intend to kill himself. At the time there was even speculation that his wife knew of his intentions because of his corrupt activities and, the vise was getting tighter on him and her.
@@ricoaztec1 18:30 called for backup, and when they arrived, shot himself again.
Unless there's negligible latency between the call and their arrival, he waited for backup.
As a former dispatcher and now quite the opposite attitude towards cops, he probably held the belief that he was indeed f@cked and if an officer dies "on duty" the spouse gets almost 3 to 4 times the amount of life insurance payout
@@mango8918 he didn’t shoot himself in the head - two in the body. Lungs were bleeding and it came out his mouth.
If you ever wonder where some of your audience watches your videos from. Currently watching from an offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Showed my whole crew your channel and they’re hooked. Keep up all the awesome hard work 🙌🏼🙌🏼
What a fascinating place to watch Mike! This may sound like a dumb question, but how do y'all get internet access way out there?
I'm currently watching from my snow-covered house in South Carolina. (Six whole inches of snow! 😮)
Currently watching from a very small but very cozy (if not cluttered) short bus parked semi‐permanantly in a field in Portland OR, with a very talkative but snuggly black cat. :)
@@LisaBowers we have wifi and satellite networks out here, enjoy the snow 🙃
@@LisaBowerswhat part of South Carolina???? I use to live in Bamberg
@@kristibyerts5987 Greenville 👋
I like that you address just me in your intro.
Others who say “hi everyone “
I look around and there’s no one else.
We should probably be doing full-scale audits on all cops. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be very surprised to find a large number of them getting away with the same type of behavior Joe had been getting away with for years. I don't think this kind of stuff is as uncommon as we would hope it to be.
I'm not so sure. I was shocked at the intense scrutiny over 3 late arrivals. I am not a late person, so perhaps I am naive, but they seem very regimented. That said, I think this is likely true in all vocations.
For sure
It's 100% not uncommon.
@@alicelaybourne1620 did you miss the "thousands of dollars in embezzlement over nearly a decade" part?
WTF do you mean "3 late arrivals"?!?!
Like Catholic priests, police - despite being caught red handed and more then a few of the bunch doing the same, just get moved to new departments/perishes. The dirty deeds are swept under the rug, the angry public is told the problem has been taken care of, but they protect their own and just move them far enough away they won't be recognized.
DUDE. I remember when this happened!! I lived EXTREMELY close to where this happened and we went into hard lockdown in my middle school for 6 hours when the police got the call. We thought there was three shooters really close to our school
BS
@@VishusVenom I would provide proof but would risk doxxing myself and that’s no bueno on the internet
@@VishusVenom if there’s any way I can provide you proof without giving you personal information I’d be happy to do so
@@jamescoyne4559 I live in Bridgeport and I remember this happening too and this the first I’ve heard of it being foul play crazy
I remember this too I’m from Northeast suburbs. It was crazy, truth is truly stranger than fiction.
This is the craziest incident to happen in our town. It was so scary being in lockdown for 8 hours wondering if a gunman was going to break into the school, since he reported two males. I wasn’t even allowed into my house and if we were we couldn’t leave the subdivision, considering this happened so close to my house. Some people won’t accept what he really did because of the impact he had during his time.. Crazy how it unfolded!
and to think the Cops new all along there were no killers ! think about that!
I was working in fox ridge when this happened, I’ll never forget this time, but I also remember once the name got out, someone had said he prolly did it himself, how bad of a person he was, got eaten alive on Facebook by hundreds of people, weeks later he was laughing