A suburban Chicago businessman has been accused of stalking and fatally shooting a former University of Maine men’s basketball player over a supposed affair.
Jeffrey Keller, the CEO of a small Internet company based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, was charged Friday with murdering Nate J. Fox on Dec. 22.
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Keller, 51, was denied bail and is scheduled to be back in a DuPage County court Wednesday. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
Fox, 37, was a standout at UMaine, starring for two seasons from 1998 to 2000 after transferring from Boston College. He went on after college to play professionally in Europe for more than a decade.
He had been living in Bloomingdale, Illinois, about 30 miles west of Chicago, and working as a car salesman.
Keller believed that Fox was having an affair with a woman whom Keller was romantically interested in, prosecutors say. The woman worked with Fox but told officials she was not involved with him.
Keller, who is married, is suspected of driving to Fox’s house and waiting for him. When Fox returned home about 9:30 p.m., officials said, Keller shot him multiple times as he got out of his vehicle.
Fox’s girlfriend was making dinner inside. She heard the gunshots and went out to the driveway, where she saw Fox slumped over.
He was taken to a hospital but died from his wounds.
State Attorney Robert Berlin, in a statement Friday, called the killing “senseless,” and praised Bloomingdale police for their investigation.
Police had issued a request for the public’s help in finding the suspect and had reached out to acquaintances in Maine who might have been in contact with him.
“This was a hard case,” Bloomingdale Chief Frank Giammarese said in a telephone interview. “There were some people who provided invaluable information that led us to (Keller).”
Keller is the CEO of a company called 8to18 Inc., which is a “leading provider of sport and activity information from local organizations,” according to its website. The company appears to operate athletics2000.com, a site that compiles information on sports teams at schools in Illinois.
On his LinkedIn page, Keller indicates that he founded 8to18 Inc. in 2005 and is also the CEO and founder of KellerApps, a consulting company for tech companies.
Six people, including Keller, are listed as employees on 8to18’s website. A woman who answered the phone there Friday said no one was prepared to comment about Keller’s arrest.
Keller had become obsessed with Fox and stalked him for several days before the shooting, renting a black SUV to drive to Fox’s house even though he owned four vehicles, prosecutors say.
The break in the case came in the last week when police received a call from a friend of Keller’s who told them Keller had confessed to the slaying when they were together over Jan. 8-9.
Keller was taken into custody Wednesday after being questioned by police.
Fox, who was from Illinois, began his college basketball career at Boston College before transferring to Maine. The 6-foot-9 forward played at Maine for two seasons, averaging 17.9 points and 7.8 rebounds. The Black Bears went 43-16 during his time there and the teams were among the most successful in school history.
After college, Fox played in Europe from 2000 to 2012 before moving back to his home state.
“He had a great sense of humor that his teammates loved,” John Giannini, who coached Fox at UMaine, said in December. “He was really fun to be around. He really cared about his teammates.”
Eric Russell can be contacted at 791-6344 or:
Twitter: @PPHEricRussell
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