The man serving a life sentence for the 2004 rape and murder of a Will County girl in a case that grabbed national headlines has died in prison, officials said.

       Scott Eby, 52, who was convicted after he confessed to the murder of Riley Fox, 3, died in custody, officials with the Will County state’s attorney’s office confirmed Friday.

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       The news of Eby’s death was first reported by the Joliet Patch.

       The Illinois Department of Corrections wasn’t immediately available for comment Friday evening. Searches in the department’s online inmate database did not show an entry, though Eby is still listed on the Illinois State Police’s sex offender registry.

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       Riley’s death gained widespread media attention after Will County authorities initially accused her father Kevin Fox of assaulting and killing his daughter, who Eby abducted while she was asleep in flamingo pajamas with a Dora the Explorer blanket.

       Police had said Fox confessed to the murder and sexual assault in a videotaped confession but was released after spending eight months in Will County Jail when DNA resultscleared him of the crime.

       Riley Fox (Family photo)

       In 2010, a federal jury awarded Fox and his wife Melissa $8 million in damages after agreeing that Will County sheriff’s police had framed him for his daughter’s slaying.

       That same year, Eby confessed to the child’s murder in a 10-page letter.

       Eby made multiple suicide attempts after he drowned Riley in a creek near her family’s home in 2004, according to 2011 reporting in the Tribune.

       Fox died earlier this year in a car crash in Arkansas. He was 46. His attorney, Kathleen Zellner, posted a screenshot of a notification to her social media stating that Eby had died Dec. 7.

       “Finally, justice for Riley!,” she wrote.