Illinois State Police are being required to release photographs related to the suspicious death of Molly Young in 2012.
The Illinois Attorney General's Office this week issued a binding opinion following a Freedom of Information Act request sent to State Police last summer by her father, Larry Young.
Mr. Young says this was his third FOIA request on the matter. He also had to file an appeal with the Public Access Counselor in October after State Police denied access to the photos in September, citing an exemption on releasing records that could violate personal privacy.
Young says that's why he says people who go through a similar ordeal in the future should push for stronger laws.
"My advice is to talk to your legislators and get them to put teeth in the FOIA law and in the official misconduct law and the fraudulent concealment law and make consequences for people whenever they violate those laws. Right now there's no consequences."
Mr. Young says he will not view the photographs.
"I've been advised by different people that you don't want to remember your loved one that way. So, I have experts ready to look at those photographs."
Molly Young died of a gunshot wound to the head in March 2012.
Larry Young believes his daughter was murdered, but Jackson County State's Attorney Mike Carr ruled there wasn't enough evidence to determine if the death was an accident, a suicide or a homicide.
Young says he will turn the photos over to forensic experts in the hopes they will find evidence that his daughter was murdered.
