The man who authorities have characterized as the mastermind in an alleged plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is the product of a poor and broken home and may have had issues with alcohol and steroids.
The Freep dives into Adam Fox's background in a new long-form profile, speaking with bewildered relatives who "can't reconicle" the allegations with the man they knew (though an uncle does concede Fox was known to get in heated arguments and "couldn't see the other person's point of view").
Fox, according to federal agents, hatched a plan to kidnap Whitmer from her cottage and suggested leaving her on a boat in Lake St. Clair. He was arrested after he and fellow members of the "Wolverine Watchmen" militia attempted to meet with an explosives expert — actually an undercover FBI agent — who estimated it would cost $4,000 to blow up a bridge near the cottage to delay the police response.
It's unclear when things took a turn for the extreme, but the Freep traces the first signs of trouble in Fox's adult life to his early 30s, when he and his then-wife were going through a divorce so bitter she sought a restraining order against him.
"He is reckless when drunk, even drives," Adam's wife ... wrote on June 8, 2015. "Threatening me. He owns a gun. He is an alcoholic. He has kicked my door to get in. Punched holes in my wall, and left bruises on me."
... a motion his wife filed seeking exclusive use of their Allegan home says "during their short marriage Defendant spent much of his time drinking. When drunk, he experiences a roller coaster of emotions and will act violent ... "
It says he stopped making payments on the mortgage and other household bills in March 2015 and left with the couple's 2007 Chevrolet Impala SS.
Shortly thereafter, his wife's filings in the divorce case say the nastiness intensified. It ranged from texts including "I hope you choke on your dinner" to threats "to bring people to the house to get his stuff."
Then, in 2019, Fox was reportedly kicked out of a different militia for "rage issues" following a three-month initiation period.
"Then all of the sudden he’s all anti-government, he wants to start a war, he wants to take people out," (Michigan House Guard cofounder Rick) Foreman said, adding that members believed Adam was taking steroids.
He said Adam and his girlfriend were kicked out, and “he threatened me. He threatened some of the other people."
And the rest is, apparently, history.
