On Tuesday, April 6, 2010, Interim Superintendent David Bonnette issued a safety alert to students and parents warning about the presence of suspicious persons in the Cook County area and of a threatening letter received by the school that caused extra concern for student safety at RB. Two separate incidents that coincidentally happened on the same day prompted the memo and an afternoon announcement inside the school.

The first incident, reported by the Riverside-Brookfield Landmark, was a threatening letter addressed to Interim Principal Tim Scanlon in the administrative office. It was not necessarily a threat to any high school student, but was a threat to related to a 2003 incident at the zoo. The letter referred to “an incident that occurred in 2003 and that a child may be kidnapped in Brookfield.”

The police were contacted and the focus of the investigation turned away from the high school to the letter, reported the Landmark. The police sent that letter to the Illinois State Police crime lab.

The second incident that promoted a safety warning was a headline that made national news, but was reported locally in the Brookfield Suburban Life. Two fugitives from Oklahoma abandoned their car near a forest preserve in Western Springs and were evading law enforcement in the area.

The two fugitives, Corey Wolf and Brittany Thompson, were described as “armed and dangerous…the two should not be approached.”

In the interest of safety, the school administration thought it necessary to inform the students and the pubic to be alert and watchful.