The abduction and murder of Maria Ridulph
Sycamore, Dekalb County, Illinois · December 3, 1957
A man was convicted in 2012 in what CBS News called the nation's oldest cold case to go to trial, then freed in 2016 and declared innocent in 2017, leaving a seven-year-old's 1957 abduction as unsolved as it was the night she vanished.
Overview
On the evening of December 3, 1957, seven-year-old Maria Ridulph was playing with an eight-year-old friend at a street corner in Sycamore, Illinois, in the season's first snow, when a young man who called himself "Johnny" offered the girls piggyback rides. Maria ran home for a doll and her friend went home for mittens. When the friend returned, Maria was gone. Her remains were found on April 26, 1958, in timber in Jo Daviess County, and the case went cold for about fifty years. In 2011 a Seattle man, Jack McCullough, was charged after a relative's tip, and in 2012 a judge convicted him. In 2016 the DeKalb County state's attorney concluded that McCullough's alibi was legitimate and that he could not have committed the crime. The conviction was vacated, the charge was dismissed, and in April 2017 a judge granted him a certificate of innocence. McCullough was exonerated. Maria's family has disagreed with that outcome, but no one has been charged since, and in 2016 the Illinois State Police said they were investigating a new suspect.
Where it stands
Maria Ridulph's murder is officially unsolved. For fifty years it was a cold case. In November 1997 Sycamore police closed it as "closed but not solved," saying they suspected a truck driver who had died in 1992. In 2008 the Illinois State Police began investigating after a tip from a half-sister of a neighbor who had been questioned in 1957. In 2011 that neighbor, Jack McCullough, then living in Seattle, was charged. A judge convicted him in a 2012 bench trial, in what CBS News called the nation's oldest cold case to go to trial, and sentenced him to life. The Illinois Appellate Court affirmed the murder conviction in 2015. Then DeKalb County State's Attorney Richard Schmack, who had succeeded the prosecutor who brought the case, reviewed it for six months and concluded that McCullough's alibi was legitimate and that he could not have committed the crime. He called the photo presentation that led to the arrest "suggestive in the extreme." Judge William Brady vacated the conviction on April 15, 2016, and the murder charge was dismissed a week later. In April 2017 Brady granted McCullough a certificate of innocence. McCullough was exonerated, and the National Registry of Exonerations lists his case. Maria's brother asked for a special prosecutor, but the request was denied in August 2016, and the family has continued to object to the outcome. The case has been open again since then. In November 2016 the Illinois State Police said they had a new suspect, after police were asked to investigate a person named in an anonymous letter that arrived on March 24, the day the prosecution was dropped. Police declined to comment on the continuing investigation. In the reporting we found, no arrest has followed and no one has been charged.
Persons of interest
The theories below are reported strictly as attributed to the cited sources. Naming a person here is not an accusation. Individuals are named only where they are deceased, were formally charged, were officially named by authorities, or have been publicly cleared.
- Jack McCulloughCleared
Convicted in 2012 of Maria's kidnapping and murder after a half-sister's tip and a photo identification. His conviction was vacated in April 2016 after the DeKalb County state's attorney concluded his alibi was legitimate and he could not have committed the crime, and in April 2017 a judge granted him a certificate of innocence. He was exonerated. Maria's family has said they were unhappy to see him freed.[11]
- William Henry RedmondDeceased
In November 1997, when Sycamore police closed the case as "closed but not solved," they said they suspected Redmond, who was a truck driver for a Chicago-based company in 1957 and died in 1992. He was never charged.[2]
- A person named in an anonymous letterNot publicly named
In November 2016 the Illinois State Police said they had a new suspect, after police were asked to investigate a person named in an anonymous letter received on March 24, 2016. Police declined to comment on the continuing investigation, and CBS News later described the case as a reopened, active state police investigation.[9]
Sources
- People v. McCullough, 2015 IL App (2d) 121364
“Following a bench trial in 2012, defendant, Jack D. McCullough, was convicted of the 1957 kidnapping and murder of seven-year-old Maria Ridulph. He appeals. We affirm in part and vacate in part.”
- Jack McCullough case: A timeline
“The Maria Ridulph murder case is officially closed but not solved. Police suspect William Henry Redmond is the killer.”
- Arrest Made in Illinois Cold Case Slaying
“A Seattle man was charged Friday in the long-unsolved slaying of a 7-year-old girl”
- Man accused of killing Sycamore girl 50+ years ago extradited
“71-year-old Jack McCullough was extradited to Illinois yesterday, the same day Maria Ridulph's body was exhumed.”
- Prosecutor’s Investigation Results in Release of Illinois Prisoner Convicted in 1957 Cold Case
“At the end of the review, Schmack concluded that McCullough’s alibi was legitimate and he could not have committed the crime.”
- Jack McCullough 1957 murder conviction vacated
“But Schmack called the presentation "suggestive in the extreme."”
- Illinois judge dismisses murder charge in girl's '57 slaying
“That leaves the door open to charges being refiled at some point.”
- Judge Schedules December Hearing To Discuss McCullough's Request For Innocence
“The Ridulph family was not happy that the man they had seen convicted of the murder was being set free.”
- State Police Report New Suspect In Maria Ridulph Case
“Illinois State Police say they have a new suspect in the 1957 murder of Sycamore schoolgirl Maria Ridulph. The case was reopened after police were asked to investigate a suspect named in an anonymous letter.”
- Jack McCullough seeks declaration of innocence
“A certificate of innocence would clear McCullough of the crime once and for all”
- Jack McCullough | National Registry of Exonerations
“In April 2017, Judge William Brady granted McCullough a certificate of innocence.”
- Will the nation's oldest cold case to go to trial ever get solved?
“Maria Ridulph's case is now a reopened and active investigation being conducted by the Illinois State Police.”