little_innocence
Maria Ridulph
Maria Ridulph was kidnapped on a street corner in Sycamore, Illinois, on December 3, 1957. She was 7 years old at the time. Her body was discovered in a field 5 months later. The case went cold for 55 years until Jack McCullough, formerly John Tessier, was arrested in July 2011. It is believed that the case involved the oldest unsolved murder resulting in an arrest in the United States.
McCullough, then John Tessier (17 years old at the time), befriended Ridulph in Sycamore, Illinois when she was 7 years old. She disappeared from a street corner in Sycamore on December 3, 1957. According to the prosecutors in his case, McCullough choked Ridulph with a wire and stabbed her. The case received nation-wide interest; the FBI was involved under J. Edgar Hoover and it reportedly received attention from Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The case was reopened when Janet Tessier, McCullough's half sister, believing McCullough was involved, asked the Illinois State Police to look into it. Janet Tessier made the decision to come to the police after spending time as the caretaker to the mother of author Mark Lemberger, who wrote "Crimes of Magnitude," a story of an unsolved murder of a seven-year-old girl. Mark Lemberger, upon hearing her speak of her mother's deathbed confession, encouraged Tessier to try to contact a law enforcement agency one more time. Tessier did just that, contacting the Illinois State Police via e-mail. McCullough was arrested in a retirement community in Seattle where he lived and worked as a security guard in July 2011. Ridulph's body was exhumed that same month
At the trial, Kathy Chapman, a childhood friend who was with Ridulph on the day of her disappearance, testified against McCullough. She said that a man, who called himself Johnny, had walked up to them and had given Ridulph a piggyback ride. Chapman went home briefly to get mittens, and upon her return both Johnny and Maria were gone. Based on a 1957 photo, she identified McCullough as the man who had walked up to them. McCullough was convicted of the crime in September 2012 and later received a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 20 years. He was 73 at the time he received his sentence. Although his request for a new trial was denied at the time of sentencing, his appeal continues, as of 2013.
You can watch the documentary on Maria Ridulph case ' 48 Hours Mystery Cold As Ice The Abduction and Murder of 7 Yr Old Maria Ridulph Case' and there is a CNN story on Maria. RIP little girl it's horrible how someone can murder a innocent small child.
Maria Ridulph
Maria Ridulph was kidnapped on a street corner in Sycamore, Illinois, on December 3, 1957. She was 7 years old at the time. Her body was discovered in a field 5 months later. The case went cold for 55 years until Jack McCullough, formerly John Tessier, was arrested in July 2011. It is believed that the case involved the oldest unsolved murder resulting in an arrest in the United States.
McCullough, then John Tessier (17 years old at the time), befriended Ridulph in Sycamore, Illinois when she was 7 years old. She disappeared from a street corner in Sycamore on December 3, 1957. According to the prosecutors in his case, McCullough choked Ridulph with a wire and stabbed her. The case received nation-wide interest; the FBI was involved under J. Edgar Hoover and it reportedly received attention from Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The case was reopened when Janet Tessier, McCullough's half sister, believing McCullough was involved, asked the Illinois State Police to look into it. Janet Tessier made the decision to come to the police after spending time as the caretaker to the mother of author Mark Lemberger, who wrote "Crimes of Magnitude," a story of an unsolved murder of a seven-year-old girl. Mark Lemberger, upon hearing her speak of her mother's deathbed confession, encouraged Tessier to try to contact a law enforcement agency one more time. Tessier did just that, contacting the Illinois State Police via e-mail. McCullough was arrested in a retirement community in Seattle where he lived and worked as a security guard in July 2011. Ridulph's body was exhumed that same month
At the trial, Kathy Chapman, a childhood friend who was with Ridulph on the day of her disappearance, testified against McCullough. She said that a man, who called himself Johnny, had walked up to them and had given Ridulph a piggyback ride. Chapman went home briefly to get mittens, and upon her return both Johnny and Maria were gone. Based on a 1957 photo, she identified McCullough as the man who had walked up to them. McCullough was convicted of the crime in September 2012 and later received a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 20 years. He was 73 at the time he received his sentence. Although his request for a new trial was denied at the time of sentencing, his appeal continues, as of 2013.
You can watch the documentary on Maria Ridulph case ' 48 Hours Mystery Cold As Ice The Abduction and Murder of 7 Yr Old Maria Ridulph Case' and there is a CNN story on Maria. RIP little girl it's horrible how someone can murder a innocent small child.