ACCUSED MARIA RIDULPH KILLER FINGERED IN NEW RAPE

RAPIST?

PRETTY MARIA

A FORMER cops accused of the 1957 kidnapping and killing Maria Ridulph has now been charged with sexually assaulting another teenage girl in the same small Illinois town.  
As we reported here in one of America's oldest cold cases of murder Jack McCullogh, 71, was busted earlier this year for the murder of the girl dubbed "Pretty Maria." 
She was last seen in the December of that year by a friend who she'd been playing with outside her Sycamore, IL home.  A young man walked up and introduce himself as "Johnny" and she accepted piggyback rides
from the mysterious stranger and her friend left her.  
Her body was found the following spring in a wooded area about 120 miles away.
McCullogh had been a suspect at the time of Maria’s disappearance, but he told cops that he’d been on a train from Rockford to Chicago on the day Maria was abducted.
After he ran away to join the military and changed his name "the case ran cold" according to court documents.   
But the case was re-opened last year after one of his ex-girlfriends in 2010 came across an unused and unstamped train ticket for the Rockford-to-Chicago trip, ripping apart his alibi. 
Now McCullogh, who denied any role in the murder last year has been charged in a separate case with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl from the same small town.
Illinois State Police announced the grand jury indictment of Jack McCullough on Friday for the
sexual assault which also happened in Sycamore, although they remained tight lipped on when the attack had taken place.
He's now also charged with one count of child sexual assault and four counts of indecent liberties with a child.
Illinois State Police director Hiram Grau said: "Sadly, we have another victim, and for the families of all victims, the pain never goes away,"  

Read more ...

JACK MCCULLOUGH DENIES MARIA RIDULPH MURDER

PRETTY MARIA

KILLER?

THE man accused of killing 'Pretty' Maria Ridulph back in 1957 will "absolutely" plead not guilty to the vicious murder, his court appointed attorney has revealed.   
Jack Daniel McCullough, now 71, was a neighbor of the seven-year-old at the time of her disappearance from Sycamore, IL.
According to her  friend Cathy Sigman who was eight at the time, a young man walked up and introduce himself as "Johnny". 
 Ridulph accepted piggyback rides from the mysterious stranger and her friend left her, playing with him. 
It was the last time the girl dubbed "Pretty Maria" by newspapers at the time, would be seen alive.      
For the next five months, almost the entire 7000-strong community, searched alongside FBI agents for the girl but in in April 1958 their worst fears were realised when Maria’s decomposed remains turned up beneath an oak tree almost 100 miles away, near Galena.
McCullough who was questioned at time had claimed that he’d been on a train from Rockford to Chicago on the day Maria was abducted, court documents state.
But last year one of his ex-girlfriends came across an unused and unstamped train ticket for the Rockford-to-Chicago trip, ripping apart his alibi and prompting authorities to reopen the case. 

He has yet to be formally arraigned on the charges but the Seattle resident and one-time police officer will formally deny any involvement in the Sycamore youngster’s death, DeKalb County Public Defender Regina Harris said after the hearing Wednesday.

She told the Chicago Sun Times: “Absolutely, he will plead not guilty."

McCullough remains in the DeKalb County Jail on $3 million bail after being extradited to Illinois to face charges in the girl’s notorious disappearance and death.

Read more ...

AMAZING BUST IN 1957 'PRETTY MARIA' RIDULPH MURDER

COPS have made an astonishing arrest in a murder case which is more than 50-years old.  Back in December 1957 Maria Ridulph was playing with a friend outside her Sycamore, IL home when a young man walked up and introduce himself as "Johnny".  She accepted piggyback rides from the mysterious stranger and her friend left her, playing with the mysterious stranger. It was the last time the girl dubbed "Pretty Maria" by newspapers at the time, would be seen alive.  For the next five months, almost the entire 7000-strong community, searched alongside FBI agents for the girl and then in April 1958, Maria’s decomposed remains turned up beneath an oak tree near Galena.

Now more than half-a-century later Jack Daniel McCullough, now 71
has been arrested on murder charges.

Maria’s brother, Charles Ridulph, 65, was stunned by the news, telling The Chicago Sun Times he had assumed whoever killed her was long dead.
“We’re in shock, to tell you the truth,” said the old timer, who was just 11, when his sister disappeared.

“The shock that it [was] someone that we know from the neighborhood is just an added shock,” said Ridulph, who still lives in Sycamore.

McCullough, also known as John Tessier, was living in Seattle at the time of his arrest and will now be extradited to Illinois to face the charges.

DeKalb County investigators said he had been a suspect at the time of Maria’s disappearance, but that “the case ran cold after McCullough joined the military and changed his name.”

At the time claimed he’d been on a train from Rockford to Chicago on the day Maria was abducted, court documents state.

But the case was re-opened last year after one of his ex-girlfriends in 2010 came across an unused and unstamped train ticket for the Rockford-to-Chicago trip, ripping apart his alibi. 

Mary Katherine Chapman was the little girl playing with Maria Ridulph the day she was kidnapped. Chapman chose to speak through her husband Friday, saying she’s delighted someone has finally been charged with her childhood friend’s murder.

Read more ...