IL IL - Maria Ridulph, 7, Sycamore, 3 Dec 1957

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so what do you think will happend now in Maria's case? i have read that they are planning to reopen the case.
 
There was a lot of evidence this guy was guilty. His mother alibied him regarding the phone call. She later recanted on her deathbed. He's been accused of being a child molester twice, raped his own sister, and his claims of taking a train to Chicago were nil when LE found the unused train ticket. He lived just around the corner from the victim and later changed his name. I feel so bad for Maria Ridulph's family, and his other victims, including his own family members.
 
alexwood said:
This article points to John "Johnny" Tessier's (a/k/a "Jack McCullough") guilt. But, of course, his release after conviction is due to "procedural error" at trial. So, even if you are guilty of murder, you can't be punished unless all the "i's" are dotted, and "t's crossed properly. In the interest of doing so, a retrial is the only lawful remedy; not a "Get Out of Jail Free Card."

http://www.kcchronicle.com/2011/07/...57-cold-case-as-having-troubled-past/aso6c7w/
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The accused – former police officer Jack D. McCullough of Seattle – lived just a few blocks from the Ridulph family in 1957 and was known at the time as John Tessier. He was a suspect at that time, was questioned days after Maria disappeared, and according to court documents, has been accused of sexually abusing children in the past.
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Makes me sick to my stomach.
 
Anyone who takes a go look at this case is going to see that however great a story it might be for a 50 Year old crime to be solved and justice to finally be done, there some real problems with the conviction. The real problem in this case was that ALL evidence available, including the original investigation, clearly establish reasonable doubt that he was not guilty. It may very well be that there were problems with the 1957 investigation. Pretty much everyone involved is dead. Still, there is no getting around the fact that one investigator has written in his notes that Maria's father told him that he was watching a TV show that began at 6:30 when Maria came in to get her doll. Another investigator wrote that Kathy's father told him that was watching a different show that also began at 6:30 when Kathy came in to get her mittens. This occurred after Maria got her doll and would have been the time the abduction occurred. That is why the original investigation concluded that the abduction occurred between 6:45 and 7:00. Maria's mothers account of events at the time was consist. We have no way of knowing if the policemen involved recorded the fathers' observations accurately or if they were certain of their account, but all and all, that timeline is very solid. The significance of the timeline is undeniable. There seems little doubt that the defendant was making a collect call from in front of the Rockford post office at 6:57. That was exactly 40 miles away. At the trial, the State's Attorney suggested that the defendant might have driven to the outskirts of Rockford to make the call whereby shortening the drive and avoiding town traffic. Apparently the defense was unprepared for that. After the trail, it was discovered that call had been made from the post office in downtown Rockford.

(I'm not sure what route someone would have taken between Sycamore and Rockford but they would have been two land highways that would have become the main drag of several small towns along the way; and it was snowing that night. Even a 6:15 abduction time seems pretty improbable.)


You I am not an attorney so if I am explaining this wrong, please correct me.

The basis of the dismissal is not that that the Judge made a "procedural error" in disallowing the 1957 investigation. That may have been correct, it was still under appeal. The real problem was/is that the State's Attorney (District Attorney in other states) is obligated to dismiss charges in pending cases and petition for dismissal in adjudicated cases if he has compelling evidence that the defendant is factually innocent. This would apply even if the evidence is not admissible. (A comparable situation would be an illegal wiretap that catches someone else confessing to the crime).

There is no doubt that McCoullough has a history of interest in under aged girls but that not evidence he killed A 7 year old. His sister coming forward is interesting but even if his mother believed him to be guilty doesn't mean he was. Much has been made of the same sister's accusation that he raped her. There is the the possibility that the rape did occur but there is no evidence except her report years after the fact.

Overall, I think it is very likely that McCoullough is factually innocent but we will probably never get the absolute proof some posters seem to expect.
 
kemo said:
Anyone who takes a go look at this case is going to see that however great a story it might be for a 50 Year old crime to be solved and justice to finally be done, there some real problems with the conviction. The real problem in this case was that ALL evidence available, including the original investigation, clearly establish reasonable doubt that he was not guilty. It may very well be that there were problems with the 1957 investigation. Pretty much everyone involved is dead. Still, there is no getting around the fact that one investigator has written in his notes that Maria's father told him that he was watching a TV show that began at 6:30 when Maria came in to get her doll. Another investigator wrote that Kathy's father told him that was watching a different show that also began at 6:30 when Kathy came in to get her mittens. This occurred after Maria got her doll and would have been the time the abduction occurred. That is why the original investigation concluded that the abduction occurred between 6:45 and 7:00. Maria's mothers account of events at the time was consist. We have no way of knowing if the policemen involved recorded the fathers' observations accurately or if they were certain of their account, but all and all, that timeline is very solid. The significance of the timeline is undeniable. There seems little doubt that the defendant was making a collect call from in front of the Rockford post office at 6:57. That was exactly 40 miles away. At the trial, the State's Attorney suggested that the defendant might have driven to the outskirts of Rockford to make the call whereby shortening the drive and avoiding town traffic. Apparently the defense was unprepared for that. After the trail, it was discovered that call had been made from the post office in downtown Rockford.

(I'm not sure what route someone would have taken between Sycamore and Rockford but they would have been two land highways that would have become the main drag of several small towns along the way; and it was snowing that night. Even a 6:15 abduction time seems pretty improbable.)


You I am not an attorney so if I am explaining this wrong, please correct me.

The basis of the dismissal is not that that the Judge made a "procedural error" in disallowing the 1957 investigation. That may have been correct, it was still under appeal. The real problem was/is that the State's Attorney (District Attorney in other states) is obligated to dismiss charges in pending cases and petition for dismissal in adjudicated cases if he has compelling evidence that the defendant is factually innocent. This would apply even if the evidence is not admissible. (A comparable situation would be an illegal wiretap that catches someone else confessing to the crime).

There is no doubt that McCoullough has a history of interest in under aged girls but that not evidence he killed A 7 year old. His sister coming forward is interesting but even if his mother believed him to be guilty doesn't mean he was. Much has been made of the same sister's accusation that he raped her. There is the the possibility that the rape did occur but there is no evidence except her report years after the fact.

Overall, I think it is very likely that McCoullough is factually innocent but we will probably never get the absolute proof some posters seem to expect.
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Sad for Maria and her family.
 
This whole thing sickens me, especially seeing MSM portraying Jack McCullough as some sort of martyr. This is a bad, bad man, kicked out of the police force for molesting a young girl (he took a deal for this crime, pleading guilty to a lesser misdemeanor), accused of participating in a gang-rape of his sister, among other accusations from a variety of reporters/news sources/witnesses that include everything from just being a creep to taking nude pictures of his own underage daughter. He has a large and varied history of victimizing young girls from many different sources and also a previous conviction in the justice system (unrelated to the overturned conviction for Maria's murder).

While I have no opinion on the Maria Ridulph case, as to whether or not Jack/John actually perpetrated the crime, I do believe that the current handling of his release in MSM is ridiculous. This is not a good man. I feel for Maria's surviving family and the Tessier family, both families whose wounds are probably being freshly opened by the overturning of this conviction and the coverage surrounding it.
 
Jack mentioned he may knew who kidnapped and killed Maria, he mentions a young man who hanged around West Elementary School talking to young children about sex, this was the school Maria went to she was a 2nd grader. He said his name was Brooks, did Jack ever mentioned him in 1957 why wasn't this Brooks guy investigated? he was hanging around playgrounds and Maria's elementary school talking to little kids about sex (sick!!!). And this was during 1957 when he was hanging around West Elementary School talking to little kids.
 
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/04/us/ridulph-cold-case-inmate-lawsuit/index.html

An inmate credited with helping to secure a conviction in the nation's oldest cold case murder trial now alleges that police and prosecutors promised him favors in exchange for his testimony, instructed him to lie about those promises and then failed to hold up their end of the bargain.

The inmate, known publicly only as John Doe, recently filed a federal lawsuit in Illinois, adding even more intrigue to a case now mired in controversy. The conviction in the 1957 case was overturned earlier this year, and the man Doe testified against in 2012 was set free.

Doe alleges in the lawsuit that police and prosecutors broke every promise they made to him once they gained his testimony. He does not say that he gave false testimony about conversations he had with the accused -- only that he was told to lie if asked if he'd been promised anything.
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case officially unsolved once again. Judge Brady has denied a special prosecutor for her brother Charles. Jack McCullough is "free"

http://www.saukvalley.com/2016/08/0...rosecutor-in-1957-murder-in-sycamore/aebl73t/

I feel sad for the Ridulph family. And the little girl's case unsolved once again. Who here thinks the case will be reopened, now it has so much attention i think invesrigators will reopen it, or there be another documentary or books written on it.

i have attached some old articles from 1957. One article tells of a suspect named Arbuckle who kidnapped a 9 year old girl and raped her she was found in sleeping in his car, the men said he jut took the little girl to the movie but later admit to molesting and raping the child, he was one of the main suspects in Maria's kidnapping. Jack McCullough mentioned in that 48 hrs documentary a man named "brooks" was hanging around the West Elementary School where Maria went to school as a 2nd grader, the man hanged around the playground talking to the younger kids about 'sex'. William Henry Redmond was a huge suspect who was a truck driver lived very close to Sycamore and who was a child killer who kidnapped and murdered a 8 year old girl in 1951 at a carnival he worked at as a ferrist wheel operator.

My other articles i found is about the searched and Maria's grandfather is mentioned in it, he was 76 years old in 1957 and was on the search team looking for his little grand-daughter until he couldn't move anymore, he went back to the Ridulph's home sat down and started crying to himself and murmuring to himself "He must be crazy to take a little girl like that"
capture17.jpgmaria.JPGnews022.jpgThe_Daily_Chronicle_Thu__Dec_5__1957_ (3).jpgThe_Daily_Times_Wed__Dec_11__1957_.jpg
 
hey people i will be starting a website all about the Maria Ridulph case. It will include a public forum, many articles (1957-1958), press photos (1957-1958), suspects like William Henry Redmond and others and lots of other info such as autopsy report of Maria.

If you like to join the site and become a member please do and discuss the case on the public forum. I will includes 100s of original FBI documents from 1957-1958 showing the investigation and many suspects being interviewed.
 
ROCKFORD — A prosecution witness who testified in the high-profile, cold-case homicide trial in the decades-old killing of a Sycamore girl has filed a federal lawsuit contending DeKalb County prosecutors made promises in exchange for his testimony, which they later broke.

Kirk Swaggerty, 46, filed the lawsuit on Aug. 26 in U.S. District Court in Rockford stemming from his testimony in 2012 against Jack McCullough. McCullough was accused of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Maria Ridulph in December 1957. The girl was taken on Dec. 3 after playing with a friend near her home.
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http://m.rrstar.com/news/20160902/w...-sues-former-dekalb-county-prosecutors-lawyer
 
Police eye new suspect in 1957 abduction, murder of 7-year-old girl

http://fox8.com/2016/11/03/police-eye-new-suspect-in-1957-abduction-murder-of-7-year-old-girl/

The Illinois State Police are looking into a possible new suspect in the 1957 abduction and murder of a 7-year-old Sycamore girl.

The disclosure, buried in an exhibit in a civil lawsuit, reveals an eye-popping twist: The new potential suspect emerged on the very same day the old suspect’s murder conviction began to unravel.

On that day — March 24, 2016 — a prosecutor named Richard Schmack informed a judge in Sycamore that an injustice had been done. He said the wrong man had been convicted in 2012 of the murder of Maria Ridulph. At the time, that conviction was believed to have solved the nation’s oldest cold case ever to go to trial.

The name of the new potential suspect, meanwhile, arrived in that afternoon’s mail. The tipster was shy, unlike others who came forward before with their suspicions in this case. The letter was neatly typed, but unsigned.

Contacted by CNN, Schmack confirmed receiving the letter but declined further comment. A spokesman for the Illinois State Police declined comment because the matter is in litigation.
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JusticeWillBeServed said:
Police eye new suspect in 1957 abduction, murder of 7-year-old girl

http://fox8.com/2016/11/03/police-eye-new-suspect-in-1957-abduction-murder-of-7-year-old-girl/
Click to expand...

Wow that is big news!!! I hope that person who wrote the letter to Schmack will come forward and give more details of who her real killer is. I believe now they will find her real killer. That is strange how in the day of Jack McCullough was released from jail this letter was sent to Schmack detailing Maria's real killer, the case is now reopened and they are currently hunting for the person who wrote the letter. I hope they will find her real killer soon who took this little girl away.
 
Excellent information and details youngsters.
I never believed that Jack McCollough was the killer and had posted such earlier in this thread.
I will reread your offerings and study the autopsy.
 
So here is an interesting development in the case.
From oil driver Tom Braddy's statement to police.

ridulphbraddy1.JPG

He clearly states that there in no light on the corner and saw the girls in the lights on his truck.

Another point...one of the neighbors had a "sex pervert son" but I can't recall who it is.
 
So here is another interesting development.

This is part of Mrs. Cliff's interview with police. She is the owner of the house on the corner where the girls were playing and she was receiving a load of oil from Tom Braddy...

ridulphcliff1.JPG

The question becomes:

Where was her sex pervert son at the time of the disappearance?
Why did she dispose of the doll away from her home?
Why was the doll near her home to begin with?

The fact that Mrs. Cliff was not charged with tampering with evidence (assuming it is true) speaks volumes on the ineptitude of law enforcement at the time.
 
"A special prosecutor has been appointed to look into whether police and prosecutors in a small Illinois town engaged in misconduct to win a false conviction in one of the nation's coldest murder cases."

[video=cnn;us/2016/11/07/taken-cold-case-wrap-nccorig.cnn]http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/06/us/ridulph-mccullough-special-prosecutor/index.html[/video]
 
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