.

A Personal Collection of Found Materials

Maria E. Ridulph Timeline - Never Give Up! (March 12, 1950 - December 3, 1957) Sycamore, Illinois, De Kalb County http://www.acandyrose.com/maria_ridulph_timeline.htm

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December 1957

Maria Ridulph Kidnapping, Missing December 3, 1957 (Note: Many 1957 news articles found here): http://coldcaseshardcopy.blogspot.com/2011_07_01_archive.html

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Spokane Daily Chronicle 12/04/1957

Chicago Tribune Maria's Family 12/04/1957

The Star-News 12/05/1957

Youngstown Vindicator 12/06/1957

St. Joseph News-Press 12/07/1957

Sarasota Herald-Tribune 12/08/1957

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1957-12-10

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12/10/1957 Headline: "8 COUNTIES OK ROAD BLOCKS IN MARIA HUNT" (Chicago Daily Tribune) "FBI Aid Tells Hope, of Finding Her Alive" "Police of eight counties agreed yesterday at a meeting in Sycamore, De Kalb county, to set up road blocks on secondary roads to search automobiles for clews in the disappearance of Maria Ridulph, 7, of Sycamore."

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Meriden Journal 12/10/1957

The Times-News 12/11/1957

St. Joseph Gazette 12/11/1957

St. Joseph News-Press 12/12/1957

Telegraph-Herald 12/12/1957

Chicago Tribune 12/13/1957

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1957-12-19

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12/19/1957 Headline: "GRIM MYSTERY CLOUDS SANTA AT SYCAMORE" (Chicago Daily Tribune) "Grim Mystery Saddens Sycamore at Yuletide Maria's Gift Put Aside by Parents" "Carols have a hollow sound in the broad business street of Sycamore, and the big lamp post signs, reading Best Wishes and For Good Girls and Boys, with a picture of Santa's bag of toys, strike an unintended note."

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Deseret News 12/21/1957

Milwaukee Sentinel 12/21/1957

Sarasota Herald-Tribune 12/22/1957

Milwaukee Sentinel 12/22/1957

St. Joseph News-Press 12/29/1957

Chicago Tribune Crime Location

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1957-12-22

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12/22/1957 Headline: "CONFESSES HE ABDUCTED GIRL ON IMPULSE" (Chicago Daily Tribune) "A Madison man surrendered to police tonight and admitted attempted abduction of a 10 year old girl, Dane County Sheriff Fred Goff said. Goff identified Wendell G. Howes, 21, who was held on an open charge."

Jan - April 1958

Maria Ridulph Murdered, Body Found April 26, 1958

1958-04-20

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04/20/1958 Headline: "BEGIN TO EMPTY DE KALB LAKE IN HUNT FOR MARIA" (Chicago Daily Tribune) "Workmen yesterday began emptying a man made lake, 21 feet deep in some places, at the north edge of Sycamore, De Kalb county, in the search for missing Maria Ridulph, 7."

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01/26/1958

Telegraph Herald 04/27//1958

Telegraph Herald 04/27//1958

Telegraph Herald 04/27//1958

Telegraph Herald 04/27//1958

Telegraph Herald 04/27//1958

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Telegraph Herald 04/27//1958

Telegraph Herald 04/27//1958

Chicago Tribune 04/27//1958

Telegraph Herald 04/27//1958

The Deseret News 04/28/1958

Maria Ridulph's Mother, Sister and Brother

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1958-04-28

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04/28/1958 Headline: "GIRL'S DEATH LEAVES KIN IN STUNNED GRIEF" (Chicago Daily Tribune) (Ridulphs Hear Prayers for Them in Church) "The tragic end to the search for Maria Ridulph, 7, whose body was found Saturday after she had been missing nearly five months, left her parents, Michael and Frances Ridulph, quietly stunned yesterday."

1958-04-29

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04/29/1958 Headline: "SUSPECT HERE FACES QUIZ IN MARIA'S DEATH" (Chicago Daily Tribune) "James S. Boyle, asst. state's attorney of De Kalb Co., said yesterday that he intends to visit the Cook county jail tomorrow to question Barry Cook, a suspect in two Chicago murders, in death of Maria Ridulph."

April - May 1958

Maria Ridulph's Funeral

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Chicago Tribune 04/30/1958

Chicago Tribune 04/30/1958

Chicago Tribune 04/30/1958

Milwaukee Journal 04/30//1958

Milwaukee Sentinel 05/03//1958

Telegraph Herald 10/24//1958

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1958-05-01

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05/01/1958 Headline: "MARIA RITES HELD; CROWD JAMS CHURCH" (Chicago Daily Tribune) (FBI Agents at Funeral in Sycamore) "An estimated 300 persons Jammed the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. John in Sycamore yesterday at funeral services for Maria Ridulph, 7, as state and county authorities pushed a search for her abductor and slayer."

1958-05-03

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05/03/1958 Headline: "MARIA KILLING HUNT TURNS TO NEW SUSPECTS" (Chicago Daily Tribune) (Ex-Convict and a Sex Maniac Are Sought) "Two new suspects were sought by police yesterday in the kidnaping and slaying of Maria Ridulph, 7 year old Sycamore, De Kalb county, girl whose body was found a week ago in a thicket near Woodbine, Jo Daviess county."

1958-05-04

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05/04/1958 Headline: "FARMER THINKS HE SAW MARIA IN PARKED CAR" (Chicago Daily Tribune) (Looks At Picture and Sobs) "An elderly farmer told police yesterday that he may have seen the kidnaper of Maria Ridulph, 7, with the child on U. S. highway 20, near Woodbine in Jo Daviess county, the night of Dec. 3 after Maria vanished."

1958-05-24

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05/24/1958 Headline: "Girl, 9, Fails to Connect Kidnaper with Maria Case" (Chicago Daily Tribune) "Cathie Sigman, 9, of Sycamore, De Kalb county, yesterday viewed Richard Doras, 31, who kidnaped a Chicago girl Thursday, and said he was not the man who last Dec. 3 kidnaped her playmate, Maria Ridulph."

1958-06-04

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06/04/1958 Headline: "MARIA'S FRIEND SAYS SUSPECT ISN'T 'JOHNNY'" (Chicago Daily Tribune) "Cathie Sigman, 8, of Sycamore, witness in the kidnaping of Maria Ridulph, 7, a playmate whose body was found 20 miles east of Galena, Ill., April 26, told officials yesterday that Barry Cook, 24, of 6333 N. Hermitage ave isn't "Johnny."

2007

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2007-12-06 "The missing girl was a second-grader with dark brown hair and brown eyes, the Chicago Tribune said. She was 44 inches tall, weighed 53 pounds, got good grades and received awards for perfect attendance in Sunday school at Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. John."

"Maria was wearing a boy's type tan jacket, black corduroy pants, black and white checked shirt, hand-knit mittens, brown socks, white saddle shoes with zippers on the side with leather tassels." "Maria's grave is close to that of Police Chief William Hindenburg, who led the investigation and died less than a year later of injuries he suffered in a car accident."

12/06/2007 Headline: "20 FBI Agents Hunt Child" (AUTHOR NOTES: Ridulph often misspelled Ridolph) "Maria was the youngest of four children born to Michael and Frances Ridulph, who lived in a white frame house with blue shutters at 616 Archie Place in Sycamore, a rural town of 7,000 people 68 miles west of Chicago. The Ridulphs had two older daughters, Patricia 16, and Kay, 15, and a son, Charles, 11. Although many people lived or worked on farms, Michael had a job at one of the few factories in town." "According to her mother, Maria was high-strung. "My daughter was a nervous girl and if she got in any trouble would become hysterical," Frances said. "Someone would probably have to kill her to keep her quiet. I am the only one who could calm her down." She was a "screamer," her mother said, and afraid of being alone in the dark." "According to Mrs. Thomas Cliffe and a neighbor, Stanley Wells, Maria Ridulph and Cathie Sigman were screaming as they chased each other around the trunk of a huge elm tree a little before 7 p.m., Dec. 3, 1957. It was cold and without street lamps, there were only the headlights of passing cars for illumination as the girls played in the dark." "Maria's badly decomposed remains were found by Frank Sitar, a retired farmer from Hopkins, Minn., and his wife, who were searching for mushrooms on Roy Cahill's farm, about 20 miles east of Galena. Maria's body was about 500 feet off U.S. 20, lying face-down under a partially fallen tree and had apparently been there all winter. She was wearing her shirt, undershirt and socks. Her coat, pants and shoes were never found." "The discovery was reported to Emma "Two Gun" Grebner, the sheriff of rural Jo Daviess County, in northwest Illinois near the Wisconsin and Iowa borders. The local authorities were completely unequipped to handle an investigation of this magnitude. Grebner's force consisted of two deputies, one of them her husband, and Coroner James Furlong said he had never handled a murder case." "No photos of the crime scene were taken, Furlong said, because "he did not want to see pictures of the body 'slobbered all over the front pages," according to the Tribune. Grebner said she didn't intend to even investigate the case because as far as she was concerned the crime wasn't committed in Jo Daviess Co."

2011	Fifty-Four (54) Years Later !!

2011-06-29 "While he was a police officer, he laid his gun on the table and told his sister he would kill her and tell everyone she ran away. He said he would dump her body where nobody would find it."

06/29/2011 Arrest Affidavit Page 2 of 4

06/29/2011 "McCullough Probable Cause Affidavit (PDF) King County, Washington State" (Excerpt): "On December 6, 1957, an anonymous phone call came in to the Dekalb County Sheriff, (which is the county in which Sycamore is located). The caller, a woman, told a Deputy Sheriff that a boy named "Treschner" who was about twenty-years-old lived in the neighborhood and matched the description of Johnny. Sheriff's deputies did further checking and determined that the person referred to as Treschner was actually John Tessier, AKA John Cherry. Tessier lived at 227 Center Cross Street, which is just over a block from the disappearance scene." (Excerpt): "FBI agents contacted Ralph Tessier, (John's step-father). Tessier told the agent that he and his wife Eileen Tessier, that their son matched the description given by Cathy Sigman, and worried that he may be suspected in the disappearance. They told the agent that John Tessier had been in Rockford, Illinois at a military recruiting station on the evening of December 3. (Rockford is about forty miles from Sycamore). Ralph Tessier told the agent that he received a collect phone call from John, who was calling from Rockford, at about 7:10pm that evening." (Excerpt): "On December 8th, 1957, agents located and interviewed John Tessier. Tessier admitted that after this event, he had spoken with his parents and discussed the fact that he matched the suspect description and may be considered a suspect. Tesser said that he has no knowledge at all about the victim's disappearance. He claimed that he knew both Maria and Cathy Sigman." (RECAP): Shortly after the disappearance, Tessier was accepted by the Air Force and left Sycamore. He legally changed his name to Jack Daniel McCullough. He eventually tranferred to the Army and was assigned to Fort Lewis. After getting out of the Army, Tessier/McCullough was hired by the Lacy Police Department. He would later transfer to the Milton Police Department. As a Milton Police Officer in 1983, he met a 13-14 year old runaway. He was charged with sexually assulting her in Pierce County, he was fired from the Milton Police.

2011-06-29 "The ticket had a government stamp, indicating that it was issued to the government as opposed to someone buying the ticket. It also had a date stamp on the ticket of November 29th, 1957, which would be consistant with a ticket issued to a recruit by a recruiter at that time."

06/29/2011 Arrest Affidavit Page 3 of 4 "(Agents were able to verify that a collect call was made to the Tessier home from a payphone in Rockford from 6:57 to 6:59pm)"

06/29/2011 "McCullough Probable Cause Affidavit (PDF) King County, Washington State" (Excerpt): "John was asked to explain his whereabouts on the evening of December 3, 1957. He told the agents that he was trying to enlist in the Army, and had been in Rockford, Illinois. He said that he had gone to Chicago, Illinois to take a physical examination. He claimed that he had been given a train ticket from Rockford to Chicago, and that is how he got there. During that a spot was discovered on is lung, which threatened his eligibility to serve. He told the recruiters that this was a life-long condition, and steps were taken to confirm this and accept him into the military." (Excerpt): "John said he was given a slip of paper to take to his recruiter in Rockford after he was dismissed from his examination in the morning of December 3. The exam was done by noon. He told the agents that he walked around downtown Chicago, looked in on several burlesque shows before heading to the train station for a five-fifteen train for Rockford. He said that the train arrived in Rockford at 6:45 PM. He went to the recruiting station to give them the piece of paper that the medical staff had given him, but found the office closed. He then went to a payphone located near the post office and made a collect call to his step-father, Ralph, asking that Ralph come pick him up. He said that he then called his girlfriend at the time (BLACKED OUT), and made a date to meet with her at about 9PM. He said that his father picked him up and they returned to Sycamore, arriving at about 9:20pm, at which point he went out with (REDACTED) and stayed with her until about 10:30pm." (Excerpt): "(REDACTED) was interviewed by investigators. She said that she didn't remember seeing John on the evening of December 3, and in fact, she said her parents would not let her out of her house that night because of the missing girl and fear that someone was around kidnapping people." (Excerpt): "(REDACTED) was re-interviewed in 2010. Detectives discussed John's use of her as an alibi for his whereabouts. Detectives asked her about a photograph of her and John that was contemporaneous to this crime. She told them that she had one, and retrieved a photo in a frame. When she pulled the photo out, she discovered an unused train ticket from Rockford to Chicago that John had given her from the date of this crime.)"

2011-07-02 $3 million bond

Former Cop, Jack Daniel McCullough (aka: John Samuel Tessier) arrested 06/29/11 Seattle, Washington. Newsday 07/02/2011

07/02/2011 Headline: "Police: Train ticket helps crack 1957 Ill. killing" "Prosecutors in bucolic Sycamore, a city of 15,000 that's home to a yearly pumpkin festival, charged a former police officer Friday in the 1957 abduction of 7-year-old Maria Ridulph after an ex-girlfriend's discovery of an unused train ticket blew a hole in his alibi." - "Jack Daniel McCullough, 71, has been held in Seattle on $3 million bail. A judge overseeing a Saturday court appearance for him said he had been taken to a regional trauma center but did not elaborate. She rescheduled his bail hearing for 12:30 p.m. Monday." "Police suspected McCullough, who lived less than two blocks from the Ridulphs and who fit the description of the man said to have approached the girls, Thomas said Friday. But McCullough seemed to have an alibi, claiming he took the train from Rockford to Chicago the day of the abduction. His story fell apart last year after investigators reinterviewed a woman who dated him in 1957 and asked her to search through some personal items, the Seattle Times reported, citing court documents. She found an unused train ticket from Rockford to Chicago dated the day the girl went missing." "The Times reported investigators also determined a collect phone call McCullough purportedly made to his then-girlfriend from Chicago actually came from his Sycamore home the day Maria vanished — and he gave a ride to a relative when he should have been on the train."

2011-07-28

07/28/2011 Headline: "Police exhume Maria Ridulph's body to check for DNA evidence" "Late Wednesday afternoon, the Seattle man accused of the 1957 kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old Sycamore girl Maria Ridulph was returned to Illinois to face the charges against him. Jack Daniel McCullough, 71, was brought to the DeKalb County Jail in Sycamore after he was extradited from Seattle. He is charged with murder, kidnapping and abduction of an infant in the 1957 slaying." "Meantime, earlier Wednesday, authorities exhumed Ridulph's body in an effort to gather more evidence against McCullough. According to CBS affiliate WBBM, an Illinois State Police spokeswoman said state police, Sycamore police and the FBI, along with the DeKalb County State's Attorney's and Coroner's offices, were on hand as the body of Maria Ridulph was dug up at Elmwood Cemetery in Sycamore."

2012	TWO TRIALS: 1962 Rape Case and 1957 Murder Case

2012-04-08

"Jack D. McCullough is charged in DeKalb County with rape and taking indecent liberties with a child for alleged incidents involving a 14-year-old girl from late 1961 to late 1962."

04/08/2012 Headline: "Defendant in '57 killing goes on trial in unrelated rape case" "The rape case charges were filed based on evidence authorities obtained while investigating Ridulph's death, officials said. For legal reasons, the rape-case jury will not hear evidence from the murder investigation. The attorneys will interview potential jurors one at a time in Judge Robbin Stuckert's chambers. The private interviews are intended to limit possible tainting of potential jurors, said DeKalb County Public Defender Regina Harris, who represents McCullough." "Prosecutors expect to call about five witnesses, including the alleged victim, Assistant State's Attorney Julie Trevarthen said Thursday. At the time of Ridulph's disappearance, McCullough lived in Sycamore with his family, but left town shortly afterward to join the Air Force. He had returned to town by the early 1960s, according to authorities."

2012-04-10

"Her voice shaking, the woman who was 14 at the time of the alleged attack, testified that as three of his roommates returned to the house, he invited them to assault her. Two of the men did, she said, pausing several times to wipe tears from her eyes."

04/10/2012 Headline: "Woman, now 64, testifies in 50-year-old Sycamore rape trial" "She went for a ride with Jack Daniel McCullough in 1962 because he was driving a flashy red-and-white convertible, but said she instantly realized she’d made a mistake. McCullough, then a 22-year-old Sycamore resident known as John Tessier drove her to the rented house where he lived and raped her on a cot in a darkened bedroom, woman testified" “There is no corroboration he ever did this,” argued defense attorney Robert Carlson, who said the claims by the woman are “one person’s story.” A one-time resident of the rental home where authorities said McCullough lived testified he never saw McCullough drive a car or bring a girl to the house. James Gassaway, in fact, said McCullough did not live at the house full-time, but sometimes stayed there." "A second woman testified that McCullough assaulted her in 1982 when she was 14 years old and briefly lived at his apartment with a friend. She trusted McCullough initially because he was a local police officer, but said within a few weeks of moving into the apartment, he started acting “a little creepy.” The woman, now 46, said McCullough assaulted her one night as she slept on a couch in his living room while her friend slept nearby on a second couch."

2012-04-12

NOT GUILTY In Rape Case

04/12/2012 Headline: "Man found not guilty in 50-year-old Sycamore rape" "A Seattle man was found not guilty today of raping an Illinois teenager 50 years ago in a case that stemmed from an unrelated charge — that he killed a young girl from the same small town five years earlier. DeKalb County Judge Robbin Stuckert said prosecutors did not meet the burden of proof needed to convict Jack McCullough, 72, during a two-day trial. He was charged with rape and indecent liberties with a child in Sycamore in 1962."

2012-09-04

"DeKalb County State’s Attorney Clay Campbell said he expected the bench trial to last perhaps four days. Hallock, who normally hears cases in Kane County, was brought in after Judge Robbin Stuckert recused herself last month."

09/04/2012 "Man charged in '57 Sycamore murder may not use old records as alibi" "Judge James Hallock ruled Tuesday in a pre-trial hearing that the records Jack D. McCullough’s defense team offered up as a potential alibi could not be admitted at his bench trial, set to begin Monday." - "The judge, who ruled without comment, also barred an old telephone company report showing a collect call had been placed to the McCullough home from Rockford about the time the crime reportedly happened." "In 1957, McCullough’s mother vouched for his whereabouts on the night of the crime — he had reportedly ridden a train to Rockford after spending the day in Chicago taking a military physical. But prosecutors won court approval last week to have two of McCullough’s sisters testify to a 1994 conversation in which McCullough’s dying mother reportedly implicated her son in Ridulph’s disappearance." "DeKalb County State’s Attorney Clay Campbell said he expected the bench trial to last perhaps four days. Hallock, who normally hears cases in Kane County, was brought in after Judge Robbin Stuckert recused herself last month. In April, Stuckert acquitted McCullough of sexually assaulting a family member in the early 1960s, a charge that authorities say grew from the investigation in the Ridulph case."

2012-09-10

MURDER TRIAL BEGINS TODAY (BENCH TRIAL)

09/10/2012 "Sycamore girl killed in '57 was 'outgoing, sweet and trusting" "Jack D. McCullough, a 72-year-old Seattle retiree and former Sycamore resident, is charged with killing the 7-year-old Sycamore girl in 1957 and dumping her body near Galena "in the cold dark woods like she was a piece of garbage," DeKalb County State's Attorney Clay Campbell said in his opening statement." "Before a recess for lunch today, the trial's first witness, Charles Ridulph, Maria's older brother, described searching for his sister on the night of Dec. 3, 1957. "The whole town was your playground," he said. "People didn't lock their doors ever, except maybe when they went on vacation." "One key witness will be Chapman [Cathie Sigman], now a grandmother. Two of McCullough's other sisters are expected to take the witness stand and describe a 1994 conversation with their dying mother, in which she reportedly implicated their brother in Maria's disappearance, according to court records."

2012-09-11

MURDER TRIAL CONTINUES John Tessier never showed to pick up his girlfriend Janice Edwards that night of December 3, 1957

09/11/2012 "Witnesses remember anxious night when Maria Ridulph went missing" "Cheryl Crain, 70, the final witness of the day, said her memories of the night are as indelible as the ones she had from the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. "I can remember vividly who I was with and what was said and where I was the night Maria disappeared," said Crain, who had a high school classmate who she said was the defendant's girlfriend." - "Crain testified that she and high school classmate Janice Edwards were putting up Christmas decorations that evening at the hobby shop that Edwards' father owned. Tessier, Edwards' boyfriend, was supposed to give them a ride home that night, but he never showed up, Crain said. Instead, Crain said, her father called the store and ordered the girls to lock the shop door immediately until he could pick them up."

2012-09-12 "The defense opted for a bench trial, meaning a judge will decide the verdict."

MURDER TRIAL CONTINUES "Also Tuesday, Kathy Chapman, the friend Maria was playing with the night she disappeared, identified McCullough in an old photograph as the young man who approached them offering the girls piggyback rides."

09/12/2012 "Inmate: McCullough said he killed girl in 1957" "An inmate testified Wednesday that he overheard a man accused of the 1957 slaying of a 7-year-old Illinois girl recently tell another cellmate that he choked the child to death with a wire." - "Christopher Diaz, who was locked up at the same jail as McCullough while McCullough awaited trial, told the court he also heard McCullough boast that he had brushed aside an offer from the state to cut a plea deal." "Also Wednesday, forensic anthropologist Krista Latham testified that an examination of the girl's exhumed remains last year suggested she was stabbed in her chest and throat area. The girl's bones had cut marks consistent with a large-bladed knife, Latham said. They did not appear to have come from an autopsy scalpel or saw, Latham said, though she conceded it was at least possible the marks were made in the initial autopsy" "In testimony Tuesday, McCullough's half-sister testified that their mother, Eileen Tessier, said on her death bed that McCullough had killed Maria. She grabbed my wrist and said, 'Those two little girls, the one that disappeared, John did it," said Janet Tessier, who added under cross-examination that her mother did not explain why she believed that."

2012-09-13 .

MURDER TRIAL CONTINUES "John did it, John did it, and you have to tell someone,” Janet Tessier claimed her mother said."

09/13/2012 "McCullough won’t take the stand in 1957 Sycamore murder" "Do you choose to testify or not to testify?” asked Judge James Hallock, who is hearing the DeKalb County trial without a jury. “Not to testify,” the 72-year-old McCullough replied calmly" "McCullough’s attorneys opened his defense by calling his half-sister to testify about a January 1994 statement allegedly made by their dying mother. Mary Hunt said her mother, Eileen Tessier, abruptly made a cryptic claim to her and another sister as they sat by her bedside in a DeKalb hospital. “He did it,” Hunt said, quoting what her mother purportedly told her. Her mother offered no specific details about whom she was referring to, but Hunt added: “I knew who it was.” Another McCullough half-sister testified earlier this week for prosecutors that her mother’s alleged statement specifically referred to Ridulph’s disappearance. “John did it, John did it — and you have to tell someone,” Janet Tessier claimed her mother said." "Three inmates who were jailed in DeKalb County with McCullough following his arrest also claimed he talked about the killing, though they offered differing accounts of what he allegedly said. Two said he told them he strangled the girl with a wire. A third, convicted murderer Kirk Swaggerty, testified Thursday that McCullough said he accidentally suffocated Ridulph while trying to quiet her after she fell while he was giving her a piggyback ride."

2012-09-13 "Swaggerty also said McCullough told him he contacted the FBI because he had a dream that someone who lived near him named "Johnny" killed the little girl. McCullough told Swaggerty that he was "Johnny," and that he used to go by "Johnny."

MURDER TRIAL CONTINUES "The girl wouldn't stop screaming, and when McCullough tried to keep her quiet, she suffocated, Swaggerty said."

09/13/2012 "Testimony over in McCullough trial" "Kirk Swaggerty is currently serving a prison sentence after being convicted in August 2011 of first-degree murder, home invasion and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon. A jury found Swaggerty guilty of orchestrating a Genoa home invasion in February 2005 that left a man dead." "In the days leading up to his August 2011 trial, Swaggerty was housed in the DeKalb County Jail and had conversations with McCullough in the jail's multipurpose room. Swaggerty said the two talked about extradition because Swaggerty had been extradited from Mexico after being arrested. When Swaggerty asked McCullough if he would be pleading guilty or taking the case to trial, he said McCullough told him he could probably get probation if he pleaded guilty, because it was an accident. When Swaggerty asked what he meant by that, McCullough said he was giving the little girl a piggyback ride when she fell from his shoulders. The girl wouldn't stop screaming, and when McCullough tried to keep her quiet, she suffocated, Swaggerty said." "Swaggerty also said McCullough told him he contacted the FBI because he had a dream that someone who lived near him named "Johnny" killed the little girl. McCullough then told Swaggerty that he was "Johnny," and that he used to go by "Johnny." Swaggerty testified that McCullough also told him the state had no evidence and wouldn't find any DNA; if they did, he said, he would plea bargain. Swaggerty said McCullough told him the case has made him a celebrity and he could probably get a "dream team" if it were to go to trial."

2012-09-13 "Steiger and Ciesynski said McCullough told them he got a ride with someone from Chicago to Rockford and then hitchhiked from Rockford to Sycamore on Dec. 3, 1957. Once at home, McCullough told them he used garbage cans to crawl in through a window of the house."

MURDER TRIAL CONTINUES "Doe said McCullough then told him he used garbage cans to climb into a window of his house, carrying the girl. McCullough told him his mother knew he had the girl in the house."

09/13/2012 "Witness: McCullough described crime" "An anonymous jailhouse informant testified Wednesday that Jack McCullough told him in detail how in 1957 he killed a Sycamore girl. John Doe, a prisoner who stayed on the same cellblock at the DeKalb County Jail as McCullough between Aug. 30 and Sept. 5 of this year, said McCullough – who “would ramble a lot” – told him he was giving a little girl a piggyback ride and ran down an alley when he slipped and fell. The girl hit her head, McCullough told him, and it was an accident." "Doe said McCullough then told him he used garbage cans to climb into a window of his house, carrying the girl. McCullough told him his mother knew he had the girl in the house. Doe said McCullough first told him he choked the girl, then later said he strangled her with a wire. McCullough also told Doe about his 1948 Ford coupe with flames painted on it, and that he lied about saying the car was sold or that it had a flat tire." "On day three of the trial Wednesday, Doe testified that McCullough told him he put the girl in his car, drove to Jo Daviess County to get rid of her body and left her by some trees. As McCullough spoke about the little girl, “he would seem almost childlike. He would get real giddy,” Doe said." "Two Seattle police detectives, Cloyd Steiger and Mike Ciesynski, testified as to various comments McCullough made as he was extradited July 27, 2011, and taken from Seattle to Sycamore. Both men said McCullough referred to Maria as a “beautiful little Barbie doll.” They said McCullough also brought up the Casey Anthony case and emphasized reasonable doubt with a smirk on his face. Steiger and Ciesynski said McCullough told them he got a ride with someone from Chicago to Rockford and then hitchhiked from Rockford to Sycamore on Dec. 3, 1957.

2012-09-14 "Fifty-five years after Maria Ridulph vanished from the streets of Sycamore, her friends and family let out a deafening cheer Friday."

GUILTY !! "Johnny" Tessier 1957

09/14/2012 "Ex-police officer convicted in murder of 7-year-old Illinois girl, Maria Ridulph" "On Friday, Sept. 14, 2012, in Sycamore Judge James Hallock pronounced McCullough guilty of murder, kidnapping and abduction in the 1957 death of 7-year-old Maria Ridulph of Sycamore." "A weight has been lifted off my shoulders," said Kathy Chapman, 63, who was playing with Maria in the snow on the night of Dec. 3, 1957, before she vanished. "Maria finally has the justice she deserves." A deathbed accusation by his mother in 1994 — passed on to police by his half-sister in 2008 — led to a chain of events that brought about his conviction. His mother, Eileen Tessier, had lied to police canvassing the neighborhood in 1957 about her son's whereabouts, buttressing his alibi, prosecutor Julie Trevartchen said Friday. "She knew what she did and she didn't want to die with that on her conscience," she said." "McCullough's girlfriend in the 1950s also contacted police with evidence that called his alibi into question. She had found his unused train ticket from Rockford to Chicago for the day Maria disappeared."

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Daily Chronicle 09/08/2012

Daily Chronicle 09/12/2012

Daily Chronicle 09/13/2012

Daily Chronicle 09/14/2012

Daily Chronicle 09/15/2012

Chicago Tribune 09/15/2012

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