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

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belimom said:
Teen's diary offers account of sister's 1957 disappearance, murder


On Dec. 3, 1957, Kay Ridulph's 7-year-old sister, Maria, was kidnapped by a mysterious stranger known as "Johnny" in Sycamore, Ill. Kay, who was 15 at the time, wrote about the search for Maria in her diary, offering an in-the-moment account of the investigation:

December 3rd, 1957, Tuesday. When I came home at 7:30 I was informed that Maria was kidnapped. It didn't really hit me until we found her doll by the garage. The whole town formed a searching party which continued throughout the whole night...​


....(Erin) Moriarty goes inside the investigation of what authorities say is the oldest cold case ever prosecuted in the U.S. in "Cold as Ice," airing Saturday March 9 at 10/9c on CBS.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18559_1...account-of-sisters-1957-disappearance-murder/
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Sorry to quote my own post, but if someone watches it, can you do a summary here? We don't have cable. I could probably pick it up with the antenna, but I'm putting my kids down (I know, it's late...). Thanks!
 
EmmaliLucia said:
So here's my list of young girls who disappeared or were murdered. I made sure that they were either young enough or looked young enough to fit into his profile (From one of the news articles it said that he went for a 14 year-old), I tried to weed out the ones that I am certain were done by someone else (Kase Ann Lee, for example, I wanted to add her to this list, but due to her circumstances, I'm positive Gary Ridgway had to do with her disappearance)


The one that caught my attention the most was Chalista Lewis.
WA WA - Chalisa Lewis, 14, unsolved murder in Bremerton, Feb 1995 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community


Rima Danette Traxler
WA WA - Rima Danette Traxler, 8, Longview, 15 May 1985 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community


Michella Welch and Jennifer Bastian
WA WA - Murder of Jennifer Bastian and Michella Welch connected? Tacoma, 1986 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community


Angela Meeker Who has already been mentioned
WA WA - Angela Mae Meeker, 13, Tacoma, 7 July 1979 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community


Kristie Lynn Vorak I always thought it was weird that Gary Ridgway would've gotten her, she was far too young, and wasn't really doing much of anything. I was always under the impression that Gary wouldn't go after someone unless they put themselves there (IE, picking up hitch hikers but wouldn't offer them rides if they hadn't asked)
WA WA - Kristi Lynn Vorak, 13, Tacoma, 31 Oct 1982 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community


Misty Copsey
WA WA - Misty Copsey, 14, Tacoma, 17 Sept 1992 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community


Lenoria E. Jones Might be a little -too- young. Also she's African American.
WA WA - Lenoria E. Jones, 3, Tacoma, 20 July 1995 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community


Erin Michelle Macgregor Might be too old
WA WA - Erin Michelle Macgregor, 18, Redmond, 19 Sept 1990 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community
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I'm coming in late to the case. Do we know what he did for a living? Did he travel for work?
 
I'm sold that he was a SK by this:

"And they interviewed McCullough’s ex-wife, who said she married him after a three-month courtship. Not long afterward, he became emotionally abusive, she told police. McCullough ran his own photography business at that point, “though he seemed to make no money doing so,” according to the affidavit. “She said that he would frequently have what she described as ‘prostitutes’ come over to the house for photography. She said that he would frequently take nude photos of them.”"

Wonder if any of these ladies went missing, that photography thing is such a ruse for so many SKs. Not to mention the abusive behavior and the hiring of prostitutes. Not everyone that does this is a SK but they are all red flags for someone who had already killed an 8 year old.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/06/maria-ridulph-alleged-killer-arrested-how-cops-finally-found-jack-mccullough.html

ETA: Oh! And found this on the next page "The ex-wife also said McCullough had once made sexually suggestive comments with a banana to her 11-year-old daughter from a previous marriage."
 
EmmaliLucia said:
Thank you.

I didn't know what state to look in for the sixties. Maybe it says in one of the news articles? I know that he lived in Tacoma since at least 1977, but I didn't know if he had lived there before then..
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I'm trying to find a timeline to no avail...
 
Just watched 48 hours.

I was a bit disappointed. They talked about exhuming her body but they said they didn't didn't find any evidence on the body (They figured out a cause of death! How is that not evidence?)
 
I'm about halfway through the Cold As Ice airing from last night --- it's online if you missed it.

My thought so far (before I forget): One sister said the mom had covered for the brother before. My first thought is about the other children/people who were victim of him in later years. While it may be hard to turn in your own child, think of the others whose lives or sanity you may be saving?
 
belimom said:
I'm about halfway through the Cold As Ice airing from last night --- it's online if you missed it.

My thought so far (before I forget): One sister said the mom had covered for the brother before. My first thought is about the other children/people who were victim of him in later years. While it may be hard to turn in your own child, think of the others whose lives or sanity you may be saving?
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Okay, I've finished the entire episode (thank you, CBS, for posting it online!).

- the bit about the mother: my heart breaks for her but more for those other children/people who were harmed later (including the gang rape of his sister)
- bless that family for coming forward and being willing to be in the spotlight
- I feel for Jean, having a detective go forward with a rape case without her consent, specifically when he had promised he would not pursue it without her specific consent
- I believe they have the right guy. I believe unequivocally that he did it.
 
http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2013/08/us/oldest-cold-case/?eref=googletoolbar

Not so sure this evidence stands up to tight scrutiny given the difficulty of eyewitnesses even a month later let alone 55 years later.

Maria was the pretty one, slight and graceful at 7 with big brown eyes that shined with warmth and intelligence. Everyone said the second-grader was special and Kathy, who was a year older, felt honored to be her friend.

They lived a few doors away from each other on a side street called Archie Place. It was their whole world in 1957, a time when children played hide-and-seek outside instead of watching television. People didn't lock their doors in this Midwestern farm town because everyone knew everybody else.

Sycamore and its 7,000 souls felt safe on the morning of December 3, 1957, but the feeling wouldn't last.
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belimom said:
I'm about halfway through the Cold As Ice airing from last night --- it's online if you missed it.

My thought so far (before I forget): One sister said the mom had covered for the brother before. My first thought is about the other children/people who were victim of him in later years. While it may be hard to turn in your own child, think of the others whose lives or sanity you may be saving?
Click to expand...

Tragically, it seems like one of those situations where the mother was being abused and so was kind of mentally trapped. Her husband was sexually abusing her daughter (and to be honest, I wouldn't be shocked if mccullough were abused by his father as well, which could have triggered his psychopathy). If the father was sexually abusing his daughter (and perhaps other children) I can only imagine what he was doing to his wife.
agghhh this story is just so incredibly awful. there's no chance of him ever getting out, right? I'm positively convinced it was him but there wasn't that much evidence and his brainwashed daughter is determined to get him out.

Gahhh just watching him... he reminds me of so many other psychopaths I've watched interviews of. Just totally cold, dead in the eyes, alternately creepily cloying + clearly trying to be grandpa-ish and soft-spoken, and in a flash, full of quiet evil rage and need to completely dominate and sear through the interviewer. And the way he talks about Maria... there has never been a guiltier man in my eyes. I would not be surprised if he raped and murdered many more.
 
This to me is the strangest thing...

(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.)"

Why
1. keep a framed photo of a teenaged boyfriend for this many years?
2. why did she put the train ticket in it?

Did he give her the ticket? It's just weird.
 
singers said:
This to me is the strangest thing...

(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.)"

Why
1. keep a framed photo of a teenaged boyfriend for this many years?
2. why did she put the train ticket in it?

Did he give her the ticket? It's just weird.
Click to expand...

Perhaps she was very hung up on him --the one who got away --and she never got over.
I suspect the more likely reason is that she knew something was off, that her bf did harm that girl and that she might want to give the photo and tix to LE or someone else some day.
 
I just read the article and it describes the frame as a cardboard frame. I think it was a simple thin frame that the picture came with from the photographer. It would be thin enough to put into a scrapbook as is or stores in a memory box, so I don't think it strange it's still in the cardboard frame. It is interesting that she kept the ticket, though, and perhaps she kept the ticket for a reason.
 
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