Jack McCullough guilty of 1957 kidnapping and murder of Maria Ridulph

Ridulph.jpg View full sizeThe Associated PressA gravestone marks the site where 7-year-old Maria Ridulph is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Sycamore, Ill. Jack McCullough, 72, of Seattle, was found guilty in the 1957 kidnapping and death of Ridulph.

During closing arguments Friday, prosecutor Victor Escarcida accused Jack McCullough killing 7-year-old Maria Ridulph (RIHD’-uhlf) after enticing her with talk of piggyback rides and dolls. But defense attorney Tom McCulloch … The 72-year-old former Washington state police officer has pleaded not guilty. The case was reopened just a few years ago after … After a five-month search, Ridulph’s badly decomposed body was found in the spring of 1958 in a forest 120 miles away. In his opening statement his week, …

Judge James Hallock pronounced Jack McCullough guilty Friday in a crowded courtroom in Sycamore, 60 miles west of Chicago. McCullough was around 17 when second-grader Maria Ridulph went missing in the small town where they both lived. He later …

10, 2012. Ridulph disappeared in December 1957 and her body was found a few months later about 120 miles from her home. McCullough was arrested last year in Seattle and brought to Illinois. He has pleaded not guilty. Photo: Barbara Rodriguez / AP …

Jack McCullough found guilty in 1957 murder of 7-year-old Marie Ridulph. By: Crimesider Staff; Topics: Daily Blotter. Jack Daniel McCullough (left) and Maria Ridulph. (Credit: Sycamore Police Dept.; CBS). (AP) SYCAMORE, Ill. – A judge has convicted a …

Judge James Hallock pronounced Jack McCullough guilty of murder, kidnapping and abduction in one of the oldest cold-case murders to go to trial in the United States. McCullough was around 17 on the snowy night in December more than 50 years ago …

A 72-year-old man has been found guilty of abducting and killing a 7-year-old Illinois girl in 1957. During closing arguments Friday, prosecutors contended the decades-old murder of 7-year-old Maria Ridulph was the result of Jack McCullough’s “evil …

Judge James Hallock found Jack McCullough guilty of killing Maria Ridulph, whose body was found months after she vanished while playing near her home in December 1957. A friend of Maria’s, Kathy Chapman, testified earlier this week that she and Maria …

SEATTLE (CBS Seattle/AP) — The trial of Jack McCullough, a Seattle man and former police officer accused of the 1957 killing of an Illinois school girl, is set to wrap soon as closing arguments are expected Friday in one of the oldest cold-case murders to make it to trial. McCullough, who … The 72-year-old former Washington state police officer has pleaded not guilty. Ridulph’s … After a five-month search, Ridulph’s badly decomposed body was found in the spring of 1958 in a forest 120 miles away. In his opening …

And justice, judge, requires a verdict of guilty,” prosecutor Victor Escarcida said as he urged Hallock to convict McCullough, a one-time police officer. “It’s time to hold the defendant accountable for this brutal murder,” Escarcida said. Public Defender Thomas …

A judge has found Jack McCullough guilty in the 1957 kidnapping and murder of Maria Rudolph. Seven-year-old Maria Rudolph of Sycamore disappeared on December 3, 1957, sparking a massive search for the child, whose nearly-naked body was found …

… Dwight Eisenhower asked to be kept up to date. Prosecutors say Jack Daniel McCullough kidnapped and killed 7-year-old Maria Ridulph while she played with a friend, Kathy Chapman, near their homes in Sycamore, Ill., about 60 miles west of Chicago.

He contends Jack McCullough approached Maria and enticed her to play before killing her. The prosecutor says McCullough later dumped her lifeless body in a forest “for animals to feed on.” RELATED ASSETS. The former Washington state police officer …

The prosecutor says McCullough later dumped her lifeless body in a forest “for animals to feed on.” The former Washington state police officer was 17 at the time of Ridulph’s death. He’s pleaded not guilty. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below. Closing arguments are … say McCullough stabbed the girl in the throat and chest. After a five-month search, Ridulph’s badly decomposed body was found in the spring of 1958 in a forest 120 miles away.

In other testimony for the state earlier this week, McCullough’s half-sister told the court that their mother, Eileen Tessier, said on her death bed in 1994 that McCullough had killed Ridulph. “She grabbed my wrist and said, ‘Those two little girls, the one that …

It’s highly disturbing, if McCullough is in fact guilty, that he got away with it for so long. It’s disturbing to think he got to have a regular life, a paying job, and all the benefits that come with having the opportunity to grow up. Maria never had those things.

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 …

Ridulph’s body was found in a forest five months later, 120 miles away. Beginning in the 1970s, McCullough worked as a police officer in Lacey and Milton, but was fired from Milton in the 1980s amid the sexual abuse allegations. He pleaded guilty to …

McCullough has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and killing Maria Ridulph in Sycamore on Dec. 3, 1957. McCullough was arrested in 2011 after his former girlfriend talked to investigators. © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may …

Lawyers for Jack McCullough began presenting evidence to the judge in the DeKalb County bench trial Thursday. The 72-year-old has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping Maria Ridulph in Sycamore on Dec. 3, 1957, then killing her. The first defense witness was …

The defendant, Jack McCullough of Seattle, sat just feet away showing no emotion. The 72-year-old occasionally took notes or leaned … Ridulph’s body was found in a forest five months later, 120 miles away. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights …

The move came today shortly after prosecutors called an inmate to the stand who contends 72-year-old Jack McCullough last year admitted killing Maria Ridulph. The body of Ridulph was found near Woodbine in Jo Daviess County, Ill. kAmqFE z:C< …

The testimony came on the third day in one of the oldest cold-case murders to go to trial in the U.S. Jack McCullough, a 72-year-old former Washington state police officer, has pleaded not guilty to abducting and murdering the girl more than 50 years ago. Christopher Diaz, who was incarcerated at the … Investigators reopened the case a few years ago, after McCullough’s former girlfriend told them she found his unused train ticked from Rockford to Chicago from Dec. 3, 1957, the day Maria vanished. The defense …

Jack McCullough went on trial Monday at the DeKalb County Courthouse in the 1957 murder of Maria Ridulph. A man incarcerated with McCullough testified Wednesday that the suspect from Seattle described to him how he killed the girl. (Stacey Wescott …

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. Her body was found in that area in April, 1958. As McCullough spoke about the …

SYCAMORE, Ill. — A forensic scientist testified a girl found dead 55 years ago suffered three deep stab wounds to her chest. Forensic anthropologist Krista Latham testified Wednesday at the murder trial of Jack McCullough, a 72-year-old former Washington state police officer who has pleaded not guilty to abducting and killing 7-year-old Maria Ridulph in the winter of 1957. Latham said the girl’s bones had cut marks consistent with a large bladed knife. She said the cuts didn’t appear to come from an autopsy.

Her body was found near Galena in April 1958, but no one was charged until 2011 when police arrested McCullough, a 72-year-old Seattle retiree and former Sycamore resident known as John Tessier. The testimony came on the second day of McCullough’s …