CHICAGO — A 76-year-old man who a prosecutor says was wrongly convicted in the 1957 killing of an Illinois schoolgirl was released Friday shortly after a judge vacated his conviction, meaning one of the oldest cold cases to be tried in U.S. history has officially gone cold again.
Jack McCullough, who lives near Seattle, was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 in the death of 7-year-old Maria Ridulph in Sycamore, about 70 miles west of Chicago. In a review of documents last year, a prosecutor found evidence that supported the former policeman’s long-held alibi that he had been 40 miles away in Rockford when Maria disappeared.
Judge William P. Brady said Friday that Maria’s abduction and slaying had haunted the small town of Sycamore for decades, and that he had also lost sleep over the case.
“I’m not blind to the importance of this proceeding to many people,” he said, minutes before ordering McCullough’s release.
McCullough, in handcuffs, appeared shaken by the decision, rocking back and forth, then taking a deep breath. Family members hugged and cried. .
On the other side of the room, Maria’s brother and sister displayed little emotion.
Hours later, McCullough’s stepdaughter, Janey O’Connor, drove him from the jail She said she’d been convinced of her stepfather’s innocence from the start.
“Jack was just a normal person doing his grandpa thing, and this happened to him,” she said.
She said he told her he’s looking forward to shopping for his children and grandchildren.
DeKalb County State’s Attorney Richard Schmack, who pushed hard for McCullough’s release, told Brady earlier that his office wouldn’t retry McCullough if a retrial was ordered. He said prosecutors were fully convinced of McCullough’s innocence.
Schmack filed a scathing report with the court last month after conducting a six-month review of evidence.
Maria’s brother, Charles Ridulph, 70, said at the hearing that he would continue to push for a special prosecutor to take over the case. Brady will consider that motion April 22.
Maria had been playing outside in the snow with a friend on Dec. 3, 1957, when a young man approached, introduced himself as “Johnny” and offered them piggyback rides. Maria’s friend dashed home to grab mittens, and when she came back, Maria and the man were gone.
Forest hikers found her remains five months later.
At his trial four years ago, prosecutors said McCullough was the man who called himself Johnny in 1957, noting that he went by the name John Tessier in his youth. They said McCullough, then 18, dragged Maria away, choked and stabbed her to death.
McCullough maintained his innocence throughout, saying he had “an iron-clad alibi” that he had been in Rockford, attempting to enlist with the U.S. Air Force at a military recruiting station, on the night Maria disappeared.
New phone records, Schmack said, helped prove McCullough had made a collect call to his parents at 6:57 p.m. from a phone booth in downtown Rockford, 40 miles northwest of where Maria was abducted between 6:45 p.m. and 6:55 p.m.
