『49 - Murder of Maria Ridulph.』のカバーアート

49 - Murder of Maria Ridulph.

49 - Murder of Maria Ridulph.

無料で聴く

ポッドキャストの詳細を見る
Murder of Maria Ridulph. Maria Elizabeth Ridulph (March 12, 1950 – c. December 1957) was a seven-year-old girl who disappeared from Sycamore, Illinois, United States, on December 3, 1957. Her remains were found almost five months later in a wooded area near Woodbine, Illinois, approximately 90 miles (140 km) from her home. Maria was last seen by her friend on her neighborhood corner of Center Cross Street and Archie Place with an unknown man in his early twenties who called himself "Johnny". The case, which was well known in the Chicago area, was one of the oldest cold case murders in the U.S. that was thought to have been solved. Jack McCullough, who under his former name John Tessier had been a neighbor of the Ridulph family, was wrongfully convicted of her murder in September 2012. McCullough was serving a life sentence when the DeKalb County State's Attorney completed a post-conviction review in March 2016. In particular, phone records from Illinois Bell showed that McCullough made a collect call to his mother from a payphone forty miles away in downtown Rockford, Illinois rather than from Sycamore as alleged at his trial, leading the State's Attorney to conclude McCullough could not have been in Sycamore at the time of Maria's abduction. McCullough was released from prison in April 2016 and declared innocent by the DeKalb County Circuit Court in April 2017. Background. Maria Ridulph was born on March 12, 1950, to Michael and Frances Ivy Ridulph in Sycamore, Illinois. She was the youngest of four children and had two sisters and a brother. Although many residents lived or worked on farms in the area, her father Michael worked at one of Sycamore's few factories and her mother Frances was a homemaker. At the time she was abducted, Maria was 7 years old, 44 inches tall, and weighed 53 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She was an honor student in second grade. She also received awards for perfect Sunday school attendance at Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. John. 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 in a 1957 interview shortly after Maria disappeared. "Someone would probably have to kill her to keep her quiet. I am the only one who could calm her down." Maria was also described as a "screamer" and afraid of the dark. Her best friend was 8-year-old Kathy Sigman, who lived on the same street as the Ridulphs. Crime. On the evening of December 3, 1957, Maria begged to be allowed to go outside as it had started to snow. After finishing dinner, Maria and Kathy Sigman went outside in the dark near Maria's house and played a game they called "duck the cars", running back and forth trying to avoid the headlights of oncoming cars in the street. According to Kathy, they were approached by a man, whom Kathy later described to police as in his early 20s and tall with a slender chin, light hair, and a gap in his teeth, and wearing a colorful sweater. The man, who said his name was "Johnny", told the girls that he was 24 and not married. He asked if they liked dolls and if they liked piggyback rides. He gave Maria a piggyback ride, after which she went back to her house and got a doll to show him. After Maria returned, Kathy ran back to her house to get her mittens, leaving Maria alone with the man. When Kathy returned, Maria and the man were gone. Kathy went to the Ridulph house to tell them she couldn't find Maria. The family initially thought Maria was hiding, and sent Maria's 11-year-old brother to look for her. After he was unable to find her, the Ridulphs called the police, and within an hour, police and armed civilians began a search of the town, but failed to locate Maria or "Johnny", the man with whom she was last seen. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), presuming that Maria might have been abducted across state lines, arrived in Sycamore within two days to help the local and state police in the search. The FBI and police interviewed numerous witnesses who had seen the two girls playing without any other person present between 6:00 – 6:30 p.m., and also spoke to family members who had seen or spoken with Maria and Kathy in the course of Maria getting her doll, Kathy getting her mittens, and Kathy reporting Maria's disappearance to the Ridulphs. Based on these interviews, "Johnny" was thought to have approached the girls after 6:30 p.m., and the FBI concluded that Maria was abducted between 6:45 – 7:00 p.m. Kathy Sigman was the only witness who had seen "Johnny" and was placed in protective custody, as the police and FBI feared that the kidnapper would come back and harm her. The authorities had her look at photos of convicted felons or suspects who bore a resemblance to "Johnny". John Tessier, who was wrongfully convicted of the crime over 50 years later, lived in the girls' neighborhood and was on the original list of suspects based on a tip, but ...
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
まだレビューはありません