Cold case

McCullough Sentencing December 10th

Jenna Dooley — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 18:43:57 +0000

Sentencing for Jack McCullough has been moved to early December. The sentencing was supposed to be today, but a lawyer representing McCullough says the defense was not given enough time to prepare.

McCullough Sentencing Postponed

Susan Stephens — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 15:00:43 +0000

UPDATE: Friday, November 30, 2012 11:10 am

McCullough's sentencing has been rescheduled for Monday, December 10th, at 10:00 am.

Sentencing for convicted killer Jack McCullough has been postponed. The former Sycamore resident was to be sentenced Friday morning at 11:00 for the 1957 kidnapping and murder of seven-year-old Maria Ridulph.

Convicted Killer Faces Decision About Appeal

Jane Denison Furness and Victor Yehling — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:18:01 +0000

Jack Daniel McCullough is back in his cell at the DeKalb County Jail, weighing his options for filing an appeal of his conviction on charges related to the disappearance of little Maria Ridulph on Dec. 3, 1957.

He has 30 days to make that decision, with a sentencing hearing scheduled at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 30.

In April, McCullough waived his right to a jury trial, opting instead for a bench trial on charges of murder, kidnapping, and abduction of an infant – defined in Illinois law at the time as a person younger than 12 years old.

Half-sisters testify for prosecution in trial's second day.

Victor Yehling — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 00:50:46 +0000

Playmate recalls the last time she saw Maria Ridulph

Three half sisters of accused murderer Jack Daniels McCullough testified for the prosecution Tuesday in the 55-year-old disappearance and death of little Maria Ridulph. Two contradicted their parents’ statement that the accused was home that fateful night, and one recalled their mother’s deathbed declaration about the case.

They were preceded on the stand by Kathy Sigman Chapman, Maria’s playmate on Tuesday evening, December 3, 1957. A member of the prosecution team brought her to the witness stand before the session started. Chapman – with close-cropped grey hair and wearing a dark skirted suit – tested the chair, looked around, chatted briefly with the court stenographer, then smiled and stepped away.

McCullough's alibi in 1957 murder

Susan Stephens — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 08:02:45 +0000

The man accused of kidnapping and murdering a Sycamore girl more than half a century ago has an alibi, which was officially filed in court Tuesday.