Cold As Ice | Full Episode | Forensic Files

December 3rd, 1957. It had just started snowing. Maria and I wanted to go outside.
Sycamore 1957 was [music] a town of about 7,000 people. Maria and I were playing on the corner
of Center Cross and Archie Place. The town was your ideal small town that you see in
the 1950s Christmas movies. There was a person that came up to both of us and told us his name was Johnny
and would we like a piggyback ride? My name is Kathy Chapman. I was the last one to see Maria Ridulph alive.
I was 8 years old. After Maria disappeared my parents always said, "You are the only one that can
recognize this man. You have to remember what he looks like till we find him." How seriously [music] did the FBI take
this case? Extremely seriously. The actions of the special agent in charge were directed personally by Hoover.
Everybody looked for Maria. She just disappeared off the face of the earth. She was found by a month later.
Lot of towns have their boogeyman of legend, but we had a real boogeyman who had snatched a child and killed her. And
we've lived all this time not knowing who had taken her until now. It's a mystery that has haunted a
Chicago suburb for more than a half a century until now. Early this month, police in Washington arrested Jack
Daniel McCullough. Mr. McCullough has been charged with the offenses of murder, kidnapping, and
abduction of an infant. >> This isn't just a cold case. This is an ice cold case. This is a 55-year-old
case. It's probably one of the most challenging murder prosecutions in American history, but he is the perfect
suspect. He just kind of flew right under the radar. I knew he was capable of doing evil things. I even suspected
he may have [music] done some really evil things. When the mask comes off, it's like facing a serial
killer. They're describing a man I've never met. My father didn't do this. I know him.
I love him and I trust him. And he couldn't do this. She's not the first person he's
>> [music] >> brainwashed into believing he's all that in a bag of chips. Forgive me my
skepticism, but leopards don't change their spots. Who kidnapped >> [music] >> and killed Maria Ridulph? Jack Daniel
McCullough, my half-brother. I'm Erin Moriarty. Tonight on 48 Hours cold as ice.
That day, December 3rd, 1957, would you say your life was changed forever? Forever.
Kathy Sigmund [music] was just 8 years old in December 1957, and like nearly every child in Sycamore,
Illinois, she couldn't wait for the first snowfall. Chuck Ridulph, then 11 years old,
remembers his little 7-year-old sister Maria rushing out to play with Kathy around 6:00 p.m. Just as flurries in the
dark night settled over the idyllic Midwestern town. Today, I'm sure a lot of parents are saying, "How could that
young girl have been out after dark on that corner?" Well, this was a norm. No one ever
locked doors in Sycamore or thought twice about letting little girls out to play a game they called "Duck the Cars".
We would go around the pole until a car would come up the street and then you had to get behind that tree
before the car lights hit you. Retired Sycamore Police Lieutenant Patrick Solar has studied the cold case
extensively. The unknown subject would have approached from south on Center Cross Street. Probably had a vehicle
parked down the road. He may have gone by and seen the girls playing. Had you ever seen him before?
>> seen him before. Not at all? >> Not at all. And were you nervous with someone walking up toward you? No. We
didn't even think twice about it. He stopped to talk to us, told us his name. His name was Johnny. Maria took
the piggyback ride. And he went maybe 20 ft away with her and then came back and asked if we liked dolls.
And Maria went home to get a doll. She went home and brought her doll back. I was said I was going to go home and
get my mittens. I was cold. And I left both of them standing there on the corner.
And when I got back, they were gone. No sign of her doll, no sign of her, no sign of anybody. Kathy came to the door
and asked if Maria was there. I didn't think anything of it. I just said, "No, she's still outside." It was a few
minutes later, she came back, "I can't find Maria." When Chuck searched for Maria and couldn't find her, he finally
told his parents. According to public records, it was another hour before the Ridulphs called the police who joined an
already frantic search for Maria and the man who called himself Johnny. If you can imagine armed citizens
walking the streets with shotguns and rifles and handguns tucked in their waistband knocking on your door, "We
need to search your home. There's a girl missing." They set up roadblocks in rural roads in
cooperation with the state police at the time. They stopped every car, searched every trunk.
Some men came [music] to the back door of our house and knocked and asked for dad. Jean Tessier, then 10 years old,
lived with her large family just down the street from the Ridulphs. Her baby sister Jan was just a year old.
Their father ran the hardware store and was asked to open it up. >> So that they could get flashlights and
lanterns. We didn't have a lock on our back door. Dad cut a 2x4 and jammed it into the
door so that it wouldn't open. Were you scared? Yeah, I was scared. The thought of having to lock a door
against an intruder was was new. No one knows exactly when Maria was taken, but two neighbors reported
hearing a scream around 7:00 p.m. In an alley not far from where Maria disappeared, her doll was found. The
doll was found between the fence and a garage which is set back on Center Cross Street.
Within days, the FBI [music] took over. Dozens of G-men descended on Sycamore and turned a small motel into their
local headquarters. But there was little to go on. The crime scene had been trampled before any
physical evidence could be gathered. All that investigators had was one eyewitness who was 8 years old. I did
have to go to the police station and view lineups of different individuals. I had to go
through mugshot books. Do you know how many pictures you looked at? Do you have any idea?
Lots and lots and lots. Hundreds? Yes. Thousands? >> Yes, thousands. There were a lot of
suspects >> [music] >> in that little town of Sycamore. It's surprising how many people were on lists
of sexual predators. Three weeks later, when Christmas came around, Maria was still missing.
I remember Maria's wrapped gifts still under the tree. And your mom hoping she was still
somehow alive? That's right. Hoping she would be home for Christmas. How long did it take before you found
out what had happened to Maria? 5 months. She was found 5 months later. On April 26th, 1958,
the case went from a kidnapping to a murder when Maria's tiny body was found partially clothed 90 miles away near
Galena, Illinois. A farmer and his wife wound up finding the body partially concealed under a
downed tree. Because Maria had not been taken [music] across state lines, the FBI handed the investigation over to the
Illinois State Police. Two years later, the ISP ran out of new leads >> [music] >> and the case went cold. But Kathy
Sigmund never stopped looking for the face that only she had seen. I never stopped looking for him.
Never. This is still hard for you, isn't it, Kathy? Yeah, it is. It's been a long struggle.
But Kathy hasn't been alone. Jean Tessier has also been haunted by the night Maria disappeared, but for a very
different reason. Days later, her brother John Tessier became a suspect in Maria's murder after
investigators received an anonymous phone call. At some point, the FBI came to your
home. They did. They were scary men in suits. They asked my mom whether John had come
home that night. And she said, "Yes." But according to Jean, that was a lie. Why do you think your mom lied about
your brother being home when you knew he wasn't? I I thought she she must be protecting him because she had
to my knowledge lied to protect him before. As years turned to decades and [music]
there was still no arrest in the kidnapping and murder of little Maria Ridulph, it seemed the mystery of her
death would haunt the town of Sycamore forever. I think a lot of [music] people look at
Sycamore, Illinois and they say, "Oh, the perfect American town, the great place to raise kids."
>> Yeah. There were a lot of dark secrets in that town, too, weren't there? >> well, there certainly were in my family.
50 years after Maria's mysterious murder, one of those dark Tessier family secrets would shock their tiny town.
Stirred up many old wounds and dragged me against my will back into a past that I was glad to have survived.
The year was 1994 and Jean's mom was on her deathbed about to make a [music] stunning confession
about her son. Tessier's sisters, Jan and Mary, were at their mother's bedside. I knew she was
taking to her grave so many demons. She seemed like she was fighting dying and all of a sudden I hear, "Janet!" She
grabbed my wrist in in the strongest grip. She said, "Those two little girls and the one disappeared. John did it.
John did it and you have to tell someone." Was what she said to you that clear? John did it. I mean, was that clear?
Yeah, very clear. She was frantically adamant that I do something. Jan says she was so focused [music] on
calming her dying mother that she never asked why Eileen Tessier suspected her own son of snatching and killing Maria
Ridulph. So, I promised her I would take care of it. I said, "Mom, don't worry. I'll take
care of it." And finally, she just kind of put her head back on the pillow and said, "Oh," you know, and closed her
eyes. Eileen Tessier died weeks later. Jan says she didn't trust her father to be
honest about this, so she made it her mission to find the truth. In a way, it was me fulfilling an obligation finally,
you know, living up to my promise. While Jan's siblings had their doubts, they all decided to support her in her quest
for justice and risk revealing even more painful family secrets. >> We all realized that this is what we had
to do. >> the direction we had to Yeah, like >> We had to open up all of them. >> all the secrets and this nightmare of a
past and put it out for the world to see. Jan called the FBI and the Sycamore Police Department, but her brother
appeared to have an alibi placing him miles away from the crime. And Tessier even passed a polygraph, so
both agencies chose not to investigate and Jan gave up. Then, 10 years later, a friend got Jan
thinking again about the promise she made to her mother. But he says, "You never know, you may
find a real bulldog of an investigator." And for some reason, those words hung in
my head. The one law enforcement agency that Jan hadn't contacted yet, the Illinois State
Police, was about to get an email. I hit send and then I went outside to have a cigarette and I looked up at the sky
and I said, "Mom, listen, you and God better get something rolling here because I can't keep doing this."
Two days later, I get a phone call. Special Agent Brian Hanley wanted to hear more.
What was so significant about what Jan had to tell you about this case? She came to us and basically told us that
her brother committed this murder. And that this is going to be something that drags the whole family into the
spotlight. >> Correct. I knew that it would be like ripping the scab off of this um very
deep wound. Jean Tessier didn't hold back when Hanley interviewed her, starting with the lie she says her
mother told the FBI about her brother. [music] All I knew was that John didn't come
home that night that Maria disappeared and that mom lied to the FBI and said he had. Jean says she also wanted Hanley to
know just how evil her brother could be. So, for the first time ever, she revealed what she says is a long-buried
family secret. He asked me something about what I knew about John's sexual proclivities.
And um and I told him that John had abused me. Throughout her childhood, Jean says her
brother sexually abused her and so did her father. She says her own mother knew but kept it secret. I love my mother. I
love my father. I love John. Um but they all did great harm to me. By this time, Jean's father had also
died. There was only one person who could say for sure if John [music] Tessier was the Johnny who kidnapped and
killed Maria. And boy, my eyes lit up. A suspect after all these years? I thought the case was
closed. Maria's playmate, Kathy, was by then a 61-year-old grandmother when Hanley
showed her this photo lineup seen here in photocopies. Six pictures that Hanley put together of
young men who lived in Sycamore back in 1957. One of them was John Tessier. She picks this one and says, "No."
And points to this one. That was That was Johnny. Immediately you knew it? Immediately.
And so, in the back of your mind, what are you thinking? I'm thinking we've got the right guy.
Agent Hanley tracked John Tessier to Seattle, Washington, but his name was now Jack McCullough.
He says he took his late mother's maiden name to honor her family and then married Janie O'Connor's
mother. When my mother called me to tell me that Jack had have been arrested, I laughed. It was unbelievable. I mean, it
Those are not words I ever expected to hear. I've known Jack since I was 8 years old.
I grew up with him. I can't I can't see that. And then when we told >> But Hanley
and two veteran Washington State cold case detectives saw something different in Janie's
stepfather, especially when they showed him the photo lineup that Kathy Chapman saw. I don't know any
of these guys and I don't think any of these guys are from Sycamore. Like it or not, Jack McCullough was
about to come face-to-face with John Tessier and his alleged dark past. At a police station 2,000 miles away
from Sycamore in Seattle, [music] Washington, the main suspect in Maria Ridulph's
kidnapping and murder is taken in for questioning. Back in December 3rd, 1957, >> Maria's Maria, exactly. The suspect,
John [music] Tessier, was a 72-year-old former police officer living in Seattle under a new name.
>> McCullough, correct? >> Correct. When investigators make it clear they suspect McCullough of being
Maria Ridulph's killer, I did not kidnap that little girl. he goes on the defensive.
>> You you look at my eyes. She was loved in the neighborhood. She was a little girl with big brown eyes and she was
sweet as could be. Hardly said a word to anybody and everyone loved her. To States Attorney Clay Campbell,
McCullough's clear and detailed memory of the child was a red flag. It appeared to [music] us that he was describing
somebody that he was obsessed with, uh that he had thought a lot about. Even more troubling to investigators,
McCullough makes an astounding claim. He knows the identity of the killer, someone from the old neighborhood. I'm
going to talk to you about what's who I think this Okay. Seattle cold case detectives Floyd
Steiger and Mike Szczesinski assisted in McCullough's interrogation. That's a you
know classic like a lot of serial murderers actually that I've interviewed is the same thing. They're going to help
you find the real murderer. This guy would have been perfect. He was about my height. He looked something like me. But
he didn't say he looks like the description given. He said he looks like me. And what does that say to you?
>> to me that it is me. And I'm just trying to push your attention over here. Jack McCullough aka
John Tessier chose to sit down with 48 Hours to tell his story. Are you the Johnny who kidnapped and killed Maria
Ridulph? >> Absolutely not. McCullough does admit [music] to sex play with his sister Jean when they were
younger. >> You said >> [music] >> you had a sexual encounter with your sister. Did you abuse your sister as she
was growing up? You did, didn't you? My sister and I were very close. What do you mean that you were very
close with your sister? >> We're done with this. This is has nothing to do with Maria,
has nothing to do with murder. You weren't >> We're done. So you're not going to answer anything
more on this? Correct. And as you got older there could have been other times. Yeah. Okay. But this
this doesn't make me a suspect in a murder. Still when Clay Campbell watched the interrogation
he was convinced they had Maria's killer. I thought to myself time should not allow you to get away with murder.
I thought I had an obligation to go after him. Mr. McCullough has been charged with the
offenses of murder kidnapping and abduction of an infant. If they had tiny bit of evidence,
maybe I'd think could it be? But they have no evidence. They have no proof. McCullough's stepdaughter Janie says
Campbell has the wrong man. >> But why would his own siblings say that he killed that little girl? I have no
idea, but to wait 54 years to sit on in for I mean I can't imagine waiting a day
if you believed you knew who killed a little girl. Janie says her stepfather was a
decorated Air Force captain and police officer. But she had never heard this woman's story. This man is not what he
claims to be. He's he's a monster. $6 When detectives in Seattle started looking into McCullough's background
they found bartender Michelle Weinman in Tacoma. And I said yeah, I know him. Do
you know he molested me? Weinman told detectives that back in 1982 when McCullough was officer Tessier
she was a 14-year-old runaway seeking refuge from an abusive home. Michelle says he took her in and then made a
move. I was on the couch and he just started to um touch me and try to kiss me and um
he assaulted me. When you say assault did he rape you, Michelle? You know Tessier was charged with statutory rape
but eventually pled guilty to communication with a minor for immoral purposes a misdemeanor and was fired
from the force. It didn't happen. If nothing happened why would you plead guilty?
>> have money to fight it. So you're saying you never touched Michelle Weinman? I'm I'm saying I never
raped her. I never attempted to rape her. I never had sex with her. But States Attorney Campbell still had
to prove that McCullough was a killer. In search of DNA evidence the state had Maria Ridulph's body exhumed. But after
half a century they found nothing. There's no physical evidence at all to tie Jack McCullough to this murder.
>> That is correct. >> It's all circumstantial. So Campbell made a surprising move
charging Jack McCullough with a different decades-old crime. During the investigation Jean Tessier
had revealed a specific incident that she says happened when she was 14 and her brother was home on a military
leave. He drove me to a home I didn't know in another part of town and raped me with great um
cold anger. And then shared me with his friends. Normally a 55-year-old rape case would
be barred by the statute of limitations. But because Jack returned to the military and never came back to the
jurisdiction the statute didn't apply. So Campbell made a controversial and risky decision to try Jack McCullough
for the rape of his sister. My thinking was let's try that one first and if he's convicted on that it takes a
lot of pressure off us in this next case. Prosecution has really nothing on murder. They've
ripped this man from his family, destroyed his life extradited him to another state and they
have not a shred of evidence. So now we're going to do this. But Campbell had one problem.
He had promised Jean Tessier now the mother of two grown children and a chaplain being considered for an
Episcopal priesthood that he would never pursue a rape trial without her consent.
He said well I know I told you I wouldn't go forward without your blessing but I am.
And I felt as powerless as I'd felt that day. I felt like I was being raped again
>> [music] >> by this legal process. I made myself [music] look at him as soon as I sat in the
witness stand because I had to have done that already before I could even speak. On April 10th, [music]
2012 Jean Tessier took the stand in a Sycamore courtroom [music] and accused her brother of raping her when she was
just 14 years old. I had never said that story out loud to anyone except Brian Hanley.
And they were asking me to go in this very public forum and talk about the most painful day of
my life. But States Attorney Clay Campbell felt he had a better chance of convicting
Jack McCullough of rape than murder and was determined to put the 72-year-old former cop away for life.
What was it like on the witness stand telling your story? It was terrible >> [snorts]
>> because I had no control over the story. I had to only answer the questions that
I was given in [snorts] this room full of strangers except for the man who had done this to
me. >> [snorts] >> Of course he says he's innocent. Michelle Weinman was allowed to testify
about what she says McCullough did to her when she was also a teen. And I'm here to tell you
right along with his sister this man is not what he claims to be. He wears a mask and
it's it's scary. McCullough concerned he could never get an impartial jury in Sycamore chose to
let a judge decide his fate. The trial lasted four days. Two men who lived in the house where Jean says the
assault took place denied any knowledge of the event. With no evidence to back her story Jean
feared that her word wouldn't be enough for the judge and left before the verdict was in. I was several hours
towards home driving home. I didn't want to be there to hear it. Why were you so
sure he wouldn't be convicted? I because he'd gotten away with everything he'd done his whole life including what he
did to Michelle. Jean was right. The man accused of raping a Sycamore teenager 50 years ago has been found not
guilty. Jack McCullough was found not guilty of rape and not guilty of indecent liberties with a child. Jean
says she was publicly humiliated for nothing. The judge said why had I waited so long to come forward?
And why was I telling this story now? Jean says she wasn't allowed to tell the judge she felt pressured to take the
stand. It felt like another violation. Did you think when you were acquitted on rape then that you might not even go on
trial for the murder? No, I was never worried about the about the murder trial because I had FBI
evidence that I couldn't have done it. Five months later, Campbell went ahead with the murder trial. The talk around
Sycamore was that with an election coming up, Campbell was grandstanding for votes. But he says if anything, he
was risking his re-election. I consulted with an awful lot of people and almost every single one of them told me, "Clay,
you cannot do this. It's a political disaster and there's no way you can find him guilty."
With no physical evidence, >> [music] >> Campbell's case relied on an eyewitness
and two sisters testifying against their brother more than 50 years after the fact. Do you think your mother thought
you had something to do with Maria Ridulph's death? I don't know. She was uh not all there.
She was under the influence of drugs and psychotic. Nobody knows what she was talking about.
It was all in her head. Did you worry that your mom might be confused? I did not at the time.
I don't know why, but I knew she was speaking the truth. We knew it was a long shot trying to get that
evidence in since the mother isn't here to be interviewed. McCullough was certain the judge would never allow the
testimony of the deathbed confession. But the judge did allow it. And still, Campbell was worried. Would the judge
believe his eyewitness Kathy Chapman's positive idea of the defendant so many decades after the crime? Small town,
down the street. And you don't recognize him as the guy who lives down the street. But I didn't
know him. He was 10 years older. Now that I know who he is, but the state's credibility problems
didn't end there. Three jailhouse informants would testify that McCullough confessed to them behind bars. One of
the snitches serving 33 years for murder claimed that McCullough told him he killed Maria by accident.
The rules were were very clear up front. There was absolutely nothing we were offering in exchange for their testimony
because I knew the judge would view it with the same skepticism that you are. Why would I run up to somebody who I did
not know and say, "Oh, you look like an honest person. Why don't you listen to my
story. I murdered a little girl and I want to stay in prison forever." Stupid. But the biggest obstacle for Campbell
was in the original FBI case file. Remember, according to statements made by witnesses at the time, McCullough has
an alibi. Something he tried to tell police when they arrested him. The day Maria was
kidnapped, I was in the induction center joining the Air Force. The only thing that
matters is where I was at the time of kidnap. I was in Rockford, 40 miles away. You can't beam me up, Scotty. He wasn't
even invented. As his murder trial approached, Jack McCullough felt confident. I have an
alibi. We're talking about the FBI here, okay? J. Edgar Hoover's signature is on some
of my documents. Each of the We couldn't find Hoover's signature, but the FBI file still made
McCullough feel confident. And that's not all. McCullough also points out that he isn't the only credible suspect to
have surfaced over the years. Before him, there was William Henry Redman. Do you remember the newspaper articles
written at the time? Yes. And what were the headlines? Case closed. Back in 1997,
Sycamore police lieutenant Patrick Solar was sure he had identified the man who likely killed Maria. He was a carnival
worker and a truck driver and a day laborer. Redman had been arrested for the 1951
rape and murder of another little girl. But there's a twist. By the time you heard about him,
he had he had died. He had died in 1995. If you're Jack's defense attorney, Pat Solar is your dream witness because he
pointed the finger at a totally different suspect and said, "Case closed." Yes. But before McCullough's trial even
began, the judge ruled out any testimony about Redman stating he was not a credible suspect.
But the defense still had McCullough's alibi. FBI documents that indicated he made a collect call [music] which placed
him miles away in another town when Maria was snatched. At 6:57, I made the call.
I had proof of where I was. Three people, a telephone operator and her supervisor, a a Air Force colonel and an
Air Force tech sergeant all had me in Rockford from 6:57 until about 7:30. And why is that so crucial in this case?
>> Because she was kidnapped at 7:00. But the state's attorney believes that other
reports in the case file indicate Maria might actually have been abducted an hour earlier.
It was easy for us to imagine him killing her at least kidnapping her, getting her in the car and then driving
up there and stopping at a payphone or making a phone call from somewhere. So >> You think he was setting up an alibi by
calling? There's no question. That alibi was McCullough's best hope. But court-appointed defense attorney Tom
McCullough and investigator Crystal Harold were worried they wouldn't be allowed to use these now more than half
a century-old documents at trial. It's not standard in any trial that you ever allow reports in. That's why you call
witnesses to testify the police. Um but in this case, all of our witnesses were dead or senile.
And so, just like the police reports of other suspects, the judge kept the FBI [music]
file out. Do you understand why a judge would keep out these documents? These documents were written
55 years ago and the people who wrote them are dead. There's no way to verify how credible they are.
>> okay for him to use hearsay in the case of my mother, isn't it? She was dead.
You could have given your alibi if you took the stand. Why didn't you take the stand? That's
what you got attorneys for. My attorney said told me they didn't want me to take the stand.
When both sides rested, the judge announced he would take the night to review the evidence, but that he had
already made his decision. On September 14th, [music] 2012, the Ridolph and Tessier families
gathered at the courthouse to hear the verdict. I want to hear the word guilty. That's all I want. Yep.
We filed into the courtroom and then the judge started to speak. And at first I went, "Oh, no." because
it sounded like he was going to say not guilty. And then he said, "Therefore, I define
the defendant guilty." And the place exploded. Maria got her justice. In his decision, the judge said he found
credible all of the prosecution's witnesses, [music] even the jailhouse informants. I had
found Johnny. But it was Kathy Chapman's identification of the man she encountered as a little girl one winter
evening 55 years ago that made the crucial difference. We got him. We got him. This time, the long arm of the law
reached out and got him. I think the reason there's not a statute of limitations on on murder is because
we all think that if you take a human life that no matter how much time passes, if you can still come forward in a court
of law and prove that that person did it, then that person ought to suffer the consequences uh of of having taken a
human life. McCullough was sentenced to life in prison. Did you get a fair trial, Jack?
I did not. Where is the proof beyond a reasonable doubt? Can anybody get a fair trial after 55 years? No. There's nobody
to testify on on my behalf. They're all dead. That's the problem with getting old.
Is the mystery finally solved? >> Yes, absolutely. It's a done deal. Earlier in this interview, you told me
that these accusations of rape and the sex allegations are irrelevant to this murder. But in fact, whoever killed
Maria Ridolph was a pedophile, somebody who abused little girls. You don't know that.
Nobody knows that. That's supposition. But why are you unwilling to talk about these accusations of rape? Has nothing
to do with murder. But it has something to do with with your character. It says a lot about you.
I may have I may have been a sinner, but I'm not a murderer. Is it possible then that you were
acquitted of what you did do and convicted of what you didn't? That could be. Is that what happened? I don't know.
As a convicted child killer, as well as an ex-cop, prison life was particularly hard on Jack McCullough. For his own
safety, he was kept in protective custody, locked up in a tiny cell 23 hours a day.
But all that would change on April 15th, 2016, at a hearing inside a packed Illinois
courtroom. After serving 5 years of his life sentence, The defendant has met his
burden Jack McCullough heard the words that would set him free. I will order sign an order vacating the judgment of
conviction. This remarkable turn in the case came after the State's Attorney, Richard
Smock, had conducted his own review and found there was no way McCullough could have killed Maria Ridulph.
The investigation was prompted by McCullough's motion for a new trial. After reviewing thousands of documents
ruled inadmissible at trial, Prosecutor Smock found himself in the unusual position
of siding with the defense. The prosecutor in this county has made very clear that he believes Mr.
McCullough is actually innocent and that the facts demonstrated that. >> [music]
>> Those facts included newly discovered phone records that [music] confirmed that McCullough was miles away when
Maria was kidnapped. A week after he was released, McCullough was back in court to hear his case
dismissed. I will grant that motion to dismiss. Coming from an environment of you can't do anything
to where you can do anything, I mean, you you got to know what freedom is. And it's it's just plain wonderful.
And there was even more stunning news to come. And thus, Mr. McCullough's petition [music]
is granted. In April 2017, Judge Brady officially declared Jack McCullough innocent of Maria's murder. But
McCullough will be tied up in court for years because [music] he has filed a federal lawsuit against numerous
Illinois state and local authorities for wrongful conviction. While sadly, one of the nation's oldest
cold cases is cold again. >> [music] [music] [music] [music]

Can a childhood memory of a friend's murder solve a 1957 cold case? "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports in this episode from June 2017. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

The episode recounts the 1957 kidnapping and murder of Maria Ridulph and the complex investigation leading to Jack McCullough's arrest and exoneration.

Key points

The Disappearance of Maria Ridulph. On December 3rd, 1957, Maria Ridulph vanished from her small town, sparking a massive search.
A Haunting Mystery. For over 55 years, the mystery of Maria's murder haunted Sycamore until a suspect emerged.
A Shocking Confession. In 1994, a dying confession revealed a family secret implicating the suspect in Maria's murder.
Jean Tessier's Painful Testimony. Jean Tessier bravely accuses her brother of rape in court, reliving her trauma.
Verdict Delivered: Guilty. The judge finds Jack McCullough guilty of murder, bringing justice to Maria Ridulph.
McCullough's Exoneration. After years of wrongful conviction, Jack McCullough is declared innocent of Maria's murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I knew he was capable of doing evil things.

Reflecting on the suspect's character.

2:22WatchApr 14, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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