The body of Maria Ridulph, a 7-year-old Sycamore, Ill., girl kidnapped and killed in 1957, was exhumed Wednesday morning, the same day the man accused of killing her was expected to return to Sycamore from a Seattle jail, NBC Station WMAQ reported.
For security reasons, DeKalb County State's Attorney Clay Campbell declined to comment on the specifics of Jack Daniel McCullough's return to Illinois but confirmed the 71-year-old Washington state man is expected back sometime on Wednesday.
However, the DeKalb Daily Chronicle reported that McCullough was on his way to Illinois. DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott said McCullough was released from King County Jail in Seattle, where he'd been held as a fugitive from justice since his June 29 arrest in the death of Maria Ridulph. He would not give further details, citing security needs.
The Illinois State's Attorney's Office received a court order last Friday to exhume Maria Ridulph's body, Campbell said. The Illinois State Police, Dekalb State's Attorney, FBI, Cook and Dekalb Coroner's Offices and two forensic anthropologists are involved in the investigation.
"Science has advanced thankfully since that time," Campbell said of the murder, "and hopefully that advancement in science can assist us in our investigation of the case."
"There's a certain supposition that when a 7-year-old disappears and is found out in the woods that she was murdered," Campbell said.
But how she was murdered remained unclear.
Maria's older brother, Charles Ridulph, thanked all agencies involved including law enforcement officials who have given him advanced warning on all case updates.
"Although the events are very difficult and very unsettling," Charles Ridulph said, "we understand the necessity for these things and we are in complete agreement and thankful for the way the case is being handled."
Maria Ridulph disappeared from her Sycamore neighborhood on Dec. 3, 1957, and was found dead in the woods after 50 days of hysteria and searches.
In 1957 McCullough was known as John Tessier and lived in Sycamore. He matched a description given by Ridulph's friend, Kathy Sigman, then 8 years old, who was with Ridulph when a man calling himself Johnny approached them as they played Dec. 3, 1957, near the intersection of Center Cross Street and Archie Place in Sycamore near their homes.
McCullough, an Air Force veteran and a former police officer with the Washington state cities of Lacey and Milton, was a suspect in the crime but not charged by prosecutors at the time. He told police he was on a train from Rockford to Chicago on the day Ridulph disappeared to take a physical and medical examination for the Air Force.
But a woman who had a relationship with McCullough told authorities last year that she had seen the train ticket and it had not been used, according to court papers.
McCullough's stepdaughter, Janey O'Connor, 33, said he wants to return to Illinois because he feels confident he will be found not guilty.