Man jailed in 1957 Sycamore murder charged with raping girl

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Jack Daniel McCullough

Updated: November 15, 2011 9:26AM

SYCAMORE — The one-time cop accused of kidnapping and murdering a Sycamore girl in 1957 has been charged with raping another girl decades ago in the same DeKalb County town.

Jack Daniel McCullough, now 71, was indicted for raping and taking indecent liberties with a 14-year-old girl, authorities said Friday, although in an unusual move they wouldn’t disclose specifically when the alleged assault occurred.

McCullough — who already is jailed in DeKalb County — committed those crimes “several years” after 7-year-old Maria Ridulph was kidnapped and murdered, Illinois State Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said, declining to offer a more specific time frame.

Then known as John Tessier, McCullough lived near Ridulph when she vanished from her neighborhood on Dec. 3, 1957, in a baffling case that triggered massive searches and even attracted the attention of President Dwight Eisenhower. Her body was found nearly five months later in rural Jo Daviess County.

McCullough, who later worked for a time as a police officer in Washington state, was charged in July with kidnapping and killing Ridulph. He was extradited from Seattle to Illinois and remains in the DeKalb County Jail on $3 million bond.

Bond wouldn’t say what led state police to file new charges against McCullough, but in a statement police said they had interviewed the victim of the alleged attack.

State police led the investigation that resulted in McCullough being charged with Ridulph’s disappearance and death.

DeKalb County State’s Attorney Clay Campbell couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

McCullough’s court-appointed attorney declined to comment, saying she hadn’t been notified that new charges had been filed against him. He has pleaded innocent to the charges in the Ridulph case.