FREEDOM

Oldest Cold Case Conviction In the U.S. Overturned

The 1957 murder of a 7-year-old.

An Illinois judge on Friday morning overturned the conviction of Jack McCullough, who was convicted of murder in 2012 in the 1957 death of a 7-year-old girl—it's believed to be the oldest cold case to be tried in the U.S.. Judge William Brady ordered McCullough be released from custody and has ordered a new trial. Motions filed by DeKalb County State's Attorney Richard Schmack claim that McCullough was wrongly convicted for Maria Ridulph's murder, since he believes evidence makes it difficult to prove McCullough was even in the same city when the girl disappeared. Ridulph disappeared from a street corner in Dec. 1957; months later, her body was found in northwest Illinois. McCullough, who is now 76 years old, was serving a life sentence for the crime.