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Jack McCullough Convicted In 1957 Murder Of 7-Year-Old Maria Ridulph

SYCAMORE, Ill. (CBS) - A judge has convicted a 72-year-old man in the abduction and murder of 7-year-old Sycamore girl in 1957.

Jack Daniel McCullough was found guilty of killing Maria Ridulph, who vanished from her Sycamore neighborhood on Dec. 3, 1957.

At the time, her disappearance triggered massive searches that focused national attention on the small farm town but failed to find the missing girl. Her body was discovered nearly five months later in rural Jo Daviess County.

Her killing went unsolved for decades until McCullough — a former Sycamore resident who lived near Ridulph at the time she disappeared — was charged earlier this year with kidnapping and killing the girl.

McCullough had worked in Washington state as a police officer.

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