There were various public appeals from the Ridulph family and widespread investigations across Illinois which including all known sex offenders, transients and another man that had previously offered piggyback rides to children. Going back to a time before Amber alerts and faces on the back of milk carts, the search for Maria had even caught the attention of FBI Chief J Edgar Hoover, USA President Eisenhower and garnered national media attention - somewhat unprecedented in those days for a missing child (at least in comparison to today).
Kathy stated that “Johnny” had blonde hair, bad teeth and a high-pitched voice. The man was called “Johnny” (or so he told the little girls).Īccording to Kathy “Johnny” was 24 and not married. At the time of the abduction the sun was setting, and it was near dark as the two girls were playing “duck the cars.” Investigators pin this time down as around 6.30 pm. Soon, it seemed like the whole of Illinois was searching for the missing seven-year old.Īnd while Kathy was elated some 54 years later at the news that the man was finally apprehended, she must now continue with the inner torment that she watched someone in plain sight “take away my best friend”. It was an hour later that the Ridulph family realized that something was up, and the police were notified beginning a police search and the FBI being called in. Initially the family thought that Maria was hiding and sent Maria’s older brother Charles out to search for her. Kathy afterwards went to the Ridulph house to tell them that Maria was missing. Kathy had gone inside to get some gloves to fight against the harsh cold and when she came back outside on the street, both the man and Maria were gone. Maria’s friend Kathy was the last to see Maria Ridulph alive and the last she saw of Maria was a strange man hoisting her on his back and trotting off down the street. Seven-year old Maria Ridulph was playing with best-friend Kathy on the first snowfall of the year when a mysterious man offered Maria a piggyback ride… It will more than likely forever be a cold case. To date the murder remains unsolved and the mystery of Maria Ridulph continues to baffle the Chicago area… This would then be overturned in March 2016 and Maria’s neighbor Jack McCullough would be declared an innocent man in April 2017.
The case was seemingly solved in September 2012 when the police would convict a murderer for the abduction and murder of Maria. It wouldn’t be until more than 50 years later that the case had what was initially thought of as closure - this turned out to be false closure. However, there had been extensive collaboration with the German government and Moder's family, and officials believed they had solved the mystery.It was December 3rd 1957 when seven-year-old Maria Ridulph went missing on a street corner in Sycamore, Illinois and five months later Maria’s remains were found 100 miles from Sycamore in Woodbine, Illinois. The park service said a coroner's attempts to positively identify the skeletal remains using dental records proved inconclusive. The FBI's Evidence Response Team were called in to help retrieve and preserve the remains. "This summer, park rangers further searched the scene and found skis, poles and boots, along with remains of personal items believed to belong to Moder," a statement said. Then in August last year, human bones were discovered by a hiker in the Skeleton Gulch area, near avalanche debris at an altitude of around 11,000 feet (3,350 metres), the National Park Service said Thursday. His worried roommate raised the alarm a week later, setting in motion a high-altitude search that involved avalanche sniffer dogs, rescuers on skis and in snow shoes, and aerial reconnaissance.ĭuring a four-day operation, teams were hampered by heavy snow, but recovered a food cache, and a nearby snow cave containing Moder's sleeping bag and other gear.Īfter that, the trail went cold, and subsequent searches over the following months and years yielded no clues.
Rudi Moder, who was 27 at the time, set out through the snow covered range, part of the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado, on February 13, 1983.