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Book, ‘Dr. Phil’ examine cold case
DeKALB CITY COUNCIL TO TAKE UP NEW BUILDING INSPECTION ORDINANCE
INSPECTION IRRITATION
Chuck Ridulph, others to discuss Maria’s murder By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Tom Newquist, co-owner of DeKalb Lawn in DeKalb, shows a customer a snowblower Monday. Newquist (below left) and Dave Henke have owned DeKalb Lawn since 1999. The business has been at 219 N. Seventh St. since 1970.
City leaders to talk with opponents of proposed changes tion process will make it more difficult to sell the properties. Carpenter, a real estate broker DeKALB – Looking over the with RVG Commercial Real Estate commercial real estate listings in Services in DeKalb, said his clients DeKalb, Mike Carpenter worries a have asked about the proposal, proposed citywide building inspec- which would require annual code
By KATIE DAHLSTROM
kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com
inspections of commercial and industrial buildings. “I think everyone is in favor of making sure we have safe properties in the community,” Carpenter said. “But we have an ordinance in place and there are a number of
inspections that are already taking place. Why do we need more?” DeKalb officials are trying to answer that question and others before bringing a revised ordinance
See INSPECTIONS, page A6
SYCAMORE – Chuck Ridulph plans to watch the “Dr. Phil” show about his sister’s 1957 murder with close family in his Sycamore home. Ridulph appeared as a guest on Phil McGraw’s show, which will air at 3 p.m. Wednesday on CBS, along with interviews with Maria’s childhood friend, Kathy Sigman, former DeKalb County State’s Attorney Clay Campbell and others who were directly affected by the murder of Maria Ridulph, the 7-yearold Sycamore girl who was kidnapped Dec. 3, 1957, in Sycamore. Five months after she was last seen near the intersection of Center Cross Street and Archie Place, Maria’s body was found in rural Jo Daviess County. The case went unsolved for decades, until Jack D. McCullough’s mother implicated him in a deathbed confession. McCullough, who was known as 17-year-old John Tessier at the time Maria went missing, was convicted in September 2012 and received a life sentence, which he is currently appealing. Meanwhile, McCullough’s stepdaughter, Janey O’Connor, remains convinced he is innocent, according to promotional materials from the TV show. Ridulph said he was hesitant at first about appearing on the show because it was painful revisiting what had happened to his sister.
See RIDULPH, page A5
Voice your opinion Will you watch the “Dr. Phil” show on the Maria Ridulph case? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle.com.
On the air RIGHT: Newquist and Dave Henke (right) work behind the front counter. Newquist questions the need for the city’s proposed new building inspection ordinance.
The “Dr. Phil” show about the solving of Maria Ridulph’s kidnapping and murder will air at 3 p.m. Wednesday on CBS.
Indiana man charged in strangulation death, hints at more killings By TOM COYNE and MICHAEL TARM The Associated Press GARY, Ind. – Police investigating the slayings of seven women whose bodies were found in northwest Indiana over the weekend said Monday they believe it is the work of a serial killer, and that the suspect has indicated there could be more victims going back 20 years. The Lake County prosecutor’s office Monday charged 43-year-old Darren Vann of Gary, Indiana, in the stran-
gulation death of 19-year-old Afrikka Hardy. Her body was found Friday night at a Motel 6 in nearby Hammond. Gary officials were expected to charge Vann later this week in the deaths of six more women, whose bodies were found Saturday and Sunday. Hammond Police Chief John Doughty said at a news conference that Vann confessed to Hardy’s slaying and gave police information that led to the other bodies in Gary, including three on the same block. Vann is a convicted sex
offender in Texas, where he pleaded guilty in 2009 to raping a woman and was released from prison in July 2013. The Austin Police Department issued a statement Monday saying it would review missing persons and cold cases Darren Vann to determine if there could be a link to Vann and asked anyone with information to come forward.
Doughty said police have no specific indication that any slayings have occurred in another state, and the Gary slayings appeared to have happened recently. He said Vann is cooperating with investigators in the hope of John Doughty making a deal with prosecuHammond tors. police chief “It could go back as far as 20 years based on some statements we have,
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but that has yet to be corroborated,” Doughty said. The Texas Department of Public Safety listed his risk level as “low” on its sex offender registry. He did not register in Indiana. Court records in Travis County, Texas, show Vann served a five-year prison sentence, with credit for the 15 months he was in jail awaiting trial, after pleading guilty in 2009 to sexually assaulting a woman at an Austin apartment two years earlier. The woman told police that she went to Vann’s apart-
ment, where he asked if she was a police officer. After she told him no, he knocked her down and began to strangle and beat her, hitting her several times in the face and telling the woman he could kill her. He then raped her. Vann allowed the woman to leave and she called police the next day. Indiana authorities said Hardy, the woman Vann is accused of strangling, was involved in prostitution and had arranged to meet him at the
See SUSPECT, page A6
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