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River Ridge Middle Schoolers Leo Wade, Arveonna Wade, Felicia Yacovacci, Anna McEowen, Eternity James, teacher--Kim Thorsen, Makayla Rodgers, Samantha Haring, organizer of event--Julie Bryan, Aly Downing, Bethany Diederich, Tavian Bryan, Jake Veltkamp, Xavier Bryan, Bryton Engle, Breyton Fry were challenged to raise awareness and money to help children in Africa who do not have daily access to fresh water.
River Ridge Middle School stages Walk for Water event ELIZABETH — Saturday, March 19 was the international Walk for Water event. River Ridge Middle Schoolers were challenged to raise awareness and money to help children in Africa who do not have daily access to fresh water. Eight countries and 8,000 people joined in this international event. Children in Africa often have to walk 6k (3.72
miles) every day to get water; many times that water is unclean for drinking causing disease and illness. 15 students took up the challenge to walk and many other students made financial contributions. Sixth graders contributed $78 to the $865 total that was raised. A $50 contribution meant clean water to 1 child;
thus 17 children were helped by the efforts of RRMS students. Our RRMS students really exemplified this quote by Dr. Seuss: “To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.” The 17 children in Africa certainly would agree. Anyone wishing to make contributions can do so at www.worldvision.org.
Prosecutor says wrong man convicted in 1957 kidnap and murder case STOCKTON — In what is accepted to be among the oldest cold cases in the US to result in an arrest and conviction, Jack McCullough, a military veteran and former police officer, was convicted in DeKalb County and sentenced to natural life in prison in 2012 for the kidnapping, strangulation and stabbing of seven-year-old Maria Ridulph who disappeared from a street corner near her Sycamore, IL home in December of 1957. In those days a missing child was unusual and the case drew national attention. Then President Eisenhower demanded
daily updates on the investigation and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover sent dozens of agents to lend their expertise, but the child had disappeared and the country waited with Sycamore for word. Ridulph had been playing with a friend near their homes when a man came up and asked if he could play too. He said he would later escort them to Ridulph’s house. The friend went indoors to ask permission and retrieve a pair of gloves only to return shortly to find Maria and the man missing. Ridulph’s body was found in early spring, 1958 just off Highway 20 between Stockton and Woodbine.
James Furlong, now deceased, was a young man serving as Jo Daviess County Coroner when mushroom hunters made the gruesome discovery of a body, badly decayed, but with dark hair and a familiar shirt and sock; it was little Maria and her mother wept. “A gentleman from up in Minnesota and his wife had stopped near Stockton at a spot they thought might have morels,” said Furlong in a 2012 interview. “There was a fence
near the timber and he walked in there and saw what he thought at first to be an animal. There was still a lot of hair and it was under a dead tree. He moved closer and that’s when he found her.” He said the couple went immediately across the road to the Don Brudi home and called the police. Brudi still lives across from where Ridulph’s body was found and said he remembers the incident.
“It was in the spring of 1958 when they found the girl,” Brudi said. “I was about 25. I was busy with the farm, so I didn’t go down to see what was going on, but I heard later that someone had found a body and it turned out to be that little seven-year-old that had been missing from Sycamore.” Brudi said there was a hay field between the road and the woods.
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