## Facts

- In 1957, seven-year-old Maria Ridulph disappeared in Sycamore, Illinois, while playing near a street corner with a friend.
- Jack D. McCullough (known in 1957 as John Tessier), then 18, lived a short distance from Maria’s home.
- The case remained unresolved for decades and was revived after later-provided information, including a deathbed accusation by McCullough’s mother stating, “John did it.”
- In 2012, after a bench trial in DeKalb County, McCullough was convicted of murder, kidnapping, and abduction and was sentenced to natural life for murder plus additional terms on the other counts.
- On appeal, McCullough challenged evidentiary rulings excluding certain defense evidence and admitting the mother’s accusation, and he argued the kidnapping-related counts were untimely.

## Issues

1. Whether excluding 1957 FBI investigative reports offered under the ancient-documents hearsay exception violated the defendant’s right to present a defense when the reports contained multiple layers of hearsay.
2. Whether the court erred in excluding testimony suggesting a 1951 Pennsylvania murder “closely matched” this case as “other suspect” evidence.
3. Whether admitting the mother’s deathbed statement, “John did it,” as substantive evidence was reversible error or harmless error.
4. Whether the kidnapping and abduction counts were barred by the applicable three-year statute of limitations absent proof of tolling.

## Decision

- The murder conviction and natural-life sentence were affirmed.
- Exclusion of the FBI reports was affirmed; the reports contained layered hearsay and did not meaningfully support an exculpatory defense theory.
- Exclusion of the Pennsylvania-murder “other suspect” evidence was affirmed as speculative.
- Admission of the mother’s deathbed accusation was error, but it was harmless because the remaining evidence was sufficient for a rational factfinder to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
- The kidnapping and abduction convictions and sentences were vacated as time-barred because the State failed to prove facts tolling the three-year limitations periods.

## Legal Principles

- The ancient-documents exception does not automatically admit embedded hearsay within an old document; each hearsay layer must be independently admissible or otherwise supported by an exception.
- Excluding unreliable or weakly probative hearsay under standard evidentiary rules generally does not violate the constitutional right to present a defense where the rule is not arbitrary and the excluded material does not materially exculpate the accused.
- “Other suspect” evidence may be excluded when the proffered connection to an alternative perpetrator rests on speculation rather than a concrete evidentiary link.
- Erroneous admission of hearsay is subject to harmless-error review; reversal is not required if the remaining evidence supports the conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.
- When a statute of limitations applies, the prosecution bears the burden to prove tolling facts; absent such proof, convictions on time-barred offenses must be vacated.

## Conclusion

The appellate court upheld McCullough’s murder conviction, finding no constitutional error in excluding layered-hearsay FBI reports and speculative alternative-suspect evidence, and holding that admitting the mother’s deathbed accusation was harmless; it vacated the kidnapping and abduction convictions because the State failed to prove tolling of the applicable limitations periods.


People v. McCullough, 38 N.E.3d 1 (Ill. App. Ct. 2d Dist. 2015)