Belfast pensioner set free in US after murder alibi discovered

A 77-year-old Belfast has been set free in the US after a 1957 murder alibi was discovered, the Irish Central has reported.

By The Newsroom

Published 17th Apr 2016, 17:58 BST

Updated 17th Apr 2016, 18:00 BST

Jack Daniel McCullough who was convicted of the murder of seven-year-old Maria Ridulph on Dec. 3, 1957 as she played near her home in Illinois, has been freed after new evidence was revealed.

According to the report the case was a sensation at the time with FBI Director J Edgar Hoover and President Eisenhower getting involved.

A massive manhunt seeking the killer ended empty handed. The child’s body was found almost five months later in a wooded area about 120 miles northwest of Sycamore. She had been stabbed to death. The case was never solved but in an extraordinary twist, the case was re-opened as a cold case in 2011. McCullough was found guilty in 2012 and was down to serve life.

But new evidence showed he had made a collect phone around the time of the murder.

Belfast