Suspect in 1957 slaying accused of molestation

SEATTLE — A court record shows a Washington man arrested in the 1957 slaying of a Sycamore girl has a long history of molestation claims, one of which cost him his job as a police officer.

Seventy-one-year-old Jack Daniel McCullough was charged Friday in the death of 7-year-old Maria Ridulph. He is being held in Seattle on $3 million bail.

An affidavit obtained by the Seattle Times and posted on its website says McCullough went into the military after Maria disappeared and later worked as a police officer. He was working in Milton when a teenage runaway accused him of sexually assaulting her. The affidavit says he pleaded guilty to an unlawful communication charge and the department fired him.

The affidavit also includes other molestation allegations covering several decades.