Child Murderer sentenced

[S&WIowegan]

The murderer of my classmate's little sister was sentenced to life in prison today in the Sycamore IL courthouse. Perhaps many of you picked up on this story last year when the cold case was solved.

Maria Ridulph disappeared on the evening of Dec. 3, 1957 while playing outside with a little friend. Since the Ridulph family lived near a busy street with lots of through traffic, the working assumption quickly became that a stranger, stopped and grabbed her, i.e. some one not local. In retrospect, this was wishful thinking in the community that couldn't imagine a local doing such a horrible deed.

In reality, it was a local 17 yr. old guy who lived nearby. He was questioned at the time, but no body had been found. He dropped out of school, enlisted in the Air Force, changed his name from John Tessier to Jack McCullough and lived a long life until finally caught last year.

The family and friend survivors of this tragedy have suffered terribly from the reopening of this old wound. My classmate, Kay Ridulph, passed away shortly after Tessier was arrested.

Meantime, in Iowa this year 2 little girls disappeared on a summer day from near their home. Hunters found their bodies 25 miles from where they were abducted just last week. I have no idea if there are any suspects, but it is a well-known fact that one of the girl's parents are both meth. addicts convicted several times of minor drug offenses.

I don't know how most of the members of this forum feel about these horrible cases. I feel a huge and terrible rage toward the animal(s) who do these crimes. I would gladly put a big bullet in each of their heads without a moments remorse.

Does that make me as evil as the child killers?

[feralmerril]

No, that would be a natural reaction for most of us and moreso on any gun chat site. At first I thought this was another story I just heard out of washington state. Unbeliveably a ex leo also was just found guilty for also killing some one way back around 1957.
Found it:
http://www.heraldextra.com/news/nati...a1867d8fb.html

[S&WIowegan]

That's the same guy feral.

[Stainless44]

No...it doesn't make you a bad person. It's a natural reaction...in my view anyone who preys upon children should be put down.

[feralmerril]

I see that it is!!!!

[Lee Barner]

bob, the proper medical termonology is "cranial injection". lee

[feralmerril]

Sure cant go by looks or past job can we?

[Sebago Son]

Bob, I'm with you brother. You grease the rope, I'll kick the stool.

[LVSteve]

Originally Posted by feralmerril

No, that would be a natural reaction for most of us and moreso on any gun chat site. At first I thought this was another story I just heard out of washington state. Unbeliveably a ex leo also was just found guilty for also killing some one way back around 1957.
Found it:
1957 cold case solved, man convicted for murder of 7-year-old

Maybe I'm getting to be a hardcase, but why is it unbelievable?

[feralmerril]

Not so much that he was ex leo but at first I thought it was two differant but similar crimes. Uncanny because of the same year, 1957. Then I finaly noticed it was the same guy.
What I dont understand was he had a record of sexual assualt etc around 1960, changed his name somewhere along the line and still dropped through the net to snag a job as a washington state policeman!

[David LaPell]

This one is a tough one for me since I have had to deal with several people that have murdered children in my line of work. For us in jail, we have to see them for eight hours at a time, and we have to keep the other inmates from killing them, which no matter how tempting, can risk the whole case and give that inmate a winnable lawsuit. The first one was a twenty something kid who was getting more and more violent every time he got arrested. One night he was watching his girlfriend's 8 month old and supposedly he dropped the baby in the shower and the kid hit his head. Then the baby would not stop crying so he slapped it and then choked it. He panicked so he took the baby to his girlfriend at her job, she then decided to do nothing and waited. The next day the baby was groggy and not acting right so he tried to wake it up with force, resulting in him biting the baby's arms and legs, fracturing them, now with the kid crying he could not get it to stop, and after the next round he and the girlfriend took the baby to the ER where it died. He even said when the cop showed up he almost ran but as afraid he would get shot so he gave up. He's now doing 20 to life. I had to book in a guy on a cold case where evidence came up that he smothered his girlfriend's 3 year old son because she slept with his brother. I was told to book him in because he was from another county and had gotten beat up so they transferred him to us. The job fell to me because I have a way of detaching myself from those crimes, it isn't easy but it has to get done.
Lately there has been a rash of these crimes locally. We have one (allegedly) who killed his 15 month old son because he would not stop crying. Another who raped his 7 week old daughter, she will be having surgeries for the rest of her life, and another (allegedly) who recently killed the 5 year old son of his girlfriend by yanking his feet out from under him so his head hit the floor and then slammed his head into the floor for good measure, again the girlfriend was present and there was (allegedly) a 45 minute wait before anything was done.
Are these people evil? How could they not be? I don't even want to imagine what goes on in their heads. I remember the one who killed the 8 month old trying to justify his actions, but in the end he really thought he didn't do anything wrong and blamed his parents for his upbringing. If you ask me I can only say that there is a special place in hell for people that do that to kids. I look at my son who is 3 and often wonder when I hear of these cases and actually see the people who commit these types of crimes and wonder what could a small child ever have done to deserve to be treated like that. Often the death is a result of long term abuse which is even more heart breaking. If you ever wonder why guys in my line of work drink, it's to forget the monsters we meet. I tend to remember them to be able to tell others that there is evil in this world and to use that to spend every moment that I can with my family so that I don't take any of it for granted.

[Frank46]

David, there have been a couple cases like this here in Louisiana. Truly tragic both for the victims and their families. Gut reaction to the perpatrators of these crimes is find the biggest gator in the swamp and let him deal with the problem. But these people come from all walks of life and it cautions us to always be on our guard. Makes me both sad for the victim and mad at the person who committed the crime. Frank

[S&WIowegan]

All of the LEO personnel who worked on the case in 1957 are gone so we can't know what the whole story is. We were a small town and our LEOS were just local guys with no training. Supposedly, the FBI was involved too. Tessier's mother confessed on her deathbed to have lied for him and his GF back then eventually ratted him too.

He still says he's innocent.

[jaykellogg]

As tempting as it is to want to kill monsters like this and kill them in slow and painful ways it makes us a little less human if we do. Also I doubt most of us would kill a child killer unless we thought it would prevent future tragedies. I am glad I don't have a job like David LaPell. I don't think I could listen to a monster trying to justify his actions.

When these folks go to prison I have heard they are considered the lowest of the low.

[gdauth]

He will get his in prison, they don't like child molesters.

[Sebago Son]

Originally Posted by jaykellogg

As tempting as it is to want to kill monsters like this and kill them in slow and painful ways it makes us a little less human if we do.

Not sure I can agree with this Jay. I think that seeing justice done gives us back our humanity and if it done with consistency, it promotes order and pushes back the sense of futility in the face of savagery.

[JJEH]

I'm against killing these sex offenders. I want to see them in a quarry for 18 hrs a day. Regular but basic food so they don't starve to death. The c/o's are having whips and beat the living hell out of these guys...

Or they should be thrown in regular prison, general population with a special color suit on so that everyone sees/knows what they did...

[mg357]

S&WIowegan no it does not make you evil you have every right to those feelings, in fact after reading your post i feel a lot of anger myself toward those monsters, but i can't share what i really want to say here on the forum or i would be banned for life.

[WuzzFuzz]

As an Ex LEO too, I agree with much of what David has said. Back then, and I think now too, a lot of us LEO's could detach ourselves from those types of arrests. I think, no I better make sure I state "I" had no feelings for the one that committed the crime, but I did for the ones that got left behind. The parents, sisters, brothers, grandparents. Those are the ones that will suffer forever after.

As far as the one who committed the crime, "I" did not want to take revenge. The only time I really felt anything close to wanting revenge, is if it affected me personally.

I don't feel the same about YOU losing your dog, as I do about having to put MY dog down. Sound like I'm heartless? NO, I do have a heart, it just wasn't at work. I do cry for what is near and dear to me.

Why did we go to the bar after work with the other LEO's? Because only with another LEO could we let our guard down, become a human for a while, with another who know the feelings we were experiencing. They too had experienced the other side of humanity.

So to the original premise here, Would I want to put a bullet into this type a person...ME..No...But I would pull the lever at their execution, after the jury and court had decided his fate...and have no feelings about it.

WuzzFuzz

.

[george minze]

Originally Posted by Stainless44

No...it doesn't make you a bad person. It's a natural reaction...in my view anyone who preys upon children should be put down.

LIKE TYHE RABID DOG THEY ARE, and that is being a little harsh on rabid dogs.

[Joewisc]

Bring back "Old Sparky."

[jaykellogg]

Originally Posted by Sebago Son

Not sure I can agree with this Jay. I think that seeing justice done gives us back our humanity and if it done with consistency, it promotes order and pushes back the sense of futility in the face of savagery.

We're getting into a whole area I am not qualified to give wise advice on, rehabilitation of criminals. I do have opinions. I am not a bleeding heart who thinks these monsters can be saved. Nicolo Machiavelli said if your going to kill a man, just kill him, don't draw it out. Under our current system of justice it takes 10-15 years to execute a death sentence. Since the time is so long it doesn't present any deterrence beyond life in prison. According to figures I read, it costs more to execute a death sentence than to house someone in prison. Speaking as a person who has served on a jury in a murder case (not involving a child) it is easier to get 12 folks to convict if the death penalty is off the table. I say just sentence them to prison, they cannot look forward to many happy days the rest of their life.

No, before you ask, if one of my children were killed by a monster like this I would want them acquitted in court and then I would hunt them, but that is a gut reaction, not my humanity speaking. We cannot have folks doing (what I would want to do) in a just society.

I have (and you I am sure) seen cases where children were harmed without killing them and judges let the perps loose. Sometimes with probation, sometimes a ridiculously low jail time. We need to work toward uniform laws that ensure that people who do this do not get a slap on the wrist.

I am pretty sure that people who injure children cannot be deterred by punishment no matter how horrible or quick it is meted out. This is a sickness. We need to protect our helpless children. In the small city where I live, arrests are made all the time for child pornography and child predators. Apparently the Sheriff's department has a special unit that handles these cases. Kudos to them!

We must not confuse a desire for revenge with a desire for justice.

[redlevel]

Originally Posted by jaykellogg

I am pretty sure that people who injure children cannot be deterred by punishment no matter how horrible or quick it is meted out.

As my college History teacher Colonel Parker said, "It deters the Hell out of the one they electrocute."

[gdnagle]

Originally Posted by jaykellogg

As tempting as it is to want to kill monsters like this and kill them in slow and painful ways it makes us a little less human if we do. Also I doubt most of us would kill a child killer unless we thought it would prevent future tragedies. I am glad I don't have a job like David LaPell. I don't think I could listen to a monster trying to justify his actions.

When these folks go to prison I have heard they are considered the lowest of the low.

Crimes against children are horrid. I would have no problem pulling the switch, trigger, plunger for anyone where there is a smoking gun conviction, i.e. positive proof they are guilty whether against a child or anyone else. I had a Step brother murdered about 20 yrs ago no one charged, also my daughters best friend was murdered and her body cut up put in trash bags set by a dumpster about 10 yrs ago, suspect was leo but no charges there either. No they were not drug addicts, they had good jobs, a good life no problems with the law just trying to live a happy life. I believe an eye for an eye with positive proof, no doubt in anyone's mind, and all the evidence to support it. Such as the DC sniper and the mass attack in Aurora and others, they were smoking gun guilty. Stap'em down, pull the switch. Don't give then years in prison for appeals at our expense. They denied someone their rights to live a full and bountiful life why should they stay alive even in prison where their loved ones can visit them and laugh and tell jokes. You couldn't do that with your loved one when they were dead could you? You would just have memories and if lucky and they find the body a grave to visit, no seeing them, touching them, no grandchildren, etc. Death penalty worked for a long time until human right took over what about the rights of the dead? Like I stated smokin' gun execution works. Does it make me less human to feel like this, maybe as I have gotten use to death and sad to say it doesn't affect me like it use to but I still think about and feel sad about all the ones I have known and gone before me before their time, I guess almost a year in SE Asia helped also. Done with my rant and just my .02 and I know there are a lot of you out there that don’t agree with me but this is the way I feel.

[feralmerril]

Many years ago I had a co worker accused of child moleston. His lawyer on the stand broke the girls story down. Her older brother had kept climbing the fence into his backyard. Finaly he bodly threw him back over the fence. He put his kid sister up to accuseing him of molesting her. She admitted her brother had her finger him. He got off. He had told me the same story while awaiting trial. It highly affected his life. He was threw off our department, got a different position but still the seed of doubt was planted in many minds! Just being accused will ruin a life more than any other well proven crimes.

[silentflyer]

If it were up to me, tall tree, short rope, in front of the court house at dawn the morning after the sentence was handed down..no 2 time offenders with this approach..