71-year-old Seattle man held on $3 million bail for 1950s murder

(CBS/WBBM/AP) SEATTLE- A Seattle man charged Friday in connection to a 50-year-old unsolved murder is being held on a $3 million bail, prosecutors say.

Jack Daniel McCullough, 71, was charged with murdering 7-year-old Maria Ridulph, who was abducted in 1957 while playing with a friend near her home in Sycamore, about 50 miles west of Chicago, according to authorities.

The 7-year-old's Dec. 3 disappearance launched a five month search that attracted national attention and caught the interest of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who both asked for daily updates, authorities said.

The search ended months later in April 26, 1958, after Maria's remains were reportedly found by two people foraging for mushrooms in Jo Davies County, in the northwest corner of the state.

McCullough, who was 18 at the time of Maria's disappearance, lived down the street from the girl's family and went by the name of John Tessier. Although police say they initially named McCullough as a suspect, he had an alibi and the case eventually went cold.

"He matched the description of the suspect, he wore the same clothing, he had the same first name "Johnny" and he lived about a block away," said Police Chief Don Thomas.

Police say the suspect's story began to fall apart in light of new evidence and witness testimony, including an unused train ticket that could disprove McCullough's alibi that he was on a train to Chicago at the time of the abduction, reports CBS station WBBM.

"I just can't believe that after all these years they'd be able to find this guy," Maria's brother Chuck Ridulph told The Associated Press.

McCullough's next court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday.