Jack McCullough wrote a letter to the Daily Chronicle and the citizens of Sycamore asking to be set free.

McCullough has been convicted of kidnapping and murdering Syacmore resident Maria Ridulph, 7, in 1957.

He said he was astonished with the reaction his guilty verdict received.

“Many of you that were at my trial on Sept. 14 cheered as if your team had just scored the winning point at the last second of the game while I sat in shock and disbelief at the verdict of guilty,” McCullough said in the letter.

He said he thought it was unfair how FBI records, which supposedly proved he was in Rockford at the time of Ridulph’s disappearance, could not be used because witnesses were dead and could not be examined. The reports were then treated as though “they did not exist” at the trial, according to McCullough.

McCullough said the documents are located at the DeKalb County Courthouse, 133 State St., and urged the public to see the records and “set me free.”

McCullough closed his letter by saying he wants a new trial to “allow the truth to be told.”