CHICAGO – The street sign at the corner of Archie Place and Center Cross Street in Sycamore, is covered by a flowering vine so thick with greenery and purple blossoms that the signpost itself is no longer visible.

But for those old enough to recall, the beauty of the sign can’t block out the memories of a crime that began on the corner almost 55 years ago when 7-year-old Maria Ridulph disappeared.

“I go by it daily,” Charles Ridulph, Maria’s brother, said Friday of the spot where his younger sister was last seen.