A 58-year-old convicted sex offender has been charged with the 1991 kidnapping and murder of a 14-year-old suburban Chicago girl, for which five wrongly convicted men spent at least a decade in prison, CBS News reports.
As CBS notes, more than two years ago the five men, known as the Dixmoor Five, reached a $40 million settlement with Illinois State Police after being cleared of all charges in the death of the teen, Cateresa Matthews. The men had spent a decade or more in prison before DNA evidence pointed to a different suspect.
That suspect is Willie Randolph, a convicted sex offender, according to CBS Chicago, who is already in prison on a three-year sentence for drug possession.
Randolph was due to appear in bond court Thursday afternoon on charges of murder, kidnapping and predatory criminal assault.
“I want to be up front so I can see him,” Cateresa’s mother, Theresa Matthews, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I want to see his face. I thank God that it’s happening because I just want justice for my child. She had dreams. She wanted to be somebody in life.”
Cateresa was kidnapped at a bus stop in 1991. Her body was found in a field three weeks after her disappearance. The 14-year-old had been raped before being shot in the mouth.
About a year later, five teenagers were arrested, and although DNA testing did not link them to the crime, three of them allegedly confessed and two agreed to testify against the others in exchange for reduced sentences, CBS Chicago reports.
Robert Lee Veal and Shainnie Sharp, who took the plea deal, served 10 years in prison, while the other three teens were sentenced to between 80 and 85 years. However, in 2010 both Veal and Sharp recanted after serving their sentences, with Veal's attorneys accusing police of coercing his confession, taking advantage of the fact that he was 15 at the time of his arrest and had a low IQ.
Although DNA testing linked Randolph to Cateresa's death in 2011, authorities said that they did not have enough evidence to bring charges until recently.