Mother Breaks Silence After Daughter's Murder Case Reopened

(CBS) -- Suffering for more than 20 years, a south suburban mom finally breaks her silence. Her daughter was raped, murdered and left in a field in Dixmoor back in 1991.

Police have re-opened the case and the mom is speaking out to help stir up more leads, reports CBS 2's Pamela Jones.

The body of Cateresa Matthews was found near I-57 in a Dixmoor field off Norris Street. She'd been raped and shot in the mouth.

Three weeks prior, the teen's mom reported her missing when she vanished after a trip to her grandmother's house.

"I knew something was wrong. I called my mother. She said Cateresa had left home. Left her house and that she should have been on the bus. I waited for another bus to come. She wasn't on it," said Theresa Matthews

In 2011, five teenagers originally arrested in connection with the crimes were released from prison after their DNA didn't match that found on the victim's body.

"Seemed like it opened up more wounds. I had to live through this all over again. I thought it was all over with," she said.

And now another twist in her emotional roller coaster as the case reopens, relying on more than DNA.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has stated there's a match with a known rapist who hasn't been charged or publicly named.

"I think it would be outrageously irresponsible on our part to say, you know, let's close it out. And we're all done. It really requires us to be outrageously thorough," said Dart.

The chief of the Dixmoor Police Department says he hopes someone out there may have a bit of information they may have considered insignificant and never mentioned. He's urging anyone who remembers anything tied to the case to call it in.