Suspect indicted for 2008 murder of Hoffman Estates teen

Cook County prosecutors announced a 14-count indictment Thursday against a Hanover Park man in the 2008 murder of 19-year-old Joseph Ziegler, who was shot to death in the basement of his Hoffman Estates home.

Matthew Zucco, of the 8000 block of South Applewood Court, was indicted on 11 counts of first-degree murder, and one count each of home invasion, attempted armed robbery and residential burglary.

Authorities say Zucco, 21, and his co-defendant, Clinton Johnson, 23, of the 100 block of Crestwood Drive in Streamwood, intended to rob Ziegler when they entered his home about 9 a.m. Sept. 4, 2008. Instead, Zucco put Ziegler in a chokehold, pointed a gun to his head and fired, prosecutors said. The defendants disposed of the gun and bullets in a sewer, then drove to Johnson's home where they burned their clothes in a firepit, prosecutors said.

Police obtained new information on the case as a result of last month's Northwest suburban Dial-a-Rock drug sweep led by the Arlington Heights Police Department and the Chicago office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Zucco is being held without bond in Cook County Jail. Johnson was arrested in North Carolina and awaits extradition.

If convicted, Zucco could face 45 to 85 years in prison. He next appears in a Rolling Meadows courtroom on May 25.