By Steve Metsch
Arturo Cantu should be celebrating two big events this weekend.
He would have celebrated his 40th birthday on June 14.
And, a sister said, he would have enjoyed Father’s Day on Sunday, spending time with family and his two young children.
Instead, 10 family members and friends gathered in a Bridgeview courtroom on Wednesday morning for status hearings on the two people charged with his murder.
Several wore T-shirts bearing Cantu’s photo, the date of his birth and the date of his death.
Cantu’s longtime girlfriend, Agnieska Rydzewski, 33, and her co-worker at a local McDonald’s, Anthony Calderon, 20, both appeared before Cook County Circuit Court Judge Linzey D. Jones.
Judge Jones ordered both to appear at status hearings at 9:30 a.m. June 26 in Room 101 at the Bridgeview Court House.
The family is struggling to cope, Carolina Pacheco said.
“He was my big brother,” Pacheco, 32, of Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood, said. “It’s very hard, especially for his kids.”
Cantu is survived by a son, Jonathan, 12, and a daughter, Kayla, 11.
“I try my best to be there for them as much as I can,” Pacheco said.
She recalled last speaking with her brother on Mother’s Day, May 12.
Three days later, at 5 a.m. on May 15, Cantu was shot twice as he left his apartment in the 7300 block of 79th Street in Bridgeview as he was heading to his job.
“He was working at WeatherTech. Before that, he was a chef at several restaurants in Chicago,” his sister said.
Calderon, of Bedford Park, was taken into custody on May 17, Bridgeview police said.
He allegedly confessed to the murder and reportedly led police to the weapon used in the shooting and the clothes he was wearing when the incident occurred.
Prosecutors said the attack was premediated.
On May 18, after an intensive investigation, Rydzewski was charged with solicitation to commit murder.
She and Calderon are in custody at the Cook County Jail.
Wearing a blue coverall over a white T-shirt, Rydzewski did not look at Cantu’s family or friends when she entered the courtroom Wednesday
She and Cantu had dated “for six or seven years,” Pacheco.
“I can’t really describe her. To be honest with you, he only brought her around once. He did everything and anything for her. I just don’t understand this. I don’t get it,” Pacheco said.
In his free time, Cantu “loved to go bowling” at 10Pin Bowling Lounge in downtown Chicago, she said.
“He was always a downtown guy. Site seeing. He loved music. Oldies. He was not a picky man. … He loved Mexican food,” Pacheco said.
Cantu had two sisters and two brothers. Cantu’s mother declined to comment.
“Nobody understands this,” Pacheco added. “If (Rydzewski) wanted to be with (Calderon) she could have just left. They didn’t have to kill my brother.”