Woman urged lover to kill her boyfriend

With the chilling text message “time to shine, babe,” Agnieszka Rydzewski allegedly urged her lover to kill her live-in boyfriend, prosecutors said in court Wednesday.

At a status hearing Wednesday in Room 101 of the Bridgeview Court House, Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Naheda Zayyad laid out in detail why Rydzewski should remain behind bars. A public defender had asked that she be released with electronic monitoring.

Rydzewski, 34, is charged with solicitation to commit murder for her role in the May 15 fatal shooting of boyfriend Arturo Cantu, 39, in the parking lot of their Bridgeview apartment.

Her lover and co-worker Anthony Calderon, 20, of Bedford Park, is charged with first-degree murder.

On Wednesday, public defender Vernon Schleyer asked the judge to permit Rydzewski be released on electronic monitoring. Schleyer said the high school graduate has two sons, did not pose a flight threat and would stay with relatives in the area.

Zayyad vehemently disagreed, saying that Rydzewski was a co-defendant in a murder and that many relatives of Cantu live in the area. She feared for their safety if Rydzewski were to be released, even with electronic monitoring.

Associate Cook County Circuit Court Judge Margaret M. Ogarek ultimately denied the request, citing many detailed messages about the plot allegedly concocted by Rydzewski and Calderon to murder Cantu.

She also mentioned the “level of violence alleged,” Rydzewski’s “relationship with the co-defendant” and how she was the beneficiary of a $25,000 life insurance policy on Cantu.

Zayyad said Rydzewski had helped Cantu apply for the life insurance policy in March.

One woman clapped when the judge denied the request.

After the hearing, Cantu’s younger sister, Carolina Pacheco, of Chicago, was asked what she thought of the “time to shine, babe” comment.

“I have no words,” said Pacheco, who was “very happy” the judge denied the release request.

Rydzewski will remain in Cook County Jail, where she has been for three months. She wore a long-sleeved white shirt beneath her blue Department of Correction coverall.

“Yes, I am,” was the only thing she said in court when asked her name by the judge.

She made no eye contact with Cantu’s friends and relatives in the courtroom.

Calderon will be in Room 101 before the same judge at 9:30 a.m. Thursday for his status hearing.

According to the state, the co-defendants – who worked together at a McDonald’s in Bridgeview and were in a sexual relationship – had discussed murdering Cantu for several months.

Zayyad said Rydzewski told Calderon she was “unhappy with the victim” and that she “didn’t want to be with him.”

They had lived together for six years, Zayyad said.

The co-defendants allegedly contacted a man named Manny, offering him an undisclosed amount of money to kill Cantu, Zayyad said.

When Manny told Calderon he did not want to kill Cantu, Calderon allegedly told him, “I’ll do it myself,” Zayyad said.

Calderon later told Rydzewski he was “a man who will prove his worth,” Zayyad said.

Soon after, Rydzewski sent her “time to shine, babe” message, Zayyad said, and told Calderon what time in the morning Cantu leaves for work.

“She may not have pulled the trigger. … but she was involved intensely in a murder,” Zayyad told the judge.

Zayyad said video obtained from a nearby security camera showed Calderon wearing a mask and holding a gun as he approached Cantu in the parking lot of the couple’s Bridgeview apartment in the 7300 block of 79th Street around 5 a.m. May 15.

Cantu, who had started his car remotely en route to his job at WeatherTech, pulled out a pocket knife to defend himself, but Calderon shot him four times, Zayyad said.

The father of two tried to run, but collapsed due to the ultimately fatal injuries.

Rydzewski’s next court date is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Oct. 23 in Room 101. Pacheco, relatives and friends plan to be there. They have attended every court date thus far.