The man charged with killing a Bridgeview man in a murder-for-hire plot allegedly told a co-worker his plan the day before the murder.
“He told me he was going to do it, and it needs to be done. I told him, ‘I don’t believe it. I think you’re full of (it).’ He said he was going to kill him,” Jesus Martinez said.
Martinez spoke after a status hearing Dec. 10 at the Bridgeview Courthouse for Anthony Calderon, who is charged with the first-degree murder of Arturo Cantu Jr., on May 15
Cantu, 39, was the longtime boyfriend of Agnieszka Rydzewski, 34, whom prosecutors say was having an affair with Calderon.
Rydzewski is charged with solicitation to commit murder for her role in the death of her boyfriend of six years. Her next status hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. Feb. 5 in Room 101.
Calderon has a status hearing scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Dec. 31 in Room 101.
Both are being held at Cook County Jail. Each wore Department of Corrections coveralls to their hearings. Neither made eye contact with Cantu’s family.
At a previous hearing, the prosecution said Rydzewski urged Calderon on by telling him “time to shine, babe” the night before the shooting.
Martinez did not alert the police after hearing Calderon’s plan. After the murder on May 15, he said he “stayed quiet because I didn’t know what to do.”
Cantu’s mother, Diana Pacheco, was stunned to learn Calderon allegedly told Martinez of his plan.
“He should have gone (to the police). My son would be here right now,” Pacheco said before a status hearing Dec. 11 for Rydzewski.
After the murder, Martinez and another co-worker, Virginia Gibson, 20, of Bridgeview, decided the right response was to take Calderon to the police.
Using the ruse of giving him a ride to work, they picked up Calderon where he lived, in the Bedford Park home of grandmother Louise Robison and step-grandfather Ronald Robison, on May 17.
They intended to drive him to the Bridgeview Police Department.
“And when we got down the street, we had a bunch of cop cars around us,” Gibson said.
Calderon was taken into custody.
Calderon had spent some time on May 16 “hiding in the freezer at work,” Martinez said.
“I didn’t say a word. I was still really scared,” Martinez said.
Martinez said he was taken into custody by police when the car was pulled over.
“They handcuffed me but I told them the truth. … I’m guessing my name just kept coming up in their investigation. I was not charged. I won’t kill a man,” he said.
Gibson, who was not placed into police custody, said she never thought Calderon capable of killing anyone.
“Not at all. … He was a big old teddy bear,” Gibson said. “Great co-worker. He’d come in if he wasn’t scheduled when we asked him to come in to help us.”
Louise Robison loves her grandson. She finds it hard to believe he allegedly killed Cantu.
“He is not the person they are picturing. He was under so much stress. His mother passed away (in August 2023). He was going through a period of grief. Then, his girlfriend of three years broke up with him. He was in a bad state,” she said.
“He would not even hurt a fly. He was always helping people. This woman manipulated him, I think. She saw how gullible he was, took advantage of him,” said Robison, who then began crying.
Robison said that her grandson told her that Rydzewski told him Cantu “abused her.”
Told that Robison said her grandson was “manipulated” by Rydzewski and that Cantu had been abusive, Cantu’s aunt, Delia Dominguez was skeptical.
“If he was abusive, why didn’t she call the police? Why did she not just leave?
“Yeah, maybe (Calderon) was manipulated, but he’s a grown man. He chose the wrong decision,” Dominguez, 55, of Chicago, said Dec. 11 after a status hearing for Rydzewski.
“He had choices even if he was manipulated. He had a choice to walk away. He had a choice to report it, this is what she wants me to do. But he chose the wrong decision.
“He’s a young kid. He messed up his life, not to mention he took somebody else’s life,” Dominguez said.
Calderon and Rydzewski kept their relationship under wraps, co-workers said.
“There was one co-worker who wanted to date her, but she already talked about wanting to kill Arturo. He stepped away from that,” Gibson said.
On Dec. 11, Cantu’s mother and aunt discussed how his death has impacted the family.
“(Christmas) will be like my Thanksgiving. Not good,” Diana Pacheco said.
An empty chair was beside her at Thanksgiving dinner, she said.
“Nobody sat there,” she said. “I pray to him every morning. Every night, I talk to him.”
Cantu leaves behind three children.
The youngest, Kayla, 9, leaves notes reading, “Daddy, I love you,’ at his grave, Pacheco said.
Cantu’s son, Jonathan, 12, “is taking it hard,” she said.
His eldest daughter, Priscilla, 22, is pregnant.
“(Cantu) would have been a great grandfather. He’s a big kid himself,” Dominguez said.
The family will attend the next status hearings. They have not missed any.
“All we want is justice so we can get some kind of closure. We can finally get our lives back. But my sister, my sister will never be the same. At least she knows there is justice,” Dominguez said.
At last week’s status hearings, attorneys for the state and defense told Circuit Court Associate Judge Margaret M. Ogarek they have exchanged evidence and more must be exchanged.
Included is footage from police body cameras along with results of a DNA test on the firearm, assistant state’s attorney Naheda Zayyad said Dec. 10.
At a previous hearing, Zayyad said Rydzewski told Calderon she was “unhappy with the victim” and that she “didn’t want to be with him.”
Money may have played a role.
The state has said that in March – which is when Rydzewski started her relationship with Calderon – she helped Cantu apply for a $25,000 life insurance policy.
Rydzewski was the beneficiary.