More than two years after Arturo Cantu Jr. was murdered, the alleged killers may soon face trial.
Cantu’s younger sister, Carolina Pacheco, knows what she wants to see happen.
“They should get life in prison,” she said outside Bridgeview Courthouse after a hearing on May 19. “Basically, lives for a life. They don’t deserve to have a life.”
At that hearing, state and defense attorneys told Associate Cook County Circuit Court Judge Margaret Ogarek that discovery has been completed. That means the case will move to trial unless the state decides to drop the charges — highly unlikely given the circumstances.
The next hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. July 8 in Room 101. Cantu’s relatives plan to attend, as they have for every hearing.
Cantu’s mother, Diana Pacheco, 58, expressed frustration with a case that seems to have no end. May 15 marked two years since her son was shot to death outside the Bridgeview apartment he shared with girlfriend Agnieszka Rydzewski.
Rydzewski is charged with solicitation to commit murder. Anthony Calderon is charged with first-degree murder.
According to court records, Rydzewski texted Calderon “time to shine, babe” the night before he allegedly killed Cantu. Rydzewski and Calderon worked together at a McDonald’s in Bridgeview and were having an affair, prosecutors said.
Cantu was shot around 5 a.m. May 15, 2024, in the 7300 block of 79th Street as he prepared to drive to work. Prosecutors say Rydzewski was the beneficiary of a $25,000 life insurance policy she helped Cantu obtain in March 2024.
“What is $25,000 going to do for you for the rest of your life? It’s not going to last,” Diana said earlier this year.
When asked how she was holding up, Diana said: “Not good. I have health issues and I’m taking care of my mom who will be 84 this year.”
Mother’s Day, she said, “was rough.”
She grieves daily.
“Each day I cry in my kitchen as I’m preparing food for my mother. I sing to a picture of my son in the corner of my kitchen,” she said. “It’s just a lot right now.”
The family placed fresh flowers on Cantu’s grave to mark the anniversary of his death.
Carolina said the last message she received from her brother came on Mother’s Day 2024. “He told me ‘Take care of my nephew’ and that I was ‘doing a good job.’ He told me he loved me very much.”
Her son Fabian, 14, will graduate from eighth grade in June and attend Whitney Young High School in the fall. Carolina said Fabian and Arturo’s son are only 10 days apart in age and are close.
She said Fabian “had a hard time” when he learned his uncle had been killed.