The next time Anthony Calderon will be a free man is 2056.
Calderon, who was charged with the 2024 murder of Arturo Cantu Jr., has been sentenced to 30 years in prison with no chance of parole.
A bench trial was held in Room 101 of the Bridgeview Courthouse on Aug. 7 before Associate Cook County Circuit Court Judge Margaret Ogarek.
Cantu’s family would have preferred seeing Calderon sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole, Cantu’s younger sister Carolina Pacheco said after the hearing.
“No matter how many years it is, that’s never going to bring him back,” she said.
“It’s peace of mind (for us),” she said of the 30-year sentence.
She and her mother, Diana Pacheco, read impassioned statements before the judge. Other family members submitted written statements
Carolina spoke the anger and sadness she feels every day since her brother’s murder.
Diana recounted the pain and shock she felt the morning of May 15, 2024, when she learned of his death.
That’s the day her firstborn was gunned down in the parking lot in the 7300 block of West 79ith Street, outside the Bridgeview apartment he shared with girlfriend Agnieszka Rydzewski.
“Every day, I pray this is a bad dream, only (it’s) a bad dream that doesn’t end,” Diana said in court. “Not a day goes by where I forget my son.”
Rydzewski, whom the state said had an eight-month affair with Calderon before the murder – they met working together at a McDonald’s – is charged with solicitation to commit murder.
She will appear in court on Oct. 15 for her sentencing. She has been offered 10 years in prison, Carolina Pacheco said. That is not long enough, Pacheco said.
Perhaps the most damning comment, according to court records, was one made by Rydzewski the night before the murder when she texted a message to Calderon.
“Time to shine, babe,” she texted, four words the family will never forget.
Statements were also given in court from relatives of Calderon. He spoke and apologized to the Cantu family for his actions.
“He basically said that he was sorry. He was apologetic. And he hoped that later on, in time, that we’re able to forgive him,” she said of Calderon’s statement.
Calderon said he has been traumatized since the murder, “that he has nightmares. And he said he’s not proud of what he did,” she said.
“He admitted that he was manipulated by her because four months prior to what happened to my brother, he had lost his mother. Agnieszka saw he was vulnerable and took advantage of him,” Pacheco said.
She said Calderon was 19 when he pulled the trigger and will be 51 when he gets out of prison.
A possible motive may have been a $25,000 life insurance policy Rydzewski helped Cantu obtain a few months before his death.
“(Calderon) sold his life short,” Pacheco said.
In closing, Pacheco reiterated something she said in 2024 after the initial status hearing: That Rydzewski could have simply told her big brother “it’s over” and left rather than have him killed.
The 813 days – as of Aug. 7 – that Calderon has been in Cook County Jail since he was apprehended will be applied toward his 30 years.
The family must have really disliked the girlfriend to believe she took advantage a guy who was vulnerable. What a joke! So this father of 2 took out a life insurance policy and didn’t name his kids as beneficiaries huh? Mention of sister mother brother aunt but no mention of his 2 kids? So who got that 25k? The mother raising his two kids?
No mention that the chic had prior domestic charges either huh? Do better research. This article is lacking.
Why did the state even offer him a plea deal? And why was an associate judge presiding over a felony criminal case? They can only do that with supreme Court approval.