Agnieszka Rydzewski, bottom inset, and her paramour Anthony Calderon, top inset, were arrested for the murder of boyfriend, Arturo Cantu, in glasses, at an apartment in Bridgeview, Ill., near Chicago. (Mug shots: Cook County Jail; Cantu: GoFundMe)
A woman and her paramour in Illinois are behind bars after they allegedly conspired to kill her boyfriend.
Police in Bridgeview, a suburb of Chicago, arrested Agnieszka Rydzewski and Anthony Calderon for the murder of 39-year-old Arturo Cantu. Cops allege that around 5 a.m. Wednesday, Calderon, 20, shot Cantu multiple times as the victim walked to his car outside his apartment near the corner of South Oketo Avenue and 79th Street. Medical personnel pronounced Cantu dead on scene.
Surveillance video showed a man parking his SUV at a nearby business before walking to the apartment and running back to the vehicle after the shooting, the Chicago Sun-Times reported, citing court documents. Rydzewski, 33, was in the apartment during the shooting, according to police.
Prosecutors charged Calderon with first-degree murder and Rydzewski with solicitation to commit murder on Saturday. The pair were co-workers at McDonald’s, police said. Rydzewski initially claimed she had nothing to do with the murder but prosecutors uncovered text messages on her phone between April 28 and May 9 that showed otherwise, prosecutors said in court hearings, according to local news station WGN.
The text messages reportedly showed that Calderon and Rydzewski were romantically involved, had begun planning a life together and discussed how to get rid of Cantu. Rydzewski and Cantu were reportedly having relationship problems. Calderon and Rydzewski first tried to hire someone to kill Cantu, per prosecutors.
Rydzewski texted her paramour to tell the person they allegedly hired to “do the job they got paid to do.”
But Calderon decided to do the deed himself, prosecutors reportedly said.
“I’m done waiting,” Calderon allegedly texted his lover on May 9, according to local ABC affiliate WLS. “I will do it myself.”
Then Calderon reportedly texted her on May 14, the day before the murder: “There will be no mercy.”
Calderon confessed to the crime, the Sun-Times reported.
Cantu’s family is devastated. He leaves behind a 10-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son from a prior relationship, WLS reported. His mother, Diana Pacheco, said she is heartbroken and “destroyed inside.”
“My philosophy is, if you’re not getting along as a couple, leave, don’t kill him,” Pacheco told the TV station. “My son didn’t deserve it.”
Diana Pacheco, Cantu’s sister, started a GoFundMe on behalf of the family to raise money for funeral expenses.
“Our brother/son was taken from us due to gun violence,” the online fundraiser said. “We will never get to hear from him, hear his laugh, or see his beautiful smiles anymore! All we can do now is carry with us the beautiful memories he has left us all with, and to cherish all the best times we got to enjoy with him.”
Rydzewski and Calderon are at the Cook County Jail without bond. They have a court date scheduled for Tuesday.
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