Bretz Loses First-Degree Murder Trial: Joliet's Blue Kangaroo Parking Lot Killer Found Guilty

JOLIET, IL — Will County Judge Amy Christiansen announced her guilty findings on Tuesday morning following her recent bench trial of Joliet first-degree murder defendant Cristian Ortiz-Arias. He was only 17 years old when he ended the life of another Joliet teenager in the back parking lot of the Blue Kangaroo Laundromat in May 2021.

Judge Christiansen rejected the defense argument put forth by Joliet criminal defense attorney Chuck Bretz, who argued that his client killed Diego Guadalupe Arriaga in self-defense. Judge Christiansen announced that she found the self-defense claim put forth by Bretz and his client "to be simply unbelievable.

"This gives me no pleasure, no joy. This is a young man, and I find him guilty of first-degree murder," Judge Christiansen told everyone gathered in Courtroom 402 to learn her findings.

Now 21 years old, Ortiz lived who on Columbia Stree when Joliet police charged him with killing Diego after the homicide victim was found in the middle of the night at 606 East Cass St.

Prior to the murder, there was a confrontation involving several teenagers at the nearby McDonald's fast-food restaurant parking lot. Besides first-degree murder, the Will County State's Attorney's prosecutors successfully convicted Ortiz of a felony gun crime, the judge ruled.

Judge Christiansen announced that sentencing will take place at 10 a.m. on Dec. 8. The sentencing range is probably 20 to 40 years, because Ortiz was only 17 years old at the time. However, other circumstances could allow the judge to impose a longer sentence, according to prosecutors.

According to his criminal complaint, Ortiz was charged with first-degree murder just two days after the May 2021 slaying.

According to court files, Joliet police responded to the Blue Kangaroo Laundromat on May 22, 2021, at 4:55 a.m. They found Diego face down with a large of blood near him. Diego had been shot in the back three times and died from his gunshot wounds. Two eyewitnesses came forward in time.

They told Joliet police how they picked up Ortiz and drove him to the naerby McDonald's restaurant drive-thru before he asked them to take him to the back parking lot of Blue Kangaroo. While in the parking lot, Diego came up to their vehicle and they heard gunshots.

"Defendant was on the phone with someone and stated that he killed him and that he was a Vice Lord," prosecutors outlined in 2023 court records. "Defendant also called the witnesses after being dropped off and told them to get rid of any evidence. The two witnesses then found shell casings in the back seat of the vehicle and disposed of them."