'Don't Want To Believe This': Family Mourns Beloved New Lenox Boy, 13

NEW LENOX, IL — A New Lenox family and community are reeling after the unexpected death of a 13-year-old boy.

Dante Julian Garza-Prieto had just played in his baseball game with the New Lenox Blue Dodgers Monday night. He and his siblings played video games before heading to bed. Around midnight, he awoke, gasping for air.

Garza-Prieto dealt with asthma from a young age, and suffered a severe attack in his sleep. Since similar incidents previously led to brief hospital stays, his mother, Yadira Arreola, moved quickly as paramedics arrived.

"I grabbed my toothpaste, my toothbrush, my charger, because I knew I was going to stay overnight," she said. "Unfortunately, that was not the case."

Paramedics attempted to revive Garza-Prieto, but were unsuccessful. He died Tuesday, June 4, just two days after his 13th birthday.

"You don’t want to believe this," Arreola told Patch. "No mom wants to go through it. It’s a hard reality right now."

A family friend has started a GoFundMe to support the family, who moved to New Lenox from Oak Lawn in January 2023.

Garza-Prieto was the second-youngest of eight siblings, both step-siblings and full, Arreola said. A player with the New Lenox Rebels baseball organization, he loved the sport. He also enjoyed fishing with his stepfather, and was excited to start playing with the New Lenox Jr. Warriors football club.

"He was so excited to join the football league, the Warriors," Arreola said. "He was excited to get that going. He did a fishing club after school.

"He loved video games—what kid doesn’t? He loved his cereal, he loved his snacks. He loved playing games, playing with his brothers outside, with the all the kids on the block."

Garza-Prieto had just wrapped up his seventh grade year—he even went the final half day, because "he wanted to get his autographs going," his mom said.

"Funny, silly, goofy, crazy, a jokester," she said, describing him. "He sees you’re sad, he’ll cheer you up. He would just please you in whatever way you needed to be happy.

"Always caring, cracking jokes."

Freshly 13 years old, her son had aspired to different dream careers.

"He wanted to work for NASA," Arreola said. "He wanted to be a baseball player. At one point, he wanted to be a firefighter. But NASA always stuck with him."

Arreola finds herself in disbelief, instead thinking that he's at the home of his father, Dante, and will be returning home on a Sunday. She is bracing for her family's final goodbyes Sunday and Monday.

"Words can’t describe what we’re feeling and what we’re going through," she told Patch.

They had so much planned together for this summer, Arreola said.

"He was so excited for summer, we were going to do so many things," she said. "He and his sister bought the tickets for Ringo Starr, he was so excited to go see him. He was a big Metallica fan. Those were going to be our two big concerts: Metallica and Ringo Starr.

"... I’m sure he’ll be there (Ringo Starr show) in spirit."

The community's support has been plentiful and vital in the first days since Dante's death.

"We really do appreciate it," Arreola said. "We couldn’t ask for more from the community itself."

One of Garza-Prieto's younger brothers also plays for the New Lenox baseball association, and they attended one of his games Saturday.

"I told his little brother to play for him," she said.

The game paused in a moment of silence in Garza-Prieto's honor, she said.

"That was really amazing."

As she mourns, Arreola is reminded of her son's love of space.

"He’s out there somewhere, I hope, exploring the galaxies."

Visitation for Dante will take place Sunday, June 9, from 4 to 8 p.m. at Blake-Lamb Funeral Home, 4727 W. 103rd St. in Oak Lawn. A chapel service at the funeral home will follow on Monday, June 10, at 11 a.m. A full obituary can be found online.