Teen charged with murder of Diego Arriaga makes first court appearance

A teen charged with fatally shooting another teen outside a Joliet laundromat made his first court appearance after he was arrested Monday on several felony charges.

Cristian Ortiz-Arias, 17, of Joliet, was in court on Tuesday morning with his attorney, Chuck Bretz, who filed his appearance along with a motion to preserve evidence in the case. The motion is scheduled for a hearing on Friday.

Ortiz-Arias was charged as an adult with first-degree murder, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful possession of firearms in connection with the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Diego Arriaga.

Ortiz-Arias is an inmate at River Valley Juvenile Detention Center. He appeared in person before Judge Dave Carlson and was wearing a dark blue jail uniform and light blue surgical mask.

Ortiz-Arias was informed of the charges against him and entered a plea of not guilty.

Carlson scheduled Ortiz-Arias for a court date on June 17 for either an arraignment or a preliminary hearing which would determine if there is probable cause that he committed the offenses. It’s likely a grand jury will return a bill of indictment against Ortiz-Arias before then.

On Saturday, a male juvenile was found shot to death behind the Blue Kangaroo laundromat on East Cass Street, Joliet police said.

Officers called to assist a Joliet Fire Department ambulance crew with a “subject down” in back of the 606 E. Cass St. laundromat found the juvenile dead shortly before 5 a.m., police said.

The slain juvenile was shot in the chest and abdomen, police said.

After further investigation, police detectives identified a male juvenile as a suspect in the case and he was “located and transported to the Joliet Police Department for questioning,” police said.

On Monday, Judge Sarah Jones signed a $3 million arrest warrant for Ortiz-Arias.

“The juvenile was taken into custody without incident and transported to the River Valley Juvenile Justice Center,” police said.

Police have not disclosed the motive for the shooting or the circumstances surrounding the incident.

“To protect the integrity of this investigation, I’m unable to comment on the motive or what was happening between the victim and offender prior to the incident,” Joliet police Sgt. Dwayne English said on Tuesday.

Will County Coroner Laurie Summers did not release any information about the incident until Monday afternoon. The press release from her office posted on Facebook did not identify the juvenile. Summers told The Herald-News the victim would not be publicly identified because he was a minor.

Police would also not disclose the victim’s name because of his age and because Summers did not do so. The victim was only identified as “D.A.” in the criminal complaint against Ortiz-Arias.

Elizabeth Arriaga told The Herald-News that it was her brother Diego Arriaga who was killed.

“He was a really hard working person,” she said.

A makeshift memorial site was established for Diego Arriaga in the back of the Blue Kangaroo laundromat.