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Dad reveals chilling four words daughter's boyfriend uttered down the phone to him after 'shooting her during call'
A grieving father recalled the haunting four words his daughter's boyfriend said to him over the phone after allegedly killing her.
Andrea Cantarini, 37, was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head inside her apartment in the Bronx’s Riverdale neighborhood on Tuesday (November 4).
According to the New York Police Department's press release, her boyfriend, 38-year-old Juan Cornelio Diaz, was also discovered dead at the scene.
Authorities are investigating the incident as an apparent murder-suicide, with reports suggesting Diaz shot Cantarini before turning the gun on himself.
Father recalls daughter's desperate 14-minute phone call before her death
Speaking to the New York Post on Wednesday (November 4), Andrea's father, retired NYPD officer Rudy Cantarini, revealed that his daughter had called him at approximately 8:47PM the previous evening, desperately seeking help.
He said he remained on the phone with her for 14 minutes as Diaz allegedly held a gun to her head.
"I was on the phone with her for 14 minutes… She was begging for her life," he said.
The bereaved dad said his late daughter, who was a nurse and mom, told him: "He’s gonna kill me, and he’s got a gun to my head," during the phone call.
"We tried, and we begged, the both of us, to let her go," Rudy said. "And he just wouldn’t listen."
As the confrontation continued, the retired officer begged Diaz to reconsider what he was about to do.
"Please do not, do not kill her, Juan. It's not too late, Juan. Just let her go. It's not too late. Let her go," he recalled saying.
Despite his pleas, Rudy said he heard the gunshot that killed his daughter.
According to sources familiar with the investigation who spoke to amNewYork, the boyfriend was heard telling Cantarini’s father: "It’s over for her."
The New York Post also reported that Diaz said: "She's gone, Rudy," before allegedly taking his own life.
"And he killed her. And then he committed suicide," the father said.
Rudy described the anguish of being unable to help his daughter despite hearing her pleas for assistance.
"Those 14 minutes, it just keeps repeating over and over again in my head," he said. "I have to live with this the rest of my life."
Family reportedly warned Andrea not to return home after earlier confrontation
According to Rudy, the tragedy followed a disturbing confrontation between Andrea and Diaz earlier that same day.
The couple had a "problem" on Tuesday morning, and Andrea drove up to her father's place to drop off her young daughter before going to her job at St. Barnabas Hospital.
"[Diaz] shut the door with my daughter in it, waving a gun at her, while her daughter was outside the room, screaming and crying," he said of the morning incident.
Following the morning confrontation, several family members and friends reportedly urged her not to return to the apartment.
"Her mother begged her not to go back to the house. Two girls at work, her best friends, begged her not to go back there because what happened in the morning was irrational," Cantarini said.
However, Andrea later returned to the property after her shift and believed Diaz was away at work, but instead he was inside her apartment where he "laid an ambush" and "got her in the bedroom [and] wouldn’t let her go".
Andrea's death came just over a year after she completed her nursing diploma in 2025, achieving the qualification while raising her young daughter, per an interview with City University of New York.
She was then working part-time as a mental health worker at a psychiatric hospital.
Our thoughts are with Andrea's loved ones at this time.