A man who was a “credible suspect” in the September shooting deaths of a Romeoville family had had a relationship with the adult female victim, authorities said Thursday.
Nathaniel Huey Jr., 31, was immediately identified as a suspect in the deaths of Alberto Rolon, 38; Zoraida Bartolomei, 32; and their two sons, 7 and 9, at their home in the 500 block of Concord Avenue, according to Romeoville police. Three dogs also were found dead in the house.
The family was killed sometime between 9 p.m. Sept. 16 and 5 a.m. the next day, police said.
Huey and his fiancée, Ermalinda Palomo, 50, who was considered a “person of interest” in the family slaying, died Sept. 20 in a shooting and fiery crash in Catoosa, Oklahoma, 645 miles from the crime scene.
Police, spotting their car as matching one in a national crime alert, tried to conduct a traffic stop. At the time, Palomo had been reported by family as a “missing/endangered person,” police said.
Their car crashed and caught fire. Officers found Huey in the car shot to death and Palomo with gunshot wounds. She later died at a hospital, officials said.
Police have revealed through the investigation that Huey and Bartolomei had a relationship, of which Rolon and Palomo were both aware.
Police now say Palomo knew of Huey’s plans to kill Bartolomei and her family.
She drove Huey from their home in Streamwood to Bartolomei’s home in Romeoville and back to Streamwood on the night of the shooting, according to “digital evidence” that tracked the path of their car, police said.
A lawyer for Palomo’s family, however, said nearly a week after the shooting that she had been at home asleep at the time of the slayings.
A direct motive for the killings hasn’t been established, and no other suspects have emerged, police said.
The case remains under investigation by Romeoville police, as some forensic evidence is still pending analysis.
