Police records show that shooter Nathaniel Huey Jr.'s fiancée, Ermalinda Palomo, was the mastermind behind the 2023 murder of the Romeoville family

CHICAGO (WLS) – Misery and mystery characterized an inscrutable murder case in September 2023. During a welfare check, Romeoville police discovered the bodies of an entire family: Alberto Rolon, 32, Zoraida Bartolomei, 38, and their sons, nine-year-old Adriel and seven-year-old Diego, were found along with the Shot by the family's dogs.

Now police files obtained by the I-Team through a Freedom of Information Act request reveal a complicated conspiracy and deadly love affair that led to the family's downfall.

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Investigative files indicate that a Streamwood couple, Nathaniel Huey Jr., 32, and his fiancée Ermalinda Palomo, 50, were behind the murders. Huey Jr. thought he was carrying out a drug cartel attack, when in reality it was Palomo pulling the strings and manipulating him to put an end to his illicit romance.

Body-worn camera footage from the night of September 17, 2023 shows Romeoville officers going to Rolon and Bartolomei's home for a welfare check after hearing no one.

Officers then discovered all four family members who had been executed nearly 24 hours earlier.

Hundreds of pages of police files show that the family was killed with a 9mm gun fired by Huey Jr., a former security guard and lover of the married Bartolomei.

RELATED: According to police, the Romeoville execution killing suspect had a “relationship” with the mother of the family

Romeoville's investigation revealed that Huey Jr. and Bartolomei met while working at an engineering firm in Glendale Heights and at some point “developed a romantic relationship.”

Police records indicate that Bartolomei's husband, Rolon, found out at some point and even damaged the tires on Huey Jr.'s vehicle “in retaliation for Nathaniel entering into a relationship with Zoraida.”

Rolon wasn't the only scorned lover.

Palomo had also discovered the affair and, in a complicated conspiracy, police said she “created multiple online personas” to communicate and “persuade” Huey Jr. [him] that he was part of a Mexican and Bulgarian criminal organization.

READ MORE: New details emerge about the Romeoville murder suspect's fiancée, who also named a person of interest

“Ermalinda [Palomo] Nathaniel continued to persuade [Huey, Jr.] that a “mole” was planning to attack him,” the summary case report states, adding that Huey Jr. was informed by a message two days before the murders that “Zoraida [Bartolomei] was the 'mole' that was after him.”

“Ermalinda sent Nathaniel a message using the mobile messaging application Pinger,” the report said. “Nathaniel did not know that Ermalinda was the author, but instead believed that the source was from a Mexican drug cartel that he was convinced was connected to him.”

During the course of the messaging, Huey Jr. and Palomo, posing as a drug cartel figure, “began planning the murder of Zoraida.”

“They discuss[ed] the people living in the residence, including Zoraida, Albert and their two children, as well as the number and type of dogs in the house. Ermalinda tells Nathaniel to cause damage so the scene looks like a burglary committed by children. Ermalinda reassures Nathaniel by saying, “Many murders remain unsolved,” the report says.

Palomo drove Huey Jr. to the crime scene around 3:17 a.m. on Sept. 16, 2023, home surveillance footage later obtained by investigators showed.

“Phone records, toll road records, license plate recognition camera records, vehicle infotainment records and security videos all confirm a time frame and travel route from Nathaniel and Ermalinda's residence to Zoraida and Alberto's residence and then back,” investigators stated in their report.

One day after police discovered the murdered family, on September 18, 2023, Romeoville police separately located and interviewed Huey Jr. and Palomo.

“You wouldn't represent Nate at all?” An officer asks Palomo, whose response can be heard in the recorded interview: “No, he was here.” [at her home.]“

MORE COVERAGE: According to internal investigation files, the suspect in the Romeoville murder was “irrational and erratic.”

The body-worn camera footage shows how, when officers met Huey Jr. at work, they tried to convince him to cooperate and provide his phone for analysis, and also asked him to take a lie detector test .

“Would you ever be willing to take a lie detector test if necessary?” an officer asked Huey Jr.

“I guess,” Huey Jr. replied, but refused to give up his phone and promised to turn it in to the police later that day.

Both denied any involvement in the murders and without any solid evidence, Huey Jr. and Palomo were allowed to leave.

The two would eventually flee the city, and on September 20, 2023, Huey Jr. and Palomo were spotted in a Walmart parking lot in Catoosa, Oklahoma, now both solid suspects in the eyes of investigators, according to I team emerges.

READ: Romeoville murder suspect presumed dead after chase and shootout; The second person of interest also dies

After the couple left the store, Catoosa police waited in the parking lot and when they attempted to stop the couple, a police chase ensued that ended in a fiery highway crash.

The report states that Huey Jr. shot Palomo and then killed himself.

“This takes evil to a whole new level,” said Bill Kushner, ABC7's police affairs consultant and former suburban police chief, adding that he had never seen such a complicated and convoluted murder case.

“[Palomo] started keeping this based on the report [Huey, Jr.] loyal, in the face of his infidelity … and from that grew the story of the drug cartel and multiple pings or phone numbers and text messages,” Kushner said. “She really spun quite a web of deception.”

Early in the investigation, Palomo was described as a kidnapping victim who was being held against her will, and her family even filed a missing person's report, according to documents obtained by the I-Team.

The new records show that at least one family member of shooter Huey Jr. knew what happened.

Romeoville police said the day before Huey Jr. killed himself, he confessed to his own mother that he was the killer.

What the mother did with this information is not clear from the investigation files.

An attorney who once represented Huey Jr. and Palomo, John Paul Ivec, told the I-Team he “doesn't know who.” [Huey Jr.’s] Mother is and have no information about his conversation with her or what she knew.

Romeoville police declined to be interviewed Thursday, but in a written statement, Romeoville Police Chief Brant Hromadka said: “The tragic death of a young family, including two young children, will forever impact the surviving family and those who who investigated this case.”

“Nothing can prepare a person for such an incident and nothing can justify such a senseless act of violence,” Hromadka wrote. “While this case is closed, unfortunately the finality of this case does not provide closure for so many who continue to grieve.”