An Illinois man was manipulated by his girlfriend into killing the Romeoville family of four, police say

An Illinois woman manipulated her cheating boyfriend into believing he was being threatened by violent drug smugglers, leading to him slaughtering a family of four before killing that tech-savvy friend and himself, police said Thursday.

Investigators in the Chicago suburb of Romeoville have been working for nearly a year to find out why Nathaniel Huey Jr., a 31-year-old from Streamwood, killed Zoraida Bartolomei, Alberto Rolon, their two young boys and three dogs on September 17 last year.

Huey and his longtime girlfriend Ermalinda Palomo were spotted days later in Oklahoma. A police pursuit ended with Huey gunning down Palomo before fatally shooting himself.

Palomo's relatives initially feared she had been kidnapped against her will by Huey, but police now believe she was the mastermind of a twisted plot to eliminate a romantic rival.

“The tragic deaths of a young family, including two young children, will forever impact the surviving family and those who investigated this case,” Romeoville Police Chief Brant Hromadka said in a statement.

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

Palomo, 50, knew that Huey, 32, was having an affair with Bartolomei for about a year before the murders, according to police, which motivated her to launch a complicated online conspiracy.

She created fake phone numbers and online accounts to contact Huey and make him believe he was in the crosshairs of a Mexican drug cartel, police said.

Huey “fully believed in the information Ermalinda had given him, but did not know that Ermalinda was the person he was communicating with,” wrote Romeoville police Detective Daniel Zakula.

“Ermalinda also convinced Nathaniel that a 'mole' was planning to attack him. The “mole” was not immediately identified, which made Nathanial paranoid about who it could be.”

Then, on September 14, three days before the murders, Huey was told by Palomo's online persona that “Zoraida was a 'mole' that was targeting him.”

Palomo then played an active role in planning the family's murder, police said.

“At this time, Nathaniel and Ermalinda (who played a character) began planning the murder of Zoraida,” Zakula wrote. “They examined Zoraida's house to determine the layout of it. They scouted the neighborhood to find cameras, planned how to get in and out of the house, and learned that the house behind Zoraida's was vacant.”

According to police, Huey committed the murders while communicating with Palomo via radio. Huey was also in contact with “Ermalinda's character 'Turtle' that day to discuss the execution of her operation to assassinate Zoraida.”

The murders of Rolon, 38, Bartolomei, 32, and their two boys, 7 and 9, shocked the community southwest of Chicago.

But even before the full extent of the twisted conspiracy was revealed Thursday, police at the time said they knew the quadruple murder was not a random crime and that there was “a connection between our suspect and the victims and a possible motive.” “ give.

Zakula said he and his partner, Will/Grundy Major Crimes Task Force Detective Jeff German, presented their findings to supervisors, prosecutors and village officials.

“I conclude, without objection from any participant, that Nathaniel and Ermalinda are solely responsible for the murders,” Zakula wrote. “Both perpetrators have now died. Case closed.”

A family attorney representing Palomo's relatives could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.