Red flags led to 2023 Romeoville family mass murder, planned by Nathaniel Huey, Jr.’s fiancee Emalinda Palomo, records show

CHICAGO (WLS) — Haunting questions arise after one of the Chicago metro area’s most disturbing mass murders in Romeoville: could it have been avoided and whether a family of four, including two young boys, might still be alive what if someone had alerted the police to numerous red flags?

Hundreds of police records obtained by the ABC7 I-Team show red flags in the months before the murders of Zoraida Bartolomei, Alberto Rolon and their two young sons, Adriel and Diego, in their Romeoville home in September 2023.

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Romeoville police released their latest investigative reports Thursday, revealing that a Streamwood couple, Nathaniel Huey, Jr. and his fiancee Ermalinda Palomo, were behind the murder.

As the I-Team first reported Thursday, Romeoville investigators determined that for years Palomo manipulated her fiancé Huey, Jr. into believing he was working with a drug cartel , and that Bartolomei’s mother was a “mole” who had to be killed, along with her family.

The investigation concluded that Palomo manipulated Huey, Jr. by creating fake personas to communicate with him, posing as a cartel member.

In reality, there was no cartel. Palomo had orchestrated the murders because Huey, Jr. had been romantically involved with Bartolomei, investigators found, and she wanted Bartolomei killed.

According to police records, Huey Jr. confessed to his mother that he committed the murders because “people were chasing him.”

The report states: “When asked why he killed the children, (Huey, Jr.)The person’s response was “because he thought children were better off dead than alive without parents.”

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Romeoville police did not grant the I-Team’s request for an on-camera interview about the investigation.

An attorney who formerly represented Huey, Jr. and Palomo declined to be interviewed for this story and said family members were not interested in speaking publicly.

LEARN MORE: New details emerge about Romeoville murder suspect fiancee who also named person of interest

The Romeoville investigation revealed numerous threats and warnings made to the family in the months leading up to the murders, which many people knew about but were never reported to police.

Messages sent via social media reveal that Palomo contacted Rolon on June 27, 2023, less than three months before the murders, to tell him that his wife was cheating on him with Palomo’s fiancé, Huey, Jr.

Palomo told Rolon, “I don’t think she believes my warnings and for the safety of your family, she really needs to be honest with you… (Huey, Jr.) has rifles and firearms that he carries with him. The mother of your children is putting them in danger and she knows it. »

Then, less than two weeks before the murders, investigators discovered that Rolon had received a text message saying: “This will be the last time I say about this Alberto, this stupid girl will be the reason you don’t have a children.”

MORE COVERAGE: Romeoville murder suspect was ‘irrational and irregular’ according to internal investigative files

Despite numerous red flags, police records do not indicate that the family ever reported receiving death threats to authorities.

Bartolomei had also confided in a co-worker about the threats her husband had received, and this co-worker had apparently not reported anything to authorities before the murders.

The colleague said that a few months before the murders, “(Bartolomei) had confided in him and told him that she was receiving threats and harassment via text messages from different phone numbers… Zoraida had told him that she was afraid.

READ: Romeoville murder suspect reportedly dead after chase, shootout; 2nd person of interest also dies