EP. 263 - ILLINOIS: The Catfish Cartel Family Murders

Pan's Labyrinth is in theaters right now. Celebrate the 20th anniversary of Guillermo del Toro's fantasy masterpiece with a brand new 4K restoration or an all-new 3D conversion. Get tickets now to experience Pan's Labyrinth like never before. Warning! The following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects. Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned. So often true crime stories stem from emotions we're all familiar with. Jealousy, anger, fear, love, but it's the extent people are willing to go for these emotions and these stories we cover that make them an anomaly. Many of us have done stupid things for love and looked back embarrassed by the choices we've made. But there are people out there that are willing to do anything for love. In today's story, it's about just that. A person not only willing but eager to do the unthinkable all under the guise of unconditional love. So this is the story of the Bartolomei We're Loan family. I'm Courtney Browen and I'm Colin Browen and you're listening to Murder in America. (upbeat music) (soft music) - Some cases that we cover have new pieces of information everywhere we look. Every newspaper article, every interview, every quote opens up a brand new wormhole of information. People seem to come out of the woodwork to talk about the perpetrator, their thoughts on them, and who they were deep down. But today's case wasn't one of those. In fact, in a lot of ways, the perpetrator that we're talking about today is a mystery, from the beginning until the very end. We know that Nathaniel Coleman, Huey, Jr. was born in 1991 in Illinois, but everything after his birth comes in snapshots. Not in family photos or accolades or fond retellings by people who loved him, but in arrest records and crime blips in the local newspapers. He grew up in St. Charles, a suburb of Chicago, where he very quickly began to show his rebellious streak. In 2008, when he was just 16 years old, he was arrested for disorderly conduct. After that came not one, but two arrests for underage drinking. And evidently, he didn't learn his lesson. Because in 2011, when he was 19, he was arrested for driving under the influence, not far from his home. The pattern of destructive behavior that had followed him from his early teens only grew stronger the moment he became a legal adult. Details are scarce, but soon after the DUI, he was charged with criminal trespass at an apartment complex in St. Charles, where he was reportedly harassing a woman who had an order of protection against him. Nearly every year of his teens and early 20s, Nathaniel was racking up new charges or facing lawsuits. In 2014, he was evicted from his apartment and forced to go to court due to severe damages he inflicted on the property. In 2015, he was charged with battery. Every single arrest paints a picture of a man who constantly pushed boundaries and who felt time and time again that the limits didn't apply to him. Perhaps that's exactly why Nathaniel began looking at careers that would allow him to ignore boundaries entirely all while enforcing them for others. Sometime in his late 20s, he began his own company, named Black Bear Security, and we use the term company loosely here. According to state records, Black Bear Security was never licensed by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professions Regulation. Regardless, Nathaniel took his job incredibly seriously on his business Facebook page. He described the services offered as, quote, armed security guards, unarmed security guards, retail security, event security, residential security, private security, and security consulting services. Now for the most part, he was contracted by local bars, one in Barlett, Illinois, and one in Dundee called the Milk Pail. When he wasn't working at those bars or private events, he was posting frequent photos on his business page of himself and body armor, suited up with guns and ammunition. One picture showed a pistol, magazine, and knife, captioned, quote, "I can and I will." Some believed that Nathaniel took his job a little too seriously. There were claims that he could be irrational and erratic and that he was obsessed with firearms, which is a problem because Nathaniel shouldn't have had weapons in the first place. Because of the numerous charges he amassed throughout his teens and 20s, he legally wasn't allowed to own any firearms. And yet, he posted selfies constantly on Facebook, flashing not just guns, but in one case, a gun with a silencer, which is illegal in his home state of Illinois. Once again, Nathaniel proved that he didn't feel the rules applied to him. - And that belief seemed to carry over into Nathaniel's relationships as well. By the time he started Black Bear Security in 2021, he was five years deep into a relationship with a woman named Armelinda Palamo. The two lived 40 miles northwest of downtown Chicago in a quiet suburb called Streamwood, along with Irmelinda's adult daughter from a previous relationship. Both Nathaniel and Irmelinda had children from past relationships, though according to reports, Nathaniel hadn't seen his children in several years. And in Irmelinda's case, there weren't just kids in the picture, but grandkids. You see, she was 19 years older than Nathaniel when the two began dating in 2016. She had previously been married and raised five kids with her ex-husband who told NBC she was a loving mother. She tried to be there for her kids as much as she could. When her kids went on to have kids of her own, she took on the role of grandmother like a fish to water and was viewed as the center point of the entire family. The Chicago sun times described her as a loving mother, sister, daughter, and the most loving grandmother her grandchildren could have. Because of her tight-knit relationship with her family, many of them were very wary of Nathaniel at first. The fact that he was nearly two decades younger and had a criminal record didn't necessarily help either. Irmelinda's daughter, who lived with the couple, told NBC, "When I first met him, he wasn't too bad of a guy, which is an exactly a glowing review. And this time went on, those reviews got even worse." In 2018, two years after they began dating, Irmelinda and Nathaniel got engaged. But wedding bells weren't exactly on the horizon. There were never any concrete plans for a wedding. And though we aren't certain how Irmelinda felt about that, her family was outspoken. They would tell Irmelinda that she deserved more stability and more respect from her partner. Irmelinda had rebuilt her life after a divorce. She raised five children on her own, and she kept her life on track. Meanwhile, Nathaniel had shuffled from job to job, dodging court dates, and going in and out of prison. All the while, Irmelinda was left wondering if Nathaniel loved her at all. For several years, she watched other women's name pop up on Nathaniel's phone late into the night. The other night, she would wake up to find his side of the bed cold and empty. She knew early on that he was having affairs. Here she is talking to investigators about his history of stepping out with other women, including having a child with another woman soon after their relationship began. "When's the last time that he had an affair?" "So I know it's not the first time." "No, it's not." "Okay." "But it's the last time you knew he had an affair." "When we first started dating." "2015?" "15 to maybe 17." "You know what? His son was born." And he said, "I'm not having any more affairs. I'm not cheating on you." "Stupidly?" "Mm-hmm." "I know if he stopped." "No, I don't know." "Okay, so the last time you--" "Go home. Okay." "So then I had a party at my house, and I fell asleep, and apparently he said someone kissed him, so I don't know, maybe it was 2019." "Okay." "And he said, "No, she kissed me, and that was it. Come on." "We're all drunk." "You know him better than we do, so." "Anyways, he said that he--" "He said that he is no longer going to do that." In spite of Nathaniel's affairs, He and Armylinda continued their relationship. and they built a life together. By 2021, he was working at his company, Black Bear Security, part time. He was also working as a contractor in the warehouse of a nearby company, a Vante engineering. Now, Irmelinda's children and grandchildren came and went from their home on a near daily basis. And though Irmelinda and Nathaniel mostly kept to themselves, their neighbors were fond of them. They viewed them as tidy, respectful, and family-oriented, telling CBS News, quote, "They were sweet. The entire family was amazing." And while on the outside, the family looked healthy and happy. Internally, things were beginning to crumble more than ever before. For Irmelinda, Nathaniel's affairs and refusal to set a concrete wedding date were one thing. But heading into 2023, he almost seemed to be a different person. Irmelinda's daughter, Kristiana Espinoza, told NBC that suddenly, Nathaniel became more controlling and reclusive. She said, quote, "He was shutting us all out, including my mom. He started becoming suspicious, keeping to himself, staying in the garage. He started not being himself, pushing us all away, even my mom," end quote. It was strange because his paranoia seemed to come out of nowhere. And it didn't seem to be aimed at one person in particular, despite living in streamwood, a relatively safe neighborhood. Nathaniel put security cameras all over their home, floodlights, and multi-lock systems on all the doors. Now from the outside, you'd think he was just being percautious. But in the summer of 2023, he started telling everyone that people were watching him, tracking his every move. A former co-worker of his, who remained anonymous in the media, disclosed that he had been using cocaine. And in his words, quote, "a lot of it." It seemed as if that alleged cocaine use was only exacerbating the paranoia he was already feeling. And heading into the tail end of 2023, he didn't trust the people around him, not his friends, not his family, not even Irmelenda. But there was one person he trusted, 32-year-old Zorida Bartolome. Zorida Gabrielle Zori Bartolome was born in Puerto Rico. Growing up there, she was described as bright and ambitious. The type of woman who worked extremely hard to provide for herself and eventually her family. When she was just a teenager, she laid eyes on Alberto Tito Rolome and knew that he was the one. He was described by loved ones as strong, quiet, and wise. The kind of man you could depend on, no matter the hour, no matter the situation. He had dreams just like she did. Dreams to move to the mainland, raise a big family, and build a life they could be proud of. So, in the 2010s, the newly married couple made the move to Illinois, where they soon welcomed two boys into the world. Adriel Noah Rolome in 2014 and Diego Isaac Rolome, just two years later. They wanted to give their children the lives they hadn't had growing up. So, they both worked as hard as they could to claw their way out of the $29,000 worth of student loan debt and build a stable, prosperous life for the boys. To do that, Alberto worked at Euclid Beverage in North Aurora, whereas co-workers called him a great employee who never missed a day of work. One of the perks of working for a beer and wine distributor was seemingly endless free samples and product vouchers, but Alberto never used his. The family didn't drink alcohol, so he would instead pass the samples along to extended family and friends. Meanwhile, Zeraito worked in quality control at Avanti Engineering, the same business where Nathaniel Huey was a contract worker. Now, she was known by her co-workers to be incredibly dedicated, and by early 2023, that hard work paid off. In April, Zeraito and Alberto were finally able to purchase a home of their own. They relocated to the Hampton Park neighborhood in Romeoville, and purchased a modest blue home at 512 Concord Avenue. It was their first owned home, and the family was able to plant roots in a place that felt safe. Their two energetic sons had a yard to play in for the very first time and a whole neighborhood to explore with other kids on the street. It felt like the picture perfect American dream. They even had three dogs who they loved dearly. Alberto, Zeraito, and their children, Adriel and Diego were welcomed in the Hampton Park neighborhood with open arms. Neighbor Lynn Phillips told The New York Post, "They would be outside working in their yard, and we'd wave high and buy that kind of thing." Another neighbor, Carol Love, added, "They were nice people. They didn't bother anybody." Neighbors also watched the couple pass each other like ships in the night. Zeraito worked during the day, and Alberto worked the night shift. It was hard, but for them, it meant something important. Their kids would always, always have one of them home. For Zeraito and Alberto, it was worth the conflicting schedules and the stress that came along with, at times, having to operate like a single parent. Yet, Zeraito juggled working full-time and being a wife and mother with ease. She was extremely dedicated not only to her career, but also her family. She loved family gatherings and anything that involved her children. Those closest to her said that she always appeared happy and fulfilled. She made it all look easy, but behind closed doors, it was anything but. Because, for years, Alberto and Zeraito's marriage had been crumbling. Alberto confided in his brother, that Zeraito had been unfaithful multiple times. He made it clear that the only reason he was staying in the marriage with her was because of their sons. He didn't want a divorce. He didn't want every other weekend or alternating days. He wanted to come home from working the night shift and spend time with his children every single morning. And all the while, Zeraito was at work, looking elsewhere for what was lacking in her relationship. And sometime in the spring of 2023, she found that, in 32-year-old Nathaniel Huey, Jr. The relationship had evolved over time, and the beginning, it was just work conversations and inside jokes. But soon enough, it turned into longer conversations, late-night text messages, phone calls, and then finally, meeting up outside of business hours. By the summer of 2023, what started as flirting had unraveled into a full-blown passionate affair. According to Zeraito's sister, she often called Nathaniel her soulmate. She compared her relationship with him to Romeo and Juliet. They were star-crossed lovers, desperate to be together, and they kept reminders of one another everywhere they went. Nathaniel kept post-it notes at his workstation, not from his fiancee or Melinda, but from Zeraito. They read things like, quote, "You mean so much to me. I don't think you understand how much I actually love you." Several other notes talked about them running away together, leaving their current partners behind to start a brand new life with each other. But the two never got a chance. Because on September 17, 2023, their relationship came to a sudden, unexpected end. It was 6 p.m. and at Euclid Beverage, Alberto Rolone was nowhere to be seen for his scheduled shift. His coworker and supervisor knew immediately that something wasn't right. For his several years of employment, Alberto had never missed a single day. Not for sickness, not for family problems, not for anything. The idea that he would no-call no-show was completely incomprehensible to everyone at his job. Alberto's boss called him, but got nothing but his answering machine. Worried, he then called Alberto's emergency contact. Quickly, word got back to Zeraito's relatives in Puerto Rico that Alberto hadn't shown up to work, and Alarmbell's rang loud and clear. Zeraito was usually in constant contact with her mom, sending pictures of the boys, calling on her way to work, and just checking in. But since the night of September 16, her mother hadn't heard a word from her. With news that Alberto hadn't shown up to work, she started to panic. So she did the reasonable thing. She contacted Romeoville Police Department and requested a wellness check on her daughter, son-in-law, and two beautiful grandsons. Here's that call. I'm calling him for my daughter, so right now, Alberto Lomé, she leaves (bleep) on Puerto Avenue, Romeoville, Illinois, and we haven't heard from her or her husband or her children in the whole day. No answering the phone if somebody can go by the house and check them, because the husband, they call from his work that he didn't show up to work, and he never, you know, he's always at work. Okay, give me one second. Did you left here for your daughter? Oh, thanks for the day I haven't heard from her. But when you left, you left on your her. Yeah, last night. Last night? Okay. Okay, I'm going to send officers over to check on her, and somebody will give you a call back. Okay? Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Oh, no problem. That's what we're here for. Around 8.43 p.m., Romeoville police officers arrived at the Bartolomei Rolone House at 5.12 Concorde Avenue. Right off the bat, things didn't look right. Two cars sat in the driveway, despite it being almost 9 p.m., there were very few lights on in the home. It was quiet, dark. An officer made his way to the front door and knocked. But he only heard echoes and returned. There were no footsteps, no movement beyond the door, just silence. He turned on his flashlight and peered in through the front windows to the side of the door, scanning the dark room for any signs of life or the opposite. And what he saw told him it was going to be a long, sad night. television flickered to an empty room, having been knocked off the stand onto the floor beside it. The coffee table had also been knocked over. Hey, I got a TV knocked over and a coffee table knocked over. Keep shining. It's like you've got to see a little bit better. No, nothing in this room. In the backyard, officers entered a screened in porch through an unlocked door, as they made their way through the porch to the door leading into the home, their hearts dropped. Beside the door were two windows, both of which had screens that had been sliced open from the outside. They had known something wasn't right from the get-go, but this confirmed it. As they looked through the windows, flashlights lighting up the dark room. They realized just how wrong the scene in front of them was. Here is the moment officer saw what laid inside the kitchen. Oh god, dogs are dead. Two dead dogs. On the floor, in the beam of their flashlights, officers illuminated the bodies of two of the family's dogs. Dead, pools of blood surrounded them and flecked the walls. Whatever had happened, it had been incredibly violent. And they still didn't know if the family had suffered a similar fate. On top of that, officers had no idea if there was still a threat inside the house. They rushed back to their patrol cars and grabbed more gear, guns and shields to safely enter the residence. One of the officers noted that he didn't want to wait for a ramming instrument. They were going to force entry without one. With the door down, officers swarmed the residence, announcing their presence and cautiously stepping through, guns drawn, as they called out to make contact with anyone inside. All right. Hold it. Hold it. I got you. Forty-three. I have one. Forty-two body. What have you got? What are you going to do over there? Nothing's working. All right. Cool. Right there. Right there. All right. All right, here we go. All right. Mail. What do you see? We got a mail. We got a lot of indoors. We're going to go with this. In the hallway, officers discovered the body of 38-year-old Alberto Rolón. He was lying in a pool of blood. He had been shot at close range. And just beyond him was a bedroom door that appeared to have been kicked in. The officer crept towards the bedroom, unsure of what he would find on the other side. As they entered, it came into full focus. 32-year-old Zerita lay on the floor, hands covering her face, surrounded by her own blood, heartbreakingly, her sons, nine-year-old Adrienne, and seven-year-old Diego, both laid on the bed, lifeless. And near their feet was the body of the third and final dog. No one in the home had been spared. Every single family member was killed. There's a level of carnage that was hard to comprehend, an entire family erased in an instant. And whoever had done it had left a chaotic scene behind. Furniture had been tossed. And strangely enough, there were profanities spray painted on the wall in black ink. The killer had evidently tried to write another swear word on the wall, but their paint ran out on the letter F. And if it appeared as if after that, they tossed the can on the floor. Alongside it, there were over a dozen spent nine-millimeter shell casings. It was clear that the family's final moments had been in a cloud of gunfire. Police estimated that between everyone, the family had been shot a combined 20 times. It was beyond all understanding. And yet, police had to break the news to the public quickly, because if they didn't, panic wouldn't sue in the quiet community. Some members of the deceased would find out in the worst way imaginable. Police called those they could, mainly from Zeraita's side. Her brother, who lived nearby, raced to the scene to speak with officers. His devastation was clear. His sister had not only been his only sibling, but one of his closest friends. And now she, her husband, and his nephews, they were gone. But with the news out to the family, Romeoville police quickly called a news conference. On Sunday, September 17th, at approximately 8.43 p.m., the Romeoville police department was required to request it to conduct a well-being check on the 500-blocked concourse. A member of the family did not show up for work at 6 a.m. on the morning of Sunday, September 17th, and did not respond to phone calls throughout the day, resulting in family members becoming concerned. Upon arrival, officers discovered four deceased individuals with gunshot wounds. The deceased have been identified as Roberto Rolone, and Zeroev Zeraita, Bartolome, and two children. Military investigation leads police to believe this happened between 9 p.m. on Saturday and 5 a.m. on Sunday morning. The investigation is still in its early stages due to the sensitivity of the case, and to maintain the integrity of the investigation, we are not releasing further details. Anyone with information should contact the Romeoville police department at 815-886-7219. There will be no further press conferences today. All updates will be made via news releases. As yellow crime scene tape wrapped around the home that was once filled with love in the sound of children laughing and playing, neighbors stood on the sidewalks stunned. The family had only lived there for five months. It had been their dream house. It had a yard for their dogs and kids, friends up and down the street for their boys. It was their slice of the American dream. Yet inside of it, they were gunned down, and no one saw a thing. Neighbors who were interviewed all said the same thing. No one even heard anything that night. No screams, no gunshots, which meant it was likely that whoever was responsible had used a silencer. But who would even want to harm the family was a complete mystery. Neither Zeraita nor Alberto had any criminal history. They didn't own any weapons or have any enemies. And the fact that there was nothing of value missing in the home, despite the staging of the scene, told police that murdering the family had been the goal. Nothing else. Romeoville police chief Chris Byrne updated the public on what they knew, but believing there was no threat to anyone else, they did not issue a shelter in place order. Alumni investigation leads police to believe this happened between 9 p.m. on Saturday and 5 p.m. on Sunday morning. We are not asking anybody to shelter in place. We are not actively looking for anybody in the area. But we do always ask our residents to have a good sense of self-awareness and to report anything that they might see as suspicious. In front of the Rolone Bartolome House on Concord Avenue, the small memorial appeared, balloons, teddy bears, and candles. A GoFundMe was created to help with the funeral costs and over $40,000 was raised. The tragedy hit the community hard because it happened in a safe, family-friendly neighborhood where violent crime was almost nonexistent. One neighbor admitted, "It's definitely made me have a whole new perspective on trust on the people I surround myself with. I have two children, a 12-year-old and a four-year-old, so every day my daughter walks to school I'm in fear, and it's kind of just put more fear into my head now." After the murders, Adriel and Diego's school, RC Hill Elementary School, issued a statement saying, "It is with deep sadness that we inform you about a recent loss to our VVSD school community. Today, on September 18, 2023, we were informed that two of our RC Hill Elementary School students tragically lost their lives in a senseless act of gun violence at their residents in Romeoville. This violent incident and loss are sure to raise many emotions, concerns, and questions for our entire school community. We are deeply saddened by this tragedy, and we'll do everything we can to support your child, your family, and the safety of our school community." Romeoville Mayor John D. Nook also issued a statement. "It's Mayor John Nook of the village of Romeoville. Our entire community is grieving with the family over this tragic incident. It is always heartbreaking whenever there is a loss of life, but when children are involved, it's much more painful. I have directed our social services staff to make themselves available to our community to help begin the healing process. It is important that we conduct a thorough investigation." That investigation began with a look in two Zerida and Alberto's cell phones, which were discovered alongside their bodies. It was in Zerida's cell phone that police found their first lead because there were endless call logs and romantic texts from this one specific number, a number belonging to Nathaniel Huey Jr. And that's when police discovered that Zerida had been having an affair. When they interviewed Zerida's co-workers, they confirmed that affair. It was no secret in her office. The only thing that was a secret was Nathaniel's criminal past. And when police looked at his history, including the battery charges, they had even more reason to suspect him of the murders. So from there, they set out to speak with him immediately around 1 p.m. on September 18th, the day after the bodies were discovered. Nathaniel was located at his job and taken to a private room for questioning. for questioning. He never denied it. his affair with Zorida. In fact, he admitted that their relationship was special. He even referred to her as an angel. At one point, he mentioned that their intentions were to "move forward" with their relationship, which four investigators rang alarm bells. Because a man moving forward with a married woman can only happen a few ways. Here are police questioning him about what his vision of the future was with Zorida. When you say you guys were going to move forward, so you guys are actually looking for a place together or something. Yeah, I was going this slow. It's kind of like, there is only one kind of thing. So yeah, you know, there's like, I don't want to explain it. No, I get it. I don't want to explain it better. Please ask Nathaniel if they were going to find any evidence of problems in his relationship with Zorida, but he remained firm, stating that the two never had any issues. When police pushed him, stating that they were going to look through all their messages, even deleted ones, he didn't seem concerned. He reaffirmed what he had stated earlier. The two never fought. The only thing police were going to find were lots of lovey-dovey messages. However, when police asked for consent to search his phone, so they wouldn't have to get a search warrant, Nathaniel's confidence seemed to wane. He pushed back. Here are the police confronting him. On our side of it, we can get a search warrant, you know, to go through phone and just take a little longer. But the fastest way would be consent, pull it off and get your phone back. Then it would be too. And again, I explained to you earlier. I'm trying to eliminate you. I mean, we have a deceased girl and her last flanger boyfriend or whatever you. And I'm sure that, you know, if you're an outsider looking in, who's your suspect? I mean, and so I'd like to eliminate that. I'd like to say, well, no, wait, wait. We looked through stuff. He didn't have nothing to do with it. We're done with it. You're pretty suspected of your head. I mean, I'm not joking with you. Anytime somebody dies, you look at the husband, the boyfriend, if it's a girl, if it's a guy, you look at his wife and any kind of lovers he had, and we look, that's what we look at. We start there. And then this person was at work. We eliminate that. This person was, you know, we went through the phone. There's nothing between those two, no threats. No, I mean, you're telling us there's no threats. But I can't go to, you know, to our bosses. I can't go to a station and say, no, I verified it. There's no threats. I have to, they were like, I verified and say, no, I went through the phone. There's no threats. There were, there seemed to be good together. There was no threats. There was no animosity between the two of them. There was no fighting. There was none of that stuff. Oh, just, just going to go for you. I don't, I don't, I don't give up my phone. I'm saying this. At the end there, Nathaniel rounds up his decision by saying, just go on the computer. I don't want to give up my phone. You know what I'm saying? Eventually, when faced with the reality that police can and would get a warrant to search his phone, Nathaniel agreed to drop it off after he finished his shift at work. But to conclude the first interrogation, please hit Nathaniel with a favorite line of every law enforcement officer. That's good. I'm sure you would like to see this get solved just like us, you know what I mean? Yeah, I guess. I'm pretty familiar with this. I don't, I don't, I guess, I don't know against my wife. It's just a different, a different connection with someone. You know what I mean? It, it, it, it, it is probably really strong, you know what I'm saying? Yes, when you're ready to better off your work, you know, work in and keep your mind up with them sitting at home and dealing with, you know, just sitting there alone and with her thinking about this. So yeah, thanks Nathaniel may have thought that it was the end of it, but police were far from done with him. As the hours ticked on, they contacted him again and again and eventually return that very same day, September 18th, asking for a DNA sample and for permission to search his vehicle. When faced with that, Nathaniel wasn't happy to say the least. Years equipped after police asked to search his vehicle, and he refused consent. I do get it, but like, from my side now, like, now you guys are probably going to wait three or four times now. I understand how it feels that we're accusing you, but again, we're not doing that. We literally have to check our list for everything that we got to cover before we leave here. You know that? Yeah. It's far. So we drove for more to build it here. And I don't want to, when I get back there and I tell my bosses, oh, people, you know, we asked them for this. We did this. That's why we're back in here again, because my boss called. Did you ask for this, you know, like, if, look, if I can, I, like, clean my cars, one shit, you know what I'm saying, right? Yes. So, yeah. So, no, but I mean, we were, we were, so the point being, is that when I go back there, again, and my boss goes, okay, so would you, you guys check his car and say, no, he said, no, well, you're just going way up the chart of who they're looking for, because why, if you didn't have the wrong, why would you be hesitant? I know, you know, I know I don't want to be able to run my car, but I, if I didn't do nothing wrong, I'd rather have that later on as defensive. I'm accused of something like that. I clock around to police. I'll say that. I want you guys like in my car, but I would just like to have some fucking, like, some legal evidence. And they just stand outside and watch us do this. So, everything is out of your mind, or have to, just, you know, and shit don't come in the field. You're not the right thing. Yeah, if you wanted to, but I mean, we're worried about it. I don't think so. So, like, it's just, yeah, I would rather, I would, that, that's just the route that I would rather go with. I don't mean any disrespect, I promise you that, I'm just saying, like, I think it's just better if, at this point, I speak to the way, this is crazy. Yeah, I get you. With no other options, but their suspicion at an all-time high, investigators worked to secure a search warrant for Nathaniel's cell phone data and access to his vehicle. While they waited for the warrant to be issued, they began questioning those close to Nathaniel, and with each round of questioning, they came back with more and more damning information. It turned out, Nathaniel had called in sick on September 14th and 15th, the two days before the murders. He also called in sick the day of the murders, September 16th, and the day after September 17th, the day that the police were questioning him, September 18th, was actually his first day back at work. And that very same day, following all these revelations, several officers were instructed to keep surveillance on him. When he left work, they followed him, hoping that he would drive to the Romeoville Police Department to hand over a cell phone like he had promised. Instead, when he realized he was being tailed, he pulled over and asked to speak with the officer following him. When the officer explained why he was following him, Nathaniel responded that he was just going home to eat before he surrendered his phone to the station. "I think he was under the impression that you're going to do it right after you get off the work. I don't know what you guys just discussed, but may want to let him know that you're going to go home and eat, and then you're going to meet with him. Do you have his work phone number? It's on the card. Give him a bus. Let him know." While police waited for Nathaniel to surrender his phone, they continued to dig further into Alberto and Zeraita's phone records, and what they uncovered went even deeper than an affair. Months before the murders, Zeraita was getting flooded with texts from unknown numbers, warning her to stay away from Nathaniel because he was dangerous. The texts allege that he carried weapons everywhere he went, and that he was sleeping with multiple women. Now whether Zeraita acknowledged these messages, we don't know, but soon the messages started going not just to her, but her husband as well. In June of 2023, Alberto got a flurry of messages from an unknown number, informing him that Zeraita was cheating on him, and the messages came with a threat. One, read this, "I don't believe she believes my warnings, and for the safety of your family she really needs to be honest with you. Nathaniel has rifles and guns he carries with him. The mother of your children is putting them in danger, and she knows this." The texts from the unknown number came in rapid succession, claiming that Nathaniel was a street gang member who had connections to a Mexican cartel. The texts also stated that Zeraita knew all about it, but still refused to leave him, thus putting her family in danger. Other messages read, "He carries a gun with him. Surely she can find another black band to entertain. Your wife did not care about the warning to protect the children." Then in September of 2023, came the last text, "It read this, "This will be the last I say of this, Alberto. This stupid girl will be the reason you have no children. Good luck to them because they have a mother that does not care, and this stupid black man will be next, then the world will be a better place." And now for a brief ad break. For investigators, the text added a brand new layer to the case. Was any of it true? Had Nathaniel been in a bad crowd or wrapping himself up in something dangerous? For perhaps had the text come from Nathaniel's fiance, Irmelinda, or even someone she had put up to it, had Irmelinda found out about the affair and tried to scare off Serrida? To get to the truth, officers went to her and Nathaniel's home, around 6.30 pm on September 18th, not long after Nathaniel came home from work. When they knocked on the door, Irmelinda emerged. Where is the body cam footage of that interaction? It's hard to make that out, but there, Irmelinda responds, "Who murdered someone?" In response, detectives tell her, "We have in our possession some phones, and in those phones we're doing what it's called a phone dump, so what happens is if anybody's talking on a text app that you can download, for example, a text now, we can retrieve those messages. We have retrieved those messages, alright, we've read them, but pretty clear that somebody's absent at the victim, okay, is there any way that these text messages are going to come back to you, or your name, or your phone, or anything associated with that?" Irmelinda shook her head, "No," when detectives asked if her name was going to come back to this suspicious text messages, related to the murder, and looking confused. She agreed to speak with the detectives, but she stated she didn't feel comfortable doing it outside her home, because Nathaniel was just beyond the front door, so detectives walked Irmelinda to their car and drove down the street, and once away from Nathaniel, Irmelinda crumbled. "Why are you scared of him?" "Oh, I'm not scared of him." "Okay. Why are you scared right now?" "Because when I called him, because I was scared, I didn't know where he was. He said, "Someone's following me, so I called, and I called." And then I heard him say, "Why, you followed me, do you want to switch the car?" And then someone said to him, "There are messages from you, and it's because her husband followed all you were having in a fair, and I didn't know that." "You didn't know what?" "Then it was having in a fair." Irmelinda told police that she had no idea he was having another affair until she overheard him confront the police officer on his way home. Now, like we mentioned, there had been plenty of affairs at the beginning of their relationship, but according to her, she truly believed that they were in the past. She admitted it had been hard to trust Nathaniel, and that he had a flirty personality, but she really hoped his cheating ways were behind them. "I'm 15 to maybe 17." "We believe he's had multiple many affairs while you two went together." "I was hoping that they were done, because I was hoping to trust because you have them." "When you find out about them, what happens to you guys going to know our humans, do you find out the women that he's having a affair with?" "No. How what?" "I don't know. Leave your man alone kind of thing." "No. I'm going to put you all through that." "I'm 50 years old. There's no reason for you to have, like, no. Quite honestly, it's not the female swap. It's this fault." "Right." "So, no. No." "I'm going to give you a few names. All right. You tell me if you ever heard these things before." "Sure." "Sorayda Bartolonezi." "I was in his car and on his thing, that name came up. I said, "Who is that? It's for in the morning." "When was that?" "No." "I don't know." "Is that this week?" "Oh, no. Why?" "Okay. So, what did he say that this? Who was this person?" "He said, "Nobody. It's a false call." "It's something like that." "And then." "But if it's safe in his contacts." "I say to him." "But." "You know. I'm just not going to fight with him quite honestly. Because fighting with him, I feel like he just sits there and he'll manipulate me. And I'm not." "So, when we ask your husband if you knew this person, so right then, he said, "I don't know, I don't know." "Why would he be lying to us?" "I don't know." "I don't know." "Should I believe him?" "I don't know. He's on time, I told him." "What are you going to tell him about you?" Two detectives, Irma Linda didn't seem like a killer, or like she knew anything about the murders. And a lot of ways she seemed beaten down, dejected. After years of facing her fiancee's affairs with no wedding insight, the fight seemed to be gone out of her. She told police that she knew nothing and that the night of the murders, September 15th, into the 16th, Nathaniel was home, fast asleep. Now, she did admit that the two slept in different areas of the house. But she was adamant that she would have heard him if he had left that night. Ultimately, the police were leaving the interaction with an even more unclear picture of Irma Linda's involvement. If any, but they did have one more question they wanted to ask her. Do you think he's capable of taking someone's life? "No, I'm sorry. I know." "How sure are you about that?" "You know, Nate has a lot of things, but what he tries to do is to calm people down and stop over fighting. So, for him to just actually fight with someone, no." Irma Linda parted ways with the police soon after around 7.15 pm. They had hoped they'd get something concrete from her, information about her husband's criminal activity, her anger about his affair, or her knowledge about Zerida. Instead, they were left wondering if Irma Linda was involved, or if she was a victim who was making poor choices to protect her fiance. Because, in between all the fact and fiction police couldn't make out, there were some obvious lies. During the interrogation in the car, Irma Linda went so far as to say that her husband didn't own any guns, which, looking at his Facebook profile, was an obvious lie. And, not long after police questioned Irma Linda, they got eyes on his weapons for the very first time. Because that night, when Nathaniel thought police had left, he got in his car and left his home in Streamwood. But, he wasn't going to the Romeoville police department to drop off his phone like he claimed. He was driving to his workplace, the place where he had met Zerida, of anti-engineering. Around that same time, one of his former colleagues at his security business, a man who was remained unnamed, received a call from Irma Linda. And, as soon as he answered, he heard her sobbing on the other end. The colleague later described her as frantic and terrified. He couldn't make out a lot of what she was saying, but one thing was clear. She wanted him to meet Nathaniel at Avanti and take something from him. The colleague agreed. He later told police that he didn't do it for Nathaniel. It was for Irma Linda. Irma Linda had always been good to him. Hearing her that scared for whatever reason had broken him. So, he drove to the parking lot and parked alongside Nathaniel. There, Nathaniel set a black duffel bag in his former colleague's trunk. He thought he was being sneaky. But, in reality, police were watching the entire exchange. When they later looked inside the bag, they discovered an arsenal of weapons. 11 rounds of 45 APC ammunition, three-glock magazines, two rifles, an AR-15, two body armor plates, gloves, a knife, and zip ties. Surprisingly, however, the weapon used in the murder of Zerida, Alberto, and their two young sons wasn't in the bag. But, the fact that Nathaniel was getting rid of weapons told police he knew what was happening. The walls were closing in on him, and they were closing fast. After passing the bag of weapons off to his colleague, late into the night on September 18th, Nathaniel called his mother. He begged her to meet him at a local target to talk. And hearing the pain and panic in her son's voice, his mom didn't hesitate to go meet him. When she pulled up alongside him, he got into the passenger seat of her car. It was dark, silent. For a brief moment, it was just a mother and son. Nathaniel began to cry, and his mother comforted him. Nathaniel had done a million times before. But this time, it was different. Because her son told her something that his every parent's worst nightmare. Quote, "Mom, I killed those people." Under fluorescent lights in a target parking lot, Nathaniel confessed to his mother that he had killed Alberto Rolón, Zerida Bartolome, and their two sons, Adrienne and Diego. Why? Because according to him, "People were after him." Now, one murder was shocking. four, was inconceivable, and as horrified and stunned as his mother was, there was one thing she fixated on. She asked her son how he could murder two young children. He responded coldly, quote, "the kids are better off dead." Then, as if what he said hadn't mattered at all, he begged his mother to help him, but she wouldn't. She refused to give him a place to stay. She refused to help him fight his way out of the consequences of his actions. He murdered an entire family, even their dogs, and now he was going to have to face the music. But as we've learned, Nathaniel isn't the type to accept responsibility. He immediately hired an attorney, though the attorney never got the chance to actually represent him. Because soon enough, Nathaniel sealed his fate, all by himself. On September 19, investigators banged on the door of Nathaniel and Irma Linda's home to issue the search warrant they had been working 24 hours to obtain. But by the time they got that search warrant, it wasn't just for their phones and home. It was for Irma Linda's car. Why? Because police managed to obtain damning evidence that placed Irma Linda's car at the Bartolomei-Rolone home at the time of the murders. A licensed plate reader and Romeoville had captured her black Chevy Malibu near the home at 3.48 a.m. Several ring cameras and business surveillance cameras confirmed their drive. They went from their home directly to Zerida's home, and then back. Nathaniel was seen getting out of the car near the victim's house, and then getting back inside, sometime later, an Irma Linda, she was seen on camera in the driver's seat. As it turns out, the couple wasn't home in bed, like they had claimed. And Irma Linda was, at the very least, the getaway driver of the whole ordeal. When police arrived to take her car in his evidence, she was actually walking towards it, attempting to get inside. They quickly told her that the search warrant prohibited that, and oddly calm, Irma Linda replied, "Okay, and then walked off in a sort of days." Police knew that she was involved somehow, and that Nathaniel had been the killer. But they were at a standstill when it came to arrests. They needed concrete evidence, blood, DNA, anything. They hoped that they would find it in the car, and that in the meantime, Irma Linda and Nathaniel would stay put. But sadly, that's not what happened. That very same day, at around 4 p.m., Nathaniel and Irma Linda vanished. They took Nathaniel's car and fled into the night, crossing state lines with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Police only learned of their disappearance when Irma Linda's daughter, Cristiana Espinoza, called at 11 p.m. the file a missing persons report for her mother. In tears, she told police that her mother hadn't responded to her texts or calls, and that she feared for her safety. The Taylorville Daily Breeze courier later reported she stated, "I know she left with him willingly about 4 p.m. when I saw her she was scared. She was crying. I honestly feel she left to protect her family." For hours before fleeing with Nathaniel, Irma Linda obsessively told her family members she loved them and begged them to take care of her grandbabies. For Cristiana, it was clear that her mom had agreed to leave with Nathaniel, but not because she wanted to. To Irma Linda's family members, she was a kidnapping victim. Within an hour of Cristiana making that report about her mother, a below was broadcast across the country for Nathaniel, Huey, Jr., and his 2017 GMC envoy with the Illinois Registration, DW900037. But one thing we've left out of this story is, where are Nathaniel and Irma Linda? After the wall started closing in, they fled. Now the year was 2023, and license plate readers may not have been as widespread as they are now, but luckily, they did the job. On September 20th, just one day after the couple fled, they were tracked down through Missouri and into Oklahoma. They were over 600 miles from home, in the small town of Coutusa. Surveillance footage showed them walking into a Walmart, hand in hand. They laughed and smiled as they made their way through the aisles, grabbing everything they thought they needed to start a new life together. They purchased a prepaid cell phone, hair dye, and makeup. Irma Linda was starry eyed, as she looked at her fiance. The fear she had displayed to her family hours earlier seemed to have vanished completely. This wasn't a woman who had been kidnapped. She looked like a woman eager to start over. But little did they know, just outside the Walmart door, a Coutusa police officer was waiting. When their car was captured on the license plate scanner, police were immediately dispatched to sit and wait. Oblivious, the couple chatted and laughed, as they slowly made their way back to the GMC. Nathaniel got behind the wheel, and Irma Linda sat in the passenger seat. But as they pulled out of the parking lot, they saw it. Red and blue lights flashing in the rear view. The moment Nathaniel saw the lights, he saw a life in prison. So instead of stopping, he floored it. For the final time in his free life, Nathaniel put the safety of everyone else at risk. He flew through the side streets, gunning for the highway, I-44. Police cars pursued him, sirens blaring, as innocent bystanders swerved out of the way of the ensuing car chase. Nathaniel sliced in an out of traffic, nearly hitting several people on his quest to escape. All the while, Irma Linda was in the passenger seat, watching the world flash by, was she scared, ill-arated, was she begging him to stop and turn himself in. Whatever the case, it didn't matter, because Nathaniel was behind the wheel, and he made it very clear to police that he wasn't stopping. Finally, after weaving through the quaint streets of Coutusa, he sped onto I-44, the freeway running through town. Cars swerved out of the way as he drove on the edges of the road, sometimes brushing just between other cars and the median, until finally, his luck ran out. Nathaniel tried to skirt around a truck, but instead, he overcorrected, slamming into the cement divider, there was crunching metal, shattering glass, and then the sound of flames. Upon impact, the GMC burst into flames near the glove box area, thick black smoke erupted into the sky. As onlookers watched and horror, the driver's side door was penned shut, bent against the divider, and with the flames erupting from the other side of the vehicle, it looked like there was truly no escape. Multiple officers surrounded the wreckage with their weapons drawn. They knew it was dangerous, but they couldn't sit and watch, so they raced in and threw open the passenger's side door. The flames grew, thick, toxic smoke plumbed into the sky, then there was a sound, the unmistakable sound of gunshots. Battered, and given up, Nathaniel drew a gun, the only one still in his possession, then he aimed the gun at Irmelinda and fired, as the flames grew around him. He placed the gun beneath his chin and squeezed the trigger. But it wasn't instant blackness and peace, like he had expected. After shooting himself, the flames were still roaring around him. The pain was immense, and in that moment, he must have realized the first shot didn't kill him. Desperate, he lifted the gun to his temple and squeezed once more. By the time police pulled him out of the wreckage, he was gone. Irmelinda, on the other hand, was still clinging to life. She was immediately rushed to the nearest hospital where she was determined to be in critical condition. Immediately, officers on the scene knew what they had faced. Here's some body cam, capturing officers discussing the aftermath. Soon after arriving at the hospital, Irmelinda was pronounced dead. With an hours of discovering the victims on September 17th, the Romeo Police Department had developed a person of interest. That person of interest is 31-year-old Nathaniel Huey Jr. of Streamwood, Illinois. A second person, a female with a relationship to Huey was also identified as a person of interest. In the evening, hours of September 19th, the female person of interest was reported by family as a missing endangered person out of Streamwood, Illinois, and entered into the law enforcement agencies data system. Later that same evening, the Romeo Police Department distributed a statewide bulletin to law enforcement agencies, believing Huey to be a credible suspect in this investigation. Do we know what the motive may be in this case? We have developed -- evidence has shown us in nexus between our suspect and the victims, as well as possible moment. Not at this time. This is still an act of investigation with a sensitivity to it. The main suspect is Dan. The person of interest is Dan. The Kutusa Oklahoma Police Department and the Oklahoma State Police are still conducting an investigation. This literally just happened very recently. So until the conclusion of their investigation and notification of family, we have not made any identification yet. There were still so many questions surrounding this case -- questions that wouldn't be answered for a while. But throughout the investigation, after finally looking through Nathaniel and Armolinda's phone records, the Romeoville Police Department would finally solve the mystery. and what they found wasn't just a little bit. bit of information. It was like breaking open a dam, one that was chock full of catfish. Shockingly, the messages started as early as December 2021, long before Nathaniel even met Zerida. Throughout that time, Armolinda began creating fake personas on social media. She learned the art of manipulation, studying online scamming techniques, and how to use the internet to her advantage. She knew she could get Nathaniel's attention by using fake profiles of beautiful women. Using an image she found online, she sent him a message on Facebook posing as someone else. As she predicted, Nathaniel took the bait. In the beginning, the two exchanged flirtatious messages, but then Armolinda started adding small details that scared him. Pretending to be this pretty woman, she would message Nathaniel telling him that she was watching him. The woman would list Nathaniel's exact location. Then, when he moved somewhere else, she still somehow knew exactly where he was. She would tell him personal details about his job, schedule, and habits. When Nathaniel would ask how she knew all this, she convinced him that someone was watching and tracking his every movement. Nathaniel started growing paranoid. He had no idea that this stranger was really his fiance. Armolinda actually had an app that tracked his whereabouts, and it's around this time when Nathaniel began withdrawing from everyone around him. He started struggling at work. He truly believed that this random woman online was a part of this big group that was stalking him and wanting to hurt him. All the while, he was completely unaware that the messages were coming from the woman he was sleeping right next to. What Armolinda wanted out of this was control, and it's what she got, just not in the way that she wanted. Perhaps Armolinda thought Nathaniel would come to her for comfort, and in some ways he did, but mostly the stress of feeling like he was being watched had Nathaniel on edge, and it drove him in Armolinda even further apart. He constantly screened phone calls and started looking over his shoulder and public. He was convinced that someone was following him. He deleted his passwords, he erased messages, but no matter what he did, the threatening messages continued. He started putting black electrical tape over the doorbell camera on his cell phone camera, and even on the red light on the television, thinking it would stop stalkers from watching him. According to police documents, if anyone would remove the tape from the television, he would become extremely angry and immediately replace it. He started asking Armolinda to drive him places to avoid being tracked. For Armolinda, that was a win. The more scared Nathaniel got, the more time she got with him. She got confirmation that he trusted her, but it still wasn't enough. So near the end of 2022, she decided to take things a step further. Through hundreds of messages from various profiles, Armolinda convinced Nathaniel that she was working with both a Bulgarian gang and the Mexican cartel. She researched the dark web to prove to Nathaniel that some of her characters were skilled hackers, at times she used Bulgarian words that she had translated to communicate with Nathaniel. She made it believable, or maybe he wanted to believe. Perhaps it was the paranoia or the fact that he could finally play the role of protector like he wanted. Whatever the case, Nathaniel fell for it, hookline and sinker. In his mind, there was no way to escape. His orders, the message claimed, were to do with the cartel and gang wanted. And he had to do it when they wanted, or he and his family would pay the price. Armolinda created multiple characters, including organization bosses, shot collars, hitmen, and hackers. And through the characters, Armolinda would convince Nathaniel to do whatever she wanted. And when she learned of his affair with Zerida, sometime in early 2023, she knew exactly what she wanted. To keep Zerida the hell away from her fiance. Soon Nathaniel began to get messages from the cartel and gang members, warning him about his interactions with Zerida. The messages claimed that she was involved in shady criminal activity, specifically working for dangerous criminal organizations. The people that contacted Nathaniel wanted to let him know they were looking out for him. They wanted to warn him before it was too late. And after hearing this, Nathaniel started to question their relationship. He continuously asked Zerida if she was with him, who she was talking to, and if she was using him. He retreated further into his own mind, constantly going over every conversation and scenario to pinpoint the truth. Everyone around him witnessed the change. For them, it made absolutely no sense. But for Armolinda, it was exactly what she had intended to do. Nathaniel became so paranoid that he started stockpiling weapons. He had at least 13 guns, including numerous handguns and semi-automatic weapons. He started spending more time at the shooting range, practicing for the day that something actually went down. Armolinda thought she had control. But ultimately, her cat fishing only ended up giving her more heartbreak. Despite repeatedly typing warnings that Zerida was not who she claimed to be, Nathaniel continued seeing her, apparently his love for Zerida was stronger than his fear of her connections. So frustrated. Armolinda upped the ante. She tried to use her fake online personas to convince Nathaniel that his relationship with her was important. And under the guise of the cartel and gang members, she posed his loyalty to her as a test of his trustworthiness in the eyes of the leaders, pretending to be these gang members. She would message Nathaniel telling him that he needed to be faithful in his relationship, that he needed to stop seeking out relationships with other women. To treat Armolinda with respect, and to only have sex with her, she warned him that he was under surveillance, and that if he disobeyed, there would be consequences. But still, he continued his affair. Imagine how angry that must have made Armolinda. She was posing as a cartel leader as hitman as gangsters, and she still couldn't scare her fiancee into being loyal to her. Rather than cut her losses and walk away, she doubled down yet again. She started contacting Nathaniel with people she said were informants. These informants warned Nathaniel that Zerida was a mole within the organization, and that she was the one feeding his personal information to his enemies. The informants told Nathaniel that Zerida had specifically targeted him and was working against him to blow his cover with the Mexican cartel, and Nathaniel believed every word of it. Now, sitting behind the phone, sending these messages, Armolinda knew she was playing a dangerous game, but it was working. Nathaniel was now convinced that Zerida had ulterior motives. He believed that he had been set up. He believed that if Zerida exposed him to the cartel that his family was in danger, but the informant assured Nathaniel that the situation could be taken care of, and that's when they introduced him to a person named Turtle. On September 14, 2023, Armolinda created yet another fake profile, posing as someone called Turtle, a cartel hitman who promised to help Nathaniel kill Zerida. With her gone, his family would finally be safe. There was never a second in the messages where their mission was ambiguous. They weren't talking about scaring Zerida or kidnapping her or even hurting her. They were discussing taking her life, no matter what. For days over text, Turtle and Nathaniel researched Zerida's neighborhood and learned where surveillance cameras were located. They discussed the layout of her home, her children, the size and breed of her three dogs. Turtle told Nathaniel that the home behind Zerida's residence was vacant. It was the perfect entry point. So on September 14, Nathaniel called in sick to work, and he spent the next few days planning with the fake Mexican cartel hitman. Together, the two determined that the only way to eliminate the threat was to murder Alberto Zerida and their two children, Adrienne and Diego. Armolinda, who was posing as Turtle, told Nathaniel that it would be best to go in and damage the property to make it "appear to be a burglary" committed by kids. She reassured Nathaniel that quote, "many murders go unsolved." And quote, "Throughout the entire correspondence, it's believed that Nathaniel had no idea the person he was talking to was his own fiancé, Armolinda. He truly believed that he was being guided by the Mexican cartel, and they were reassuring him that the hit would work." Now clearly Nathaniel was talking to Armolinda about these plans, because as we know, she was his getaway driver. But around this time, Turtle instructed Nathaniel to, quote, "move through, locate and hit the two adults first, then, two kids." Above all, there was one thing Turtle repeated, time and time again, "take Zerida and Alberto cell phones." After all, Armolinda hadn't just been sending threats to Nathaniel. She had sent threatening messages to Zerida and Alberto as well, and she knew that if police found their cell phones, it could be traced back to her. So in the days before the murders, she went over the rules with Nathaniel time and time again, pretending to be Turtle, kill everyone inside the home and take the phones. Then finally, on September 15th and Nathaniel's eyes, the planning was complete. After several days of back and forth with Turtle, he was locked in. He was going to kill Zerida on behalf of the Mexican cartel, at least based on his text messages. That's what he seemed to believe. And on September 16th, just hours before Nathaniel decided to enact his plan, Zerida texted him. It was a text that would have made his heart flutter weeks prior. She told him, "Good night." That she She loved him. All the while, Nathaniel was planning to murder her and her entire family. Around 3 a.m. on the morning of September 17, 2023, Nathaniel and Irmelinda drove to the Hampton Park neighborhood in Romeoville. Irmelinda played the role of supportive fiancé perfectly. She was to be the getaway driver and promised to stay in the car while Nathaniel carried out the hit. She even had a walkie-talkie for him to talk to her. Through the guidance of the fake Mexican cartel, Nathaniel crept up to the quiet house, cut two window screens to stage it as a home invasion, and then walked through an unlocked door near the kitchen. Inside, Alberto, Saraita, Adriel, and Diego were fast asleep. But the commotion woke Alberto up. He walked down into the living room to see what was going on, and without warning, Nathaniel raised his 9-millimeter pistol and fired at him. He missed and the bullet struck a wall. Looking for the safety of his family, Alberto turned and ran toward the primary bedroom where Saraita, Adriel, and Diego had been sleeping together all as a family. For the past few weeks, the boys had been having trouble sleeping on their own and had been sleeping in their parents' bed. It was supposed to be a safe place, but that night, because of jealousy, it was the most dangerous place they could possibly be. Before Alberto got a chance to warn his family, Nathaniel fired five rounds into his back. He collapsed in the hallway. Nathaniel then walked to the bedroom where Saraita was with her two children. She had woken up from the noise, not knowing what had happened or what was going on. She rushed to the bedroom door and locked it. The sound of gunshots was terrifying. She was afraid for her husband, but at the same time, she had kids to protect. She threw her whole body weight against the door, desperate to keep it shut. Nathaniel attempted to open it with force, thrusting his shoulder against the door, but it wouldn't budge. Frustrated, Nathaniel fired several shots through the door and one of the bullets struck Saraita. She died almost instantly, falling to the ground in front of her children. Without her weight pressed against the door, Nathaniel was able to enter the room. As he stepped inside, he found nine-year-old Adrienne, and seven-year-old Diego, huddled together on the bed to scare to scream or move. They were just little boys, described by those who knew him as, quote, "the sweetest and most innocent angels who could just cuddle your cares away." And yet, with no remorse, Nathaniel shot both of them. When police found the boys hours later, one of them was still wearing a sleep mask. But killing the innocent boys wasn't enough. For no reason at all, he decided to kill the three dogs as well, one in the primary bedroom and two in the kitchen. Then, surrounded by his carnage, he ran through the home to create more. He tossed furniture, overturned tables, and scattered their belongings on the floor, all in an effort to stage the inside of the home to look like it was a robbery gone wrong. Then for his final act, he spray-painted curse words onto the walls. When he was finally done, he walked back into the night, got into the car with his fiance, and together, they sped off into the darkness. After the murders, Nathaniel texted Turtle and discussed what he had done. The hit was successful, everyone was dead. However, he admitted that he forgot to carry out one specific instruction, taking Zirrada and Alberto's cell phones. It was a tiny detail that led to his and Ermelinda's rapid downfall. Investigators theorized that Nathaniel Huey Jr. died never knowing that Ermelinda was the mastermind behind it all. Romeoville Detective Daniel Zacula told NBC, "Nathaniel fully believed the information being fed to him by Ermelinda, but did not know Ermelinda was the person he was communicating with." Ermelinda never pulled the trigger, but it was her words and actions that turned Nathaniel into a cold-blooded killer. Tragically, no one will ever know Ermelinda's full story. She died in that burning car in Oklahoma, taking with her whatever mix of jealousy, fear, love, and rage that drove her to create such an intricate web of lies. Those closest to Nathaniel and Ermelinda were shocked when it was all revealed. Alex Hernandez, a family friend, told NBC Chicago, "I don't know where things went bad or where they went sideways. I spent Thanksgiving here, I'll leave my kids here sometimes, it's like my mind is lost right now." In the end, a hard-working Puerto Rican family that had only just moved into their dream home was erased. Their young children will never grow up. Zorite's sister told The New York Post, "These were hard-working people that had just bought their first home. In just a few hours, their lives, their families' lives completely changed. The world is going to be a much dimmer place without them." Tragically, their loved ones are now left with only memories and questions that will never be answered. In October 2024, the Romeoville Police Chief released a final statement after everything had been uncovered. The tragic deaths of a young family, including two young children, will forever impact the surviving family and those that investigated this case. Nothing can prepare a person for such an incident and nothing can justify such a senseless act of violence. Although finalized, the finality of this case unfortunately does not mean closure for so many trying to grieve. And with that, the case was closed, but for the family of Alberto Rolón and Zorite at Bartolome, there would never be any justice. The blue house on Concord Avenue stands empty. The home that once held a loving family is now quiet and still no more backyard barbecues, no more children playing in the driveway, no more laughter filling the home. All of that was taken by a violent man and a scorned woman who chose manipulation and lies instead of facing the truth. For today's episode, we will be making a donation to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which provides crisis intervention, safety planning, resources for shelters, legal help, counseling, and support for victims of violence, abuse, stalking, and controlling relationships. Hey, everybody. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of Murder in America. Courtney and I have a lot planned from now to the end of the year, a lot of different stories we're going to cover. And yeah, we can't wait to get into them and to share them with all of you online. If you want to help support the work that we do here on the show, please consider joining us over on Patreon. On our Patreon you can get access to early ad free versions of every single episode of the show. So if you listen before the main crowd gets to listen and you don't have to deal with ads. And on top of that, if you want bonus episodes, we have an entire library of bonus episodes on our Patreon account. These are full length episodes of the show, just like the episode you just listened to with both Courtney and I, and sometimes the bonus episodes that we release end up being longer than the episodes that we release on the main feed. That just happened recently where the main feed episode was, I think, an hour and a half and the bonus was almost three hours. Just like the show that you just listened to, it sounds exactly the same, but they will only be on Patreon. And by signing up for our Patreon, you help support the team that brings this show to life, all of our editors, writers, researchers, and we greatly appreciate it. Also, please be sure to leave us a five star review wherever you listen to the show, whether it's Apple podcasts or Spotify. We love reading those reviews. And on top of that, if you want to see photos from every case that we cover here on the show, check out our Instagram and give us a follow there at Murder in America, where we post photos and updates from Courtney and I's lives. It's also kind of fun if you've never seen what Courtney and I look like. People are always kind of shocked to see, and they always say that we look a little bit different than they imagined us, which is funny to me. Anyways, y'all, thank you so much for joining this week. We will be back next week with another episode of the show. Have a great weekend if you're listening on Friday, and yeah, thanks for tuning in, and I'll catch y'all on the next one. Celebrate the 20th anniversary of Guillermo del Toro's fantasy masterpiece with a brand new 4K restoration or an all new 3D conversion. Take it's now to experience Pan's Labyrinth like never before. [BLANK_AUDIO]