After a year-long investigation, police released new details about the heinous quadruple murder of a married couple and their two young children. The bizarre events leading up to the killings are truly stranger than fiction.
At the center of this gruesome love triangle is alleged mastermind Ermalinda Palomo, who tricked her cheating fiancé Nathaniel Huey Jr. into slaughtering his affair partner, her husband, children, and dogs in their suburban Chicago home last year.
The country was shocked when the news broke, but no one could fathom the diabolical scheme — involving fake social media accounts and tales of a Mexican drug cartel — that led to the murders.
On September 17, 2023, Zoraida Bartolomei, Alberto Rolon, and their boys, Adriel, 9, and Diego, 7, were discovered gunned down inside their Romeoville home after police were called for a welfare check.
Authorities knew it was not a random act or murder-suicide from evidence at the scene, reported ABC7 at the time, and their investigation quickly led them to Huey Jr, who had been having a long-term affair with his co-worker Bartolomei.
It turned out the affair was not so secret: Palomo, 50, had known about it for around a year. Instead of confronting him, however, she hatched an elaborate plan to trick her 32-year-old fiancé into believing he was involved with a Mexican drug cartel.
Under the guise of different fictional characters, Palomo posed as a cartel insider and communicated with Huey Jr. through fake phone numbers and online accounts to stoke paranoia and convince him he was involved with dangerous kingpins, the police report stated, per NBC5.
As one character, “Turtle,” she threatened to reveal details about the affair, telling him he was being watched. She also warned him that a “mole” was targeting him for a hit.
“Communications with Nathaniel eventually led Ermalinda to convince Nathaniel he was under constant surveillance by the organization and that the leaders questioned his loyalty and trustworthiness,” the police report said via NBC5.
“Ermalinda further convinced Nathaniel that a ‘mole’ was planning to attack him. The ‘mole’ was not immediately identified, leaving Nathanial paranoid about who it may be.”
Days before the murders, on Sept 14, Palomo planted the seeds for the killing spree by revealing the “mole’s” identity as Bartolomei and convincing him he needed to plan a counterattack. Still assuming a fake identity, Palomo helped Huey Jr. orchestrate the family’s execution, NBC News reported.
“At this time, Nathaniel and Ermalinda (playing a character) began planning Zoraida’s murder,” Romeoville Police Detective Daniel Zakula wrote in the police report. “They researched Zoraida’s house to determine the layout within. They researched the neighborhood to locate cameras, planned how to get in and out of the house, and learned the house behind Zoraida’s was vacant.”
“They discuss[ed] the persons residing at the residence, including Zoraida, Albert, and their two children, as well as the number and types of dogs in the house. Ermalinda tells Nathaniel to cause damage to make the scene appear to be a burglary committed by kids. Ermalinda reassures Nathaniel by saying, ‘Many murders go unsolved,'” the police report continued, per ABC 7.
On the day of attack, investigators said Huey Jr. communicated with Palomo’s character “Turtle” to discuss the details of “their operation to murder Zoraida,” reported NBC News. Later on that fateful day, Palomo (as herself) drove Huey to the house to commit the murders, communicating with him on two-way radios during the act.
In the immediate aftermath, the two were questioned and released by police due to a lack of evidence.
The couple fled West and turned up in Catoosa, Oklahoma, where they ended up in a high-speed car chase with authorities that resulted in a fiery car crash. Huey Jr. allegedly turned on his fiancée, shooting her before the crash. He died at the scene, and Paloma later died from her injuries at the hospital, leaving many questions unanswered — until now.
