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December 13, 2024 • 19 mins

A quiet neighborhood in Romeoville, Illinois is shaken when a young couple, their 2 sons, and dogs are killed inside of their home. The investigation into the murders unravels a web of affairs, lies, and manipulation that seems more like a Hollywood movie than real life. Listen now... -- You can now follow us on Substack too Autopsyofacrime.substack.com -- Thank you to our sponsor BetterHelp for making this episode possible. Therapy shouldn't be hard, and BetterHelp is on a mission to make therapy more affordable and accessible. Sign up today and save 10% off your first month. Visit BetterHelp.com/Terin

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(01:54):
Hello Clarisse, welcome back or welcome to autopsy of a crime.
I'm so glad you're here. So I first want to start off
this episode with a comment thatI received on one of my previous
episodes, and it was the episodecovering the trial of Brennan

(02:18):
Thomas, who is one of the individuals that has now been
found guilty of murdering Dylan Wetzel in Spotsylvania, VA.
And this comment really touched my heart and so I want to share
it. This comment is from Rachel
Fulkerson and it says Dylan was a friend of mine and I moved

(02:40):
away before he passed. So I never got a chance to
figure out what happened to my friend.
I just want to say thank you so much because now I know this
isn't a story to me. This is my life and I just
wanted to say thank you from thebottom of my heart.
Rachel, you're so very welcome and sending you so much love,

(03:01):
and I'm so very sorry for your loss.
Thank you for listening. And I'm glad that the coverage
of Dylan's case as well as the trial for those who killed him,
I helped you and we're sending you lots of love.

(03:25):
It really means so much to me that just me sitting in a closet
with my laptop and a microphone can touch someone.
And again, we send so much love to Rachel.
And there's been other cases that I've covered, like the case
of Heather Turner, where I've been contacted by friends or

(03:47):
family and it just always means so much.
It's just crazy that I set and Irecord and it can reach so far,
reach far enough to people who loved someone or was affected by
these tragedies, and I'm just very thankful.

(04:11):
So let's move into the story we're going to talk about today.
This is something straight out of a movie.
When I first came across this, I'm not going to lie, I was
confused. And as I've learned more, I've
become even more confused. I have many questions.

(04:36):
Truthfully, I'm still confused and that's part of the reason we
have to talk about this. This case is the epitome of make
it make sense. So let's get into it, shall we?
It was a quiet night in Romeoville, IL on September

(04:59):
17th, 2023 when police arrived at a home after receiving a call
for a Wellness check. The home belonged to Zuraida
Bartholemy and Alberto Roland and their two sons.
Family and friends were concerned after Alberto didn't
show up for work and family couldn't reach Zuraida.

(05:21):
Body camera footage shows the officers arriving at the quiet
home in a quiet neighborhood andupon looking into the front
window, they could see that a table had been flipped over.
They then went on to the back ofthe home, entering into an
enclosed patio area and looking through a window and a back door

(05:42):
of the hall. In the body Cam footage, you can
hear an officer say Oh my God ashe goes on to tell his partner
that there's two dead dogs on the floor inside of the home.
After calling for backup, the officers are prepared to force
entry into the home, but they find that the back door is

(06:05):
unlocked. Once inside they see this quiet
home was filled with horror. Zoraida, Alberto, their two sons
and two dogs had been shot and killed.
This began a year long investigation.

(06:27):
Who would possibly want to kill this couple?
The crime was even more devastating as the killer didn't
stop at Zoraida and Alberto, butit also killed their sons and
dogs. Law enforcement used Ring
doorbell footage. I pass data cell towers and

(06:47):
flock camera systems to track a suspicious vehicle that had
traveled from Streamwood to Romeoville the night of the
murders. But who lives in Streamwood that
would want to hurt this family? That would be a Co worker of
Zoraitas named Nathaniel Huey Junior.

(07:10):
Police began interviewing Nathaniel and even visited him
at work. He said that he and Zoraida had
no issues and he had no reason to want to harm her and her
family. Officers had asked him to
voluntarily hand over his cell phone, which he said he was
willing to do because apparentlythe two were chatting on

(07:32):
Snapchat and authorities could only see Zoraida's side of the
conversation and wanted to see his in order to clear him from
being a suspect. Nathaniel said that he would
give over his phone, but that hedidn't want to be without his
phone all day so that he would then come after work to the
police station and hand over hisphone.

(07:58):
So as police went through evidence and Zuraida's phone,
they uncovered an affair betweenZuraida and Nathaniel.
Police also visited the home of Nathaniel Huey Junior where he
lived with his girlfriend Ermalinda Paloma.

(08:18):
Police camera footage has been released of their interview with
Ermalinda first approaching her at her home where they had
knocked on the door. And she comes out and they have
informed her during this video that they are there because they
are investigating a murder and wanted to speak to her about her

(08:38):
boyfriend Nathaniel Huey. Now in this video, Nathaniel can
be seen coming out of the home with what looks like a lunch box
and he then leaves the hall. Erma Linda gets into a vehicle
with the two police officers andthey drive to a park down the
street from her home to talk more.

(09:01):
During Erma Linda's talk with police, she is visibly upset,
telling them that she was unaware Nathaniel was cheating
again, that she is just now finding this out and he had
promised that he would not do that anymore.
She shares that to her knowledge, Nathaniel had not
cheated since maybe 2019 or 2020and went on to tell police that

(09:25):
she was not in fear of him and she did not believe that he had
harmed Zoraida and her family because he had been at home
asleep, and that her daughter could also confirm this.
Even though police believed theyhad their guy, the question was
still why. The why remained.

(09:48):
What would cause Nathaniel Huey to murder Zoraida and her
family? While police were working to
make a case and further questionNathaniel, he and his girlfriend
fled. Erma Linda's family then filed
an endangered missing persons report, believing that she was
taken by Nathaniel and in danger.

(10:11):
Days later, the couple were picked up on a camera in
Catoosa, Oklahoma, at a Walmart.The video showed the two walking
into the store together side by side, shopping for electronics
and in various makeup aisles. They then left the store seen on
camera smiling, but Catoosa officers were in the parking lot

(10:35):
waiting. Video showed officers chase
after the suspects, who managed to flee in their vehicle.
A police chase ensued and ended in a fiery crash on an Oklahoma
Interstate. Police said that Nathaniel had
shot and killed Erma, Linda and then himself.
Oklahoma officers could be heardon body camera saying that

(10:57):
Nathaniel Huey Junior was a, quote, armed and dangerous
murder suspect out of Illinois. Another was heard saying, quote,
she is the missing person endangered.
He's the murder suspect. And, quote, a responding officer
replied, quote, it didn't look like she was being held against

(11:18):
her will. End Quote.
The police report revealed twisted tale of manipulation,
affairs and deceit. Irma Linda, new Nathaniel, was
having an affair with Seraida for an entire year before the
murders. Police reports detail how Erma

(11:40):
Linda created fake phone numbersand accounts online to
communicate with Nathaniel. Several of the fake accounts,
according to police reports, were made to seem that they were
members of a Mexican cartel, butthey were actually tied to Erma
Linda. One account convinced Nathaniel

(12:02):
that it was run by a cartel hit man and said Nathaniel was now
involved with the group. However, the report said it was
quote, a virtual world Erma Linda created.
End Quote. Over a year, the message is
escalated, convincing Nathaniel that there was a mole and that

(12:26):
somehow this was going to ruin his life and take everything
from him. And then one day, the account
told Nathaniel that he needed tokill Zoraida and her family
because they had determined she was the mole.
Nathaniel, believing that he wasa part of a dangerous cartel,

(12:46):
carried out the murders while Irma Linda was waiting in the
car outside. An officer report indicated that
Nathaniel Huey Junior likely never even knew that Erma Linda
Paloma was behind the accounts even prior to his death.

(13:09):
It also noted that Erma Linda's family was not aware of what was
happening either. Police said while the latest
findings mark an end to their months long investigation, it
doesn't put an end to the pain many have experienced in the
wake of the gruesome burners. Romeo Police Chief Brandt

(13:30):
Hermakada. I probably said that wrong and I
apologize. He gave the following statement
in a press release. Quote, 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

(13:53):
such an incident and nothing canjustify such a senseless act of
violence. Although finalized, the finality
of this case unfortunately does not mean closure for so many
continuing to grieve. End Quote.
And as all of this began to unravel, and police now I'm

(14:14):
assuming, had Nathaniel and Armelinda's cell phones as well,
after the police chase and theirdeaths, police were able to put
together this entire timeline ofeverything that had gone on.
Granted, Armelinda's family had thought that he had abducted her

(14:37):
or taken her against her will and she was in danger.
So, an attorney for the family of Erma Linda had originally
said they believed she was kidnapped since she had been
reported being home sleeping at the time of the murders.
However, since the revelations revealed by police, the attorney

(14:58):
for Erma Linda's family issued another statement in October of
this year saying that the familyquote wants to extend their
extreme condolences to the Roland Bartholemy family and
loved ones. The family had no previous
knowledge of the information being disclosed and we'll
continue to work with law enforcement to find the answers

(15:21):
to help solve and close the investigation.
Their prayers are with everyone,especially going into the
holiday season. End Quote.
So what do you guys think of this?
Have you heard of this case? I was on YouTube watching

(15:42):
episodes of 48 hours and that's how I discovered this and I
mostly watched it because the title of the video was so
confusing. I think it was something like
man murders family after being catfished by fiance and that

(16:06):
just didn't make sense to me because it kind of leads you to
believe a man has murdered his family because he was catfished
by his fiance, but he's already married and he's got a fiance.
It confused me so I was intrigued.
So I watched it and I just couldn't believe it.
And I definitely encourage you guys to look into this.

(16:30):
There are some articles I found with more information so that I
could prepare this episode. But then also that 48 hours
episode on YouTube has has a lotof police body camera footage.
It has interviews with Erma, Linda, Nathaniel and then it

(16:51):
also has a decent portion of thepolice chase and the car crash.
When the car crash it burst intoflames and then apparently
Nathaniel shot Erma, Linda shot himself, and I'm not sure some
of the facts vary based on the source, but there are some

(17:13):
reports that he initially shot himself under the chin and that
that didn't kill him and so he shot himself again.
Again, not sure how accurate that is because it varies based
on the source, but wow, I just have so many questions.

(17:38):
How how did she convince him that he was a part of a cartel
and he didn't know it? I think if you're affiliated
with a cartel, you would know, right?
But how, how, how I'm that's themain question here is how.

(18:04):
And for a year is crazy. This was a year in the making
that she did this, convincing him these things and ultimately
getting him to murder not only the woman he was having an
affair with, but her entire family, her children, her dogs.

(18:27):
It's just absolutely beyond and it's terrifying what some people
are capable of that that is truly next level.
So I had to, I had to make an episode about this.
And I'm curious to hear if you guys have heard of this, if you

(18:52):
have it. Do you have questions?
Are you wondering how one could think that they're in a cartel
and they didn't know it? I'm just, I'm just curious.
I'm asking, I'm asking for a friend.
So that is kind of wrap up. This episode I am working on
recording additional episodes. I am working on a weekly

(19:14):
schedule, so at least one episode per week.
If there are any cases that you would like me to cover, please
leave it in a comment on Spotifyor you can e-mail me at Autopsy
ofacrimepodpod@gmail.com. Thank you guys so much for

(19:40):
listening and I'll be back soon with a new episode.
Bye.
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