hello hello hi Malinda my name is detective Garcia hello from the Romo Police Department this is detective Wagner H I know you know what's going on and why you were here okay um I know you were talking on the phone with your husband right now husband boyfriend he just aend okay does he live here with you how long you guys been together 2015 okay okay we're investigating a murder okay murder so we have in our possession some phones okay 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 text now we can retrieve those messages okay we have retrieved those messages all right we thre them they're pretty clear that somebody's pretty upset at at um 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 okay you would like to speak with you without him present are you okay with it sure do you walk away whever you're comfortable whever you're comfortable right well the dogs are all around so oh yeah but we're out front or the house in the backyard right I'm not saying going I'm not saying go in the house but we can talk with you out over here okay with that we can go over buy my car if you'd like sure this is hermalinda Palomo she lives in Streamwood Illinois with her fiance Nathaniel Huey Jr it's September 18th 2023 and roville police are trying to get more information from erinda about Nathaniel okay no you can have a seat in the front passenger it's on I want him to come out Malina do you mind if we walk if we drive down the street if he comes out he's probably going to tell you to go back inside are you going to do that or what do you want to do well you guys obviously have me you can't really say much right well it's it's what we we want to talk to you alone separate from him that that's what we're trying to that you're safe can can we go by the park sure yeah down that way okay um you want to what I'm going to do is I just got to document mileage and stuff okay we got body Cs on just tell me where we're going want to text yeah I'm not going to cry going to cry it's all right it's not all right if I'm saying it's okay if you cry I'm sorry this kid is moving want to this this do you want to go to the Streamwood Police Department isn't that down the street or no would you rather just just lay here by the park you do what you can park in front of the park okay oh Sunny down we're on this side here yeah okay so Sunny D and Sur drive S Park okay okay left yeah how long have you know kwi since probably 2015 okay why are you scared of him oh I'm not scared well okay why are you scared right now because when I called him because I was scared I didn't know where he was okay he said someone's following me okay so I called and I called and then I heard him say why are you following me do you want to search the car and then and then someone said to him there are messages from you and it's because her husband found out you were having an affair and I didn't know that you didn't know why but he was having an affair okay when did you find that out right now right now okay when's the last time that he had on cuz I know this is not the first time no it's not okay when's the last time you knew here an affair when we first started dating 2015 2015 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 okay stupidly okay do I know if he stopped no I don't know okay so the last time you well so then I had a party at my house mhm and I fell asleep and apparently he said someone kissed him and that was the so I don't know maybe it was 2019 okay and he said no she kiss 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 was is no longer going to do that okay that's why I'm upset this chilling Story begins on September 17th 2023 when Romeoville Police are called to do a welfare check on a family who hadn't been heard from in days 3 The Drve got a redy go with the next Jer [Music] a light on the back the back one hey I got a TV knocked over and a coffee table knocked over R 367 can we get another unit to Camden please everything's done for hey9 get on the phone with the 17 and call and figure out more information on this call 28 came back out of no we're going to go on that side there's a gate over there he's going in the car to get the number all right you see the TV in the uh yeah hey hold on wait you look in this window room I could anything in the room nothing are you able to see all that sh here wa keep shining so I can kind of see a little bit better now okay now just a oh wait lights are all off free no there's a uh nothing in this room lights are off it's 9:00 on a Sunday and uh no there's lights on the back you can see it through that second come the back here real keep an eye in that garage yeah want to try that door real quick run let's go see if you can this peek in the back there's a window right window yeah here I'll go this window this window's open no it's not uh oh oh God dogs are dead two dead dogs I need more units here hold this 350 I got two dead dogs TV's knocked over and a copta knocked over in the front room hey open the [Music] trunk units from 367 I'm waiting for at least one more to make entry got do back we'll do back 50 you of a ram uh we're going to make entry through the back door no but I got two dead dogs TV's knocked over and a cocktail was slipped over in the front room that light was on we came up right you can you can see the light from that other room back there I hear you you want the shield you want you know what I kind of want to grab my rifle grab your rle you go grab the rifle you want me take Shield yeah I'm going to be your lethal cover run though Stand hey Drke I need the keys can you have fire stage 350 any luck on that Ram I'm sorry I didn't check I'll be there one no worries I'm going to force entry to the back I got enough units here we're going to get going you was me you guys hold the front Okay from VIs no cover please I don't know if anybody's in there or not you got another door right here hey you know what hey uh I want one of you guys holding this one one of you guys holding the front there were no other side doors right no not that I know of Hey Ron yeah here's what we're going to do okay I'm going to boot it we're going to go nice and slow all right guys right on me Drke you stay behind me one dead dog got get hey no no you're behind me okay second dead dog you stay in the back of the stack you watch our six as we move through the house okay Cory come up here cover this door this window got it this lights is De CHR no I got one I got one Che the door here cover the window what do you see Cory move up move up dog got we got one dead dog right here we got a second dead dog over why don't you check the door handle first they make a heartbreaking Discovery they find Zarah balom her husband Alberto ran they're two young boys and the family's dogs all deceased at first glance crime scene photos indicate that it looks like the horrific event could have been a result of a robbery gone wrong but after investigators search the victim's phones a deceitful twist emerges and this is why police are now speaking to herlinda Palomo do you know any of of the names of the Affairs that he's had in the past any of the female names um he he was with his don't know names I know that they said one time to me that he was he's he was probably a lot of he's probably with a lot of people okay um but he had recently said I haven't been with a lot of people I don't know I don't know do you trust them I I obviously I can't trust him no can I but you said you believe he's had multiple of many Affairs while you two have been together I was hoping that they were done because I was hoping to trust police reports show that Nathaniel was having an affair with zorida the reports also reveal something else her Melinda knew about the affair together but when questioned by police she claims that she had only just found out about the affair that day when you find out about them like what happens you guys get an arguments do you talk the women that he's having affairs with no for what I don't know leave your leave your man alone kind of thing no I'm too old for that I'm I'm 50 years old there's no reason for me to like no and quite honestly it's not the female's fault it's his fault right so no no I mean obviously you get upset over it um well yeah I'm I'm trying to hold it back right now um but like I said I thought we went through years I mean yeah I I had said he was doing security and I had said to him are you cheating on me and he said no you know what they they flirt with me but I don't fall into that what kind of security does he do um like at at clubs like a bouncer yeah is it Arm Security no I don't think he can carry arms there okay does he own guns no no has he ever been known to have guns mm he has that um give me a second please mhm he goes to Milwaukee Bristol and there's it's not paint it's Airsoft he plays it he does airsoft stuff yeah he does airsoft he's in a team I'm sorry now okay do you guys have water um I don't this is a sealed uh drink I'm not taking that from you I'm sorry sure okay yeah because that's that's a big thing um if you don't want to drink obviously you can drink well throw it out when you're done yeah um and he airsoft airsoft gun he has an airsoft gun that's it um are you how sure are you that he doesn't I'm actually very positive okay have you've never ever seen him with a gun um well we go to the range and we'll shoot so he has a void card no he does not so how does heo I have a FOID card okay you do you own any guns yes in fact the affair sparked jealousy in hermalinda but no one could have predicted what was coming next it's an unimaginable twist it's revealed that hermalinda began a catfishing scheme pretending to be a cartel leader to manipulate her fiance into believing that zor posed a life-threatening danger to him and just when you think things couldn't get any stranger they using fake online personas hermalinda builds a convincing narrative that zorida was conspiring against Nathaniel telling him she was working with dangerous criminals it doesn't take long for Romeoville Police to track down Nathaniel huie Jr to question him about the murders of Zarah balom and her family on September 18th 2023 just one day after police make the grizzly Discovery they locate him at work so we were talking with the the bosses and they said well we we already went through phones they already got one half of of of the conversation um and you said you talked to her on your phone right yeah okay um so what we'd like or what we're asking for is consent to to get the text messages off your phone between you and her to Snapchat or whatever it is between you so we have both sides of it trying to eliminate you as a suspect but go on the computer H you can get it the computer no we have to take the phone we plug it in we take it out and then we give your phone back I don't even have anything in there that's even better no I I believe you but well yeah I mean just let me see it but I mean I believe you it's just a problem is is that that [Applause] that this is all I have right there back oh this from this morning yeah everything else so you have to grab it from the from the computer well I mean it'll be on there it'll be on your phone delet still in the in the in the thing in the in the catch when when you delete stuff it's never actually so let's just say like a 64 gig phone you use about 58 of it the rest is the catch it stays in the catch and and why I asked is is the boss is called right away they were like well they're like um we'd like to see if we can get the the stuff you know from your end back that way and see if maybe your you know maybe your husband got wind of it and pulled it off something so we was going to take a look I mean it it on our on our side of it we can get a search warrant you know to go through the phone and just take a little longer but on on the fastest way would be sent pull it off and give your phone back than it would be to and again I explained to you earlier I'm trying to eliminate you yeah I mean we have a a deceased girl and her last fling or boyfriend or whatever is you and and I'm sure that that you know if if you're an outsider looking in who do you who's your suspect I mean and so I'd like to eliminate that I'd like to say well no we went we look through stuff he didn't have nothing to do with it we're done with it you guys up I agree with you but but again there's um it it takes it would take us you know a couple hours to pull information out the phone that could eliminate you as a suspect like right from the start it's up to you it feels like you're pretty suspecting of me well I me I'm not joking with you we we anytime time 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 so 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 but I can't go to you know to our I can't go to a St and say no I verified that there there's no threats I have to I can verify and say no I went through this phone there's no threats there were they were 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 eliminated just go on the computer I don't I give up my phone you know what I'm saying I understand I'm just telling you it's I like I I I completely understand what you're saying and I'm not even trying to get you guys a hard time but like taking my phone and all that like and and you already told you can get it you can get it from we we can get her side of it I can't get your side of it's a problem so I can get her side of it um if you know where she's got in her phone I can get that side of it how about this how about I come see you guys later today after work or something like that cuz I I got other in there that I don't necessarily want you to be like looking at you know what I'm saying understand but but again we I promise you I don't care what you look at no no no it's not like not like like free like that or anything like that I'm saying even if even if we yeah I mean if you again I'm asking for consent the consent means that that that we plug it right in we dump it because you've told us it's okay without that then we have to get a search warrant if we get a search warrant then we have to type that up and it's going to take longer I can bring it down to you guys and you can dump it all you want to that yeah we'll be there the address is on the card well let me let me step out right after work yeah that's that's we'll have to do that yeah but I mean you do understand how that kind of defeats the purpose though like we're looking for for you know like Snapchat stuff and then you delete Snapchat stuff it's going to kind of look like you guilty you know what I'm saying Nathaniel and zorida met at work and that's where the affair took off they'd secretly meet in hotel rooms and keep their relationship Under Wraps when Nathaniel met zorida his criminal history was already pretty extensive we searched truthfinder. com to uncover more about Nathaniel huie Jr's background it's easy to do we just typed in his name and the city where he lived and in under a minute the subscription service gave us access to possible contact information and location history you can see that Nathaniel huy has a long list of traffic violations and criminal records all of this information comes from public reports available on truthfinder. com in these reports we can see that he also received multiple violations for driving under a suspended license driving while under the influence and driving with a suspended registration just to name a few reports like this and more are available to anyone with a paid subscription law and crime partners with truthfinder.
com so our writers and reporters can research cases and reveal real information truthfinder. com is for anyone not only reporters and can give you peace of mind when you do these unlimited public record searches for the people around you search for sex offenders in your area look up your nextdoor neighbor or find out if that person you're chatting with online is real it's as easy as just typing in their name on truthfinder. com if you're watching this episode of Law and crime investigates you can get 50% off your first confidential background report at truthfinder.
com ELC investigates the link is in the description when hermalinda Palomo discovered the affair she wanted to make sure he'd never cheat again police documents reveal hermalinda began a series of manipulations assuming fake online identities to control Nathaniel emotionally herlinda would convince him that Zoraida and her family posed a grave threat to him herlinda used fear as her main weapon constructing an elaborate Web of Lies that convinced her fiance that zarida was plotting to harm him for months Palomo maintained these fake identities and fabricated conversations creating a convincing illusion that he completely Falls for through this false narrative Nathaniel huie Jr was led to believe that Ida and her family had to be eliminated to protect his life and livelihood erlinda's level of control over Nathaniel's actions was deeply rooted in her ability to manipulate him she persuaded him that murder was the only option to escape the danger she had fabricated in his mind according to the hundreds of pages in the police report herma Linda sent Nathaniel a message using the Pinger mobile messaging application their Alias began planning zor's murder Palomo tells huie to cause damage to make the scene appear to be a burglary committed by kids she reassures him by saying many murders go unsolved the report States on September 16th 2023 around 3:17 a. m. heral Linda drives Nathaniel to zor's Residence in Romeoville Illinois according to home surveillance footage later obtained by investigators before entering the home Nathaniel cuts through window screens to make it appear as though a break-in had occurred he then enters through an unlocked door zoraida's husband Rolan was the first to encounter Nathaniel he attempts to protect his family but he was shot multiple times as he tried to reach his loved ones Nathaniel then moves to the bedroom where zorida and her two children were hiding shooting through the door and murdering them in Cold Blood it's a devastating scene an entire family slaughtered within minutes even the family's dogs aren't spared from the violence the next day Nathaniel huie returns to his regular routine showing no outward signs of guilt or remorse he goes to work as usual and that's when police speak to him for the first time I understand I mean we're married I understand why you want to keep it on the down low so we're just yeah we're just trying to figure out um it's not like she's like just to you know like I know just get CL connect with all right what kind of car do you drive you see Denali Denali like a like a SUV yeah okay um oh okay so so um and you said you've never had contact with her husband like he's never sent you a message or called you or contacted you no all right um do you have any of like information like uh like any save text messages or Snapchats or anything from her okay well before I I'm running myself right before I I forget everything oh all right so your first name is Nate what's your last name you sp H H is it Nathaniel yeah um what's your birthday anymore all right do you have a phone number what's your cell phone all right well I'm not trying to ruin your marriage or life so I'm not like I'm going to I'm going to you know I'll try to keep this if we can you know from just with us in this room talking but we're trying to figure out what happen happened at that house yeah um has she ever told you about any other like romantic relationships she had um out of her marriage he or her she say her husband cheating on her or is she say she in P anything when you leave this room we're not telling you work anything it's none of their business this is our conversation so it's up to you whenever you want to tell them um obviously we talk to her family we talk to friends and stuff hence why why we're here and that's why we're sitting in this room talking to you and like I got to ask do you have anything to do with this no okay you know I have to ask and you know that your number is going to be in her phone and we're going to find your text messages and we're going to find that stuff and and I want to get a surprise later on that you guys are fighting or that there was something going on between you two or to three of you I don't know about you know nobody was threatening anybody we weren weren fighting like Angel you know what I'm saying okay said we we you know we're this is so new to us investigation wise we have tons of videos to go through and license plates readers and like text messages Snapchat messages and all that stuff so we're so it's so in beginning of this investigation that we're just kind of reaching out to talk to all her family friends and everybody like that and that that's why we're here talking to you in um I just told I mean in your head if you could think of something like oh you guys should know about this it's the time to tell us now before we find it later on you know in a computer we find it in a phone message or something at this point herlinda Palomo also provides a false Alibi for Nathaniel further complicating the investigation have you ever met S no you seen a picture of her no so that name comes up to you because you saw it well really that that name stuck in my head because that night I thought are you chea on me was the person calling they're calling in okay more than once and it was a long name I thought it was Bartholomew actually mhm it was a long name but so when we asked your husband if he knew this person s he said I've never heard that name why why would he be lying to us I don't know I don't know should I believe him I don't know please don't tell him I told we're not going to tell him anything I don't I I thought that you guys said to him he was having an affair somebody said he's having an affair okay well that's that that is probably very accurate but we're not here to put him on have a trial on whether or not he had an affair okay we have a matter of someone lost their life so him having the an affair is the least of my worries I understand what what you're saying suck it up it's not it's not your problem I get it you didn't do it he did I'm just right again I understand okay I know I I talk a lot and I know what what what you guys are here for something else and I'm making it about cheating and it's not well I mean it could be I mean so are you guys saying that you're trying to find out if he killed the husband we're trying to find out who was involved so we're talking to everyone we're talking to you we're talking to him we're talking to other people because as you may be aware people like to the police right so we don't know who's lying true um what I would like to ask you is um either Friday or Saturday night did he go out with his friends no did he work Friday night no he was with me Saturday night no no okay this is what happened when I get a chance to be with him I'm with him okay so Friday night we started drinking and we were at home and we were drinking and drinking and drinking we drink a lot okay okay we probably fell asleep he sleeps in the garage I sleep in my room why does he sleep in the garage because he says that he's more comfortable in the garage but is there a bed in there no it's a couch he sleeps on a couch in the garage garage isn't finished mm-m okay I know but that's not why we're here um and I don't mean to be rude you're not being rude at all I'm just saying I'm not going to get in and now I know um so we were drinking and then um we woke up and we were hung over on Saturday uhhuh so um he said we got to move I said okay um I really want to go to Ross I want I want to buy some jeans um [Music] and and then he said let's get something to eat I said okay he I said you decide he said okay let's go to Jersey miks this was it was still day um and I got home I fell asleep apparently I woke up and yelled at everybody what time did you fall asleep at oh I don't even know it was de still day but he was with the kids playing GTA okay and then um my daughter had said to me my daughter I said did you wake up in the middle of the night and I said no why and she said well I was just wondering cuz you were yelling at everybody and it seemed like you were just sleeping and I think I heard you talking in your sleep I said no I didn't and then I said maybe it was Nate that was talking in the sleep and she said no Nate was snoring um because the door was open and everybody was hearing him snore I said I didn't hear that and then um I think we woke up Sunday like 9: and I said we need to do laundry I want to return my shoes um and I would like to go to the grocery store but I do not have all the money for that can you help me he said yes I said thank you that's what we did and then um Sunday we went to sleep probably like 9 woke up this morning went to work out um he went to work I went to work and this is what I've coming home to so on Saturday night did you guys drink mm no we were sleeping we were hung over I can't I I know it's not your business but I personally can't drink two nights in a row and I get very very hung over what about him could he drink two nights in a row um I guess he could but if nobody was there so he was he was sleeping cuz we were up pretty I want to say My daughter said no her boyfriend said I heard Nate Saturday morning I think he was still drinking he was going to work and it was 5:00 a.
m. my my daughter's my daughter's boyfriend was going to work at 5:00 a. m.
