Solved Murders - True Crime Stories - A HACKER WARNED HIM THAT HE WAS IN DANGER THE ROMEOVILLE CASE PART1 #41

Episode Date: September 13, 2025

#horrorstories #reddithorrorstories #ScaryStories #creepypasta #horrortales #hacking #cyberthreat #digitaldanger #RomeovilleCase #technologyhorror  The Romeoville Case Part 1 follows a man receiving ominous warnings from an anonymous hacker about an impending threat to his life. The story blends psychological tension with the dangers of the digital age, revealing how vulnerable one can be when hunted through technology.  horrorstories, hacking, cyberthreat, danger, paranoia, suspense, reddithorrorstories, digitaldanger, thriller, mystery, scarystories, technology, hackingwarning, horrorstory, intense, creepypasta, hackeralert, darkweb, horrortales, unsettling, cybercrime, fear, stalking, digitalfear, tense, survival

It all started with a phone call. Yeah, hi. Please, I'm calling about my daughter. Her name's Sora Bartolome. She lives at 51, Concord Avenue in Romeoville, Illinois. We haven't heard from her, her husband, or the kids all day. We've tried calling, but no one's answering. Even her husband's workplace called to say he didn't show up for work, and, this just isn't like them.

Could someone please go by their house and check on them? That was a 911 call made by a worried mother. Her voice was trembling. You could hear the fear seeping through the phone lines. She wasn't just worried, she knew something was wrong. It wasn't just a, we can't reach them, kind of worry. This was the kind of fear you feel in the pit of your stomach, the kind you can't shake off because you know something terrible has happened.

Her daughter, Zorida Bartolomei, lived with her husband Alberto Rollone and their two little boys, Adriel, nine, and Diego, seven. They were a small, quiet family in a peaceful Romeoville neighborhood. They didn't cause trouble. They weren't the type of people to disappear without letting anyone know. They were the kind of people you waved to while taking out the trash or walking the dog. But that day, they'd gone completely silent. family members, co-workers, friends, everyone had tried reaching them throughout the day.

Nothing. Calls went unanswered. Texts were left on, delivered, but never read. People even stopped by the house, knocking on the door, ringing the doorbell, peering through the windows, but the place was still. The family car was parked out front like always, but inside, no one seemed to be home. By the time night fell, panic had four. fully set in. At around 9 p.m., police officers finally arrived at the house, located at 512,

Concord Avenue. Now, let me paint you a picture of the area. It wasn't a bad part of town. In fact, it was pretty nice, quiet, family-oriented, not the kind of place you'd expect something sinister to go down. The cops probably thought it was just a wellness check. They'd knock, maybe get an embarrassed family answering the door in pajamas, and that'd be the end of it. But when they arrived, no one came to the door. They circled the house. They peered through the windows. And that's when they saw it, chaos.

A coffee table flipped over. A TV smashed on the ground. Furniture out of place. It didn't look like someone had simply left in a hurry. It looked like a struggle. At that moment, the cops knew this wasn't just a missing person's case. They called for backup. When more officers arrived, they entered the home.

What they found inside was straight out of a nightmare. Three dead dogs. All shot. Then, in the living room, the body of Alberto Rollone. The door to the master bedroom had been kicked in. Inside were Zorida and the two children. All of them were dead. Each one had been shot.

The house was a mess, complete destruction. But here's what made it even stranger, nothing had been stolen. Jewelry. Still there. Cash. Untouched. Phones, wallets, valuable electronics, everything remained in place. This wasn't a burglary.

This was personal. At first glance, it screamed of a crime of passion, rage, destruction, overkill. But, why? The Roland Bartoloméééé family wasn't exactly known for drama. They kept to themselves. They weren't the kind of neighbors people complained about. Friends and co-workers described them as quiet, nice, normal. So, who could have wanted them dead? Digging into the victims, the police started with the basics, who were Zorida and Alberto. Alberto Rolone, 38, worked hard. His co-workers described him as friendly, laid back, and easy to get along with. He wasn't the type to bring personal problems to the workplace. Even if he had issues at home, no one knew about them. In fact, he'd just gotten promoted. Life, at least from the outside, looked good.

Zorida Bartolomei, 32, was described in similar ways, kind, charismatic, good-hearted. She worked for an engineering company in Glendale Heights and, like her husband, had recently been promoted. She was well-liked at work and seemed to have a particularly close relationship with one of her co-workers, a man named Nathaniel Huey Jr. And this is where the story starts taking a turn. Rumors and secrets. People at Zorida's workplace had known.

noticed her spending a lot of time with Nathaniel. They'd chat constantly, take breaks together, even leave work together. And of course, when two co-workers get that close, people start talking. Were they just friends? Or was it something more? Rumors started spreading. And as the police dug deeper, those rumors turned out to be true. Investigators looked at Zerida's phone.

What they found was undeniable, flirty messages, frequent calls, social media interactions, even shared locations. This wasn't just a harmless work friendship. They were having an affair. And Nathaniel? He wasn't single either. Enter Hermalinda. Nathaniel Huey Jr. had been in a long-term relationship with a woman named Hermalinda Palomo,

who was 50 years old and had two kids of her own. They lived together in Romeoville. So now you've got Zorida, a married mom of two, having an affair with Nathaniel, a man who lived with his own partner and her children. Messi doesn't even begin to cover it. The threats, as you can probably guess, her Melinda eventually found out about the affair. She wasn't happy. In fact, she directly messaged Zorida on Facebook. According to what police later uncovered, she gave Zorida an ultimatum, and the affair or I'll tell Alberto everything.

Weeks went by. Zoraida and Nathaniel didn't end things. So her Melinda followed through. She contacted Alberto and told him everything. Imagine being Alberto in that moment, finding out not only that your wife was cheating on you but that everyone around them seemed to know. According to reports, Alberto was furious.

At one point, he even confronted Nathaniel and damaged his car. And yet, Zorriah. and Nathaniel kept seeing each other. They didn't stop. So now you've got, a betrayed husband, a furious living girlfriend, two people who refused to end their affair despite threats and drama. Police began to suspect that either Hermalinda or Nathaniel could have been involved in the murders. But which one? Or was it both? Tracking the suspects. On the night the bodies were found, police formed two teams, one to go to her Melinda and Nathaniel's house, and another to find Nathaniel

at work. At the house, there was no answer at first. But then, a red car pulled up. A woman was driving. She parked in front of the house. Sat there. Didn't get out. When officers approached, the car slowly pulled away, circled the block, parked again further down the street, and then eventually drove off. It was strange behavior. Suspicious. They ran the plates. It was her Melinda Palomo. So they started tailing her. She drove to Nathaniel's workplace. When she got there, cameras captured her meeting up with Nathaniel. They talked briefly, nervously, according to police, and then split up into separate cars. What happened next was a bizarre low-speed chase of sorts. The two cars sped down different streets, making quick turns and erratic moves like they were trying to shake off whoever was following them.

Eventually, they went their separate ways, Nathaniel back to work, Hermalinda home. The police still didn't fully understand what they were seeing. But they knew one thing, these two were at the center of it all. The police bring Hermalinda in. After tailing her from the crime scene to Nathaniel's workplace, the police decided it was time for a sit-down with Hermalinda. When officers knocked on her door, she acted confused, like she had no clue why they were there or what was going on. She looked genuinely startled, maybe a little nervous. They asked her to come to the station for a chat.

Inside the interrogation room, Hermalinda kept up the act of confusion, at least at first. When police mentioned the name Zorida and told her about the affair, she claimed she didn't know who Zorida was. but then things got a little shaky. She admitted that Nathaniel had cheated on her with many women, but this, Zorida, was just another name in a long list. Not important, she said. The confusing story about guns. Next, the officers asked her Melinda about weapons in the house.

At first, she said, no, no guns here. Nathaniel didn't even have a FOID card, that's Illinois' firearm owner's identification card, you need it legally to own or carry a gun. Then, after more questions, her story flipped completely. Oh, actually, she said, we do have a 9mm pistol. I have the FOID card, not Nathaniel. We go shooting sometimes. Wait, what? One minute, no guns. The next, there's a gun in the house, and she has the legal paperwork, but Nathaniel doesn't. And she claims she doesn't shoot. And she claims she doesn't It was clear the story was all over the place. The police noted every single conflicting detail.

Nothing was adding up. The investigation gets messy. Meanwhile, police kept digging into everyone's phones, texts, social media. The Love Triangle, if that's what you want to call it, was as messy as a soap opera. Zorida and Nathaniel were sending messages late into the night. Can't wait to see you, I miss you, I need you. There were promises, plans, secrets. Hermalinda, on the other hand, was escalating too.

She was furious, jealous, threatening to expose everything to Alberto. The timeline, here's how it all seemed to come together. Nathaniel joins the engineering company in September 2022. By October 2022, rumors about his closeness with Zorida starts spreading. Over the next months, the affair heats up. Hermalinda finds out, confronts Sorida via Facebook, threatens to tell Alberto. Hermalinda eventually calls Alberto herself, spilling the secret. Alberto, overwhelmed with jealousy and anger, confronts Nathaniel and causes damage to his car.

Despite everything, Zoraida and Nathaniel keep seeing each other behind everyone's back. But what about the murder? Now, this is where the story becomes dark and confusing. Why kill an entire family, mom, dad, two little boys, and even the family dogs? The police initially thought maybe it was a jealous rage gone terribly wrong. But killing the children and the pets. That's not usually part of an affair revenge scenario. That's cold and extreme.

Theory's flying around. Some thought hermalinda snapped and went ballistic. She couldn't handle the betrayal, so she decided to wipe out the whole family. But would she go that far? Others wondered if Nathaniel himself had lost control. Could he have killed them to cover his tracks or out of fear? Or, could Alberto, broken by betrayal, have done something unthinkable? But that didn't fit either, since he was found dead too.

The police step up surveillance. After the chaotic chase between Hermalinda and Nathaniel's cars, police decided to keep a close watch on both. They wanted to see if anyone else was involved. If there was a bigger plan. If there was some kind of connection between the people who might have done this and other possible suspects. Nathaniel's alibi and behavior. Nathaniel was quiet during questioning. He denied any involvement.

He said he had no idea who would want to hurt the Roland Bartolomei family. But the affair and the secret meetings, they were undeniable. The evidence stacked up against him. Hermelinda's emotional roller coaster. Hermalinda, meanwhile, was a mess. She'd flip from tears to anger, from denial to admission. Her contradictions about the guns only made her seem more suspicious. Police didn't know if she was lying to cover for Nathaniel, hiding something else, or just overwhelmed by grief and rage. The community reaction, News about the murders shocked Romeoville. Neighbors who had seen the Roland Bartolomei family just days before, waving and smiling, couldn't believe it.

Such a quiet family, they said. We never imagined anything like this. Social media was buzzing. Some people blamed the affair. Others blamed the police for not acting sooner. Everyone was asking, why? How? Digging into forensics. The forensic teams worked overtime.

The bullets that killed the family and the dogs came from the same gun. But the weapon was missing. There were no fingerprints on the murder weapon, no clear DNA evidence, no obvious suspect prints. Police looked at surveillance footage from nearby houses and streets. Nothing. The neighborhood was quiet that day. No suspicious cars, no visitors besides Hermalinda's red car and Nathaniel's black vehicle. on the day of the murders. The breakthrough, one night, months into the investigation, a call came in.

A neighbor reported seeing someone sneaking around the area the night before the bodies were discovered. A man wearing a hoodie, moving fast, acting nervous. Police checked cameras again and found blurry footage matching the description. They traced it back to a distant relative of her Melinda who'd recently had a falling out with her. The relative's confession, after hours of interrogation, the relative finally cracked. He admitted to visiting the house that night, but said he found the bodies already there. He claimed he tried to call for help but was too scared to approach. He confessed to hiding some evidence to protect her Melinda, who he said was not the type to do such things. The case turns again, suddenly, the neat story about an affair

turned messy. Maybe her Melinda wasn't the killer. Maybe Nathaniel wasn't. Maybe someone else, fueled by jealousy, rage, or another motive entirely, had done this. What happened next? The police expanded the investigation to include the extended family and anyone who might have a grudge. They uncovered long-standing feuds, financial troubles, and old grudges buried beneath the surface. But nothing concrete. Final thoughts.

The Roland Bartolomei murders remain a haunting mystery. Was it a crime of passion? A jealous rampage? Or a calculated act of revenge? All we know for sure is that a loving family was wiped out in cold blood, their home turned into a scene of chaos and heartbreak. And the truth? It's still out there, buried in the shadows of Romeoville's quiet streets. To be continued.