Update: BIG News in Robert Romero Disappearance (NM)
Maggie
Friday, September 8, 2000
Missing Boy Died After Being Hit by Car, Mom Says
By S.U. Mahesh
Journal Staff Writer
The mother of a missing 7-year-old Santa Fe boy said Thursday that a
friend of an older son confided that she accidentally killed the boy and
disposed of his body in a Dumpster.
Evelyn Romero also confirmed that the older son, 22-year-old Ronnie
Romero, had failed an FBI polygraph conducted during the investigation of the
June disappearance of Robert Romero. The boy was last seen in his family's
Bellamah neighborhood on June 7.
Evelyn Romero said Ronnie Romero told the family that a female friend
told him that she accidentally killed Robert with her car near the family's
home, then put the body in a Dumpster.
Police searched the Santa Fe landfill last month after saying they had
received a tip that the boy's body might have been placed in a Dumpster, but
they found nothing.
Santa Fe Police Deputy Chief Beverly Lennen wouldn't comment Thursday on
the family's allegations.
"We have tried to protect the integrity of the investigation and the
privacy of the family," Lennen said. "Our sole goal is to find out what
happened to Robbie."
Ronnie Romero's female friend also took a polygraph test, Evelyn Romero
said, but police have declined to release the results.
Even though her older son failed his polygraph, Evelyn Romero maintained
that Ronnie Romero is not capable of harming her younger son.
"I don't believe it," she said.
She also questioned the results, based on the questions her son was
asked — some as pointed as "Why did you kill Robbie?" and "Where is his
body?"
Robert's father, Rudy Romero, also took a polygraph test and passed it,
she said. At the request of Santa Fe police, Evelyn Romero also has agreed to
take a lie detector test, which is scheduled in the near future.
Santa Fe police have named no suspects in the case, which is being
investigated as a homicide, but the Romero family has accused them of focusing
the investigation on Ronnie Romero.
Police say they have followed Ronnie Romero as part of the
investigation. They also have searched two family cars and dug in their back
yard, but found nothing.
Ronnie Romero, 22, is being held at the Santa Fe County Jail in lieu of
$10,000 bond on a charge that he intimidated a witness in an unrelated criminal
case.
He filed a tort claim notice last week indicating his intent to sue the
Santa Fe police, State Police, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department and the
1st Judicial District Attorney's Office for what he claims is harassment,
intimidation and malicious prosecution since his brother's disappearance.
The family also has filed a notice indicating it will sue the Santa Fe
police and State Police for an alleged delay in searching for Robert after he
was reported missing.
Evelyn Romero also complained that police haven't given the family
access to information provided by a professional psychic, Noreen Renier of
Gainesville, Fla., hired by the Romero family.
The information has been sealed by police, Evelyn Romero said. "I cannot
have access to that information," she said.
Maggie
Fun Facts:
Murderers who kill male victims receive 40% shorter sentences than murderers
who kill female victims (AOTBE).