Girlfriend of suspect in fatal shootings of 8 in Chicago suburb charged with obstruction, police say
JOLIET, Ill. — The girlfriend of a man suspected of fatally shooting seven family members and an eighth person last weekend in a Chicago suburb has been charged with obstruction for allegedly trying to prevent her boyfriend’s arrest, police said.
Kyleigh Cleveland-Singleton, 21, of Joliet, was charged with obstruction of justice after the Will County Prosecutor’s Office reviewed information provided by detectives who interviewed her Monday, Joliet police said.
Online inmate records for the Will County Adult Detention Facility show she was scheduled to appear in court Thursday morning. It was not immediately clear whether she has an attorney who could speak on her behalf.
Joliet police said Cleveland-Singleton agreed to be interviewed by police Monday after being identified as the girlfriend and mother of the 3-year-old son of shooting suspect Romeo Nance, 23, who fatally shot himself during a confrontation Monday with the police in Texas.
After police interviewed Cleveland-Singleton, “detectives believed she made statements to prevent the suspect’s apprehension and impede this investigation,” Joliet police said in a news release on Facebook. The press release did not indicate what statements she allegedly made.
Officers found Cleveland-Singleton at a home in Plainfield, about 14 miles (23 kilometers) northwest of Joliet, after detectives learned Nance’s young son may have been with his mother and grandmother at a home there, police said.
The eight people that police said Nance fatally shot over the weekend were found Sunday and Monday, according to authorities. No motive has yet been given.
Seven of the victims were found Sunday in two homes in Joliet and were identified as Nance’s mother, Tamaeka Nance, 47; his brother Joshua Nance, 31; sister Alexandria Nance, 20; two younger sisters, 16 and 14 years old; aunt Christine Esters, 38; and uncle William Esters II, 35.
Another man, 28-year-old Toyosi Bakare, was fatally shot outside an apartment building. Police said Nance is believed to have shot him randomly, as well as another man, who was wounded in the leg on a residential street after killing his family members.
Nance fatally shot himself Monday evening after U.S. Marshals located him near Natalia, Texas, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio and more than 1,000 miles (1,690 kilometers) from Joliet, police said.
Sheriff Randy Brown of Medina County, Texas, said he believes Nance was trying to reach Mexico, which is about 120 miles south of Natalia along Interstate 35.