Victims identified in Joliet murders; police call it 'arguably the most heinous crime' in suburb's history

JOLIET, Ill. - Joliet police and the Will County Sheriff's Office provided new details Tuesday afternoon after eight people were killed in the suburb over the weekend.

Both departments worked together on the case after determining that the alleged gunman was involved in multiple shootings.

The suspect, 23-year-old Romeo Nance, is accused of shooting seven people in two different homes in Joliet Sunday afternoon. Additionally, authorities believe Nance fatally shot a 28-year-old man in Unincorporated Joliet Township and wounded another man in a separate shooting Sunday evening. 

Below is the most up-to-date timeline for the investigations. 

Timeline of Joliet Police Department investigation

Around 12:08 p.m. on Monday, Joliet police officers were dispatched to the 2200 block of West Acres Road. This followed a notification from Will County Sheriff's deputies who, during an investigation into a homicide that occurred the day before in their jurisdiction, discovered seven individuals shot to death in two homes.

At the scene, deputies uncovered indications of a potential crime at 2212 West Acres Road. Subsequently, they entered the residence and found four female victims, aged 14, 16, 20 and 38, along with a 31-year-old man. All the victims had sustained gunshot wounds.

Then, deputies discovered another possible crime scene at 2225 West Acres Road and entered that home as well. There, they located a 47-year-old woman and a 35-year-old man, who also suffered gunshot wounds. 

At that time, Joliet officers responded to the scene, and it was determined that the shootings at the two homes most likely took place during the midday hours on Sunday. The shootings appeared to be domestic in nature, police said.

The Will County Coroner's Office has identified the victims as the following: 

• Christine Esters, 38, of Joliet
• Tamaeka Nance, 47, of Joliet
• William Esters II, 35, of Joliet
• Joshua Nance, 31, of Joliet
• Alexandria Nance, 20
• 16-year-old girl (not identified)
• 14-year-old girl (not identified)

Following the discovery of the seven deceased individuals, detectives identified Nance as a suspect in the homicides. It was also believed that Nance was involved in two other shootings that took place sometime Sunday evening. 

Timeline of Will County investigation

At approximately 4:27 p.m. on Sunday, the Will County Sheriff's Office received a 911 call reporting a shooting at the Pheasant Run Apartments, which is located at 5 Pheasant Run Road in unincorporated Joliet Township. Deputies were advised that a person was lying on the ground and bleeding from the head.

Deputies located the man, who was later identified as 28-year-old Toyosi Bakare, who was originally from Nigeria but had spent the last three years in the Will County area. Bakare suffered a single gunshot wound to the head, which entered his left eye. Despite life-saving measures, Bakare died as a result of his injuries.

The sheriff's office believes a 9mm handgun was used in the shooting, but further confirmation is needed. Additionally, the sheriff's office believes this was a random attack. They do not believe robbery was not a motive as money was near the scene. They believe Bakare left his apartment to go out and get cigarettes. Video recovered from the scene showed the suspect vehicle, a red Toyota, both entering and exiting the Pheasant Run Apartment complex. 

While securing the scene, deputies learned that another shooting occurred in the 200 block of Davis Street in Joliet just a short time prior.

The victim told Joliet police officers that the suspect vehicle in the incident was also a red Toyota. Police determined that these two incidents were random, but connected. 

By 8 p.m. on Sunday, law enforcement identified the suspect vehicle, which was a red Toyota bearing Illinois license plate Q73 0412.

Investigators employed License Plate Reader (LPR) cameras to monitor the movement of the suspect's vehicle across the Will County area. The identified vehicle was associated with Nance, a Joliet resident with a significant criminal record.

Will County Sheriff's Office personnel directed their efforts towards locating the suspect vehicle by implementing saturation patrols across the local area. The focus was on residences linked to Nance.

When the vehicle could not be located, Will County Sheriff's Office detectives set up surveillance in the 2200 block of West Acres in Joliet in hopes that the vehicle would return to the residence, officials said. 

When the vehicle was not located and the vehicle's movements were no longer active, the sheriff's office released information about the suspect vehicle to the public. At that time, officials believed Nance had fled Will County and was no longer a danger to the public. 

The sheriff's office then went to 2212 West Acres to contact the registered owner of the suspect vehicle but received no response at that residence. Knowing that the house across the street was also associated with the suspect, detectives attempted to make contact with residents inside that home Monday afternoon.

When detectives approached the house, they noticed blood on the outside of the door along with bullet holes on the exterior of the house located at 2225 West Acres.

Inside the home, they located two deceased individuals. At that time, Joliet police responded to the scene. 

Members of the Will County Sheriff’s Office and the Joliet Police Department then entered the residence located at 2212 West Acres and discovered five more deceased individuals inside that residence, officials said. 

Just before 6 p.m. Monday, the Will County Sheriff's Office, which was coordinating with the United States Marshals Service, advised that Nance was believed to be traveling in Texas.

Around 8:30 p.m. on Monday, the Joliet Police Department was informed that Nance had been found by U.S. Marshals and other Texas law enforcement officers in the vicinity of Natalia, Texas. Nance pulled his vehicle into a gas station and exited his vehicle with a firearm and fled on foot once he observed law enforcement. 

Nance then shot himself as law enforcement began to close in on him, officials said.