Aug 15, 2008 10:22 pm US/Central
Friends Speak Of Relationship Between Woman, Cop
Handgun Recovered Near Scene Of Crime
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Kathryn Romberg, 45, was found shot to death, and a Chicago Police officer was shot and wounded, in the East Garfield Park neighborhood early Wednesday.
Falcon Living
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Detective Robert Soto was killed early Wednesday.
CBS
Tonight we're learning more about the relationship between Kathryn Romberg and Detective Robert Soto - both gunned down earlier this week. And - investigators are pouring over a handgun recovered near the crime scene.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports that tomorrow morning, funeral mass for Kathryn Romberg will be at St. John Cantius Parish.
Tonight, at her visitation just half a block away, friends were lamenting both the violent act that took her life and the ill-fated relationship that broke her heart.
Romberg's family and friends filed into the Michalek Funeral Home - among them her former DCFS coworker Dante Plata. He says Romberg told him about her relationship with Detective Robert Soto exactly one week before both were killed.
"She had a relationship with him for two years," Plata said. "Then she found out this officer was married."
Soto and Romberg were shot to death around 1:30 Wednesday morning as they sat in Soto's personal SUV just steps from Romberg's West Side condo. Soto, who was married, lived with his family on the Southwest Side.
But Romberg told Plata, Soto had moved out for awhile - then returned to his wife.
"About three weeks ago, she confronted him and his wife at the apartment where he was living and from that moment on, she didn't want anything to do with him," Plata said.
Other mourners said Romberg had unknowingly dated another married cop.
"I know Kathryn, she was 45, looking for somebody, getting older," said Kivaugh Shelton, former DCFS coworker. "It's just a shame she fell into those types of relationships."
This morning, a city sanitation crew discovered a handgun in a garbage bin in an alley in the 600 block of north Talman, not far from Wednesday's double homicide. Police sent the gun for ballistics tests, and questioned nearby residents.
"He came up to me and started asking me questions, had I noticed more activity in the neighborhood, any gangbanging going on," said resident Lynn Roth.
Police are calling the double homicide a robbery attempt. Romberg's friends say they've been robbed of a shining light.
"Very caring person. Everyone cared about her, really respected her," said Richard Echevarria, former DCFS coworker. "And it's a big loss for all of us."
Funeral arrangements were also announced today for Detective Robert Soto. His funeral will be held Tuesday morning at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church at Halsted and Roosevelt.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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