The two reactions to Ronnie Romero's death last fall couldn't have been more different.

City police detectives thought his death might be the key to unlocking a mystery that had been gnawing at them for eight and a half years: What happened to his little brother Robbie?

For Evelyn Romero — mother of Ronnie and Robbie — Ronnie's death of a heroin overdose in his cell at the Santa Fe County jail in September was another heartbreaking blow in a family tragedy rooted in June 7, 2000 — the last day she saw her youngest son. "I lost Robbie. I lost my husband, and now I've lost Ronnie," she said Sept. 21, the day Ronnie died. Her mother-in-law and an aunt died not long after.

In a later interview, Evelyn Romero said the death of her second-oldest son, though painful, carried a thin silver lining. "It gives me peace knowing (police) can't mess with (Ronnie) anymore," she said. "They can't hurt him anymore. But it breaks my heart that he died such a horrible death, and I couldn't be with him."

Seven-year-old Robbie's disappearance from Santa Fe's Bellamah neighborhood gripped the city throughout the summer of 2000 and remains a source of intense community interest. Despite exhaustive searches, police have never found Robbie's body, though they remain convinced he's dead.

Ronnie Romero is the only person police ever suspected in Robbie's disappearance. They thought his death might encourage people they believe have information about Robbie to come forward. The lead detective in the case traveled to a neighboring state in October to reinterview a woman Ronnie once blamed for running over Robbie, hoping she might finally spill the details they think she knows.

But, so far, nothing. Detectives are no closer today to solving the case than they were the day before Ronnie died.

"Since this happened, I've gone to every burial site with hopes that one of these days we can put this case to rest, put Robbie to rest," said Capt. Gary Johnson, one of the original investigators assigned to the case. "You never know. There's always an opportunity: Someone gets in trouble and uses (information about Robbie) to get out of it. I honestly believe there is somebody out there who knows where he is. We're still holding out hope."

With Ronnie Romero's death, however, the sad truth may be that Johnson, the deeply wounded Romero family and the Santa Fe community may never know what happened to the little boy who left home, allegedly to play video games at a neighbor's house one early summer evening, and vanished.

Lack of leads

The relationship between Santa Fe police and the Romero family has been antagonistic for years, blighted by lawsuits, bitter accusations and years of each side's finding no trace of Robbie. At the heart of the hard feelings was Ronnie Romero.

Police never uncovered any credible leads that pointed to someone other than Ronnie, Johnson said. They looked elsewhere, he said, but everywhere else came up empty. On this point Johnson is adamant: Ronnie had something to do with his brother's disappearance.

"The Romero family appeared to be a very good family," Johnson said. "They had their problems like any other family, but I felt bad for Evelyn and Rudy Sr. I felt bad for their kids. I don't even think Ronnie was a bad guy. But ... it all led back to Ronnie. Nothing ever pointed to anyone other than Ronnie Romero."

Evelyn Romero is just as adamant as Johnson when it comes to Ronnie's involvement in Robbie's disappearance. She absolutely refuses to believe he had anything to do with his little brother's disappearance.

"They don't know Ronnie the way I know Ronnie," she said in a recent interview. "If I had suspected Ronnie or felt he could have done it, as a mother, I would have helped him turn himself in: It was an accident. (But) he's never said a word. A person has to talk is my thinking. You have to understand; (police) lie a lot and they're awful."

Ronnie's older brother, Rudy Romero Jr., agrees with his mother. "I don't think (Ronnie) had anything to do with Robbie's disappearance," he said. "If they have so much evidence on him, why wasn't he ever arrested and charged with the crime? That's the thing I don't get."

Johnson said he believes police had enough evidence to charge Ronnie, but the District Attorney's Office refused to seek an indictment because detectives never found Robbie's body.

"Ultimately, I felt strongly that we had enough to arrest Ronnie for this crime," Johnson said. "But without a body in this case, there could always be a reasonable doubt."

Henry Valdez, who was the district attorney until this month, said if Johnson felt that way, Valdez never heard about it. "Police never indicated to me they felt they had enough," Valdez said. "If they'd have had the evidence, we'd have charged."

Moreover, police specifically didn't have solid evidence that implicated Ronnie, he said. "There's nothing that ties him to it," Valdez said. "Maybe some things, if you make a leap, can say he might have been involved. Weird isn't evidence. They never had enough evidence."

Pointing fingers

The investigation into Robbie's disappearance was marred at the start.

Evelyn Romero blamed police for not jumping on the case quickly enough (a supervisor was demoted for not taking appropriate immediate action). Johnson blamed the Romero family for not notifying police until more than eight hours after Robbie allegedly left the home.

Regardless, Robbie's disappearance soon became all-consuming and cost the Police Department hundreds of thousands of dollars during the first six months.

The case began on the theory that Robbie was abducted by a stranger. And, early missteps aside, investigators followed up on hundreds of tips in that vein, Johnson said.

They looked for a strange car sighted in the Romero family's south-central Santa Fe neighborhood around the time of Robbie's disappearance. Nothing came of it. They interviewed a registered sex offender in the neighborhood. His alibi checked out. They interviewed all registered sex offenders in Santa Fe County. None were suspect.

Then, a series of events and details — many unreported until now — began to shine the spotlight squarely on Ronnie Romero, Johnson said. Over the years, these have included no less than three polygraph failures by Ronnie, his bizarre attempts to make deals with police in exchange for information about his brother's disappearance and his bewildering implication of a woman who told The New Mexican recently that she barely knew him.

Whatever the case, the spotlight has been on Ronnie almost from the start.

Suspicious behavior

The detective stationed at the Romero home soon after Robbie's disappearance noticed unusual behavior, Johnson said. At the time, the Romero home was a hub of search activity. Everyone was out helping in the effort, but the detective noticed Ronnie slept late or stayed in his room by himself and didn't take an active role in the search for his brother.

Ronnie was the one who told police he saw Robbie walk out of the house at 6:30 p.m. and say he was going to go to a neighbor's house a block away to play Nintendo. The neighbors didn't recall seeing Robbie at their house that day, Johnson said.

That made Ronnie the last person to see Robbie alive.

Ronnie also told police he got up early June 7 and took Robbie to the park to play football, Johnson said. Police were later able to prove — through taxi records and witness statements — that Ronnie partied late the night before and slept all day June 7, he said.

"He lied to us," Johnson said.

About a month after Robbie's disappearance, Johnson interviewed Ronnie. "He was really interested in the different penalties for manslaughter," Johnson said. Ronnie asked him, theoretically, if a death occurred by accident, how much time a person could expect to serve, Johnson said.

"I had the state statute book open, and we were going over penalties together," he said. "I thought we were close to a confession."

However, Ronnie had a court appearance that day. He mentioned to his lawyer that he was talking to police, and the lawyer told him to stop, Johnson said.

Alleged confession

Next came the first polygraph test.

Police asked all of those present at the Bellamah Street home the afternoon Robbie disappeared to take a polygraph in an effort to eliminate them as suspects. Evelyn and Rudy Sr., the family patriarch, passed, Johnson said. Ronnie did not. "It was the opinion of the polygrapher that he showed deception to the level he was involved," Johnson said.

On June 17, 2000, a police dispatcher received a 911 call from a woman claiming Ronnie Romero had just confessed to her he was responsible for his brother's disappearance. The woman wanted to remain anonymous because she was afraid, but investigators were able to track her down and obtain a statement from her, Johnson said.

She said Ronnie, a friend of her boyfriend's, showed up late at her home the same evening she called 911. She let him in, "and he just starts to open up to her," Johnson said.

"Ronnie told her he hid him in a place we would never find him," he said. "He said, 'The police are way off. I hid him well.' "

Johnson, who declined to identify the woman, has never doubted her story. "We totally believe her," he said. "In fact, we believe her to this day."

New accusations

As if the alleged confession wasn't odd enough, the most bizarre point in the case was yet to come.

About five weeks after Robbie disappeared, police had the Bellamah Street home under surveillance. Officers watched from the street outside as Ronnie and a female friend went in and out of the house until between 2 and 3 a.m. on July 16. Evelyn and Rudy Sr. had gone to a friend's cabin to get away from the stress of the situation for the weekend.

Johnson left "when things quieted down" and said he'd just arrived home when he received a startling call on his police radio. "Ronnie Romero had just called dispatch and told dispatchers that his girlfriend just confessed and that she had killed his brother," Johnson said.

Johnson and other detectives drove to the Romero house, where Ronnie met them on the street. "He said, "My girlfriend is in the house, and she just confessed to me that she ran over my brother, and I want you to go and arrest her,' " Johnson said. "He was demanding it."

The detectives entered the house, went into one of the bedrooms and found the young woman asleep. Johnson said it took some effort to wake her up. He then told her what Ronnie had just said. "She didn't know what the heck we were talking about," Johnson said. "She was in disbelief."

Later, at the police station, Ronnie told police the woman told him that after she ran over Robbie, she put him in her car and drove around town, unsure of what to do. Ronnie even described Robbie's injuries, attributing the story to his girlfriend, Johnson said. He declined to release details about the injuries.

While the girlfriend drove around Santa Fe with Robbie in her car, the boy died, Ronnie told police. Ronnie said the girlfriend then put his body "in a Dumpster somewhere," Johnson said.

"He had a pretty detailed account of how she did it," Johnson said.

Also, while investigators had the couple at the police station that night, they polygraphed both.

The girlfriend participated initially, then balked in the middle and walked out, Johnson said. Ronnie was tested as to the accuracy of the story he told about his girlfriend's confession.

He failed again, Johnson said.

Johnson said he never "really" believed Ronnie's story about his girlfriend and admitted he could have substituted her for himself when he told police the story. However, Johnson and Detective Robert Vasquez also believe the girlfriend was at the Bellamah Drive home at about the time Robbie disappeared and don't think she has completely exonerated herself.

"That's a sticking point," Johnson said. "I think she does know more than what she's told us."

Denies involvement

The woman Ronnie implicated early that morning has never spoken publicly about her role in Robbie's disappearance, though she has testified before a grand jury, spoken to police on at least two occasions and, by her account, taken and passed a polygraph.

She spoke to The New Mexican recently by phone from outside New Mexico and in the presence of her lawyer. She spoke only on the condition the newspaper not use her name, not provide her current place of employment or where she lives.

Now 29 and working in the law enforcement field, the woman said she was never Ronnie Romero's "girlfriend." "I was his acquaintance," she said. "We had a couple little sexual encounters."

The day Robbie disappeared, she was at the Romero home briefly. But she said she wasn't at the house when Robbie disappeared, never asked about him and never saw the boy. On the night Ronnie told police of her confession, she said, police woke her from a "dead sleep" and told her what Ronnie said. "I was in shock," she said. "I didn't even know what they meant."

She said she remembered taking a polygraph at the police station and remembered sitting in the waiting room with her mother afterward when an officer told her she had passed and could go home.

Asked if she killed Robbie or had anything to do with his disappearance, the woman said, "No, I did not. No, absolutely not." And despite the fact that Johnson said he "strongly believes" she is withholding information vital to the case, she said she knows nothing about Robbie's disappearance.

"I have no information," she said. "I have answered all their questions. I do not withhold information from the police. I am, myself, a peace officer. I would have absolutely been the first to go to police and tell them (if Ronnie had said anything)."

The woman was at a loss to explain why she thought Ronnie would make up the story about her confession. "It's still unbelievable to me," she said. "I still cannot wrap my mind around it. What kind of person does that?"

Looking for a deal

Another twist in the Romero case came when Ronnie told Johnson and Vasquez that Robbie's body was "60 feet deep."

It happened in January 2006 — right around the time a grand jury was convened to target Ronnie in Robbie's disappearance — after Ronnie was arrested for a probation violation, Johnson said.

While in the custody of a Santa Fe County sheriff's deputy, Ronnie made the reference to his brother, Johnson said. Vasquez and Johnson went out to the jail.

Johnson said Ronnie told them, "You know what I want." To both detectives that meant he was looking for a deal on the charges he'd just racked up. In turn, the detectives asked him where Robbie's body was.

Both detectives felt they were close to obtaining the location of Robbie's body. But it wasn't to be.

Two district attorneys showed up, Johnson said. They wanted a location — a confession — before they would offer a deal. Ronnie wanted a deal before he'd offer a location. Ronnie became belligerent, everyone gave up, and he went back to jail.

When Ronnie made the "60 feet deep" comment in Johnson and Vasquez's presence, they both immediately thought of the Caja del Rio landfill.

Police had searched that dump in September 2000 for two weeks after hearing Ronnie's story about his girlfriend. They figured if the body had gone into a Dumpster, it would have ended up there. It was, by all accounts, disgusting and, in the end, fruitless work.

In September 2005, Ronnie took and failed his third polygraph test, Vasquez said. This one was a bit different from the others. It measured Ronnie's reaction when asked about various locations in the city, he said.

His only significant reactions were to the Romero's Bellamah Drive home and the Caja del Rio landfill, Vasquez said. "The landfill was clearly identified as the dumpsite," he said.

Still Robbie remains missing.

No answers

No one associated with the case believes Ronnie Romero intentionally harmed his little brother.

"Ronnie Romero was not a cold-blooded killer," Vasquez said. "According to what we know, Robbie liked him and he liked Robbie."

Ronnie told The New Mexican in December 2005 that police interrogated him without a lawyer for more than 40 hours over three days in 2000. "I was fully cooperating but tired," he said at the time. "I had no sleep for four days." After that, he hired a lawyer and declined further questioning, he said.

"I had nothing to do with my brother's disappearance," Ronnie said, adding he believed police were trying to make him a "scapegoat."

His mother doesn't know what to think. She's employed psychics and private investigators over the years, but they haven't fared any better than police.

At one point during a recent interview, she said she believes Ronnie's "girlfriend" has information about the case. She also said she has always thought Ronnie's story about his girlfriend's involvement was a possibility.

She and Rudy Jr. both believe Ronnie had no time to kill and dispose of Robbie's body that day. Evelyn said Ronnie was at the Bellamah home from 4 p.m. on.

At another point in the interview, Evelyn said she thought Robbie was snatched. "Honestly, I think someone picked him up, abducted him, and I don't know from there," she said. "In a dream I had, Robbie was in my lap face down, and he was saying, 'They hurt me, Mommy.' If it had been Ronnie (who killed him), he would have said, 'Ronnie hurt me.' "

Asked if she thinks Robbie is still alive, Evelyn hesitated. "I don't know. I have no idea. I really kind of believe in my dreams. A year ago, I had a dream of my husband carrying Robbie on piggyback. I wonder if maybe they're together. They seemed happy."

Rudy Sr. died in October 2002. Rudy Jr., believes his father was a strong man, but not knowing what happened to Robbie played a central role in his death. "All he ever wanted to talk about was Robbie," Rudy Jr., said. "He drove himself crazy. He hit the alcohol too hard. He couldn't bear it."

Rudy Jr., was close to Robbie. The tattoos on his arms in remembrance of his brother attest to that. People thought Robbie was Rudy Jr.'s son because they looked so much alike. He would routinely spend the night at Rudy's apartment.

But Rudy Jr. was close to Ronnie too. They were only a year and a half apart and grew up together. "He was a loving guy," he said. "He had a sense of humor. People painted a different portrait of him. They made him out to be a monster."

Rudy Jr. simply can't bring himself to believe Ronnie had a role in Robbie's disappearance. "I just don't think Ronnie is capable of whatever they're saying he did," Rudy Jr. said. "How could he have lived with himself?"

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.