Bolingbrook Teens Says She Dated Teacher While Still a Student, Ran Off With Him Out of Fear

A Bolingbrook teen missing for more than a week this summer said a teacher she dated during her senior year frightened her into running off with him.

Natalie Dominguez, 18, also said 30-year-old Keith Roberts has emailed her and driven by her house as recently as last month, and that she fears he will follow her down to Illinois State University when she starts college.

“I am afraid when I go off to college, because Keith knows where I am going, he will follow me,” Dominguez wrote in a petition for a protective order. “He continues to contact me even though I told him not to. I fear for my safety as he will not take no for an answer.”

Will County Judge Arkadiusz Z. Smigielski denied the petition for an emergency order. A hearing on the matter was scheduled for Aug. 28.

Dominguez disappeared June 3, as did Roberts. Dominguez later returned home of her own volition, said Bolingbrook police Lt. Carter Larry. On Monday, Larry said Roberts, a Joliet resident, is not the subject of a police investigation and will not be charged in connection with Dominguez’s disappearance.

In her petition, Dominguez accused Roberts of coercing her to leave. She said “Keith told me I had to go with him because if I did not go I would get in trouble and the police would arrest him and I would be questioned. Out of fear I did what he said.”

Just one day into her flight with Roberts, Dominguez said, she got a call from her mother.

“When I hung up Keith told me to get rid of the phone, and both Keith and I threw our phones away,” she said. “He was afraid the police would be able to track us.”

After she went back to her family, Dominguez said, Roberts pressured her about what to tell the police.

“I had just returned home from being with Keith,” Dominguez said. “Keith told me to stick with the story and what to tell the police. He wanted me to tell the police that I went with him willingly and we were on vacation.”

Dominguez and Roberts took off together after their romance blossomed at Bolingbrook High School, according to the petition.

“Keith was a teacher of mine in senior year,” Dominguez said. “We started to have lunch together. In April 2015 we started to see each other.”

Dominguez described her relationship with Roberts as “boyfriend/girlfriend” and a “dating relationship.”

On Monday, Valley View School District spokesman Larry Randa said he had “no idea” if Roberts was still employed as a Bolingbrook High teacher but did not expect him back for the coming term.

“He’s not starting the school year, I can tell you that,” Randa said.

Roberts did not respond to telephone messages.