PALM BEACH GARDENS –When chefs Michael Cimbrec and Jackie Barthelemy met for the first time more than a decade ago, “it was like oil and water,” Cimbrec says. Everything was a competition in the kitchen.
Now, after 12 years together, sharing a home in Palm Beach Gardens with their two children, and dozens of family trips and meals under their belts, he joked there was still competition but they were inseparable.
“Being in the (culinary) field, we’re very passionate,” he said.“And we showed that passion for each other.”
He said even when they had their occasional tiff, like they wereFriday beforeshe was killed in an attempted robbery inside the gas station less than a mile from their Cabana Colony home, she would always put him first.
He was reminded of that when he went to get things from her car in the hours after her death and saw what was sitting inside: a box of food from the event she cooked for that night, he said, choking back tears.
“And I knew it was for me because she only ever took a couple bites of anything,” he said, laughing through his emotions.
Barthelemy, 36, was fatally shot at the Chevron station on Alternate State Road A1A at about 10:30 p.m.Friday during the attempted robbery.
Ezequiel Nunez, 18, was arrested Saturday and faces charges of murder, robbery with a firearm, aggravated assault and tampering with evidence. He remains in the Palm Beach County jail without bail, according to court records.
Staff at the gas station, a nearby neighbor and security-camera footage first obtained by WPBF-25 from inside the gas station show two masked and hooded individuals in the store.
Cimbrec said when he saw the video, it looked likeBarthelemy was rushing in to help the clerk inside when she realized what was going on. He said he knew his wife was always first to help someone, but he was mad. He wishedshe had just called police, he said sobbing for a moment.
"I'd tell her, 'You have to slow down. You can't do everything,' " he said.
City police have not released any information about the second person. As of Tuesday evening, no one else had been arrested in the homicide, one of 53 confirmed in Palm Beach County during 2020, according to a Palm Beach Post online database. It was the first homicide of the year in Palm Beach Gardens.
Michelle DeRoche, general manager atMayacoo Lakes Country Club in suburban West Palm Beach where Barthelemy was the executive chef, said she was devastated by the "senseless killing."She said while some people have their "work wife" or "work husband," she saidBarthelemy was her "work daughter."
She first hiredBarthelemy in 2011 because she was"genuine, ambitious, professional."
She said as she got to know Barthelemy over the years, she saw her as a dedicated overachiever always trying to take her skills to the next level with new degrees or taking the younger staff in the kitchen under her wing.
"She always saw the best in everyone. She would achieve and acquire any goal that sought.She is just a shining star," DeRoche said.
Cimbrec and DeRoche agreed the only thing that came ahead of her job was her family.
Cimbrec said whileBarthelemy called him her husband, the pair had never officially been married – though recently, he said looking back at the subtle hints, he thinks he may have wished for it.
He said theirinside joke would be, "Why would spoil a good thingby getting married?"
Even without the official title, he said there lives were intertwined. He said they lived for their children and their time at the beach, spending at least four days out of the week out on the water.
He said she was an "All-American, corn-fed, Midwestern gal" who loved football and her family.
He said she was a dedicated mother who, even spending 12-plus hour days at her job sometimes, would always make sure her son, 14-year-old Trenten, would get to baseball practice on time. As a softball player herself, she wasn't "just another mom in the stands," but instead was engaged and encouraging.
"She wanted to be in on the action," he said. "That's how she lived her life."
He said even on the night she was killed, Barthelemy was on the phone with his daughter, 17-year-old Alexis, telling her about the importance of school as she enteredher senior year of high school.
And she led by example, he said. As a graduate of both Johnson and Wales and the Art Institute, he said that while juggling everything, she was working on her next certification in her field.
"She'd be on the bleachers reading her books," he said.
DeRochesaid that while she knew Barthelemy as the ambitious chef, she said she also knew her young friend as a"ray of sunshine."
She said she remembered a time where they only had a few hours to sleep between events at the club, so they slept in her car instead of going home. Astired as they were, when they got inside and Queen's "We Are the Champions" came on through the radio,Barthelemy belted all the words.
"I’m 60 and have met a lot of people in my life," she said. "But (Jackie) is a person that was so genuine and beautiful inside and outside."
She said the night her "beautiful friend" was killed, it was the first night they hosted a dinner at the club since March 16 when they closed because of coronavirus restrictions.She saidBarthelemy was so excited to be back and present a beautiful meal.
When she got the call next morning with the news, she said she couldn't catch her breath. Since then, she's thought over and over what could have changed what happened.
"You ask yourself: Had we ended dinner an hour earlier?If we had stayed five minutes longer? What ifwe didn't have the dinner at all?" she said.
"I loved her like she was my own child. It’s like there was this bright light and it's gone."
@hannahwinston
hwinston@pbpost.com
