In the late summer of 2022, the life of Thomas Patrick Nielson, a 61-year-old White male from Madras, Oregon, was brought to a violent end. The ordeal began on September 8, 2022, when two people, Audrey Nicole Hahn and Victor Manuel Romero Jr., arrived at Nielson’s home on Culver Highway. There, they assaulted and abducted him, forcing him into a vehicle.
Around the same time, his mobile home was destroyed by fire.
Nielson had last been seen on September 6, and by September 21, 2022, law enforcement officially listed him as a missing and endangered person. For his family, it was the start of a painful year of uncertainty. One of his sons, Zack Nielson, later recalled, “I sat in that darkness for an entire year, hoping they’d find my dad, and he’d be OK.” The search came to a grim conclusion on September 9, 2023, when Nielson's body was discovered on private property in neighboring Crook County. An investigation determined he had been taken to the remote location off Lone Pine Road and shot multiple times.
The investigation led to the arrests of Hahn and Romero. Hahn was arrested in September 2023. Romero had already been apprehended in California in September 2022 on unrelated drug charges and was extradited to Oregon in November 2024 to face charges in Nielson’s death. A Crook County grand jury indicted both on multiple counts, including first and second-degree murder, kidnapping, and unlawful use of a weapon. The indictment alleged the murder was committed in the course of intentional maiming or torture and in an effort to conceal the initial assault.
In April 2026, Victor Manuel Romero Jr. accepted a plea agreement. He pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, first-degree kidnapping, unlawful use of a weapon, and felon in possession of a firearm. During the sentencing hearing, Nielson’s son Brian described his father as a disabled senior and the crime as “one of the most heinous, brutal crimes in Oregon history.” Crook County Circuit Judge Wade Whiting sentenced Romero to 25 years in prison.
Audrey Hahn pleaded not guilty to the charges against her. As of April 2026, her case was still pending before the court.
