Madras man pleads guilty to manslaughter, faces 25-year prison sentence in 2022 fatal shooting

PRINEVILLE, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A Madras man facing trial on murder, kidnap and other charges in the 2022 fatal shooting of another Madras man has pleaded guilty to a lesser manslaughter charge and now faces a 25-year prison sentence, due to be imposed at a hearing this week. 

Victor Manuel Romero Jr., now 29, was serving time in a California prison on drug crimes when he was returned to Central Oregon in November of 2024 to face charges in the September 2022 killing of Thomas Patrick Nielson, 61. 

Romero is due for sentencing Tuesday, nearly a month after he signed a plea petition and pleaded guilty to four of the nine charges he faced: first-degree manslaughter – a lesser included charge to a murder charge – as well as first-degree kidnapping, unlawful use of a weapon and felon in possession of a firearm.  

Romero was scheduled to go on trial April 6, along with a second person charged in the case, Audrey Hahn, now 34, of Bend. Both were indicted on nine felony charges: three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, first and second-degree kidnapping, unlawful use of a weapon and felon in possession of a firearm..  

Crook County Circuit Judge Wade Whiting oversaw a settlement conference, and according to the plea petition, he agreed to sentence Romero to 10 years on the manslaughter charge, 90 months (7.5 years) on the kidnapping charge, five years for unlawful use of a weapon - half of that concurrently, the other half consecutively to the other sentences - and five years for felon in possession of a firearm, also consecutive to the other counts.

Court records show Hahn pleaded not guilty in September 2023, and also was set to go on trial April 6 of this year, but that trial date was canceled, and a settlement conference is pending. 

Nielson was listed as missing and endangered in September of 2022, shortly after his mobile home on the Culver Highway in Madras was destroyed by a fire. Prosecutors said investigators found that Hahn and Romero Jr. Drove to Nielson’s hone on Sept. 8, 2022, then assaulted and abducted him.