The Crook County Jail is seen in this 2019 photo. 

A second person has been arrested in the alleged murder of a Madras man whose body was found last year in Crook County after he was first reported missing from his home in September 2022.

Victor Manuel Romero Jr., 27, was indicted secretly in June by Crook County Circuit Court on five counts of first-degree murder and two counts of felony kidnapping for the death of Thomas Nielson, 61. Romero was also charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm as a felon. Audrey Nicole Hahn, 33, was indicted in Neilson’s murder in 2023. She pleaded not guilty to the same murder and kidnapping charges on Sept. 8, 2023, and has been held without bail in the Crook County Jail since.

On Nov. 22, Romero was transported to Crook County from a California jail where he was being held on unrelated charges. He is now being held without bail after pleading not guilty on Nov. 25 to all charges related to Neilson’s death.

Both indictments accuse Hahn and Romero of killing Nielson “in the course of or as a result of intentional maiming or torture” and of using a firearm against Nielson, and that the kidnapping and murder were committed in an attempt to conceal evidence of assault.

Few details are available about what happened to Nielson outside of the indictments, and it is unclear what the motive was.

Neilson was last seen Sept. 9, 2022. Police then sought the public’s help in finding Nielson, who they believed at the time was missing and endangered, according to a news release.

Nielson’s home at 1610 SW Culver Highway was destroyed in a fire shortly after his disappearance, according to the Madras Pioneer.

Hahn was originally set to face trial in February, but that date has been canceled. No additional trial dates have yet been set for either Hahn or Romero.