Left inset: Alyssa Roman (Omaha Police Department). Right inset: Alan Critser (Meredith – Clark Funeral Home). Background: The location near Hanover Circle and Mormon Bridge Road in Omaha, Neb., where Alyssa Roman fatally shot Alan Critser in 2023 (Google Maps).
A Nebraska woman who almost decapitated her boyfriend with a shotgun in 2023—later confessing to authorities that she was under the influence of “LSD” during the homicide—has agreed to a plea deal, resulting in her murder charge being reduced to manslaughter by the prosecutors.
According to court documents, Alyssa K. Roman, 31, admitted no contest in the previous month for the fatal shooting of Alan Critser, 33, at the residence they shared near Hanover Circle and Mormon Bridge Road in Omaha.
Roman admitted to blasting Critser in the upper torso and neck with a shotgun on Dec. 29, 2023, after taking LSD earlier in the day.
Police arrived at the scene following a report of a “home invasion” occurring at another nearby house, where Roman had attempted entry that night. Witnesses noted that “a white female with pink hair, wearing only a shirt and no pants,” forced her way inside and “had to be physically removed.” The arrest affidavit states Roman fled but was later apprehended at her own home, “exhibiting signs of excited delirium.” It was this house where Critser’s body was discovered.
After taking Roman to the hospital for evaluation, officers noticed “apparent blood” on the house walls and what looked like “suspected skull and brain matter” in the hallway at the main staircase’s top, as detailed in the affidavit. Critser was found with a noticeable gunshot wound in the main upstairs bedroom, his head “almost severed from his body,” as described by prosecutors.
A shotgun was located in a “different upstairs bedroom, with women’s garments placed over the shotgun’s barrel,” the affidavit noted.
After her release from the hospital, Roman received her Miranda warning and stated that Critser “did not shoot himself” and that they were the only two individuals present in the home at the time of the shooting. She made “additional incriminating statements” regarding Critser’s shooting death, according to cops, along with comments about being on LSD.
“When asked if she had taken any drugs, she answered affirmatively — that she had taken LSD around noon that day, and was feeling its effects ‘a little,'” a judge’s order said in December 2024.
“The defendant did not appear to be intoxicated, and was relaxed and comfortable, until she was informed that her fiance was deceased,” the order explained. “Then she became hysterical.”
Roman told police she and Critser were having a conversation about “past trauma” leading up to the shooting, per the court documents.
“The defendant professed not to remember anything after,” according to the judge. “While the defendant did confess to feeling the effects of LSD a little, she took the drug at about noon, and her interview did not occur until more than 12 hours later.”
When cops first made contact with Roman, the officers thought it was “odd” to be outside in the cold with nothing but a shirt, according to the judge’s account. “There was snow on the ground,” the judge said.
It was later proven through medical tests that Roman was, in fact, under the influence of drugs.
“By the time the defendant arrived at the hospital, the police had located [Critser’s] dead body,” the judge said.
Roman is due to be sentenced in September.
