Left inset: Alyssa Roman (Omaha Police Department). Right inset: Alan Critser (Meredith – Clark Funeral Home). Background: Alyssa Roman in court for murdering her boyfriend, Alan Critser, at a home in Omaha, Neb., on Dec. 29, 2023 (KETV/YouTube).
A Nebraska woman who nearly blew her boyfriend”s head “off his body” with a shotgun in 2023 while she was on “LSD” has been sentenced to more than half a decade behind bars.
Alyssa K. Roman, 31, was handed a sentence of six to eight years in prison on Wednesday by a Douglas County judge after she pleaded no contest last month for the shooting death of Alan Critser, 33, at a home they shared near Hanover Circle and Mormon Bridge Road in Omaha, according to court records.
Prosecutors downgraded Roman’s original murder charge to manslaughter as part of the plea deal. Douglas County District Judge Katie Benson gave her credit for time served — 629 days total. Manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in Nebraska, the Omaha World-Herald reports.
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. She was displaying “signs of excited delirium” when cops came into contact with her, according to court documents.
Officers had been called to the couple’s residence after receiving a report of a “home invasion” in progress at a different house that Roman had allegedly tried entering that evening. They were told “a white female with pink hair wearing only a shirt and no pants” had barged her way inside and “had to be forcibly removed,” according to Roman’s arrest affidavit. Roman fled and was later caught at her house, where Critser’s body was found.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
After transporting Roman to the hospital for a medical evaluation, cops spotted “apparent blood” on the walls of the residence and “suspected skull and brain matter” in the hallway at the top of the main staircase. They found Critser with an apparent gunshot wound in the main upstairs bedroom. His head was “almost off his body,” according to prosecutors.
A shotgun was found in a “separate upstairs bedroom with women’s pants and underwear apparel placed over the top of the shotgun’s barrel,” the affidavit said.
After her release from the hospital, Roman told cops 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 the slaying, along with comments about being on LSD, a powerful hallucinogenic drug.
“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” before she blew him away with the shotgun.
“The defendant professed not to remember anything after,” according to the judge’s order. “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. “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 LSD.
“By the time the defendant arrived at the hospital, the police had located [Critser’s] dead body,” the judge said.
