Inset: Andrea Roman (North Las Vegas Police Department). Background: The Olive Garden in North Las Vegas where Andrea Roman allegedly ran over her boyfriend's head and killed him (Google Maps).
A Nevada woman is accused of intentionally running over her boyfriend and the father of her eight children — crushing his head and killing him with her new SUV — in the parking lot of an Olive Garden after the couple got into a fight. Prosecutors say the woman "inched forward" and "turned the wheel towards him" before taking the man's life in front of their youngest child.
"She knows the difference between reverse and drive," said Clark County District Attorney Kassandra Acosta at a preliminary hearing Tuesday for 40-year-old Andrea Roman, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
"She clearly knew," Acosta said.
A criminal complaint obtained by Law&Crime accuses Roman of the "willful, deliberate and premeditated" murder of Bryan Hicks, 40, for allegedly "striking" him with her vehicle on Oct. 18, 2025.
Roman, who is charged with murder with use of a deadly weapon, had been dating Hicks for about 20 years and had eight children with him, the Review-Journal reports. The couple was allegedly arguing outside an Olive Garden in North Las Vegas before the slaying and had their youngest child, a 4-year-old, with them.
The fight started inside of Roman's brand new Mitsubishi Outlander, which she had for less than a day, before spilling out into the parking lot, according to prosecutors. Hicks got out of the vehicle and Roman allegedly struck him with the Outlander; she claims she meant to put the car in reverse but accidentally accelerated forward.
"Look at the fact that Ms. Roman had just purchased this vehicle, had been using this car for basically the better part of the morning, and there was no testimony that she had been backing up and going forward," defense attorney David Lopez-Negrete told the court during Roman's preliminary hearing.
"I think if you add it all up, you see that there is a very viable argument that this was an accidental strike," Lopez-Negrete said.
Acosta pointed out how the couple had been driving that morning and visited a pawn shop, where Roman allegedly would have had to reverse the Outlander while parking, the Review-Journal reports.
Roman claims she did not mean to hit Hicks, who died of traumatic asphyxia after getting pinned under her vehicle. Her lawyer says the Outlander did not have a traditional gearshift and when officers responded to the scene they were unable to pull Hicks out from under the car because the gears could not be changed.
Roman allegedly tried to flee after striking Hicks, but an Olive Garden patron who was in the parking lot reportedly drew a concealed firearm and commanded her to stop. Several other patrons reported seeing what happened while grabbing lunch at the Italian restaurant, including an off-duty police detective, according to local CBS affiliate KLAS.
On Tuesday, the Review-Journal reports that Roman was hysterical in the courtroom and wailing loudly while rocking back and forth. She appeared to use her fingers to plug her ears.
The judge overseeing Roman's case ruled that there was enough evidence to support her murder charge and ordered the case to be heard by a jury. Roman was scheduled to return to court on Thursday for her arraignment.
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