‘Crying myself to sleep’: Victim’s daughters testify as killer sentenced in Henderson slaying

Patricia Hinger cannot remember her mother, who was stabbed to death 22 years ago.

The loss has left a painful void.

“As I child, I never got to experience what it was like to have a mom or have that special mother-daughter bond,” Hinger, 27, told a judge. “I spent countless nights crying myself to sleep, wondering if I could have done anything to save her that night if I was there. Any time I think of my mom, I cry, because I would do anything to see her one last time and hear her voice.”

The man who killed Theresa Romano, 48-year-old Ricky Lee Trader, was linked to the crime scene by his DNA and sentenced to a 10- to 25-year prison term Wednesday by District Judge Michelle Leavitt after he admitted to the cold-case Henderson murder.

Ricky Lee Trader pleaded guilty in July to a count of second-degree murder for Romano’s 2003 death. His plea deal specified the sentence he received.

Authorities had accused Trader of fatally stabbing Romano, 28. Trader was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 10 years in a separate 2003 murder case for the stabbing death of Robert Wittwer and was arrested last year in Reno after being released from prison.

Hinger said her mother’s death has caused her to feel “a sense of fear” in her life.

“He didn’t just rob me of knowing my mother,” she said. “He robbed my daughter from ever knowing her grandmother and what a wonderful person she would have been.”

She said after court that she wishes Trader could have received a longer sentence.

Killer apologizes

Courtney Foster, another daughter of Romano, said she had “decided to show forgiveness to the defendant” even though “his actions forced me into a life I didn’t deserve and a life I hated.”

Trader expressed remorse.

“I’m grateful that the day has come that your prayers have been answered,” said Trader, addressing the victim’s family. “I know this has been a long road for you guys and your family. I can’t imagine the grief, pain and suffering that you all have gone through.”

“I cannot express to you how deeply sorry I am,” he added.

Hinger said Trader’s apology caught her and her sister off guard. They hadn’t expected it.

Chief Deputy Special Public Defender Jin Kim-Steadman said in a sentencing memorandum that her client “understands what it is to grow up without much family support” and wanted to give the victim’s family closure.

Henderson police did not respond to a request for comment after the hearing.

‘Blood all over the place’

Police connected Trader to the crime long before his arrest.

Romano was found with stab wounds on her neck, according to a police report, and her bra and skirt had been pulled up. Under her torso, investigators found scissors, which they believed to be the murder weapon.

A woman arrested on unrelated charges in 2003 told police Trader had appeared at her house a couple days before Wittwer’s death. Trader “was mumbling about ‘there was blood all over the place and she wouldn’t shut up,’” according to police.

Trader’s fingerprints were matched to items in Romano’s residence in 2004.

He was also interviewed in prison by detectives in 2010 and told them he and Romano had a relationship that “developed because of illegal drug activity” and that they “had engaged in casual sex.” He denied the informant’s claims, but said he remembered police taking his DNA around the time of the death.

Police reviewed the case in 2021 and requested new DNA testing. Henderson police sent swabs to the Metropolitan Police Department’s forensic lab and in May 2024, authorities matched swabs from the victim’s fingernails and underwear to Trader. Last July, Trader spoke with detectives again and denied having sex with Romano or killing her, according to police.

Wants to be there for her daughter

Hinger said her mother was a figure skater and drug counselor, but had also struggled with substance abuse.

She wondered about the person who killed her mother. Growing up, Hinger said her dad told her he didn’t know who did it. She said she learned of Trader’s arrest from a reporter and thought it was a scam until she looked it up and found news articles.

“We had no clue about him,” she said of Trader.

Hinger now lives in Texas and works as a juvenile detention officer, a career she chose partly because of what happened to her mother, she said.

The killing also had an impact on how she raises her nearly 2-year-old daughter. She said she wants to do everything with her little girl and be as present as possible.

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.