Driver caused fatal Olympia wreck while fleeing deputies. Here is her sentence
A Seattle woman will serve nearly 23 years in prison for causing a fatal head-on collision during a 2024 pursuit in the Olympia area.
Judge Christine Schaller sentenced Nicole Rene Romanoff, 35, to 275 months in prison and three years of community custody in Thurston County Superior Court Monday.
Romanoff pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and vehicular assault while under the influence of drugs on Jan. 14, according to court records.
The charges stemmed from the events of Sept. 7, 2024. That day, Romanoff asked residents in the east Lacey area for fentanyl, The Olympian previously reported. One of the residents asked her to leave and called 911. Thurston County deputies responded to the scene and observed her driving recklessly through oncoming traffic on Pacific Avenue Southeast. Deputies attempted to pull her over but she did not stop, prompting a high-speed pursuit.
At one point, she drove west in the eastbound lanes of Pacific Avenue and collided head-on into a car with three occupants near the intersection with Fones Road.
First responders reportedly transported the driver and two passengers to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia.
Gina C. Munna, a 70-year-old Georgia woman who rode in the car, later died as a result of the collision.
Romanoff showed an “egregious lack of remorse shortly after the collision,” prosecutors alleged in an April 20 sentencing memorandum signed by deputy prosecutors Olivia Zhou and Leanne Stogsdill.
Romanoff reportedly told a state trooper she was not under arrest and denied hurting anybody, according to the memo.
“You guys can’t just say random (expletive),” Romanoff allegedly said. “I didn’t kill anybody. I didn’t (expletive) hurt anybody. Nobody died. Why are you guys making (expletive) up?”
A blood test showed Romanoff had 3.5 nanograms per milliliter of fentanyl, 0.38 milligrams per liter of methadone, .014 mg/L of amphetamine and .11 mg/L of methamphetamine in her system, per the memo.
Prosecutors initially charged Romanoff with nine counts, according to court records.
- Second-degree murder
- Vehicular homicide
- Two counts of vehicular assault
- Hit-and-run fatality
- Attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle
- Two counts of second-degree assault
- Possession of a stolen motor vehicle
However, prosecutors dropped most of the charges to close out the case with a plea deal. She ultimately pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and one count of vehicular assault.
Prosecutors recommended two concurrent sentences for Romanoff.
- 20 years and five months in prison followed by three years of community custody for the second-degree murder charge.
- Two years and five months in prison followed by one year and six months of community custody for the vehicular assault charge.
“While attempting to elude law enforcement, Romanoff passed many points on the road in which she could have stopped and pulled over the vehicle she was driving,” the memo states.
Instead, she chose to continue to flee from law enforcement at a high rate of speed while driving into the oncoming lane of traffic in a manner that endangered the lives and safety of numerous members of our community.”
The prosecutor’s recommendation fell within the middle of her sentencing range. Prosecutors argued a low-end sentence of 195 months was not appropriate due to aggravating factors.
However, prosecutors said those factors were also mitigated by the fact that Romanoff did not deliberately intend to hurt or kill someone. Thus, the state did not recommend a high-end sentence of 295 months in prison.
Public defense attorneys Diana Wildland and Kevin Griffin represented Romanoff. In an April 20 memo, the defense attorneys asked for the low-end sentence, stating that Romanoff had accepted responsibility for her conduct and “clearly did not intend to cause any person’s death.”
“Her actions were reckless, and the tragic outcome in this case could have been prevented,” the defense sentencing memo states. “But, she did not intend to cause this harm. And she has wished every day since that she could have that day to do over. She will feel that way for the rest of her life.”
Romanoff has a long, adult criminal history that dates back to 2011. Most of her convictions are third-degree theft, and she has one felony conviction for four counts of second-degree identity theft in a 2013 King County case.
“She has no other felony history,” the memo states. “She has no prior conviction for anything that could be considered violent in any way.”
Her attorneys said Romanoff had an unstable home life growing up and suffered from substance abuse disorder. She managed to turn her life around at 30 with the help of treatment and became a mother, according to the memo.
However, she relapsed in 2022 during her second pregnancy, and Child Protective Services ultimately removed her two children from her care.
She struggled with her sobriety in the ensuing years and made a “series of horrible decisions” that led to the fatal collision in 2024, according to the memo.
On Sept. 7, 2024, Romanoff was “out of control” and searching for more drugs, per the memo. She took a person’s car without their permission and traveled to the Olympia area “without a real plan in place.”
“She was lost, high and confused,” the memo states. “When she realized law enforcement was attempting to stop her and the vehicle she was in, she panicked.”
Romanoff believed law enforcement would stop pursuing her if she drove recklessly, according to the memo.
Sheriff Derek Sanders commented on Romanoff’s sentencing in a Monday Facebook post. He said Romanoff had 47 prior arrests and three active warrants at the time of her arrest in 2024.
“Nicole would not be facing a 23-year murder sentence, and Gina would still be alive, if Nicole’s underlying problems were resolved in a secure facility sometime during her first 47 arrests,” Sanders said.
Continuously releasing Nicole back into society set no one up for success: not her, not her victims, and not the law enforcement officers tasked with mitigating her destructive behavior. Rest in peace, Gina.”
