Wednesday, March 19, 2025 Multnomah County Judge Christopher Ramras sentenced Thomas Colon to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years for Count 1, Murder in the Second Degree. Mr. Colon was also sentenced to the following:
Count 2, Arson in the Second Degree – 10 days jail to run concurrent to Count 1
Count 3, Abuse of a Corpse in the First Degree – 16 months in the Department of Corrections to run consecutive to Count 1.
Count 4, Tampering with Physical Evidence – 364 days jail to run concurrent to Counts 1, 2 and 3.
3/14/25
Today a Multnomah County jury convicted Thomas Robert Colon (DOB 11/19/1980) of murdering Andrew Hathaway on September 5th, 2018. Colon was originally indicted on four counts including Murder in the Second Degree, Arson in the Second Degree, Abuse of a Corpse in the First Degree and Tampering with Physical Evidence.
The morning of the trial, Colon pled guilty to Arson in the Second Degree, Abuse of a Corpse in the Second Degree and Tampering with Physical Evidence.
The Facts:
On September 3, 2018 in Multnomah County, Hathaway drove to a house where two other men were living and Colon was visiting. That evening all four men were using drugs and high. At one point Colon and Hathaway were alone in the house and they began a physical fight. One of the other men later said that Colon was winning the fight and Hathaway was screaming for help. The other men broke up the fight and things calmed down for a time. Eventually the fight started up again and Hathaway was bloodied. It briefly stopped for a second time but then continued with Colon beating and stabbing Hathaway until he was dead.
Colon and one of the other two men moved Hathaway’s body to the trunk of Hathaway’s car and drove it to Marine Drive. They left it in a vacant parking lot and set the car on fire. Responding fire crews found Hathaway’s body in the trunk. Eighty percent of Hathaway’s body was charred by the fire. An autopsy revealed that he died before the fire and had 55 stab wounds and six slice wounds on his body.
Multnomah County District Attorney Senior Deputy Shawn Overstreet prosecuted the case along with Deputy District Attorney Kenzie Ludwig.
“This is some justice for the Hathaway family. They’ve been living with this for seven years. I’m glad we could finally bring them some closure. This was a lengthy, involved investigation with lots of misdirection from others in the beginning. But we saw it through and found the killer,” Overstreet said.
The District Attorney’s Office would like to acknowledge the work of retired Portland Police Bureau Detective Vince Cui for his excellent work.
We’d also like to thank District Attorney’s Office Victim Advocate Souk Kanhalikham for compassionate care for those impacted by these crimes.
Colon faces a mandatory minimum of a life sentence in prison. He will serve 25 years before becoming eligible to apply for parole.
He will be sentenced Wednesday, March 19th at 9am in courtroom 10C at the Multnomah County Courthouse.