Man gets life sentence for stabbing man 55 times, burning body in car in vacant Portland parking lot

Published 4:30 pm Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Thomas Colon was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday, March 19, for the September 2018 murder of Andrew Hathaway. Colon stabbed Hathaway 55 times before putting his body in a car and lighting it on fire. 

Colon was charged with second-degree murder, second-degree arson, first-degree abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence. 

On the morning of trial, Colon pleaded guilty to second-degree arson, second-degree abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence. 

“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,” Multnomah County District Attorney Senior Deputy Shawn Overstreet, who prosecuted the case, said in a statement.

Colon will serve at least 25 years before becoming eligible to apply for parole.

What happened

Hathaway drove to a home where two other men were living and Colon was visiting on Sept. 3, 2018. Officials said all four men were using drugs and were high. 

Colon and Hathaway began physically fighting — alone in the home — to the point where one man later said Colon was winning the fight and Hathaway screamed for help.

The other men broke up the fight, and things calmed down for a while, but it started again despite Hathaway being bloodied. 

Court records state that the fighting briefly stopped for a second time, but Colon then resumed beating and stabbing Hathaway until he was dead. There were 55 stab wounds and six slice wounds on his body.

Colon and one of the other two men moved Hathaway’s body to the trunk of his own car and drove it to Northeast Marine Drive, and left it in the vacant parking lot and set the car on fire. 

Hathaway’s body was found in the trunk, and officials said it was about 80% charred from the fire.