Repossession agent murderers testify

“that the tow truck driver was like reaching for something, could have been a weapon, it could have been something,”

It’s been just over 2 years since the murder of 43-year-old Tim Nielsen, a recovery agent for of Any Capital Recovery of Auburn, California. While there is no sense for what his alleged murderers, 21-year-old Marco Dragula and 20-year-old Aaron Hein did, during their trials, they provided details to the senseless murder.

OAKLAND — Just two weeks after he pleaded guilty to robbery in a deal that dismissed a murder charge, 20-year-old Aaron Hein took the witness stand and tearfully testified that his best friend shot and killed a tow truck driver while the two were in Oakland searching for people to rob, court records show.

“It wasn’t on purpose, I really feel like. I believe it was accidental,” Hein said at a May 24 preliminary hearing, after describing how 21-year-old Marco Dragula walked up to a tow truck being driven by 43-year-old Auburn resident Tim Nielsen. Hein testified that Dragula was holding a semi-automatic pistol, but Hein said he turned his head just before the fatal shot was fired and didn’t see exactly what took place.

Both Hein and Dragula were arrested and charged last October with Nielsen’s murder, along with a juvenile identified in court records only as Mikey Griffin, a resident of Oakland and Pinole.

Nielsen, a father of four, was employed as a repo man by Any Capital Recovery and was driving the streets of Oakland that day looking for cars to repossess. He was fatally shot around 4:15 a.m. on June 14, 2021. After he was shot his truck crashed into a building on the 1800 block of East 12th Street.

At his preliminary hearing, Dragula was ordered to stand trial on murder and attempted robbery charges. The main witness was Hein, who testified about the hours leading up to the shooting and the weeks afterward, when Hein said he and the others went into hiding and tried to avoid discussing what happened over the phones, out of fear authorities were listening.

Hein testified that all three defendants had serious personal problems at the time: Hein was homeless and had stolen his father’s Lincoln Navigator. He believed Dragula, his “best friend,” had been exhibiting signs of schizophrenia. And Griffin had family troubles as well, to the point that Hein was letting him sleep in his car based on the belief he had nowhere else to go.

Around midnight on June 14, the three hatched a badly thought-out plan to rob johns along a section of International Boulevard known as “The Blade,” an area frequented by sex workers. He testified they accosted more than a dozen people but were only able to shake down two for small amounts of money.

By the early morning hours, the group was planning to head back to Dublin when they spotted Nielsen’s tow truck and impulsively decided to rob it. Hein testified that he was driving, that Griffin had a BB gun and that Dracula had a pistol, which he had fired into the air to scare someone earlier that morning.

Hein said he stayed in the car and that the other two approached Nielsen. He said he wasn’t looking when he heard a gunshot ring out, and when he turned toward the tow truck his friends were scampering back to the car.

“Bro, what the f— happened?” Hein said he asked Dragula. He paraphrased Dragula’s alleged response, “that the tow truck driver was like reaching for something, could have been a weapon, it could have been something, but he said he was reaching for something and he just shot him.”

Afterward, Hein was badly shaken up. He testified that he didn’t sleep that night, that his emotional state was “disastrous” and that he felt overwhelmed. He was certain they would eventually be arrested. While Hein bounced between Stockton, Pleasanton and Dublin, trying to keep a low profile but still reportedly breaking into cars in the Tri-Valley area, police were using surveillance footage from the shooting to identify the Lincoln and hone in on the three.

“I was traumatized,” Hein testified. But he added, “Tim Nielsen’s family probably got it 10 times worse than we do.”

Source: San Jose Mercury News

Editors note: He was traumatized? Tim Nielsen’s family probably got it 10 times worse? This punk clearly has no idea. Unfortunately, I suspect they will get off on lesser charges claiming it was an accident.

Tim Nielsen’s murder was senseless. But it does exemplify the added dangers that are ever present in the field. Remember, the danger doesn’t end at the end of the driveway.

Related Stories;

Arrests Made in Oakland Repo Man Murder

Family of Murdered Repo Agent Struggles to Carry On

Repossession Agent Murdered in Oakland