Detectives Stephanie Winter and Devin Rigo of the Hillsboro, Oregon, Police Department had never encountered a crime scene like the one they encountered in January 2023.
Natalie Morales: How would you two characterize this case when you first got it? What did you think?
Det. Stephanie Winter: You know, I just thought that it’s a wild case.
Det. Stephanie Winter: It was in the evening … after nine.
Det. Devin Rigo: So we all got a page on our department cell phones saying that there was … death at Intel.
Intel, the giant tech company known for its innovative computer chips, had several large production facilities in Hillsboro, outside of Portland.
Det. Stephanie Winter: It didn’t make sense. … He looked like he had passed peacefully. … there was minimal blood within the car.
POLICE FIND A DEAD BODY INSIDE AN OREGON PARKING GARAGE
The deceased was Kenneth “Kenny” Fandrich, age 56, a contract pipe fitter at the plant. His wife, Tanya, had reported him missing when he was late getting home. Like many couples, they shared their locations on their phones. Tanya tracked him to the Intel parking lot.
TANYA FANDRICH (police bodycam video): What’s wrong?
OFFICER: We — we’re not sure right now.
She was already there at the garage when police arrived with body cameras rolling.
OFFICER (police bodycam video): So, we’re going to have the fire — we’re gonna have the medics —
TANYA FANDRICH: Where is he? …
OFFICER: He’s here in the garage somewhere …
A short time later, she learned that her husband was dead.
The Hillsboro Police Mobile Command Center was stationed at the scene, and that was where detectives first talked to Tanya.
Natalie Morales (Inside the Mobile Command Center): That night, you — you brought Tanya Fandrich, right in here … What did she seem like to you?
Det. Dayanna Mesch: She was very monotone … in the way she was speaking.
Detective Dayanna Mesch was first to interview Tanya Fandrich.
Det. Dayana Mesh: She seemed very out of her body. Like she didn’t react as —
Natalie Morales: Mm-hmm.
Det. Dayanna Mesch: — as much as you would think somebody would … but I had to kind of pull a lot of the answers out of her.
Mesch learned more about why Tanya had been at the scene.
Det. Dayanna Mesch: She told me that they had some issues in the past with their marriage … now … they would check in on each other more often. …
Natalie Morales: Do alarm bells sort of go off here?
Det. Dayanna Mesch: Yeah. There was some suspicion … we always look at the people closest to the deceased.
But Mesch knew better than to draw conclusions right away.
Det. Dayanna Mesch: Everybody grieves differently … it just was different than other victims I’ve seen …
There was a lot to process for Tanya and investigators. The scene did not appear violent.
Det. Stephanie Winter: His lunch bag … his lunch, his keys, his phone, all set neatly next to him in the passenger seat.
Det. Stephanie Winter: My first thought was, how are we going to figure this out?
Their first clues would come from those surveillance cameras.
Det. Devin Rigo (watching security video): So he will pop up right here, uh, next to that column that we’re seeing right here in the — in the corner. Just kinda waits for a camera and then just pops up.
The detectives discovered a man wearing a hard hat and red-mirror tinted glasses had actually spray painted those cameras around 7 a.m. earlier that same day — his movements undetected by Intel security.
Det. Devin Rigo: I wanna say about six or seven cameras.
But there were also cameras that had not been sprayed. And investigators locked in on images of a vehicle they believed belonged to the suspect.
Det. Devin Rigo: We’re looking at early afternoon now, and then we see this maroon van come in the parking garage. And no front plate on the car.
It was an older, maroon-colored Dodge van. They tracked the van’s movement’s camera by camera before it disappeared. Under a layer of blue spray paint, moments later they could just make out the van pulling into a parking spot.
Det. Devin Rigo (watching security video): So right here, you can see that the van is this shadow right in here.
Natalie Morales: OK, right.
Det. Devin Rigo: And then, this vehicle right here is actually Kenneth Fandrich’s black Honda Civic.
It was 3:21 p.m., just after Kenny had finished his shift.
He is seen on video walking back through the garage. And then… very hard to see… behind the blue spray paint.
Det. Devin Rigo (watching surveillance video): You can see a little bit of movement right here —
Natalie Morales: Mm-hmm.
Det. Devin Rigo: — in the — in the thing. And that is Kenneth walking back to his car.
Det. Devin Rigo: You just kind of have to watch the — kind of shadows essentially what’s going on —
Natalie Morales: Mm-hmm.
Det. Devin Rigo: — between the two vehicles.
Det. Devin Rigo: — you start seeing the headlights flash a couple times like, you know … somebody be unlocking their car.
Detectives say the headlights on Kenny’s Honda flashed as he unlocked his car with his key fob. That’s when they believe the masked man grabbed Fandrich, still holding onto his keys.
Det. Devin Rigo (watching security video): You see a lot of movement happening all of a sudden.
Natalie Morales: Then you see a lot of lights.
Det. Devin Rigo: A lot of lights.
Detectives say that’s Kenny desperately pushing his key fob as the masked man dragged him into that maroon van.
Natalie Morales: What do you think that’s what’s going on in there during that when you see those lights flashing?
Det. Devin Rigo: We think … that’s when the person in the van is murdering Kenneth.
Detectives say Kenny was killed inside that maroon Dodge van before the killer staged Kenny’s body in his black Honda.
That meant the van itself would be a critical piece of evidence – the actual murder scene.
Det. Devin Rigo: There could have been … clothing … and who knows … what … else in that minivan.
But finding the van would be a challenge. They couldn’t see the license plates or the driver.
The results of the autopsy would reveal – Kenny Fandrich had died from “blunt and compressive trauma of the neck.”
His neck had been broken. But who would want to kill Kenny Fandrich?
Det. Devin Rigo: It was really … initially like this big whodunit for us, a big mystery.
A mystery they hoped might be solved when Intel security staff told investigators about another incident — additional video images from the garage recorded a month earlier.
Det. Devin Rigo: … we learned that, hey, FYI, we — about a month prior, we reported our cameras being spray painted as well.
That incident was investigated — a criminal mischief call — but they never figured out who it was.
Det. Devin Rigo: … it was a man dressed in a —
Det. Stephanie Winter: A construction —
Det. Devin Rigo: — construction helmet, black glasses, a mask. And we’re like, well, that’s a clue.
Investigators were 100 percent certain it was the same person, wearing different glasses, and they say these new images revealed an unusual clue.
Det. Stephanie Winter: We had this — this distinctive forehead crease that we could see in this photo.
Natalie Morales: That little bit of forehead that you see.
Det. Stephanie Winter: Just the little bit of forehead. That’s — that’s what we got.
Natalie Morales: That’s a very odd clue right there
Det. Stephanie Winter: It is … But for us it was a big — a big deal.
And the detectives had one other “big deal” — something Tanya Fandrich told them the night her husband died.
OFFICER (police bodycam video) Has he — has he been having any issues lately?
TANYA FANDRICH: No, but he has a stalker.
A stalker — who had been harassing her husband. And she had proof: a video from their own home security camera.
Det. Devin Rigo: You actually see the person … kinda crawl and move around a bit underneath the — the trailer right there.
WHO WAS STALKING KENNY FANDRICH?
In the early hours of the investigation into the murder of Kenny Fandrich, his wife Tanya told detectives her husband had a stalker — seen on the couple’s home security cameras in the carport of their home in Oregon City, Oregon.
Devin Rigo: Here’s …some sort of like utility trailer right here. … And you’ll notice right under the trailer — you actually see the person … kinda crawl and move around a bit underneath … the trailer right there.
Tanya told detectives the stalker was her old boss, Dr. Steven Milner. Milner was a well-to-do veterinarian, worth millions. She had worked with him in his clinic as a vet tech.
Friends Cheryl Choquette and Darlyn Robinson were longtime clients of the vet.
Natalie Morales: What was he like —
Darlyn Robinson: He was —
Natalie Morales: — as a vet?
Darlyn Robinson: — he was wonderful. He was very compassionate, caring, kind.
Cheryl Choquette: He was a great vet.
Choquette even took part in a video Milner made for his clinic, which had aired on the local news.
Natalie Morales: The kind of vet that get — gets down at the level of the dog? Like on the floor with them?
Cheryl Choquette: Definitely on the floor.
And both Choquette and Robinson knew Tanya — at least by sight.
Darlyn Robinson: She was there for, I think 19 years and … she was the one who would come out and get us to take us back to the room and kind of do the intake on the animals.
Cheryl Choquette: Just a sweet, nice lady, very, you know, kind of quiet … but super friendly and very caring.
Detectives soon learned about a complicated relationship between Tanya and Milner. Tanya told investigators she and Milner had once had an affair — it began in early 2017. At the time, Milner was separated, and Tanya said her relationship with Kenny hit a rough patch.
Natalie Morales: Did you notice any interactions between her and Dr. Milner?
Cheryl Choquette: Just completely professional. … It was just, you know, he comes in, she goes out of the room.
Natalie Morales: He was the boss?
Cheryl Choquette: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
But Robinson thought she noticed something.
Darlyn Robinson: There came a point where my brain just kind of went, I wonder if there’s, you know, something going on, cause …. just looks they would give each other.
Milner and Tanya tried to keep their affair quiet, say investigators. Milner even gave her a secret name: Kiki.
Mahalee Streblow: One of the nicknames … was Kiki Essex.
Prosecutor Mahalee Streblow worked on the case.
Mahalee Streblow: It’s one of those, that’s like … you know, the name of your first pet and then the street that … you grew up on.
But the couple’s affair was exposed after a few months in July 2017, when they attended a wedding together. Prosecutor John Gerhard.
John Gerhard: There were employees from the veterinary clinic that were there.
Mahalee Streblow: She was under the impression that Kenneth was out of town for work.
John Gerhard: Tanya indicated that they had both been drinking and that they were engaging in more physical intimacy in front of the employees during that wedding.
As the night ended, Tanya went home with Milner.
Mahalee Streblow: Lo and behold, Kenneth was not out of town for work.
When Tanya didn’t return home that night, Kenny went to Milner’s house.
Mahalee Streblow: And that’s how they got caught.
Det. Devin Rigo: Kenny didn’t confront or make a big scene at the house. He kind of left the house and then started calling, um … to try to figure out what’s going on.
According to Tanya, she ended the affair soon after they were caught.
Det. Devin Rigo: After that … the relationship with Tanya and Steve Milner kind of stopped —
And that’s when Kenny Fandrich said Dr. Milner started harassing him.
Michael Fuller: When Kenny came to me, he was terrified.
Michael Fuller was Kenny’s attorney.
Michael Fuller: This stalking issue had basically consumed his life.
Fuller says Milner started with harassing calls, then escalated from there.
Michael Fuller: Milner literally coming onto his property in the middle of the night … following him, to work, threatening him, those type of things.
Tanya eventually left Milner’s clinic. But Milner continued to track Kenny. Detectives found plenty of evidence of exactly how he did it.
Det. Devin Rigo (looking at evidence with Morales): Tanya actually provided this to us. … and this is one of the actual tracking devices that Steven Milner had placed on one of their vehicles.
Natalie Morales: — is this the device there?
Stephanie Winter: So this — so this is the device.
Natalie Morales: Uh-huh.
Stephanie Winter: We believe this to be the battery pack. And what they had done and put it in this case with the magnets –
Natalie Morales: Mm-hmm.
Stephanie Winter: — and then put it up underneath their vehicle.
In August 2019, roughly two years after Tanya said she ended the affair, Kenny applied for an order of protection against Milner. But detectives would learn the harassment continued – and the vet’s infatuation with Tanya deepened.
Stephanie Winter: He wanted Tanya, and he wasn’t going to stop.
THE VETERINARIAN’S OBSESSION
Within days of Kenny Fandrich’s death, investigators set their sights on a suspect: veterinarian Dr. Steven Milner. Detectives learned he was obsessed with Tanya.
There were love notes.
John Gerhard (reading letter aloud): One of them was: “the one absolute rock, solid truth is that I love you. I have never loved anyone that way. … I am consumed by your soul.”
He wrote letters like that for years even after Tanya had said the affair was over.
Detectives also learned more about Tanya’s relationship with her husband Kenny.
Det. Stephanie Winter: It was a tumultuous relationship. … Alcohol came into play between them. … they were often, you know, as you can say, hot and cold … They argued a lot.
Kenny had been charged with domestic violence years before but the charges were not pursued, and the couple reconciled. Then, in August 2021 — years after Tanya says she ended the affair with Milner — the couple had another fight; this time she was arrested.
The next day, something surprising happened.
Det. Devin Rigo: Somebody posted her bail. She had $25,000 bail … when she leaves the jail, Steven Milner is in the parking lot waiting for her.
Tanya told investigators she ended up staying with the doctor for a couple of days before returning to Kenny. She insisted nothing romantic happened. Milner was just helping her out as a friend.
Det. Devin Rigo: To this day … none of us can figure out how Steven Milner actually found out she had been arrested that night.
That case was later dismissed and the couple reunited again. But Milner’s campaign of harassment continued.
Natalie Morales: What do you think his end goal was … what did he think he could do — end their marriage and then end up happily ever after —
Det. Stephanie Winter: Exactly.
Natalie Morales: — with Tanya?
Det. Devin Rigo: Yeah.
Det. Stephanie Winter: Exactly. … He wanted Kenneth out of the picture. So, he could be that white knight to save Tanya.
In March 2022, just ten months before Kenny’s murder, Milner followed Kenny from Oregon City all the way to Hillsboro — a 45-minute drive.
Kenny spotted him and called police. Milner was pulled over as body cameras captured the interaction.
OFFICER EDWARDS (police bodycam video): Hi, Officer Edwards, Hillsboro police. … Do you know why we’re stopping you today?
DR. STEVE MILNER: Yeah. I’m trying to get a hold of this guy that — I’m following him.
The responding officer learned from dispatch that there was history between the two men.
OFFICER (police bodycam video): What’s your role in the whole thing?
DR. STEVE MILNER: Uh, she has been a friend of mine for 20 years.
Milner told police he believed Tanya was in danger because she had allegedly told him Kenny was abusive.
DR. STEVE MILNER (police bodycam video): I’m the only person who gives a sh** and I’m not allowed to give a sh** …
OFFICER: So here’s my advice to you, OK? And this is very, very strong advice. Leave them alone. He wants nothing to do with you. She wants nothing to do with you. … If you show up at their house, if you contact them, anything like that, you’re gonna go to jail.
After that traffic stop, Kenny filed for a new order for protection. The original one had expired years earlier.
Michael Fuller: Kenny was absolutely in — in fear of his life.
And two weeks later, he was so stressed out, he told police he crashed his car.
KENNETH FANDRICH (police bodycam video): … my wife and I have been fighting today —
OFFICER: Sorry.
KENNETH FANDRICH: — and um, I thought she was at her boss’s house, where I’ve caught her cheating on me.
OFFICE: I’m sorry.
KENNETH FANDRICH: And I was driving over there, and he’s just like right down at road and, I lost control on my car. I just –
Kenny’s attorney says his client had every reason to be stressed out.
Michael Fuller: Kenny told me that Milner … said, “Hey, I’m a veterinarian. I’ve done surgeries and I have the tools to chop you up into little pieces.”
In August 2022, after Kenny found another tracking device under his car, Milner was criminally charged and was awaiting trial.
Michael Fuller: It was pretty clear to me that Milner was not in his right mind.
Just a month later, Kenny filed a civil suit seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars for invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress — allegedly brought on by Milner’s stalking, harassment, and trespass.
Five months later Kenny Fandrich was dead.
Just days after the murder, detectives were convinced that Steven Milner was that man behind the mask, but they needed more evidence.
Det. Devin Rigo: We need to get eyes on Steven Milner because we know there was some sort of violent confrontation. We want to see if he had any injuries.
Not wanting to tip him off – investigators asked him to come in for a check in about the stalking case.
Det. Devin Rigo: So, we arranged a meeting for Steven to come in to sign some paperwork. … Detective Winter was inside at a reception desk.
Natalie Morales: And your goal sitting there at the receptionist desk — sort of as an undercover, right?
Det. Stephanie Winter: I wanted to see if he had any injury to himself. … He walks in. He looks extremely nervous.
Another person in the office noticed something.
Det. Stephanie Winter: She says, “Hey, he has got makeup on his face.”
Makeup, investigators say, Milner used to cover up a scratch on his nose.
Natalie Morales: Bingo. You’re thinking we got our guy?
Det. Stephanie Winter: I — I — yep. At that point, I thought, this is him. This is our guy that — that did this.
Moments later, after Milner walked out the door —
DEPUTY DAVIS (police bodycam video): Hi sir, I’m Deputy Davis, the Sheriff’s Office. We’re being recorded by my camera. So, everything is going to be audio and visually recorded. … Do you understand that?
DR. STEVE MILNER: Yes.
DEPUTY DAVIS: OK, sounds good. … Right now, you’re being detained.
On Jan. 31, 2023, four days after Kenny Fandrich was found dead, Steven Milner was taken into custody. Within days, Milner was charged with second-degree murder and stalking.
With Milner in custody, Rigo and Winter were quickly able to connect one important clue from those surveillance camera images: that unusual crease in the masked man’s forehead.
Det. Stephanie Winter: There’s that very prominent forehead crease that I don’t — he couldn’t hide if he tried.
Natalie Morales: There is no amount of makeup hiding that crease.
Det. Stephanie Winter: No.
Natalie Morales: Do you feel at this point like you’ve got like a pretty solid case?
Det. Devin Rigo: We had a lot of circumstantial pieces, like putting the puzzle together, but we are just at the tip of the iceberg of what we still need to find out.
More puzzle pieces would be found in Milner’s house.
CONNECTING THE PUZZLE PIECES
Det. Stephanie Winter: It was shocking that somebody this successful … a doctor … now suspect in a murder.
With Dr. Steven Milner now in police custody, Hillsboro Detectives Stephanie Winter and Devin Rigo set out to find evidence that could prove Milner was at the scene when Kenny Fandrich was murdered.
Det. Devin Rigo: So, as soon as he is arrested … We’re getting search warrants for his DNA to be taken … we’re getting search warrants for his house as well.
And detectives weren’t quite prepared for what they found at his home.
Det. Stephanie Winter: We found a cardboard cutout behind a mirror of Steven Milner’s face placed on a very oiled, masculine man with a dog paw tattoo over his heart.
Natalie Morales: Very odd memorabilia — to have in your bedroom.
Det. Devin Rigo: Yes.
Det. Stephanie Winter: I would say so.
And there was more.
Det. Devin Rigo: In the nightstand, in Steven’s master bedroom, is a bunch of items that we kind of refer to as a shrine to Tanya. There was a framed picture of Tanya. There were love notes … there were women’s underwear … just like very like personal keepsakes from, what — their relationship together.
Natalie Morales: That’s more than just collecting a few love notes and cards. …
Det. Devin Rigo: Especially from … someone who hadn’t been in a relationship with you for several years at this time period.
To build their case, investigators needed to connect the maroon-colored minivan — seen in the Intel parking garage parked next to Kenny’s car — to Milner. But as far as investigators could determine, Milner usually drove the white Toyota SUV he’d been in when he was arrested.
Det. Devin Rigo: initially, we didn’t know what evidence this car could provide us.
So, they ordered an FBI forensic analysis of the SUV’s computer, hoping it might provide some clues about Milner’s movements before and after Kenny’s murder.
Det. Devin Rigo (showing Milner’s SUV to Morales): So essentially … the computer that’s in the car retains a lot of information.
Natalie Morales: Mm-hmm.
Det. Devin Rigo: And luckily one of those things is like GPS data points …
Natalie Morales: Where was that bit of information? … is that a computer that’s pulled out on top there?
Det. Stephanie Winter: Yeah. So that’s part of the front dash … And then, it was just … a little … motherboard type thing that had a chip in it.
Within weeks, they got a call from their digital expert.
Det. Devin Rigo: She … said, you guys need to look at the Home Depot in Oregon City … He’s there a lot the day of the murder.
A Home Depot just 15 minutes down the road from Milner’s house.
Natalie Morales (in the Home Depot parking lot with detectives): How central did this place become towards a piecing together the evidence that you had?
Det. Devin Rigo: Like this was essentially like center stage of the investigation.
The detectives asked Home Depot security personnel if there had been suspicious activity in the lot recently. Amazingly, they said yes: two cars — a maroon minivan and a blue sedan — had been flagged for parking there for long periods of time with only temporary, paper license plates.
Det. Devin Rigo: And we learned that there had been a lot of calls created in the past couple months with a suspicious … blue car and … maroon minivan.
For the second time in a matter of weeks, parking lot security cameras and the images they recorded, would provide investigators with key clues. In a clip from Jan. 27, 2023 – the day of Kenny’s murder – detectives say you can see Milner’s white SUV pull up and park. Within minutes, the driver – believed to be Steven Milner – gets into the maroon minivan. Another camera then captured the minivan exiting the parking lot.
Natalie Morales: So, what was he doing with the cars?
Det. Devin Rigo: So essentially this was like his staging location. So, he would drive his personal car here and then either pick up the blue sedan or the maroon minivan and then drive that out to Hillsboro. …
Natalie Morales: What do you call them?
Det. Devin Rigo: Burner cars.
Natalie Morales: Burner cars.
Det. Devin Rigo: Yeah. … everybody kind of is more familiar with like a burner phone … where you have a phone that’s not … traced to you but, you know, you can use it for what you need, get rid of it. … Essentially, he did the same thing, but with a car.
Investigators believed Milner may have been using those burner cars to secretly follow Kenny to work — even after law enforcement had told him to stop.
They also learned Home Depot security cameras had images of the driver of those cars shopping in the store about a month before Kenny was murdered.
Det. Stephanie Winter: he parked right in front of Home Depot …
Det. Devin Rigo: He went in and … we saw him come to the self-checkout area … and he had bought a pair of like safety glasses. …
Natalie Morales: Was … his face visible in that surveillance?
Det. Stephanie Winter: It was.
Det. Devin Rigo: Oh yeah …
There was no doubt — it was Steven Milner. And those glasses he bought? Detectives say you can see them in his right hand as he exited the store. The receipt said they had a “red mirror” tint. Winter had an idea.
Det. Stephanie Winter: We just happened to be sitting near one of the aisles and I was like, I’m going to go see where they sell … the glasses … And then a couple boxes down was … a yellow hard hat that looked very similar to the one … that he was wearing in all of the Intel garage surveillance.
The detectives were convinced this was where Milner had gotten his disguise to kill Kenny.
Natalie Morales: You have all of this, but you were missing one big piece of evidence. What was it?
Det. Devin Rigo: We were, at this point, still missing … the maroon minivan. …
Natalie Morales: Why is the minivan so important?
Det. Devin Rigo: Because it’s the minivan that we believe was really our main crime scene. … we thought there was going to be forensic evidence … in that minivan. So, we really wanted to get that minivan to help really put the icing on … this case.
Rigo was laser focused on tracking down that maroon minivan and he got an incredibly lucky break. When those suspicious burner cars had been flagged, the VIN number was also recorded. Rigo searched it and found out that van had been found abandoned just a few days after the murder.
Det. Devin Rigo: The highway people, had … towed it off the side of the I-5 in north Portland.
Natalie Morales: It had been dumped then.
Det. Devin Rigo: It had been dumped there. … So, I called the tow company, “Hey, do you have this car?” “No, sorry … We sold it to a scrap metal company.”
Rigo knew the clock was ticking to retrieve what he believed was the crime scene and all of the key evidence it held.
Det. Devin Rigo: So, me and another detective drive as quick as we can to north Portland.
But they were too late. When he asked about the minivan, the scrapyard showed Rigo a video of the maroon minivan police believe Milner drove to the Intel garage to kill Kenny just moments before it was pulverized by the metal jaws of the scrapyard claw.
Det. Devin Rigo: I was able to watch one of my key pieces of evidence be crushed and taken away.
Natalie Morales: Before your very eyes.
Det. Devin Rigo: Before my very eyes —
Natalie Morales: Oh my gosh.
Det. Devin Rigo: — exactly a week too late.
DOCTOR MILNER ON TRIAL
On Jan. 13, 2025, Steven Milner went on trial — charged with stalking and murdering Kenny Fandrich. Washington County prosecutors John Gerhard and Mahalee Streblow knew they faced a challenge without that maroon minivan, where they believe Steven Milner murdered Kenny.
John Gerhard: All the evidence that was inside the van was lost with it. … the biggest disappointment for us is there was likely a lot of forensic evidence …
But prosecutors had some forensic evidence they say put Steven Milner at the scene: DNA from swabs taken of Kenny Fandrich’s hands.
Det. Devin Rigo: I remember getting an email of the results and immediately opening it and being like, “Oh my gosh, this is it.” … Steven Milner’s DNA was on Kenneth Fandrich’s hands. …
Natalie Morales: Now you really felt like you had your case made.
Det. Devin Rigo: Yes, because there is no way he could explain away why his DNA would’ve been on Kenneth’s body.
Steven Milner would have an explanation for that. To everyone’s surprise, Milner took the stand, admitting he did spray paint the cameras and was in the Intel garage waiting for Kenny. He presented what detectives believed was a far-fetched explanation: he was trying to save Tanya. There were no cameras in court, but there is audio of Milner telling Prosecutor John Gerhard why he was in the Intel lot that day.
STEVEN MILNER (in court): I was trying to get him arrested for driving while he was drunk, or driving without a license.
JOHN GERHARD: Why was it your responsibility to enforce Oregon traffic laws?
STEVEN MILNER: I was trying to keep Tanya from getting killed.
John Gerhard: He had this delusional belief that he needed to protect Tanya Fandrich.
Mahalee Streblow: The defense case, it seemed to be … to kind of get the jury to maybe feel sympathetic to Milner.
And Milner insisted it was Kenny who attacked him after Kenny spotted Milner inside the maroon minivan.
Det. Devin Rigo: Steven essentially said, well, I knew I was caught. So, I opened the door to kinda confront him. And then Kenneth attacked me.
STEVEN MILNER (in court): We basically fought for a little bit. … there was pushing and shoving … eventually I was able to kind of push him up against the car and — and then shove him into the car.
Gerhard challenged Milner’s self-defense story.
JOHN GERHARD (in court): Is that push that causes him to fall into his seat?
STEVEN MILNER: He hit up against the car and then kind of tripped at the same time. And I kept pushing.
Mahalee Streblow: His testimony … just didn’t line up with the physical evidence at the scene …
Det. Devin Rigo: To my knowledge — bumping your head on the car door is not going to break your neck.
After six hours of deliberations, the jury found Steven Milner guilty of murdering Kenny Fandrich, and multiple stalking charges.
Cameras were allowed for Steven Milner’s sentencing hearing, which took place on Feb. 18, 2025. Tanya, who asked not to be shown on camera, gave a powerful statement directed at Steven Milner. Prosecutor Mahalee Streblow read us her words:
Mahalee Streblow (reading aloud): “All you had to do was stop … hear me clearly, when I say you are a vengeful, deceptive, manipulating, self-serving, aggressive, hateful, lying predator… and all you had to do was stop.”
Milner was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 25 years. Milner did not respond to “48 Hours”‘ request for an interview.
Mahalee Streblow: This case highlights the very worst-case scenario … take stalking seriously.
Kenny’s attorney, Michael Fuller, says what happened highlights the limits of the system that is supposed to protect victims of stalking.
Michael Fuller: Kenny … called the police. When that didn’t work, he got a lawyer … Kenny did everything he could under the legal system, and it didn’t help him at all.
After Kenny’s death, Fuller filed a wrongful death suit on behalf of Kenny’s estate asking for damages of several million dollars. Fuller believes Milner made millions from real estate investments and the sale of his business.
Michael Fuller: In the wrongful death case, my goals are to extract as much money as we can out of Milner … If the estate recovered any money for Kenny, it would go to his wife.
For Milner’s former veterinary clients, it was hard to reconcile the doctor they knew, with a now-convicted murderer.
Cheryl Choquette: I could not believe that it was the same guy. …
Darlyn Robinson: I just believe that he ended up going through some type of psychosis … And I think that … at some point he snapped …
Det. Devin Rigo: I think it really gets down to, like, you never know what anybody is capable of. … you never know what monster might be inside …
Natalie Morales: Almost a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation?
Det. Devin Rigo: Yeah, absolutely.
Det. Stephanie Winter: Yeah.
Darlyn Robinson: He had everything to live for. You know, he … could do anything he wanted to do. … And this is where it ended up. … It’s real sad.
Produced by Chuck Stevenson and Lauren Clark. Greg Kaplan and Michael Baluzy are the editors. Lauren Turner Dunn is the associate producer. Cindy Cesare, Danielle Austen and Michelle Sigona are the development producers. Anthony Batson is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.
Natalie Morales is a CBS News correspondent and “48 Hours” contributor based in Los Angeles.
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