00:00:03
[siren wailing] [intriguing music] OFFICER EDWARDS: Hi, Officer.
Edwards. Hillsboro Police.
00:00:16
Do you know why we're
stopping you today? - Yeah, I'm trying to get
a hold of this guy that--
00:00:20
I'm following him. [engine whirring] OFFICER EDWARDS: Where
are you following him?
00:00:25
- He's a beating [bleep] out of
his wife, and I've been trying to talk to him about it.
00:00:30
He's going to kill
her and he has told her that he put her
in the cistern under the house.
00:00:36
She is going to die and he
is going to kill her. [dramatic music] STEPHANIE WINTER:
This case is--
00:00:40
it's wild. MICHAEL FULLER:
It's a horrible life to live when you're constantly
looking over your shoulder.
00:00:45
TANYA FANDRICH (ON
RECORDING): No normal person would be out there
in the middle of the night.
00:00:49
MAHALEE STREBLOW: This is
the work of a narcissist. DR. JULIA SHAW: This is just a
mind that is really unraveled.
00:00:55
- No one ever really knows
what's going on on the inside. [theme music] [ominous music]
00:01:38
STEPHANIE WINTER:
On January 27, the Hillsboro
Police Department is alerted to a deceased
body in the parking
00:01:48
garage on the Intel Campus. Intel, they're very
on top of security issues, so for there to be a body
that's deceased in a car
00:02:03
was a surprise to me. When I got there, I
got out of my-- my car and the car was parked just
a bit in from the stairwell.
00:02:17
[intriguing music] I was told pretty quickly that
the cameras surrounding the car
00:02:25
were spray painted. My concern initially
was, oh my, are we ever going to be able
to figure out who this was?
00:02:41
BRIANNA WHEELER: Oregon City is
a suburb of Portland, Oregon. It sits right
on the banks of the river.
00:02:46
It's got beautiful vistas. There's so much wild nature
in this part of the world.
00:02:52
This is a place where
we hike with our dogs. [soft music] DEVIN RIGO: Steve Milner was
a well-known veterinarian out
00:02:59
in the Oregon City area
and owned his own practice for a couple of decades. BRIANNA WHEELER: He garnered
quite a bit of respect
00:03:05
because in Oregon
City, in the Northwest, in general, pets
are families here, so finding a veterinarian
who not only serves
00:03:15
a great part
of the community, but is also part of that community
who also loves pets,
00:03:21
is considerably valuable. [gentle music] - Milner opened
a veterinary clinic when he was very young, right
out of veterinary school.
00:03:37
BRIANNA WHEELER: Built it from
scratch at the top of the Hill in Oregon City, which
is very prestigious.
00:03:43
And one of the first
people that he hires is Tanya Fandrich. STEVE MILNER (ON RECORDING):
It was in the summer of 2000.
00:03:55
She was going
to technician school, and she needed
to do an externship and asked to do
one in my clinic.
00:04:02
It's the same job
as being a nurse, so she supported
what I was doing. BRIANNA WHEELER: Tanya
Fandrich was kind, gentle,
00:04:11
the type of person
that would love to work in a veterinary office. Loved animals.
00:04:17
It seemed like a role
that perfectly suited her. Steven Milner was
known for being
00:04:26
particularly compassionate. There were stories of him
donating to charities in the name of deceased pets,
and that's the kind of boss
00:04:34
that he was perceived to be. STEPHANIE WINTER:
Steven Milner refers to his practice, Milner
Veterinary, as their practice.
00:04:47
His and Tanya's practice. TANYA FANDRICH
(ON RECORDING): He would constantly say that
the clinic is as much mine
00:04:54
as it is his. We were working
six days a week. I would say we were friends
at that point in time.
00:05:01
- Stephen Milner had developed
this successful professional life, but he didn't have
that same level of success
00:05:10
in his romantic life. [soft music] - By 2017, Tanya
had been working for Dr. Milner
for quite some time,
00:05:23
and they had grown quite close. And Dr. Milner was coming off
of a failed second marriage.
00:05:32
TANYA FANDRICH (ON
RECORDING): That's when we were commiserating
with each other
00:05:36
about what was
going on in his life and what was going
on in my life. JOHN GERHARD: Kenneth
Fandrich and Tanya Fandrich
00:05:47
had been married
for quite some time. STEPHANIE WINTER: They lived on
a wonderful piece of property
00:05:53
in the Oregon City area. MAHALEE STREBLOW: Kenny
was a union pipefitter, blue collar type of guy.
00:06:01
And Kenny worked
out of state a lot. He was gone from their home. JOHN GERHARD: For a period of
time, he did most of his work
00:06:09
in Washington State
around the Seattle area. There had been some
suspicion that Kenny Fandrich
00:06:17
had engaged in some
infidelity when he was in Washington State. So that led to some
marital turmoil.
00:06:26
BRIANNA WHEELER:
Because of Kenny's consistent out-of-town
work, Tanya found herself quite lonely.
00:06:33
[piano music] MAHALEE STREBLOW:
Milner thought that Tanya was a confidante. STEVE MILNER (ON RECORDING): We
were close, just sharing what
00:06:43
was going on in our lives. - I believe that
they did perhaps find comfort in each
other, so much so
00:06:50
that it did lead to an affair. MAHALEE STREBLOW:
The affair began approximately April of 2017.
00:06:58
Around that time,
Kenny was drinking more and that was always
a point of contention, um,
00:07:03
in the marriage. TANYA FANDRICH
(ON RECORDING): He pretty much drank every night.
00:07:07
He fought-- usually it would
start because I would try and pour out his booze
when he'd had too much,
00:07:12
and that would start the
physical pushing and shoving. [ominous music] [car accelerating]
00:07:24
MAHALEE STREBLOW: It
wasn't a perfect marriage. There was some violence, verbal
and physical, that was mutual.
00:07:32
And Tanya needed somebody
to vent to about her marriage. TANYA FANDRICH (ON RECORDING):
He came to work and said,
00:07:38
oh, my wife is divorcing me. She moved out this
weekend, and I said, huh, well, my husband was
in jail this weekend for a DUI.
00:07:46
We kind of laughed
and commiserated. STEVE MILNER (ON
RECORDING): A little bit after Valentine's Day.
00:07:51
I guess we kind of started
flirting a little bit and talking more
and more, and eventually I
00:07:56
asked her out to a movie. [intriguing music] DR. JULIA SHAW:
There's two things here that stand out to me.
00:08:04
For Steve, the question is,
why would he date his employee? That, I think, is a really
big power dynamic.
00:08:09
In terms of Tanya,
the question is, why would she have an affair? She is in a marriage,
but there's
00:08:15
tensions within
the relationship that also sometimes manifest
as domestic violence.
00:08:20
So I think Tanya
feels safe with Steve because he's known as one
of the nicest guys in town.
00:08:25
They've worked
together for 20 years, and so I think this
is someone who she chooses to trust completely.
00:08:32
BRIANNA WHEELER: Dr.
Milner saw himself as a heroic figure
in Tanya's life because
00:08:38
of the marital
difficulties that she had disclosed to him, and also
because of Steven Milner's
00:08:44
own essential being
as a helper, as a caregiver, as an empathetic
person, as someone
00:08:51
who was going to rescue
Tanya from this disastrous relationship. TANYA FANDRICH (ON
RECORDING): Mr. Milner
00:08:56
knew about
the domestic violence, but it wasn't usually
the topic of conversation.
00:09:01
[ominous music] JOHN GERHARD:
As some time passed, Tanya Fandrich formally ended
things with Steven Milner.
00:09:20
TANYA FANDRICH (ON
RECORDING): My husband caught me at Milner's house. After that, we never
went back to having sex.
00:09:27
JOHN GERHARD:
At that time, Kenny was able to get
a contractor job with Intel working
at that ronler acres
00:09:36
campus as a union pipefitter. - Tanya ultimately
chooses her husband, breaks it off with Dr. Milner.
00:09:45
She continues to work for him. TANYA FANDRICH (ON RECORDING):
We still work together.
00:09:49
We remained on a friendly
basis, but no physicality. BRIANNA WHEELER:
Kenny forgives her.
00:09:56
They reconcile. Dr. Milner does
not take it well. [soft music] - Even after
the relationship ends,
00:10:09
Steve writes Tanya letters. And he writes her
quite a few of them, and you can see his
emotional state.
00:10:16
You can see sort
of his thinking and how it evolves over
time through these letters.
00:10:23
MAHALEE STREBLOW: The first
letter is very much still a love letter to Tanya. DR. JULIA SHAW: He writes
he is consumed by her soul.
00:10:32
That is a really
intense thing to write to someone, especially
someone whom you've already broken up with.
00:10:37
But I think a lot of people can
empathize with that longing of, I didn't want this to end
and how do I get it back?
00:10:45
But everything he's writing
is from his perspective. It's his feelings. It's, you know, what he wants.
00:10:50
And there's basically
nothing about Tanya. [suspenseful music] KERRY DAYNES: I think
that as a society,
00:10:59
we're told that
this is romantic. This is somebody who is willing
to fight for the relationship.
00:11:06
But these letters
are bound to cause a problem in her
relationship with Kenny. They must make her working
life incredibly miserable,
00:11:17
because how do you
work in amongst all of these huge expressions of
love from your boss, no less?
00:11:26
TANYA FANDRICH
(ON RECORDING): It was hard to just even
be able to do my job because he was always around.
00:11:31
He was always hanging out
in the treatment area, following me around, was
always trying to convince me
00:11:37
that he was better,
and that I should be with him and not with Kenny. [intriguing music]
00:11:47
- Steven Milner
viewed Kenny Fandrich as the barrier for him
and Tanya Fandrich to maintain a relationship.
00:12:01
BRIANNA WHEELER:
On October 16, 2017, Kenny Fandrich received
a piece of mail, which he
00:12:08
believed to be from his union. JOHN GERHARD: When they
opened up the envelope, they could see that
it was a ranting
00:12:15
letter from Steven Milner
making accusations. - In the letter, it had
a picture of Kenny with a woman
00:12:25
and with a child pretty
clearly photoshopped. The letter included a caption
saying that the child
00:12:32
in the photo was Kenny's. The Fandriches,
unfortunately, were never able to have children
of their own,
00:12:39
and that was something that
Tanya had shared with Milner. JOHN GERHARD: Steven Milner--
00:12:44
it appeared weaponized
and shared details about their relationships
to drive a wedge between Kenneth
Fandrich and Tanya Fandrich.
00:12:54
STEVE MILNER (ON RECORDING): I
still obviously cared for Tanya as a person, and,
um, it just seemed
00:12:59
like she was trapped in this-- I was trying to push them over
the edge to them breaking up.
00:13:06
- I think the object
of this is multiple. This is somebody who wants
to have a cathartic rant,
00:13:15
but this is also somebody
who wants to throw a bomb into the Fandriches marriage.
00:13:20
And I think that they're hoping
that this is shared with Tanya and that it causes
some disruption.
00:13:28
BRIANNA WHEELER: This was an
affair that had been forgiven. But as of this date, they
became acutely aware that it
00:13:35
was much more than that. [ominous music] MAHALEE STREBLOW:
It certainly changed the way that the Fandriches
operated in their day
00:13:47
to day lives. STEPHANIE WINTER: They have
set up cameras at their home to make sure they're alerted to
any kind of nefarious activity
00:13:59
on their property. MAHALEE STREBLOW:
From October of 2017, we see an escalation
in Milner's tactics.
00:14:10
He trespassed
onto the property. JOHN GERHARD: The Fandriches
were returning home from an evening
out and actually
00:14:18
found Steven Milner underneath
Kenny Fandrich's vehicle. Not knowing what he was
doing, the Fandriches
00:14:27
wound up contacting
Clackamas county's bomb squad because they were unsure of
what Steven Milner had attached
00:14:34
to Kenny Fandrich's vehicle. - The police that
attended to the scene recognized it as a GPS tracker.
00:14:44
When police interviewed
Tanya about these events, they seemed to not
believe her when
00:14:50
she said that
the affair was over, because he was able to convince
the police that they
00:14:55
were still having an affair. STEVE MILNER (ON RECORDING):
It was a romantic relationship.
00:15:01
I was very afraid
of her by then. She seemed to have
more bruises. She was, as far
as I understood,
00:15:09
trying to leave him. And he could-- he would just
keep talking her into not-- she couldn't make
that final break.
00:15:19
BRIANNA WHEELER: When he said
that he is, in fact, concerned for Tanya's safety
and that this is all
00:15:25
in an effort to protect her. STEVE MILNER (ON
RECORDING): I was going to try and catch Kenny
driving when he got his DUI.
00:15:33
I think he had lost
his license and I was trying to get him arrested. DEVIN RIGO: He, in his
mind, believes everything
00:15:41
that happened and was
completely OK, that he was doing
the right thing and he was the only one
that could help Tanya.
00:15:51
- So we're well
and truly in stalker territory at this point. Psychologists like
to put stalkers
00:15:59
into one of five different
categories, and in actual fact, Steve Milner seems
to fall between two.
00:16:06
So the first category
is the rejected stalker. So this is somebody who
has had a relationship
00:16:13
with their target in the past. They become absolutely
fixated with getting this relationship back.
00:16:20
The second kind of stalker
that Steve Milner appears to fit the topology of is the
erotomanic stalker, somebody
00:16:29
who is convinced that another
person is in love with them, and they become
fixated on who is
00:16:36
standing in the way of me
and this perfect love that I imagine. - It went so far as Steven
Milner showing up
00:16:50
on the Fandrich property
during the summer of 2018 and planting a condom inside
Kenny Fandrich's vehicle
00:16:59
in hopes that
Tanya would believe that, again, Kenny Fandrich
was engaging in infidelity.
00:17:06
STEVE MILNER (ON RECORDING):
In the beginning, I didn't feel or realize
how dangerous he was.
00:17:11
I would say the middle
of 2018 is probably when I-- I started getting very
concerned about it.
00:17:20
I was trying to push
them into breaking up. [suspenseful music] MAHALEE STREBLOW:
In June of 2019,
00:17:30
Milner actually comes
to the Fandrich residence to confront Kenny. Kenny was upset
to see this guy who
00:17:42
had been having an affair with
his wife, show up at his house. STEVE MILNER (ON
RECORDING): Kenny came out.
00:17:46
He kind of bounced on me, and I
just kept backpedaling until I couldn't go any further back.
00:17:55
He seemed very angry. He told me not
to chase his wife. And he would cut me into 1,000
pieces if I didn't stop.
00:18:05
So I reached up and kissed his
cheek to defuse the situation, and he stepped back.
00:18:10
And that's what
I was hoping for. MAHALEE STREBLOW: In an attempt
to, in his own words,
00:18:14
de-escalate the situation,
he ends up kissing Kenny. KERRY DAYNES: There
are lots of indications
00:18:20
here that his mental
state is deteriorating. Is there a risk
of physical violence here?
00:18:30
And if so, who is at risk? My immediate concern would
be for Tanya's safety. But then Kenny is being
dragged into it all the time.
00:18:45
JOHN GERHARD: That was the
first personal confrontation that Steven Milner had
with Kenny Fandrich.
00:18:52
BRIANNA WHEELER: Kenny finally
files a protective order against Steven Milner. [intriguing music]
00:19:00
- Unfortunately,
as protective orders often do, it was failing the victim. The perpetrator didn't care.
00:19:08
He was ramping up the stalking. DR. JULIA SHAW:
And this is where it's interesting
to look at these letters
00:19:13
and to see what was
going on in Steve's mind. You can really see
a shift in how he writes.
00:19:18
Steve is calling Tanya
cold and clinically cruel, and he's using, almost
weaponizing her--
00:19:25
her name, Mrs.
Fandrich, as that is the person who
was with Mr. Fandrich and saying that I
know Tanya Cherie.
00:19:33
That's who you really are. And so in his mind,
he sort of split her into these two people.
00:19:38
But really what
he's doing is he's trying to say, no,
but the person who loves me is still in there.
00:19:45
The emotions at this point are
so high for everybody involved, and I could see how things
can escalate further.
00:19:53
BRIANNA WHEELER: There had been
multiple instances of stalking, of terrorizing
behavior, but the police
00:20:01
were reluctant
to take action, and it begs the question
of whether it was because of Steven
Milner's social standing.
00:20:12
MICHAEL FULLER: He had some
cloud in the community. He was successful. He did have encounters
with law enforcement.
00:20:18
He seemed to get off
with a slap on the wrist. [intriguing music] - Finally, after years
of stalking and abuse,
00:20:36
Tanya leaves Milner's
veterinary practice. TANYA FANDRICH (ON
RECORDING): One day
00:20:43
I just realized if I stay
here, he still gets to keep all the control over me. And if I just take
my talents somewhere else,
00:20:51
then he loses control. He can't have power over me. - She gets another job
at a veterinary practice
00:20:58
in Oregon City, and quickly
finds that Steven Milner is not willing to let her go gently.
00:21:05
TANYA FANDRICH (ON RECORDING):
He would write me letters and mail me letters to work
or leave notes on my car,
00:21:11
typed and handwritten letters. - This isn't just
a couple of letters. This has been three years
of unwanted attention, three
00:21:22
years of escalating letters. As the letters progress, and I
think as his mental state
00:21:27
changes, it gets more toxic. And so by the time he's
writing this next letter, he is, quite frankly, kind
of a different person.
00:21:38
"I've held my tongue and taken
the beating over and over because that is what I do."
00:21:42
That is very different
from the "Sweetie. My Cherie. I love you." "I'm sorry I scare
you when I hit things.
00:21:49
You are right that it is
a sign of lost control. But it is a controlled
loss of control."
00:21:55
And even here he says, "All the
while I was just there waiting for you, trying to be nice."
00:22:03
I think that trying
to be nice, to me, it almost sends a tingle down
my spine, where it's this,
00:22:10
how could somebody who is
educated and intelligent and should know better,
and has been told repeatedly
00:22:18
by the police,
by her to stay away, and he still thinks
of himself as someone who's just trying to be nice?
00:22:27
And that's where we get
to an extreme lack of insight or an extreme lack of empathy.
00:22:31
[ominous music] MAHALEE STREBLOW:
The last letter was a 32-page goodbye letter. KERRY DAYNES: He's saying
this is the final time
00:22:44
that I will contact you. At this point, I would
read these letters and I would be thinking, well,
is Steve a danger to himself
00:22:52
or is he a danger
to Tanya or Kenny? MAHALEE STREBLOW: He
promised her multiple times
00:22:59
throughout that
last goodbye letter, that this was the last
time that she was going
00:23:03
to see him or hear from him. But ultimately, we
know that it wasn't. [suspenseful music]
00:23:19
- On March 2, 2022,
early in the morning, Kenneth Fandrich is driving
to work at Intel in Hillsboro
00:23:27
from Oregon City. During that drive, he
notices a car behind him. And it doesn't
matter how fast or
00:23:40
how slow, if he
changes lanes, the car continues to follow him. When he gets
to Hillsboro, he stops.
00:23:56
And so Kenny gets out
of the car and notices it's a white RAV4. And it's Steven Milner
who's following him.
00:24:09
MICHAEL FULLER: It's a pretty
helpless situation for Kenny. He can't use physical
force to stop Milner just
00:24:15
for following him in his car. Kenny ultimately
calls the police. STEPHANIE WINTER: An officer
with the Hillsboro police
00:24:22
department does a traffic
stop on Steven Milner's RAV4 in Hillsboro.
OFFICER EDWARDS: Hello.
00:24:28
STEVE MILNER: Hello. OFFICER EDWARDS:
Hi, Officer Edwards. Hillsboro police. Just so you know I have a body
worn camera on, so it's on,
00:24:34
a video recording. Do you know why we're
stopping you today? STEVE MILNER: Yeah, I'm trying
to get a hold of this guy
00:24:39
that--
I'm following him. - OK.
Why are you following him? - He's been beating
[bleep] out of his
00:24:43
wife and I've been trying
to talk to him about it. - Steven tells
the officer that he just
00:24:49
learned that
Kenneth Fandrich is working at Intel in Hillsboro. OFFICER EDWARDS: Do you
think that's wise to be
00:24:56
following around the city? - Well, we'll have
a discussion about it. OFFICER EDWARDS: OK.
00:25:00
So what's-- what's your role
in the whole thing? - She's been a friend
of mine for 20 years.
00:25:06
OFFICER EDWARDS: OK. - And I just want to let
him know that I don't want him beating her up anymore.
OFFICER EDWARDS: OK.
00:25:10
All right.
Do you have weapons in the car? - Nope.
OFFICER EDWARDS: OK. Hang tight for me.
I'll be right back with you.
00:25:14
STEPHANIE WINTER:
The officer then went back to his
own patrol car and called Kenneth to get
a better understanding of what
00:25:21
was going on between the two. OFFICER EDWARDS: So here's
my advice to you, OK? This is very, very
strong advice.
00:25:30
Leave them alone. He wants nothing
to do with you. She wants nothing
to do with you.
00:25:35
I understand there was
an affair, all sorts of back history that went on. Because you're
very close to going
00:25:39
to jail today for stalking. OK? Like, very, very close. I want to be very, very
clear with you, OK?
00:25:45
Leave them alone. - At one point, he looks into
the officer's body worn camera. OFFICER EDWARDS: OK?
00:25:51
- On the body camera. He is going to kill her. She is going to die and he
is going to kill her.
00:25:56
[intriguing music] KERRY DAYNES:
Steve is eventually subject to a bit of reality
testing from the police
00:26:04
officer that is
long overdue, but he's not willing to hear it. And I think that that is very,
very common amongst stalkers.
00:26:14
They feel justified. They feel entitled
to behave the way they are. MICHAEL FULLER: The chap
from the officers
00:26:22
seem to have no
deterrent effect. Milner seemed to go right
back to his stalking.
00:26:26
[ominous music] - All of this takes a toll
on the Fandrich's marriage, and Kenny's drinking had
increased as a result of that.
00:26:43
- On March 28, 2022, Kenneth
had been consuming alcohol. He and Tanya were in a fight
and Tanya left the home.
00:26:56
Kenneth decided to get
in the car and go find Tanya, and he crashed his car. [somber music]
00:27:05
OFFICER 1: What's
your name, sir? - Kenneth Fandrige.
OFFICER 1: Hey, Ken. Um, is that your car, man?
00:27:09
- Yes, it is. OFFICER 1: OK,
were you driving? - Yes, I was.
OFFICER 1: OK. What happened?
00:27:13
- I-- my wife and I have
been fighting today. OFFICER 1: Sorry. - And, um, I thought she was
at her boss's house, where I've
00:27:30
caught her cheating on me. OFFICER 1: Sorry. - I lost control of my car. I just--
00:27:35
OFFICER 1: OK. - I didn't want to go. I didn't want to drive. I didn't want
to do any of that.
00:27:42
It's just-- KERRY DAYNES: In this
footage, what we are seeing is the impact of stalking.
00:27:52
It's interesting
to compare Kenny's demeanor with Steve's demeanor. Steve's demeanor is arrogant,
confident, and self-justifying.
00:28:05
And yet we've got Kenny,
who clearly is not at a good place in his life. He's certainly not making
it better for himself
00:28:15
by drinking and driving. In some ways, he's
playing straight into Steve Milner's hands.
00:28:21
[intriguing music] - A little bit of good
news was that Kenny was informed by law enforcement
that they had apparently
00:28:33
subpoenaed records from
the tracking company and were now able to prove
that it actually was Milner who
00:28:40
had registered these devices. - In late August
of 2022, Steve Milner was arrested and charged
with violating
00:28:52
a stalking protective
order and unlawful use of a GPS tracking device. MAHALEE STREBLOW: I
don't know if it's
00:28:59
a wake up call for Milner,
but it's certainly an alarm bell for him. JOHN GERHARD: Steven
Milner was released
00:29:05
from the Clackamas County
jail pursuant to a release agreement that prohibited
him from having
00:29:11
contact with the Fandriches. Tonya Fandrich described it. She and Kenny Fandrich
felt more at ease.
00:29:24
KERRY DAYNES: Tanya and Kenny
have what to them feels like a peaceful few months.
00:29:30
So they're starting to relax
and think that finally, finally he's got the message.
00:29:37
He's backed off. But in actual fact, this period
of calm is before the storm. [ominous music]
00:29:54
STEPHANIE WINTER:
On January 27, 2023, Tanya Fandrich
called in to advise law enforcement that her
husband hadn't come home.
00:30:06
TANYA FANDRICH (ON
RECORDING): I called him. I couldn't get a hold
of him and he always
00:30:09
answered, always took my call. And I was like,
that's not right. DEVIN RIGO: She tracks his
location on their phones.
00:30:17
They share
their locations together. So she saw that he
was still at work. So she was concerned of why
he would still be there.
00:30:24
So she requested that police
go to the parking garage and see if they
could locate him.
00:30:30
STEPHANIE WINTER:
Tanya then decided that she would drive
to Hillsboro to try to find Kenneth on her own.
00:30:38
Kenneth drove
a black Honda Civic. DEVIN RIGO: Sergeant Linn
went to meet with her,
00:30:46
and he just happened
to drive into right area of the parking garage
and located this vehicle.
00:30:53
STEPHANIE WINTER:
Sergeant Linn approached the vehicle, knocked
on the window, and the person inside
didn't respond.
00:31:02
DEVIN RIGO: It was
pretty darkly tinted car. So when he got
to the front of the car,
00:31:06
he could see
Kenneth unresponsive in his driver's seat. - His head had fallen
off of the headrest
00:31:14
and looked to be
in a strange posture. - It was obvious that he
was deceased in the vehicle.
00:31:24
STEPHANIE WINTER:
The manner of his death, really, at that
point in time in that
00:31:28
parking garage was a mystery. As far as we could see there
wasn't any stab wounds,
00:31:33
there wasn't
a gunshot wound, and there wasn't a lot of blood. - They had looked
for security cameras
00:31:40
to kind of assess what
had kind of had happened. They noticed that the cameras
had been spray painted.
00:31:47
Death investigator who
responded out to the scene could see some marks
on Kenneth's neck.
00:31:52
STEPHANIE WINTER: Officers did
provide the death notification to Tanya, who was downstairs,
one floor below where
00:31:59
Kenneth was in his car. - Oh my god. No! Oh my god, oh my god. [melancholy music]
00:32:08
[crying] STEPHANIE WINTER: When she
got the death notification, she fell to her knees.
00:32:15
- This can't be happening. It can't be happening. This can't be real. It can't be real.
00:32:19
This can't really be happening. OFFICER 2: We're going to have
the medical examiner come out
00:32:24
and investigate this, OK? Has he been having
any issues lately? - [sobs] No, but he
has a stalker.
00:32:33
- That kind of started the ball
rolling for our investigation. [tense music] - Steven Milner becomes
our number one suspect.
00:32:49
DEVIN RIGO: At this
point, Steven really had zero violent history. Really until autopsy, we still
hadn't confirmed that there was
00:32:58
actually a homicide or not. STEPHANIE WINTER:
During the autopsy, we learned that Kenneth
suffered blunt compressive
00:33:08
trauma to his neck. Essentially, he was
strangled with such force that it broke his neck.
00:33:16
JOHN GERHARD: It was
very quickly developed who the likely suspect was. But we have to prove
that the person
00:33:25
is guilty beyond
a reasonable doubt. [ominous music] - At this point, we
had been able to see
00:33:46
some of the security video. - On the morning
of January 27, 2023, Kenneth Fandrich
arrives to work
00:33:57
and leaves his
black Honda Civic. We also see a blue
Buick four-door sedan come into the Intel
parking lot
00:34:12
at about 5:15 in the morning. At that time, these security
cameras were spray-painted
00:34:20
with a blue spray paint. DEVIN RIGO: At this point, we
knew that a blue Buick sedan
00:34:26
was involved
in spray-painting the cameras about 7:00 in the morning. STEPHANIE WINTER:
Then at about 7:30 AM,
00:34:35
that blue Buick
was seen leaving the Intel parking garage. And then we see, at about
1:15 in the afternoon,
00:34:48
a maroon dodge minivan arrived
to the Intel parking garage. DEVIN RIGO: We just saw
the car arrive and back
00:34:56
in directly next to Kenneth
Fandrich's vehicle, just waiting. And soon after that, we can see
Kenneth leaving work, coming up
00:35:06
the stairs
in the parking garage and walking toward his vehicle. STEPHANIE WINTER:
So at about 3:22,
00:35:13
we see one flash of yellow
lights as if Kenneth is unlocking his car doors, and
then a very short time after
00:35:21
that, we see a series
of yellow lights flashing from Kenneth's car, assuming that
he's pushing the unlock button
00:35:29
on his key fob in a panic. DEVIN RIGO: With being able
to review more security video,
00:35:42
it was learned that the blue
Buick and that maroon minivan had visited that parking
garage many, many times.
00:35:50
It's just kind of get
a pattern of life, essentially, for what
Kenneth's work schedule was.
00:35:58
STEPHANIE WINTER:
To pull off this murder, it had to have taken a lot
of planning for months.
00:36:05
DEVIN RIGO: In reviewing
the body camera footage from that March
2022 incident, we
00:36:11
could get some good clear
pictures of Steven Milner and see-- Steven has a distinctive crease
in the middle of his forehead.
00:36:18
And when you look through
the Intel security video of the morning of the 27th
of January of 2023,
00:36:26
you see that the person
spray-painting the cameras also has
that very distinct crease inside their forehead.
00:36:33
[tense music] At that time, we decided
that we were going to arrest Steven Milner for murder.
00:36:45
DEPUTY DAVIS: 4 and 5. The place, Sam Boyd. 29-834. DEVIN RIGO: So we had
the County Sheriff's Office
00:36:52
initiate a traffic
stop and pulled Steven over in his white RAV4. DEPUTY DAVIS: Yeah, if you
could roll down the window,
00:36:57
that'd be great.
Hi, sir. I'm Deputy Davis with
the Sheriff's Office. We're being recorded
by my camera,
00:37:01
so everything's
going to be recorded. Do you understand that?
- Yes. - OK.
Sounds good.
00:37:05
Right now you're
being detained. We're going to have some
investigators come talk to
00:37:08
you, OK? - Steven never seemed
surprised to me. - Mr. Milner.
- Yes. - Just step out of the vehicle.
00:37:23
Hands behind your back, please. DEVIN RIGO: He never really
made any statement at all other
00:37:28
than telling the deputy
that he had a sore shoulder, so they put handcuffs on him.
00:37:34
DEPUTY DAVIS: Just
take that for a second. STEVEN MILNER: OK. OK. [tense music] DEVIN RIGO: As soon
as Milner is arrested,
00:37:43
he gets booked into the
Washington County jail. And at that point,
the investigation really starts
00:37:50
to dig into more things. We do a search
warrant on his home. STEPHANIE WINTER: We located
what we called a shrine
00:37:58
to Tanya in Milner's bedroom. It consisted of pictures,
of greeting cards that were clearly sent
by Tanya, underwear,
00:38:11
candy and all of the sort. DEVIN RIGO: We also do a search
warrant for the computer
00:38:17
inside his car. See what kind
of information that we can get out of that vehicle.
00:38:22
And we were able to get
a download of that data and got some very
good GPS points
00:38:29
that helped lead us to the Home
Depot in Oregon City. When we started looking at
the Home Depot in Oregon City,
00:38:39
we also started looking
at suspicious vehicle calls or abandoned vehicle calls
involving a blue Buick sedan
00:38:46
and a maroon van. And so we were
able to pull video from the Home Depot
security cameras
00:38:53
and kind of see that there
were movement of those vehicles in the Home Depot parking lot
the same days that we knew
00:38:59
that those vehicles were
appearing at the Intel parking lot as well. And so in going through
all those videos,
00:39:07
we could see, you
know, Steven arrive in his white RAV4,
which matched the GPS points on his car.
00:39:13
We'd see him move and get into
the Buick sedan or the minivan and drive off
and arrive back again.
00:39:21
And we lucked out looking
at one particular day, where we have the white RAV4
come into the parking lot.
00:39:27
[intriguing music] Steven gets
into the blue Buick. And to our surprise,
Steven drives the Buick
00:39:37
to the middle of the Home
Depot parking lot, and he gets out and walks
into the Home Depot, where
00:39:44
we can actually see him as
the person that is absolutely driving that blue car. Steven comes into the store.
00:39:53
He goes out of camera,
he gets something and goes to the self-checkout
stand, pays in cash,
00:40:00
and leaves. And the clothing
we see Steven in and Home Depot is
the same clothing
00:40:10
we see the person
spray-painting in Intel parking lot. So we talked with
Home Depot security,
00:40:17
who was able to pull
the transaction record for what Steven had bought in that day.
00:40:21
And he was actually purchasing
the rainbow-colored safety glasses that he later
wore on January 27,
00:40:28
when he spray
painted the cameras the morning of the homicide. KERRY DAYNES: I think
in Steve Milner's thinking
00:40:39
through of this crime,
there's definitely been some interference from
his narcissistic personality,
00:40:47
because there's so much
wishful thinking about the fact that this true love that
he believes he deserves
00:40:55
is going to be coming to him. But he really hasn't
considered as much as he thinks he's considered.
00:41:02
He thinks he's got
a foolproof plan, but it's actually
full of holes. DEVIN RIGO: One
of the big, big things came
00:41:11
through several months later. We got results from
the Oregon State crime lab that showed Steven
Milner's DNA was
00:41:18
on Kenneth Fandrich's hands. You can't argue your way
out of your DNA being here.
00:41:26
[suspenseful music] JOHN GERHARD:
The defense wanted to characterize Kenneth
Fandrich's death as almost
00:41:42
an accident, that there was
a confrontation not initiated by Steven Milner,
but a confrontation that was
00:41:51
initiated by Kenny Fandrich. STEVE MILNER (ON RECORDING):
It happened really quickly.
00:41:56
I was in my van, and I jumped
down and he was attacking me. It was a fight. It was crazy and fast.
00:42:04
I absolutely was not intending
to kill Kenny Fandrich. JOHN GERHARD: From
his perception,
00:42:09
Kenny Fandrich
went into this rage and that Steven Milner was only
attempting to defend himself,
00:42:18
and that Kenny Fandrich died
striking his neck or his head against his own vehicle.
00:42:25
STEVE MILNER (ON RECORDING):
While he hit up against the car and started going down, and I
shoved him into the car,
00:42:30
I was pushing
on him on his chest and I may have pushed
on his neck, I don't know.
00:42:36
- Steve Milner testifies in
court, which is very unusual, and I think that this is,
again, a sign of his arrogance.
00:42:45
So this is somebody
so immersed in his own delusion that he believes that he
can bring a jury on board
00:42:52
with that. DETECTIVE (ON RECORDING):
Where did you swap cars? STEVE MILNER (ON RECORDING):
Um, at Sunnyside Hospital.
00:42:59
DETECTIVE (ON RECORDING):
Why did you need to do that? STEVE MILNER (ON RECORDING):
I was getting rid of the car.
00:43:03
The van. DETECTIVE (ON RECORDING): Why? STEVE MILNER (ON
RECORDING): Because I just
00:43:07
drove it to a place
where somebody died. DETECTIVE (ON RECORDING):
So you were trying to cover
00:43:10
up that you were there. STEVE MILNER (ON
RECORDING): Yes. DETECTIVE (ON RECORDING): Even
though it was just an accident?
00:43:15
- The ultimate act that
is really cruel and incredibly planned is just
a further manifestation
00:43:22
of his own wishful thinking. I think he thinks
he is saving Tanya, and probably somewhere
in the back of his mind
00:43:27
he thinks, if I'm
the hero, maybe, maybe she will
choose me after all. [intriguing music]
00:43:40
- I attended every day of every
hearing throughout the trial. JUDGE ERIK BUCHÉR: All
right, there's our 12 jurors.
00:43:46
Go and have a seat. - Waiting for the verdict
is probably the most stressful thing in the
process of these type of cases.
00:43:52
JUDGE ERIK BUCHÉR: I'm now
reading the verdict form. As to count one, murder
in the second degree, guilty.
00:44:00
As to count two,
stalking, guilty. As to count three,
it says guilty. As to count four,
it says guilty.
00:44:08
- As soon as that
verdict is read, there's just a kind
of an internal sigh of relief
00:44:13
that all of the hours
and hours that have gone into the
investigation, you know,
00:44:18
were worth it. [suspenseful music] MAHALEE STREBLOW: Tanya
Fandrich's victim impact
00:44:27
statement was
extremely powerful. TANYA FANDRICH (ON
RECORDING): For years, you tormented Kenny and me,
leaving us as your victims.
00:44:38
Now it is me standing
here in front of you, and hear me clearly when
I say I have witnessed
00:44:44
your insatiable need
to be seen as a hero, which you clearly are not. I will never believe that you
thought my life was in danger.
00:44:52
You needed a defense
for the savage and brutal way you killed Kenny. I love Kenny.
00:44:58
We weren't perfect,
but there was no shortage
of love, commitment, and partnership between us.
00:45:06
And you couldn't stand that! I asked, can I
pray that the judge gives you the maximum
allowable sentence?
00:45:14
JUDGE ERIK BUCHÉR: Sir, can
you stand up now, Mr. Milner? I'm sending you
to lifetime imprisonment.
00:45:20
MAHALEE STREBLOW:
With the violations of the stalking protective
order convictions combined,
00:45:27
Milner was sentenced to a
minimum of 31 years in prison. [soft piano music] I absolutely think
that the jury made
00:45:42
the right decision that day. And obviously, this
can't bring Kenny back. But I hope that it brings
Tanya some measure of peace.
00:45:52
KERRY DAYNES: We need
to take stalking seriously, and we need to take
stalking victims seriously.
00:45:58
Tanya is somebody who
has tried every avenue to try and stop this man. He's somebody who is
so narcissistic that he really
00:46:11
can't believe that what
he feels for a woman is not reciprocated by her. Steve Milner may well be in
jail for the rest of his life,
00:46:22
but can she truly
believe that she'll never hear from him again? And can she truly walk through
life and ever feel safe again?
00:46:31
I doubt it. [theme music]