Willamette Week | By Lucas Manfield | February 09, 2023
What began as a civil stalking lawsuit has become a $10 million accusation of wrongful death after Kenneth Fandrich, 56, was found dead Jan. 31 in a parking garage on the Intel campus where he worked.
The defendant, Steve Milner, 55, was arrested by Hillsboro police and charged with Fandrich’s murder last week. Fandrich was killed by “blunt trauma to the neck,” according to the legal complaint.
Milner pleaded not guilty Wednesday. He’s been indicted on charges of second-degree murder and stalking—as well as violating a stalking order seven times over the past two months.
WW has been following the case since September, when Fandrich filed a $245,000 lawsuit against Milner accusing him of stalking the Fandrich family for years following an affair between Milner and Fandrich’s wife—and Fandrich said police did little to stop it.
Now, the litigation continues with a flurry of new criminal and civil filings. A $10 million wrongful death lawsuit was filed in Washington County Circuit Court by Fandrich’s attorney, Mike Fuller, on behalf of Grant Yoakum, the representative for his estate.
At a Monday hearing in the original stalking case, Fandrich’s family and friends packed the courtroom as attorneys for Milner refused to reveal whether they had abided by the judge’s order Jan. 6 to preserve discovery evidence, including “mirror images of all electronic devices,” which Fuller argued could contain evidence of a murder plot. Milner’s attorneys cited their client’s Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination.
Meanwhile, Fuller is tracking down Milner’s assets with the help of two teams of private investigators.
Milner, a retired veterinary surgeon, owns an Oregon City animal hospital—and, it turns out, a pot farm. An LLC he controls filed an application to grow weed in Beavercreek. The P.O. box listed is the same as the one advertised on the website of Excolo Farms, which claims to be an Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission-licensed “Tier II Indoor Production Facility” producing “20-30 pounds of flower per month.”
Fuller filed notices in court calling both the hospital and farm crime scenes.
Milner’s business partner in the venture, David Wiek, declined to comment. Fuller tells WW that neighbors saw crime scene investigators out at the farm last week.
