Man becomes ‘obsessed’ with employee and kills her husband, Oregon officials say
A man accused of stalking and killing the husband of an employee he had an affair with was convicted after a trial in Oregon, prosecutors said.
Steven Neil Milner “ambushed” Kenneth Fandrich in a parking structure, putting Fandrich in a deadly choke hold, according to prosecutors. The killing came after a stalking campaign that included GPS devices, “burner” vehicles, disguises and security camera tampering, prosecutors said.
A jury found Milner guilty of second-degree murder, stalking and violating a stalking protective order, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office said in a Jan. 23 news release.
McClatchy News reached out to his attorney Jan. 24 and was awaiting a response.
Milner is accused of becoming “obsessed” with an employee at his Oregon City veterinary practice after she broke off an affair.
The woman was married to Fandrich, prosecutors said.
Milner began stalking the couple, including putting GPS devices on their vehicles and “sneaking onto their property,” prosecutors said.
His “stalking behavior” continued even after Fandrich obtained a protective order and after Milner was criminally charged, prosecutors said.
In the fall of 2022, Milner bought a “burner” vehicle to help him stalk Fandrich at work “more covertly,” prosecutors said. He dressed in a disguise and tampered with security cameras in the parking structure Fandrich used to “test (the) security response,” prosecutors said.
He “then repeatedly showed up” in the structure in order “to observe the victim’s patterns as he came and went from work,” prosecutors said.
In January 2023, after buying another “burner” vehicle, Milner waited in disguise in the parking structure for Fandrich, prosecutors said.
He tampered with the security cameras around Fandrich’s car, and then he left and came back in a minivan, prosecutors said.
He parked the van next to Fandrich’s car and waited until Fandrich was done with work, prosecutors said. Milner then “ambushed” Fandrich and “executed a choke hold,” killing him, prosecutors said.
Milner tried to make it look like Fandrich died from natural causes, but an autopsy showed spine and neck damage, prosecutors said.
Milner said during trial that he was defending himself after Fandrich attacked him, but “the jury rejected (his) claim,” prosecutors said.
In an online obituary, Fandrich was described as “an accomplished outdoorsman” who “most enjoyed sitting in front of the fire or in his beautifully landscaped backyard with his friends, family, and fur babies.”
He “had a huge heart” and “would be the first to lend a helping hand, whether he knew you or not,” the obituary said.
Milner is scheduled to be sentenced in February, prosecutors said.
Oregon City is about a 13-mile drive southeast from Portland.
This story was originally published January 24, 2025 at 1:04 PM with the headline "Man becomes ‘obsessed’ with employee and kills her husband, Oregon officials say."
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