A 55-year-old retired veterinarian who practiced in Oregon City was arrested Tuesday for the murder of a man working as an Intel contractor, according to the Hillsboro Police Department.
The victim, 56-year-old Kenneth Fandrich, also of Oregon City, was found in an Intel parking garage near the Ronler Acres campus after 56-year-old was found dead in his vehicle on January 27.
An autopsy the next day concluded Fandrich was murdered, with the cause of death listed as “blunt compression trauma” to the neck.
This week, police arrested Steven Milner, a retired animal surgeon. He was booked into the Washington County Jail on charges of second-degree murder, stalking and violating a stalking order.
Police said Milner has a stalking order in Clackamas County that prohibited him from having contact with Fandrich and “reveals a history of problematic interactions between the two.”
The tragedy is the latest in a yearslong saga in which Milner was accused of stalking and harassing Fandrich and his wife of three decades and threats by both men, first uncovered and reported by Willamette Week last year.
The victim and his attorneys had, at times, claimed law enforcement had been too reluctant to intervene in the alleged harassment, despite the threats and Fandrich’s expressed fears that his life was in danger.
Court documents and reporting by WW suggest the trouble between the two men began after Milner had an affair with Fandrich’s wife while she was his employee.
According to court documents, on or about March 1, 2022, Fandrich claimed Milner followed him for many miles. Police were called, and a restraining order was issued against Milner.
In August, Milner was charged with violating the order around the end of April 2022, by entering Fandrich’s property and attaching a GPS tracking device to Fandrich’s vehicle.
While the criminal case against Milner for stalking was set for trial in March, Fandrich also filed a civil case against the other man, asking for $245,000 in damages for emotional harm.
The civil case was pending a response from Milner’s legal team, which had requested additional time given “significant issues” in the case.
“If the court had not granted Mr. Milner’s requests to delay this action, my client might have been able to secure civil justice,” Fandrich’s attorney Michael Fuller told WW this week. “Now that is impossible.”
Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the Hillsboro Police Department at 503-681-6175.
