Man kills husband of employee he was ‘obsessed’ with, OR officials say. He’s sentenced
A former veterinarian accused of stalking and killing the husband of a longtime employee he’d become “obsessed” with after an affair was sentenced to life in prison, Oregon prosecutors said.
Steven Milner, 57, will be eligible for parole after 25 years, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office said in a Feb. 18 post on Facebook.
McClatchy News reached out to Milner’s attorney Feb. 19 and was awaiting a response.
Milner is accused of killing Kenneth Fandrich in January 2023, McClatchy News previously reported.
He “ambushed” and “executed a chokehold” on Fandrich in a parking structure after waiting in a “burner” vehicle for the man to get off work, according to prosecutors.
“After killing the victim, the defendant staged the victim’s body and belongings back in his car in an attempt to make it appear that the victim died of natural causes. Mr. Fandrich was later found dead in his vehicle, but an autopsy revealed injury to his neck and spine,” prosecutors said.
Milner had been stalking Fandrich and his wife for some time, according to prosecutors.
Milner had “developed an intimate relationship” with the wife while she worked at his Oregon City veterinary practice, prosecutors said, and then Milner “became obsessed with her and began stalking her and the victim” when she broke it off.
Fandrich obtained a stalking protective order in March 2022 “after years of harassment from Mr. Milner, including the discovery of numerous GPS tracking devices that Mr. Milner attached to the victim’s and his wife’s vehicles,” according to prosecutors.
Video surveillance also caught him “sneaking onto their property,” prosecutors said.
Milner “continued to engage in stalking behavior” despite the order, installing another GPS device on their vehicles and following Fandrich to his home and work over a dozen times, prosecutors said.
He also kept stalking even after being criminally charged, according to prosecutors.
He eventually started stalking Fandrich at work “more covertly,” using a “burner” vehicle and disguise and tampering with security cameras, according to prosecutors.
Milner was found guilty in January of second-degree murder, stalking and violating a court’s stalking protective order, prosecutors said. He argued self-defense at trial, saying Fandrich had attacked him, but “the jury rejected the defendant’s claim,” prosecutors said.
This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 2:37 PM with the headline "Man kills husband of employee he was ‘obsessed’ with, OR officials say. He’s sentenced."
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