Anatomy of Murder - Unsuspecting (Milana Li)

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

A 13-year-old teen disappears and her body is soon found in nearby woods. An interaction at a yogurt shop would set police on the path to finding her killer. View source material and photos for this episode at: anatomyofmurder.com/unsuspectingCan’t get enough AoM? Find us on social media!Instagram: @aom_podcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @AOM_podcast | @audiochuckFacebook: /listenAOMpod | /audiochuckllc

I'm just being honest with you, your flat affect just kind of has me a little puzzled because I know a lot of people that would be in your position would at least be a little bit worried or concerned that they're the last person to be seen with a dead girl. I'm Scott Weinberger, investigative journalist and former deputy sheriff. I'm Anasiga Nicolazzi, former New York City homicide prosecutor and host of Investigation Discovery's True Conviction. And this is Anatomy of Murder. The risk of a child's most treasured instinct, their curiosity, can also prove to be the most dangerous. Kids want to explore, meet new people, and obviously experience new things. But there is a line between taking these healthy risks, the kind that build confidence and resilience,

and the kind that, sometimes unknowingly, can lead to emotional, mental, or even physical danger. And recognizing that line is not always easy, especially for teenagers who are often the ones most drawn to new people and new experiences, but do not always have the tools to protect themselves if those same people and experiences become threats to their safety. Today's story takes us to Beaverton, Oregon, a leafy suburb just a few miles outside of Portland. Beaverton is filled with parks and tree-lined streets that weave through the quiet neighborhoods.

But as everyone listening already knows, danger often lurks just under the surface of most idyllic towns. Danger often lurks just under the surface of most idyllic towns. And in May of 2022, that community was shaken to its core when that danger came for one of its own. A 13-year-old girl named Milana Lee. So I have prosecuted almost three dozen homicide cases, and The majority of those were murders. Like many prosecutors, senior deputy attorney John Gerard had always felt a strong sense of duty, which is why, before settling in Oregon, he served in the Army as a judge advocate and prosecutor. And that's where I had my first exposure to criminal prosecution and decided that I enjoyed that and then went into the Washington County DA's office straight from there.

To be a successful prosecutor, you need to be disciplined, resilient, and have the ability to think strategically all attributes which one would learn in the military. And all the traits that John would deploy in his mission to seek justice for the most innocent of victims. 13 year old Milana Lee and her family had recently immigrated to Beaverton from Kazakhstan. The bright young sixth grader hadn't been in the States very long, but she was already adapting well to life in her new hometown. She was still making friends, getting to know people at her middle school, but she was generally quiet, liked by her peers and her teachers.

Malana was bright, she was kind, and at 13, already carrying a lot of responsibility at home, often watching her five-year-old sister while her mother worked long hours. Which brings us to the early morning of May 9th, 2022. Milana's mom had just returned home from working a night shift at the nearby Nike headquarters, which employed many people in the area. And when she entered the house, she expected to see both her daughters asleep.

But while her youngest was there in bed, 13-year-old Milana was nowhere to be found. She thought that Milana may have gone to school early, which was not unusual. And so she wasn't very concerned at that point in time. But she then got a call from the school indicating that Milana had not shown up to school. And that's when she became more panicked. It is every parent's worst fear, suddenly not knowing where your child is.

With your mind racing with the worst case scenarios, minutes can feel like hours and hours like days. And despite her daughter being a trusted, responsible young woman, she was also at 13, still a child. And so Milana's mom did exactly what most parents would do. She called 911. Washington County dispatch. Hello, my name is a Sally.

I want to report about that my daughter is missing. How old is your daughter? She's 13. Okay. The initial belief of the officers is that she could have run away. She might have just been skipping school, hanging out with kids in the Beaverton area. It's a reasonable assessment, especially in a low-crime area like Beaverton.

But Ashley insisted that her daughter had never shown any sign of wanting to run away and had never been in trouble and was not the kind of kid to just be out causing mischief. She had a mother's gut feeling that something was wrong. And so following protocol, police notified her school's administration, who then shared the news with the students and their families, hoping someone had information as to where Milana might be. But no one had seen or heard from her in more than 24 hours, and by the next day, the community was out in force helping to look for the missing teen.

One of her friends knew that Milana would sometimes go into this wooded area that was a little more secluded just to have time to herself and think. So she and her mother went down into that wooded area. And there, they stumbled on some articles of clothing that her friend recognized as belonging to Milana. They immediately retreated and contacted police. Officers were dispatched to meet them at the scene. Bodycam audio caught the moments officers arrived at the park. I was looking and I found what I think are her shoes and pants. I didn't touch anything. I made sure not to touch anything.

Do you guys want to wait up? Can you wait up here for me? And then we'll come back up and chat with you in just a few minutes. her shoes and pants. I didn't touch anything. I made sure not to touch anything. Do you guys wanna wait up? Can you wait up here for me? And then we'll come back up and chat with you in just a few minutes. Yeah, there's also like just a weird blanket in the water, but it doesn't look like there's anything under it. Westside Linear Park was a popular recreation spot

for walking and hiking, but it was also big with trails winding through some pretty secluded wooded areas. As officers moved deeper into the woods, they kept their eyes peeled for signs of the missing teen. It is not a well-marked area. And what we were able to see is there was kind of a footpath where you have to climb over a bunch of brush and rocks. And it was very apparent that both juveniles

and some transients would hang out in that wooded area, a lot of trash, clothing. There was like hygiene items that were scattered throughout this wooded area. At the bottom of the hill was a creek and at the water's edge was where officers saw something that looked very out of place. A blue blanket submerged in the water that appeared to be weighted down with stones. Investigators worked their way to the water and as they lifted the blanket their worst fears were confirmed. Half submerged in the water was the bruised and battered, unclothed body of 13-year-old

Milana Lee. Given her young age, it was as horrific a crime scene that responding officers had ever encountered. We do want to warn you that the following content contains description of sexual assault and may be triggering for some. So, Milana's body was pretty severely injured. She had bruises to multiple places on her body, in scratches all along the front side of her body. It was clear that Milana had been savagely beaten,

and the way her body was deliberately concealed indicated that this was more than just a suspicious death. It was likely a deliberate and vicious attack. Upon closer look, officers also noticed bruising around her neck, a sign that Milana may have been strangled. Her state of undress suggested the motive. The fact that Milana and her body was found naked,

we immediately suspected there was a likelihood of sexual assault. And so the medical examiner agreed to perform a sexual assault forensic examination. The Emmy would later confirm that before she was killed, Milana had indeed been the victim of a sexual assault. Her medical observations included seeing that Milana had a lacerated hymen, which was indicative that this was the first time

that Milana had sexual intercourse and that the tear was still actively bleeding at the time of the autopsy, which also indicated to her that the tear happened close in time to when she was murdered. So I think that evidence was very strong that the person that sexually assaulted her was also the person that murdered her. Figuring out who that person was started with the collection of evidence at the scene. A team of forensic investigators combed the area,

searching for any clue, any fragment of evidence that might help piece together Milana's final moments. — In the water were both pairs of her shoes, one close to her body, and one that looked like it had either been tossed further downstream or had floated downstream in the current. There were several articles of clothing. So there was a bra, a pair of girls' underwear,

and then a couple pairs of men's boxer briefs. All of which may hold biological evidence that could help identify Milana's killer, as could some of the items recovered from what looked like a nearby campsite. Defensive wounds showed clear signs that Milana had tried to fight off her attacker, and her broken fingernails were also carefully examined for possible DNA belonging to her killer.

The big question, of course, was how Milana ended up here in the woods to begin with. The crime scene suggested that she was certainly alive before entering the park and was likely killed at the scene. So was she brought here against her will or did she come with someone voluntarily? To answer that question, investigators would need to start building their timeline of her last known whereabouts on the day she disappeared. And the quickest way to do that was to request location data

from her cell phone to try to retrace her steps. That turned out to be very critical to our criminal investigation because it showed where Milana went after leaving her apartment. According to her cell phone data, Milana had left home in the early evening of Sunday, May 8th, while her mom was still at work. She and her phone then headed in the direction of a local outdoor shopping center where investigators hoped they could track down a witness that maybe would have spotted her there.

So investigators began canvassing the businesses in that shopping complex and coincidentally encountered a juvenile at the time who worked at a frozen yogurt shop in that shopping complex and she disclosed to the detectives that she had actually seen Milana. According to the teenager, Milana had stopped into the shop on the day she disappeared and she wasn't alone. So who was with her in those hours before her death? Was it a friend, a killer, or both? The Beaverton community is in shock after a missing 13-year-old girl was found dead. The murder of 13-year-old Milana Lee hit the Beaverton community hard, especially among

the classmates and their families of her middle school. As news spread of the tragedy, friends and strangers alike contributed to a growing memorial of flowers, stuffed animals, and candles on the sidewalk adjacent to the park where Milana's body was found. But with the enormous outpouring of grief came a mountain of unanswered questions. Investigators' first lead came courtesy of Milana's cell phone location data, which led them to a shopping center not far from her home. And it was there that a young employee at a yogurt shop told police that she had seen Milana on the night police believed she was killed, and she wasn't alone. The teenage employee didn't previously know 13 year old

Milana, but she did recognize the boy she was with. He was a 16 year old former classmate of hers named Daniel Gore. The investigation revealed that Daniel Gore had run away from home. His family had moved to West Salem, which is 45 minutes to an hour south of the Portland metro area. He had run away and come back up to the Beaverton area

where he had lived previously and gone to school. And Daniel had been living on his own in a tent in some wooded areas around this shopping complex. The very same wooded area in Westside Linear Park where Milana's body was found. According to the young employee at the yogurt shop, Milana did not appear to be scared or in any kind of distress. In fact, they appeared to be friends, despite their obvious age difference. Which was also surprising because how would they have crossed paths?

Daniel Gore had supposedly left school and was said to be living in a tent in the woods. While Milana was a middle schooler, living at home, new to the area. When investigators asked Milana's mom about her daughter's friendship with Daniel Gore, she said that she'd never heard of him. But a search of social media revealed that Milana and Gore had in fact been in contact in the weeks leading up to her murder and had been seen together on multiple occasions. So in short, it appeared they were friends. Melana's mother had prided herself in meeting all of her daughter's friends,

so it was a shock for her to learn that Melana had been hanging out with this older boy. But even more shocking was learning that Gore wasn't just a new friend that Melana had been keeping a secret from her mom. According to his juvenile records, he had a troubled past and a rap sheet that included a slew of criminal offenses like theft, property damage, and even arson. But there was nothing on his record indicating sexual assault or extreme violence. Still, just the fact that he was seen with the victim on the day she was killed made him someone that investigators needed to locate and fast.

As the investigation proceeded, investigators learned that Daniel Gore regularly hung out at a public library because he would use the free internet services at the library. So one of the Beaverton patrol officers wound up just going to the local library branch to see if he was there. And it turned out that he was. And as soon as Daniel noticed the officer,

he ran out the back of the library and led police on a foot pursuit. But rule of thumb to keep in mind, while you may be able to outrun the police, you can never outrun the radio. I believe the Beaverton police did a dog track and chased him for about 20 minutes before ultimately finding him

and then took him to custody from there. When asked why he fled from police, Gore explained that he was on probation and was concerned he was going to be arrested or returned to his family. But he showed no signs that he knew the real reason he was being questioned by police. Hey Daniel, how are you?

I'm alright. My name is Cindy, I'm a detective here and this is my partner. Police brought the teenager into an interview room and started asking questions, and immediately they were struck by his cooperative demeanor. He was very calm. He was very polite with the investigators. He shared information. How long have you been staying in a tent? 50ish days?

50ish days. Okay, where's mom and dad at? Uh, West Salem. West Salem. What brings you up here? Uh, that's where all my friends are at. I just recently moved to West Salem. He indicated that he just liked the freedom during his interview. So he enjoyed being on his own. That he just kind of thrived in that type of environment,

being by himself. So how do you like heat your food? How do you store your food? How do you? I don't really heat. It's mostly, honestly, I've probably been eating really unhealthy. I've mainly been living off of goldfish and pop tarts.

Well, you're lucky you've got a teenager body, so you can recover from that. Do you get to eat regularly or? Yeah, I usually eat whenever I'm hungry. I'm not that hungry, a lot. If Gore suspected that the interview had to do with Milana, he wasn't showing it. But as we've always said,

a goal in any interview is to keep the subject talking. So investigators moved slowly and deliberately, building rapport as they zeroed in on his timeline for the days leading up to Milana's murder. And then, so that's Monday, Tuesday. So what about Sunday? Sunday. What happened on Sunday?

So Gore explained that he had spent the afternoon of Sunday, May 8th with a group of friends, but they eventually went their separate ways. It was then that he met up with Milana at the yogurt shop. Where did you meet up with Milana? At Menchie's. Okay. We're not at Menchie's. There's a stair Uh, at Menchie's. Okay. We're not at Menchie's.

There's a stairway right by Menchie's. Yep, I was familiar. And I was using it for wifi. Okay. And then I went out and then she was coming down. Okay, so you guys meet about what time you think that was. Ugh.

I don't even remember. So Gore admitted that he knew the 13-year-old, but he denied that there was any romantic relationship between them. Still, the admission that he was with Milana on the day she was killed is pretty significant. He went on to admit that after sharing a frozen yogurt, he and Milana decided to visit a friend's house. So they made their way to the bus stop, sipping alcohol excelsers as

they walked. I was really drunk and it was starting to rain, so we were waiting for the bus to go to my friend's house, but I was on the wrong side of the road, so we got on the bus, but it was going towards the mall, so we had to get off at the next stop. Let's just pause for a second here to note that it's of course not unheard of for teenagers to experiment with alcohol. So we won't even get into where they may have gotten it or that larger discussion about minors and drinking.

But we should remember that Milana was only 13 and she was physically small in stature, so any amount of alcohol may well have affected her. According to Gore, the two get off the bus and hurry across the street to another stop, waited to catch a bus headed in the opposite direction. But then that's when it started raining and she just left. And that's about when I went back to my tent. Daniel claimed this was the last time he saw Milana, walking in the rain back towards the shopping center. He also claimed that the next day he even texted her, but she never responded.

When investigators asked for consent to search his phone, he did consent to that search. On his phone, investigators discovered text messages from that evening that supported his claim that he left Milana at the bus stop, which of course made them wonder, could he be telling the truth? And if so, did they have the wrong guy? Still he admitted being with Milana on the day of her murder, even to being the last one to see her alive. Then of course you have his juvenile record,

his admission he was intoxicated. It's very hard not to see this circumstantial evidence and magnify what may just be coincidence into a conviction that this was the killer. But the best way to guard against this tunnel vision is to go out and gather more evidence. And that's exactly what they did. And as they looked for ways to corroborate his story, investigators

uncovered a single inconsistency, but one that would turn the entire case upside down. He was obviously unaware that we would be able to recover the surveillance footage from the public transit bus or those area businesses. During questioning by police, 16-year-old Daniel Gore had a reasonable explanation for everything. What he and Milana were doing together the day she died, why his texts were on her phone, and most importantly, when was the last time he saw her alive. Despite their suspicions, investigators didn't have direct evidence that Gore was anything

more than a friend, who had been with Milana on the same day She was believed to have been attacked and killed But they were convinced it was only a matter of time before they could tie him to the crime And so while they didn't have enough to charge him for the murder They could arrest him for a probation violation allowing them to keep him in custody while they gathered more evidence. Knowing that Daniel and Milana Lee had been in that frozen yogurt shop, it allowed our investigators to retrace their steps as much as possible by capturing surveillance footage that showed their path of travel.

capturing surveillance footage that showed their path of travel. As we have seen before, malls and shopping centers are often full of security cameras. So police can often follow someone's every move. And that was the case here. After leaving the yogurt shop, Milana and Daniel could be seen walking to the bus stop and boarding a bus. Just as Gore had told police. Law enforcement was able to obtain surveillance footage from all that public transit bus that showed the two of them together as well. The teenagers then could be seen exiting the bus and walking across the street to catch another one headed in the opposite direction.

This is the moment that Daniel claimed they parted ways. And that was a provable lie. The surveillance footage clearly showed that they got back onto the bus and that led investigators to go to another couple of area businesses, Walgreens, in a liquor store that showed the last time that Daniel and Milana were seen together.

It was about 7.45 p.m. on the night Milana disappeared. But while the cameras lost sight of them, their cell phones offered some chilling details of what happened next. Milana's phone suddenly turned off while Daniels indicated he proceeded into the woods towards his makeshift campsite. It was yet more digital evidence contradicting his story that he and Milana had parted ways. But that wasn't the only lie Daniel was caught telling,

because later that night, his phone was on the move again. Daniel indicated that he just went back to his campsite and stayed in his tent, which also was a proven lie, because we knew that he had gone to Avery Fletcher's home that evening. And she was the teenage employee at the yogurt shop. She also said that hours after she spotted Daniel and Milana together, he had shown up in her apartment unannounced. Daniel showed up soaking wet and appearing to be upset about

something. She also claimed that he appeared to have several scratches on his face and immediately went into the bathroom to call in ex-girlfriend. That was unusual for Daniel because when he would engage in conversations, he would do that in the common area living of the home. So the fact that Daniel went into the bathroom to have a private conversation caught Avery's attention. At this point, investigators believed that this was the linchpin, and they were more confident they had enough circumstantial evidence to charge him with Milana's murder. They were also still investigating the sexual assault

committed against Milana before she was killed. And as part of that, they collected a biological sample from Gore for DNA analysis to compare to evidence collected by the medical examiner. This is going to be completely painless. All I need you to do is just take care of... I promise, there's no pokes. Just a little bit of rubbing.

So if you pull, take your finger, just kind of pull your cheek away, I'm going to go right at your gum line. The samples Gore agreed to provide proved critical to the case against him. The testing resulted in a match. It was Gore's DNA on the boxers that had been recovered and also his DNA recovered from Milana Lee. And we'll leave it at that. Tonight we know the name of the juvenile charged with murdering Milana Lee.

A week after the discovery of Milana's body in a Beaverton park, Gore was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree sexual assault, and other related charges. So honestly at this moment in the case, investigators have developed a really solid timeline, not only with great digital evidence, surveillance cameras of their travel throughout the day is a great example of that. But the fact is, he was cooperating and he was talking. And while his version of events attempted to dispute the video evidence, they really are able to narrow down a lot of that circumstantial evidence, putting him with her that day. And I definitely look at the case myself as strong

at that point, right? But there's never such a thing, as I've said, like as a slam dunk. But there's all these pieces of circumstantial evidence that are being stitched together. But I always have to think like the defense, like what could they say? And they could say that any sexual activity was

consensual, right? And that something happened to Milana after the two parted ways. As a prosecutor, I'd be very comfortable going into court and showing all the pieces that disprove that idea that there was anything consensual between them and this not equating to a violent crime. But, as we always say, Scott, you need to guard against the various possibilities that the defense may use if this proceeds to trial. And having Mbisa open in that conversation at a CIGA really put him in a corner.

But before Senior Deputy DA John Gerhardt could even get to trial, he had to first overcome a legal hurdle set in motion by a new law. The Oregon legislature enacted a juvenile justice reform bill. So prior to that bill passing for crimes like murder, there would be an automatic waiver into adult court for juveniles that are 15, 16, or 17. But with this juvenile justice reform bill, it required that all juvenile crimes

begin in the juvenile court, and that the state has the burden to demonstrate that the juvenile has sufficient adult-like maturity and sophistication to be prosecuted as an adult, and also prove that a juvenile court retaining jurisdiction of the case would not be in the best interest of the juvenile in society. It has become a large impediment for prosecuting juveniles who commit the most serious crimes to be tried as adults. And in this case, John was more than prepared to prove that Daniel Gore should be tried as an adult and in the end his Argument to the court was successful We were able to produce enough evidence for the court to find that Daniel has

sufficient adult like maturity and sophistication in that keeping Daniel in the juvenile justice system was not in the interest of Daniel or society. With that hurdle cleared, prosecutors could then focus on the criminal trial itself. Armed with digital records, DNA evidence, and witness testimony to establish Gore's guilt, John was confident, but as always, braced for any surprises from the defense. And there it was, right out of the gate, the defense made their argument clear. They claimed that Daniel had a consensual sexual encounter

with a 13 year old because it's a statutory sexual assault charge because of her age. But however, even putting that aside for a moment, the defense went on to argue that he did not kill her. And they also relied on that same DNA to try and prove their claim. On her underwear, there was a trace amount of male DNA and we didn't have a profile to match that DNA.

And then in her fingernails, those were analyzed as well and showed trace amounts of male DNA that again were not matched to a known profile. In other words, the defense claimed that the presence of unidentified male DNA on both Milana's clothes and her fingernails suggested that perhaps police had failed to fully investigate any alternative suspects.

And the defense attorney made a big deal of this unidentified DNA saying, I quote, we know who the killer is. We have his DNA. We just have to find him. You know, this is the point I want to seek, the case that I think is the moment that the defense attorney is hoping that reasonable doubt just walked into the courtroom and took a seat in the jury box. I mean, in simple terms, proof beyond a reasonable doubt doesn't mean being 100% certain someone is guilty as you know. It means that after looking at the evidence carefully, jurors feel comfortable that the person committed the crime.

So if there's any real sensible doubt that makes them unsure, they must find the person not guilty. Introducing a potential other suspect is the oldest form of a defense's case. And I think here is where you could probably lay into that, having seen that yourself. And I also think, look, the defense went with using the pieces that they had.

And think about this, they're just injecting, like to your point, Scott, that bit of doubt, at least hoping that it'll rise to that level of reasonable doubt. Because also what they're saying is, hey, convict him for this statutory sexual assault, that there's consensual sex, but we also know that it's an age difference thing.

So convict him of that. It's a lower level crime Likely a lower sentence as well, but don't convict him for the murder. So I think it's using those things together and hoping they will prevail There was a good Samaritan in the community who? Reported to police that he'd actually gone down to that wooded area before He'd actually gone down to that wooded area before Milana's friend had noticed the body. He had seen the blanket in the water and the shoe floating in the water and didn't think anything of it. And it turned out that defense was planning

to point the finger at him as being the rapist and murderer. But while this alternate suspect theory was concerning for the prosecution, John had a counter. We had our DNA expert testify that the volume of DNA that was present that showed the additional unknown male profile was of such a small quantity that it was consistent with touch DNA.

And so it could be as simple as Milana having touched a doorknob when she was at the frozen yogurt place and then touching her underwear after using the restroom. But if Daniel Gore was indeed the person who assaulted, beat and strangled Milana, the critical question then became why? Was this teenager, even a troubled one,

truly capable of this level of violence? John believed the answer could be found in an examination of his background, which revealed a disturbing obsession with murder and sexual violence against women. I think we warned the jury that it was going to be some very disturbing information that was going to be presented, but it was necessary evidence in order to prove the charges against Daniel.

For example, Daniel's musical taste, which was something that was brought up during his questioning. So I like this one music artist named Seven and he has a mask he wears all the time. Like I'm obsessed with this person. The performer he was describing was a self-described harakor rapper with songs like, I want to eat your face, how to hide a body, and I feel like Dexter referring to the fictional television serial killer. And as off-putting and terrible as all that sounds, Jama's in no way suggesting that music could make a killer. But when paired with Daniel's internet search history prior to Milana's death, it started

to paint a dark picture. He searched for a girl snaps neck, homeless girl raped hard, rape porn hentai, neck snapped porn, rape videos porn, sleeping Japanese teen rape. So those were all relatively close in time to when he did in fact rape and murder Milan Lee. On the stand, witnesses described Gore as a manipulative individual who had a fascination with violent crime, idolized serial killers, and even kept a journal filled with dark fantasies and violent imagery.

The prosecution argued that Milano was lured into the woods by the older teen, and Thayer was violently assaulted and then strangled to death. The coincidences between her manner of death and his search history were overwhelming, suggesting that her murder may have been an attempt to carry out an extremely dark and violent fantasy. It may have also indicated a deep disassociation

or indifference to her murder, which was further demonstrated by Gore's reaction when he was first told by police that Milana was dead. I have some news about Milana, okay, that I want to share with you. And she was found today and she was deceased. Like deceased? Yeah, I do. But you know, we're out chatting with people

to find out, you know, as much information as they can. John then turned his attention to Daniel's friend from the yogurt store, and according to her, on the night Milana was murdered, he came to her home and was visibly distraught. He then retreated to the bathroom and made a private phone call to his ex. Later, that ex-girlfriend would reveal to police what he told her.

Disclosed to police that he admitted to killing Milana and indicated that he was happy that it was raining because it would likely wash away some of the DNA evidence. John also showed that Gore knowingly tried to cover his tracks after the murder by texting friends about the evening. So it was clear that he had planted some of these communications on his phone to indicate that, well, I've

already told my friends that I have no idea where she went, that we imparted ways with one another. In a complete picture, evidence-wise, perhaps was a critical piece of evidence that Gore was the killer was an item found at his campsite. Remember the blanket that Milano was found wrapped in? Well, the packaging for that blanket was found inside Daniel's tent. Our goal was to get the jury to understand that the case is not just about DNA,

but it's about the totality of the evidence, viewing all of the evidence as a whole, including the surveillance footage, the cell phone data, statements, plus the DNA. The DNA was just one piece of the puzzle. After only an hour and a half of deliberation, the jury reached their verdict. Guilty of murder in the first degree,

and then he was also convicted of murder in the first degree, and then he was also convicted of rape in the first degree and sexual abuse in the first degree. Daniel Gore was sentenced to life in prison, but due to Oregon's juvenile justice reform bill, he is eligible for parole after 15 years. I'm sure that the legislature was well intended, that they recognize that juveniles' brains are not the same as an adult brain, but I believe that our legislators were duped by the defense bar and psychologists

that are juvenile justice reformers to make this blanket claim that all juveniles need to be treated the same. And that's clearly not the case. I think that that's just a travesty of justice, right? That somebody who commits such a heinous crime in such a calculated way is still getting this leniency by operation of law when they don't deserve it. At sentencing, Milana's mother made an emotional statement. It was gut-wrenching for everyone that had to listen to what it's like to be a mother and have your daughter ripped out of your life. Melanalee's murder left a lasting impact on her community. Following her death, there

was an incredible outpouring of grief and support culminating in a packed remembrance and celebration of her life, and the establishment of a memorial fund in Milana's honor. I could sit here and go on and on about Daniel Gore, the darkness he embodied, the chilling motivations behind his violent actions, but that's precisely the kind of attention we consciously choose to avoid. Here on AOM, we fully embrace the no notoriety concept, refusing to give perpetrators the spotlight they so desperately crave. Now you might wonder, didn't we just feature Daniel Goor's voice in his own words? Yes, we did, but here's why. To truly understand the depth of tragedy and honor the resilience of those affected, sometimes we must encounter evil directly. By acknowledging its existence

and understanding its warning signs, we arm ourselves with the power of awareness, the power to recognize and perhaps even prevent similar tragedies in the future. Melana Lee was a 13 year old young teen navigating the world as many young people do. Let's not remember her for how she died, but as a bright light to her family and friends who should have had many, many more years to live. After Melana died, her classmates at the local middle school sent a box full of homemade drawings and cards to her family, showing how much Milana meant to them and also how much they wanted to support her family as they grieved. To Milana's family, she will be remembered for many things,

the love she gave and, in her grandmother's words, as the girl who always smiled. Tune in next week for another new episode of Anatomy of Murder. Anatomy of Murder is an audio-chuck original. Produced and created by Weinberger Media and Frasetti Media. Ashley Flowers is executive producer. So, what do you think Chuck? Do you approve?