Murder With My Husband - 320. The Masked Killer - The Murder of Kenneth Fandrich

Episode Date: May 11, 2026

On this episode, Payton and Garrett dive into the murder of Kenneth Fandrich. What starts as strange behavior and unwanted attention slowly escalates into stalking, leaving investigators to unravel just how far someone was willing to go for love. Links: Netflix Video Every Monday @11am PST, 12pm MST, 2pm EST 1pm CST https://www.netflix.com/murderwithmyhusband Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderwithmyhusband NEW MERCH LINK: https://mwmhshop.com Discount Codes: https://mailchi.mp/c6f48670aeac/oh-no-media-discount-codes Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/themwmh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murderwithmyhusband/ Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@murderwithmyhusband Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-dark/id1662304327 Listen on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36SDVKB2MEWpFGVs9kRgQ7?si=f5224c9fd99542a7 Case Sources: CBSNews.com - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kenneth-fandrich-oregon-murder-steven-milner-veterinarian-security-video-masked-killer/ Mirror.co.uk - https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/im-vet-tools-chop-you-36291023 KPTV.com - https://www.kptv.com/2025/02/19/deranged-murderer-former-oregon-city-veterinarian-sentenced-2023-murder-intel-campus/ Medium.com - https://medium.com/@crimedesk/beneath-the-mask-the-obsessive-veterinarian-who-orchestrated-a-calculated-parking-garage-murder-193299733843 OregonLive.com - https://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/2025/02/deranged-murderer-who-killed-ex-lovers-husband-at-intel-gets-life-sentence.html SacBee.com - https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article300603819.html Koin.com - https://www.koin.com/local/washington-county/former-oregon-city-veterinarian-who-killed-ex-lovers-husband-receives-life-sentence/ MovieDelic.com - https://moviedelic.com/tanya-fandrich/ People.com - https://people.com/veterinarian-had-affair-married-woman-killed-her-husband-8781679 HolmansFuneralService.com - https://www.holmansfuneralservice.com/obituaries/Kenneth-Carl-Fandrich?obId=29758084 WashingtonCountyDA.org - https://washingtoncountyda.org/da/news/2025/01/23/jury-finds-steven-neil-milner-guilty-murder-case WWeek.com - https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2025/11/23/bizarre-stalking-and-murder-case-ends-with-12-million-settlement/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to an Ono Media podcast. Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with my husband. I'm Peyton Morland. And I'm Garrett Morland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. Happy Monday.

Welcome back. Glad to be here. Thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for your five-star review. Thank you for being great, honestly. Yeah, I have a couple things.

I want to go over. So no announcements. Right? Any announcements? No, if you're watching on Netflix, I apologize for my appearance. I just woke up. Payton looks great. No, Peyton looks great.

I just woke up, okay? You look great, babe. You do. Thank you. Go ahead. What do you got to say? If you guys want to hear some good rants, keep listening. If you don't and you're like, it's really annoying.

I hate the husband. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then you can fast forward a few minutes. Okay, if you haven't fast forwarded, what? I'm pretty sure like our last couple of episodes you've been in your work uniform I'm sure I have

Look at the flower on his pants from bagels I have been working from 4 a.m. to like 6 p.m. every single day my head's gonna explode but I'm here Okay go ahead because I love chew cram What? No you don't Okay I have a couple rants

A couple hot takes couple rants so if you're ready for this Let's get into it Number one I'm gonna preface this with I am from the West coast. I grew up on the West Coast. Okay. Number one, the West Coast is very soft

compared to the East Coast. I think that like southern hospitality, we kind of have it. But it's just like... We are. Look, and I'm just gonna, the only reason I say this is because if you're sick of the bagel shop, just give me a second. I won't, there's other stuff I'm going to talk about. But we get some customers that get,

I guess, okay, like we're bagel shop. shop. We're trying to get people in and out fast. We're trying to make good bagels. We're trying obviously not to be mean to people, but we're just like, hey, what can get for your order? Awesome. Thank you so much. We'll call your name in a second, right? I don't know how many people have ever been to the East Coast and gotten bagels in like New York, Boston, just anywhere. I'll just say New York because I feel like that's a good starting point. You go in a bagel shop, what do you want? Cool. Bye. Like it's very boom, boom, boom, boom. And you're waiting.

waiting a second depending on what bagel shop it is. I've been to a lot of bagel shops in New York. Anyways, all I'm saying is that the West Coast is a little soft. And that's okay. But it seems like we, I'll use we because I'm included, expect a lot more hospitality and have a lot more entitlement when it comes to walking into establishments, which is totally fine. That's okay.

But people in the East Coast are just like giving my food done. You know what I'm saying? I you're saying it's totally fine and I think it's okay to like want to chat and stuff I think that wanting to be talkative and and you know have that hospitality is fine I think what's not fine is not having an understanding that like the food industry is hard already it's insane it's I didn't know until I started working into it okay so I'm sure I'm at fault for this it is the craziest industry see I worked at a movie theater growing up when I was young. Nice. And. Yeah. Equal.

No, I just feel like it sucks to get yelled at. Yeah. It sucks to get yelled at when like you're just trying to do your job. We're just trying our best. And we had a hundred and like 30 customers in 50 minutes today. And it was insane. That's like a customer every 30 seconds that we're trying to get bagels to. And it was just crazy.

and I'm sure there's probably a couple people maybe that felt like we were being rude. I don't know. I'm sorry. We're trying to hardest. We're trying to make good bagels. We're trying to get people their food fast, so they're not waiting.

And I think between the loudness and waiting sometimes 10 minutes for your bagels, which we try not to, obviously, but sometimes we run out and we bake them fresh. I think people just get offended and they're like, bad customer, Samas, and you know what? I don't have to tell you. Sorry.

I do think it's just the speed at which you guys try to move people in and out. But that's my thing. I'm like, well, when a line is wrapped around the corner. Yeah, when there's like 80 people and it's wrapped around the corner, we're just trying to move. You've got to move them in and out. You don't want to wait in line for 50 minutes. Yeah. And so anyways, it's been crazy.

Thank you for supporting if you've come. It's good problem. Also, I'm sorry to those. Someone tried to take a picture with me the other day. And I was in the ovens because it was just absolutely crazy. And I think they ended up leaving. And I'm sorry. Sorry. Come back. I'll take a picture. Today was just the craziest it's been since we opened. I'm rambling. I'm exhausted. But thank you for coming. Thank you for supporting. And we're going to keep making bagels. And we hope it's a great experience for everyone who comes. Because obviously that's the goal. We want it to be a good experience. We want you to get great bagels. We want it to be fun in there. If it's not fun in there, it's probably because there's so many people right now. But I mean, I've worked two Saturdays. And I've had a ball.

It is fun. It just gets insane. I get to, it is like very fast moving. It's very fast moving. It can get loud in there. But if you're okay, just kind of relax in, just. Enjoying the vats. Enjoying the vibe, not being stressed. It's amazing, I promise. I get to talk to people. I take pictures with people and it's still like moving pretty fast.

I think it's just when people are in a hurry, then that's when it can get frustrating. I get that too. I mean, there's validity to not wanting to wait 10 minutes for a bagel. But usually most people don't. Most people were like, we try to go like two to four minutes max. Well, it's also like, you know, there's other bagel shops that have frozen bagels so they can pop them in the toaster real quick. I mean, don't do frozen bagels, yeah. And so ours have to like boil and go on the oven.

Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, we also have got to a lot, meet a lot of listeners coming into the bagel shop. And it's always been just like an amazing fun experience. So thank you to those who have come in and supported and that we've got to me. it has been like unreal and always such a fun experience with you guys. She's right. Thank you for helping us. Thank you for watching and supporting.

Another, it's not really a hot take, I don't think, but another something else I want to say. I think pizza is the best food in the world. Like I truly, besides bagels, I truly think I could eat pizza every day for the rest of my life. I think I was born in the wrong state. It does sound like you were, probably. I think I should have grown up in New York. All I love is pizza and bagels. And fast, just in and out.

In fast moving craziness. Like I thrive off of it. Yeah. Anyways, if you are from New York or you live in New York, I think I was supposed to be born in New York, but I'm not. I was born in California. So opposite ends of the earth. I think they messed up. I think they flip-flop that accident.

You know, your family's very fast moving, though. So it's not that shocking that you're similar. Yeah, that's true. I'm wired because I'm so tired. So let's get into this week's case. Our sources for this episode are cbsnus.com, mirror.co.com, UK, KPTV.com, medium.com, organlife.com, sackbby.com, coin.com, moviedelic.com, people.com, home's funeral service.com, Washington County, DA.org, and W.Week.com.

We're all human. We all make mistakes from time to time. Some of them might be bigger than a lot. others, but mistakes can also be character building. It's how we learn and grow, especially when we take ownership and accountability for those mistakes and we accept the challenge to do better, learn from it, just be better in the future. Can those mistakes still have a profound impact on us? And they keep us up at night? Sure. But sometimes it's not even the mistake itself that haunts us. It's who we made those mistakes with. And today, I want you to meet 56-year-old Kenneth Kenny Fandrich. Well, we're going to call him Kenny, who in 2023, so a little more recently, is living with his wife

of 30 years, Tanya Fandrich, just outside of Portland, Oregon. Now, Kenny had spent much of his life in Oregon. He was born in 1967 and grew up in what was described as a loving household with his parents and two brothers. Now, everyone said that Kenny had an incredible sense of humor, but also had this really kind and gentle nature about him. This is something that showed from a young age. He loved animals, but Kenny also had some skills and qualities that a lot of other people don't. he had this unique desire for adventure. So after graduating from high school, Kenny moved to Alaska, where he got his diving certification and began working as an underwater welder.

Oh, I've heard so much about underwater welders, and I'm sure you guys all have to. It's like a popular... It's pretty amazing, honestly. He worked on commercial fishing boats as an underwater welder. They make good money. Which I do, again, thinks that, you know, this does explain someone very well. It was an incredibly difficult job, not just because of the skills needed to do it, but Kenny was braving freezing cold temperatures in those Alaskan waters to get the job done.

But being outdoors was Kenny's calling. He loved anything that connected him more with nature, whether that was fishing, skiing, snowboarding, hunting, or even just sitting out by the fire on a cold night next to his pets. which this is important to get to know Kenny. He fostered and adopted a lot of pets. He had six dogs at one point. But then life in Alaska brought Kenny another unexpected surprise. It was where a friend introduced him to Tanya, his eventual wife.

She worked at his local bank in Dutch Harbor. For their first date, they met up in Tanya's hometown for ice cream over a thousand miles away in Anchorage, Alaska. Now, the two bonded over how much they loved animals and the great outdoors. And after that, the rest was history. Okay, Kenny and Tanya fell in love, and they got married in 1993. And then three years later, in 1996, that was when the couple decided to pick up and move back to Kenny's home state of Oregon. Now, the plan was for Kenny to move home and start a piping business with his father. So the couple bought a house along the Willamette River. This is about 12 miles south of Portland. Now, they never had kids, but out in the country,

they were happy just raising their dogs, two cats, a pair of goats, and even for a brief period, a baby raccoon. Now, Tanya, she got a job working at a local veterinarian's office, and Kenny built his business and eventually joined the union as more and more work came in. And this is kind of how things carried on for the next 27 years for this couple. And by 2023, Kenny was working on a giant project for Intel, who was building a 2.5 million square foot campus nearby in Hillsborough, Oregon. Now Kenny was installing the piping that kept the heavy machinery cool. So it was a long contract that he had been committed to for some time. And by then, he'd built a solid reputation as being reliable and hardworking. Now, on the morning of January 27,

2023, Kenny took off for another day on the job and he spent the day toiling away. And since it was a Friday, he was probably looking forward to the weekend, a few days of rest, back home, with his wife and their animals. Now that afternoon, he clocked out a little after 3 p.m. He grabbed his things and headed back for his Honda Civic in the parking lot. A few security cameras actually catch glimpses of him leaving work and walking to his car around 3.21 p.m. Okay.

But then, a few hours passed. And Kenny still hadn't made it home from work. and that was when Tanya began to worry. Now, Tanya had tried to call Kenny a few times that day with no answer. She was really starting to think something was wrong. Her first instinct was to track Kenny on her Find My app. And as soon as she did, she saw Kenny was still at work. And remember, this is a very large site that he is working at.

So she notices his dot is particularly in the parking garage. of this work site. And when she realized that his dot hadn't moved for quite a while, Tanya contacted the Hillsboro police and asked them to do a welfare check. And at the same time, she began making the drive over to the Intel campus herself. Now, by the time police get there, it's about 9 p.m. And when police arrived at the second level of the parking structure, just like Tanya had said, you know, I'm tracking my husband. His dot hasn't been. moved, can you please meet me there? They found Kenny's black Honda Civics still parked in its parking spot. And when they walk up to the car, they see someone slumped over in the driver's seat.

Now, at first, the detectives are like, oh, you know, her husband's probably just taking a nap, probably just passed out, forgot to call his wife. His lunch bag, his keys, his phone are all sitting in the seat next to him, the passenger seat. But as police get closer and they, knock on the window trying to wake him up, they realize there is some discoloration around his neck. And they think his head is sort of twisted at an angle and his hands are kind of folded weirdly in his lap. And he's not waking up to them knocking on the window. So instead of opening the car door right then and there, they call for backup.

And the backup arrived around the same time as Tanya did. And if you're like, why didn't she just drive over her over there herself? It might be because, as it seems like, she didn't even arrive until the backup arrived. So she was probably farther away from the campus than police were. Yeah. She was worried so she wanted them to get there faster. Now, once backup arrives, they examined the vehicle and they get the door open to examine her husband. Oh, having to see that?

Yeah. Horrible. And they determined that Kenny was actually dead in his driver's seat. All right, you guys, I don't know about you, but organizing finances is incredibly overwhelming for me. I hate it. I usually just try to leave it up to Garrett, but I do try to do my best to stay informed and involved. And that is where Rocket Money steps in because Rocket Money has made it easy for me to follow our finances, organize them. and then even also like be involved and help.

Not to mention they cancel unwanted subscriptions, which is just the best aspect of it. There's also automatic transaction categorization across accounts plus customizable categories and tags to reveal like spending patterns. And then like I said, it is a financial app. So it helps you set budgets and goals. You can get personalized insights and regular reports.

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And to be fair, he's a pretty big, tough guy. He was like six feet tall, 195 pounds. So police are like, this solo man is leaving work and gets attacked and killed in his car, which was why the police's first instinct was actually to see if he died of natural causes in the car. Was this a heart attack? Now, the following day, detectives had the result. of Kenny's autopsy, and the results were actually way more shocking. It appeared, Kenny was a victim of foul play after all.

The coroner wrote that he had died from, quote, blunt compression trauma to his neck. Blunt compression. Is that just strangulation? Yeah. But it's a little bit more extreme. His neck had been broken with so much force that has severed his spine. So it was extreme pressure on his neck, which meant obviously this was not a natural death.

The discoloration on the neck that they had originally seen was real. Kenny was attacked violently at his place of work. Investigators, they obviously began looking for clues around the crime scene. One of the first things they do is examine that CCTV footage that I told you existed around the parking garage. Now, it turns out earlier that day at 7 a.m., something unusual was happening around the parking deck. A man with a hard hat, a mask, and these red-tinted sunglasses,

was seen walking around spray painting the security cameras. He did this to about six to eight of the cameras, to be exact. And the only thing that can really be made out about the person is that they're white, they are masculine presenting, and they have a distinct crease or wrinkle in their forehead, which is like... I mean, it's kind of me. I did a video the other day on Instagram. The whole time I was talking like this.

I think I have a distinct crease. Anyways. I'm just like, that's what they notice. Yeah, of all things. I don't know. It's got some forehead wrinkles. Yeah. Now, this person would move around the garage strategically.

hiding behind pillars, shielding their face before spray painting another camera. It's literally like Ocean's 11 up in here. This guy walking around. So to the detectives, it looked like this person was familiar

with the parking deck and where all the cameras were located. But there's something else seen on the footage before Kenny was killed. Between some of the blue spray paint, the cameras show a maroon. minivan parked right next to Kenny's car. Of course it's some maroon minivan.

So they notice this minivan parked next to his car right before Kenny was spotted entering the garage at 321 p.m. Which might I say like whoever is spray painting these cameras isn't doing a very good job because we're still seeing through the spray paint and kind of getting a glimpse of what's happening. So at 321, Kenny's walking. from work into the garage and there is a maroon minivan parked right next to his Honda Civic. And then a few minutes later, the lights on Kenny's car start flashing, almost like he's hitting

the fob, like the lock button maybe over and over again. And then shortly after this, the maroon van pulls out of the parking spot and leaves the parking garage. So we obviously don't see like what's happening. we just see the cars parked and the lights going off. So police wonder, did the person pull Kenny into the maroon car and attack him and then maybe put him back into his Honda Civic once he was dead? Did the attack happen in the Honda Civic? Except there was no blood, so they're like, I don't know.

Who would even want to hurt Kenny? Well, it turns out, Tanya already knew the answer to that question. So as soon as, like, police are investigating this as foul play, she offers up something. And she had given detectives her theory during an interview the night of Kenny's murder, like right after they found him. If I, like, got killed, would you even, would there be any thoughts on, like, who wanted to kill Garrett?

I feel like there's no one that wants to kill me. I could be wrong. Maybe the guy that I kicked out of the bagel shop today. I did. I kicked him out of the bagel shop. It's a story for another time. I'm sorry. I don't, I wouldn't think, like, a listener or, or, you know,

like someone from the bagel shop i would try to think of someone like more connected to you but i don't think anyone has a reason to kill you that i'm saying like i don't know if i could like pinpoint a person yeah i don't think i know anyone that wants to kill you but i could be like he has a couple ex-girlfriends who blocked me for no reason okay but like doesn't warrant a kill babe it doesn't warrant someone killing you immediately throw them under the bus from like 16 years ago that's crazy i'd be like the elementary school girlfriend. Yeah, her name. Like, I really, I don't know, I don't think I know anyone that would want to kill you too. Oh, kill me. Yeah, no, I don't know anyone. That's a good thing. I won't make a list for you. Okay. So she reveals something pretty huge to the Hillsborough police.

She says, hey, Kenny actually had a stalker, a very dangerous one that had been following him for years. And this person had been harassing and threatening Kenny. He had even placed a tracker on Kenny's car. He had snuck around their property under the cover of night. And Tanya told police, this stalker is all because of her. Oh, okay, no, keep going. So she's like, this person isn't stalking Kenny because of him. It's my fault. So let me rewind the clock a bit.

Back to the year 2000. This is 23 years earlier. This is about four years after Kenny and Tanya moved to Oregon. That was when Tanya accepted a new job working at the Milner Veterinary Hospital in Oregon City. Now, at this time, this clinic was brand new, so there was a lot of room to grow. And the opportunity was perfect for Tanya, who, like Kenny, was a huge animal lover. And its main veterinarian, the owner of the company, Stephen Milner, quickly became this celebrated person in the community. in the community once he opened this place.

His animal hospital was seen as one of the best in the area and Stephen's bedside manner was unmatched. Not only would he sit with and console those who had lost or were losing a pet, he would send them thoughtful handwritten notes after the fact. One woman said that on the 4th of July, she ran into Stephen, who offered to run to his office to get a sedative for her dog who was freaked out by the fireworks. Another client said Stephen made a donation

in her late pet's name to Oregon State University. It was just these little details that really made the locals fall in love with Stephen. Even his receptionist said he was the best boss she ever hatch. He was professional, he was kind and generous. And for the next two decades, he continued to run one of the best animal hospitals in town with Tanya by his side.

Okay. So technically, if you knew Stephen, you definitely knew Tanya. But in 2017, things got a little more complicated between the two of them. Because after all these years of working together, Tanya and Stephen go from coworkers to something more romantic. That year, Tanya and Kenny were apparently going through some difficult times. Tanya said Kenny was often away at job sites for days or weeks at a time, and when they were together, they were drinking a lot. She said Kenny had struggled with infidelity through their relationship a few times too. And by 2017, she reached a point where she was lonely and she was seeking attention from someone else.

And coincidentally, her boss, Stephen Milner, was newly separated from his wife. Okay. So earlier that year, Tanya and Stephen started sneaking around together. Stephen even had a nickname for Tanya. One of those, your dog's first name and then your street name, which for her equaled Kiki Essex, which is who he starts, like he starts referring to Tanya as Kiki, his girlfriend Kiki, to keep things under the radar. Now, a few people at the office, obviously.

start catching on. They're like sensing that something is going on between the two of them. But that got confirmed when many of them attended a wedding together that summer. Tanya went alone that night. She told people Kenny's out of town again. And after a few drinks and a couple of slow dances, Stephen and Tanya in public are getting a little too cozy. Now before the night was over, it was clear to everyone that they were definitely hooking up. Apparently, it was even clear to Kenny, who wasn't even at the wedding this night. Now, I don't know who tipped him off or if he just had a hunch, but as the hours ticked by and Tanya didn't come home from the wedding, Kenny suspected that she was at Stevens.

So he drove over there and basically caught them mid-affair. Also, this is crazy. So you're telling me that he then goes and kills Kenny? No, I'm just telling you how he got a stalker. But I'm just jumping ahead because I assume he kills Kenny and that's nuts. Yeah. So Kenny catches them. Okay.

But rather than make it this huge deal, he kind of leaves. Like he leaves it pretty calm. He doesn't say much. And then afterwards, as he's talking to Tanya and they're talking about their relationship, what they want to do moving forward, Tanya says she realized that she had made a huge mistake. She ended this five-month fling. she and Kenny tried hard to work through this.

They didn't want to lose each other, but little did she know this was the beginning of something much, much worse. Okay. So in late 2017, after calling it quits with Stephen, the couple received a strange letter. It read, quote,

I should do everyone a favor and go back to drinking myself into my own demise. Hmm. Which like... Why? Okay, Shakespeare. Uh-huh.

Like, that's just a little... little dramatic. Now, while the letter was anonymous, Tanya was pretty certain that Stephen was behind it. Now, at this point, Tanya talks to Kenny about quitting. She's like, this just seems weird. I'm going to leave. But after putting in nearly two decades at this job, she just didn't want to walk away so easily. But unfortunately, things only escalated from there. She was hoping that they could both just like call it quits, continue back at work. But over the next year or so more threatening letters came and then those turned into mysteriously weird phone calls. And one day, Tanya even got a call from Stephen's sister.

She said she was concerned about the domestic violence Tanya was experiencing in her marriage to Kenny. And Stephen's sister is like, Stephen told me everything. And not only was Tanya completely confused about this because there was no domestic violence, it also is starting to really freak her out that he just can't leave her alone. Stephen was making up lies about her and getting other people, even his own family involved. So that is when she was like, enough is enough. Tanya left the animal hospital realizing that might be the only solution to get Stephen to leave her and Kenny alone. But that wasn't the case.

The letters, the threats they kept coming. And in September of 2018, things got even spookier. I think we talk about this a lot Do you really never just know somebody? No. Like, do you just truly never know who someone actually is? Yeah.

Like, the fact that she can be sleeping with him and then all of a sudden he just... Is being this weird? Is this being this insane? Because I'm sure if you were to ask her, she'd be like, I had no idea. Like, he was insane. She had been working with him for years.

For years. I'm saying, do you just never truly know somebody? No. Guess not. I also think going back to love makes people do weirdo things sometimes. So at this point, it has been over a year since she had ended their affair. But one evening, when Tanya and Kenny got back to their house, they pulled into the driveway to see Stephen Milner there. It has been over a year since she ended things.

She has quit her job. He was wearing a blue hoodie and lying under her. underneath Kenny's Dodge Ram, which was parked in the driveway. And when they pulled in, they could see he was attaching a small black box to the bottom of Kenny's truck. Now, the second Stephen saw them pull up, he runs away. Obviously, the couple is terrified. They call the local bomb squad. They're like, did this guy just put a bomb underneath my husband's truck?

But it wasn't a bomb. It was a GPS tracking device, which... Still crazy. It's still creepy. Now, after that, Stephen was called in to speak with the police. Because when Tanya and Kenny explained the situation, they're like, no, like, it's been a year. We want absolutely nothing to do with him. So the police call him in.

They're like, hey, you've got to leave this couple alone. And he's like, no, no, no. She's lying. We're still having an affair. And I'm just trying to keep tabs on Kenny so we don't. get caught. Okay. Now, Tanya's like, no, it's a lie.

Like, that's not true. But the problem was, everyone who knew Stephen, which this is so ironic since you just said this, had a hard time believing that he would be this crazy. Speaking of this. Yeah, nah. Story for another time. Another story for another time. But, again, the amount of people that pretend to be nice and.

innocent and sweet out there when they're really not. There's a lot. Like in secret or crazy. There is a lot of people who are secretly not good people. Yeah. Crazy. But do make an effort, whether that's manipulation or coping mechanisms or personality disorders to come off a certain way.

But on the outside, they make themselves seem like these saints. I've seen it firsthand multiple times. Happened to me recently. I mean, here's the thing. like I can name someone from growing up who I'm like that person around town would have been known as like a really good person. But like it was all a facade. Oh yeah. Like when you truly get to know them, you start to see the mask slip a little bit.

Yeah. And I feel like maybe everyone kind of has that, has seen that in someone. I mean. Now, this is what's happening with Stephen. As I mentioned, Stephen had an incredible reputation in the area. everyone who knew him, loved him, whether they sent their pets to him or not. Because not only was he a vet, he was a dad to two kids from his first marriage. He was an active member of the community. He sponsored fundraisers, charity runs. He even once set up a hygiene station for the unhoused. But the truth was, Stephen was really good at masking his dark side. Turns out, he actually did have a history. he had been investigated back in 1996 by the Oregon Veterinary Medical Examining Board for, quote, unprofessional or dishonorable conduct.

Why? Well, he had put down two dogs without their owner's consent. So he just decided the dogs were too sick and did it without talking to the owners. Now, there was another incident in 2019 where Stephen also showed his true colors. He was collecting bottles and cans through his clinic, planned to use those proceeds from the bottle drop to donate to charity. But when he showed up at the drop spot, they told him he had exceeded the allowed size for a bottle deposit.

He not only lost his temper, he ended up shoving one of their employees and then went on local television to rant about it. He also doxed one of the employees by posting her information online, and encouraging everyone he knew to harass and threaten her. So again, he's coming off as a nice person, but even in the times of going to a charity, his real true colors do show.

Yeah. Like, it's very obvious this charity is just for looks if this is how you're acting when you're going there. Instacart knows that some people go bananas about getting the perfect, well, banana. Some want them green, some want them ripe, some with them ready right when they hit their doorstep. But with Instacart's preference picker, available at most retailers,

you can choose to get your groceries just the way you like. That means perfectly ripe bananas, deli meat sliced just the way you want, and avocados that aren't still hard as a puck in the third period. So don't cross your fingers and hope for the best. Download the app and get groceries just how you like with Instacart. Now that same year, 2019, again, this stocking and stuff has been going on for over a year now. Stephen sold his hospital to a national chain and finally retired. But now all of that free time he had was then used for something else.

It was to obsess further over his former lover, Tanya. Bro, go get a life, man. I know. It's been years. He sold the hospital. He's retired. Like, go play golf. Go do something. Like, has he never been broken up with? I don't know.

I don't understand how this has. happens to so many people. Like, it sucks. I know that probably sucked, but like, move on. The obsession that some people have. Crazy. It's also embarrassing, but it's crazy. Yeah. Like, dude, go do something, man. I don't know. There's a podcast right now about Clayton, the bachelor, who was accused of, he went through a paternity case. This woman was like, oh, I'm pregnant with his twins. She was never actually pregnant, but took it so far. And there's a podcast on it right now. It's insane. Like some people are nuts. And it's like not just nuts in like private. Yes. But nuts like in public. Like I don't I don't get it. Like I truly can't comprehend it.

And genuinely delusionally believing it. I truly can't comprehend it. It. Anyway. Also it's like do all of us have that potential? No. Is that just like a weird thing? No, I think it's a weird thing. I hope so. No, this girl's done it to like five other guys. So it's just a hobby for her. Yeah. Now, he's in love with Tanya still. He's obsessed with her and he's decided to make her husband Kenny's life a living hell. He absolutely hates this guy. Now, while Tanya was receiving endless love letters from Stephen, Kenny was getting scarier threat. So at the same time, he's like writing Tanya being like, I love you, come back to me. He's also threatening her husband. In June of 2019, Kenny found Stephen outside his house again. This time, screaming and saying he was going to destroy his work tools. Now, by August, Kenny was applying for an order of protection against Stephen. Kenny told the police that Stephen was getting more aggressive, terrifying each day, showing up to his house. And this time, the police take it a little more seriously.

A sheriff's deputy personally served Stephen with the restraining order. But two months later, Kenny doesn't try to renew the order. you actually like have to go in and actively do this. And he doesn't. And it's not because the threats had stopped. It's because they had actually gotten worse. And so he was like, okay, maybe if I drop it, it'll get better. Stephen actually told the couple if they didn't drop the restraining order,

he would bankrupt them with legal fees. And Tanya discouraged Kenny from going to the police again because she was terrified that Stephen's threats weren't idle. She was scared of him. And meanwhile, Tanya got a job at another animal hospital, but then Steven started showing up there too. He would leave her notes on her car. He would hang around in the parking lot waiting for her to get off her shift and leave.

And at one point, he even showed up with a dog to the animal clinic and is like, oh, Tanya needs to treat this dog. Now, cut to December 2020. It has been three years since Tanya called off their six-month fling. and Stephen is still at the restaurant. He is still obsessing over her. Oh, my God. By this point,

Kenny and Tanya had set up security cameras outside their home. That month, one of them caught Stephen army crawling around in their yard. Oh, my gosh, dude. Tanya called 911. What the actual freak. Stephen left. But this time,

the deputies don't even take a report because he's gone, which like, okay, I'm sorry, but yeah it's almost a comical it's not because we know where this story is going but like the fact that someone's army crawling around at this point i call i would keep i'm not going to say anything i would do bad like nah i don't do that at my house i would literally be like this guy is so unwell i'd be in jail like this is so far beyond like i'm pretty sure if i caught someone army crawling in my this is obsession this is stalking they'd be

buried currently in one of the holes in our side yards. We have these huge eight foot holes right now because we're planting some trees. I actually went out there the other day and I was like, dang. Is there a body in here? No, you could put a body in there. You have no idea. I know I just brought up holes in the movie, but I went out there the other day and thought about it again. I was like, those poor boys had to dig holes like this. Don't come army crawling in my yard. You will end up in one of those. Dude, army crawling through someone's yard. What are those things called those suits, Gil?

guillotine? No. Oh. Gilly suit? Yes, I don't know why he said guilliesuit. Imagine if he had a gilly suit on. That would have been even worse. Guillotine. Oh my gosh. The guillotine's the thing they cut their head off.

Yeah, it cuts your head off. I didn't go to sleep. Okay. So, Stevens Army crawling through the yard. Tanya's calling 911. Police are not, I mean, it's just not good. Again, we've talked about it before. Stocking is one of the most dangerous things because there's not much police do. Now, of course, all of the, of this is definitely starting to take a toll on Kenny and Tanya's marriage. I mean, things weren't even

perfect to begin with considering the infidelity and then add on like they're trying to heal from this and trying to stay together and move on. But then he's just constantly still around. That makes it really, really hard to heal and put things, you know, in the past, from the past in the past. So for Kenny, the stress of all of this led to drinking. The fights between Kenny and Tonya get a little more intense. And in August of 2021, it led to one really out of control event between the couple. That month during a fight, Tanya slashed Kenny's ear. And Kenny called the police. Tony was arrested for assault. She spent the night in jail. But the next day, she was she learned someone had paid her bail, $25,000 bail, by the way.

By who? Not Kenny. Not her husband. Stephen Milner had learned about her arrest and bailed her out. And he was waiting for her outside in the parking lot once she was released. Now, this is surprising to Tanya because she's like, how did he even know? How did he even know I got arrested? Well, this led them to believe that Stephen had definitely installed trail cameras around their property the same time that's used.

It doesn't stop. It gets worse and worse. That's how he learned she'd been arrested. And Stephen had been watching everything going on around their home. And what's even more disturbing is Tanya actually ends up staying with Stephen for a couple of days after she was released. Now, I know this is like everyone's screaming right now. Everyone's throwing their hands up and you're valid. You're valid.

Okay. Outside looking in, this is crazy. Inside looking in, this is crazy. I'm assuming that Tanya and Kenny's marriage was in a really rough spot right now. Her ex-affair partner bails her out, becomes her night in shining armor, rescuing her out of jail. Tanya has just spent the night in jail. and her brain twisted brain in the absolute nuance of this complicated situation is like, yeah, I'll just stay with him for a couple days.

I wonder. And I know that sounds crazy. I just think it's probably not as crazy when you're the one living it, but it's still crazy. It's pretty nuts. I'm not going to lie. It's pretty crazy. Not the judge, but that's.

No, I do think it's. It's judge worthy. Like, I think it's judgeworthy. But I also think the human psyche, especially when you're dealing with something as complicated as an affair, doesn't make much sense. Like, I think people do very odd things. Okay. In that name. I'm not justifying it.

I'm just saying that I can see the, I can see a world where she stayed with him for a couple days. Now, obviously, she insists a few days later, later, when she could. goes home to Kenny. Keep in mind, Kenny called the cops on her and got her arrested. Okay. Valid. Valid. Now, when she goes home a few days later, she's like, I've been at Stevens. Nothing romantic happened. He just paid my bill, got me out of jail. And I'm sure Kenny's like Stephen, the one in the gilly suit, army crawling around our home, not a gilly suit, but army crawling around our home, she had to explain that. But when she goes home to Kenny, like a few days after getting out of jail, Stephen has just paid $25,000 to bail her out of jail.

Oh, no. And then she's like... Ever we realized it was only like 10%. So it was like $2,500. Maybe. But it was a $25,000 bail. You can pay $25,000. I mean, you can pay the full bail.

Yeah, I mean, I guess maybe he did. Yeah. He probably did. This is an act of getting his girl back. He could have. He very well could have. Um, now when Steven's like, what? You're going back to Kenny.

Like, you've been with me for a couple days. I've fought in his mind, fought so hard for this and you're going to go back to, you're going to go back to Kenny. This makes him. even more enraged. Like, you've just taken a crazy person and lit a fire under them. Now, in March of 2022, he takes things to a whole new level. The month before, Stephen had snuck around and installed another GPS tracker on Kenny's car, this time without getting caught. And then on March 1st, Stephen began following Kenny closely behind on a 45-minute drive from Oregon City to Hillsboro,

where he worked. And this was after Stephen. had recently threatened to, quote, chop Kenny into a million pieces and make sure it takes days to do it. Okay. So when Kenny realized Stephen was following him to work, he pulled over and called the police. Shockingly, this time, Stephen didn't flee.

He was approached by an officer who caught their interaction on body cam footage. And in it, Stephen tells the officer, he's just worried and following Kenny because he's been abusive towards Tanya. He's doing all of this for her safety. the police don't buy it. They're like, listen, this guy's taking a restraining order out on you before.

Tanya herself has told us she wants nothing to do with you. They tell Steven, stay the heck out of this couple's business, but they don't arrest him. They give him a warning. My gosh, they should have cut his feet off or something. Kenny knows this is not enough. So immediately after that incident, Kenny goes back to the police and he's like,

that's it. I'm filing another protection. I'm filing another order of protection against Stephen. Now, by that point, Kenny was so afraid for his life, He could, like, it was less about the drama of all this. He was struggling on a day-to-day basis to the point where he even got into a car accident about two weeks after filing that order. And he tells people he's just distracted. Like, he's genuinely worried for his life.

Honestly, it's so sad. It's horrible. None of this stopped Stephen Milner. In August of 2022, he puts another tracker on Kenny's car. I don't understand. Like, we talk about it so much and it's so hard. Stocking is so hard with the justice system. Like, proving it and it's just, it's a difficult one.

Do you just throw them in jail forever? Like, yeah. Like, do you throw them in jail? I don't know, probably. I've heard so many crazy stalking stories and I'm like, look, if you're stalking someone, it's so scary. Like, they need to send them all to an island or something. Like, you just, you can't live in society being that nuts.

It's like a hide-and-seek island. They just stalk each other. Yeah, they can just all go stock each other or something. So this time he actually is caught, and he's criminally charged for violating the protective order. A month later, Kenny also files a civil suit against Stephen for invasion of privacy and emotional distress. Really, though, he just pokes the bear.

Because in October of 2022, Stephen's plotting his most nefarious plan yet. He buys a new car on Craigslist under a fake name. He uses it to continue to continue. stalking Kenny. And on December 13th, he goes to Kenny's place of work and he spray paints about a dozen or so cameras in the parking garage. And then in January of 2023, Stephen buys a second car using a false identity.

One of them happens to be a maroon minivan. And by January 27th, Kenny is found dead in his car. So sad. So when... Open and shut at this point. Let's go back to the night of the murder. now. Tanya's like,

I know who did it. I know who did this. It's my fault. Like, obviously, Stephen Milner is screaming guilty. Now it's just a matter of gathering more than circumstantial evidence, confirming he's the man behind the mask

on that surveillance footage. So what did he think? He was, like, going to get back with her after killing him? Also, like, buying a car with a fake name is so easy to trace. A maroon minivan? You couldn't have gotten something a little less.

That's what I said. I said, of course, it's a maroon minivan. So just a few days after the murderer on January 31st, police call Stephen in. They're like, hey, you need to sign some paperwork. They place a detective at the front desk. Their real goal is to see whether or not he has any injuries on his body. Now, one of the first things she sees is not only is Stephen extremely nervous. When signing this paperwork, he shows up to the police station to the front desk wearing makeup.

And he didn't do a very good job because they can see a huge, huge scratch on his nose and a pretty gnarly black eye underneath that makeup. So just as he's about to walk out the front door of the station after thinking he was just signing paperwork, deputies stop him and they arrest him. And something else they noticed about Stephen, he needs Botox. No, but he has the same exact forehead crease as the masked man in that footage. Now a few days later, Stephen is formally charged with second degree murder and stalking. Second degree, because in the state of Oregon, first degree only applies to crimes committed against someone under 14, a police officer or another protected role.

Is that currently true? Yeah. Or if it's committed to cover up another crime. So in Oregon, you can only get first degree murder if the crime is committed against somewhere. absolute insane idiot made that law. A police officer, a protected role, or if it is committed to cover up a different crime. Attorneys assemble,

because who made that, who? Avengers. Hello? Okay, honestly. Whose idea was that? If I get a DM from one of you guys and you try to, um, justify it?

Justify this. I'm going to be just absolutely distraught because there is. is no way. You can explain to me why they did that, but there is no way that you agree with that. There's no way. No, I mean,

I can see, like, where they were going with it. Like, this is the worst of the worst. But I'm just, in my mind, I'm like,

you killed someone. Yeah. Granted, premeditated murder? Yes, correct. If it's premeditated, if you planned it, I don't,

you killed someone. I'm not talking about manslaughter. I'm not talking about other instances of passion. Like premeditated murder. If you planned it, it's, Also, like, I probably should have looked this up, but like, loki, you're telling me if there was a mass killing in Oregon and none of the victims were under the age of 14. They would just be like, oh, a second degree murder?

Yeah, I need explanations. I'm going to explain. Thank you. I'm sure that's happening. I'm sure there's an answer. I just didn't look it up. Yeah. But one thing about true crime, like one of the discoveries I've made while doing this podcast is that holy cow, some states have some weird.

laws. Like some specific states, you would think these laws are so outdated. They are. And you're just like, what? So police at this point still build their case against him. Now, shortly after the charges are filed, police secure a search warrant for Stephen's home. And when I tell you this search warrant, okay, you're entering a stalker's home. They find some pretty weird things.

First of all, there is a framed picture of Tanya next to the, Stephen's bed. There were a few keepsakes from the short time they were together. They find women's underwear, love notes. He had written her. And even though their relationship had only lasted a few months, the letters made it seem like he and Tanya had been in this romantic relationship for years, like love bombing. They also found a giant cardboard cutout of Stephen himself. Well, actually, it was a cutout of his face pasted onto a very ripped and oil male body with a dog paw tattoo over his heart. Which like, but what police really needed, obviously, was access to the maroon van.

While doing this, they order a forensic analysis on his SUV, like his other car. And it shows that he's made a lot of trips to Home Depot. Of course. And those trips increased as it got closer to the time of Kenny's murder, including several trips on the day of the murder. So detectives take a little trip. trip over to the store, they ask about any unusual activity. And shockingly, one of the security people's like, yeah, there were two cars in the lot that had been flagged after being left there for a while.

One was a blue car and the other, a maroon minivan. So they checked the security footage. And sure enough, on the day of Kenny's murder, they see a white SUV identical to Stevens, pull into the Home Depot parking lot, a guy gets out of the driver's seat and into the maroon minivan and drives away. So this is where he was storing his getaway car. He bought a pair of safety glasses that was the same pair seen like the red tint. He also found the hard hat. Here's the problem, though. The cars like the blue car and the maroon car are no longer in the parking lot.

They discover they've been sent to a scrapyard. They head over. Employees tell them it's too late. Exactly one week ago, the car was smashed to pieces. Okay. As was there one hope of maybe finding a crime scene. But the search for more evidence isn't a total wash. turns out Kenny's hands were covered in DNA from fighting back and all of the DNA on his hands

belonged to Stephen Milner. So this is a pretty solid piece of evidence. So they go to trial. He pleads not guilty. He says he believed he was rescuing Tanya from an abusive marriage and that he went there to confront Kenny and when he confronted him, Kenny attacked him and so he killed him in self-defense. Okay, I mean... Despite the fact that they know for sure that he spray-painted the cameras and got a fake car

to go confront him. Uh-huh. He also said he eventually broke his neck. Stephen Milner was found guilty of second-degree murder, stalking and violating his protective order. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole

after 25 years. So he did get possibility of parole. In November of 2025, Stephen also agreed to a $1.2 million settlement with Kenny's estate. And while the harassment threats and intimidation might have stopped, so did the life Tanya once knew. I mean, this was her husband, someone she had been with for decades.

This is the only person who knew what she had been through. I mean, Tanya's paying for her mistakes at a very high price. And despite the mistakes she made, no one deserves that. We deserve a second chance and opportunity. to move on and grow. But sometimes it's not the mistake itself that sets us back. It's the person tied to that mistake that forces us to keep reliving it over and over and over again, just ruining your life one day at a time.

And that is the murder of Kenneth Vandrick. Poor guy. I mean, that sucks. I mean, I know it sucks for her too, but I mean, Kenny got killed. So. Yeah. Once again, it affects so many people. and Stephen's a freaking psycho.

And I think the obvious way to go here is to fill a lot of anger and blame towards Tanya. I mean, she didn't kill him. And this is the thing. While I understand where that is coming from, again, like Garrett just said, one person killed Kenny, and that was Stephen Milner.

So let's hold him responsible and acknowledge that everyone makes mistakes and like I said everyone deserves a second chance. Dude, Steven's a nut. He's probably a loving prison. He has a chance of parole in 25 years. 25 years. I mean, yeah, he'll be old. Yeah, he can't. He can't come after me. I got it. Oh, I can handle him. There's just an 89-year-old crawling in Tonya's front lawn. Come get me. Anyways. All right, you guys, that was our episode for this week, and we will see you next time with another one. I love it. I hate it. Goodbye.