Key Van in Oregon Murder Case Was Crushed Before Police Arrived

Hillsboro Police Detective Devin Rigo rushed to a metal scrapyard north of Portland, Oregon, believing a maroon minivan there held crucial forensic evidence in the murder of Kenny Fandrich, a 56-year-old contract pipe fitter. He was too late — the van had already been crushed.

Fandrich was found dead on January 27, 2023, in a parking garage at the Intel campus in Hillsboro. Surveillance footage showed he had been dragged into the minivan by a masked man, who police believe broke his neck inside the vehicle before staging his body back in his own car. The suspect had spray-painted several security cameras with blue paint to hide his actions, but the paint didn't cover everything the cameras recorded.

Investigators identified the suspect as Dr. Steven Milner, a well-off former veterinarian who had a past affair with Fandrich's wife, Tanya. Kenny Fandrich had filed multiple protective orders against Milner, who had also been criminally charged months earlier for placing a tracking device on one of the Fandrichs' vehicles. Police arrested Milner and charged him with murder.

Detectives determined Milner had used the minivan, along with another vehicle, as what they called "burner cars" — comparing it to a burner phone used briefly and then discarded. The minivan's VIN was flagged after security footage showed it leaving a Home Depot parking lot shortly before the killing, and the Oregon Department of Transportation later reported it had been towed from the side of I-5 in North Portland just days after the murder.

Rigo tracked the van to a scrap metal company and rushed to the yard, hoping to retrieve what he considered the case's main crime scene. Instead, he was shown video of the van being picked up and smashed to pieces — exactly a week before he arrived. "I was able to watch one of my key pieces of evidence be crushed and taken away before my very eyes," Rigo said.

The investigation and Milner's trial defense are detailed in CBS's "48 Hours" episode "Murder in the Parking Garage," with an encore airing Saturday, August 15, on CBS and Paramount+.