New details emerged Monday in the brutal slaying of a 13-year-old Beaverton girl who was left for dead in a shallow stream last May.
Her suspected killer, Daniel Ryan Gore, appeared in Washington County Circuit Court Monday for a weeklong hearing to decide whether he will be tried as an adult. Gore is accused of raping and murdering Milana Li and moving her body after killing her when he was 16.
Li’s body was found May 10, 2022 in a secluded, wooded area by the Westside Regional Trail to Barrows Park two days after she went missing from her family’s home in Southwest Beaverton.
She had been strangled to death and submerged underwater, her body covered in scrapes and bruises and hidden under a blanket that was weighed down with narrow logs, according to multiple officials who testified Monday in Washington County Circuit Court about the slaying.
Gore’s semen was detected on a swab of the sixth grader’s genitals, investigators said.
Beaverton police and a Washington County forensic analyst provided details in court about Li’s death and about Gore, including that he had been with Li the evening she disappeared allegedly, and that he had been living in a tent near where Li’s body was found.
Gore pleaded not guilty in July to two counts of first-degree murder, first- and second-degree rape, two counts of fire-degree sexual abuse and second-degree abuse of a corpse.
If Gore is tried as a juvenile and found guilty, he would be released from Oregon Youth Authority custody no later than age 25.
A first-degree murder conviction in adult court carries a minimum 30-year prison sentence, but juveniles waived to adult court and convicted can seek parole after 15 years.
The waiver hearing is expected to continue daily until Friday, Washington County prosecutors said.
Gore appeared in court in a gray collared shirt, his formerly shaggy hair cut short. He did not speak during the hearing.
An autopsy revealed Li had a hemorrhage on her head, large bruises by her eyes, lips, ears, and neck, scratches all over her body and bruising and a laceration in and around her genitals, said Beaverton Detective Cynthia Herring.
Gore’s girlfriend at the time told Herring that Gore had a “blood kink,” and got sexual pleasure from violent imagery. He had scratches on his face after Li disappeared and called his girlfriend and told her he had gotten them from falling down, Herring said.
According to Herring, the girlfriend said Gore was hanging out alone with Li the evening she went missing. He told his girlfriend that Li had tried to kiss him and that he “handled it,” and later told her that he “had done something bad,” Herring said.
Evidence markers could be seen on Wed., May 11, 2022, near the location where Milana Li, 13, was found dead in a stream the day before. The stream is located off the Westside Regional Trail, near the intersection of Southwest Barrows Road and Horizon Boulevard in Beaverton.Dave Killen / The Oregonian
Derek Vuylsteke, a Beaverton police officer, testified about responding to the trail after two passersby reported seeing clothing in the wooded area that they suspected belonged to Li.
As he walked into the brush, Vuylsteke can be heard in his body camera footage telling a fellow officer that the secluded spot is a “hot spot” where teenagers often come to smoke and hang out. The footage shows Vuylsteke stopping by the ravine to take photos, including of what appears to be a blue blanket on the surface of the water with several narrow logs on top of it.
“That’s hair,” he can be heard saying in the video.
A forensic analyst, Megan Anderson, described responding to the scene later that day to identify evidence, including a backpack, sneakers, an acrylic nail, a bra, pants and a pair of blood-stained underwear that all belonged to Li, she said.
After Anderson finished cataloging the evidence, another analyst carefully removed the blanket and found Li underneath, naked and curled on her side, Anderson said.
Investigators identified Gore as a possible suspect after his teenage friend told police that she, Gore and Li sometimes hung out, said Beaverton police officer Michel Wilson. The girl told Wilson that Gore had run away from home and was living in a tent, using a knife for protection and selling cigarettes and shoplifting to support himself. He often bragged about his ability to run from police, Wilson said the girl told her.
At a May detention review, Deputy District Attorney Dustin Staten said Gore and another juvenile tried to set a movie theater on fire in 2020.
Wilson described going to Li’s home with a detective and a chaplain hours after her body was found to notify Li’s family of her death. She called the experience “one of the most terrible moments of my life.”
An ambulance was called for Li’s grandmother, who fainted after receiving the news, Wilson said.
“I have never witnessed suffering like that before,” said Wilson, who has worked in law enforcement for 13 years. “It was complete hysteria and absolute suffering.”
— Catalina Gaitán, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalingaitan_
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