John Gerard
Appearances
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
And as soon as Daniel noticed the officer, he ran out the back of the library and led police on a foot pursuit.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
He was very calm. He was very polite with the investigators. He shared information.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
When investigators asked for consent to search his phone, he did consent to that search.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
So I have prosecuted almost three dozen homicide cases. The majority of those were murders.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
He was obviously unaware that we would be able to recover the surveillance footage from the public transit bus or those area businesses.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
Knowing that Daniel and Malan Ali 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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
Law enforcement was able to obtain surveillance footage from that public transit bus that showed the two of them together as well.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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, a Walgreens and a liquor store that showed the last time that Daniel and Milana were seen together.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
Daniel indicated that he just went back to his campsite and stayed in his tent, which also was a provable lie because we knew that he had gone to Avery Fletcher's home that evening.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
Daniel showed up soaking wet and appearing to be upset about something.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
That was unusual for Daniel because when he would engage in conversations, he would do that in the common area of living of the home. So the fact that Daniel went into the bathroom to have a private conversation caught Avery's attention.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
justice reform bill, it required that all juvenile crimes begin in the juvenile court, in 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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
It has become a large impediment for prosecuting juveniles who commit the most serious crimes to be tried as adults.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
We were able to produce enough evidence for the court to find that Daniel has sufficient adult-like maturity and sophistication and that keeping Daniel in the juvenile justice system was not in the interest of Daniel or society.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
There was a good Samaritan in the community who reported to police that 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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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. 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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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 Mulan Lee.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
who 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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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 had parted ways with one another.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
One of her friends knew that Milana would sometimes go into this wooded area that was a little more secluded just to, you know, have time to herself and think. And so she and her mother went down into that wooded area.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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 were like hygiene items that were scattered throughout this wooded area.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
So Milana's body was pretty severely injured. She had bruises to multiple places on her body and scratches all along the front side of her body.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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 in
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
So I think that evidence was very strong that the person that sexually assaulted her was also the person that had murdered her.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
That turned out to be very critical to our criminal investigation because it showed where Milana went after leaving her apartment.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
So investigators began canvassing the businesses in that shopping complex and coincidentally encountered a woman 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.
Anatomy of Murder
Unsuspecting (Milana Li)
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.