Daniel Gore of Oregon: Milana Li Murder, Trial, and Life Sentence

Daniel Ryan Gore is an Oregon teenager who was convicted in November 2024 of the May 2022 rape and murder of 13-year-old Milana Li, a Beaverton middle schooler. Gore, 16 at the time of the killing and living alone in a tent in a wooded park, was tried as an adult in Washington County, found guilty of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, and first-degree sexual abuse, and sentenced to life in prison. Because of Oregon’s 2019 juvenile justice reforms, he is eligible for a parole hearing after 15 years.¹

What Happened to Milana Li

On the evening of May 8, 2022, Milana Li was last seen with Gore around 7:45 p.m. in a wooded section of Westside Linear Park in Beaverton, close to the tent where Gore had been staying. Prosecutors said he lured her into a false sense of security, then sexually assaulted and strangled her. Her body was found in a shallow creek, partially submerged under a weighted-down blanket.¹

Investigators moved on Gore within days. Surveillance footage and cell phone tracking placed Milana with him that evening. DNA recovered from the victim was linked to him, and packaging straps from his tent near Progress Ridge matched those used on the blanket covering her body. Shortly after the killing, Gore called his then-girlfriend and told her “something bad happened” but that he “took care of it.” Two days after Milana’s body was found, Beaverton officers approached Gore at a local library. He fled through an emergency exit and was arrested shortly afterward.¹ He was formally charged with murder on May 20, 2022.²

Searches of the campsite produced items prosecutors would later use at trial. A journal contained the entry “I feel like Dexter,” a reference to the Showtime series about a serial killer.³ Investigators also found a grinning skull mask tied to the horrorcore rapper 7XVN, symbols associated with the rapper carved into nearby trees, and searches on Gore’s phone related to sexual violence.⁴

Who Daniel Gore Was Before the Killing

At the time of the murder, Gore was 16 and on probation through the Washington County Juvenile Department for second-degree theft, second-degree arson, and second-degree criminal mischief. A May 2022 detention review noted that Gore and another juvenile had tried to set a movie theater on fire in the fall of 2020. Prosecutors had earlier recommended detention rather than release to his parents, but the court set probation terms that sent him home.⁵

In March 2022, Gore ran away from his parents’ home in West Salem. He spent his 16th birthday camping in the Beaverton woods, stopped attending school, and supported himself by shoplifting food, alcohol, cigarettes, and other supplies. He charged his phone at a local library and used a friend’s apartment complex to shower and wash clothes.⁶

The Fight to Try Him as an Adult

Because Gore was 16 when Milana was killed, where his case would be heard became the central legal question. Oregon’s Senate Bill 1008, passed in 2019, ended automatic adult prosecution for 15- to 17-year-olds charged with serious felonies. Prosecutors now have to request a transfer hearing, and a judge decides.⁶

The hearing began on June 12, 2023, before Washington County Circuit Judge Erik Buchér and ran seven days. If kept in the juvenile system, Gore would have remained in Oregon Youth Authority custody only until age 25. In adult court, a first-degree murder conviction carried a mandatory minimum of 25 years under Measure 11.⁶

Prosecutors argued that two months of self-sufficient living in a tent, together with Gore’s efforts to create an alibi and conceal the crime, showed adult-level maturity. The defense argued the opposite: running away was itself impulsive. Forensic psychologist Holly Crossen testified that Gore had untreated ADHD, major depressive disorder, panic disorder, and substance use disorders, and assessed his cognitive age as closer to 13.⁷

Milana’s family pushed hard for an adult trial. In a statement read by a prosecutor, Milana’s mother, Assel Li, said: “The thought of Milana’s last moments is enough to drive us to madness. The thought of Daniel Gore being released in a few years fills me with fear for the safety of my family and society at large.”⁷

In a 54-page decision in late July 2023, Judge Buchér ruled that Gore was of “sufficient maturity to understand the crime he’s accused of” and transferred the case to adult court.² The ruling was unusual. Since SB 1008 took effect, prosecutors had requested adult trials in 63 of 1,117 eligible cases, and judges had granted the transfer in only seven instances before Gore’s.⁶

The Trial and Verdict

The trial began in November 2024 before Judge Ricardo Menchaca, with Senior Deputy District Attorneys John Gerhard and Andy Pulver prosecuting. Over two weeks, the state built a layered forensic case: surveillance footage and cell data placing Milana with Gore the evening she disappeared, DNA linking him to the sexual assault, physical evidence from his tent matching items used to conceal the body, and the phone searches, journal entries, and campsite imagery centered on violent themes.⁴

In closing arguments, Gerhard told jurors the killing was Gore’s choice to “act out his fantasy,” describing how he took advantage of a “vulnerable girl who trusted him and followed him into the woods.”³ Pulver called Gore “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”⁸

Defense attorney J. Mark Lawrence challenged the physical evidence. He argued that no trace of the victim’s DNA was found on Gore’s clothing and pointed to unidentified male DNA on Milana’s clothing and beneath her fingernails.⁴

The jury deliberated less than 90 minutes before returning guilty verdicts on all three counts on November 22, 2024: first-degree murder, first-degree rape, and first-degree sexual abuse.¹

Life in Prison, With a Path to Release

On December 2, 2024, Judge Menchaca imposed the maximum sentence available: life in prison.¹ The sentence carries two features of Oregon law that drew heavy attention. Senate Bill 1008, in effect since January 2020, bars life-without-parole sentences for anyone whose offense was committed before age 18 and guarantees a parole hearing before the Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision after 15 years, no matter the sentence imposed.⁹

The same law provides a “second look” hearing at the halfway point of the sentence, where a judge decides whether the offender has been rehabilitated enough to serve the rest of the term under community supervision rather than behind bars. Gore had already served roughly two years in pretrial custody, so his second-look hearing could arrive as soon as seven and a half years after sentencing.⁹

Washington County prosecutors publicly criticized that possibility, and the case became a focal point in the broader debate over SB 1008. Supporters of the law point to research showing adolescent brains are still developing and that juvenile offenders have higher rehabilitation potential than adults.⁹

Where Gore Is Now

As of early 2025, Gore is serving his life sentence at an Oregon Youth Authority facility, where juvenile offenders remain until age 25 before potential transfer to an adult prison.¹⁰ While in pretrial detention, he was disciplined for breaching firewall software on facility computers to download images of women.¹¹ No appeal or post-conviction challenge has been publicly reported.

1
Washington County District Attorney’s Office. Daniel Ryan Gore Found Guilty Murder Milana Li
2
KPTV. Suspect in Murder of 13-Year-Old Beaverton Girl Can Be Tried as Adult
3
People. Teen Who ‘Felt Like Dexter’ Lured Girl Into Woods, Raped and Killed Her
4
The Oregonian. Teen Runaway Guilty in Rape, Fatal Strangulation of 13-Year-Old Beaverton Girl
5
Washington County. Statement Regarding Youth Murder Charge
6
The Oregonian. Oregon Murder Suspect, 16, Lived on His Own in a Tent
7
The Oregonian. Oregon Teen Suspect in Murder of 13-Year-Old Milana Li Unlikely to Be Tried as Adult
8
KPTV. 18-Year-Old Found Guilty of Murdering 13-Year-Old Beaverton Girl
9
KPTV. Washington Co. Prosecutor Criticizes Leniency of State Law
10
The Oregonian. Killer, Rapist in Milana Li Case Gets Life as Authorities Slam Possibility of Release Under Reform Law
11
Statesman Journal. Daniel Gore Prison Sentence, Murder, Rape, Milana Li