HILLSBORO, Ore. — The teenage boy accused of killing a Beaverton girl in May of last year will be tried as an adult instead of as a juvenile, a Washington County judge decided on Friday.
Daniel Gore, now 17, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with 13-year-old Milana Li's death a few weeks after her body was found in Westside Linear Park.
Li was a sixth grader at Conestoga Middle School in Beaverton. Her family reported her missing on May 8, 2022, after she was last seen at the family's Murray Hill apartment the night before. Someone located her body in a small stream at the park a day later.
Investigators quickly concluded that Li's death was a homicide, finding evidence that she'd been sexually abused and strangled to death. Police arrested Daniel Ryan Gore, then 16, a little over a week later.
Gore already had a criminal history in the juvenile system, and had been placed on probation just a few months prior to Li's death due to an unrelated theft case. The Washington County District Attorney's office recommended that he be held in a detention center, but he was instead released to his family in Salem on the recommendation of the Washington County Juvenile Department.
The teenager later ran away from home, and his father emailed the Juvenile Department on April 4 to report that Gore was likely staying in Beaverton. The Juvenile Department did not notify the District Attorney's office or Beaverton Police, the Oregonian reported at the time.
After his arrest in May, Gore was charged with first-degree murder in the case, but remained in the juvenile court system pending trial.
During a hearing in Washington County on Friday, Judge Erik Bucher said that Gore was "sufficiently mature" to understand his actions, and keeping Gore in the juvenile system is not in the teenager's best interest or that of the community.
Due to the decision to try Gore as an adult, he now faces a potential 30-year prison sentence instead of a term in juvenile custody of closer to eight years.
Milana Li's grandmother, Lidiya Li, said that the family was hoping for this outcome, one they believe is necessary to protect other girls in the future.
“If he can plan, he can know what he’s doing ... so of course he has to go to adult, (be) charged as adult,” Lidiya Li said. “My granddaughter is gone, she’s not with us anymore here, so I don’t want him to hurt other people.”
Since Oregon passed reforms on its juvenile justice system in 2019, it has been rare for a judge to determine that minors between 15 and 17 years old charged with serious crimes should be tried as adults. It's happened only a handful of times, according to Justice Department data. Gore's case now becomes one of the few exceptions.
Judge Bucher said he wrote a 54-page report on his decision to try Gore as an adult, but it is only being released to the involved lawyers and the victim's family at this time. Gore will soon be indicted in circuit court.