HILLSBORO, Ore. — Daniel Gore, the teen found guilty of sexually assaulting and murdering 13-year-old Milana Li in 2022, was sentenced Monday to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years, with an additional 100 months in prison for the rape conviction.
Gore was 16 at the time of the murder but was tried as an adult, allowing for a longer sentence than the eight year maximum he would've faced if tried as a juvenile.
Li was a sixth grader at Conestoga Middle School in Beaverton. She was reported missing on May 8, 2022, prompting a two-day search that ended when her body was found in a stream in Westside Linear Park. Her death was ruled a homicide following an autopsy that also turned up evidence that she had been sexually assaulted.
Gore was arrested about a week later after surveillance video showed him with Li before her death. He already had a juvenile criminal record and was facing charges for arson, criminal mischief and theft, and had run away from home after being released by juvenile justice officials.
"This is the worst nightmare you could ever imagine," Li's mother, Assel Li, testified at the sentencing hearing. "He destroyed our family."
Gore declined to speak at the hearing.
The trial began Nov. 13 and wrapped up Nov. 22. The jury reached a unanimous verdict in less than 90 minutes, finding Gore guilty on all charges — two counts of murder (later merged into one count), one count of first-degree rape and one count of first-degree sexual abuse.
Prosecutors highlighted evidence including Gore's DNA found inside Li's body, cell phone tracking data that showed both of them to near a friend's house where Gore had been staying, and Gore's blanket found covering her body.
Detectives said that Gore initially lied about when he'd last seen Li, and friends of Gore testified that he'd admitted to "doing something bad" and later "handling it." He also made efforts to cover his tracks, prosecutors said, including texting Li's phone to say he was looking for her and asking a friend for pictures from a trip to California that he then posted to social media.
Gore's defense argued that he and Li had a consensual relationship and someone else had killed her, based on DNA from an unidentified man that was found under Li's fingernails and in her pants.
