34 years after man’s body found at Pasco Boat Basin, the suspect is in jail for murder

Two years after DNA tests linked him to a 1986 Pasco murder, the suspect has been moved to the local jail to answer for the crime.

Theodore Milam, 56, was booked into the Franklin County facility at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

He is charged with first-degree murder for the death of Robert J. McDonald.

However, Milam likely won’t spend much time in the jail.

He struck a deal months ago to resolve his pending cases in both Spokane and Franklin counties.

Milam is expected to plead guilty in Franklin County Superior Court to first-degree manslaughter, with a recommended sentence of 8 1/2 years.

That prison sentence will be served consecutively to the 10-year term ordered Jan. 8 in Spokane County Superior Court.

In that case, Milam admitted attacking a woman in her home and raping her, according to The Spokesman-Review. The crime happened in 1999.

‘Global resolution for both families’

Milam will make his first appearance Wednesday in the Franklin County case, with another hearing scheduled Jan. 21.

Prosecutor Shawn Sant said it will be another one to two weeks before Milam enters the guilty plea and is sentenced.

“We looked at this as kind of a global resolution for both families” on two major cases, said Sant.

McDonald’s family traveled to Spokane last week to watch that sentencing, and the victim in that rape case may come to Pasco for the murder resolution, he said.

Both were in agreement with the deal that will put Milam behind bars for a total 18 1/2 years, possibly for the rest of his life.

While it is hard to say they are satisfied with the time, McDonald’s family understood the difficulty of dealing with a case that dated to 1986 and appreciate the fact it will bring some finality for his loved ones, said Sant.

2 cold cases solved by DNA

Both cold cases were solved in early 2018 with advances in DNA science.

State forensic scientists got a match to the Pasco case in 2006 after extracting a DNA profile from crime scene swabs.

But they didn’t have a name to put with the profile until 12 years later, after Milam was convicted in Spokane on a separate investigation. His DNA was then collected and added to the database, and the match was made once state scientists ran a regular search of unsolved cases in the system.

The profile also was linked through the database to the 1999 Spokane case.

Milam was charged in Franklin County on Feb. 21, 2018 — four days shy of the anniversary of McDonald’s death.

Milam was living in Deer Park when he was arrested two years ago, but had been living in Pasco when McDonald was killed Feb. 25, 1986.

The Richland contractor’s bludgeoned body was found floating in the Pasco Boat Basin, which is now known as Schlagel Park.

Court documents filed with the murder charge show McDonald also was sexually assaulted.

Victim died from drowning

Two young boys playing with their father discovered McDonald’s body at 12:30 p.m. below the small park at the south end of Fourth Avenue and Washington Street, according to Tri-City Herald archives.

McDonald, 40, was pulled from the shallow bay of the boat basin. He was floating face down, his hands were bound together with a T-shirt and he’d apparently been in the water for several hours, police said.

McDonald had a cut above the right eyebrow. An autopsy determined he’d been hit in the head, causing a brain bleed and loss of consciousness.

Milam then threw him into the Columbia River, court documents show.

McDonald died from drowning.

His orange pickup was parked a few feet from the water in the park’s parking lot. It was unlocked, and his wallet was tucked between the cab and the canopy shell on the driver’s side, court documents said.

Witnesses told police at the time that it was McDonald’s habit to hide his wallet “when confronted with a situation with which he was uncomfortable,” documents said.

Detectives found evidence of a struggle on the riverbank.

Suspect denied knowing murder victim

McDonald worked as a construction contractor and at one time operated a tree-trimming business in the Tri-Cities.

In announcing Milam’s arrest two years ago, then-Pasco police Deputy Chief Ken Roske said despite intense investigation, the case had long ago gone dormant because there were no leads from fingerprint evidence.

The sexual assault evidence was sent to the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory in March 1994 for possible DNA analysis, but technology was still insufficient to develop a suspect.

Pasco police were notified Feb. 1, 2018, that a match had been made.

Detectives traveled to Spokane to talk with Milam, who claimed he had not been at the boat basin since he was 12. He would have been 22 when McDonald was killed.

He also denied knowing McDonald or having ever seen the victim when detectives showed him photos of McDonald and the victim’s truck.

Rape victim has forgiven him

The Spokane case took precedence with his arrest there.

Milam was charged with rape, burglary and assault, but on Nov. 13 pleaded guilty to first-degree rape.

The victim in that case had been unloading groceries outside her home near Shadle Park in January 1999 when a man with a mask and gloves approached her from behind, The Spokesman-Review cited court documents.

Milam hit the woman in the face, put a bag over her head, tried to tie her hands behind her back and dragged her into her bedroom.

He demanded money from the woman but, after getting a $5 bill and a $1 bill from her wallet, ended up dropping the $5 in the alley during his escape, the newspaper reported.

At sentencing one week ago, a Spokane County judge went with the recommended sentence of 10 years on the rape case.

The victim told the judge she has forgiven Milam, but that the horror of that night still haunts her daily, KHQ-TV reported.

“I’ve waited 7,591 days for this,” the woman said. “... At least he won’t be able to hurt (anyone else).”

This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 6:43 PM.