Christopher Milke, 53, received two life sentences plus additional decades in prison for the first-degree murder of his longtime partner Tammy Leslie and related charges. The September 2024 killing occurred in their Gage County home, where Milke also held their two children hostage by sealing exits and confiscating their phones. A judge highlighted Milke's lack of remorse during sentencing on March 19.
On September 8, 2024, in the early morning hours, Christopher Milke shot Tammy Leslie, 52, several times in the head and chest in their Gage County, Nebraska, home. The couple's 11-year-old son, who was in his bedroom, reported hearing four gunshots around 1 a.m. Milke then ordered the boy to surrender his phone and move to the living room. When the 19-year-old daughter returned home around 1:30 a.m., Milke told her he had killed her mother and took her phone as well. He had sealed all exits to the home, a practice he had maintained for about a month amid suspicions of Leslie's infidelity, and police noted possible alcohol abuse during this period. The daughter retrieved her phone after Milke fell asleep and called 911. Authorities waited until 6:20 a.m. to enter the home, safely extracting the children and arresting Milke, who had a 9 mm pistol on him. Leslie was found dead in the bedroom from gunshot wounds. A jury convicted Milke in February of first-degree murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, using a firearm in a felony, and tampering with evidence. At sentencing before Gage County District Judge Rick Schreiner on March 19, Milke outbursts included claims that the trial was unfair and insistence that 'It wasn't murder.' Schreiner rebuked him, quoting Milke's own words: 'I finally killed somebody.' The judge added, 'This isn't a whodunnit, Mr. Milke. It's a you-dunnit,' noting no remorse. Milke received two life sentences plus decades more.