A Gage County judge also imposed a second life term and decades more after prosecutors said Milke killed Tammy Leslie and trapped their children inside the home.

BEATRICE, Neb. — Christopher Milke, 53, was sentenced March 19 to life in prison for the 2024 killing of Tammy Leslie, his longtime partner and the mother of his children, after a Gage County jury convicted him of murder and four other felonies.

The sentence matters beyond the murder count because jurors also found that Milke kept the couple’s two children from leaving the house after the shooting. Judge Rick Schreiner imposed a second life term for kidnapping and additional prison time on the firearm, false imprisonment and evidence-tampering counts, turning the sentencing hearing into the final major courtroom moment in a case that had moved from a late-night 911 call to a February conviction.

The hearing itself was tense. As Schreiner delivered the punishment, Milke objected and complained that his trial had been unfair. When the judge allowed him to speak, Milke said, “What happened in that room that night, I wish my kids believed in me like I believe in them. It wasn’t murder, and that’s all I’m gonna say.” Schreiner pushed back, saying the case was not a mystery and telling Milke he had shown no remorse. The judge repeated one of the statements tied to the evidence in the case, saying Milke had declared, “I finally killed somebody,” after the shooting. Schreiner warned that if the interruptions continued, Milke could be removed and the sentence could be read with him restrained elsewhere.

Prosecutors said the violence happened in the early morning hours of Sept. 8, 2024, inside the family’s Beatrice home. Court records described Leslie, 52, as having been shot several times in the head and chest. The couple’s son, who was 11 at the time, told police he heard four gunshots at about 1 a.m. and was then ordered from his bedroom to the living room. Their daughter, then 19, returned home about 1:30 a.m. and later told officers that her father said he had killed her mother. Investigators said Milke then took both children’s phones, limiting their ability to call for help or leave. Leslie was later found dead in the couple’s bedroom. Authorities said Milke had a 9 mm pistol on him when officers took him into custody.

The confinement of the children became one of the case’s most disturbing facts. According to court records, the daughter told police that every exit had been sealed, preventing her and her younger brother from getting out. Investigators said Milke had been screwing the doors shut each night for about a month before the killing because he suspected Leslie of being unfaithful and wanted to keep her from leaving. Police also said they believed alcohol abuse was part of the picture during that period. The daughter was eventually able to get her phone back after Milke fell asleep and used it to call 911. Officers and other authorities then planned a forced entry after daybreak. At about 6:20 a.m., they breached the house and removed both children safely.

The prosecution result was broad, not limited to the homicide count. Jurors in February found Milke guilty of first-degree murder, use of a firearm to commit a felony, kidnapping, first-degree false imprisonment and tampering with physical evidence. The trial in Gage County District Court began Feb. 2 and ended with guilty verdicts on Feb. 12. The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office said its lawyers worked with the Gage County Attorney’s Office, the Beatrice Police Department and the Nebraska State Patrol during the investigation, arrest and prosecution. Under Nebraska law, the murder conviction carried a mandatory life sentence, but the added counts gave the court room to stack more time on top of that punishment.

Leslie’s killing also left a record that reached beyond the courtroom file. News coverage of the sentencing focused on the judge’s remarks about remorse and on the effect the crime had on the children, who were not only in the home but became central witnesses to the timeline. Assistant Attorney General Michael Jensen said Milke had not taken responsibility and had not recognized that his children were victims, too. The state’s theory, built from the children’s statements, the physical scene and the gun recovered at the arrest, framed the case as a domestic killing followed by hours of control inside a sealed house. Milke, by contrast, used his final chance to address the court to deny that what happened amounted to murder.

The case now stands as finished at the trial-court level, with Milke ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison and then more time beyond that. Any next move would most likely come through the appellate process, not through new fact-finding in the district court. As of the sentencing hearing on March 19, the verdicts remained in place and the punishment had been imposed.

Author note: Last updated April 13, 2026.