Custom search in Yii model for CGrid view on relational data - yii

Question

I have a custom search in my model noted below, It works with out any issue in MySQL and when I step through the code with NetBeans Yii builds the query properly but returns no rows. I run the same query in MySQL and I get the intended rows of information. Is there something I am doing wrong?
public function fnSearch(){
$nParts=explode(" ", $_REQUEST['fnText']);
$criteria=new CDbCriteria;
$criteria->condition='first_name like ":fname" and last_name like ":lname"';
$criteria->params=array(';fname'=>trim($nParts[0]).'%', ':lname'=>trim($nParts[1]).'%');
return new CActiveDataProvider($this, array(
'criteria'=>$criteria,
));
}
My test form looks like this:
<?php $form=$this->beginWidget('CActiveForm', array(
'id'=>'test-form',
'enableAjaxValidation'=>false,
)); ?>
<?= CHtml::textField('fnText'); ?>
<?php $this->endWidget(); ?>
<?php $this->widget('zii.widgets.grid.CGridView', array(
'id'=>'employees-grid',
'dataProvider'=>$model->fnSearch(),
// 'filter'=>$model,
'columns'=>array(
'first_name',
'last_name',
array(
'class'=>'CButtonColumn',
),
),
)); ?>
The controller has this:
public function actionTest(){
$model=new Employees;
$this->render('test',array(
'model'=>$model,
));
}