0:00

Hey Prime members, you can listen

0:02

to the 48 Hours podcast ad-free

0:05

on Amazon Music. Download

0:08

the app today.

0:09

Managing your diabetes just got easier.

0:12

The powerful new Dexcom G7

0:14

lets you see your glucose numbers on your compatible

0:16

watch and phone without finger sticks.

0:19

And because Dexcom G7 is the most

0:21

accurate CGM system, you can be confident

0:24

in your food, exercise, and medication

0:26

decisions. And all those decisions can

0:28

lead to big results, like more time

0:30

in range and lower A1C.

0:33

Get started at Dexcom.com. Dexcom

0:36

data on file 2023. If your glucose alerts and

0:38

readings from the G7 do not match symptoms or expectations,

0:40

use a blood glucose meter to make diabetes treatment decisions.

0:42

For a list of compatible devices, visit www.dexcom.com

0:45

slash compatibility.

0:47

We want to hear from you. Please

0:49

take our 10-minute survey and tell us

0:51

what you think about our 48 Hours podcast. Visit

0:55

cbsnews.com slash

0:58

podcast dash survey. No

1:00

spaces and all lowercase to

1:02

take the survey. Again, that's

1:05

cbsnews.com slash

1:08

podcast dash survey. We

1:11

appreciate your feedback and love

1:13

your support.

1:27

My name

1:28

is Adam Duxter. I am a local

1:31

news reporter. And in the summer of 2021,

1:33

I was working as a multimedia journalist

1:36

for WISC News 3. News 3

1:39

Now in Madison, Wisconsin. Madison

1:41

is not New York City. It's

1:43

not LA where there's news happening all

1:45

the time.

1:47

A missing person, especially

1:50

a husband and wife, that would

1:52

be news. The Dean County Sheriff's Office shared

1:55

this photo of Bart and Krista Halderson.

1:57

Instead, Spenning Today interviewing neighbors.

1:59

Too many unanswered questions. You

2:02

know, cars go off the road. Things

2:04

happen. You know, there's a storm or there's

2:06

a crash or XYZ. You just don't

2:09

know. My boss was calling

2:11

her or emailing her, texting her. I

2:13

was doing the same. I was texting Bart. And

2:16

there was just never any response. I

2:18

met Krista through work at Zimbrick

2:20

Body Shop. And then I met her husband through

2:23

her, obviously. And then they

2:25

just did anything for anybody.

2:28

Even people they didn't know.

2:30

So I'm on the Krista side. We

2:32

were related through my dad's side of the family.

2:35

And we mostly saw each other

2:38

in Wisconsin at our family cottage

2:40

cabin during summers and

2:43

family reunions. They both

2:45

gave 100% to raising their boys. Mitchell

2:49

was a little more outgoing, very

2:52

easygoing. Chandler was a

2:54

little more sensitive, a little quieter. Her

2:57

whole goal for her being

2:59

a mom

3:00

was, and I'm quoting

3:02

her, she said, I want my children

3:05

to be the best men they can be.

3:07

The biggest concern for

3:09

me is just figuring out where they are. Police

3:11

say the couple had planned to go to their cabin in

3:13

Langlade County. Our investigation

3:16

began on July 7 when Chandler

3:18

reported his parents missing. We

3:21

knew exactly what Chandler had told us.

3:24

We knew that his two parents were gone. They

3:27

had left for the 4th of July weekend, supposedly

3:31

to go to their cabin in northern

3:33

Wisconsin.

3:35

I've never been assigned to a case where

3:37

a couple is gone. We ask

3:40

even more questions to try to get a story

3:42

and get a timeline of when

3:45

did the Haldersons go missing. And everything

3:47

was just happening so fast in those first couple

3:50

of days. When we first got the email

3:53

saying that Bart and Krista were missing, it

3:55

didn't compute. Like, what do you mean they're missing? Like,

3:57

they went up to the cabin and then it didn't come back.

3:59

Did you think

4:02

possibly they've been in a car accident

4:04

and just hadn't been found? I

4:06

thought about that, or I did think about the boat.

4:09

Did something happen out on the lake?

4:11

All these stories are swirling

4:14

around and not making any sense. And

4:16

it's, you know, taking weird and weird turns.

4:21

We needed to search

4:22

this area because of how

4:24

remote it is and what it is and the

4:26

access to water to see if we could find

4:28

any evidence. No way

4:30

I would have ever, ever guessed

4:33

what was about to be revealed. Never. Nobody

4:36

saw this coming.

4:59

The The

5:03

The The

5:07

The The

5:11

Casey Shane was murdered in the middle of an August

5:13

night, shot point blank while idling

5:16

in his Dodge pickup truck in North Indianapolis.

5:19

There was no physical evidence, no

5:21

known motive, and no one coming

5:23

forward with information. Except one woman

5:26

who swears to this day she saw Leon

5:28

Detroit Benson pull the trigger. Leon

5:31

Benson was sentenced to 60 years in prison,

5:34

all because one person swore they saw something.

5:36

But what if she was wrong? And what if we could

5:39

prove it?

5:39

From Wondery and Campside Media comes

5:42

Season 3 of the hit podcast Suspect,

5:45

co-hosted by me, Matt Sher, alongside

5:48

attorney Lara Basilon. This

5:50

is a story of a botched police investigation,

5:52

the dangers of shaky eyewitness

5:54

testimony, and a community who feared

5:56

law enforcement. With good reason. Listen

5:59

to Suspect.

5:59

Five shots in the dark, wherever

6:02

you get your podcasts, or binge all

6:04

eight episodes ad-free on Wondery

6:07

Plus. Find Wondery Plus in the Wondery app

6:09

or on Apple Podcasts.

6:12

Since his death in 2009, the world has struggled with

6:15

how Michael Jackson should be remembered, as

6:17

the king of pop or as a monster. I'm

6:20

Leon Mayfoc, the host of Fiasco and

6:22

the co-creator of Slow Burn. And

6:24

I'm Jay Smooth, a hip-hop journalist and

6:27

cultural commentator. Michael Jackson

6:29

was accused of child molestation for the

6:31

first time in 1993. Our

6:34

new podcast, Think Twice, Michael

6:36

Jackson, is the story of what came before

6:38

and what came after. Throughout the podcast,

6:41

we explore what makes Michael Jackson

6:43

seemingly uncancellable.

6:45

And we dig in to the complicated feelings so

6:47

many of us have when we hear Billy Jean at

6:49

the grocery store. Through dozens of original

6:51

interviews with people who watched the story

6:54

unfold firsthand, Think Twice

6:56

is an attempt to reconcile our conflicted

6:58

emotions about Michael Jackson, the man

7:00

with our deep-seated love of his art.

7:03

Listen to Think Twice, Michael Jackson, wherever

7:06

you get your podcasts, or you can binge the entire

7:08

series ad-free on Audible or the Amazon

7:10

Music app.

7:12

["Think Twice," by Michael Jackson plays in the background.]

7:22

Bard and Krista Halderson had everything

7:25

a couple could want, a beautiful

7:27

home in Windsor, Wisconsin, and

7:29

two sons they adored, 24-year-old

7:33

Mitchell, who worked in tech, and

7:35

23-year-old Chandler, a college student

7:38

living at home. Chandler

7:40

had big ambitions. He talked

7:42

of getting his IT degree, of

7:44

his promising internship at

7:46

an insurance company, and was

7:48

especially excited about a new

7:51

job he landed at

7:52

SpaceX, founded by one

7:54

of the richest people in the world, Elon

7:57

Musk. Everything

7:59

seemed to be going on.

7:59

well for the Haldersons. So

8:02

on Friday morning July 2nd when

8:04

Krista just didn't show up at the office,

8:07

Dan Croninger remembers becoming

8:09

concerned. How

8:11

unusual was it for number

8:14

one for Krista not to show up for work, not

8:16

to call and just don't show

8:18

up? How unusual.

8:19

Extremely unusual. Dan and

8:21

Krista not only worked together, they were close

8:24

friends. So when she hadn't said anything to me, I was

8:26

like well that's kind of weird. It wasn't something that

8:28

she would ever do. Dan says he

8:30

texted and called her several times

8:33

but got no response. Later

8:37

that afternoon, Ian

8:39

his girlfriend drove over to the Haldersons

8:42

home. A neighbor's security

8:44

camera shows them arriving. You

8:47

know knocked on the door didn't hear anything peered

8:49

through the window. The only thing that seemed weird was there

8:51

was a coffee table on its side. You

8:53

look through the door it was kind of off to the right

8:57

over by they had a fireplace over there.

8:58

Then Dan says he walked over to

9:01

the garage window. They looked

9:03

in both cars were there. I was like why are

9:05

both cars here? And I was starting to go around

9:07

the back of the house and then Chandler came out

9:09

the side door and he came out in a

9:11

towel

9:12

saying oh I just got out of the shower you know

9:14

hey what's going on? I was like oh we're just looking for Barton Krista

9:17

and he said oh yeah they went had to go up north this morning

9:20

for an emergency up at the cabin.

9:22

Dan says he was relieved to

9:24

know that Barton Krista were at the family

9:27

cabin. Over the holiday

9:29

weekend he kept in touch with

9:31

Chandler to see if he had heard from his

9:33

mom and dad.

9:34

But he said yeah they don't have very good service

9:37

up there so you kind of have to wait till the clouds

9:39

clear before they get a message.

9:40

On Sunday July 4th Dan says Chandler

9:43

called him and said he was bored

9:46

and needed something to do. So Dan invited

9:49

him over to watch the fireworks and

9:51

asked Chandler about his parents. He mentioned

9:54

that he talked to them and they're gonna be back Monday.

9:56

All right when he said that

9:58

he had talked to them. Did he say

10:00

he talked to both his parents or just

10:03

his mom? What did he say? Do you remember? I don't

10:05

think he was specific. I

10:07

mean, I was asking about his mom because I knew she

10:09

had a doctor's appointment coming up that she

10:11

was really wanted to be at. I think I had been rescheduled

10:13

before.

10:14

But Krista didn't show up for work

10:16

on Monday and again on

10:19

Tuesday. By Wednesday,

10:21

July 7th, when there was still no

10:23

word, Dan knew something

10:25

was wrong.

10:26

And now she's missed her appointment. So

10:28

now it's all out concern.

10:30

Right. You know something's happened to her now. Right,

10:33

right. Dan pushed Chandler to

10:35

file a missing persons report that

10:37

morning. Chandler

10:40

Halderson walked into one of our precincts

10:43

to report his parents missing. Detectives

10:46

Sabrina Sims and Brian Schunk with

10:48

the Dane County Sheriff's Office would

10:50

lead the team to track down the missing

10:52

couple.

10:53

We had a lot of detectives

10:55

assisting us with the with the case load.

11:05

Their first stop, the Halderson

11:08

home on Oak Springs Circle

11:10

Drive. So when you first

11:12

got there, who was home? It was just Chandler.

11:15

We're inside the house with him and detectives

11:17

are getting information outside. And so we're either getting,

11:19

you know, phone calls or text messages of,

11:22

you know, hey, maybe ask about this. We're

11:25

walking around the house with him. He's

11:27

pointing out things at the house, things

11:30

that were missing that his parents took when they traveled

11:32

to the cabin. While deputies began

11:35

interviewing neighbors and friends, Barbie

11:37

Townsend, Chris's first cousin who

11:39

lives in Southern California, knew

11:42

only what she had seen on the news that

11:44

the Halderson's 23

11:44

year old son Chandler

11:47

had gone to the police telling them

11:49

his parents were missing. What

11:51

does that mean? What does missing mean? And that they

11:54

had gone up to our cabin, family cottage

11:57

and didn't return. Bart and Chris had

11:59

not mentioned.

11:59

coworkers or their older son,

12:02

Mitchell, that they had been planning to go

12:04

to the cabin that weekend. But according

12:06

to Chandler, another couple, who he didn't

12:08

know, picked up his parents and

12:11

drove them there.

12:13

The cabin was a remote, rustic

12:15

lakeside retreat and a treasured

12:18

family heirloom. Barbie and

12:20

Krista's grandparents built it in

12:22

the 1940s. You know,

12:24

you start to think of crazy things because our cabin's

12:26

up in the woods. And so that's,

12:29

we were worried that are they being held hostage

12:31

somewhere? Are they tied up somewhere?

12:35

The day after Chandler reported them

12:37

missing, his brother Mitchell and his

12:40

fiance drove three hours up north

12:42

to see if he could

12:43

find any sign of his parents.

12:45

Why would they not call? Why wouldn't there be a

12:48

text or something? You know, your mind just

12:50

starts to go down really

12:52

murky trails because you're trying to

12:54

figure out what's going on.

12:56

Hi there. Hi there. Are you guys,

12:58

um, the Halderson? You,

13:00

okay, you are affiliated with them?

13:02

Yes. The police met Mitchell and his

13:04

fiance at the cabin. Maybe we could

13:06

just take a walk around and see, you would know the

13:08

property probably better than we would. Prepared

13:11

for the worst. The

13:14

Harris office, anybody inside, now it's present to make yourselves known.

13:33

When the Haldersons disappeared, it

13:35

stunned everyone who knew them. Barbie Townsend said

13:39

neither her cousin Krista nor her

13:41

husband Bart would just leave on a whim.

13:44

He was more structured. She was the more

13:46

nurturing, you know, indulging mom.

13:48

It was a wonderful combination.

13:50

She worked as a customer service representative

13:53

for an auto body shop and loved

13:55

art projects. He was a managing

13:58

director for an international academy.

13:59

accounting firm

14:01

and enjoyed woodworking.

14:03

They were 100% about the family. He

14:06

was very involved in the scouting and all

14:08

the things they did. The Holdersons

14:11

worked together on Father's Day in

14:13

June 2021, less

14:15

than a month before Bart disappeared.

14:18

Mitchell is smiling, and Chandler,

14:20

who had a mild concussion from a fall,

14:23

is wearing a neck brace. Investigators,

14:25

anxious to find out what

14:27

had happened to Bart and Krista Holderson,

14:30

asked deputies from the Langley County

14:32

Sheriff's Office to help Mitchell, who brought

14:35

along his fiance, search

14:37

the family's cabin, a three-hour drive north of

14:41

the family home. When

14:46

they got inside, it was

14:48

dark. There were no signs of Krista and Bart. They

14:53

also checked a shed. The canoe was there. It

14:56

was obvious. No one had

14:58

been to the cabin in a very long time.

15:01

They're believed to be with another couple.

15:03

Someone else, at least. Okay.

15:06

When Mitchell was with the police searching the family's

15:09

cabin, Chandler was on his

15:11

own hunt throughout the neighborhood. Here

15:15

he is, seen on video doorbell cameras,

15:18

going door to door, asking homeowners if

15:22

they had seen or heard from his

15:24

parents. It's kind of difficult to track them down.

15:34

Adam Duxter, now with the CBS station WCCO in Minneapolis,

15:37

worked in Madison, Wisconsin at the time. He

15:39

immediately started calling his sources. So,

15:43

waiting to hear back from the sheriff's office,

15:45

and my boss at the time, he was

15:47

like, well,

15:49

you can't just sit around. You know, you gotta go start

15:52

shooting something. And so, packed my gear and my

15:55

car.

15:59

and drove out there to their street in

16:02

Windsor. He knocked on the Haldersons front

16:04

door. The missing couple's son

16:06

Chandler answered. And

16:09

so I'm like, if you'd be willing, I'd love

16:11

to do a quick

16:13

interview. And he was like, yeah,

16:15

I'll do that. But I don't want you to film

16:18

me. I don't want to be shown, but you can record

16:20

my voice. So my

16:23

last message I got from them, they were

16:25

going to White Lake for the 4th of July.

16:28

And that their plan, or

16:31

to my knowledge, they're going to Langland

16:33

County to a cabin, their cabin.

16:36

At

16:38

the time, I got this sense that he was in shock.

16:40

This is someone who's roughly my age.

16:43

And so I'm thinking, like, yeah, if my parents just went

16:45

missing, he probably hasn't slept. He's

16:47

probably really nervous.

16:49

Alex Gravatt knew Chandler well.

16:52

I was roommates with Chandler for

16:54

a little while. I called him Chaz. The

16:56

two friends shared an apartment from 2019 to 2020. We

17:01

grew up together, and we played soccer

17:04

together, did Cub Scouts together, and

17:07

just hung out together. He was a great

17:10

swimmer, so I know that the swim team really got along

17:12

with him. Alex says his friend Chandler,

17:14

who went by the name Chaz, could be a playful

17:17

guy. He was a goon,

17:20

a hooligan, in a lot of senses. What

17:22

do you mean by that? Yeah, I mean, he would. So

17:24

he would play pranks, and he would make

17:27

lots of jokes or poke fun at people. Alex

17:29

described Chaz as popular

17:32

with women. College student

17:34

Catherine Malander, known as Cat, was

17:36

his longtime girlfriend.

17:38

He was a relatively attractive guy.

17:41

I mean, he looked good. He had great hair.

17:43

He kept up on appearances.

17:45

According to Alex, when they were roommates,

17:47

Chaz often bragged to friends about hooking

17:50

up with different women behind Cat's

17:52

back. When she found out about

17:54

it,

17:55

she grilled him. She was like, are

17:57

you seeing other people? And he just kept denying it. But

17:59

Cat was a good friend. That remained suspicious and

18:01

began tracking her boyfriend on social

18:04

media. Alex says Chaz

18:06

became more secretive and moved back

18:08

home with his parents. And now those

18:11

parents were missing. Detective

18:13

Shunk and Sims began follow-up

18:16

interviews. At that point,

18:18

you know, what do we really have?

18:20

We don't know what we have.

18:23

Then they got a tip they desperately

18:26

needed. From the owner

18:28

of a farm outside town.

18:30

We received information from

18:32

someone that, yes, Chandler had been out to my property

18:35

over 4th of July weekend. The

18:38

owner was a friend of Chandler's girlfriend,

18:40

Cat. The owner said she was

18:42

with the couple at her farm on July 4th. She

18:45

told deputies she was surprised

18:47

to see Chandler again the very next

18:50

day. And this time, he

18:52

was alone. And I saw him

18:54

coming from the wood line. His

18:56

car was parked, backed up to the field.

19:00

So of course, right from that interview,

19:02

we want to go search that

19:04

property. As deputies

19:06

began searching, detectives wanted

19:08

to know why Chandler had never mentioned

19:10

he had gone back to the farm by himself.

19:13

Police picked up Chandler and took him

19:15

to the station.

19:16

Detective

19:20

Brian Shunk asked him to once again

19:22

describe the last time he had

19:24

seen his parents.

19:25

It's Thursday morning. How

19:29

many do you got? What time do you

19:31

think? Six. Chandler

19:34

said his dad, Bart, was at home working

19:37

and that later he had dinner with both parents.

19:41

That's where they told me while we were eating it, they

19:43

were going to go with their friends. And I was

19:46

like, oh

19:50

cool. And they said they were going to the

19:52

cabin. Yeah. We're

19:54

going up north. While detectives

19:57

questioned Chandler, deputies were

19:59

out searching. the farm and made

20:01

a discovery that quickly changed

20:04

the tone of the interview.

20:36

Chandler's request for a lawyer ended

20:39

that interview. Detective Simms

20:41

remembers the moment she learned what deputies

20:44

told her they had found near that field.

20:46

You know Brian and I were in the command

20:48

post together and I said, what

20:51

did you say? You know, I just couldn't

20:53

believe what I was hearing. They

20:55

had discovered human remains.

21:10

On Thursday, July 8th, 2021,

21:16

in the village of Windsor, Wisconsin,

21:19

the community struggled to make sense

21:21

of the disturbing news. The

21:27

remains of an adult male have been found

21:29

on a farm 20 miles from Barton

21:32

Christa Halderson's home.

21:36

At this point, it's very early in our investigation.

21:39

Dane County Sheriff Calvin Barrett

21:41

warned residents not to jump

21:43

to conclusions. I don't want

21:45

to make any corroborated

21:48

speculations at this time.

21:51

The gruesome discovery was made the day

21:53

after Barton Christa had been reported

21:56

missing by their son. And

21:58

it was something detectives

21:59

Brian Chunk and Sabrina Sims

22:02

had never encountered. The

22:04

grass had been matted down,

22:08

and they followed it to a trail which led

22:10

to the discovery of a male

22:12

torso that

22:15

was concealed with sticks

22:18

and twigs. That was really

22:20

the moment, right? It was huge.

22:23

I think of other death investigations or

22:25

homicide cases we've worked in. I

22:27

don't remember a time that I've worked a dismemberment

22:30

case. And what other evidence was found

22:32

out there?

22:35

We found some cutting instruments,

22:37

some that were hidden in an

22:39

old oil drum, some

22:42

scissors, pruning shears,

22:44

a broken bow saw. And

22:47

it was all in the same wooded area

22:49

where the Halderson son Chandler had been

22:52

seen earlier in the week. Detective

22:55

Sims had a pretty good idea of

22:57

who the victim was. Knowing in my

22:59

gut that that was

23:01

most likely Bart Halderson, and

23:03

his son was seen in that area.

23:05

Police

23:08

turned their full attention to Chandler

23:10

Halderson.

23:13

He was now a person of interest and

23:15

the prime suspect. While

23:17

tests were being done to confirm the victim's

23:19

identity, detectives arrested

23:22

Chandler and charged him with

23:24

lying to them.

23:25

The arrest was based on him providing false

23:27

information in regards to a missing person. Krista

23:30

Halderson's cousin, Barbie Townsend.

23:33

What did you think they arrested him for giving

23:37

false information about a

23:39

missing person? That was the first day

23:41

that I started to suspect

23:45

foul play from their own son. I

23:47

checked my phone and I saw that.

23:51

And it was that he had been arrested. And

23:54

it was pretty wild.

24:00

had friend learned about it on social

24:02

media. My eyes got wide.

24:04

I kind of just sat there for a second reading it. My first

24:06

thought was if he's being arrested for giving

24:09

misinformation to the police, I didn't

24:11

think that there was really much of a chance that he

24:13

wasn't involved somehow.

24:17

But there's someone who had a hard time

24:19

imagining Chandler was involved, his

24:21

girlfriend, Kat. She spoke

24:24

to police just before his arrest.

24:26

You don't think he had anything to do with his mom and dad being

24:29

unheard from? No. I

24:32

just, no. That'd be crazy.

24:37

But I just don't see him killing

24:38

Mr. and Mrs. Halderson. Like, he

24:42

had SpaceX. Like, why would he jeopardize something

24:44

he like would dream of, you know? Like,

24:47

there's parents. For

24:49

Christmas, they got him and his brother matching tool sets.

24:52

Like, come on.

24:54

He

24:57

cooks dinner for them. They have root beer floats together.

24:59

They played Mario Kart

25:01

whenever his parents want to.

25:07

But on Saturday, July 10th, 2021, the

25:11

victim found in the woods was identified

25:13

as Bart

25:14

Halderson.

25:19

It just changed everything. Like, that moment changed everything.

25:22

Preliminary autopsy results would

25:25

reveal Bart had been shot at least two

25:27

times in the back. And

25:29

there was still the troubling question.

25:33

Where was Krista? Krista Halderson

25:36

remains a missing person and we continue to

25:38

ask for citizen involvement. Krista's

25:42

coworker, Dan Cronier, ran

25:44

through all the different possibilities.

25:47

Did you at that moment wonder like

25:49

maybe Krista was involved in this too?

25:51

It had definitely crossed my mind. I think you start to

25:53

wonder, well, why is Chandler lying?

25:56

Is he covering for himself or is he covering for

25:59

perhaps...

25:59

Is she involved? But

26:02

the more investigators looked,

26:05

it seemed the only person Chandler

26:08

Halderson was covering

26:09

for was

26:11

himself. You know, he just lied

26:14

to everybody. And in his lies,

26:16

police started to believe they found

26:18

a motive for murder. For months,

26:20

he had been telling everyone, including

26:23

his childhood friend, Alex Gravatt,

26:25

that he was enrolled at Madison College during

26:28

the 2021 spring semester.

26:31

Did

26:33

you have any idea he had flunked out? He

26:35

didn't tell you? No. It

26:37

was surprising. Detectives believe

26:39

his parents had no idea he wasn't

26:41

in school. They

26:44

say when his parents questioned him about

26:46

his transcripts, the computer

26:48

savvy Chandler Halderson crafted

26:51

a chain of emails that seemed

26:53

to come from the college. Chandler

26:55

creates people that work for Madison

26:57

College and communicates via email

27:00

with them. You know, Bart's on some of those as well,

27:02

talking to who he believes

27:04

is employees of the school. And do any of those

27:06

people actually exist? No.

27:10

In June 2021, Bart

27:12

Halderson called Madison College

27:15

pretending to be Chandler and

27:17

got an answer he wasn't expecting.

27:20

So I don't see that you were admitted in

27:22

any program. You said the IT degrees

27:24

in there, right? No,

27:28

those are just classes. You might

27:30

have just took the classes but

27:33

not be in the program. Bart

27:35

learned that not only had his son been

27:37

lying about that IT degree,

27:40

but there was no internship with an

27:42

insurance company either. And

27:44

remember that big job with SpaceX?

27:47

Turns out that was just another elaborate

27:50

lie. The delusional reality

27:52

that he concocted, that

27:55

is shocking to me.

28:01

According to detectives, Bart was

28:03

planning to meet at the college with his son

28:05

on Thursday, July 1st. Around 2

28:09

p.m., Bart was working from home.

28:12

Send his son this text, I'm

28:15

ready whenever you are.

28:17

That text is believed to be the last

28:19

message Bart sent.

28:22

Seven days later, Bart's remains

28:25

were found. Investigators

28:27

got a search warrant for the Halderson home.

28:30

No

28:33

weapon was found there, but a show

28:35

casing was discovered in the basement. And

28:38

several areas inside the house tested

28:41

positive for blood.

28:44

Chandler, middle initial M, last

28:47

name Halderson, age 23 of Windsor,

28:50

is now being charged with first-degree homicide,

28:53

hiding a corpse and mutilating a corpse.

28:58

On July 15,

29:01

2021, Chandler Halderson was formally

29:03

charged with his father's murder.

29:08

Chandler is currently being held in the

29:10

Dane County Jail. I mean, I don't know what else

29:12

to say. Like, how could

29:14

you do that to your father?

29:18

But where was his mother, Krista?

29:21

Chandler Halderson had lawyered up

29:23

and wasn't talking.

29:25

But someone very close to him was.

29:28

She had communicated with him that whole

29:30

weekend. That loyal girlfriend,

29:33

Catherine Malander, had a potentially

29:35

damning piece of evidence about her boyfriend

29:38

on the social media app, Snapchat.

29:42

She actually consented to a download of her phone. So

29:44

that was a breakthrough.

29:49

How do you feel about allowing people to track

29:51

you on social media apps? Join the

29:53

conversation now on social media.

30:03

Chandler Halderson was charged with

30:05

his father's murder, but his

30:07

mother's whereabouts were still unknown.

30:10

Lead

30:12

detectives Sabrina Sims and Brian

30:15

Chunk knew if Krista was alive, they

30:17

needed to find her fast.

30:19

At that point,

30:21

we were hoping for the best. It

30:24

was one of those things where we just needed to

30:26

push on.

30:26

Police turned to Halderson's

30:29

girlfriend for help. She had given

30:31

them permission to download information

30:34

from her phone. Chandler

30:36

had lied to her before and had cheated on her

30:38

before. And so she

30:41

would track his location. Cadd had convinced

30:43

Halderson to let her track his movements

30:46

using Snapchat,

30:47

the

30:50

popular social media app, which

30:52

allows users to send messages

30:54

and share their location in real

30:57

time. And that was an agreement

30:59

that, yes, you will have your locations on

31:01

so I can see where you're going. Detectives

31:04

were most intrigued by messages posted

31:06

early on the morning of July 1st, the day

31:09

Chandler Halderson and his father were

31:11

supposed to meet with Madison College officials.

31:15

Halderson, whose online name was Chazzle

31:17

Dazzle, messaged

31:19

Kat at 7.30 a.m. I

31:22

hardly slept. I'm sorry,

31:24

B. Why? I don't know. Stuff

31:27

hasn't really been going well for me lately.

31:29

So I'm trying to plan for the next thing to,

31:32

expletive, me over.

31:34

B, it's going to be okay. Yeah,

31:37

I just had a great future planned and

31:39

it's falling apart.

31:43

According to detectives, the tone

31:45

of those messages worried Kat.

31:48

So two days later, when Kat checked

31:51

Snapchat and noticed her boyfriend's

31:53

avatar, that's a hubby on

31:55

her screen, indicated that he

31:57

was nearly 25 miles from home.

31:59

home. Cat saved the image

32:02

to her phone. It was a snapchat

32:05

screenshot of

32:07

Chandler almost nine in the morning out

32:10

by the Wisconsin River.

32:13

Detective Sims and chunk took

32:15

us to that location on the river where they

32:17

had hoped to find Krista.

32:20

So where are we exactly? What

32:22

would you call this area? The Wisconsin

32:24

State lower Riverway. And

32:28

it's a familiar place to the former

32:31

high school swimmer Chandler Halderson

32:34

close to his favorite swimming hole. This

32:37

is him at the same place in a

32:39

photo taken a year earlier holding

32:41

a large knife.

32:46

Law

32:46

enforcement throughout Dane County

32:48

searched the wooded area and

32:51

how long was he here?

32:53

45 minutes, I believe. Just

32:56

keep in mind in July, but it's definitely

32:59

far thicker than what you're seeing here now. Still

33:03

no

33:03

sign of Krista Halderson, but

33:06

search teams refused to give up. Let's

33:09

go hit one more area and that was

33:11

where they ended up discovering the remains.

33:13

And what exactly did they find there?

33:15

They ended up finding two legs

33:18

cut into different sections. DNA

33:20

test confirmed it was Krista

33:23

Halderson. The concerned

33:25

son who had reported his mom and

33:27

dad missing

33:30

was now charged with both

33:32

of their murders. Krista's cousins

33:35

were horrified. You couldn't write

33:37

this. It just wasn't anything

33:41

that you could possibly come

33:44

up with in your head. How do you make

33:46

sense of it? We don't and

33:49

that's the hard part. We don't

33:51

have a why.

33:54

In January of 2022 with

33:56

the Dane County Courthouse Chandler

33:59

Halderson went on to on trial for the murder

34:01

of his parents. All right,

34:03

for the jury. He was also facing

34:05

charges for lying to the police and

34:08

for mutilating and hiding their

34:10

bodies.

34:11

Our job is to, over the course of the next

34:13

couple of weeks, present evidence to

34:16

show you the path of what

34:18

we believe happened. Assistant District

34:21

Attorney William Brown. That

34:23

Chandler Halderson killed his parents,

34:27

dismembered their bodies, and

34:29

hid them around southern Wisconsin.

34:32

Prosecutors laid out a motive. They

34:35

say Chandler murdered his parents when

34:37

his lies were about to be exposed

34:40

and that for months he had been trying to hide

34:42

the truth from them.

34:44

Among the evidence, those fake

34:46

email accounts he created. No

34:49

one uses a Gmail account as their official

34:51

Madison College email. No. And

34:55

his fictitious internship with

34:57

an insurance company. I

34:59

found no record of that

35:01

person working for American family.

35:05

Investigators believe the murder weapon was

35:07

a semi-automatic rifle that had been

35:09

hidden in a barn

35:11

at that farm where Bart's remains were

35:13

discovered.

35:14

Good afternoon, sir. Could you please state your

35:16

name and then spell it out? Andrew Smith. How

35:19

do you spell it? Alpha November Delta

35:21

Romeo Echo Whiskey.

35:23

The rifle came from this man, Andrew

35:26

Smith, who testified that he was

35:28

in the military when he met Halderson

35:30

online.

35:31

How did you meet Chandler Halderson? Playing

35:33

video games while stationed in Germany, sir. Halderson

35:36

had wanted a gun. Smith testified

35:39

he had no idea what Halderson wanted

35:41

to do with the weapon. And in June 2021,

35:44

he gave him that semi-automatic rifle

35:47

as a gift. I'm going to give it to someone

35:49

who might actually appreciate this weapon

35:51

and take care of it. And nearly 480 rounds

35:53

of ammunition. How

35:56

did Chandler react when you gave him the gun? Oh,

35:58

he was happy. What do you mean? but how do you know he was happy,

36:01

or how do you know that? Because he had a big smile

36:03

on his face when I had given it to him as a gift.

36:07

But the most anticipated witness

36:09

in this trial... Good morning. Would

36:11

be Halderson's girlfriend... Did

36:14

you verbally answer yes to the oath? Yes.

36:16

Who gave police that Snapchat

36:19

screenshot. What is that? A

36:21

screenshot of Chandler by the Wisconsin River. What

36:26

do you make of the prosecution's case against

36:29

Chandler Halderson? See more evidence

36:31

at 48hours.com.

36:35

Could

36:41

you please state and spell your name for us? Katherine

36:44

Mellender. For three hours,

36:46

Kat Mellender sat on the stand,

36:49

telling the jury about the young man she

36:51

thought she knew, Chandler Halderson.

36:54

Did you go on a lot of dates together? Yeah,

36:57

we would grab dinners,

37:01

have movie dates, just sit at home and watch movies,

37:04

go on walks quite often.

37:07

Kat

37:07

told the jury that she was working on

37:09

July 1st, when authorities believed

37:11

the murders happened, and didn't see

37:14

her boyfriend in person that day.

37:16

But you weren't with him? I was

37:18

not with him. Did you know that

37:21

Barton Crystal Halderson had died? No.

37:26

According to investigators, Halderson

37:28

asked Kat to bring a few cleaning

37:31

supplies to his home the following day.

37:34

He told her he had stepped on some broken

37:36

glass from the fireplace. She

37:38

brought him a Swiffer mop and a bottle

37:40

of hydrogen peroxide.

37:42

Kat, did you have absolutely

37:44

anything to do with cleaning

37:47

anything up or their disappearance?

37:49

No. Investigators

37:52

say there's no evidence that Kat had

37:54

any involvement in the murders. They

37:56

believe Chandler Halderson acted

37:58

alone.

38:01

Prosecutors showed the jury police

38:04

video from inside the Halderson home.

38:06

These walkthrough videos will document the home

38:09

as is. At first

38:11

glance, it seemed neat and clean,

38:14

but test results revealed what appeared

38:16

to be blood.

38:17

Is that all blood that it's

38:20

reacting to? This could be

38:22

blood that it's reacting to, yes. And

38:24

that appears that there's been some wiping

38:27

or clean up.

38:28

For Barbie Townsend, the most disturbing

38:30

part was when the jury was shown a view of the

38:33

Halderson home from a neighbor's

38:35

security camera. I was talking to

38:37

one of my cousins. We said one of the images

38:39

that is going to be seared in our minds

38:43

is when they showed that video of the

38:45

window. Flickering window

38:47

from July 2nd. And it was the flickering

38:50

glow from the fireplace for like hours.

38:54

That is haunting, knowing what

38:56

was happening.

39:00

A forensic expert testified that

39:03

more than 200 bone fragments

39:05

were discovered in the fireplace.

39:07

There's a white area in

39:09

the middle of that. Based on my training

39:11

experience that appeared to be bone.

39:13

Halderson's defense attorney, Catherine

39:16

Dorrell, did not address the bone

39:18

and blood evidence found in the home, but

39:21

insisted that did not mean her

39:23

client was the killer. Chandler

39:25

Halderson did not

39:28

murder his parents.

39:30

He is not guilty of

39:32

those crimes. She

39:35

reminded the jury there were too many

39:37

unanswered questions. What happened

39:40

to the Halderson's?

39:41

What happened in that Halderson's

39:44

home? You just aren't going to know

39:46

what happened. Chandler

39:50

Halderson himself didn't testify

39:53

and his defense didn't call any

39:55

witnesses. You have

39:57

to go back and look at everything.

40:00

Instead, Attorney Crystal Vera

40:02

closed the case and urged

40:04

Jerry to find reasonable doubt.

40:07

She admits Halderson told a lot

40:09

of lies, but she argues

40:12

there isn't enough direct evidence

40:14

to tie him to the murders. I

40:17

guarantee you that the 12 of you that are going

40:19

to go back and deliberate are all going

40:21

to have 12 different theories

40:23

on what happened. And that's a problem.

40:26

I'm asking you to find him not guilty

40:28

of

40:29

first-degree intentional homicide.

40:33

Prosecutors had the final word. This

40:36

is a first-degree intentional homicide. You

40:40

cannot shoot someone in the back. You

40:42

cannot chop them up. You cannot scatter

40:44

their remains and come to any other

40:46

conclusion. And there is

40:48

only one person who

40:51

did those things here, and

40:53

that is Chandler Halderson. We're

40:55

asking you to find him guilty. Thank you. It

40:58

didn't take long for the jury to decide.

41:06

Breaking news. In just about

41:08

a little over two hours, a jury has reached

41:10

a verdict in the Chandler Halderson case.

41:14

We

41:16

the jury find the defendant, Chandler M. Halderson,

41:19

guilty of first-degree intentional homicide

41:22

as to Bardet Halderson, guilty of providing

41:24

false information about it, guilty of mutilating a

41:26

corpse, guilty of first-degree intentional

41:28

homicide, guilty of mutilating a corpse, guilty of hiding

41:31

a corpse,

41:33

guilty on all eight

41:35

charges. I

41:37

think it was just overwhelming from all the

41:39

work that we put in on it.

41:42

In March 2022, at a sentencing

41:45

hearing,

41:45

good afternoon. Halderson, who

41:47

had been silent during his trial,

41:50

surprised everyone by indicating

41:52

he finally had something to say.

41:55

Mr. Halderson wishes to make a statement. Your

41:58

Honor, I want to take this. this opportunity

42:00

to state my intent to appeal my convictions.

42:04

If there are any lawyers listening and willing to

42:06

take on my appeal, take a moment

42:08

to please reach out to me. It's

42:11

not that I do not have feelings. It's

42:14

that I was warned to not show them due

42:17

to the scrutiny of this case. Thank

42:20

you. What was

42:22

your reaction when he had the chance to speak

42:24

and all he did was ask for a lawyer

42:27

to take an appeal? What was your reaction? I was actually

42:29

disgusted. I just couldn't

42:31

believe it. You're like, you can't

42:33

even say I'm sorry. We are adjourned. Thank

42:36

you. Halderson was sentenced to life

42:38

in prison without the possibility

42:41

of parole. When

42:49

do you miss him? Oh, I think about him just about

42:51

every day. Really? Yeah.

42:54

We're building a pond in our backyard. You

42:57

know, they would love to see that. And love

42:59

to be a part of it.

43:01

Mitchell Halderson, Bart and Krista's

43:04

oldest son, is now living with

43:06

an unimaginable loss. Barbie

43:09

shared a text in this photo that

43:12

Krista sent to the family just

43:14

three months before she died.

43:17

Happy Easter. Yes, the boys

43:19

and their women. Mitchell is still at

43:21

Epic Systems and will turn 25 this year.