Bart and Krista Halderson had every thing a pair might need: a good looking residence in Windsor, Wisconsin, and two sons they adored. Mitchell, 24, who labored in tech, Chandler, 23, a university pupil residing at residence.

Chandler had massive ambitions – he talked of getting his IT diploma, of his promising internship at an insurance coverage firm, and was particularly excited a couple of new job he landed at Area X—based by one of many richest individuals on the earth, Elon Musk.

Every thing appeared to be going nicely for the Haldersons.  So, on Friday morning, July 2, when Krista simply did not present up on the workplace, Daniel Kroninger remembers turning into involved.

Erin Moriarty: How uncommon was it for, primary, for Krista to not present up for work, to not name and simply not present up? How uncommon?

Daniel Kroninger: Extraordinarily uncommon.

Kroninger and Krista not solely labored collectively, however they had been additionally shut mates.

Daniel Kroninger: So, when she hadn’t mentioned something to me, I used to be like, “we’ll that is kinda bizarre” you realize … It wasn’t one thing that she would ever do.

Kroninger says he texted and referred to as her a number of occasions however obtained no response.   Later that afternoon, he and his girlfriend drove over to the Halderson residence. A neighbor’s safety digital camera exhibits them arriving.

Daniel Kroninger: You understand, knocked on the door, did not hear something … peered by the window. The one factor that appeared bizarre was there was a espresso desk on its facet. … you look by the door it was kinda off to the correct over by … that they had a hearth over there.

Then, Kroninger says, he walked over to the storage window.

Daniel Kroninger: I seemed in. Each automobiles had been there. And I used to be like, “what?” You understand, why are each automobiles right here? And I used to be beginning to go across the again of the home, after which Chandler got here out the facet door … and he got here out in a towel saying, “Oh, I simply obtained outta the bathe,” you realize, “hey what’s goin’ on?” I used to be like, “we’re simply in search of Bart and Krista.” And he mentioned, “Oh yeah, they went … needed to go up north this morning for an emergency up on the cabin.”

Kroninger says he was relieved to know that Bart and Krista had been on the household cabin. Over the vacation weekend, he stored in contact with Chandler to see if he had heard from his mother and pop.

Daniel Kroninger: He mentioned, “yeah, they do not have excellent service up there so that you kinda have to attend until the clouds clear earlier than they get a message.”

On Sunday July 4, Kroninger says Chandler referred to as him and mentioned he was “bored and wanted one thing to do.” So, Dan invited him over to observe the fireworks and requested Chandler about his mother and father.

Daniel Kroninger:  He talked about that he talked to them they usually’re gonna be again Monday.

Erin Moriarty: When he mentioned that he talked to them, did he say, he talked to each his mother and father or simply his mother? What did he say? Do you keep in mind?

Daniel Kroninger: I do not assume he was particular … I imply, I used to be asking about his mother as a result of I knew she had a physician’s appointment developing that she was actually, actually wished to be at. I believe it had been rescheduled earlier than.

However Krista did not present up for work on Monday and once more on Tuesday. By Wednesday July 7, when there was nonetheless no phrase. Dan knew one thing was improper.

Daniel Kroninger: And now she’s missed her appointment

Erin Moriarty: So, now it is all out concern.

Daniel Kroninger: Proper.

Erin Moriarty: You understand one thing’s occurred to her now.

Daniel Kroninger: Proper, proper.

Kroninger pushed Chandler to file a lacking individual’s report that morning.

Det. Sabrina Sims: Chandler Halderson walked into one in every of our precincts to report his mother and father lacking.

Detectives Sabrina Sims and Brian Shunk with the Dane County Sheriff’s Workplace would lead the workforce to trace down the lacking couple.

Det. Brian Shunk: We had quite a lot of detectives helping us with the caseload.

Their first cease: the Halderson residence on Oak Spring Circle Drive  

Erin Moriarty: So, while you first obtained there, who was residence?

Det. Brian Shunk: It was simply Chandler.

Det. Sabrina Sims: We’re inside the home with him and detectives are getting info outdoors and so we’re both getting telephone calls or textual content messages of you realize “hey, possibly ask about this.” We’re strolling round the home with him. He is mentioning issues on the home, issues that had been lacking that his mother and father took once they traveled to the cabin.

Whereas deputies started interviewing neighbors and mates, Barbi Townsend, Krista’s first cousin, who lives in southern California, knew solely what she had seen on the information: that the Halderson’s 23-year-old son Chandler had gone to the police telling them his mother and father had been lacking.

Barbi Townsend: What does that imply? What does lacking imply?  And that that they had gone as much as our cabin … the household cottage and did not return.

Bart and Krista had not talked about to coworkers, or their older son Mitchell, that they’d been planning to go to the cabin that weekend. However in line with Chandler, one other couple, who he did not know, picked up his mother and father and drove them there.

The cabin was a distant, rustic lakeside retreat, and a treasured household heirloom. Barbi and Krista’s grandparents constructed it within the Nineteen Forties.

Barbi Townsend: You understand, you begin to think about loopy issues trigger our cabin’s up within the woods … and so we had been fearful are they being held hostage someplace? … Are they tied up someplace?

The day after Chandler reported them lacking, his brother Mitchell and his fiancée drove three hours up north to see if he might discover any signal of his mother and father.

Barbi Townsend: Why would they not name? Why would not there be a textual content or one thing?

Barbi Townsend: Your thoughts begins to go down actually murky trails as a result of you are attempting to determine what is going on on.

OFFICER BODY CAM: Hello there.

MITCHELL HALDERSON’S FIANCÉE: Hello there.

OFFICER BODY CAM: Are you guys uh …

MITCHELL HALDERSON’S FIANCÉE: The Haldersons.

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OFFICER BODY CAM: You — OK you might be affiliated with them?

MITCHELL HALDERSON’S FIANCÉE: Sure.

OFFICER BODY CAM: OK, possibly we might simply take a stroll round and see, you’ll know the property most likely higher than we’d.

The police met Mitchell and his fiancée on the cabin — ready for the worst.

SEARCHING FOR KRISTA AND BART

When the Haldersons disappeared, it surprised everybody who knew them. Barbi Townsend mentioned neither her cousin Krista nor her husband Bart would simply go away on a whim

Barbi Townsend: He was extra structured. She was extra nurturing – you realize, indulging mother. It was a beautiful mixture.

She labored as a customer support consultant for an auto physique store and liked artwork tasks. He was a managing director for a world accounting agency and loved woodworking.

Barbi Townsend: They had been one hundred pc about household … and really concerned within the scouting.

Haldersons had been collectively on Father’s Day in June 2021, lower than a month earlier than Bart disappeared.  In a photograph taken that day, Mitchell is smiling and Chandler, who had a gentle concussion from a fall, is sporting a neck brace.

Investigators, anxious to seek out out what had occurred to Bart and Krista Halderson, requested deputies from the Langlade County Sheriff’s Workplace to assist Mitchell, who introduced alongside his fiancée, search the household’s cabin – a three-hour drive north of the household residence.

After they obtained inside, it was darkish. There have been no indicators of Krista and Bart. Additionally they checked a shed; the canoe was there. It was apparent. Nobody had been to the cabin in a really very long time.

OFFICER (physique cam): They’re believed to be with one other couple?

MITCHELL HALDERSON: Another person a minimum of.

OFFICER: OK.

When Mitchell was with the police looking out the household’s cabin, Chandler was on his personal hunt all through the neighborhood.

He’s seen on video doorbell cameras going door to door asking householders if that they had seen or heard from his mother and father.

CHANDLER HALDERSON (doorbell digital camera video): It is kinda tough to trace them down.

Reporter Adam Duxter, now with CBS station WCCO in Minneapolis, labored in Madison, Wisconsin, on the time. He instantly began calling his sources.

Adam Duxter: So, we’re ready to listen to again from the sheriff’s workplace, and my boss on the time, he was like, “Effectively you’ll be able to’t simply sit round, you gotta go begin taking pictures one thing” … and so … packed my gear in my automotive and drove out to their road in Windsor.

He knocked on the Halderson’s entrance door. The lacking couple’s son Chandler answered.

Adam Duxter: And, so, I am like, “Should you’d be prepared … I would like to do a fast interview” … And he was like, “Yeah, I will do this. … however I do not need you bought movie me. I do not need to be proven, however you’ll be able to report my voice.”

CHANDLER HALDERSON INTERVIEW AUDIO: So, my final message I obtained from them, they had been going to White Lake for the Fourth of July … Aside from that, their plan or from to my data they had been going to Langlade County to a cabin, their cabin …

Adam Duxter: On the time, I obtained the sense that he was in shock … That is somebody who’s roughly my age … And so, I am considering like, “Yeah, if my mother and father simply went lacking” – he most likely hasn’t slept, he is most likely actually nervous.

Alex Gravatt knew Chandler nicely.

Alex Gravatt: I used to be roommates with Chandler for a short while. … I referred to as him Chaz.

The 2 mates shared an house from 2019 to 2020.

Alex Gravatt: We grew up collectively and we performed soccer collectively, did cub scouts collectively, and simply frolicked collectively. … he was a terrific swimmer, so I do know that the swim workforce actually obtained together with him.

Gravatt says his good friend Chandler, who glided by the identify “Chaz,” may very well be a playful man.

Alex Gravatt: He was a goon, a hooligan in quite a lot of — in quite a lot of senses.

Erin Moriarty: What do you imply by that?

Alex Gravatt: Yeah, I imply, so he would play pranks and … he would make numerous jokes or poke enjoyable at individuals.

Gravatt described “Chaz” as common with ladies. School pupil Cathryn Mellender, generally known as “Cat,” was his longtime girlfriend.

Alex Gravatt: He was a comparatively enticing man. … I imply he seemed good. He had nice hair. He stored up on appearances.

In line with Gravatt, once they had been roommates, “Chaz” usually bragged to mates about “hooking up” with totally different ladies behind Cat’s again. When she discovered about it —

Alex Gravatt: She grilled him. She was like “are you seeing different individuals?” … and he simply stored denying it.

However Mellender remained suspicious and started monitoring her boyfriend on social media. Gravatt says Chaz turned extra secretive and moved again residence along with his mother and father. And now these mother and father had been lacking. Detectives Shunk and Sims started follow-up interviews.

Det. Sabrina Sims: At that time, you realize, what do we actually have? We do not know what we now have.

Then they obtained a tip they desperately wanted from the proprietor of a farm outdoors city.

Det. Sabrina Sims: We acquired info … from somebody that, “sure … Chandler has been out to my property over the Fourth of July weekend.”

The proprietor was a good friend of Chandler’s girlfriend Cat Mellender. The proprietor mentioned she was with the couple at her farm on July 4. She informed deputies she was stunned to see Chandler once more, the very subsequent day, and this time he was alone.

Det. Sabrina Sims: You understand, and I noticed him coming from the wooden line. His automotive was parked backed as much as the sector. … So, after all proper from that interview, we need to go search that property.

As deputies started looking out, detectives wished to know why Chandler had by no means talked about he’d gone again to the farm by himself. Police picked Chandler up and took him to the station.

Detective Brian Shunk requested him to as soon as once more describe the final time he had seen his mother and father.

CHANDLER HALDERSON: It is Thursday morning. I get up

DET. BRIAN SHUNK: What time do you assume?

CHANDLER HALDERSON: Six.

Chandler mentioned his dad Bart was at residence working, and that later he had dinner with each his mother and father.

CHANDLER HALDERSON: That is the place they informed me, whereas they had been consuming it … they had been gonna go along with their mates, and I used to be like, “Oh, cool.”

DET. BRIAN SHUNK: They usually had mentioned they had been going to the cabin.

CHANDLER HALDERSON: Effectively, “we’re going up north.”

Whereas detectives questioned Chandler, deputies had been out looking out the farm and made a discovery that shortly modified the tone of the interview.

DET. HENDRICKSON: Take heed to me. That is the one probability you are gonna have to inform us the reality. OK? … What we, pay attention, pay attention — I am unable to inform you what we all know, however we all know you are not telling us the reality … that you must inform the reality.

CHANDLER HALDERSON: There’s — (sighs)

DET. HENDRICKSON: Pay attention, pay attention, that you must inform the reality about what occurred. And simply inform us why it occurred. I am not B.S.in’ you, OK? So, can we do this?

CHANDLER HALDERSON: OK … yeah, OK. Lawyer.

Chandler’s request for a lawyer ended that interview. Detective Sims remembers the second she discovered what deputies informed her that they had discovered close to that discipline.

Det. Sabrina Sims: You understand, Brian and I had been within the command put up collectively … And I mentioned, “What did you say?” You understand I simply could not imagine what I used to be listening to.

They’d found human stays.

A DISTURBING DISCOVERY

On Thursday, July 8, 2021, within the village of Windsor, Wisconsin, the neighborhood struggled to make sense of the disturbing information.

The stays of an grownup male had been discovered on a farm 20 miles from Bart and Krista Halderson’s residence.

SHERIFF KALVIN BARRETT (to reporters): At this level, it’s extremely early in our investigation. I do not need to make any uncorroborated speculations at the moment.

Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett warned residents to not bounce to conclusions.

The grotesque discovery was made the day after Bart and Krista had been reported lacking by their son, and it was one thing detectives Brian Shunk and Sabrina Sims had by no means encountered.

Det. Sabrina Sims: The grass had been matted down. They usually adopted it to a path which led to the invention of a male torso that was hid with sticks and twigs.

Erin Moriarty: That was actually the second, proper?

Det. Brian Shunk: It was large.

Det. Sabrina Sims: I consider different dying investigations or murder instances we have labored and, I do not keep in mind a time that I’ve labored a dismemberment case.

Erin Moriarty: And what different proof was discovered there?

Det. Sabrina Sims: We discovered some reducing devices that had been hidden in an outdated oil drum … some scissors, pruning shears – a damaged bow noticed.

And it was all in the identical wooded space the place the Halderson’s son, Chandler, had been seen earlier within the week.  Detective Sims had a fairly good concept who the sufferer was.

Det. Sabrina Sims: Realizing in my intestine that that was more than likely Bart Halderson, and his son was seen in that space …

Police turned their full consideration to Chandler Halderson; he was now an individual of curiosity and the prime suspect. Whereas assessments had been being achieved to substantiate the sufferer’s identification, detectives arrested Chandler and charged him with mendacity to them.

SHERIFF KALVIN BARRETT (to reporters): The arrest was based mostly on him offering false info with regard to a lacking individual.

Erin Moriarty: What did you assume? They arrested him … for giving false details about a lacking individual.

Barbi Townsend | Krista Halderson’s cousin: That was the primary day that I began to suspect foul play from their — from their very own son.

Alex Gravatt: I checked my telephone … and I noticed that — that he had been arrested … and it was fairly wild.

Alex Gravatt, his childhood good friend, discovered about it on social media.

Alex Gravatt: My eyes obtained extensive, I kinda simply sat there for a second studying it … my first thought was if he is being arrested for giving misinformation to the police … I did not assume that there was actually a lot probability that he wasn’t concerned one way or the other.

However there’s somebody who had a tough time imaging Chandler was concerned – his girlfriend Cat Mellender.  She spoke to police simply earlier than his arrest.

DETECTIVE: You do not assume he had something to do along with his mother and pop being unheard from?

CAT MELLENDER: No. I simply — no. … that’d be loopy. … however I simply do not see him killing Mr. and Mrs. Halderson. Like, he had SpaceX. Like, why would he jeopardize one thing he, like, would dream of, you realize? Like, they’re his mother and father. For Christmas, they obtained him and his brother matching instrument units. Like, come on.

DETECTIVE: OK.

CAT MELLENDER: He cooks dinner for them. They’ve root beer floats collectively. They play Mario Kart at any time when his mother and father need to.

However, on Saturday July 10, 2021, the sufferer discovered within the woods was recognized as Bart Halderson.

Det. Sabrina Sims: It simply modified every thing, like that second modified every thing …

Preliminary post-mortem outcomes would reveal Bart had been shot a minimum of two occasions within the again. And there was nonetheless the troubling query: the place was Krista? 

SHERIFF KALVIN BARRETT (to reporters): Krista Halderson stays a lacking individual and we proceed to ask for citizen involvement.

Krista’s co-worker Dan Kroninger ran by all of the totally different prospects.

Erin Moriarty: Did you at that second … marvel, like, possibly Krista was concerned on this too?

Dan Kroninger: It had positively crossed my thoughts … you begin to marvel, “nicely, why is Chandler mendacity? Is he masking for himself is or he masking for maybe his mom? Is she concerned?”

However the extra investigators seemed, it appeared the one individual Chandler Halderson was masking for was himself.

Det. Sabrina Sims: You understand, he simply lied to all people.

And in his lies, police began to imagine they discovered a motive for homicide. For months he’d been telling everybody, together with his childhood good friend, Alex Gravatt, that he was enrolled at Madison School in the course of the 2021 spring semester.

Erin Moriarty: Did you’ve any concept he had flunked out?

Alex Gravatt: No.

Erin Moriarty: He did not inform you?

Alex Gravatt: No, it was shocking.

Detectives imagine his mother and father had no concept he wasn’t in class. They are saying when his mother and father questioned him about his transcripts, the pc savvy Chandler Halderson crafted a sequence of emails that appeared to come back from the faculty.

Det. Sabrina Sims: Chandler creates folks that work for Madison School and communicates by way of e-mail with them. You understand, Bart’s on a few of them as nicely, speaking to who he believes is workers of the college.

Erin Moriarty: And do any of these individuals truly exist?

Det. Sabrina Sims: No.

In June 2021, Bart Halderson referred to as Madison School, pretending to be Chandler, and obtained a solution he wasn’t anticipating:

MADISON COLLEGE OFFICIAL (telephone name audio): I do not see that you simply had been admitted in any program

BART HALDERSON: you mentioned there, the IT diploma is in there, proper?

MADISON COLLEGE OFFICIAL: No, these are simply courses … You may need simply took the courses however not be in this system.

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Bart discovered that not solely had his son been mendacity about that IT diploma, however there was no internship with an insurance coverage firm, both. And keep in mind that massive job with SpaceX? It seems that was simply one other elaborate lie.

Barbi Townsend: The delusional actuality that he concocted … that’s surprising to me.

In line with detectives, Bart was planning to fulfill on the school along with his son on Thursday July 1. Round 2 p.m. Bart, who was working from residence, despatched his son this textual content: “I am prepared at any time when you might be.”

That textual content is believed to be the final message Bart despatched.

Seven days later, Bart’s stays had been discovered. Investigators obtained a search warrant for the Halderson residence. No weapon was discovered there, however a shell casing was found within the basement, and several other areas inside the home examined constructive for blood.

SHERIFF KALVIN BARRETT (to reporters): Chandler center preliminary, M, final identify Halderson, age 23 of Windsor, is now being charged with first-degree murder, hiding a corpse, and mutilating a corpse.  

On July 15, 2021, Chandler Halderson was formally charged along with his father’s homicide.

SHERIFF KALVIN BARRETT (to reporters): Chandler is presently being held within the Dane County Jail.

Barbi Townsend: I imply I do not know what else to say … How might you do this to your father?

However the place was his mom, Krista?  Chandler Halderson had lawyered up and wasn’t speaking, however somebody very near him was.

Det. Sabrina Sims: She had communicated with him that complete weekend.

That loyal girlfriend, Cat Mellender, had a doubtlessly damning piece of proof about her boyfriend on the social media app Snapchat.

Det. Sabrina Sims: She truly consented to a obtain … of her telephone.

Erin Moriarty: In order that was a breakthrough.

Det. Sabrina Sims: (nods her head sure to affirm)

THE SNAPCHAT CLUE

Chandler Halderson was charged along with his father’s homicide, however his mom’s whereabouts had been nonetheless unknown. Lead detectives Sabrina Sims and Brian Shunk knew if Krista was alive, they wanted to seek out her quick.

Det. Brian Shunk: At that time, we had been hoping for one of the best … it was a kind of issues we simply wanted to push on.

Detectives turned to Chandler’s girlfriend for assist. She had given them permission to obtain info from her telephone.

Det. Sabrina Sims: Chandler had lied to her earlier than and had cheated on her earlier than. And so she — you realize, would observe his location.

Cat Mellender had satisfied Chandler to let her observe his actions utilizing Snapchat — the favored social media app which permits customers to ship messages and share their location in actual time.

Det. Sabrina Sims: And that was an settlement that … “Sure, you should have your places on so I can see the place you’re going…”

Detectives had been most intrigued by messages posted early on the morning of July 1, the day Chandler Halderson and his father had been supposed to fulfill with Madison School officers.  Chandler Halderson, whose on-line identify was “chazzzledazl, messaged Mellender at 7:30 a.m.

chazzzledazl: I hardly slept

Cat: I am sorry b. Why?

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chazzzledazl: Idk stuff hasn’t actually been going nicely for me these days so I am tryna plan for the following factor to f*** me over

Cat: B it is gonna be okay

chazzzledazl: Yeah I simply had a terrific future deliberate and it is falling aside

In line with detectives, the tone of these messages fearful Cat. So, two days later when Cat checks Snapchat and seen her boyfriend’s avatar — “Hubby” on her display screen—indicated that he was practically 25 miles from residence – Cat saved the picture to her telephone.

Det. Sabrina Sims:  It was a Snapchat display screen shot of Chandler … virtually 9 within the morning out by the Wisconsin River.

Detectives Sims and Shunk took “48 Hours” to that location on the river the place that they had hoped to seek out Krista.

Erin Moriarty: So the place are we precisely? What would you name this space?

Det. Brian Shunk: It is the Wisconsin State Decrease Riverway.

And it is a acquainted place to the previous highschool swimmer Chandler Halderson — near his favourite swimming gap the place he was photographed a yr earlier, holding a big knife.

Regulation enforcement all through Dane County searched the wooded space.

Erin Moriarty: And the way lengthy was he right here?

Det. Brian Shunk: Forty-five minutes, I imagine.

Det. Brian Shunk: And simply consider, in July … it was positively far thicker than what you are seeing right here now.

Nonetheless no signal of Krista Halderson, however search groups refused to surrender.

Det. Sabrina Sims: “Let’s go hit yet one more space” and that was the place they ended up discovering the stays.

Erin Moriarty: And what precisely did they discover there?

Det. Brian Shunk: They ended up findin’ two legs – lower into totally different sections.

DNA assessments confirmed it was Krista Halderson. The involved son who had reported his mother and pop lacking was now charged with each of their murders.  Krista’s cousins had been horrified.

Barbi Townsend:  You could not write this. … it simply wasn’t something that you could possibly probably give you in your head.

Erin Moriarty:  How do you make sense of it?

Barbi Townsend: We do not. And that is the exhausting half. We do not have a why.

In January of 2022, on the Dane County Courthouse, Chandler Halderson went on trial for the homicide of his mother and father. He was additionally going through fees for mendacity to the police and for mutilating and hiding their our bodies.

ADA WILLIAM BROWN: Our job is to, over the course of the following couple of weeks, current proof to indicate you the trail of what we believed occurred –

ADA WILLIAM BROWN: That Chandler Halderson killed his mother and father, dismembered their our bodies and hid them round southern Wisconsin.

Prosecutors laid out a motive. They are saying Chandler murdered his mother and father when his lies had been about to be uncovered and that for months, he had been attempting to cover the reality from them.

Among the many proof: these faux e-mail accounts he created.

ADA ANDREA RAYMOND (in courtroom): Nobody makes use of a Gmail account as their official Madison School e-mail?

KATE JOCHIMSEN | MADISON COLLEGE: No.

And his fictious internship with an insurance coverage firm

LORI SNAPP | AMERICAN FAMILY INSURANCE (in courtroom): I discovered no report of that individual working for American Household.

Investigators imagine the homicide weapon was a semi-automatic rifle that had been hidden in a barn at that farm the place Bart’s stays had been found.

The rifle got here from Andrew Smith, who testified that he was within the navy when he met Halderson on-line.

ANDREW SMITH (in courtroom): Enjoying video video games, whereas stationed in Germany, sir.

Halderson had wished a gun. Smith testified he had no concept what Halderson wished to do with the weapon, and in June 2021, he gave him that semi-automatic rifle as a present — and practically 480 rounds of ammunition.

ANDREW SMITH: I’ll give it to somebody who would possibly truly recognize this weapon and maintain it.

ADA WILLIAM BROWN: How did Chandler react while you gave him the gun?

ANDREW SMITH: Oh, he was pleased.

ADA WILLIAM BROWN: How do you know he was pleased … how have you learnt that?

ANDREW SMITH: As a result of he had a giant smile on his face after I had given it to him as a present..

However probably the most anticipated witness on this trial could be Halderson’s girlfriend who gave police that Snapchat display screen shot.

ATTORNEY: what’s that?

CAT MELLENDER: Screenshot of Chandler by the Wisconsin River.

A JURY DECIDES

For 3 hours, Cat Mellender, sat on the stand telling the jury concerning the younger man she thought she knew: Chandler Halderson.

ADA WILLIAM BROWN: Did you go on quite a lot of dates collectively?

CAT MELLENDER: Yeah, we’d seize dinners, um have film dates … simply sit at residence and watch films, go on walks very often.

Mellender informed the jury that she was engaged on July 1, when authorities imagine the murders occurred, and did not see her boyfriend in person who day.

ADA WILLIAM BROWN: You were not with him?

CAT MELLENDER: I used to be not with him. 

ADA WILLIAM BROWN: Do you know that Bart and Krista Halderson had died?

CAT MELLENDER: No (cries).

In line with investigators, Chandler requested Mellender to deliver a number of cleansing provides to his residence the next day. He informed her he’d stepped on some damaged glass from the fireside. She introduced him a Swiffer mop and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.

ADA WILLIAM BROWN: Cat, did you’ve completely something to do with cleansing something up or their disappearance?

CAT MELLENDER:  No.

Investigators say there is no such thing as a proof that Mellender had any involvement within the murders. They imagine Chandler Halderson acted alone. Prosecutors confirmed the jury police video from contained in the Halderson residence. At first look, it appeared neat and clear, however check outcomes revealed what gave the impression to be blood.

ATTORNEY: Is that each one blood that it is reacting to?  

OFFICER: This may very well be blood that it is reacting to, and it seems to be some wiping or clear up.

For Barbi Townsend, probably the most disturbing half was when the jury was proven a view of the Halderson residence from a neighbor’s safety digital camera.

Barbi Townsend: I used to be speaking to one in every of my cousins. We mentioned one of many photographs that’s gonna be seared in our minds is once they confirmed that video of the window. … And it was the flickering glow from the fireside, for like hours. that’s haunting, realizing what was occurring,

A forensic knowledgeable testified greater than 200 bone fragments had been found within the fire.

ATTORNEY: there is a white space in the midst of that base.

FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST: Primarily based on my coaching and expertise that seems to be bone.

Halderson’s protection lawyer Catherine Dorl didn’t deal with the bone and blood proof discovered within the residence however insisted that didn’t imply her shopper was the killer.

CATHERINE DORL: Chandler Halderson didn’t homicide his mother and father. He’s not responsible of these crimes.

She reminded the jury there have been too many unanswered questions.

CATHERINE DORL: What occurred to the Haldersons?  What occurred within the Halderson’s residence? … You simply aren’t going to know what occurred.

Chandler Halderson himself did not testify and his protection did not name any witnesses.

As a substitute, protection lawyer Crystal Vera, closed the case, and urged the jury to seek out affordable doubt. She admits Chandler informed quite a lot of lies, however she argues there is not sufficient direct proof to tie him to the murders.

CRYSTAL VERA: You must return and take a look at every thing.

CRYSTAL VERA: I assure you that the 12 of you which can be going to return and deliberate are all gonna have 12 totally different theories on what occurred. And that is an issue. I am asking you to seek out him not responsible of first-degree intentional murder.

Prosecutors had the ultimate phrase.

ADA WILLIAM BROWN: This can be a first-degree intentional murder. You can’t shoot somebody within the again, you can not chop them up, you can not scatter their stays and are available to some other conclusion. And there is just one one that did these issues right here and that’s Chandler Halderson. We’re asking you to seek out him responsible. Thanks.

It did not take lengthy for the jury to resolve.

JUDGE JOHN D. HYLAND (studying verdict): “We the jury discover the defendant Chandler M. Halderson responsible of first-degree intentional murder as to Bart A. Halderson. Responsible of offering false info. Responsible of mutilating a corpse. Responsible of first-degree intentional murder. Responsible of mutilating a corpse. Responsible of hiding a corpse.”

Responsible on all eight fees.

Det. Sabrina Sims: I believe it was simply overwhelming … from all of the work that we put in on it.

In March 2022, at his sentencing listening to, Chandler Halderson, who had been silent throughout his trial, stunned everybody by indicating he lastly had one thing to say.

JUDGE JOHN D. HYLAND: Mr. Halderson needs to make an announcement.

CHANDLER HALDERSON (addressing the courtroom): Your Honor, I need to take this chance to state my intent to enchantment my convictions. If there are any legal professionals listening and prepared to tackle my enchantment, take a second to please attain out to me. It isn’t that I don’t have emotions, it’s that I used to be warned to not present them because of the scrutiny of this case. Thanks.

Erin Moriarty: What was your response when he had the possibility to talk and all he did was ask for a lawyer to take an enchantment? What was your response?

Barbi Townsend: I used to be truly disgusted. I simply could not imagine it. Like, you’ll be able to’t even say I am sorry.

Chandler was sentenced to life in jail with out the potential for parole.

Erin Moriarty: When do you miss ’em?

Dan Kroninger: Oh, I take into consideration ’em nearly every single day.

Erin Moriarty: Actually?

Dan Kroninger: Yeah … we’re constructing a pond in our yard or … and simply, you realize, they’d like to see that, and love be part of it.

Mitchell Halderson, Bart and Krista’s oldest son, is now residing with an unimaginable loss. Barbi Townsend shared a textual content and a photograph that Krista despatched to household simply three months earlier than she died

Barbi Townsend (studying textual content): “Joyful Easter. Sure, the boys and their ladies . Mitchell continues to be at Epic Methods and can flip 25 this yr. Yikes. … Chandler is presently interning with American Household Insurance coverage as an IT administrator. However his different diploma, sustainability administration, has given him an edge …”

Barbi Townsend: You see in her textual content how proud she was of her boys … and the way one hundred pc utterly believing Chandler.

She will’t assist however marvel what would have occurred if Halderson had simply been trustworthy with everybody.

Erin Moriarty: If he had simply gone and thrown himself on the mercy of his mother and father, what do you assume Krista and Bart would have achieved?

Barbi Townsend: They might have helped him. … they positively would have confronted him on it. However after the confrontation and the reality telling, would have come to grace. “How will we go ahead? How will we assist you? How will we get your life again on observe?” They might’ve helped him.

Chandler Halderson has a brand new lawyer however has but to file an enchantment.

Produced by Marcelena Spencer. Iris Carreras is the sector producer. David Dow is the event producer. Mike McHugh and Greg McLaughlin are the editors. Patti Aronofsky is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the manager story editor. Judy Tygard is the manager producer.