A Son’s Secret Life Let to the Double Murder of His Parents | Chandler Halderson

Love and Murder podcast breaks down true crime cases involving love gone wrong

Now part of the Darkcast network. Welcome to Indie Podcasts with a Dark side. He said his parents had vanished on a fourth of July trip with friends. But as investigators dug deeper, they uncovered a web of lies, murder, mutilation and a cover up. Today I bring you the case of Chandler Halderson right now on Love and murder. Some relationships are built on trust. Others hide secrets, and sometimes those secrets kill. This is Love and Heartbreak to Homicide, the podcast that takes you inside the darkest corners of love gone wrong. Every week we break down true crime cases where obsession, betrayal or heartbreak ends in murder. This week’s case is about secrets and pride that led to a very stupid decision. Hi, my name is Ky and I’ll be your host. Don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss any of my other case retellings. And you can also subscribe on the Patreon for free where you do get some benefits. Patreon.com loveandmurder but if you if you want ad free and intro free episodes as well as extra cases, then uh, join the LaM Patreon Fam by choosing any one of the bonus tiers. Patreon.com loveandmurder don’t forget that by doing this, you also help the victim’s stories continue to be told. Now, uh, grab your butts, grab your glass of apple juice and let’s get into today’s love and murder.

Chandler Halderson reported his parents missing on July 7, 2021

On July 7, 2021, 23 year old Chandler Halderson walked into a Dane County Sheriff’s office to report his parents, Bart Christer Halderson, missing. He told detectives that his parents had left for their cabin in Langdale County, Wisconsin. He said this happened several days earlier with an unknown couple and they had gone to spend the 4th of July weekend together. He claimed that they hadn’t returned and weren’t answering his phone calls. 50 year old Bart Halderson and 53 year old Krista Haldison were by all accounts a loving couple living the quiet Life in Windsor, Wisconsin. Friends and family described them as being, quote, 100% about family and were very involved in activities like scouting, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, stuff like that. Scouting. Bart was the more structured one. A managing director for an international accounting firm who enjoyed word working. Christa was described as the, quote, more nurturing, you know, indulgent mom. She worked as a customer service representative for an auto body shop and loved art projects. Both Bart and Krista were seen as being dependable people. It would be extremely unusual for Krista not to show up for work without calling. For instance, Bart and Krista had two sons who they loved so much. 24 year old Mitchell, who worked in tech and was engaged, and 23 year old Chandler, who lived at home. A photo from Father’s Day of 2021, less, uh, than a month before Bart’s disappearance showed a happy family. In the picture, Chandler is wearing a neck brace, which I have that picture and others in the Patreon. So part of being part of the lam fam is you get case extras like pictures. Chandler Michael Halderson, also known as Chaz, was born on March 15, 1998. He was a college student living at home and had big ambitions. Friends described him as a playful guy, a quote, goon, a, uh, hooligan. Do people still use the word hooligan and teenagers use that word? I have literally only heard people older than me use the word hooligan. Anyway, they said he played pranks and made jokes. He was popular with women and kept up, uh, appearances, having, quote, great hair. He was a great swimmer, played soccer and participated in Eagle Scouts. His longtime girlfriend, Catherine Melander, who everyone called Kat, described him as someone who cooked dinner for his parents, had root bear floats with them and played Mario Kart. Sounds like an amazing son. But while his girlfriend described him as that, his childhood friend Alex Gravatt said that Chandler often bragged about hooking up with other women behind Kat’s back. When Kat would become suspicious, Chandler would become more secretive and in this instance, that’s what drove him to move back home. Now, when Krista didn’t come to work on Friday, July 2, this prompted concern from her friend and co worker Daniel Kroninger. He went to her house, found the door locked, and saw Bart and Krista’s car were still there, which he found strange because they should have been, uh, at work. The 4th of July weekend literally hasn’t started yet. Chandler eventually came out saying he had just gotten out of the shower and he told Daniel that his parents had gone north to the cabin for an emergency. Well over the holiday weekend, Chandler maintained this story, telling Daniel that his parents would be back on Monday. Now, when Monday rolled around and Krista still didn’t get to work Monday Tuesday, Daniel became worried and finally urged Chandler to report them missing. On Wednesday, July 7, detectives Sabrina Sims and Brian Schunk with the Dane County Sheriff’s Office led the investigation. They visited the Halderson home on Oak Springs Circle Drive, where only Chandler was at home, detectives noticed weird little things like a coffee table on its side and unplugged Google Nest devices. Chandler stuck to his story about his parents going to the cabin with an unknown couple. While detectives interviewed neighbors and friends, Chandler went door to door himself, asking neighbors if their surveillance camera had caught anything. Now, my question is, from all accounts, his parents are very responsible, very loving. I highly doubt the couple that they went out of town with, if they ever did anything like this, would be, quote, unknown. They would literally tell both their boys who they’re going with, probably leave numbers for emergency and stuff like that. That’s the kind of people they sound like to me. On Thursday, July 8, Mitchell and his fiance drove three hours north to check the family cabin. Langlade county deputies met them there. They found no sign of Bart or Krista, and it was evident that no one had been in the cabin for a long time time. While detectives were interviewing Chandler at the station on that same day, July 8th, a tip, uh, came in. The owner of a farm outside of town, a friend of Kat Melander, reported seeing Chandler unexpectedly show up alone on his property on July 5. She saw him walking from the wood line with his car parked backwards near the field, and she said he was acting strangely. Deputies went up to that area then and they searched a farm property near Cottage Grove. This was on the same day, July 8th. So right now on July 8th, a lot of things are happening. They drove to check the cabin. They have Chandler in for questioning, and now they got this tip and they went out to search the area. So while they’re there searching the wood line where the woman said she saw Chandler, they found something. The, quote, mutilated torso with several bullet wounds of an adult male concealed with sticks and twigs. Not even dug, they just covered it with some sticks. They also found, quote, cutting instruments that were hidden in an old oil drum, including scissors, pruning shears, and a broken bow. Saw a tarp similar to one Chandler had purchased was found in a barn on the property. Well, remember, they have Chandler in custody. So when they confronted him, he immediately shut up and requested a lawyer. So, of course, by US Law, they had to stop the interview. However, he was arrested for, quote, providing false information in regards to a missing person. On Saturday, July 10, the remains found on the farm were identified as Bart. Preliminary autopsy results showed Bart had been shot at least two times in the back, ruling his death as a homicide. You know, back in the day, they would say if you shot a man in the back, you were a yellow bellied coward, Let alone your father who did nothing but love you. The mutilation to the corpse occurred after death on July 15. Chandler was formally charged with first degree homicide, hiding a corpse and mutilated in a corpse in connection with his father’s death. But Christa was still missing. The focus turned to finding her, hoping that she might still be alive. A major breakthrough came from, uh, Chandler’s girlfriend, who initially believed Chandler was innocent. Basically when they were first saying all of this, she said, quote, that’ll be crazy that, you know, he was responsible for his parents disappearance. Man, she’s loyal to a fault. I’m not blaming her. I’m not blaming her at all. I’m not saying anything about her. I’m just saying she’s very, very loyal because regardless of him cheating on her, she still is in his side. And uh, it just seems like anybody that loves this guy is like expendable to him. So anyway, Kat cooperated fully with law enforcement and gave permission to download data from her phone. She had been tracking Chandler’s location using Snapchat and she provided police with a screenshot from July 3rd showing Chandler’s Snapchat avatar indicating that he was near the Wisconsin river about 25 miles from his house. This area, part of the Wisconsin State Lower Riverway near Roxbury, Prairie du Sac and Sauk City, was a familiar place to Chandler. It was his favorite swimming spot. Search teams focused on this area. On July 14, they made another horrible discovery near the river. Dismembered legs. The right leg was from foot to hip. They found a left foot and an upper thigh. DNA tests confirmed that these were the remains of Krista. The medical examiner found signs of a suspicious knife injury and and determined that she was most likely dead when her legs were removed. With the discovery of Christa’s remains, Chandler was charged with her murder as well. Further investigation revealed even more evidence. A rifle believed to be the murder weapon was found later hidden in the barn shed on the farm where Bart’s torso was discovered. A shell casing and bullet fragment consistent with the type of rifle were found in the basement of the Halderson home along with magazines with one miss in five rounds. Forensic testing found Bart and Krista’s DNA on the cutting tools that were found. The saws, the pruning shears, and an ax.

Chandler entered a plea of not guilty and went to trial in January 2022

Chandler’s DNA was on the handles of all of the tools. Bart and Krista’s phones were hidden in a shoe in the garage, along with their IDs. Luminol revealed blood evidence throughout the entire house, including the basement floor, shower, garbage bin and fireplace hearth with signs of a cleanup. Chandler entered a plea of not guilty and went to trial in January 2022. Opening statements were given on January 4, 2022 and the trial lasted several weeks. Led by Deputy District Attorney William Brown and Assistant District Attorney Andrea Raymond, the prosecution presented a detail evidence rich case which. What are you going to say? I didn’t do it? Even though the evidence, your DNA is all over everything? What am I saying? He did say he didn’t do it because he pled not guilty. They argued that Chandler murdered his parents because of his extensive, quote, web of lies about college work and future prospects. And his father was about to expose all of his lies. On July 1. Chandler had told his family, his girlfriend and his friends that he was a college student attending Madison Area Technical College. He claimed that he had an internship with the local branch of American Family Insurance and was later an IT administrator. His biggest claim was that he had landed a job at SpaceX in Titusville, Florida where he planned to move with Katt. He told her that he would be making 80k a year. And he even lied to Katt about renting an apartment and buying a car for the move. And he went as far as to stage emails between himself and fake people at ah, the insurance company and Madison College and forwarded all of this to his father. Chandler also claimed to be a part of a police scuba dive team, although police and DNR officials confirmed that that was a lie. As his financial situation started to become an issue, Bart kept questioning him about why he wasn’t paying rent. Chandler gave so many excuses, from payroll errors to banking issues. And it’s like, really? How many people are having money issues then? Remember I said that there’s a picture that’s going to be in the patreon of Chandler and his parents, I think on Father’s Day. And Chandler’s wearing a neck brace. Yeah. Well, he claimed he suffered a serious concussion from a fall downstairs around mid June 2021. He said he went to the emergency room on June 7 claiming symptoms like brain bleed, hematoma, spinal damage and the need for future procedures like having his head drilled open or needing a colostomy bag. Dude, was this fall down the stairs also at the end of the stairs was a cliff and then at the end of the cliff was a whirlpool in the ocean and you fell down the whirlpool and somehow you got out. Like, what kind of fall is this? He said that once he got this procedure he probably wouldn’t be able to use his legs. And so far the doctor said he can’t drive or he can’t fly. Well, during the court hearing, an ER physician testified that based on Chandler’s reporting notice, he said reporting he was diagnosed with a concussion, but there was no fracture. And the doctor never told him he couldn’t fly or drive or that he would ever need a colostomy bag. But this diagnosis was due to what Chandler said, not what they saw. Prosecutors showed pictures of him in a neck brace, but countered with surveillance footage from him after the murders showing him without it and he was, quote, lugging around bags of ice at gas station. So, so what? After your parents are missing, your injuries healed. So what happened was he thought the college was wrongfully withholding a transcript because basically that’s what Chandler was telling them. So he called Madison College himself and pretended to be Chandler. That’s when he learned that his son wasn’t even admitted to the IT program and that the college officials Chandler had been emailing were fake. During the trial, the audio of this call was played. The prosecution also showed that on Bart’s calendar, it showed that he planned to meet with Chandler at the college on July 1 at 3pm Prosecutors suggested that this confrontation with, quote, no way out was the break in point. Bart text his son at 2:10pm that day saying, quote, I’m, um, ready whenever you are. This was the last time Bart’s phone was used. Prosecutors believed that the murders happened between 3pm and 5pm on that day. Their theory is that Chandler shot Bart in the back with a high powered rifle. When Bart confronted him about his lies. The rifle, a, uh, 20 inch barrel SKS, which was a gift from one of his online friends, Andrew Smith, who, who testified also that he did give it to Chandler In June of 2021, shortly after killing Bart. Prosecutors said that they think Chandler text his mother, telling her that Bart’s phone had died and asking her to bring him a soda. Krista responded, quote, k I can and a smiley face. Loving her son and just doing whatever to make her son happy. Surveillance footage showed Krista entering the home that afternoon, never to be seen alive again. Prosecutors believe Chandler killed her as soon as she arrived home. The exact cause of her death though, could not be determined during the investigation because the only thing, uh, they ever found were her legs. In the days following the murders, before reporting his parents missing, prosecutors claimed that he planned to dismember and burn the remains. Surveillance footage shows him buying the ice like I told you, when he didn’t have the neck brace on on July 1 and a tarp on July 2. Neighbors reported seeing a flickering light from the howlerson’s home fireplace window. In the early mornings of July 2, William Boswell, a special agent with the Arson Bureau of the State of Wisconsin Department of Justice, testified that he’d investigated the home, especially the fireplace. He said that he smelled a scent of human remains while which he says smells kind of like barbecued pig. He also said that he saw bubbling paint around the fireplace, which means that it was burning for a long time or that some kind of chemical was used in that area. He also said that he found what appeared to be human bone and bone fragments in the ash trap. Investigators called a medical examiner to evaluate the ashes. The forensic expert testified that over 200 human bone fragments were found in the fireplace ashes. One piece even looked like it was from a skull. Steven Grieber, a former detective and neighbor of the Haldersons, testified that he smelled the same scent of barbecued pig around the time in question. Chandler’s Google search history from June 30 to July 8 included terms like quote, wisconsin dismembered body found his iPhone. Notes listed steps potentially related to body disposal. Phone location data placed him near the area where both sets of remains were found. Prosecutors also played a clip from Chandler’s interrogation. During the consensual interview that was more than one hour long, Dane County Sheriff’s Detective Brian Schunk asked Chandler about the blood found around the house. Chandler said he cut his foot on broken glass around the fireplace. He claimed the glass broke when he was playing with the dog. According to his story, his foot bled like he has never seen before. His foot just bled and bled and bled. And then he tracked blood throughout the house, including the kitchen, living room, basement, and upstairs areas. And that foot, that foot that was cut by glass, it just wouldn’t stop bleeding. So Detective Shunk asked him, okay, so you were bleeding all over the place. So can you tell me if there’s any reason that your parents blood might be found throughout house? And Chandler said, oh, yeah, yeah, I can explain that to you. See, my mother gets these bloody noses and my father has psoriasis, and that probably caused his entire body to bleed. He said he used a Swiffer mop and hydrogen peroxide to clean up his own blood. And when investigators asked him about the paper towels that he supposedly used for cleaning, he said, well, I threw him in the trash as you normally would. Shortly after this part of the interview, investigators confronted Chandler, informing him that he was a lying liar, that lies a lot. And that they knew that his parents were dead. The jury was shown an image taken by Detective Shunk of the foot injury, which was described as a small, pea sized cut that wouldn’t even bleed that much. I was wondering if he even had a cut. Now the defense. I can’t wait to see how they try to defend this. Defense attorneys Katherine Doral and Crystal Vera chose not to call any witnesses, and they didn’t even have Chandler testify.

A jury convicted Chandler Halderson on eight charges involving his parents

Their strategy focused on having reasonable doubt by highlighting the lack of direct evidence tying Chandler to the murders themselves. Despite acknowledging that, yeah, he did tell lies, I mean, many lies, and he was involved in the COVID up. But do you have proof that he was actually involved in the murder? You basically, they had nothing. They had nothing. They were just trying to win a case even though they knew he was guilty. In closing arguments, attorney Vera said, quote, chandler did not murder his parents. He is not guilty of those crimes. She argued that there were too many unanswered questions about what happened in the home and the jury couldn’t possibly, quote, know what happened. She questioned the prosecution’s motive, asking why Bart finding out about lies would, quote, matter enough to kill someone. I mean, that’s the question everybody has. Attorney Vera urged the jury to consider reasonable doubt, suggesting that the 12 jurors would likely have, quote, 12 different theories on what happened, which she argued was a, quote, problem. Prosecutor William Brown argued in his closing statements, quote, this is a first degree intentional homicide. You cannot shoot someone in the back, you cannot chop them up, you cannot scatter their remains and come to any other conclusion. And there’s only one person who did those things here, and that is Chandler Halderson. Assistant district attorney Andrea Raymond compared the case to assembling a puzzle, arguing that Chandler, quote, had eight days to spread pieces of that puzzle all over Wisconsin. On January 20, 2022, the jury deliberated for just over two hours. They returned a verdict of finding Chandler on all eight charges. These charges included two counts of first degree intentional homicide, two counts of providing false information on missing persons, two counts of mutilating a, ah, corpse, and two counts of hiding a corpse. Chandler showed no reaction as the verdict was read. Now, a conviction of a first degree intentional homicide in Wisconsin carries a mandatory life sentence. Sentencing took place on Thursday, March 17, 2022, where Judge John Hyland sentenced Chandler to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Finally, Chandler spoke at his sentencing hearing. For the first time during the entire trial, he addressed a court saying, quote, your honor, I want to take this opportunity to state my intent to appeal my convictions. Wow. Continuing with what he said, if there are any lawyers Listening. Oh, wow. The cojones, the brass dangling balls on this dude. Continuing. If there are any lawyers listening and willing to take on my appeal, take a moment to please reach out to me. It’s not like I do not have feelings. It is that I was warned to not show them due to the scrutiny of this case. Thank you. That was the end of the quote. I’m sorry, but that’s complete bullshit. If you were shown crying, what would they take from that? That you felt remorseful or that you missed your parents? If they said guilty and you cried, it could be that you couldn’t believe that you’re guilty of your parents murder. Well, if you don’t show any emotions, that can be misconstrued as well. Just his statement was just, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. No, I’m so sorry, my parents are gone. Or even saying, I’m not guilty or just nothing. Just me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, I. Wow. Victim impact statements were heard. Krista’s cousin Barbie Townsend expressed, expressed disgust at Chandler statement asking, quote, how could you do that to your father? And saying that he couldn’t even say, quote, I’m sorry, which is what I’m saying, like, really? Daniel said that he thought about Bart and Krista almost every day. Mitchell was left living with, quote, unimaginable loss. Mitchell’s fiance spoke about being robbed of her future in laws. A letter from Chandler’s grandmother expressed love for him, uh, despite the horrific acts, and hoped that he would find a trade in prison, believing his parents wouldn’t want him incarcerated for life. Like, are you. I don’t know how to word this because I don’t want to see. I don’t want to seem like I’m coming for the grandmother, but it’s just like, are you babying this guy who’s convicted of murdering his parents? Judge Hyland said that he could not be as forgiving as the grandmother and saw Chandler as a potential future threat. In April 2023, over a year after his conviction, two of Chandler’s convictions were vacated. Judge Hyland discovered a legal issue. In Wisconsin law. The charge of hiding a corpse is a lesser included charge of the crime of mutilating a corpse, meaning a defendant can be convicted of one, but not both for the same act. Oh, wow. Since the jury convicted Chandler, um, on both mutilating charges, the hiding a corpse charge should not have been included on the verdict list. Judge Hyland vacated the two hide in a corpse convictions to avoid being required by law to grant potentially significant post conviction relief, including possibly a new trial. So basically, he did a preemptive strike before Chandler’s lawyers could use that to vacate everything and start a new trial. This change that the judge did did not affect Chandler’s sentence or the possibility of parole, as his sentences were concurrent and the life sentence stands based on the homicide convictions. Chandler’s appeal attorney Michael Colvey had initially filed a, quote, no merit report suggesting that there were no grounds for appeal, but withdrew it after the lesser included issue was raised. He retains the ability to refile this or file a new notice of appeal. Like I said, the judge was on it. A, uh, defense attorney not affiliated with the case, Jessa Nicholson, said that she didn’t expect any appeal of Chandler’s to be successful. Barbie said, you couldn’t write this. It just wasn’t anything that you could possibly come up with in your head. We don’t make sense of it, and that’s the hard part. We don’t have a, uh, why. However, prosecutors maintained that the why was simple. Lies were exposed. Barbie said that if Chandler had simply been honest with his parents, they, quote, would have helped him to get his life back on track. And that is the case of Chandler Halderson, a man who let lies and embarrassment consume him and the thought that his ego was more important than the lives of his parents. Now, my question is, what was his plan after the murder? Like, if he’d gotten away with it, what was the plan? Others would have found out the lies, too, when you weren’t bringing in money. Because who’s going to pay for your mom and dad’s house now? You just going to live there? You think that’s how it works? There’s property tax. Who knows if they paid off the mortgages already. The cars needed to be paid, bills needed to be paid. Like, what was the plan? For real? And then when you didn’t move to Florida, when you couldn’t produce on any of the lies that you’d put out, what were you going to do? Murder everybody? Just stupid. Stupid at the highest levels of stupid.

I hand over the midweek Mini and Florida Man Fridays to Jane, Jessica

What are Yalls thoughts on this? Let me know in the comments below. And also before I go, I do want to take this time to thank y’ all for letting me hand over the midweek Mini and Florida Man Fridays to Gein, Jessica, and Jensen. Like, y’ all don’t even understand how much lighter I feel. I’ve been able to get so much done, and my days just seem so much brighter. So thank you so much for your understanding. As. As always. Y’ all have been understanding with me throughout all these five years, throughout all the changes, me trying to figure out this podcast by myself, y’ all have been so helpful, so understanding, like, I can’t even believe the kind of lambs I have. Y’ all are amazing, and I’m very thankful for each and every one of you.

I want you to let me know if you like the updated AI voices

Now, along with your comments on this case, I want you to let me know if you like the updated versions of the AI voices. Because most of y’ all liked the old voices, some of y’ all had problems with it, so I wanted it to be better, even though it was like, the majority didn’t have a problem with it, but still, you know, I still listen to the minority, so I wanted it to be better. So I want you to know if you like these updated versions of the AI voices, I want to make sure that you’re satisfied. So that is all I have for y’ uh all today. And as we end each full episode, I want to let you know that it’s say it with me now. All, uh, love and no murder, y’ all. Bye, Sat.