20/20 - Road Map to Murder

Episode Date: May 31, 2025

A married couple goes missing over a holiday weekend;  a social media clue leads to a shocking discovery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, I'm Brad Milke. I'm the host of the Crime Scene Weekly, a new show from ABC Audio about the latest headlines in true crime. This week I'm talking about a major development in the Murdoch murder trial, the allegations that a court clerk lied on the stand. Could this mean a retrial for Alec Murdoch? Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts. An all new 2020 starts right now. Sheriff's office to make yourselves known. No, this is no curl space. This is a dark, creepy space.

You got to be ready for anything. Absolutely. The clock was ticking. We needed to find them. The steepest stairs I've ever seen. The Haldersens are gone. They're missing. Well, what do you mean they're missing?

I can't even comprehend what that means. The story is a couple came and picked them up and took them to the cabin. And nobody knew who that couple was. There was a concern that Bart and Krista had been kidnapped by this couple that picked him up early that morning. There were all these questions.

For each answer, you get there are 17 more questions. What's going on in the household? You know, what aren't we discovering? This case really highlighted how social media tracks everything, and that became so crucial. I was like, hey, where you at? Where you at?

Like, you're not responding to me on Snapchat. You've got to get to that cabin. You've got to get to that cabin right now to figure out what happened. My mind goes to, did the worst happen? So what happens next? He kind of had the craziest phone call that I had in my law enforcement career.

He couldn't say much, but I should probably watch the news the next day. Holy s***. I don't really have words for it, to be honest. MUSIC Fourth of July, it's a day when people come together to celebrate our independence and the spirit of America. And that's what you'll see in Madison, Wisconsin. Fourth of July celebrations have been going on all weekend, but of course Americans are going all out today.

The lakes are really core to the identity of Madison. Just being around water, being around nature is really big to a lot of people here. Madison is Wisconsin's gorgeous capital city. Built on a strip of land connecting Lakes Monona and Mendota, generations of families have come here to lay roots. But as residents of a small town just north of here would come to know, secrets, lies, and betrayal don't stop at these shores.

Bart and Krista Holderson lived in a community called Windsor, just north of Madison. Everyone who knew the Holdaldersens loved them. We used to have a horseshoe league. Bart and Krista were on a horseshoe team. We competed against them two, three times a year. And just being neighbors, they were just people that ran into all the time.

Absolutely salt of the earth people were Bart and Krista. Their house always looked good. It was well manicured. It was well mowed. It was always taken care of. There were competitions in the neighborhood about who had the best lawn and who cared the most about their yards.

And Bart cared about his yard. Krista is an administrative assistant for a local auto shop and Bart is an accountant. Bart and Krista, they weren't rich, but they were comfortable. Yeah, they were just regular people trying to do their best. She was the youngest cousin, bright red hair.

She was the baby of the family. Barbie Townsend grew up in Southern California, but would often visit her younger cousin Krista at the family's rustic cabin in northern Wisconsin. Krista was fun, energetic, creative. She just was very exuberant, very outgoing. Happy person, it sounds like. Very happy, yeah.

Loved her a lot in life. I know you got to know Bart a little bit later, but what was he like? I was happy for her that she found her person, and they were a really good team. They complemented each other. Definitely, definitely. You know, he would have his strengths, and she would have her strengths, for her that she found her person. And they were a really good team. They complemented each other. Definitely, definitely.

You know, he would have his strengths and she would have her strengths, but they always were together. Barbie told me that nothing matters more to Krista and Bart than their two sons, Mitchell and Chandler. They poured themselves into their children. They did family nights, game nights. They would cook dinner, barbecue together.

In the spring of 2021, Krista had sent a picture of them all standing together. She was so proud of them. Mitchell had been with his girlfriend at that time about seven years, and Chandler had been with Kat maybe two years on and off. Mitchell the Oldest works in IT, and he lives with his fiancee not far from his parents home. And Chandler, an Eagle Scout, is a young man on the rise. He's working part-time for an insurance company, living at home while finishing his college degree. And that's not all. Chandler had told his family about this great job opportunity he had been given with SpaceX.

He would move to Florida and actually he would bring his girlfriend with him. Everything was going well for everyone. I don't know any family who wouldn't want to be in the situation the Haldersens were in. But in June of 2021, the Haldersens, good fortune, takes a turn. Their eldest son Mitchell was diagnosed with diabetes. And then right after that, their younger son Chandler fell down a flight of stairs at the Haltersons' home. He was taken to the hospital and he was diagnosed with a head injury. In that picture, on Father's Day of 2021, standing next to Bart, he's got the brace on.

His neck was injured and it was going to affect his ability to walk. He might have had a colostomy bag, he couldn't fly, so he couldn't go back to Florida for the job. Like his whole life was going to change because he had this fall. I know once he was in that neck brace, his job situation with SpaceX was kind of pushed on the back burner. It seemed like he would not be able to take the job at SpaceX. He wouldn't be able to help around the house.

He wasn't even able to walk properly. And after that Chandler required help. His mother would assist him going up and downstairs, would bring him meals. Although Krista doted on her sons in their time of need, she rarely missed a day of work. So on Friday morning, July 2nd, when she fails to show up at her job, co-workers are concerned. Krista was one of these people who was always at work, and she always let people know what her plans were. It's a Friday right before the 4th of July holiday,

but she hadn't asked off, she hadn't told anyone she wasn't gonna be there. It was really unusual for her to not show up for work. She'd never done it before. She wasn't answering her phone. The coworker decided to go over to the house and make sure she was okay. When he looked in the garage,

both of the Haldersens' cars were there. The Haldersens aren't here. Their cars are here. Where are the Haldersens? Now, the Haldersens have a family cabin they love to go to on weekends, and initially, there's some speculation that this is where Bart and Krista are,

but none of the neighbors saw them leave. As far as we know, no one saw the Haldersens that day. They told their neighbors when they were going up to the cabin who they were going to be with, where they were going to be. So for there to be so many unknowns about what happened that weekend was a little unusual. And when Krista fails to make a medical appointment on Monday, it really raises red flags.

She was recovering from some skin cancer, and so this was an important appointment for her. Is it like her to just miss that appointment or not tell anybody she wasn't gonna make it? No, Krista's not the person that would just not show up. Everyone who knows her says she wouldn't have missed that appointment. She was planning to be there, and then she wasn't.

And that's when people really start to get concerned, because no one knows where Bart and Krista are. All of a sudden, my wife comes in the bedroom, and she says, the Haldersens are gone. They're missing. My mind went to the bad spot, like, that is not right. It was just kind of disturbing for somebody that I know that well to suddenly be gone. What's going through your mind?

Something's really wrong. I don't know what and why and how, but something's really wrong. The strange disappearance of Barton Christa Holderson is a mystery captivating local rolling now. Including a pair of podcasters. I'm Jill. And I'm Richard. And we do the True Crime Brewery podcast. We're very fascinated with true crime and just love to really figure out what's going

on behind the scenes. Ready. So, you know, we've been talking more and more about these cases. Their podcast, as the name suggests, mixes suds. We pick a beer from the area the crime occurred. With sleuthing. Today we're covering a case from Wisconsin. And have I got a beer for you.

I feel like it brings together the personality of the city where the crime happened. Bart and Krista Halterson, they are just everybody's neighbor, everybody's family member, just working hard, trying to take care of their children, trying to provide the best for their family. Bart and Krista just loved the Fourth of July. You could always catch them at the parade. It was probably their favorite holiday. But that weekend in July 2021, strangely, the couple are nowhere to be found. Bart and Krista had not told anyone that they had a plan to go away for Fourth of July weekend.

There's no explanation for the coming as to why they're not there. So the only time people heard from Bart and Krista over the 4th of July weekend was when Krista texted Chandler on July 4th. The text to her son Chandler says they arrived at the family cabin three hours north. It read, made it safely. Love you lots. Their friends learned that she had reached out to him, which made sense. She was a mom who talked to her kids all the time. This is where we hung out and collected rocks and played games. So this is early on.

This is my dad. And that's the cabin in the background. And that's Krista right there. This is Krista. I can always tell Krista by that shock of red hair. Shock? I mean fiery red hair. Yeah.

And she was the youngest. The cabin has been in Barbie and Krista's family since the 1940s, when it was built by their grandfather. That was like the heart and soul of our extended family. The cabin was our way to get back together and be together. There was no phone, no indoor plumbing, very rustic. Sounds like this was a place where you and Krista really bonded.

The cabin was where we would reunite. Chandler had told family members he knew his parents were going to the cabin for the weekend, but he was expecting them home by Tuesday the 6th. Now Tuesday's come and gone, and the couple seems to have vanished. How did you learn that Bart and Krista were missing? I got an email from my cousin that said, please pray Bart and Krista are missing. And I remember thinking, what do you mean they're missing?

I don't, I can't even comprehend what that means. And so we started calling cousins, you know, like, what's happening? On July 7th, six days after Bart and Krista were last seen, Chandler heads to the Dane County Sheriff's Office to report his parents missing. Chandler says, I haven't seen my parents. We need to start looking for them.

Detective Sabrina Sims and Brian Schunk will lead the investigation, and they meet with Chandler later that day at the Halterson home in Windsor. At that point, you're here just trying to figure out what happened. Yeah, just to ask more follow-up questions and trying to get the timeline of events. His parents left around 5 a.m., basically left without a pee.

From everything that you knew about Bart and Krista, was that the kind of thing they'd do? No, we were learning from friends and family that that's completely out of character for them to not tell people where they were going. Chandler tells detectives that his parents planned to fix a water pump and a fire pit up at the cabin and that both were damaged in a recent storm.

So he says he helped them pack supplies, including a pipe wrench, a hatchet, and gas cans for a chainsaw. He also said that they brought alcohol and cash with them. He mentioned they were maybe going to a casino to go gambling. We learned that it's out of character for them to go gambling and that the Haldersens, especially Bart, was pretty frugal with his money. When investigators inspect the Halderson home, they see both Bart and Krista's cars are still in the garage. Both their cars are still there.

What's going on with that? Chandler says, well, they went with this other couple. I don't know who they are, but they took the other couple's car. Chandler tells detectives that his parents left in an unknown vehicle. And when detectives review neighbors' home security cameras, they spot a white van driving down the Holderson Street in the early morning hours on Friday, July 2.

Could this van be the vehicle driven by that mystery couple? We were looking for a van. It was an unknown vehicle, and then we saw it on surveillance camera. Hoping he might know who the couple is, investigators speak to Chandler's older brother, Mitchell, who lives close by. But he says as far as he knows,

none of his parents' friends went with them to the cabin. Nobody knew who that couple was. No phone numbers, no names, nothing. I mean, for them to drive up to the cabin with somebody that nobody even knew who they were, that was very odd. Where's the other couple? That was the other thing. Where's the other couple?

Because no one's heard from them, whoever they are. They're gone. Their cars are here. What are you thinking? I think at that point we decided we needed to send a team up to the cabin. You've got to get to that cabin right now to figure out what happened. I have to imagine your mind starts going to terrible places. Yeah, your mind starts thinking all kinds of things.

your mind starts going to terrible places. Yeah, your mind starts thinking all kinds of things. And when investigators finally reach the cabin in the woods, Sheriff's office, make yourselves known. what or who will be lurking in the shadows? Hospital crawl space. Holy s***. I'm Bill Callender. I'm a member of the Wolf River Fire Department and Rescue in Langley County, Northeast Wisconsin. With all the recreation we've got here, we've got a big area.

People do get turned around, they go missing, and then that's usually when we get called out. The Wolf River area is really a nice area, fairly lightly populated, but we've got a lot of great recreation. We've got the Wolf River, you know, very popular fishing stream. Lots of recreational opportunities. We've got the rapids on the river go up to class three.

You know, we've got heavily wooded area. Much of our township is in the Schwabmegen Nicolet National Forest. And Wolf River is the area where Bart and Krista Halterson had their family cabin and where they were supposed to spend the Fourth of July weekend. It's a beautiful place, but it can be a dangerous place. Like anywhere that's completely natural and completely wild. There are pitfalls to that. A river can easily become someplace

you drown. The woods can easily become someplace you're lost. And so it's not unheard of for people to go missing in this area. Back in July of 21, our chief got a call from one of the Langley County deputies and said that we may be needed. Cell service isn't fantastic out here either. Weather always seems to change, but crime never does. Hi there. I'm Detective Sergeant Grohls of Langley County.

On July 8th, I received a call to assist the Dane County Sheriff's Office with a search of the Holdterson cabin. As an investigator, I was assigned a body camera, which was activated when we arrived at the property. What's your relation? You're their son. You're their son, okay. So this footage we're looking at here, it's recorded by your body camera? That's correct.

Okay. And who are you speaking to here? This was Mitchell Halterson and his fiance. One week after his parents mysteriously vanished, Mitchell tells investigators that he's so concerned about his parents' well-being that he and his fiance make the three-hour drive north to the cabin. They seemed concerned and also as perplexed as we were about Barton Christoph Holderson's whereabouts.

Maybe we could just take a walk around and see. So at that point, we took a walk around the exterior of the property. We noticed that the grass and the weeds had not been kept up. In some places, it was waste or even chest high. Did it look like the cabin had been in use? It certainly didn't look like it had been used any time recently.

They start walking around. And everything's still locked up. The grass is really tall. What first struck me when they were walking, I was like, that's our cabin. That's our family cabin. Was there a sense of urgency at this point? With the information we had and things not really making sense,

our possibilities were dwindling. I was starting to just wonder what we were going to find next. I was worried they were going to be inside. That's what I thought. Something went horribly wrong. Yeah, that was very disturbing. Sheriff's office, anybody inside? There was a concern that Barton Christa had been kidnapped

by this couple that picked him up early that morning and something had been done to them by them. Now it's your presence, make yourselves known. I think the police were very concerned that they were going to find two dead people there. But once inside, despite everyone's worst fears, the cabin appears empty to police. It was dark, so you could tell nobody

had been there for a while. Every single indication shows that this cabin has been empty. The steepest stairs I've ever seen. As Detective Grohns makes his way through the cabin, he spots a door to the cellar. So right about here, you draw your gun. Why? Whenever we go into an unknown space,

that's something that we would do just in our own safety. So for an outsider, this is like a, this is a dark, creepy space. You got to be ready for anything. Absolutely. Or some crawlspace. Holy s***. But nothing there either. Nobody inside and nothing looks like it's disturbed. You gotta be ready for anything. Absolutely. We're still in crawlspace. Holy sh- But nothing there either.

Nobody inside and nothing looks like it's disturbed. So after searching the cabin, investigators make their way down to the lake to check on the shed. There's all these out buildings, boathouses and sheds, and all these little tiny buildings that could offer places for people to be.

My thought was that Krista was being held in one of those. That's what I thought. Was there any concern that they might have been held captive in a place like this or been held against their will? With the padlocks on the outside, it is something that we definitely considered. They break the padlock on the boathouse, but Bart and Krista are nowhere to be found. I don't know a ton of details about everything that's going on.

You're filming Mitchell. What are you hearing from him at this point? Mitchell seemed concerned and I feel as we went further into the search and we weren't finding any signs of Bart and Krista, his concern became more and more greater as the search of the property continued. He said his brother texted him that they did make it safely. Out of like reading back through stuff they just said we're going up north. So at this point for you is this a this is a mystery right? This is definitely a mystery. We don't know who Barton Christa are believed to be with. There are no signs of Barton Krista being at this property.

Do you know if they have any friends? Like they might have gone to their cabin in the area? I have to say they came up to someone else's cabin, but I don't know. Really nowhere for us to even suggest looking next at this point. We didn't have anywhere to go. We didn't have a name. We didn't have a vehicle. We didn't have a location. Truly looking for a needle in a 900 square mile haystack. And then the question is, okay, if they're not at the cabin, where are they? There were no bodies. There was no anything. So we didn't know

what happened. But of course, your mind goes to did the worst happen? Are Bart and Krista still alive? As investigators and volunteers prepare to scour the county in search of the missing couple, news is spreading about Bart and Krista's disappearance. We have team coverage on these breaking developments. Bart Holderson and his wife Krista have not been seen since July 1st.

What happens next? Had the craziest phone call that I had in my law enforcement career. He said that our services were really no longer needed at that point and then said that he couldn't say much, but I should probably watch the news the next day. The authorities are still searching for a Windsor couple who have not been seen in days. My wife is pretty shook up too. I mean they're very nice couple, very nice family. It's been a week since Bart and Krista Halterson were last seen. And while Mitchell Halterson is up at the family cabin searching for his parents, his younger brother Chandler

is back home in Windsor, canvassing the neighborhood. He's seen on the neighbor's home security camera footage obtained by investigators. What are you seeing on the home security footage later? Chandler was going around to neighbors. He would see that they had ring cameras or some type of security cameras on the outside of their homes. So he was going in and asking them, you know,

if they had reviewed the video footage. Remember, one of those neighbors' home security cameras captured this mysterious white van, but it led investigators to a dead end. And yet Chandler presses on. Chandler is recorded on one ring camera asking a neighbor about their security system. I hope that anyone would have security cameras

and stuff like that. We do. He's going from neighbor to neighbor asking them, hey, this camera, I see it. Does it point at the road? Does it see our driveway? What does this see? Take care of things.

Bye. Chandler approaches another neighbor's house and waves to the camera. My name is Chandler Holderson. I live just down the road. Oh, yes. And there's one house where they have more of a professional surveillance system on the home.

So he speaks to the woman there. If you were able to capture the road or my house. They discuss camera angles and whether their camera has night vision. He discovers that one is a wide-angled camera. He looks to see what part of the street that would cover. Yeah, do they capture anything on?

We don't know. You can see he's really sleuthing, trying to uncover whatever evidence these neighbors may have. He was asking questions such as, can you see the road? Can you see vehicles drive by? He's out trying to figure out if anything was seen on the outside of his home at that point, you know, from when his parents went missing.

He asks, could there be any footage of my parents being driven away early in the morning on the second? Do there be any footage of my parents being driven away early in the morning on the 2nd? Do you have any footage? It would be maybe helpful to the investigation to see what kind of car picked them up, of course. One household actually told him that police had already collected the video. The police actually came in and downloaded everything they have. So they were here, I think, for like 9 o'clock last night and downloaded all the videos she's got.

Chandler walks up to yet another neighbor's house and rings their bell. The neighbor, a retired detective with the Madison Police Department, tells Chandler to meet him in the garage so that they can talk. The neighbor says he had a gut feeling that he should record the conversation, which he would later turn over to police. Sorry about what's going on. What it is, but I was wondering if your door camera, you said the door. You do have it right now.

Does it pick up the road? Some, yes, some it does. Would you have any notifications from Friday morning, early, before 6.15? We can check. That's not a problem. Chandler's quest doesn't end there. Bart and Krista Halderson of Windsor had plans for the fourth.

He heads to WKOW, an ABC news station in Madison, which has been broadcasting Bart and Krista's photo. At this point, Chandler, he talks to reporters. But Chandler says he's reticent to go on camera, saying he fears retaliation from whoever may have taken his parents. He thinks people might be targeting him. He says, is someone out to get my family?

I don't want to be on camera, but I want people to hear from me. I want people to know I'm looking for my parents. And so he does an interview with a reporter from our station. Their son, Chandler Holderson, who asked to be off camera, says whoever his parents were traveling with from this neighborhood were to do the driving.

He says he received a text from his mother. She got back to me. They made it safely. Their plans were going up with their friends and do some minor repairs on our cabin. Did you literally see them pulling out of the driveway heading out? No. With the town now buzzing about the missing couple, Chandler's back at home and he notices a different kind of activity outside his window. Chandler

sees this uptick in police activity outside his house so he calls Detective Shunk to find out what's happening. That phone call was recorded. He was asking if everything was okay. He was asking why there were so many police in his neighborhood. I'm a little confused. I got two squads parked right outside my house. Is everything all right?

And I had to explain to them, you know, we were canvassing the neighborhood. Yeah, well, they're probably doing reports. Any news on your end at all? Have you gotten any phone calls, text messages? Well, I'll keep you posted if I hear anything. Yeah. Yeah. Later that night, Chandler comes voluntarily into the Dane County Sheriff's Office.

You need a little help? A little help. Yep. Where investigators bring him into this room and seat him in this chair. So if you just want to have a seat right there, perfect. Thank you so much. This?

Um, sure. That's fine. He's wearing a baseball cap, a sweatshirt, and a furrowed brow. Just so you know, I'm going to record stuff, OK? In that police interview, Chandler talks about the last meal he had with his parents on July 1st, right before they left for the cabin.

That's where they told me while we were eating it they were going to go with their friends. And I was like, oh cool. And they said they were going to the cabin. We were going up north. Chandler says that by the next morning, his parents had left never to be heard from again, except for that one reassuring text from his mother. Nothing else. Yeah. So that's... that's fishy to me. But investigators are skeptical, too, and here's why. They know something Chandler doesn't.

I can't tell you what we know, but we know you're not telling us the truth. Okay. Okay. We got one water under. Investigators have asked Chandler Holderson to come in for an interview, and they've also asked for his girlfriend, Kat Malender, to come in as well. Both agree to come in voluntarily, and they're in separate rooms while police act on a new tip that's come to their attention. A farmer in Cottage Grove, a town about 20 miles away

from the Holderson home in Windsor, reports a suspicious sighting earlier in the week. That's when they find something that really changes this entire investigation. One of the residents at the farm said that Chandler had come over to the house on July 5th with a vehicle and backed it up against some wooded property and saw him walking from the wooded area and found that to be unusual.

You start searching the farm, you notice something overhead. What was that? One of the detectives noticed what he believed to be turkey vultures flying around over the wooded portion. What is a turkey vulture?

Turkey vultures are large birds that feed off typically dead animals, they're scavengers. What does that trigger in your mind? He said that from his past professional experience, it kind of indicates that, you know, there's something dead in the area. And was this in the area or a similar area where Chandler's car had been parked? Yes. So the detective ended up walking the path that he believed that Chandler was on. They start to look a little bit closer.

They go into the woods and then they see a pile that doesn't look normal. There amidst the matted grass investigators discover what appears to be the torso of an unidentified male body. It was determined that the individual was shot dismembered after they were killed. Hidden inside an oil drum near the body investigators find a pair of scissors, a saw blade and bolt cutters. But even with this grisly discovery, investigators will have to wait for the medical examiner

to confirm that it is indeed Bart Holderson. I mean, things at that point really changed for everybody in the case. So right there at that moment, this goes from a missing persons case to a homicide. Yes. But here's what else has investigators intrigued. So right there at that moment, this goes from a missing person's case to a homicide. Yes. But here's what else has investigators intrigued.

That farm has a link to someone very close to the Holdersons. So the farm in Cottage Grove, it's Chandler's girlfriend's family. They're there over Fourth of July weekend. They're celebrating. While you have Chandler, you have Cat in another room. Oh, there's a Pooh Bear? All right, you can play with it if you want to. Cat draws a smiley face on a sequined pillow and clutches a Winnie the Pooh Bear. A detective offers Cat a cookie to help put her at ease.

I can't eat well when I'm nervous, so... Okay. A nibble of the cookie, baby steps. There's no chocolate in there. Yeah. Test the water to make sure the police aren't trying to poison me. No, we're not. So tell me about what's happening here. We just wanted to hear her side of the story as she's the one that was closest to Chandler.

Talking to Kat Melinder, investigators find out that Chandler visited the farm on the 4th of July with her, but the next day he returns to the farm alone, unannounced. No one really knew he was coming. he came there alone. Chandler went to the farm because my mom's fiance lets him walk in the pool because it helps stretch out his legs, make him feel better. Except he wasn't using the pool. Kat's mom and her fiance say they saw his car parked on the property, but no sign of Chandler until...

When they're in the pool, they look up, and they see Chandler now walking. He doesn't have his shirt on. He comes to the pool, says, hey, can I get in the pool, too? He was supposed to be there swimming in the family pool because he needed to swim for some therapy he needed to do. He was not swimming. She saw him coming from the wooded area

and found that to be unusual. Oh, okay. So what struck her is while he was supposed to maybe be there to swim for his therapy, he was not swimming. Correct. What I find interesting is you ask her, would anybody want to harm the Haldersons?

Any friends or relatives that they've been having problems with that you can think of? No. No. I just can't see someone killing them. Like, that's the thing. Like... Like, I thought, like, maybe they got into a car accident,

like, maybe their car's on the side of the road, like... I even thought, like, maybe that happened and someone took them to the hospital and they're just Jane and John Doe. Like... If someone killed them, it would have to be someone they, like, didn't know. She seems generally like, are you kidding me? No. Not them. Not them. What do you make of that? What do you make of her response to whether or not somebody would want to harm them?

I think that she's telling an accurate story there. Talking to friends and family members. No one would want to hurt the heldersons. Did you get the sense that she thought that Chandler had anything to do with this? You don't think he had anything to do with his mom and dad being... unheard from? No. I just, no. No.

All my friends I've talked to, they're like, no, not Chandler, no. Okay. Like... that'd be crazy. I just don't see him killing Mr. and Mrs. Holderson. Like, he had SpaceX. Like, why would he jeopardize something he, like, would dream of? I don't think she thought he had anything to do with it.

Not even suspicions, not even maybe. Just nothing to do with it. Couldn't be Chandler. Now remember detectives in that interview room haven't told Chandler about any of these discoveries they've made, but that's about to change. How does him not knowing about that human torso affect the way you interview him, the way you talk to him? Hey Chandler, how are you doing? So the way we wanted to interview him initially was for to have him lay out the story of what he was telling us from the first night.

So I think it's time we start talking about what happened to your parents. Like the truthful version. So at that point, after we let him tell his entire story, we confront him and say that we know more than what he believes. We told him to come clean, basically not using those words, and we told him to tell us the truth. Listen to me. This is the only chance you're going to have to tell us the truth. Listen to me, this is the only chance you're gonna have to tell us the truth, okay?

That's when investigators lower the boom on Chandler. This is your chance to tell us why, okay? I'm not BSing you, okay? So can we do that? Now it's time for the really hard questions. There's still another half of this couple that's missing. If this turns out to be Bart's body, where is Krista Halderson?

So your mind starts thinking, well, what about Krista? You know, where is she? What happened to her? No one's seen Krista. No one knows where Krista is. But they also haven't found a body. So the question is, is Krista still alive? If she is, where is she?

And this all leads some to be asking, is Chandler covering up for his mom? Could she have had something to do with Bart's disappearance? This wasn't a normal disappearance. This wasn't a normal homicide. Every new detail made the case stranger. The human remains found Thursday are connected to the missing couple, Bart Halterson and Krista Halterson.

You have search teams up there. You have dogs. So now, where is Krista? Could it be that she was also involved in Bart's murder? Is she going to be held hostage? Is she being tortured? Time is of the essence. You have to find Krista.

Yes. This second time with the search warrant, we have crime scene investigators that are in the home going through everything. We're in the basement. What did you find down here? Down here, we found traces of blood on both sides of the basement.

I don't really have words for it, to be honest. I just don't know how somebody could do that to somebody else. Cameras all around. They know that part went into that home and never came out. Everything seems so evil, chilling, unbelievable. I don't believe it. It's July 8th in Madison, Wisconsin. It's been a week since Bart and Krista Halterson were last seen. It can really feel warm there in the summer, even when you're not under the microscopic lens of the police.

What's going on? Bart and Christa Halderson's youngest son Chandler is being interviewed by police. But he hasn't yet been charged in their disappearance. Now police are playing coy with him. They haven't yet revealed the discovery of a body at that farm in Cottage Grove. Listen, I can't tell you what we know, but we know you're not telling this to sure. We know your parents are no longer with us. Okay?

And we know the reason why. So far, nothing Chandler's told police has panned out. He told them and everyone else his parents went up to the cabin for the 4th of July weekend with some other couple. And nobody knows who they are. A search of the cabin clearly showed no one recently had been there. You need to tell the truth about what happened and just tell us why it happened. Okay?

If something happened, if you were defending yourself or if you just had to fed up with stuff, you need to tell us the truth. Okay? This is your chance to tell us why. Okay? I'm not BSing you. Okay? So can we do that?

Okay. They're okay. I'm a lawyer. I'm we do that? OK. They're OK. Lawyer. I'm sorry. Say it again, Chandler. Lawyer. OK. Chandler asking for a lawyer effectively ends the interview on the spot.

Tell me what you're taking from all this as trained investigators who have to question people like this. The first thing that really stood out in my mind is when Detective Henderson told Chandler that his parents are no longer with us. We know your parents are no longer with us. Okay, and we know the reason why. There wasn't the huge shock reaction that I believe most people would display. At this point, Chandler's not charged with murder, but he is charged with something else.

Tell me about that. Yeah, Chandler was charged with providing false information in a missing persons case. He was telling us that his parents had gone to a cabin up north, when in all reality we found that his parents didn't go anywhere at all. Their son Chandler was arrested Thursday for allegedly providing false information to investigators. Four days after Chandler's arrest, the autopsy results on the remains found at the farm come back. The Dane County Medical Examiner confirms the human remains found last Thursday are those of 50-year-old Bart Holderson.

A preliminary autopsy indicates he was murdered. It was determined that the individual was shot, dismembered after they were killed, and was positively identified as Bart Holderson. Okay, so what did you think when you got those results back? It confirmed our suspicions of who it was, but now we had more evidence that we could charge Chandler with the homicide. When I found out that Bart was dead, it was anger.

It was, wow, this is real life. And there was just this big void of Bart being gone and, where is Krista Elderson? So now where is Krista? Could it be that she was also involved in Bart's murder? There were a few people that I communicated with, well maybe Krista's involved. One theory was this an incident where Krista killed her husband, but her son lives with them, and he loves his mom. Was he covering for her?

Was she responsible? There were all these questions. Again, it was one of those things. One layer gets pulled back, you get one answer, but for each answer you get, there are 17 more questions. You're asking the question of where's Krista? There was some talk in the community about, perhaps maybe in some way,

once the murder charges are out there, Krista had some sort of involvement in what happened with Bart. Did you pursue that theory? No, I mean, we did not believe that she would have anything to do with it. Of course, as time is going on and days are passing, we're learning more information

about their whereabouts. We had surveillance video we were reviewing, trying to get a timeline from July 1st to July 7th. And so what we were learning did not suggest that Krista had any involvement at all. Because I knew Krista and I knew her personality. I knew Christa was not involved. It seemed like something you read about not happening to our family. Somebody else you read about that, something happening somewhere else to somebody else, and that was happening to our family. What are you thinking there? We had this tiny little hope that she was alive somewhere. Authorities are holding out hope to and ask the public for

help to somehow find Krista alive. We are optimistic in regards to her whereabouts and where she was at we will let the evidence of this investigation tell us. Perhaps the most troubling question authorities are left with, why? This was a loving family. Why would Chandler or anyone else for that matter want either of the Haldersens dead? It didn't seem to add up. I was starting to have that like sinking feeling in my stomach like something went wrong in the family. I don't know what.

Facing at least one murder charge, Chandler is lawyered up and not talking. But someone very close to him is. She had her cell phone back and had found something in her cell phone that she wanted to provide to us. It's from Snapchat. I don't know if you used that. And you know how Snapchat messages disappear?

One of Chandler's didn't. The man accused of killing his father. He's now being held in jail on a tentative charge of first degree intentional homicide, hiding a corpse and mutilating a corpse. Sheriff's personnel tonight remain at the Holderson home in Windsor. Investigators are leaving no stone unturned in the search for Krista Holderson. But with Chandler now in custody, hope is fading fast. Every minute that passes becomes more crucial. And there was just this big void of Bart being gone

and no idea where Krista was. I'm hoping she's alive. A big question remained in our mind. Where is Krista the helderson? But things are about to take a dramatic turn. When police first spoke to Chandler's girlfriend, Kat Melander, she voluntarily gave them her cell phone. And on it, they found a vital clue to their investigation. By the time Kat comes in for a second interview,

both she and police realize how important it can be. Susan, do you want to tell us right away? She comes to the realization that she didn't tell us everything and that she had something on her phone that could be helpful and valuable to finding the Hollersons. And it wasn't something that she intentionally withheld from us. Tell me what you find on Kat's cell phone. During the review of Kat's cell phone, we found numerous clues and treasures that I don't even know she knew she had. We found all of their message history and we also found a screenshot of a snapshot location

that she had had. That screenshot saved on Kat's phone shows Chandler's avatar labeled hubby on the banks of the Wisconsin River. Snapchat is a social media app specifically designed to share photos that disappear. Once you open a message you only have a few seconds to take a screenshot before that picture is gone for good. In 2017 Snapchat Snapchat added the feature Snap Map, which also lets you share your location with friends in real time. And why did she have him on Snapchat in the first place?

They had a time in their relationship where he had cheated on her. She had his location services on for Snapchat. It was an agreement they had. She wanted to be able to know his whereabouts. With her lawyer present and her cell phone in hand, she voluntarily talks police through what she now realizes could be critical evidence, a technological smoking gun.

It's from Snapchat. I don't know if you use that, but that's him by the Wisconsin River off of Golf Road. Okay. And that's 8.58 in the morning. And then my phone always tells me what day it is. It was July 3rd, 8.58 a.m. The continued presence of sheriff's personnel at the Halterson home has become almost background for this neighborhood here. Krista Holderson remains missing. With the case in the news, Kat and her lawyer decide this information

could be useful to police and to Kat. Right before Kat goes back for that second interview, we're getting updates from law enforcement, and one of those comes in the form of a press briefing, and a reporter asks, is the girlfriend a suspect? And the sheriff didn't answer. And that freaked Kat out.

Is there any way you guys can change the narrative to indicate that she's not, the girlfriend's not a suspect and that she's not somehow somebody you suspect? How early did you clear Kat Melander? Pretty early on, once we started looking at her phone and finding out other information about Chandler. But there were, you know, different investigators in the command post that had different theories. But there were different investigators in the command posts that had different theories.

Was she in the circle? Was she out of the circle? And we just had to do our job and let the evidence lead us to the conclusion and she was not involved whatsoever. Law enforcement was very clear. They don't think Kat had anything to do with these murders. Why do you think she was so eager

to offer all this information? I think because she wanted to clear herself. Why did she do a screenshot of a snap map on Chandler at that time? She had left Chandler's house that morning on Saturday, and he was supposed to go to do some chores. And then she later looked at his location and saw that he was up by the Wisconsin River.

She goes, this is where he was, middle of the morning on Saturday, after his parents went missing. He told me he was going to be doing chores at his house and then he wasn't answering and I checked Snapchat and he's in this random area, right along a river. She didn't know why he was there, so she started questioning him about his location and what he was doing there. I was like, hey, where you at, where you at? Like, you're not responding to me on Snapchat. And like, we ended up calling and he just said like he was in a dead zone. Kat knows this area. It's a swimming hole. She's been with Chandler.

They'd been that summer. Have you been to that spot? Do you know? I don't know if it's that specific spot, but we used to swim on those, on Sim River. OK. And, like, it's one of the spots we would just go to. And, like, I've only been there, like, maybe three times.

OK. But he's gone swimming there a couple times. In fact, other friends told police that was Chandler's favorite swimming spot. A year earlier, an ex-girlfriend receives this picture, which she gave to police, of Chandler in that area, posing with a tree and a knife in his hand. This case really highlighted how social media tracks everything. And that became so crucial in this case. But as enlightening as this Snapchat evidence is, a treasure trove of text messages between

Kat and Chandler is even more intriguing. Investigators zero in on a couple of erratic texts from Chandler, the morning Bart and Krista vanish, which sound ominous. I don't know. Stuff hasn't really been going well for me lately, so I'm trying to plan for the next thing to expletive me over. Yeah, I just had a great future planned,

and it's falling apart. Kat replies, no, it's not. You're going to be OK. With suspicions of Chandler now high as ever, investigators obtain a search warrant and go back to the Holderson home. They go back to the nexus of this case, the Holderson's home in Windsor.

Investigators start walking through, and they find a lot in that house, a lot that tells us what happened. The Dane County Sheriff's Office now considers this to be a homicide investigation. That's because they found the remains of Bart Holderson late last week in a rural area of the town of Cottage Grove. On July 11th, a judge authorizes a search warrant week in a rural area of the town of Cottage Grove. On July 11th, a judge authorizes a search warrant of the Holderson home in Windsor.

It's where they were living with Chandler. It was the last place we know Bart and Krista were. It's when investigators start walking through. Investigators are familiar with the home as they'd been there just a few days earlier. To step back a little bit, this isn't the first time you've been to the house, right? Right. Okay, so what did you do the first time when you were in the house? What did you find? When we were in the house the first night on July 7th, Chandler did walk us around after we interviewed him

and showed us what he wanted us to see around the home. As the investigators entered the den on that initial search, they noticed the fireplace looked not quite right. It has a glass front, four glass panels, or there's supposed to be four, but one of them is missing. There was a glass panel that was broken out

in the fireplace, and he had disclosed that to deputies and to us the first night we were in there and explained it that he was playing ball with one of the dogs, and the dogs broke the glass fireplace. And so that was his story. Dog broke a panel. There was broken glass everywhere. I was cleaning it up.

I cut my foot. I got some blood everywhere. Chandler's saying there's broken glass, and there was a lot of blood. But it's not related at all to this case. It was my dogs. And when they look at his foot, they realize it's not a huge cut.

He didn't slash the bottom of his foot open. Looks kind of more like a pinprick, not necessarily something that seems like it would come from glass being all over the floor. I found his blood, but did that line up with what he said about cutting his foot? And that's why that blood was there? Or was it that you might have gotten a sense that it was something different? It could mean that Chandler had cut his toe near the fireplace, but it wouldn't explain why Bart and Krista's blood would be in the same area. And on that second search of the home, luminol testing would reveal traces of blood belonging to Barton Krista Holderson in the living room, leading investigators to believe they've both

been murdered. But as they continue their search, they find more ominous evidence. During the search warrant, we did find two cell phones and Barton Christa's driver's licenses wrapped in tin foil and a shoe in the garage. What does that tell you? That told us that Barton Christa didn't go anywhere. And how does that poke holes in what Chandler told you? Chandler had told us that he was messaging back and forth

with his mother Christa on Sunday, and that Krista was messaging him that they made it, that they were going to be watching the fireworks and the parade. We found that that was not true. How could she be texting him if her phone is sitting right there wrapped up in aluminum foil? Yes. The phone proved that Bart and Krista never left their house. They never went to the cabin.

The only other person who was home was Chandler. Do you have any sense of why they were wrapped in a aluminum foil? I think Chandler thought that would protect them from cell phone towers. Detectives also did an extensive search of Chandler Halderston's bedroom, resembling something like an armory. So in Chandler's bedroom, we actually located a case

of approximately 480 SKS rifle rounds. So we're in the basement now. What did you find down here? Down here, we found traces of blood on both sides of the basement. We had the shell casing that we had located over here. There was some other blood evidence on different items down here. Okay, so you have the blood, the shell casing.

Did this tell you, along with the other evidence, where Bart and Krysta were killed? It did, yeah. They were killed down here. So you had the shell casings, you had the ammo, but you didn't have the murder weapon. Where was that recovered? The rifle was recovered at the farm in Cottage Grove. The weapon was found hidden in a barn

on the farm's property. No one had any idea it was there. Chandler really liked first-person shooter video games. And in those games, you can choose what weapon you use. And he liked to try a variety, you know, he wasn't a single gun type person, but he liked the SKS rifle in those video games. He used it a lot.

Now you have a link between the shell casings and the ammo in this gun at the farm. Yes. The picture that we were seeing at that point is that Chandler had murdered Barton Chris Ellerson in the home and went through extensive work to dispose of their bodies. What was the reason for it? All in all, they were a loving family from what we were told by everybody. Those questions, prosecutors promise,

are about to be answered. The lawyers will now make opening statements. I started an organization called the Elite Lady Bull Riders. To give women a space in bull riding. Thursdays at 10. Do you want to be a pro rider? That's what you're working towards. It's risky, but I can't stop. Everything is riding.

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Everybody out. This Memorial Day, the summer starts with Stitch. An adorable little psychopath. Stitch is back, all right. Disney's Lilo and Stitch, rated PG. Parental guidance suggested. Now playing only in theaters. Got a GPS on the phone. It's from Snapchat. I don't know if you use that but that's too good of that spot. I don't know if it's that specific spot but we used to swim on the Wisconsin

River. Investigators already have the snap map from Chandler Holderson's girlfriend placing them at the Wisconsin River. But it's a second tip of a random sighting that piques their interest. We had sent a detective up to the Wisconsin River area. One of the neighbors happened to come over to that detective and tell him that she had seen a stranger suspect male in that area the week prior.

We arranged for a larger team of detectives to go up to the area and we wanted to do a land search of that property. They go where Chandler was. It's a dense, vegetative area, wild state land in between, you know, a road and the river. You have search teams up there, you have dogs. What's going through your mind? We were hopeful that we would find something. Time is the essence.

You have to find Krista. Yes. As they're walking around, some of the people searching start to smell something. And then they walk a little bit further and they see something. What did you find at that location? In close proximity to each other, there were dismembered body parts. The Dane County Medical Examiner's Office, working in partnership with the Wisconsin State Crime Lab, has confirmed the DNA obtained from part of the dismembered human remains as matching 53-year-old Krista Alderson.

I was just angered. I was shocked. I felt sick to my stomach. I mean, these are honest to goodness friends. It's just so graphic. I don't really have words for it, to be honest. I see you thinking about it and it's kind of, it almost brings about some emotion in you. For sure. I just don't know how somebody could do that to somebody else, especially if it's their parents, right? We go to homicides all the time. We go to murders all the time. And a lot of that stuff is in the heat of the moment. This is just a whole other level of emotion. The location where Krista's remains are found seems familiar to at least one detective.

And then it clicks when he sees a unique tree trunk, the same one in that photograph given to police by Chandler's ex, showing Chandler near his favorite swimming spot. Chandler Holderson is now officially charged in the death of both of his parents. Chandler Holderson pleads not guilty to all the charges. Everything seems so evil and chilling and unbelievable. It was just incomprehensible. Why would anybody do that? Did he not like them?

Was there something else that we didn't know that was going on? I just personally could not think of a reason why this wonderful kid did something so dastardly. From what we were told by everybody all in all they were a loving family what was the reason for it. And just a couple of months later prosecutors set out to answer those questions as Chandler goes to trial. The city of Madison Wisconsin rings in the new year with confetti, cocktails and a double murder trial. Prosecutors set out to prove Chandler killed Barton Christa Halterson.

And a big part of their strategy is to prove their theory as to why. Juries always want to understand why someone would commit a murder. Why would you kill your parents? And if prosecutors don't explain it, it's kind of a hole in their case. The lawyers will now make opening statements. Attorney Brown.

Thank you. Chandler Halvorson murdered his parents, dismembered their bodies, and hid them around southern Wisconsin. How does this happen? How does this kid, with everything in the world going for him, promising new jobs, school,

a girlfriend that loves him, willing to move across the country for him, how does this happen? The jury hears about Chandler Halterson's IT degree, studies in renewable energy, a dream job at SpaceX, and a new life with his girlfriend in Florida. He was about to embark on a career that people in the IT field could only dream of.

But they also hear about what prosecutors say was a concoction, a total fabrication of the events leading up to Barton Christa's disappearance. He gives this bizarre story of his parents leaving in an unknown car, going to a cabin with an unknown couple with an unknown amount of money for really an unknown reason. Attorney Dorrell. The defense should be demonstrating why they say there's reasonable doubt in this case. Why maybe he didn't do it. Chandler Holderson did not murder his parents.

He is not guilty of those crimes. And he lived peacefully in his parents' home. He was just a normal kid. The defense comes out at the beginning, opening statements, and admits their client is a liar. Chandler Holderson is a liar. But they say that doesn't make him a killer. When someone is on trial for a very, the most serious crime possible,

and every little thing they do every little lie they might have told is blown up and thrown against someone that's when proof beyond a reasonable doubt. And that's actually an excellent strategy because you want to let the jury know from the beginning all of the bad facts about your case. And as prosecutors begin to call witnesses, there's one who

has a haunting story. My name is Omar Joe, or Mar Joe be about a phone call he received just before the murders, a conversation not only revealing. on it. For the team ready to conquer the grandest stage, immortality awaits. Moments of sweat and sacrifice towards the composition of champions.

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The all new season of Nine Perfect Strangers is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu and Disney+. New episodes Wednesdays. of Nine Perfect Strangers is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu and Disney Plus. New episodes Wednesdays. The trial continues for Chandler Holderson, who's accused of killing and dismembering his parents, Bart and Krista Holderson.

Chandler Holderson is on trial for the murder of both his parents. And from jump, prosecutors promised the jury they'd hear the reason why. And in their opening statements, prosecutors promised the jury they'd hear the reason why. And in their opening statements, prosecutors told the jury it all started because that promising future Chandler supposedly had was a mirage.

Called to the witness stand, Omar Job, a Madison College enrollment officer, who says his phone rang on June 29th. It's a call he says he won't soon forget. Was that call recorded? Yes. Okay, what's your first name? Chandler, C-H-A-M-D-L-E-R.

Last name is H-A-L-D as in David, C-R-S-O-N. It's a normal phone call that we receive every day. This person was trying to request a transcript. Trying to get an appointment scheduled to meet with somebody to maybe just get a copy of the transcript. On this call, Job is hearing a complaint from Chandler that for months now he hasn't received his college transcripts. Okay, so it looks like you owe it balance.

So that's why you can't request it. Hello? The jury listens as Omar Job then tries to confirm what classes Chandler is taking. You were taking IT classes, right? I don't see that you were in the program. Prior to the IT, there was a solar program too.

Yeah, but I don't see the IT degree in there, right? No, those are just classes. I found out Chandler was taking classes at Madison College for a couple of semesters

and then he stopped. But here's the thing about that phone call. It's not at all what it appears to be. At that time, like, it didn't register in my mind. On the other line, it is a Holderson, but it's not Chandler. It's actually Bart Holderson pretending to be his son. Prosecutors play it, during trial, the jury got to hear what Bart sounded like. As he figured out, his son was lying to him.

Bart has been trying unsuccessfully for months to get the transcripts from Chandler. And he was beginning to get suspicious. According to prosecutors, the phone call was a ruse by Bart to see if his son was actually enrolled in college. And it turns out he wasn't. He failed out. Prosecutors also alleged that Chandler had set up fake email accounts in an attempt to deceive his father about why his transcripts weren't coming. Chandler was looping Bart in on some of these emails with Madison College, just trying to show Bart that this is why I'm not getting my transcripts. But the problem is, according to detectives, they're fake, too.

He asked me two people's names that work in advising because they were trying to set up something with them. Do you know, do you have an Alyssa Brandt that works in that area? Or anywhere in the campus? You said the first name was Alyssa? Alyssa? Yeah. A-L-Y-S-S-A? No.

There ain't no Alyssa. Does Daniel Spice still work there? No. Chandler had made up fake emails with fake school employees to email back and forth about the transcript issue. Can I ask you, what is the end part of every employee's email who works for Madison College? MadisonCollege.edu.

No one uses a Gmail account as their official Madison College email. No. But college wasn't the only alleged deception Chandler carried out. Prosecutors call in witnesses who reveal things like that internship at American Family Insurance. I found no record of that person working for American Family. The job at Elon Musk's SpaceX? Were there ever any emails regarding a job application or employments with SpaceX?

No. Prosecutors argue that essentially everything he supposedly had going for him, none of it was real. The defense did not cross-examine these witnesses. Cross-examination? No, thank you. The defense always has to balance between aggressively cross-examining witnesses and alienating the jury.

So the insurance company internship, the SpaceX opportunity, the going to school, all lie? All lies. Yep. So you're hearing this at the trial. What did this make you think of him? That he's not anybody who I thought he was. It's an explosive claim in court. Authorities say Chandler has been perpetrating this catfish scheme for at least a year. The call to Madison College would turn out to be fateful and the last recorded words of Bart Holderson.

Okay, that should get us done. Okay, thank you for your help. and the last recorded words of Bart Holderson. Bart then sends Chandler a text. I spoke with Omar Job. Bart sets up a meeting for July 1st with a school administrator and plans to bring Chandler along. Around 2 p.m. that day, Bart sends this text to his son, "'I'm ready whenever you are.'"

It's the last text message from Bart, and the last day Bart and Krista are seen alive. When Bart figured it out, Chandler realized he could lose everything. Prosecution, the story they painted, was that Chandler gave himself no other option. Not long after that, Chandler asked his mom to stop at the gas station and pick up soda. Chandler's text says, Dad's phone died. Text or call me and get soda on your way home.

I have an extra hour of work." Krista replies, "'Kay, I can. Smiley face.'" That would be the last text from Krista Holderson. As if the alleged motive wasn't already shocking enough, there was Chandler's whole history of a debilitating head injury,

which prosecutors say was also untrue. Late June, early July, 2021, Chandler had just fallen down the stairs. He had this injury that he said could cause lifelong side effects. By all accounts, the fall stopped Chandler's life. Prosecutors entered this photo into evidence at trial to support their theory that Chandler's fall is part

of an alleged web of lies. Prosecution calls the ER doctor to dispel that myth. I'm an emergency physician at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics. What, in this case, did you diagnose Mr. Halterson with? I believe he was diagnosed as having a mild concussion. The patient had some, um, residual neck pain, uh, so he was given a collar to go home with for support.

The defense pushes back on the prosecution's claims cross-examining the ER doctor about Chandler's injury. You did diagnose Chandler Halterson with a mild concussion, right? That's correct. You didn't give him a set number of days to wear the collar, is that right? I don't believe so, no. In that picture on Father's Day of 2021 standing next to Bart, he's got the brace on, because he did go to the ER. That Father's Day brunch photo, which is shown to the jury by prosecutors, is just weeks before the murder.

But then there's surveillance video of Chandler the night of July 1st at a nearby quick trip carrying two bags of ice. Ten pound bags of ice. But prosecutors also point out conspicuously missing on this quick trip surveillance video, Chandler's neck brace. And they claim it's the same story when he visits a local store. He's at Fleet Farm. Again, no neck brace. Just normal 23-year-old dude walking into Fleet Farm to buy a tarp. And that tarp, prosecutors say, is part of what Chandler used to dispose of his parents' remains. The prosecution calls one last star witness, Chandler's ex-girlfriend, Kat Melander, who testifies about the impact

of sharing the snap map discovery on her phone. Why was it important to you to cooperate at that time? Because I just believed the parents were missing. And I just want them to be found. And later, she recalls something else she noticed during the initial search for Bart and Krista. When you first go in the house that day, did you notice anything off? There was a smoky smell.

That smoky smell, a neighbor's security camera, and a flickering light are about to reveal another dark secret inside the home. It turns out, prosecutors say, Chandler has one more big thing to hide. Hello, it's Robin Roberts here. Hey, guys, it's George Cephonopoulos here. Hey, everybody, it's Michael Strahan here.

Wake up with Good Morning America. Robin, George, Michael, GMA, America's favorite number one morning show. The morning's first breaking news, exclusive interviews, what everyone will be talking about that day. Put some good in your morning and start your day with GMA. Good Morning America! Put the good in your morning. GMA 7A on ABC. Oh, my God, is this your house? This is the humble abode. Oh, my God, it's so humble.

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of lies. But what the jury hears next is some of the most disturbing evidence yet. We had a grand total of 230 bones, fragmented bones that were found again inside the fireplace on the grate and also on the ash disposal area. So we found video footage from one of the neighbors that actually watched the backside of the house. And through a forensic analysis of that video, our examiner was able to determine that the glow in certain windows of this home

was indeed the fireplace. What was the most disturbing moment of the trial for you? They showed the fireplace burning all night when he was trying to cremate the skulls of his parents. I almost got sick watching that. The defense didn't challenge Dr. Figueroa-Soto's testimony. After eight days of testimony, it's the defense's turn. Everyone's wondering what Chandler's case is going to be.

But in a surprise move, the defense rests without calling a single witness. Attorney Dorrell, will other witnesses being called this morning? No, Your Honor. Watching this trial, it was so one-sided. There were eight full days of testimony from the prosecution. They had so much evidence.

The defense was the opposite. This time I will invite the state to present its closing argument. In closing arguments, the prosecution urges the jury to look at this image of Barton Christa, likening the pieces of evidence to that of a jigsaw. Solving a case and thinking about whether or not a person is guilty or not guilty is like putting together a puzzle. And as your job as the jury to put that puzzle together, it's not a whodunit. We know that Bart and Krista went into that home and never came out, at least as whole people. Trini Vero, would you please present the defense closing?

Thank you. While the defense says all the state was able to prove was that Chandler is a liar, not a killer. Kids lie to their parents all the time. Motive does not mean intent. Do you know if it was an awful accident? Do you know if it was intentional? Do you know if there was someone else involved? You don't.

And that's a problem. Just after 3 p.m. news breaks that the jury has reached a verdict. Breaking news. In just about a little over two hours, a jury has reached a verdict in the Chandler-Halderson case. When we found out that the verdict was in, it had been two hours. No one knew what was going on. People were waiting on pins and needles to figure out what that was. We the jury find the defendant Chandler M.

Halderson guilty of first degree intentional homicide. Chandler Halderson is found guilty on all eight charges. So what was your reaction to the verdict? Chandler Holderson is found guilty on all eight charges. So what was your reaction to the verdict? I would like to say it was relief. It really wasn't because it's still sad. It's still grotesque, everything about it. There was some closure for the family. To me, it was just and fair.

In March of 2022, at sentencing, Chandler breaks his silence for the first time. Your Honor, I want to take this opportunity to state my intent to appeal my convictions. 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 that I do not have feelings.

It's that I was warned to not show them due to the scrutiny of this case. Thank you. No remorse, no empathy, no love to his parents. Chandler is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, still leaving his family and friends with far more questions and answers as to why he murdered his mother and father. The Haldersens and I

were friends for about 25-26 years and there was never a cross word. They were just good people. If there were more Bart and Krista's in the world, it would be a better world. If Chandler would have just asked for help, what do you think Barb and Krista would have done? They would have given everything anything to help him. They would have been there. That's the kind of people they were.

If you could talk to Krista one more time, if you just had one more moment to say something to her what would it be. I would say you're a great mom. A wonderful mom being remembered by her family right here tonight and this is a murder that still leave so many unanswered questions. In April of 2023, two of Chandler's convictions for hiding his parents' remains were vacated. His other convictions and his sentence, though, still stand while his case remains pending in the Court of Appeals. That's our program for tonight. I'm Deborah Roberts.

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