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Parents Dismembered (2022) | Prosecution Opening Statement - WI v. Halderson — Transcript

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0:00my name is william brown i'm the deputy
0:03district attorney of dane county
0:05yesterday you met andrea raymond
0:07together we're the prosecutors in the
0:08case uh you heard a little bit about how
0:10the process worked in jury selection and
0:12you probably thought you were being
0:13strung along the whole time and in a bit
0:15you were
0:17everyone was trying to gauge your
0:19knowledge of the case maybe any
0:20preconceived notions you had about the
0:22criminal justice system
0:24ms vera asked you a lot of questions
0:25about what you would think if she did
0:26nothing and sat there and and those were
0:29good questions um i won't do nothing in
0:31this case because it would be a very
0:33short trial if i did
0:34you're going to hear from me miss
0:36raymond quite a bit
0:38our job in a case is to present evidence
0:41that means to call witnesses the judge
0:42talked about what evidence is we think
0:44of evidence sometimes we think of
0:45especially a murder case you're in a
0:46murder case you think of the gun
0:48and you'll get that there'll be a gun
0:51you'll see that
0:52but evidence is so much more
0:55the first thing evidence is is the first
0:56thing the judge mentioned evidence is
0:58first the sworn testimony of witnesses
1:01both on direct and cross-examination
1:03when people raise their right hand and
1:04they swear to tell the truth
1:06that's evidence
1:08now you as jurors can decide
1:10whether you believe it or not does this
1:12person have any bias of prejudice do
1:14they have anything to gain by what
1:16they're saying
1:17they have anything to lose
1:19all those things are up to you but sworn
1:21testimony is evidence
1:23photographs or evidence videos are
1:26evidence
1:27statements made
1:29by people involved in the case including
1:30mr hall
1:32or evidence
1:35our job is to over the course of the
1:37next couple of weeks present
1:38evidence to show you the path
1:41of what we believe happened
1:45which is that chandler halderson
1:47killed his parents
1:50dismembered their bodies
1:52and hid them around southern wisconsin
1:57i've been talking about bart and krista
1:58halterson you've heard their names
1:59mentioned numerous time by the judges
2:02here
2:03that's bart and crystal
2:05i'm going to try to use some photos as i
2:07talk to maybe guide us along some people
2:09are more visual learners some aren't
2:12that's bart and krista halderson a
2:14couple in the early 50s
2:16living in windsor wisconsin on a quiet
2:19street
2:20in a quiet house kind of in a quiet town
2:23if you don't know windsor think
2:25just south of deforest or maybe if
2:27you're heading up toward the dells when
2:28you see the fleet farm on your left if
2:29you looked right that's windsor
2:33that's the halterson
2:34home at this point perhaps it would be
2:37best if i told you a little bit about
2:38the halterson family
2:41bart the father chris to the mother
2:44they have two sons
2:46chandler
2:47the defendant
2:49and his older older brother mitchell
2:53chandler and mitchell are close in age
2:55but mitchell's a little bit older
2:58the time this all happened living in the
3:00hardest and home was bart alderson
3:02christa halderson
3:04and chandler
3:05mitchell had moved out
3:07mitchell had a job working as a i.t
3:10person for a local corporation doing
3:12pretty well in life
3:13he's engaged doing pretty well in life
3:17[Music]
3:18buying a house
3:19adult things
3:21growing up
3:23but in july of 2021
3:26it's bart and krista
3:28living in that house
3:30and their adult 23 year old son
3:32chandler halderson living in his room
3:35[Music]
3:36now all of the events i'm going to
3:38describe for the most part
3:40take place during the first week
3:43of july
3:44from the 1st to about the eighth so i
3:46put up a calendar this is
3:47not evidence in the case i suppose it
3:49might be maybe i'll mark it as an
3:51exhibit
3:52which is to provide some reference and i
3:54put the little flag on there because if
3:55you remember this year the fourth of
3:56july was on a sunday
3:59everyone celebrated of course all
4:01weekend a lot of places celebrated on
4:02saturday but the fourth of july was on a
4:04sunday
4:07now i'm giving my opening statement the
4:09judge told you opening statements aren't
4:10evidence and in fact that's the reason
4:12you don't have notebooks i'd like to
4:13think so you have to pay attention to me
4:15but that's not true
4:16it's because nothing i say is evidence
4:18so as i say things up here
4:20what i'm saying is what i expect to
4:22prove in the next couple of weeks
4:26but what i expect to prove beyond any
4:27reasonable doubt
4:29is that on july 1st
4:312021
4:33somewhere between 3 pm
4:35and 5 pm
4:36[Music]
4:38chandler holders murdered his parents
4:42it's an important date and it's an
4:44important time to remember
4:46july 1st
4:47between 3
4:49and 5.
4:52but the story doesn't start there
4:54and this trial wouldn't be three to four
4:56weeks
4:57if the trial ended there
4:58[Music]
5:01the story starts
5:03a week later
5:05on july 7th
5:072021
5:09nearly a week after killing his parents
5:11but no one in the world knowing
5:13chandler halderson walks into the
5:15northeast precinct of the dane county
5:17sheriff's office
5:19and says
5:20i'd like to file a missing person's
5:22report
5:25he sits down with sheriff's deputies and
5:27you'll meet them today
5:30and he gives a long story
5:33my parents they just haven't come back
5:34from the cabin
5:36they were there this weekend we have a
5:38cabin up north it's in white lake up in
5:40langlain county it's pretty far up north
5:41a couple of hours
5:44they just haven't come back yet they
5:45were going to come back monday or
5:46tuesday and i don't know where they are
5:48[Music]
5:49who are they with the deputies ask
5:52i don't know
5:54i helped him pack
5:56thursday night and they must have left
5:57friday early before i woke up at six
6:00who'd they go with i don't know
6:03where are their cars well they're still
6:05at the house
6:07what'd you help them pack
6:09bottles of liquor lots of money
6:12tools silver bars
6:15why were they going up there
6:18some people get they were fixing a
6:19window some people got
6:21it was a plumbing issue
6:22storm damage the story varied
6:26sometimes they took just money sometimes
6:27they took just liquor
6:30but over that day and the next talking
6:32to numerous sheriff's deputies
6:34detectives including those detectives
6:38he gives this bizarre story
6:41of his parents leaving
6:43in an unknown car
6:45going to a cabin with an unknown couple
6:49with an unknown amount of money
6:51for really an unknown reason
6:56so sheriff's deputies do what cops do
6:58which is they ask him have you heard
7:00from him
7:01and he says yeah
7:03i got a text from my mom
7:05and he did
7:06he showed him his phone
7:08made it safely
7:09this is from crystal halderson to chas
7:12that's what his family calls him got
7:13chan or they call him chaz made it
7:15safely can't get anything through though
7:17yes it's packed
7:18going to white lake today for the parade
7:21we'll be home monday night tuesday early
7:24i love you lots
7:26[Music]
7:28so at this point the sheriff's deputies
7:30don't know what they're dealing with
7:32these folks get up there and decide
7:34now we're gonna
7:36go to the casino for a few days
7:37we're gonna play hooky
7:39didn't make a lot of sense they started
7:41talking to co-workers and realized these
7:42people had never no call no show missed
7:44work which they both did on friday
7:49did they crash their car
7:52did this other couple kidnap them
7:55where the hell are they
7:58but what good police do and what they
8:00did in this case is they start looking
8:01into the people who saw them last who
8:04were with them last who reported them
8:06missing
8:07and in this case all three of those
8:09things the person who purportedly saw
8:11them last
8:13was with them last
8:15and reported them missing were the same
8:16person
8:18there's chandler halderson
8:20so what the police did
8:22he started to look into chandler
8:23halderson this is all occurring in the
8:25same 24 hour 48 hour period
8:28and what they learn about him
8:31isn't suspicious at all
8:33he's a madison college student matc they
8:35go by madison college now if you didn't
8:36get the email
8:38madison college student he's about to
8:39graduate
8:41he's studying renewable resource
8:42engineering kind of a hybrid i.t degree
8:45with solar panels things of that sort
8:47he's about to get a certificate
8:50but things that looked right for him
8:52he'd recently been working at american
8:54family insurance he's working from home
8:56like most of us the last couple of years
8:59but he's working a good job at american
9:01family insurance and not only was he
9:03working a good job chandler had just
9:04gotten a better job
9:06he got hired at spacex
9:08[Music]
9:10he was about to embark on a career that
9:12people in the it field could only dream
9:14of
9:16he's planning to move to titusville
9:17florida that's where spacex operation is
9:19down in florida
9:21with his girlfriend
9:23they'd rented an apartment
9:24they'd bought a car
9:28and not only was this not someone who
9:29was anti-social
9:32he was pro-social he was working with
9:34the madison police and the department of
9:36natural resources on their rescue diving
9:38team he was a scuba diver
9:40working with the police
9:44the only thing that was a bit odd is he
9:46recently suffered a head injury
9:49fallen down the stairs
9:50had terrible concussion
9:52was unable to move for the most part
9:55had to wear a neck brace
9:57he was permanently
9:59perhaps injured
10:00[Music]
10:01all of those things
10:04threw police off
10:06from thinking it was chandler it had
10:08anything to do with this at that point
10:09for all they knew
10:12as sad as it is bart and krista and an
10:15unknown couple
10:16were crashed into a ditch somewhere
10:18between here in white lake wisconsin
10:21dead from a car crash
10:23so they started looking
10:25deputies are sent up north
10:27the langlais county sheriff's department
10:29is searching a cabin no one had ever
10:31been there it didn't look like it anyone
10:32had been there at all in years
10:34it was run down the grass hadn't been
10:36mowed there was no food in the
10:37refrigerator no one had been there
10:40so the police expand their search and
10:42they start talking to not only just
10:43chandler people about chandler they
10:46start talking to people
10:47[Music]
10:48who were with chandler that weekend
10:52specifically they talked to his
10:53girlfriend
10:54a young girl named catherine she goes by
10:56cat
10:58and kat says i was with him like all
11:01weekend
11:03we had normal fourth of july weekend we
11:04went out to my family's farm we got a
11:07farm there was a pool we ate dinner
11:10chandler was having the concussion issue
11:12and he couldn't really move his legs and
11:13so he asked to use their pool the next
11:14day because he thought that was good
11:16therapy
11:18so the police what do they do next they
11:20go talk to the person who owns the farm
11:22and they say was chandler out here and
11:23she goes yeah he was out here on the 4th
11:25of july
11:26but you know what
11:27he showed up the next day
11:30by himself
11:32he showed up the next day by himself i
11:34told him he could come back come back
11:36any time as we just say to people not
11:37expecting they're going to roll into
11:38your house the next day
11:41she says he was acting bizarre
11:44said that he had a doctor's appointment
11:46and they'd given them some bad news that
11:47he was going to lose his job at spacex
11:49because he couldn't travel he couldn't
11:50attend orientation
11:52to start
11:54and she goes and he he's asked to use
11:56the pool of course i said yes
12:00this woman will testify and she'll tell
12:01you that she sat in her house for a
12:03while
12:04perhaps a bit
12:05weirded out that someone had just shown
12:07up at her rural farm but she let him
12:10have his space
12:12but about an hour later she goes down to
12:14the pool to check on him
12:17he's not there
12:19no one had opened the pool no one had
12:20been in the pool
12:22but she sees his car
12:24and it's parked out in the field
12:27away from the pool
12:30backed in toward where that grass is a
12:32bit longer
12:34and had its hatch up
12:35she thought boy that was strange
12:38but she thought maybe he's just on a
12:39walk
12:42so she goes in the pool
12:44she said i'm just gonna go in the pool
12:45if you remember that weekend it's
12:46extraordinarily hot
12:49she starts swimming she says
12:51then i see chandler
12:53he's walking out of the woods
12:56in that area
12:58now at this point in the investigation
12:59the police are out there with this woman
13:02they're out on the farm
13:04and she says he walked out over there
13:06and you'll hear from the detective
13:08detective brett baverstock who is out
13:09there and he'll tell you that his eyes
13:11kind of shifted up
13:14and he saw vultures
13:17and i promise the photos are only going
13:19to go this far for right now
13:21but the police walked about 20 yards
13:22into the woods
13:24and in that pile of debris
13:28under dozens of sticks bushes and dirt
13:32they found bart alderson
13:36now when i say they found bart halderson
13:39i need to
13:40explain that
13:42they found a human torso
13:46someone had crudely chopped off the head
13:49the arms
13:50and sawed off the legs
13:53in the middle of the thigh
13:55leaving the underwear on
13:57in the beginnings of the pants
14:01[Music]
14:03they removed the sticks and brush over a
14:05course of a few hours they brought out
14:07doctors from the medical examiner's
14:08office to make sure everything was done
14:10appropriately
14:10[Music]
14:13they rolled the torso over
14:16there were gunshots in the back
14:18this man had been shot in the back
14:20and chopped up
14:26at this point the farm
14:28beautiful farm
14:31cultivated for years of wildflowers
14:34kind of a
14:36an eden of sorts
14:38it was turned into a crime scene
14:41police swarmed the place
14:43drones were in the air cadavers dogs
14:46were on the grounds
14:47everyone's looking through absolutely
14:49everything they could but it's a farm
14:51there's a million places things could be
14:55but one detective said
14:57look at that in the woods
15:00is that a garbage can
15:02full of a tarp
15:04it was i'll tell you that tarp
15:07was taken out taking the wisconsin state
15:09crime lab eventually bart
15:11halderson crystal halderson their blood
15:13is all over it
15:15another detective
15:17said
15:18that spot where chandler was walking out
15:19of the woods
15:21there's an oil barrel there like an old
15:23fuel tank with a hole in it
15:26that's right where the car was parked so
15:28she peeks her head in
15:31that's what she sees
15:33broken saw blades
15:35hand saws
15:36scissors
15:37tree loppers
15:39all of them tested by the state crime
15:40lab all of them covered
15:43human flesh and blood
15:45of fart
15:47and crystalhalgerson
15:50the farm was searched extensively and
15:51i'll tell you that some months later
15:53things were even continuing to be found
15:55up to this fall in october the homeowner
15:58the person who owns the farm
16:00was tearing apart a barn trying to clean
16:01it
16:02and they're in a barn about a hundred
16:04yards
16:05from where bart halderson was found the
16:08murder weapon
16:10behind a bunch of boards
16:12on the side of the barn
16:17at this point in the investigation
16:19the police knew they needed to start
16:20talking
16:21to chandler
16:24he's seen coming out of the location
16:26where his dad's body was
16:28just
16:29brutally chopped apart
16:33the tools
16:34the cutting instruments are found there
16:38so they do what police do
16:41they bring them downtown
16:43but they ask him and he's at the house
16:45and they ask him and his girlfriend
16:47to come downtown with him
16:48they do
16:50that girlfriend
16:51cat is in one room
16:53and chandler is in another
16:56chandler and you'll see this will play
16:58it
16:59for over an hour meets with police
17:01and again regurgitates this odd story of
17:04his parents with this missing couple in
17:06a random car
17:08going places that no one really knew
17:13or cat in the other room
17:16she's vomiting information to the police
17:19literally vomiting at times
17:21but also vomiting information in terms
17:23of she has her phone out she's giving
17:24him pictures she's providing every
17:26single detail she can because she'll
17:28tell you when she testifies
17:30she's one of these people that watches
17:32these crime shows
17:33and she knows when someone's missing you
17:35got to exclude the people closest to him
17:36first and she thought
17:38that's what we got to do
17:40chandler didn't have anything to do with
17:41this i didn't really do this
17:42we got to get to the people who did and
17:44the first step is we got to exclude
17:46us
17:48she didn't for a second think
17:50that mr hollerson had done anything
17:51wrong she thought she was with him most
17:53of the weekend
17:54and i'll tell you right now
17:56cat did nothing wrong
18:00cat was an unknowing unwilling
18:02accomplice to some of this but she did
18:04absolutely nothing wrong
18:06and she'll tell you
18:08she liked mr mrs alderson
18:10there were the normal disputes you'd
18:11have with your
18:13boyfriend or girlfriend's parents maybe
18:15you want to go out a lot and they don't
18:16let you maybe you want to
18:18hang out more than they don't want to
18:21but she liked
18:23her phone is full of messages between
18:25her and mrs halderson
18:28friendly in all respects
18:31kat meets with police not just once but
18:34multiple times
18:35and in one of these meetings she says
18:37you know what was weird
18:39is this weekend when i was with chandler
18:41while his parents were at the cabin
18:44i left the house early one day on
18:45saturday in fact saturday july 3rd and
18:47she says
18:49he told me he was going to do chores
18:51that morning around the house
18:53but when i looked at my snapchat i saw
18:56his location
18:58was in a weird spot
19:00if you don't know
19:02on snapchat
19:03[Music]
19:04you can set it up so that other people
19:06can see exactly where you are
19:08a gps tracker on you at all times if you
19:10will
19:11chandler had that set up with his
19:12girlfriend
19:14and she goes it was so weird where he
19:16was i took a screen shot up on my phone
19:20and that's what it showed
19:22chandler was saved as hubby in her phone
19:24that's
19:25perhaps a term of endearment between
19:28two folks dating in their 20s
19:32but she said
19:33at 8 58 in the morning
19:35when he was supposed to be doing chores
19:37on saturday july 3rd
19:38i thought it was strange
19:40that he was in what appears to be
19:43a forest on the banks of the wisconsin
19:46river
19:47near prairie du sac
19:50the police took that they identified
19:52immediately where that location was just
19:54based on looking at it that's a bridge
19:56couldn't be hard
19:57out they go
19:59the drones go up the dogs go out
20:01the search team start searching
20:06very quickly
20:06[Music]
20:08and i promise this is as far as the
20:09photos will go
20:11they find the remains of crystal holders
20:15now when i say crystal halderson i have
20:17to qualify that as well
20:20we found our legs
20:23one complete leg
20:25then somewhat farther away and another
20:27bush a foot
20:29a thigh
20:31but the same pattern
20:33crudely cut apart
20:35what appears to be handsaws axes things
20:37of that sort
20:40no more of krista halderson
20:42that's identifiable to her will ever be
20:43found
20:44she's just those two lakes
20:53at this point
20:55the police thought
20:56this is just a strange location
20:59why would chandler be out
21:00there and
21:02we've been out there before
21:04[Music]
21:05they started talking to people including
21:07the girlfriends of his in the past
21:09friends of his and they say yeah
21:12chandler really liked this location out
21:13on the wisconsin river he'd go there all
21:15the time
21:17it's where he'd go swimming when his
21:18friends came into town that was the
21:20secret swimming spot and one friend even
21:22said you know what
21:23last year he sent me a picture while he
21:25was out there
21:28kind of shirtless hanging from a tree
21:29with a machete i don't know
21:33didn't have a lot of significance at the
21:34time when the police saw it but
21:35eventually someone realized
21:38the tree looks unique
21:41interesting v pattern right there the
21:44hollowness of the tree as it goes down
21:46the way in which five of those branches
21:48branch off
21:51and eventually one of the detectives
21:52realizes why
21:54something clicked
21:56it was the exact location he ditched his
21:58mother's remains
22:05that's about 100 feet away
22:09so obviously it shouldn't come to
22:11anyone's surprise at some point chandler
22:12was arrested
22:14in fact he was arrested on july 8th
22:162021.
22:19when you're arrested for a lot of crimes
22:20you go to jail you get booked in and and
22:23not much more happens investigation-wise
22:25after that they have what they need but
22:27of course that's not the case in a
22:28murder investigation especially
22:30something like this
22:31mr chandler's taken to jail
22:34and the police
22:35start searching
22:37when i say searching you're going to
22:38hear about searches of the house
22:39searches of this farm searches of this
22:42property
22:43you're going to hear about searches of
22:44landfills and ponds and
22:47ditches all across dane county
22:49but one of the things they started
22:51searching
22:52was what was this guy doing on his phone
22:56that weekend
22:58and oddly enough most of what they found
23:02was nothing
23:04either chandler hadn't googled anything
23:06all weekend
23:08except for the eighth
23:09or he had deleted his search history
23:12you'll never know
23:13but remember he was arrested on july 8th
23:17taken to the police station and that's
23:18where they told him hey man we know
23:19what's going on
23:22so meaning while he was still on his
23:24phone on july 8th he was still telling
23:26everyone his parents were missing
23:28not just the police
23:30this kid was standing in his front lawn
23:32giving media interviews to all the local
23:33media outlets about the cabin and the
23:36unknown couple the unknown car
23:39he was going door-to-door in his
23:40neighborhood
23:42my parents are missing can you help me
23:43out do you have any security cameras by
23:45the way
23:46and you'll hear from these neighbors
23:48some of them were so weirded out
23:51by what was going on
23:54that they secretly recorded those
23:56conversations
23:57one of them you'll hear
24:00was a man who'd only been retired as a
24:01detective with the city of madison
24:03police for about a month
24:04he recorded his conversation with mr
24:06halderson
24:08but while he's doing this that morning
24:10what's he googling
24:13this is what he's googling
24:15body found wisconsin
24:17woman's body found wisconsin wisconsin
24:19dismembered body found
24:22we'll come back to the next two dead
24:24body found in wisconsin
24:25body found in milwaukee river
24:27[Music]
24:30he's searching for whether they found
24:31his parents
24:34and you'll hear in this case he's
24:36starting to search because he's starting
24:37to get worried because the amount of
24:39police in his neighborhood has been
24:40ramping up and up and up because
24:43unbeknownst to him they're finding his
24:45parents remains
24:47and you'll hear that while this is going
24:49on while he's googling these things he's
24:51frantically calling police officers hey
24:52why are there more cops in my
24:54neighborhood he calls this guy brian
24:55shunk he records him
24:58what's going on
24:59there's more cops did something happen
25:00did you find something
25:06the middle ones
25:07state versus peter caputsu
25:11probably means nothing to everyone it
25:13meant nothing to me when i first saw it
25:16the name wrong a bell and i wondered why
25:21not only does it show he googled state
25:22versus peter caputsu showed that he
25:24clicked on a link on the wisconsin
25:26court's website
25:27and read something
25:30what he read was a legal case much like
25:32this one is the state versus chandler
25:34halderson
25:35the state versus peter caputsu though
25:38was a case that made it to the court of
25:40appeals based on some legal
25:41technicalities
25:43about a man
25:44who dismembered part of his family
25:46members
25:48and threw their bodies
25:49in the river
25:52so at the same time chandler halderson
25:54is going door to door in his
25:55neighborhood crying about his parents
25:57being missing
25:58talking to the local news
26:00telling sheriff's deputies signing
26:02documents saying they're missing
26:05he's conducting legal research
26:07to get himself out of today
26:10so that today never happens
26:15now when i started i started with that
26:17calendar a while ago
26:20and i said the police were initially
26:21thrown off because of one thing and that
26:23was this text message
26:25from krista and it's real
26:27i'll tell you that text message is in
26:29all the search warrant returns from us
26:31cellular
26:32it's on the phone that we were able to
26:34search we're not able to search every
26:36phone but some of them are
26:38made it safely can't get anything
26:40through though yes it's packed going to
26:42white lake today for the parade
26:45be home monday night tuesday
26:47love you lots
26:49sent on the 4th of july
26:52so the police started looking into that
26:55and the first thing they found was
26:57white lake
26:59the parade was on july 3rd
27:02remember the fourth of july this year
27:03was on a sunday
27:05so everyone celebrated on saturday
27:09so they started thinking well how the
27:11hell did this message get sent
27:14so they searched the halderson home
27:16where chandler was
27:18and in the garage under a shelf
27:21in a shoe
27:23wrapped in aluminum foil
27:25was his mother's phone
27:26along with her driver's license
27:28[Music]
27:34police would later subpoena the records
27:36from u.s cellular the cell phone carrier
27:38that covers chandler and the family
27:42and they would look into what cell
27:43towers were being used when that message
27:45was sent if you didn't know all of you
27:47probably have cell phones at any time
27:49your phone is pinging off of different
27:50cell towers it's not always the same as
27:53you sit here half of you might be using
27:54one tower and half of you might be using
27:56another it's based on the workload of
27:58those towers you'll hear about that
28:00but it's generally an approximate area
28:02of where you are
28:07that message on july 4th krista there is
28:08in pink chandler's in green
28:11the message was sent from the halderson
28:13home on july 4th
28:16chandler sent it to himself
28:22so at this point the investigators began
28:24to wonder
28:25and perhaps you're beginning to wonder
28:26how the evidence will come out
28:30how does this happen
28:32how does this kid
28:34with everything in the world going for
28:36him
28:37promising new job school
28:40a girlfriend that loves him willing to
28:42move across the country for him
28:44or even physically a kid who just
28:46suffered this major concussion
28:48was unable to use his legs for the most
28:50part
28:51how does this happen
28:55and what you'll learn
28:57it happens because none of these things
28:59are true
29:01he wasn't going to madison college
29:04he wasn't studying renewable resource
29:06engineering
29:07the people at american family insurance
29:09they'd never even heard of him there's
29:12no indication he'd ever even applied for
29:14a job much less had any job at spacex
29:17the apartment he told his girlfriend
29:18he'd rented and the car he'd bought none
29:20of that was real
29:23the madison police
29:24they don't even have a scuba diving team
29:27neither does the dnr
29:29and this concussion he apparently
29:30suffered he did go to the hospital
29:33you'll hear from the doctor who was
29:34there he said yeah he came in he
29:35reported that he hit his head falling
29:37down the stairs
29:39i diagnosed him with a mild concussion
29:41gave him a neck brace on the way out
29:43told him he could use it if he needed it
29:46but none of the things that chandler
29:47reported to other people
29:49the leg weakness his inability to move
29:52drive travel
29:54none of that was real
29:56and given what you're going to find out
29:58in this case you may conclude at the end
29:59of it
30:00he never suffered any fall at all
30:05what you may conclude
30:07is that it was all made up
30:11now
30:14police started looking into
30:17all of these lies
30:19because
30:20how does a person
30:22who looks so promising was able to
30:24convince so many people of his success
30:28how are you able to keep this up
30:31how are you able to catfish your family
30:33your girlfriend
30:35your brother your friends
30:38and they started to find things around
30:40the halderson home
30:42in the email accounts of bart and krista
30:44halderson and the email accounts of
30:46chandler halderson
30:49when you talk about american family
30:50insurance the first big lie chandler was
30:52making up
30:53again the people in american family
30:55insurance you'll hear them testify
30:56they're directors of human resources you
30:57never work there never worked for any of
30:59your affiliates
31:00never worked for any of the companies
31:02that are associated with them
31:04chandler had been claiming to work there
31:05for a year
31:09but he never had any money
31:12and his father was an accountant so his
31:14father would ask him questions pretty
31:15much daily why don't have any money
31:17why haven't you paid any rent
31:20and chandler spun an amazing web of lies
31:23first it was
31:25well i'm a salary guy but they were
31:26accidentally paying me hourly so they
31:28just held my paychecks until they fixed
31:29it then it was i gave him the wrong
31:31direct deposit info
31:33then it kind of shifted eventually
31:36he said well
31:37they were going to pay me but now the
31:39amount is so much they got to pay me so
31:41much money
31:42that when they deposit in the bank they
31:43thought it was fake
31:46and police started to find emails like
31:48this
31:50this from
31:51tom selznick a guy in american family
31:53insurance a northeast remote human
31:55resources guy
31:58describing this you're registered as
31:59salary but you're making hourly and
32:01these emails would go back and forth
32:03with chandler and the hr person and
32:05eventually he forward him to his father
32:09but in the way a parent looks at their
32:10child as maybe telling the truth
32:12is not the way that you as jurors have
32:14to look at this
32:16you like the police maybe have to take a
32:18more critical look at emails like this
32:20and for one notice
32:22why is the guy who works at human
32:23resources at american family insurance
32:26using a proton male generic email
32:28address
32:30why is the guy who's the human resources
32:32manager spelling the word resources
32:34wrong
32:35saying he's the human recourses manager
32:39it's comically fake
32:42he emailed himself back and forth
32:45trying to explain why he didn't have any
32:47money
32:48and he forwards it to his dad
32:53now here's where the story gets maybe a
32:55little more complex
32:58having a fake job
33:00[Music]
33:01solves a lot of riddles in your life no
33:03one's hassling you to get a new job
33:06no one's hassling you to do chores all
33:08day
33:09the problem is
33:11if your dad works for home from home
33:13if he was an accountant for instance
33:15which he was in which he did
33:18you actually have to wake up early every
33:19day and go to work
33:21so there he was
33:22messages between bart and chandler hey
33:24are you up for your meetings yeah
33:27over and over again
33:29so chandler woke up
33:31but he had nothing to do all day because
33:33his job was pretend
33:35and so he sat on his computer playing
33:36video games and i'm not against people
33:38playing video games
33:40a guy myself people play video games
33:43but video games if you don't know and
33:44some of you are of an age where you do
33:46and some of your age where you don't
33:48are a much more social thing than they
33:49used to be
33:51when you play video games you don't just
33:53sit on nintendo 64 and play mario by
33:56yourself
33:57you're playing role player games with
34:00people from around the world
34:02and who's up early in the morning
34:04but mr halderson had to wake up to
34:06attend his fake work meetings
34:09people in the military who are stationed
34:11overseas
34:13they speak english
34:14they're american
34:16but they're on a different time schedule
34:18their hymn's time schedule most people
34:19here probably play video games at night
34:21during weekdays
34:23but every day mr halderson was able to
34:25wake up and find a group of friends to
34:27play video games with online one of
34:29which was stationed in germany
34:32this friend was a guy named andrew smith
34:36now mr smith mr halderson became kind of
34:39best friends they would talk all the
34:41time
34:42they communicated in this video game all
34:44the time
34:45and mr smith he'll testify he's coming
34:47up here
34:49lives down south he's back in the u.s
34:52he'll tell you
34:54that chandler really liked an sks rifle
34:56when they played some of these shooting
34:58games
34:59just something he liked
35:00he's not a big deal there's nothing
35:02wrong with that
35:05but this past summer
35:07about a month before the murders of bart
35:09and krista halterson
35:10this online friend andrew smith
35:13comes to visit mr hollerson and expect
35:16stays at the home with barton christa
35:19this is a picture of mr smith and then
35:21perhaps
35:22crudely designed yellow shirt
35:24that's mr halderson it's the only photo
35:26we have of them on that visit
35:30you'll learn that mr smith had gotten
35:32out of the military he was done with it
35:35but you also learned that he really
35:36likes guns
35:38like he really likes guns
35:41and he knew his friend liked sks rifles
35:43so when he visited him
35:45this year in june
35:47he brought with him a gift
35:49the sks rifle that was found about 100
35:52yards from bart holderson's body
35:56now you'll meet mr smith and you'll
35:58probably concur with me after meeting
36:00him he's not really probably a paperwork
36:02kind of guy
36:04and so when he gave the gun to mr
36:05halderson
36:06he wanted to document that he
36:08transferred the gun
36:10but he wasn't going to fill out any
36:11paperwork so he just took the serial
36:13number of the gun he put mr halderson's
36:15driver's license next to it snapped a
36:16picture on his phone there's a clear
36:17picture of that but that serial number
36:20matches the gun
36:22found in the barn
36:23100 yards from bart holders body
36:26and before mr smith left
36:29he decided he would gift his friend
36:30something else
36:32which was about 400 rounds of
36:33high-powered ammunition
36:40now
36:42you'll hear from mr smith
36:46despite maybe his bizarre actions
36:50and maybe his bizarre
36:52statements he may make he's not a
36:54suspect
36:55police proved he was in texas at the
36:57time all this happened
36:59another unknowing accomplice to mr
37:01halderson's crimes
37:04so at this point mr halderson's working
37:06a pretend job at american family
37:08insurance
37:09he's not getting paid his father who's
37:11an accountant is kind of honest case
37:12about it
37:14he's got to figure out something else
37:17and the best way out of your pretend job
37:19is an even more pretend job
37:22so around may going into june
37:25of this past year
37:28american family wasn't going well so mr
37:30halderson decided to get a new job
37:32[Music]
37:33he's going to be an astronaut
37:35i work at spacex
37:37this is messages to his girlfriend
37:39i have a good feeling about spacex i
37:41have a follow-up interview for florida
37:43tomorrow
37:44shoot sorry i got the job
37:46i have training next week over the
37:48computer and leave june 11th and start
37:51june 14th
37:56he didn't give himself a lot of time
37:58but what he gave himself was an escape
38:00hatch he could move
38:02he could end the lies that he had going
38:04on in his life about being a rescue
38:05scuba diver and working for american
38:07family insurance by simply moving to
38:09florida
38:12that presented with it one major problem
38:14which was that job which was also make
38:16believe would pay absolutely no better
38:18than the last job that was make believe
38:22[Music]
38:23so in late june as he's supposed to
38:24start the job at spacex
38:26in florida for elon musk
38:31something happens in the halderson
38:32family something real there's a change
38:35remember when i started off and i said
38:36there were two sons
38:38his older brother
38:40gets hospitalized that's real that
38:42happened
38:43got diagnosed with diabetes and was
38:45having some complications he's doing
38:46great now
38:49mr halderson uses that as an excuse to
38:52delay starting at spacex it was a stroke
38:54of good luck for him a stroke of bad
38:55luck of course for the family but a
38:57stroke of good luck for him
39:00but that only gave him a couple of weeks
39:03so his brother
39:05who's doing really well in life
39:07engaged house
39:10real job making a lot of money
39:13suddenly suddenly's in the hospital
39:15being doted over by his family by his
39:16mother
39:18people care about him
39:20[Music]
39:23so roughly a week later when chandler
39:25halderson needs to think of a new lie to
39:26get out of the spacex lie
39:29guess who ends up in the hospital
39:31being doted over by his mother
39:33and his family
39:35with a supposed neck injury
39:37this is father's day of this year
39:40in late june
39:41that's bart halderson in the middle
39:43mitchell on the right of course chandler
39:45wearing a neck brace
39:47that no one told him he had to wear
39:49on the left
39:53now around this time chandler started
39:55telling people
39:57an extraordinarily bizarre set of claims
40:00that he had a brain bleed a hematoma
40:03that he had spinal damage
40:05that he needed his head drilled open
40:08the inability to use his legs at all
40:11couldn't drive
40:12people had to do that for him
40:14that he had nerve damage then he needed
40:16to get a colostomy bag
40:18but most importantly
40:20[Music]
40:22he couldn't go to florida
40:24the doctors had told him he couldn't fly
40:27of course that's not true you'll see his
40:29medical records and you'll see his
40:30doctor testify
40:34so suddenly this man
40:37who
40:40was for all intents and purposes
40:43disabled
40:45was being doted over by his family
40:47people were making him meals you'll see
40:48notes his mom was leaving for him call
40:50this neighbor if you need anything
40:53she'll help you out
40:56couldn't drive couldn't work
40:58couldn't do chores
41:02now a bit of a preview and a fast
41:03forward this guy who's wearing a neck
41:05brace nearly every day
41:07in late june
41:092021
41:11would have no problem just days later
41:13carrying large bags of ice out of gas
41:15stations to chill his father's cut-up
41:17body
41:18in a freezer and you'll note
41:20no neck brace
41:21and in fact you'll note in this case
41:24chandler halderson has never seen a neck
41:26brace again
41:28after july 1st 2021
41:31when he kills his parents
41:33[Music]
41:34so the job lies are over for chandler in
41:36his life
41:38american family insurance don't worry
41:39about that because you got this new job
41:40at spacex
41:41in spacex i can't go cause i'm hurt
41:44it was a perfect scenario
41:46but there was one last lie that chandler
41:48had to get out of
41:50and that is he had told everyone he was
41:51going to matc for college and that he
41:54was about to graduate
41:56and you'll hear there's a hint of truth
41:58to that he was going there at one point
41:59in fact there's a hint of truth to all
42:00of these lies
42:03he did go to matc for like a semester he
42:06failed out
42:07but he wasn't going there anymore
42:11and the parents were starting to grow
42:12suspicious
42:14and we knew this because when we
42:15searched the house we started to find
42:17notes
42:18on bart halderson's desk bart holderson
42:20was one of these guys who prints his
42:21emails i don't know if any of you print
42:23your emails but some people they get an
42:25email and they print it out
42:28that was bart
42:30we find one
42:33it's an email between bart and krista
42:36detailing a conversation that he had had
42:39with chandler's advisors at matc
42:42was supposed to meet with someone else
42:44so we met with this guy daniel spieth
42:46chandler's going to get a solar
42:47certificate
42:48he wasn't
42:50he's registered for fall classes he
42:52wasn't
42:53he's in the i.t program he wasn't
42:56all of these things line by line
42:58none of them true
43:00but bart harderson talked to this person
43:04so police honed in on something
43:06that line
43:08when i talked to the advisor he sounds
43:10just like chaz on the phone
43:12and he gives this number
43:14[Music]
43:15that is of course because bart holderson
43:18when he talked to chandler's college
43:19advisor
43:20was just talking to chandler
43:22who had bought a burner phone you know
43:24cheap phone from like walgreens that you
43:26can buy with no service carrier
43:29and police know that because they
43:31searched chandler's bedroom
43:32and in his chest drawer
43:34they found that phone
43:40now this kept going
43:42the lie about going to matc or madison
43:44college was the most extensive
43:46there were emails dozens if not hundreds
43:49of emails going back and forth between
43:51supposed advisors at matc and chandler
43:54and then he'd forward him to his dad
43:56from people like someone named alyssa
43:58brandt 64. sometimes chandler would
44:00spell brandt
44:01b-r-a-n-d-t sometimes just with the t
44:04and no d
44:05dependent on the day
44:07but they all had the at gmail address
44:09not at
44:10madisoncollege.edu and you'll hear from
44:12the people at madison college their
44:13people have real emails they don't use
44:15gmail
44:15[Music]
44:17but it was
44:18over and over again alyssa brant was one
44:20of them you heard about daniel spieth
44:22also at gmail there was someone named
44:23aaron hoover also at gmail
44:26in this one chandler's getting upset
44:28i have to have a call with whoever's in
44:30charge within the next 30 minutes i have
44:31been a student for over three years and
44:33i will be treated fairly
44:35of course he's yelling at himself
44:37all of these were fake
44:40back and forth to himself
44:42and eventually to his dad
44:46the halters and parents had been growing
44:47extraordinarily frustrated
44:50kid wasn't getting paid
44:51he was injured suddenly
44:54his college transcripts aren't coming
44:55through so he can't get a job
44:59so police looked at that original note
45:01again
45:05they saw something interesting
45:08which is in this sea of fake people
45:11daniel spieth aaron hoover
45:13tom selznick
45:16melissa brandt
45:18there was one name that stood out
45:21omar job
45:24and that name didn't stand out because
45:25it was fake
45:27it stood out to the police because it
45:29was real
45:30that is the only real person on any of
45:33these emails
45:36and what we've discovered in this
45:37investigation
45:39is in just the day and a half prior to
45:41being murdered
45:43bart holderson
45:45chandler's dad
45:46called matc
45:49and pretended to be chandler to try to
45:51finally get some information on what's
45:52going on
45:53just as any of you could call any doctor
45:55and pretend to be your kid you know
45:56their name their social security number
45:58their birthday
45:59you can get through you can get through
46:00those minor security things
46:03bart called matc
46:05said i'm chandler
46:07and i want some answers
46:09and for 17 minutes
46:11bart halderson
46:13just before his murder
46:15talked to a man named omar job
46:18omar jobe is a
46:20entry-level
46:22customer service guy at matc he's got no
46:25skin in the game
46:27doesn't even really remember the call
46:29but it was recorded for customer service
46:32purposes
46:34and bart halderson questions omar and
46:37he's very
46:38mean at first
46:40because in his mind
46:43he'd been getting screwed around for a
46:44year on where his son's transcripts were
46:46and what degree program he's in and why
46:48he hasn't graduated yet
46:51but toward the end of the call
46:53bart
46:54asks omar joe hey do any of these people
46:56work there
46:57melissa brant daniel spieth aaron hoover
47:02and he's told no they've never worked
47:04there and in fact they haven't
47:08and he says
47:09that'll be it done
47:11that'll be it then are the last recorded
47:13words of bart holderson alive
47:20bart alderson shortly after that sends a
47:22text message
47:24a text message that ultimately sealed
47:26his fate which was a text to his own son
47:30and it says i spoke with omar job
47:34now
47:36what happens over the next 24 or so
47:38hours is a bit unknown homicide
47:40investigations are a lot of unknowns
47:42because the two people who are the
47:43victims who maybe know the most about
47:45what happened are of course dead
47:48but there's not much verifiable
47:49information that happens over the next
47:5124 hours
47:52it's also unknown if chandler even knew
47:53who omar job was of course he wasn't
47:55going to matc so why would he know who
47:57some
47:58lowly
47:59entry-level customer service guy was
48:01he wouldn't
48:03but bart halderson did
48:07and when you look at bart halderson's
48:09work calendar
48:10that he maintains it as a counting firm
48:13you see something quite interesting
48:14remember at the beginning i said i
48:15wanted you to remember a date at the
48:17time which was that the holidays were
48:18killed between three and five pm
48:20on july first 2021.
48:24guess what was on bart's calendar
48:26at that exact time
48:28he was supposed to have a meeting with
48:30the people at matc
48:32with his son
48:34so supposed to go to matc and have this
48:36meeting
48:37at three o'clock
48:39on july 1st
48:412021.
48:44of course that meeting couldn't happen
48:46because he wasn't going there and none
48:48of the people were real
48:50but bart halderson knew that
48:54bart halderson knew that
48:56[Music]
48:58and so
49:00chandler i'd obviously figured that out
49:02at this point
49:03there's no way out of this one
49:06you can't get out of this lie
49:08and so the next day
49:10chandler halderson wakes up on july 1st
49:12and starts messaging his girlfriend
49:14726 i hardly slept
49:18727 stuff has been going well for me
49:19lately just trying to plan for the next
49:21thing to [ __ ] me over
49:237 51 i had a great future planned it's
49:26falling apart
49:28104 just two hours prior to the murders
49:31i overheard
49:33they might go to the cabin with their
49:34friends
49:35but i don't know
49:38so somewhat of a full circle at this
49:40point
49:41that's the moment
49:42chandler holderson decides to kill his
49:44parents
49:45and engage in this bizarre story of them
49:47missing at a cabin
49:49with an unknown couple in an unknown car
49:52at 104 july 1st
49:56now shortly after this message
49:58it's about an hour and ten minutes
50:01bart holderson is getting ready to go to
50:02matc for this meeting
50:04perhaps to confront chandler perhaps
50:06chandler's going to confront him
50:08bart text chandler
50:11i'm ready whenever you are
50:13that's about 50 minutes prior to when he
50:14was killed
50:18those are the last words ever recorded
50:20about bart alderson
50:23his phone is never used really again
50:26he dies at some point
50:28he never
50:29goes back to work no one ever sees him
50:32the neighborhood he lives in riddled
50:33with security cameras never see him
50:35again
50:36[Music]
50:37i'm ready whenever you are
50:40what the evidence will show in this case
50:42is that sometime after the i'm ready
50:44whenever ur message
50:46probably just around three o'clock when
50:48he was supposed to go to this meeting
50:49with matc
50:51bart halderson was shot in the back
50:52multiple times with a high-powered rifle
50:57and after shooting his dad
50:59chandler texts his mom
51:03dad's phone died
51:05text her call me
51:09and get sewed on your way home i have an
51:11extra hour of work
51:13you know he didn't have an extra hour of
51:14work
51:15[Music]
51:16but he was delaying her getting there
51:19because the evidence will show he needed
51:20to
51:21move things around
51:23prepare for what he was about to do when
51:25she showed up
51:27she responds
51:29okay i can smiley face
51:31those are the last words that crystal
51:32holder still alive
51:36shortly thereafter
51:38around just after five
51:40neighborhood security cameras the
51:41halters didn't have one but the
51:42neighborhood a lot of people did
51:45show crystal pulling in
51:46getting out of the car walking in she's
51:48never seen again until her legs are
51:50found out by the wisconsin river
51:55but just after killing his mom and his
51:56dad the evidence in this case will show
51:58that chandler went on his phone
52:00if you go on your phone if any of you
52:02ever taken a note you take notes on your
52:04phone iphone has an app called notes
52:06we got some raw data and i've
52:09i'll put it up here in a second i won't
52:10put the raw data because it's a bit
52:12challenging to see but chandler creates
52:14a note
52:16about 5 11 that day on july 1st
52:18probably minutes after killing his
52:20parents and the note reads
52:23weekend chores
52:25h2o2 lemon
52:27h2o2 is the chemical name for hydrogen
52:29peroxide
52:32you'll hear from people in this case
52:33it's essentially a household cleaner to
52:34clean up blood
52:36lemon it deodorizes things mixed
52:38together it's a pretty cheap cleaning
52:40product you can have at home
52:42so chandler writes a note after
52:43murdering his parents h2o2 lemon door
52:46handles
52:47move your [ __ ] upstairs
52:49get a job
52:52and clean the floor
52:56he then does just that
52:58spends the afternoon cleaning the house
53:00eventually jumps in the shower
53:02we know he's in the shower because his
53:04girlfriend and him face time when
53:05they're in the shower
53:07no judgment but that's what happened and
53:08the girlfriend took a screenshot we know
53:09he's in the shower they say they're good
53:11nights and chandler says i'm going to
53:12bed but he doesn't
53:16he goes to gas stations
53:18he's carrying out large bags of ice
53:21because what chandler had done that
53:23night
53:24is what you all probably suspect by now
53:27he had dismembered his parents or at
53:29least started the process and had to fit
53:31them inside of freezers that were in the
53:33halderson home you'll see some of these
53:34freezers they're cleaned
53:36there's still some evidence around
53:41that night
53:42i'm not going to show many photographs
53:44for a little bit just because i think
53:45you deserve to kind of be eased into
53:47some of the things you're going to see
53:50that night
53:52what appears to have happened what the
53:53evidence will show
53:55is mr halderson took items from around
53:57the house
53:59and began cutting apart his parents
54:03the saw blades
54:04covered in barton crysta's blood
54:07and axe
54:09and chris's blood
54:12hand saws things of that sort covered in
54:14bart in crystal's blood
54:16he cleaned the house as best he could
54:17and you'll hear about that but still a
54:19blood spatter found of barton crystal's
54:21blood around the
54:22house and he had a plan
54:26it wasn't a well thought out plan but he
54:28had one
54:29and that was he was going to burn the
54:30remains
54:31in the family fireplace there in the
54:33house
54:36so it's july 1st and if any of you
54:37remember fourth of july weekend's pretty
54:39hot this year
54:41people in the neighborhood thought it
54:42was a little bit weird
54:44that so much fireplace was going on they
54:46smelled stuff
54:48one person this neighborhood's full of
54:50retired cops but one retired cop said i
54:52smelled
54:53like a barbecue like a smell like a pig
54:56roast and he said that
54:58just not knowing what it was at the time
54:59talking to the police
55:01[Music]
55:04and that night a neighbor who had a
55:05security camera behind the halderson
55:07home
55:09way far away
55:11was able to catch something
55:13because it was pitch black at night it
55:15was able to catch just a little glimpse
55:17of all the windows
55:18in the halderson house
55:20we have an expert that's going to come
55:22in who works with video and light
55:23analysis he's going to tell you he was
55:25able to figure out which window that was
55:28and the window it was
55:30that he was looking at in that camera
55:31footage that kind of
55:33just peaked his attention
55:36was the window by the fireplace
55:38and for many hours over the course of
55:40that night
55:42the light flickered came on
55:44died down on down
55:47but in the early morning hours the next
55:49day you've been up all night doing this
55:52because you'll learn you really can't
55:53burn human remains your home fireplace
55:54is not going to get hot enough to do
55:56that it takes an extraordinary amount of
55:58heat if you go to like a crematorium
56:00you're inducing it with oxygen
56:03chemicals
56:04not a residential fireplace
56:07but eventually in the middle of the
56:08night the fire started going well
56:10it appeared that air was being pumped
56:12into it and you'll see when they
56:13searched the halverson home there was in
56:14fact a fan found right next to the
56:16fireplace
56:17next to a tape measure
56:19trying to make sure the remains were the
56:21right size as they went in the fireplace
56:23[Music]
56:25but that light at one point grew and
56:27grew and grew and got very bright in one
56:29room
56:30then all of a sudden the kitchen light
56:32came on
56:33and then all the lights went out
56:36[Music]
56:39i don't know if anyone's ever taken a
56:41hot pyrex plan pan out of the
56:44the stove and put water in it or dump
56:47hot or dump water on your hot water on
56:49your windshield on your car in the
56:50winter
56:52but it explodes the glass
56:54the evidence in this case will show that
56:56what happened was the fire had gotten
56:57out of control burning these human
56:59remains human fat was rendering out
57:02it was igniting
57:04so chandler threw water on it
57:06but when you throw water on your
57:08residential fireplace
57:10you break the glass
57:13and that's exactly what happened
57:16just above that broken glass panel which
57:18is clearly shattered you see the paint
57:20kind of bubbled off
57:21from the heat
57:25this is in the search of the home some
57:26week later
57:29fireplace is clearly used
57:32the police noticed something interesting
57:34about this photograph which is despite
57:35being clearly used
57:39the fire the logs are rebuilt
57:42someone had cleaned out all the ashes
57:46and rebuilt it
57:47[Music]
57:49clean logs
57:51newspaper one burnt piece in the middle
57:54but what stuck out to police right away
57:56was
57:58that little rock right there
58:01they thought what is that
58:03you'll hear from the people who
58:04collected this evidence you'll hear from
58:05an arson specialist from the department
58:07of justice a guy named bill boswell who
58:08come in
58:10you'll hear from a forensic
58:11anthropologist a doctor named christina
58:12figuero soto
58:14who will tell you
58:15we were all interested in what that was
58:17because it was out of place
58:19so they pulled it off and they put it on
58:20one of these fancy police deals
58:23and the forensic anthropologist took one
58:25look at it and she said oh
58:27this is a human skull
58:30he had burned his parents heads in that
58:32fireplace
58:35later the police would
58:37go through the ash trap of that
58:39fireplace and they would find human
58:40remains
58:42facial bones
58:43the knee bones which because we found
58:45crystals legs by deduction had to be
58:46barred
58:48all in the ash trap
58:50of that fireplace
58:52they were all catalogued
58:54now burnt remains
58:56can't be tested for dna there's no
58:57biological material left but they're
58:59able to tell it's human
59:02based on the structure of the bone and
59:04you'll hear from the anthropologist who
59:05will talk about that
59:09so that's what happened
59:11on july 1st
59:12now you're going to hear about all of
59:14those days in between
59:16barton krista dying at three o'clock on
59:19the first all the way through the police
59:20report
59:22but to summarize chandler stayed up all
59:24night that night of the first
59:27obviously things weren't going well
59:28burning his parents remains so the next
59:30day
59:30perhaps not having slept he walked into
59:33fleet farm at 7 21 am to buy a tarp he's
59:36on video
59:38he knew his girlfriend was spending the
59:39night that night
59:41so he spent the whole day cleaning but
59:42he's sending her text messages which you
59:43will see throughout the day
59:45asking her to bring him hydrogen
59:46peroxide
59:47and a mop
59:50because he still needed to clean up
59:54the next day
59:56saturday july
59:583rd 2021. his girlfriend leaves early in
1:00:01the morning that's the day she snaps
1:00:02that picture of him out by the wisconsin
1:00:04river dumping off his mom's remains
1:00:07he spends the rest of the day hanging
1:00:08out but when he goes home and says he's
1:00:10going to bed that night
1:00:12this young man who supposedly couldn't
1:00:13drive or carry heavy objects
1:00:15his phone records show that he's up near
1:00:17the wisconsin river in portage
1:00:19as if you're driving the interstate up
1:00:21to the dells right when you cross the
1:00:22wisconsin river off in the state land
1:00:24there to the right
1:00:25for about an hour in the middle of the
1:00:27night
1:00:29the police tried to search that area it
1:00:30was impossible with the currents
1:00:32whatever remains were thrown in there
1:00:34are lost forever
1:00:36[Music]
1:00:37july 4th 2021 this is the day he texts
1:00:40himself spends a day with his
1:00:42girlfriend's family goes to their farm
1:00:43to use the pool that's the day he says
1:00:44hey can i come back tomorrow
1:00:47goes to some fireworks he's living a
1:00:48normal life
1:00:50no mention of his parents
1:00:53the next day
1:00:54takes out the garbage in the morning who
1:00:56knows what was in that garbage can
1:00:58we've thoroughly searched the landfills
1:01:00but it's impossible to find anything
1:01:03but he took out the garbage
1:01:04he goes out to the farm to supposedly
1:01:06use the pool where he's seen walking out
1:01:08of the woods
1:01:10cell phone tower records prove that he
1:01:12was out there on the farm
1:01:14remember i told you he told that person
1:01:15that he was having trouble at work in
1:01:17school and
1:01:18and having a bad doctor's appointment
1:01:21he never went to any doctor's
1:01:22appointment that day phone records show
1:01:23he never talked to any doctor
1:01:25it was all a ruse to be able to go out
1:01:27in the woods and hide his father's body
1:01:31the next day not much happens
1:01:34because chandler was up all night
1:01:35again that light analysis shows all
1:01:37night the garage light on and off the
1:01:40garage of course being where we found
1:01:41some of these tools the axe covered in
1:01:43blood
1:01:45he's cleaning up
1:01:47at 4 30 in the morning for no apparent
1:01:48reason he drives around the city of
1:01:50madison
1:01:51there's no idea what he did there
1:01:54but he's not doing much but people begin
1:01:56questioning him about his parents
1:01:59he just says they're late
1:02:00[Music]
1:02:02the person most worried perhaps is his
1:02:03girlfriend
1:02:05she thought that was unlike them
1:02:08the next day
1:02:10he drives back to the farm
1:02:13throws a bag of bloody rags
1:02:15into their garbage can
1:02:18that's out by the street
1:02:20at 11 22 he texts his girlfriend that
1:02:22he's finally going to the police
1:02:25we know that bag of rags came from his
1:02:27house
1:02:29because they were in the target bag his
1:02:30girlfriend picked up from target and she
1:02:32did the curbside pickup
1:02:35so her name
1:02:36was printed on the outside
1:02:38it was when she brought him hydrogen
1:02:39peroxide
1:02:40he filled the bag with bloody rags
1:02:43and left it at the house
1:02:46the next day he starts googling body
1:02:48found wisconsin dismembered body found
1:02:50[Music]
1:02:51he's walking door to door asking about
1:02:53security cameras in his neighborhood
1:02:55and at 4 pm they take him downtown
1:02:58and they arrest him at 6 41.
1:03:04so that's the story
1:03:07that's why you're here for a couple
1:03:08weeks
1:03:11like i said in the beginning a lot of
1:03:13cases end with the murder
1:03:15this one it's just a small piece of the
1:03:17puzzle
1:03:18none of the things that happen after and
1:03:20none of the things happened before make
1:03:21any sense without knowing the murder
1:03:22happened on a specific day at a specific
1:03:24time
1:03:27but the evidence in this case you'll
1:03:28find is overwhelming
1:03:31chandler halderson killed his parents on
1:03:32july 1st 2021.
1:03:35he cut up their bodies with axes
1:03:37and saws and knives
1:03:40and he didn't even give them the dignity
1:03:42of having a funeral or even a final
1:03:44resting place in one piece or together
1:03:47their remains were scattered
1:03:50across dane county
1:03:51in public land on farms
1:03:55in garbage
1:03:56cans rivers
1:04:00perhaps every ditch
1:04:01is a possibility in this county
1:04:05you'll find the evidence in this case is
1:04:06overwhelming
1:04:08now over the next couple of weeks
1:04:11i'll make you a couple promises as your
1:04:12prosecutor in this case
1:04:14i'm not here to waste your time
1:04:16but of all the constitutional rights we
1:04:18talked about of chandler he has them i
1:04:20want you to respect them
1:04:22there's another one that you should know
1:04:23which is this is the only time we get to
1:04:24have this trial you get one trial in the
1:04:26united states of america
1:04:28and i have to do it right
1:04:30so if that means calling a lot of
1:04:31witnesses i apologize in advance
1:04:34if it means calling experts to say
1:04:36things that maybe you already know
1:04:38i apologize in advance but i'm going to
1:04:40do my job right
1:04:42as your prosecutor
1:04:44second
1:04:45you're going to see terrible photographs
1:04:48there were approximately 5 000
1:04:50photographs taken in this case
1:04:51[Music]
1:04:53you're going to see maybe
1:04:54total a couple hundred of actual body
1:04:57parts
1:04:58maybe a couple dozen
1:05:01we have scoured those photographs and
1:05:03tried to remove ones that are just
1:05:04horrible to see
1:05:06because of the conditions the bodies
1:05:07were in because of insects and maggots
1:05:09and things of that sort and instead are
1:05:11trying to only show you photographs that
1:05:13help you understand how the remains were
1:05:15hidden where they were hidden
1:05:17how they were dismembered to the extent
1:05:19possible we're using cleaner photographs
1:05:21that were taken by the den county
1:05:22medical examiner
1:05:24i promise you
1:05:25i'm not trying to pull on anyone's
1:05:27heartstrings i'm not trying to make this
1:05:29overly emotional you might feel
1:05:31emotional i suspect many of you have
1:05:33never seen anything like what you're
1:05:34going to see in the next couple of weeks
1:05:36but i promise to do my best to limit
1:05:38the amount
1:05:41and lastly
1:05:42i promise to just ask questions a lot of
1:05:45questions
1:05:46because you're the jury in this case and
1:05:47you deserve to hear absolutely
1:05:49everything
1:05:51it will be a struggle you'll get sick of
1:05:53walking back and forth these jewelry
1:05:54rooms you might get sick of each other i
1:05:56hope not
1:05:59but it's an important task
1:06:02what happened here shouldn't happen
1:06:05but it did
1:06:07and so in a couple weeks when i stand up
1:06:08here and mrs raymond stands up here
1:06:11i'm going to ask you to deliver a
1:06:12verdict of guilty
1:06:14to finally bring
1:06:15some much-needed truth
1:06:17to chandler halderson
1:06:19thank you
1:06:20thank you

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