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WI v. Chandler Halderson Trial Day 1 - Prosecution Opening Statement by William Brown — Transcript

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0:00that the opening statements are not
0:02evidence
0:03tony brown thank you
0:06could i have the screen turned on on the
0:09left hdmi
0:13while he's doing that i'll promise you
0:14he'll give you a copy of that by the way
0:15you don't have to remember all of those
0:17instructions my name is william brown
0:20i'm the deputy district attorney of dane
0:22county
0:23yesterday you met andrea raymond
0:25together we're the prosecutors in the
0:26case
0:27you heard a little bit about how the
0:28process worked in jury selection and you
0:30probably thought you were being strung
0:32along the whole time and in a bit you
0:33were
0:35everyone was trying to gauge your
0:37knowledge of the case maybe any
0:38preconceived notions you had about the
0:40criminal justice system
0:42ms vera asked you a lot of questions
0:43about what you would think if she did
0:44nothing and sat there and and those were
0:47good questions um i won't do nothing in
0:49this case because it would be a very
0:50short trial if i did
0:52you're going to hear from me miss
0:54raymond quite a bit
0:56our job in a case is to present evidence
0:58that means to call witnesses the judge
1:00talked about what evidence is we think
1:02of evidence sometimes we think of
1:03especially a murder case you're in a
1:04murder case you think of the gun
1:06and you'll get that there'll be a gun
1:09you'll see that
1:10but evidence is so much more
1:13the first thing evidence is is the first
1:14thing the judge mentioned evidence is
1:16first the sworn testimony of witnesses
1:19both on direct and cross-examination
1:21when people raise their right hand and
1:22they swear to tell the truth
1:24that's evidence now you as jurors can
1:27decide
1:28whether you believe it or not does this
1:30person have any bias of prejudice do
1:32they have anything to gain by what
1:34they're saying
1:35they have anything to lose
1:37all those things are up to you
1:39but sworn testimony is evidence
1:41photographs or evidence videos are
1:44evidence
1:45statements made
1:47by people involved in the case including
1:48mr halderson
1:50or evidence
1:53our job is to over the course of the
1:55next couple of weeks present evidence
1:57to show you the path
1:59of what we believe happens
2:03which is that chandler halderson
2:05killed his parents
2:08dismembered their bodies
2:10and hid them around southern wisconsin
2:15i've been talking about bart and krista
2:16halderson you've heard their names
2:17mentioned numerous time by the judges
2:20here
2:21that's bart and christopherson
2:23i'm going to try to use some photos as i
2:25talk to maybe guide us along some people
2:27are more visual learners some aren't
2:30that's barton crystal halderson a couple
2:32in the early 50s
2:34living in windsor wisconsin a quiet
2:37street
2:38in a quiet house kind of in a quiet town
2:41if you don't know windsor think
2:43just south of deforest
2:44maybe if you're heading up toward the
2:45dells when you see the fleet farm on
2:47your left if you looked right that's
2:48windsor
2:51that's the halderson home
2:54at this point perhaps it would be best
2:55if i told you a little bit about the
2:56halderson family
2:59bart the father christo the mother
3:02they have two sons
3:04chandler
3:05defender
3:07and his older older brother mitchell
3:11chandler and mitchell are close in age
3:12but mitchell's a little bit older
3:16the time this all happened living in the
3:18hardest and home was bart halderson
3:20christa alderson
3:21and chandler
3:23mitchell had moved out
3:25mitchell had a job working as a i.t
3:28person for a local corporation doing
3:30pretty well in life he's engaged doing
3:33pretty well in life
3:36buying a house
3:37adult things
3:39growing up
3:41but in july of 2021
3:44it's bart and krista
3:46living in that house
3:48and their adult 23 year old son
3:50chandler halderson living in his room
3:54now all of the events i'm going to
3:56describe for the most part
3:58take place during the first week
4:01of july
4:02from the first to about the eighth so i
4:04put up a calendar this is
4:05not evidence in the case i suppose it
4:07might be maybe i'll mark it as an
4:09exhibit
4:10but to provide some reference and i put
4:12the little flag on there because if you
4:13remember this year the fourth of july
4:15was on a sunday
4:17everyone celebrated of course all
4:19weekend a lot of places celebrated on
4:20saturday but the fourth of july was on a
4:22sunday
4:25now i'm giving my opening statement the
4:27judge told you opening statements aren't
4:28evidence and in fact that's the reason
4:30you don't have notebooks i'd like to
4:31think so you have to pay attention to me
4:33but that's not true
4:34because nothing i say is evidence so as
4:37i say things up here
4:38what i'm saying is what i expect to
4:40prove in the next couple of weeks
4:43but what i expect to prove beyond any
4:45reasonable doubt
4:47is that on july 1st
4:492021
4:51somewhere between 3 p.m
4:53and 5 p.m
4:56chandler holderson murdered his parents
5:00it's an important date and it's an
5:02important time to remember
5:04july 1st
5:05between 3
5:07and
5:085.
5:10but the story doesn't start there
5:12and this trial wouldn't be three to four
5:14weeks
5:15if the trial ended there
5:19the story starts
5:21a week later
5:23on july 7th
5:252021
5:27nearly a week after killing his parents
5:29but no one in the world knowing
5:31chandler halderson walks into the
5:33northeast precinct of the dane county
5:35sheriff's office
5:37and says
5:38i'd like to file a missing person's
5:40report
5:43he sits down with sheriff's deputies and
5:45you'll meet them today
5:48and he gives a long story
5:51my parents they just haven't come back
5:52from the cabin
5:54they were there this weekend we have a
5:56cabin up north it's in white lake up in
5:58langlain county it's pretty far up north
5:59couple of hours
6:02they just haven't come back yet they
6:03want to come back monday or tuesday and
6:04i don't know where they are
6:07who were they with the deputies ask
6:10i don't know
6:12i helped them pack
6:14thursday night and they must have left
6:15friday early before i woke up at 6.
6:18who'd they go with i don't know
6:21where are their cars well they're still
6:22at the house
6:25what'd you help them pack
6:27bottles of liquor
6:28lots of money
6:30tools silver bars
6:33why were they going up there
6:35some people get they were fixed in a
6:37window some people got
6:38it was a plumbing issue
6:40storm damage the story varied
6:44sometimes they took just money sometimes
6:45they took just liquor
6:48but over that day the next talking to
6:50numerous sheriff's deputies detectives
6:52including those detectives
6:56he gives this bizarre story
6:59of his parents leaving
7:01in an unknown car
7:03going to a cabin with an unknown couple
7:07with an unknown amount of money
7:09for really an unknown reason
7:14so sheriff's deputies do what cops do
7:16which is they ask him have you heard
7:18from him
7:19and he says yeah
7:21i got a text from my mom
7:23and he did
7:24he showed him his phone
7:26made it safely
7:27this is from crystal halderson to chas
7:29that's what his family calls him
7:31chandler they call him chaz made it
7:33safely can't get anything through though
7:35yes it's packed
7:36going to white lake today for the parade
7:39we'll be home monday night tuesday early
7:42i love you lots
7:46so at this point the sheriff's deputies
7:48don't know what they're dealing with
7:50these folks get up there and decide
7:52now we're gonna
7:53go to the casino for a few days we're
7:56gonna play hooky
7:57didn't make a lot of sense they started
7:58talking to co-workers and realized these
8:00people had never no call no show missed
8:02work which they both did on friday
8:07did they crash their car
8:10did this other couple kidnap them
8:13where the hell are they
8:16but what good police do and what they
8:18did in this case is they start looking
8:19into the people who saw them last who
8:22were with them last who reported them
8:24missing
8:25and in this case all three of those
8:27things the person who purportedly saw
8:29them last
8:31was with them last
8:33and reported them missing were the same
8:34person
8:36there's chandler halderson
8:38so what the police did
8:40started to look into chandler halderson
8:42this is all occurring in the same 24
8:44hour 48 hour period
8:46and what they learn about him
8:49isn't suspicious at all
8:51he's a madison college student matc they
8:53go by madison college now if you didn't
8:54get the email
8:56madison college student he's about to
8:57graduate
8:59he's studying renewable resource
9:00engineering kind of a hybrid i.t degree
9:03with solar panels things of that sort
9:05he's about to get a certificate
9:08but things that looked bright for him
9:10he'd recently been working at american
9:12family insurance he's working from home
9:13like most of us the last couple of years
9:17but he's working a good job at american
9:19family insurance and not only was he
9:20working a good job chandler had just
9:22gotten a better job
9:24he got hired at spacex
9:28he was about to embark on a career that
9:30people in the it field could only dream
9:32of
9:34he's planning to move to titusville
9:35florida that's where spacex operation is
9:37down in florida
9:39with his girlfriend
9:40they'd rented an apartment
9:42they'd bought a car
9:46and not only was this not someone who's
9:47anti-social
9:50he was pro-social he was working with
9:52the madison police
9:53and the department of natural resources
9:55on their rescue diving team he was a
9:57scuba diver
9:58working with the police
10:02the only thing that was bit odd is he'd
10:04recently suffered a head injury
10:07fallen down the stairs
10:08had terrible concussion
10:10was unable to move for the most part
10:13had to wear a neck brace
10:15he was permanently
10:17perhaps injured
10:19all of those things
10:22threw police off
10:24from thinking it was chandler it had
10:26anything to do with this at that point
10:27for all they knew
10:30as sad as it is bart and krista and an
10:33unknown couple
10:34were crashed into a ditch somewhere
10:36between here and white lake wisconsin
10:39dead from a car crash
10:41so they started looking
10:43deputies are sent up north the langlade
10:46county sheriff's department is searching
10:47a cabin no one had ever been there it
10:49didn't look like anyone had been there
10:51at all in years
10:52it was run down the grass hadn't been
10:54mowed there was no food in the
10:55refrigerator no one had been there
10:58so the police expand their search and
11:00they start talking to not only just
11:01chandler people about chandler they
11:03start talking to people
11:06who were with chandler that weekend
11:10specifically they talked to his
11:11girlfriend
11:12a young girl named catherine she goes by
11:14cat
11:16and cat says
11:18i was with him like all weekend
11:21we had normal fourth of july weekend we
11:22went out to my family's farm we got a
11:25farm there was a pool we ate dinner
11:28chandler was having the concussion issue
11:30and he couldn't really move his legs and
11:31so he asked to use their pool the next
11:32day because he thought that was good
11:33therapy
11:36so the police what do they do next they
11:38go talk to the person who owns the farm
11:40and they say was chandler out here and
11:41she goes yeah he was out here on the 4th
11:43of july
11:44but you know what
11:45he showed up the next day
11:47by himself
11:50he showed up the next day by himself i
11:52told him he could come back come back
11:54any time as we just say to people not
11:55expecting they're going to roll into
11:56your house the next day
11:59she says he was acting bizarre
12:02said that he had a doctor's appointment
12:04and they'd given them some bad news that
12:05he was going to lose his job at spacex
12:07because he couldn't travel he couldn't
12:08attend orientation
12:10to start
12:12and she goes and he asked to use the
12:14pool of course i said yes
12:17this woman will testify and she'll tell
12:19you that she sat in her house for a
12:21while
12:21perhaps a bit
12:23weirded out that someone had just shown
12:25up at her rural farm
12:27but she let him have his space
12:30but about an hour later she goes down to
12:32the pool to check on him
12:35he's not there
12:37no one had opened the pool no one had
12:38been in the pool
12:40but she sees his car
12:43it's parked out in the field
12:45away from the pool
12:48backed in toward where that grass is a
12:50bit longer and had its hatch up
12:53she thought boy that was strange
12:56but she thought maybe he's just on a
12:57walk
13:00so she goes in the pool
13:02she said i'm just gonna go in the pool
13:03if you remember that weekend it's
13:04extraordinarily hot
13:07she starts swimming she says
13:09then i see chandler
13:11he's walking out the woods
13:14in that area
13:16now at this point in the investigation
13:17the police are out there with this woman
13:20they're out on the farm
13:22and she says he walked out over there
13:24and you'll hear from the detective
13:25detective brett baverstock who was out
13:27there and he'll tell you that his eyes
13:29kind of shifted up
13:32and he saw vultures
13:35and i promise the photos are only going
13:37to go this far for right now
13:39but the police walked about 20 yards
13:40into the woods
13:42and in that pile of debris
13:46under dozens of sticks bushes and dirt
13:50they found bart holders
13:54now when i say they found bart halderson
13:57i need to
13:58explain that
14:00they found a human torso
14:04someone had crudely chopped off the head
14:07the arms
14:08and sawed off the legs
14:11in the middle of the thigh
14:13leaving the underwear on
14:15in the beginnings of the pants
14:21they removed the sticks and brush over a
14:23course of a few hours they brought out
14:25doctors from the medical examiner's
14:26office to make sure everything was done
14:28appropriately
14:31they rolled the torso over
14:34there were gunshots in the back
14:36this man had been shot in the back
14:38and chopped up
14:44at this point the farm
14:46beautiful farm
14:49all cultivated for years with
14:50wildflowers
14:52kind of
14:54an eden of sorts
14:56was turned into a crime scene
14:59police swarmed the place
15:01drones were in the air cadavers dogs
15:03were on the ground
15:05everyone's looking through absolutely
15:07everything they could but it's a farm
15:09there's a million places things could be
15:13but one detective said
15:15look at that in the woods
15:18is that a garbage can
15:20full of a tarp
15:22it was i'll tell you that tarp
15:25was taken out taken to wisconsin state
15:27crime lab eventually bart
15:29alderson crystal halderson their blood
15:31was all over it
15:33another detective
15:34said
15:36that spot where chandler was walking out
15:37of the woods
15:40an oil barrel there like an old fuel
15:42tank with a hole in it
15:44that's right where the car was parked so
15:46she peeks her head in
15:49and that's what she sees
15:51broken saw blades
15:52hand saws
15:54scissors
15:55tree loppers
15:57all of them tested by the state crime
15:58lab all of them covered
16:01human flesh and blood
16:03of bart
16:05and krista halderson
16:08the farm was searched extensively and
16:09i'll tell you that some months later
16:11things were even continuing to be found
16:13up to this fall in october the homeowner
16:16the person who owns the farm
16:17was tearing apart a barn trying to clean
16:19it
16:20and they're in a barn about a hundred
16:22yards
16:23from where bart halderson was found
16:26the murder weapon
16:28behind a bunch of boards
16:30on the side of the barn
16:35at this point in the investigation
16:37the police knew they needed to start
16:38talking
16:39to chandler
16:42he's seen coming out of the location
16:44where his dad's body was
16:46just
16:47brutally chopped apart
16:51the tools
16:52the cutting instruments are found there
16:56so they do what police do
16:59they bring them downtown
17:01but they ask him and he's at the house
17:02and they ask him and his girlfriend
17:05to come downtown with him
17:06they do
17:08that girlfriend
17:09cat is in one room and chandler is in
17:12another
17:14chandler and you'll see this we'll play
17:16it
17:17for over an hour meets with police
17:19and again regurgitates this odd story of
17:22his parents with this missing couple in
17:24a random car
17:26going places that no one really knew
17:31or cat in the other room
17:34she's vomiting information to the police
17:37literally vomiting at times
17:39but also vomiting information in terms
17:41of she has her phone out she's giving
17:42him pictures she's providing every
17:44single detail she can because she'll
17:46tell you when she testifies
17:48she's one of these people that watches
17:49these crime shows and she knows when
17:52someone's missing you got to exclude the
17:53people closest to him first and she
17:55thought
17:56that's what we got to do
17:58chandler didn't have anything to do with
17:59this i didn't really do this we got to
18:01get to the people who did and the first
18:02step is we got to exclude
18:04us
18:06she didn't for a second think
18:08that mr halderson had done anything
18:09wrong she thought she was with him most
18:11of the weekend
18:12and i'll tell you right now
18:14cat did nothing wrong
18:18cat was an unknowing unwilling
18:20accomplice to some of this but she did
18:22absolutely nothing wrong
18:24and she'll tell you
18:26she liked mr mrs alderson
18:28there were the normal disputes you'd
18:29have with your
18:31boyfriend or girlfriend's parents maybe
18:33you want to go out a lot and they don't
18:34let you maybe you want to
18:36hang out more than they don't want to
18:39but she liked
18:41phone is full of messages between her
18:43and mrs halderson
18:46friendly in all respects
18:49cat meets with police not just once but
18:52multiple times
18:53and in one of these meetings she says
18:55you know what it was weird
18:57is this weekend when i was with chandler
18:59while his parents were at the cabin
19:01i left the house early one day on
19:03saturday in fact saturday july 3rd and
19:05she says
19:07he told me he was going to do chores
19:08that morning around the house
19:11but when i looked at my snapchat
19:14i saw his location
19:16was in a weird spot
19:18if you don't know
19:20on snapchat
19:22you can set it up so that other people
19:24can see exactly where you are
19:26a gps tracker on you at all times if you
19:28will
19:29chandler had that set up with his
19:30girlfriend
19:32and she goes it was so weird where he
19:34was i took a screenshot of it on my
19:36phone
19:38and that's what it showed
19:40chandler was saved as hubby in her phone
19:42that's
19:43perhaps a term of endearment between
19:46two folks dating in their 20s
19:50but she said
19:51at 8 58 in the morning
19:53when he was supposed to be doing chores
19:55on saturday july 3rd i thought it was
19:57strange
19:58that he was in what appears to be
20:01a forest on the banks of the wisconsin
20:05near a prairie du sac
20:08the police took that
20:10they identified immediately where that
20:11location was just based on looking at it
20:13that's a bridge
20:14couldn't be hard out they go
20:17the drones go up the dogs go out
20:19the search team starts searching
20:24very quickly
20:26and i promise this is as far as the
20:27photos will go
20:29they find the remains of crystal holders
20:33now when i say crystal halderson i have
20:35to qualify that as well
20:38we found our legs
20:41one complete leg
20:43then somewhat farther away and another
20:45bush a foot
20:47a thigh
20:49but the same pattern
20:51crudely cut apart
20:52what appears to be handsaws axes things
20:55of that sort
20:58no more of krista halderson
21:00that's identifiable to her will ever be
21:01found
21:02she's just those two likes
21:11at this point
21:13the police thought
21:14this is just a strange location
21:17why would chandler be out there
21:20you've been out there before
21:23they started talking to people including
21:25girlfriends of his in the past friends
21:27of his
21:28and they say yeah chandler really liked
21:31this location out on the wisconsin river
21:33he'd go there all the time
21:35it's where he'd go swimming when his
21:36friends came into town that was the
21:37secret swimming spot and one friend even
21:40said you know what
21:41last year he sent me a picture while he
21:43was out there
21:46kind of shirtless hanging from a tree
21:47with a machete i don't know
21:51didn't have a lot of significance at the
21:52time when the police saw it but
21:53eventually someone realized
21:56the tree looks unique
21:59interesting v pattern right there the
22:02hollowness of the tree as it goes down
22:04the way in which five of those branches
22:06branch off
22:09and eventually one of the detectives
22:10realizes why
22:12something clicked
22:14it was the exact location he ditched his
22:16mother's remains
22:23that's about 100 feet away
22:27so obviously it shouldn't come to
22:29anyone's surprise at some point chandler
22:30was arrested
22:32in fact he was arrested on july 8th
22:342021.
22:37when you're arrested for a lot of crimes
22:38you go to jail you get booked in and
22:41not much more happens investigation-wise
22:43after that they have what they need but
22:45of course that's not the case in a
22:46murder investigation especially
22:47something like this
22:50she chandler was taken to jail
22:52and the police start searching
22:55when i say searching you're going to
22:56hear about searches of the house
22:57searches of this farm searches of this
23:00property
23:01you're going to hear about searches of
23:02landfills and ponds and
23:05ditches all across dane county
23:07but one of the things they started
23:08searching
23:10was
23:11what was this guy doing on his phone
23:14that weekend
23:16and oddly enough most of what they found
23:20was
23:20nothing
23:22either chandler hadn't googled anything
23:24all weekend
23:26except for the eighth or he had deleted
23:28his search history
23:30you'll never know
23:31but remember he was arrested on july 8th
23:34taken to the police station and that's
23:36where they told him hey man we know
23:37what's going on
23:40so meaning while he was still on his
23:42phone on july 8th he was still telling
23:44everyone his parents were missing
23:46not just the police
23:48this kid was standing in his front lawn
23:49giving media interviews to all the local
23:51media outlets about the cabin and the
23:54unknown couple the unknown car
23:57he was going door-to-door in his
23:58neighborhood
24:00my parents are missing can you help me
24:01out do you have any security cameras by
24:03the way
24:04and you'll hear from these neighbors
24:06some of them were so weirded out
24:09by what was going on
24:12that they secretly recorded those
24:14conversations
24:15one of them you'll hear was a man who'd
24:18only been retired as a detective with
24:20the city of madison police for about a
24:21month
24:22he recorded his conversation with mr
24:24halderson
24:26but while he's doing this that morning
24:28what's he googling
24:31this is what he's googling
24:33body found wisconsin woman's body found
24:36wisconsin wisconsin dismembered body
24:38found
24:40we'll come back to the next two dead
24:42body found in wisconsin
24:43body found in milwaukee river
24:48he's searching for whether they found
24:49his parents
24:52and you'll hear in this case he's
24:54starting to search because he's starting
24:55to get worried because the amount of
24:57police in his neighborhood has been
24:58ramping up and up and up because
25:01unbeknownst to him they're finding his
25:03parents remains
25:05and you'll hear that while this is going
25:07on while he's googling these things he's
25:09frantically calling police officers hey
25:10why are there more cops in my
25:11neighborhood calls this guy brian shunk
25:14he records him
25:16what's going on
25:17there's more cops did something happen
25:18did you find something
25:24the middle ones
25:25state versus peter caputo
25:29probably means nothing to everyone
25:31it meant nothing to me when i first saw
25:33it
25:34the name wrong a bell and i wondered why
25:39not only does it show he googled state
25:40versus peter caputsa showed that he
25:42clicked on a link on the wisconsin
25:44court's website
25:45and read something
25:48what he read was a legal case much like
25:50this one is the state versus chandler
25:52halderson
25:53the state versus peter caputsu though
25:56was a case that made it to the court of
25:58appeals based on some legal
25:59technicalities
26:01about a man
26:02who dismembered part of his family
26:04members
26:05and threw their bodies
26:07in the river
26:10so at the same time chandler halderson
26:12is going door-to-door in his
26:13neighborhood
26:14crying about his parents being missing
26:16talking to the local news
26:18telling sheriff's deputies signing
26:20documents saying they're missing
26:23he's conducting legal research
26:25to get himself out of today
26:28so that today never happens
26:33now when i started i started with that
26:35calendar a while ago
26:38and they said the police were initially
26:39thrown off because of one thing and that
26:41was this text message
26:43from krista and it's real
26:45i'll tell you that text message
26:47is in all the search warrant returns
26:48from us cellular
26:50it's on the phone that we were able to
26:52search we're not able to search every
26:53phone but some of them are
26:55yeah
26:56made it safely can't get anything
26:58through though yes it's packed going to
27:00white lake today for the parade
27:03be home monday night tuesday
27:05love you lots
27:07sent on the 4th of july
27:10so the police started looking into that
27:12and the first thing they found was
27:15white lake
27:17the parade was on july 3rd remember the
27:20fourth of july this year was on a sunday
27:23so everyone celebrated on saturday
27:27so they started thinking well how the
27:29hell did this message get sent
27:32so they searched the halderson home
27:34where chandler was
27:36and in the garage
27:38under a shelf
27:39in a shoe
27:41wrapped in aluminum foil
27:43was his mother's phone
27:44along with her driver's license
27:52police would later subpoena the records
27:54from u.s cellular the cell phone carrier
27:56that covers chandler and the family
28:00and they would look into what cell
28:01towers were being used when that message
28:03was sent if you didn't know all of you
28:05probably have cell phones at any time
28:07your phone is pinging off of different
28:08cell towers it's not always the same as
28:11you sit here half of you might be using
28:12one tower and half of you might be using
28:14another it's based on the workload of
28:15those towers you'll hear about that
28:18but it's generally an approximate area
28:20of where you are
28:24that message on july 4th crystal there's
28:26in pink chandler's and green
28:29the message was sent from the halderson
28:31home on july 4th
28:34chandler sent it to himself
28:39so at this point the investigators began
28:42to wonder
28:43and perhaps you're beginning to wonder
28:44how the evidence will come out
28:48how does this happen
28:50how does this kid
28:52with everything in the world going for
28:54him
28:55promising new jobs school
28:58a girlfriend that loves him willing to
28:59move across the country for him
29:02or even physically a kid who just
29:04suffered this major concussion
29:06was unable to use his legs for the most
29:08part
29:09how does this happen
29:13and what you'll learn
29:15it happens because none of these things
29:17are true
29:19he wasn't going to madison college
29:22he wasn't studying renewable resource
29:24engineering
29:25the people at american family insurance
29:27they'd never even heard of him
29:30there's no indication he'd ever even
29:31applied for a job much less had any job
29:33at spacex
29:35the apartment he told his girlfriend
29:36he'd rented in the car he'd bought none
29:38of that was real
29:41the madison police
29:42they don't even have a scuba diving team
29:45neither does the dnr
29:47and this concussion he apparently
29:48suffered he did go to the hospital
29:51you'll hear from the doctor who was
29:52there said yeah he came and he reported
29:54that he hit his head falling down the
29:55stairs
29:57i diagnosed him with a mild concussion
29:59gave him a neck brace on the way out
30:00told him he could use it if he needed it
30:04but none of the things that chandler
30:05reported to other
30:06people the leg weakness his inability to
30:09move drive travel
30:12none of that was real
30:14and given what you're going to find out
30:15in this case you may conclude at the end
30:17of it
30:18he never suffered any fall at all
30:22what you may conclude
30:25is that it was all made up
30:29now
30:32police started looking into
30:35all of these lies
30:37because
30:38how does a person
30:40look so promising was able to convince
30:42so many people of his success
30:46how are you able to keep this up
30:49how are you able to catfish your family
30:51your girlfriend
30:53your brother your friends
30:55and they started to find things around
30:58the halderson home
31:00in the email accounts of bart and krista
31:02halderson in the email accounts of
31:04chandler halderson
31:07when they talk about american family
31:08insurance the first big lie chandler was
31:10making up
31:11again the people in american family
31:13insurance you'll hear them testify
31:14they're directors of human resources you
31:15never work there never worked for any of
31:17their affiliates
31:18never worked for any of the companies
31:20that are associated with them
31:22chandler had been claiming to work there
31:23for a year
31:27but he never had any money
31:29and his father was an accountant so his
31:32father would ask him questions pretty
31:33much daily why don't you have any money
31:35why haven't she paid any rent
31:38and chandler spun an amazing web of lies
31:41first it was
31:43well i'm a salary guy but they were
31:44accidentally paying me hourly so they
31:46just held my paychecks until they fixed
31:47it then it was i gave him the wrong
31:49direct deposit info
31:51then it kind of shifted eventually
31:53he said well
31:55they weren't going to pay me but now the
31:57amount is so much they got to pay me so
31:59much money that when they deposit in the
32:01bank they thought it was fake
32:04and police started to find emails
32:06like this
32:08this from tom selznick a guy in american
32:10family insurance a northeast remote
32:12human resources guy
32:15describing this you're registered as
32:17salary but you're making hourly and
32:19these emails would go back and forth
32:21with chandler and the hr person and
32:23eventually he forward him to his father
32:27but in the way a parent looks at their
32:28child as maybe telling the truth
32:30is not the way that you as jurors have
32:32to look at this
32:34you like the police maybe have to take a
32:36more critical look at emails like this
32:38and for one notice
32:40why is the guy who works at human
32:41resources at american family insurance
32:44using a proton male generic email
32:46address
32:48why is the guy who's the human resources
32:50manager spelling the word resources
32:52wrong
32:53saying he's the human recourses manager
32:57it's it's comically fake
33:00he emailed himself back and forth
33:03trying to explain why he didn't have any
33:05money
33:06and he forwards it to his dad
33:11now here's where the story gets maybe a
33:13little more complex
33:16having a fake job
33:19solves a lot of riddles in your life no
33:21one's hassling you to get a new job
33:24no one's hassling you to do chores all
33:26day
33:27the problem is
33:28if your dad works for home from home
33:31if he was an accountant for instance
33:32which he was and which he did
33:35you actually have to wake up early every
33:37day and go to work
33:39so there he was
33:40messages between bart and chandler hey
33:42are you up for your meetings yeah
33:45over and over again
33:47so chandler woke up
33:49but he had nothing to do all day because
33:51his job was pretend
33:53and so he sat on his computer playing
33:54video games and i'm not against people
33:56playing video games
33:58a guy myself people play video games
34:00but video games if you don't know some
34:02of you are of an age where you do and
34:04some are you're in age where you don't
34:05are a much more social thing than they
34:07used to be
34:08when you play video games you don't just
34:11sit on nintendo 64 and play mario by
34:14yourself
34:15you're playing role player games with
34:18people from around the world
34:20and who's up early in the morning
34:22when mr halderson had to wake up to
34:24attend his fake work meetings
34:27people in the military who are stationed
34:29overseas
34:31they speak english
34:32they're american
34:34but they're on a different time schedule
34:36they're in him's time schedule most
34:37people here probably play video games at
34:38night during weekdays
34:41but every day mr halderson was able to
34:43wake up and find a group of friends to
34:44play video games with online one of
34:46which
34:47was stationed in germany
34:50this friend was a guy named andrew smith
34:54now mr smith mr halderson became kind of
34:57best friends they would talk all the
34:59time
35:00they communicated in this video game all
35:02the time
35:03and mr smith he'll testify he's coming
35:05up here
35:06lives down south he's back in the u.s
35:10he'll tell you
35:12the chandler really liked an sks rifle
35:14when they play some of these shooting
35:15games
35:17just something he liked
35:18not a big deal there's nothing wrong
35:20with that
35:22but this past summer
35:25about a month before the murders of bart
35:26and krista halderson
35:28this online friend andrew smith
35:31comes to visit mr hollerson
35:33and expect stays at the home with barton
35:35christa
35:37this is a picture of mr smith and then
35:39perhaps
35:40crudely designed yellow shirt
35:42that's mr halderson it's the only photo
35:44we have of them on that visit
35:48you'll learn that mr smith had gotten
35:49out of the military he was done with it
35:52but you also learned that he really
35:54likes guns
35:56like he really likes guns
35:58and he knew his friend liked sks rifles
36:01so when he visited him
36:03this year in june
36:04he brought with him a gift
36:07the sks rifle that was found about 100
36:09yards bart holderson's body
36:14now you'll meet mr smith and you'll
36:16probably
36:17concur with me after meeting him he's
36:18not really probably a paperwork kind of
36:20guy
36:21and so when he gave the gun to mr
36:23halderson
36:24he wanted to document that he
36:26transferred the gun
36:27but he wasn't going to fill out any
36:29paperwork so he just took the serial
36:31number of the gun he put mr halderson's
36:33driver's license next to it snapped a
36:34picture on his phone there's a clear
36:35picture of that but that serial number
36:38matches the gun
36:40found in the barn
36:41100 yards from bart holderson's body
36:44and before mr smith left
36:47he decided he would gift his friend
36:48something else
36:50which was about 400 rounds of
36:51high-powered ammunition
36:58now
37:00you'll hear from mr smith
37:04despite maybe his bizarre actions
37:08and maybe his bizarre
37:09statements he may make
37:12he's not a suspect
37:13police proved he was in texas at the
37:14time all of this happened
37:16another unknowing accomplice to mr
37:19halderson's crimes
37:22so at this point mr halderson's working
37:24a pretend job at american family
37:26insurance
37:27he's not getting paid his father who's
37:29an accountant is kind of on his case
37:30about it
37:32he's got to figure out something else
37:35and the best way out of your pretend job
37:37is an even more pretend job
37:40so around may going into june
37:43of this past year
37:46american family wasn't going well so mr
37:47halderson decided to get a new job
37:51he's going to be an astronaut
37:53i work at spacex
37:55this is messages to his girlfriend
37:57i have a good feeling about spacex i
37:59have a follow-up interview for florida
38:00tomorrow
38:02shoot sorry i got the job
38:04i have training next week over the
38:06computer and leave june 11th and start
38:09june 14th
38:14he didn't give himself a lot of time
38:16but what he gave himself was an escape
38:18hatch he could move
38:20he could end the lies that he had going
38:22on in his life about being a rescue
38:23scuba diver and working for american
38:25family insurance by simply moving to
38:27florida
38:30that presented with it one major problem
38:32which was that job which was also make
38:34believe would pay absolutely no better
38:36than the last job that was make believe
38:41so in late june as he's supposed to
38:42start the job at spacex
38:44in florida for elon musk
38:48something happens in the halderson
38:50family something real there's a change
38:53remember when i started off and i said
38:54there were two sons
38:56his older brother
38:58gets hospitalized that's real it
38:59happened
39:01got diagnosed with diabetes and was
39:03having some complications he's doing
39:04great now
39:07mr halderson uses that as an excuse to
39:09delay starting at spacex it was a stroke
39:12of good luck for him a stroke of bad
39:13luck of course for the family but a
39:14stroke of good luck for him
39:18but that only gave him a couple of weeks
39:21so his brother
39:23who's doing really well in life
39:25engaged
39:26house real job making a lot of money
39:31suddenly he's in the hospital
39:33being doted over by his family by his
39:34mother
39:35people care about him
39:37[Music]
39:41so roughly a week later when chandler
39:42halderson needs to think of a new lie to
39:44get out of the spacex lie
39:47guess who ends up in the hospital
39:49being doted over by his mother
39:51and his family
39:53with a supposed neck injury
39:55this is father's day of this year
39:57in late june
39:59that's bart halderson in the middle
40:01mitchell on the right of course chandler
40:03wearing a neck brace
40:05that no one told him he had to wear
40:07on the left
40:11now around this time chandler started
40:13telling people
40:14an extraordinarily bizarre set of claims
40:18that he had a brain bleed a hematoma
40:21that he had spinal damage
40:23that he needed his head drilled open
40:25the inability to use his legs at all
40:29couldn't drive
40:30people had to do that for him
40:32that he had nerve damage then he needed
40:34to get a colostomy bag
40:36but most importantly
40:40he couldn't go to florida
40:42the doctors had told him he couldn't fly
40:45of course that's not true you'll see his
40:47medical records and you'll see his
40:48doctor testify
40:52so suddenly this man
40:55who
40:55[Music]
40:58was for all intents and purposes
41:01disabled
41:03was being doted over by his family
41:05people were making him meals you'll see
41:06notes his mom was leaving for him call
41:08this neighbor if you need anything
41:11she'll help you out
41:14couldn't drive couldn't work
41:16couldn't do chores
41:20now a bit of a preview and a fast
41:21forward this guy who's wearing a neck
41:23brace
41:24nearly every day
41:25in late june
41:272021
41:29would have no problem just days later
41:31carrying large bags of ice out of gas
41:33stations to chill his father's cut up
41:35body
41:36in a freezer and you'll note
41:38no neck brace
41:39and in fact you'll note in this case
41:42chandler halderson has never seen and
41:44then neck brace again
41:46after july first 1st 2021 when he kills
41:49his parents
41:52so the job lies are over for chandler in
41:54his life
41:55american family insurance don't worry
41:57about that because you got this new job
41:58at spacex
41:59in spacex i can't go cause i'm hurt it
42:02was a perfect scenario
42:04but there was one last lie that chandler
42:06had to get out of
42:08and that is he had told everyone he was
42:09going to matc for college
42:11and that he was about to graduate
42:14and you'll hear there's a hint of truth
42:16to that he was going there at one point
42:17in fact there's a hint of truth to all
42:18of these lies
42:21he did go to matc for like a semester he
42:23failed out
42:25but he wasn't going there anymore
42:28and the parents were starting to grow
42:30suspicious
42:32and we knew this because when we
42:33searched the house we started to find
42:35notes
42:36on bart halderson's desk bart holderson
42:38was one of these guys who prints his
42:39emails i don't know if any of you print
42:41your emails
42:42but some people they get an email and
42:44they print it out
42:46that was bart
42:48we find one
42:50it's an email between bart and krista
42:54detailing a conversation that he had had
42:56with chandler's advisors at matc
43:00supposed to meet with someone else so we
43:02met with this guy daniel spieth
43:04chandler's going to get a solar
43:05certificate
43:06he wasn't
43:08he's registered for fall classes he
43:09wasn't
43:11he's in the iq program he wasn't
43:14all of these things line by line
43:16none of them true
43:18but bart harderson talked to this person
43:22so police honed in on something
43:24that line
43:26when i talk to the advisor he sounds
43:28just like chas on the phone
43:30and he gives this number
43:33that is of course because bart holderson
43:36when he talked to chandler's college
43:37advisor
43:38was just talking to chandler
43:40who had bought a burner phone you know
43:42cheap phone from like walgreens that you
43:44can buy with no service carrier
43:47and police know that because they
43:49searched chandler's bedroom
43:50and in his just drawer
43:52they found that phone
43:58now this kept going
44:00the lie about going to matc or madison
44:02college was the most extensive
44:04there were emails dozens if not hundreds
44:07of emails going back and forth between
44:09supposed advisors at matc
44:11and chandler and then he'd forward him
44:13to his dad from people like someone
44:15named alyssa brandt 64. sometimes
44:17chandler would spell brandt
44:19b-r-a-n-d-t sometimes just with the t
44:21and no d
44:23dependent on the day
44:24but they all had the at gmail address
44:27not at
44:28madisoncollege.edu and you'll hear from
44:30the people at madison college their
44:31people have real emails they don't use
44:33gmail
44:35but it was
44:36over and over again alyssa brant was one
44:38of them you heard about daniel spieth
44:40also at gmail there was someone named
44:41aaron hoover also at gmail
44:44in this one chandler's getting upset
44:46i have to have a call with whomever's in
44:48charge within the next 30 minutes i have
44:49been a student for over three years and
44:51i will be treated fairly
44:52of course he's yelling at himself
44:55all of these were fake
44:58back and forth to himself
45:00and eventually to his dad
45:04the halverson parents had been growing
45:05extraordinarily frustrated
45:08kid wasn't getting paid
45:09he was injured suddenly
45:11his college transcripts aren't coming
45:13through so he can't get a job
45:17so police looked at that original note
45:19again
45:23they saw something interesting
45:26which is in this sea of fake people
45:29daniel spieth aaron hoover tom selznick
45:34melissa brandt
45:36there was one name that stood out
45:39omar job
45:42and that name didn't stand out because
45:43it was fake
45:45it stood out to the police because it
45:46was real
45:48that is the only real person on any of
45:51these emails
45:54and what we've discovered in this
45:55investigation
45:57is in just the day and a half prior to
45:59being murdered
46:01bart holderson
46:03chandler's dad
46:04called matc
46:07and pretended to be chandler to try to
46:09finally get some information on what's
46:10going on
46:11just as any of you could call any doctor
46:13and pretend to be your kid you know
46:14their name their social security number
46:16their birthday
46:17you can get through you can get through
46:18those minor security things
46:21bart called matc
46:23said i'm chandler
46:25and i want some answers
46:27and for 17 minutes
46:29bart halderson
46:31just before his murder
46:33talked to a man named omar job
46:36omar jobe is a
46:38entry-level
46:40customer service guy at matc he's got no
46:43skin in the game
46:45doesn't even really remember the call
46:47but it was recorded for customer service
46:50purposes
46:52and bart halderson questions omar and
46:55he's very mean at first
46:58because in his mind
47:00he'd been getting screwed around for a
47:02year on where his son's transcripts were
47:04and what degree program he's in and why
47:06he hasn't graduated yet
47:09but toward the end of the call
47:11bart
47:12asks omar joe hey do any of these people
47:14work there
47:15alyssa brandt daniel spieth
47:18aaron hoover
47:20and he's told no they've never worked
47:22there and in fact they haven't
47:26and he says
47:27that'll be it then
47:29that'll be it then are the last recorded
47:31words of bart alderson alive
47:38bart halderson shortly after that sends
47:40a text message
47:42a text message that ultimately sealed
47:44his fate which was a text to his own son
47:48and it says i spoke with omar job
47:52now
47:54what happens over the next 24 or so
47:56hours is a bit unknown homicide
47:58investigations are a lot of unknowns
48:00because the two people who are the
48:01victims who maybe know the most about
48:03what happened they're of course dead
48:06but there's not much verifiable
48:07information that happens over the next
48:0924 hours
48:10it's also unknown if chandler even knew
48:11who omar job was of course he wasn't
48:13going to matc so why would he know who
48:15some
48:16lowly
48:17entry-level customer service guy was
48:19you wouldn't
48:21but bart holderson did
48:25when you look at bart halderson's work
48:27calendar
48:28then he maintains it as accounting firm
48:31you see something quite interesting
48:32remember at the beginning i said i
48:33wanted you to remember a date at the
48:35time which was that the haldersons were
48:36killed between three and five pm
48:38on july first 2021.
48:42guess what was on bart's calendar
48:44at that exact time
48:46he was supposed to have a meeting with
48:48the people at matc
48:50with his son
48:52so supposed to go to matc and have this
48:54meeting
48:55at three o'clock
48:57on july 1st
48:592021
49:02of course that meeting couldn't happen
49:04because he wasn't going there and none
49:06of the people were real
49:08but bart halderson knew that
49:12bart halderson knew that
49:16and so
49:18chandler had obviously figured that out
49:20at this point
49:21there's no way out of this one
49:24you can't get out of this lie
49:26and so the next day
49:28chandler halderson wakes up on july 1st
49:29and starts messaging his girlfriend
49:327 26 i hardly slept
49:35727 stuff has been going well for me
49:37lately just trying to plan for the next
49:39thing to fuck me over
49:417 51 i had a great future planned it's
49:44falling apart
49:46104 just two hours prior to the murders
49:49i overheard
49:51they might go to the cabin with their
49:52friends
49:53but i don't know
49:56so somewhat of a full circle at this
49:58point that's the moment
50:00chandler holderson decides to kill his
50:02parents
50:03and engage in this bizarre story of them
50:05missing at a cabin
50:07with an unknown couple in an unknown car
50:10at 104 july 1st
50:14now shortly after this message
50:16just about an hour and 10 minutes
50:19bart holderson's getting ready to go to
50:20matc for this meeting
50:22perhaps to confront chandler perhaps
50:24chandler's going to confront him
50:26bart text chandler
50:28i'm ready whenever you are
50:31that's about 50 minutes prior to when he
50:32was killed
50:36those are the last words ever recorded
50:38at bart holders
50:41his phone is never used really
50:43again
50:44dies at some point
50:46he never
50:47goes back to work no one ever sees him
50:49the neighborhood he lives in riddled
50:51with security cameras never see him
50:53again
50:55i'm ready whenever you are
50:58what the evidence will show in this case
50:59is that sometime after the i'm ready
51:02whenever you are message
51:04probably just around three o'clock when
51:06he was supposed to go to this meeting
51:07with matc
51:09bart halderson was shot in the back
51:10multiple times with a high-powered rifle
51:15and after shooting his dad
51:17chandler texts his mom
51:21dad's phone died
51:23text her call me
51:26and get sewed on your way home i have an
51:29extra hour of work
51:31you know he didn't have an extra hour of
51:32work
51:34but he was delaying her getting there
51:36because the evidence will show he needed
51:38to
51:39move things around
51:41prepare for what he was about to do when
51:42she showed up
51:45she responds
51:47okay i can smiley face
51:49those are the last words of christohold
51:50are still alive
51:54shortly thereafter
51:56around just after five
51:58neighborhood security cameras the
51:59haldersons didn't have one but the
52:00neighborhood a lot of people did
52:03show christa pulling in
52:04getting out of the car walking in she's
52:06never seen again until her legs are
52:08found out by the wisconsin river
52:13but just after killing his mom and his
52:14dad the evidence in this case will show
52:16that chandler went on his phone
52:18if you go on your phone if any of you
52:20ever taken a note and take notes on your
52:21phone iphone has an app called notes
52:24we got some raw data and i've
52:27i'll put it up here in a second i won't
52:28put the raw data because it's a bit
52:29challenging to see but chandler creates
52:31a note
52:34about 511 that day on july 1st
52:36probably minutes after killing his
52:38parents and the note reads
52:41weekend shores
52:43h2o2 lemon
52:45h2o2 is the chemical name for hydrogen
52:47peroxide
52:50you'll hear from people in this case
52:51it's essentially a household cleaner to
52:52clean up blood
52:54lemon deodorizes things mixed together
52:57it's a pretty cheap cleaning product you
52:58can have at home so chandler writes a
53:00note after murdering his parents h2o2
53:02lemon
53:03door handles
53:05move your shit upstairs
53:07get a job
53:10and clean the floor
53:14he then does just that
53:16spends the afternoon cleaning the house
53:18eventually jumps in the shower
53:20we know he's in the shower because his
53:21girlfriend and him face time when
53:23they're in the shower
53:25no judgment but that's what happened and
53:26the girlfriend took a screenshot we know
53:27he's in the shower they say they're good
53:29nights and chandler says i'm going to
53:30bed
53:32but he doesn't
53:34he goes to gas stations
53:36he's carrying out large bags of ice
53:39because what chandler had done that
53:40night
53:42is what you all probably suspect by now
53:45he had dismembered his parents or at
53:46least started the process and had to fit
53:48them inside of freezers that were in the
53:50halderson home you'll see some of these
53:52freezers they're cleaned
53:54there's still some evidence around
53:58that night
54:00i'm not going to show many photographs
54:02for a little bit just because i think
54:03you deserve to kind of be eased into
54:05some of the things you're going to see
54:08that night what appears to have happened
54:11with the evidence will show
54:13is mr halderson took items from around
54:15the house
54:17and began cutting apart his parents
54:21saw blades
54:22covered in barton crysta's blood
54:25and axe
54:27barton crysta's blood
54:29hand saws things of that sort covered in
54:32bart and crystal's blood
54:33he cleaned the house as best he could
54:35and you'll hear about that
54:36but still blood spatter found of bart
54:38and crystal's blood around the house
54:41and he had a plan
54:44it wasn't a well thought out plan but he
54:45had one
54:47and that was he was going to burn the
54:48remains
54:49in the family fireplace
54:51there in the house
54:53so it's july 1st and if any of you
54:55remember fourth of july weekend's pretty
54:56hot this year
54:59people in the neighborhood thought it
55:00was a little bit weird
55:01that so much fireplace was going on they
55:04smelled stuff
55:06one person this neighborhood's full of
55:07retired cops but one retired cop said i
55:10smelled
55:11like a barbecue like a smell like a pig
55:13roast and he said that
55:16just not knowing what it was at the time
55:17talking to the police
55:22and that night a neighbor who had a
55:23security camera behind the halderson
55:25home
55:27way far away
55:29was able to catch something
55:31because it was pitch black at night he
55:33was able to catch just a little glimpse
55:34of all the windows
55:36in the hauderson house
55:38we have an expert that's going to come
55:40in who works with video and light
55:41analysis he's going to tell you he was
55:43able to figure out which window that was
55:46and the window it was that he was
55:48looking at in that camera footage that
55:50kind of
55:51just
55:51peaked his attention
55:54was the window by the fireplace
55:56and for many hours over the course of
55:58that night
56:00the light flickered came on
56:02died down on down
56:05but in the early morning hours the next
56:06day been up all night doing this
56:09because you'll learn you really can't
56:11burn human remains your home fireplace
56:12is not going to get hot enough to do
56:14that it takes an extraordinary amount of
56:16heat if you go to like a crematorium
56:18you're inducing it with oxygen
56:21chemicals
56:22not a residential fireplace
56:24but eventually in the middle of the
56:26night the fire started going well
56:28it appeared that air was being pumped
56:30into it and you'll see when they
56:31searched the halderson home there was in
56:32fact a fan found right next to the
56:34fireplace
56:35next to a tape measure
56:37trying to make sure the remains were the
56:39right size as they went in the fireplace
56:42but that light at one point grew and
56:45grew and grew and got very bright in one
56:47room
56:48then all of a sudden the kitchen light
56:49came on
56:51and then all the lights went
56:56out don't know if anyone's ever taken a
56:59hot pyrex plant pan out of the
57:02the stove and put water in it or dumped
57:05hot or dumped water on your hot water on
57:07your windshield on your car in the
57:08winter
57:10but it explodes the glass
57:12the evidence in this case will show that
57:14what happened was the fire had gotten
57:15out of control burning these human
57:17remains human fat was rendering out
57:20it was igniting
57:21so chandler threw water on it
57:24but when you throw water on your
57:26residential fireplace
57:28you break the glass
57:31and that's exactly what happened
57:34just above that broken glass panel which
57:36is clearly shattered you see the paint
57:38kind of bubbled off
57:39from the heat
57:42this is in the search of the home some
57:44week later
57:47fireplace is clearly used
57:50police noticed something interesting
57:51about this photograph which is despite
57:53being clearly used
57:56the fire
57:58the logs are rebuilt
58:00someone had cleaned out all the ashes
58:04and rebuilt it
58:07clean logs
58:09newspaper one burnt piece in the middle
58:12but what stuck out to police right away
58:13was
58:16that little rock right there
58:19they thought what is that
58:21you'll hear from the people who
58:22collected this evidence you'll hear from
58:23an arson specialist from the department
58:25of justice a guy named bill boswell will
58:26come in
58:27you'll hear from a forensic
58:28anthropologist a doctor named christina
58:30figueroa soto
58:32who will tell you
58:33we were all interested in what that was
58:35because it was out of place
58:37so they pulled it off and they put it on
58:38one of these fancy police deals
58:41and the forensic anthropologist took one
58:42look at it and she said oh
58:45this is a human skull
58:48it burned his parents heads in that
58:50fireplace
58:53later the police would
58:55go through the ash trap of that
58:57fireplace and they would find human
58:58remains
58:59facial bones
59:01the knee bones which because we found
59:03krista's legs by deduction had to be
59:04barred
59:06all in the ash trap
59:08of that fireplace
59:10they were all catalogued
59:12now burnt remains
59:14can't be tested for dna there's no
59:15biological material left but they're
59:17able to tell it's human
59:19based on the structure of the bone and
59:21you'll hear from the anthropologist who
59:23will talk about that
59:27so that's what happened
59:28on july 1st
59:30now you're going to hear about all of
59:32those days in between
59:34barton christa dying at three o'clock on
59:37the first all the way through the police
59:38report
59:40but to summarize chandler stayed up all
59:42night that night of the first
59:45obviously things weren't going well
59:46burning his parents remains so the next
59:48day
59:48perhaps not having slept he walked into
59:51fleet farm at 7 21 am to buy a tarp he's
59:54on video
59:56he knew his girlfriend was spending the
59:57night that night
59:58so he spent the whole day cleaning but
1:00:00he's sending her text messages which you
1:00:01will see throughout the day
1:00:03asking her to bring him hydrogen
1:00:04peroxide and a mop
1:00:08because he still needed to clean up
1:00:12the next day
1:00:14saturday july
1:00:163rd 2021. his girlfriend leaves early in
1:00:19the morning that's the day she snaps
1:00:20that picture of him out by the wisconsin
1:00:22river dumping off his mom's remains
1:00:25he spends the rest of the day hanging
1:00:26out but when he goes home and says he's
1:00:28going to bed that night
1:00:30this young man who supposedly couldn't
1:00:31drive or carry heavy objects his phone
1:00:34records show that he's up near the
1:00:35wisconsin river in portage
1:00:37as if you're driving the interstate up
1:00:38to the dells right when you cross the
1:00:40wisconsin river off in the state land
1:00:42there to the right
1:00:43for about an hour in the middle of the
1:00:45night
1:00:47the police tried to search that area was
1:00:48impossible with the currents
1:00:50whatever remains were thrown in there
1:00:52are lost forever
1:00:53[Music]
1:00:55july 4th 2021 this is the day he texts
1:00:58himself spends a day with his
1:01:00girlfriend's family goes to their farm
1:01:01to use the pool that's the day he says
1:01:02hey can i come back tomorrow
1:01:04goes to some fireworks he's living a
1:01:06normal life
1:01:08no mention of his parents
1:01:10the next day
1:01:12takes out the garbage in the morning who
1:01:14knows what was in that garbage can
1:01:16we've thoroughly searched the landfills
1:01:18but it's impossible to find anything
1:01:21but he took out the garbage
1:01:22he goes out to the farm to supposedly
1:01:24use the pool where he's seen walking out
1:01:26of the woods
1:01:28cell phone tower records prove that he
1:01:30was out there on the farm
1:01:32remember i told you he told that person
1:01:33that he was having trouble at work in
1:01:35school and
1:01:36and having a bad doctor's appointment
1:01:39he never went to any doctor's
1:01:40appointment that day phone records show
1:01:41he never talked to any doctor
1:01:43it was all a ruse to be able to go out
1:01:45in the woods and hide his father's body
1:01:49the next day not much
1:01:50happens because chandler was up all
1:01:52night
1:01:53again that light analysis shows all
1:01:55night the garage light on and off the
1:01:58garage of course being where we found
1:01:59some of these tools the ax covered in
1:02:01blood
1:02:03he's cleaning up
1:02:05at 4 30 in the morning for no apparent
1:02:06reason he drives around the city of
1:02:07madison
1:02:09there's no idea what he did there
1:02:12but he's not doing much but people begin
1:02:14questioning him about his parents
1:02:17he just says they're
1:02:18late the person most worried perhaps is
1:02:21his girlfriend
1:02:23she thought that was unlike them
1:02:26the next day
1:02:28he drives back to the farm
1:02:31throws a bag of bloody rags
1:02:33into their garbage can
1:02:35that's out by the street
1:02:38at 11 22 he texts his girlfriend that
1:02:40he's finally going to the police
1:02:43we know that bag of rags came from his
1:02:44house
1:02:47because they were in the target bag his
1:02:48girlfriend picked up from target and she
1:02:50did the curbside pickup
1:02:52so her name was printed on the outside
1:02:56it was when she brought him hydrogen
1:02:57peroxide
1:02:58he filled the bag with bloody rags
1:03:01and left it at the house
1:03:04the next day he starts googling body
1:03:06found wisconsin dismembered body found
1:03:09he's walking door to door asking about
1:03:11security cameras in his neighborhood
1:03:13and at 4 pm they take him downtown and
1:03:16they arrest him at 6 41.
1:03:22so that's the story
1:03:25that's why you're here for a couple
1:03:26weeks
1:03:29like i said in the beginning a lot of
1:03:30cases end with the murder
1:03:33this one it's just a small piece of the
1:03:35puzzle
1:03:36none of the things that happen after and
1:03:38none of the things happened before make
1:03:39any sense without knowing the murder
1:03:40happened on a specific day at a specific
1:03:42time
1:03:45but the evidence in this case you'll
1:03:46find is overwhelming
1:03:48chandler holderson killed his parents on
1:03:50july 1st 2021.
1:03:53he cut up their bodies with axes
1:03:55and saws and knives
1:03:58and he didn't even give them the dignity
1:04:00of having a funeral or even a final
1:04:02resting place in one piece or together
1:04:05their remains were scattered
1:04:08across dane county
1:04:09in public land on farms
1:04:13in garbage cans
1:04:15the rivers
1:04:17perhaps every ditch
1:04:19is a possibility in this county
1:04:23you'll find the evidence in this case is
1:04:24overwhelming
1:04:26now over the next couple of weeks
1:04:29i'll make you a couple promises as your
1:04:30prosecutor in this case
1:04:32i'm not here to waste your time
1:04:34but of all the constitutional rights we
1:04:36talked about of chandler he has them i
1:04:38want you to respect them there's another
1:04:40one that you should know which is this
1:04:41is the only time we get to have this
1:04:43trial
1:04:43you get one trial in the united states
1:04:45of america
1:04:46and i have to do it right
1:04:48so if that means calling a lot of
1:04:49witnesses i apologize in advance
1:04:52if it means calling experts to say
1:04:54things that maybe you already know i
1:04:56apologize in advance
1:04:58but i'm going to do my job right
1:05:00as your prosecutor
1:05:02second you're going to see terrible
1:05:04photographs
1:05:06there were approximately 5 000
1:05:08photographs taken in this case
1:05:10you're going to see maybe
1:05:12total a couple hundred of actual body
1:05:15parts
1:05:16maybe a couple dozen
1:05:19we have scoured those photographs and
1:05:21tried to remove ones that are just
1:05:22horrible to see
1:05:24because of the conditions the bodies
1:05:25were in because of insects and maggots
1:05:27and things of that sort and instead are
1:05:29trying to only show you photographs that
1:05:31help you understand how the remains were
1:05:33hidden where they were hidden
1:05:35how they were dismembered to the extent
1:05:37possible we're using cleaner photographs
1:05:39that were taken by the den county
1:05:40medical examiner
1:05:42i promise you
1:05:43i'm not trying to pull on anyone's
1:05:45heartstrings i'm not trying to make this
1:05:47overly emotional you might feel
1:05:49emotional i suspect many of you have
1:05:50never seen anything like what you're
1:05:52going to see in the next couple of weeks
1:05:54but i promise to do my best to limit
1:05:56the amount
1:05:59and lastly
1:06:00i promise to just ask questions a lot of
1:06:03questions because you're the jury in
1:06:04this case and you deserve to hear
1:06:06absolutely everything
1:06:09it will be a struggle you'll get sick of
1:06:11walking back and forth these jewelry
1:06:12rooms you might get sick of each other i
1:06:14hope not
1:06:17but it's an important task
1:06:20what happened here shouldn't happen
1:06:23but it did
1:06:24and so in a couple weeks when i stand up
1:06:26here and miss raymond stands up here
1:06:28i'm gonna ask you to deliver a verdict
1:06:31of guilty to finally bring
1:06:33some much-needed truth
1:06:35to chandler halderson
1:06:36thank you
1:06:38thank you attorney brown
1:06:40council could uh attorney brown could
1:06:42whoever's giving the opening uh come up
1:06:44we don't have to we can do this without
1:06:46going off
1:06:47just want to discuss time
1:06:56okay perfect thanks ladies and gentlemen
1:06:58we're going to take our morning break at
1:07:00this point and uh what will happen is
1:07:03randy will take you back you'll go to
1:07:05your respective rooms you'll have at
1:07:06least 15 minutes we'll come back and
1:07:09continue go right ahead all right for
1:07:11the jury

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