Bart & Krista Halderson | Killed to Keep a Lie Alive (Part 1)

Summary

Crime Weekly – Bart & Krista Halderson | Killed to Keep a Lie Alive (Part 1)

Episode Overview In this gripping episode, Stephanie Harlowe and Derek Levasseur begin a two-part deep-dive into the July 2021 murder of Bart and Krista Halderson. The couple, who epitomized Midwestern family ideals, disappeared in what initially appeared to be a routine weekend getaway. As the story unfolds, the hosts reconstruct the Haldersons’ idyllic family life, the timeline of their disappearance, and the staggering web of lies spun by their son, Chandler. The episode meticulously illustrates how close friends, nosy neighbors, and diligent law enforcement untangle the truth behind Chandler’s shocking crimes.

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The Halderson Family: The “Perfect” Life (01:13 – 12:35)

• Bart and Krista: Bart was a CPA, described as funny with a dry sense of humor, and handy around the house; Krista, warm, empathetic, and the consummate helicopter mom—in the best way possible. Their social circle was large and close-knit, with friendships spanning decades.
• Their sons: Older son Mitchell worked in IT, engaged and buying a house; Chandler, the younger, was allegedly days away from starting a dream job at SpaceX in Florida.
• Parenting style: The family’s bond extended into adulthood. Mitchell described Krista as “the perfect homemaker and doting mother,” and both parents were heavily involved in their sons’ youth.
• Quote: “I've always believed that one of the clearest signs that someone was a good parent is when their children grow up and still choose to be close to them… That dynamic…was exactly what the Halderson family had.” —Stephanie (12:35)

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Disappearance and Immediate Red Flags (14:45 – 29:01)

• Chandler's report: On July 7, 2021, Chandler told police his parents went to their northern Wisconsin cabin with an unknown couple for the holiday and never returned.
• Work alarms: Krista’s missed work on July 2 set off alarms. Friends with decades-long ties immediately found it suspicious.
• Key friends’ involvement: Longtime friends Jane and Michael, along with Daniel K., all tried to contact and physically check on the Haldersons.
• Chandler’s explanation: He told different friends and co-workers inconsistent stories—friends supposedly picked up his parents, they took “a bunch of booze and cash” to gamble, all highly uncharacteristic.
• Quote: “They loaded up a bunch of booze and money...people who are very frugal and don't drink a lot. Two things I wouldn't expect you to say, Chandler.” —Derek (26:18)

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Timeline Scrutiny & The Impossible Cabin Trip (29:01 – 35:40)

• Friends investigate: Jane and Michael drive 90 miles to check the Haldersons' northern cabin; no sign anyone has visited (grass unmowed, doors locked).
• Chandler’s odd questions: He asks Jane, “Did you find anything? Any bullet shells or blood?”—a baffling leap to violence.
• No parade: Krista’s supposed July 4th text referenced a parade in White Lake—none occurred, further undermining Chandler’s story.
• Quote: “Within minutes…Chandler’s asking if there’s any shell cases…As a former cop, never crossed my mind.” —Derek (35:01)

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Growing Police Suspicion & Key Discoveries (41:07 – 53:57)

• Mitchell’s role: The older brother and his fiancée join police to check the cabin; nothing disturbed, doors locked, no evidence their parents were ever there.
• Parallel search: Local law enforcement coordinate, but are soon redirected—Dane County receives a tip for a property in Cottage Grove, leading them to a grisly discovery.
• Crime scene: On July 8, officers trace tire tracks and trampled grass to the wooded edge of a rural property. Beneath a pile of sticks, they find Bart’s dismembered torso with limbs and head missing, a rope tied around the waist.
• Quote: “It took me a while to process what I was seeing…then it became obvious that I was looking at a human torso.” —Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk (53:04)

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The Strange Behavior of Chandler Halderson (61:28 – 74:32)

Encounters at the Girlfriend’s House

• July 4: Chandler joins his girlfriend’s family’s pool party, acting distant and odd—not wearing his neck brace, despite claims of serious injury.
• Request to use pool solo (July 5): Chandler appears unannounced, parks at the property’s tree line, disappears for up to an hour, and later washes in the pool—bizarrely insistent despite the awkward presence of two topless swimmers.
• Quote: “He was probably covered in dirt and grass and potentially his father’s DNA…chlorine in a pool, perfect place to go after doing something like that.” —Derek (72:18)
• Crescent & Dolce’s suspicions: His rationale for using the pool, lack of limp or neck brace, and story about losing the SpaceX job due to injury don’t add up.

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The Crime Scene Trail Connects (74:32 – 84:42)

• Neighbors’ observations: A retired detective neighbor, Steven Griber, notices an unusual “burning pork” smell and neighbors observe a flickering light in the Halderson home’s family room fireplace window from midnight to 4:30 am July 2. Police conduct a night recreation; the evidence matches a large blaze burning in the fireplace.
• Chandler’s injury story: Told Daniel he cut his toe “playing with the dogs” and broke the fireplace glass, also warning police they’d find a lot of blood, though none is seen.
• Garage windows open: Mundane but unusual, noticed by a neighbor and relayed to police, further deepening suspicion.

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Chandler Faces Interrogation (88:39 – 112:34)

• Police interview: Chandler appears slow, distracted, plays up a supposed concussion, and struggles to understand his Miranda rights.
• Timeline explanations:
  • Claims his last days with parents were tense: “My dad got mad at me ‘cause I broke the fireplace playing with the dogs.”
  • Describes himself couch-bound and alone, searching for jobs, and having a “breakdown” by the shed of his girlfriend’s family (the same property where Bart’s remains are found).
  • Asserts he helped parents pack up July 1st, watched them leave the next morning, and only last heard from his mother by text on July 4th.
• Police confrontation: Confronted with the truth, Chandler offers no real reaction, “We know your parents are no longer with us,” only asks for a lawyer.
• Quote: “We have 20 pages of writing…We’re gonna start with a clean, white piece of paper…for you to start telling the truth.” —Detective Brian Shunk (110:00)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the perfect family image:
  “From the outside looking in, just the perfect family, right… This is what you hope for, this is what you want.” —Derek (10:37)
• Friends’ skepticism:
  “They loaded up a bunch of booze and money… these are people who are very frugal and don’t drink a lot.” —Derek (26:18)
• Jane’s instincts at the cabin:
  “No one's been here. The grass is like, 2ft tall… It wasn't pushed over. It was pretty tall.” —Jane, close friend (31:35)
• Discovery moment:
  “I was looking at a human torso…” —Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk (53:04)
• Chandler’s interrogation:
  “We know more than you think we know.” —Detective Brian Shunk (111:24)

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Key Timestamps

• 01:13 — Episode theme and intro to the Halderson family
• 14:45 — Chandler’s police report and family background
• 19:55 — Coworkers spark missing person search
• 24:54 — Friends’ disbelief at Chandler’s explanations
• 31:35 — Jane and Michael’s search at the cabin
• 35:01 — Chandler asks about bullets and blood at the cabin
• 41:07 — Mitchell’s search and police on the scene
• 51:08 — Crime scene details: tire tracks, trampled grass, log, and torso
• 61:28 — Chandler’s strange pool visit and inconsistent behavior on July 5
• 74:18 — Chandler’s demeanor abruptly changes after the pool
• 75:30 — Neighbor testimony: “barbecued pork” smell, flickering light at 3 am
• 88:39 — Chandler’s police interview: confusion, invented injuries
• 110:00 — Detectives confront Chandler with the need to tell the truth

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Tone and Takeaways

• Stephanie and Derek approach the case with a blend of empathy, skepticism, and sharp investigative logic, frequently pointing out “normal” family behaviors in contrast with outlying red flags.
• Humor & candor: Not shying away from sarcasm, the hosts often poke at the absurdities of Chandler’s cover stories, but never at the expense of empathy for the victims.
• Audience engagement: Listeners are invited to share their thoughts and consider what “good parenting” looks like, how quickly red flags can amass, and the importance of strong community ties in solving crimes.

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Cliffhanger for Part 2

The episode ends with Chandler lawyering up, police having just discovered the grisly remains of Bart (but not Krista), and major investigative threads poised to untangle further layers of Chandler's fabrication. The major questions poised for next week: Where is Krista? What was Chandler’s actual motive? How far does his web of lies stretch?

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If you haven’t listened to the episode:
This summary covers the Haldersons’ family image, the alarm sparked by Krista’s routine-breaking absence, Chandler’s suspiciously inconsistent accounts, the discovery of Bart’s dismembered remains, and the investigatory momentum that ends with Chandler in custody, stonewalling police. The hosts emphasize the power of community, the tenacity of friends and family, and the way small details—like a neighbor’s memory of garage windows or a nose for “barbecued pork”—crack open even the most carefully constructed facade.

Transcript

[Stephanie Harlow]

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[Detective Brian Shunk]

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[Derek Levasseur]

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[Stephanie Harlow]

By the summer of 2021, Bart and Krista Halderson were living the quintessential Midwestern life. They owned a beautiful home in Windsor, Wisconsin, and a rustic family cabin up north in White Lake, where they loved spending time together. They were also preparing to cross the finish line of parenting. Their oldest son, Mitchell, was a successful tech professional, engaged and in the process of buying a house. Their youngest son, Chandler, was days away from moving to Florida to work for SpaceX. But on July 7, 2021, the dream shattered. Chandler went to the police station to report his parents missing. He said Bart and Krista had gone up north to the family cabin for the Fourth of July weekend with an unknown couple. They they never came back. For the next 24 hours, the community rallied around Bart and Christa's two sons. Chandler, sat in police interrogation rooms wearing a medical neck brace from a recent injury, softly trying to help detectives piece together his parents final hours. Police launched a massive multi county search, scouring the dense Wisconsin woods for any sign of the missing couple. But as detectives tracked the couple's final movements, the timeline began to fracture. And a sudden, dark discovery on a rural farm miles away would turn a desperate search into something deeply unsettling. Hello everybody. Welcome back to Crime Weekly. I'm Stephanie Harlow.

[Derek Levasseur]

And I'm Derek Levasseur. And Stephanie, I have to ask, I am a SpaceX nerd and I'm also I was alive in 2021 and yet I have never Heard of this case. Why?

[Stephanie Harlow]

So to be honest, I didn't either. It came across my desk in a weird way and I said the same thing. I was like, it's pretty recent. This case is crazy. How have I never heard about it? I think maybe because it kind of went down during like the COVID time

[Derek Levasseur]

where the world was just crazy at that point.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. Where we had a timeline. Ju.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So lots of people have heard about it, obviously, because now I was researching it and I was watching still. I don't think it's as known as. As it could be or should be.

[Derek Levasseur]

So when you said 2021, I'm like, what? How have I not heard of this one especially? It seems like a prominent family, successful family, you know, they're doing the right thing. And yeah, SpaceX ain't no joke.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Or are they?

[Derek Levasseur]

I love space. I just, I just got my starship blowtorch in the mail. Basically it's a Little model, like 100th scale, and it actually, you fill it and you. It actually has like the flame come out the bottom. You can like roast your marshmallows with it. It's pretty cool. I pay pay way more than I'm willing to admit.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I'm not a big fan of like space government contractors and, and what they're. What they're doing to the lower space orbit, making it like, I don't know if you know, but they're making it like a whole economy. Like they're taking the government out and the government, government's going to rent space from these contractors like SpaceX and Boeing and all of these contractors. So we're going to be paying our tax dollars to rent space in the lower.

[Derek Levasseur]

Why do you have to rain on my parade?

[Stephanie Harlow]

It's just really twisted and dystopian and I hate it.

[Derek Levasseur]

I'm not saying any, anything negative because I'm still hoping that in my shallow brain here that somehow, some way with some of the crazy things that have happened in my life, we get a call or an email where they're like, hey, we want you and Stephanie to be the first true crime creators to go on Blue Origin or Space X to like do a trip out. No, get out.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Not to do that.

[Derek Levasseur]

I'll convince you.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Not going to do that.

[Derek Levasseur]

We're doing it. You're getting. If I have to sedate you, you're coming.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I have my morals.

[Derek Levasseur]

You won't even get on a plane. Barely. So you are right, like you have to be sedated.

[Stephanie Harlow]

It's not that I wouldn't want to go into space. It's. I have my moral red line. And that prevents me from ever working with anybody like Richard Branson. Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos. Jeff Bezos.

[Derek Levasseur]

I'm going, guys.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I'm going the worst.

[Derek Levasseur]

This is me.

[Stephanie Harlow]

If you're watching on video, Jeff Bezos is Lex Luthor.

[Derek Levasseur]

But anyway, I know I don't want to get off track, but just so you know, SpaceX Blue Origin. What's. What's Richard Branson? He's virgin, right?

[Stephanie Harlow]

Virgin, yeah. Hit up Derek. Don't even lose my number.

[Derek Levasseur]

Hit me up. I am there. I will be your shill. I'm. I'm going. I want that ticket.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Wow, he's cheap. He's a cheap date.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Cheap day.

[Derek Levasseur]

Put me on a rocket ship. I'm going if it blows up. It is what it is.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I mean, anything. Didn't we learn anything from the submarine?

[Derek Levasseur]

But no, that's. That, that's a different ball game.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I mean, you're talking submersible.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah, no, that's a different ball game. I mean, he wanted to be Elon Musk.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Elon Musk wants to be Elon Musk, but fair. So, all right, we've got the Holdersons here. Great family, great couple. It's one of those situations where you're like, this couldn't have happened to better people. Kind of like, why them? You know?

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So 50 year old Bart Halderson was a CPA who worked as a tax manager at a major Wisconsin firm. He was known to have a great sense of humor, kind of dry. He was an avid golfer. He loved woodworking and doing home improvement jobs around the house and cabin. In fact, he was actively, always working on some renovation or home improvement project at his house that his friends kind of laughed because they were like, this is, is maybe definitely something he should have paid people to do for him. But he took pride in like figuring it out and doing it himself and, you know, spending a lot of time on the weekends and whenever he had free time doing these projects, these renovation projects on his home. So the, the house was kind of always in a state of like, you know, it's a work in progress kind of thing. Krista, his wife, worked as a customer service representative for a local auto body shop. She was described as being really warm, bubbly, very, very nurturing. Okay, so where Bart was probably like the more dry humor, no nonsense guy, Krista was just the complete opposite. Just very warm, open, friendly. And you often see a lot of couples like that. It's kind of the yin yang. They balance each other out.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So Bart and Krista truly enjoyed life and they enjoyed living life with each other. They attended music and sporting events, they grilled out, they played with their two dogs, Izzy and Rizzo. They spent time at their cabin and every participated in a horseshoe league. They had many extremely close friends, some that they had known for decades. So it's interesting the kinds of friendships they had because I could, I just, I don't know, it's crazy. I don't have a lot of like close, close friends and a lot of these, these people the Halderson's knew, they had met separately like when they were younger. And then when they got married, they all sort of just like blended into this one big friend group. And they all, they had known each other since they were like kids, which is awesome. So most of all though, for Bart and Krista, they were devoted to and loved their two sons, Mitchell and Chandler, who were only 18 months apart in age and who were both making their parents proud as young men. In 2021. The older son, Mitchell had a good job in it. He was engaged to a woman he loved deeply and they were in the process of buying a home together. Chandler younger son, he had recently completed his degree at Madison Area Technical College where he'd been enrolled in an IT and solar energy program. He was in a long term relationship with a beautiful girl named Katherine Mander and the two were getting ready to move to Titusville, Florida because Chandler had secured a great job working for SpaceX where he would be making $80,000 a year. So Bart and Krista were so proud of Chandler's achievements that they held celebratory dinners for him. Krista messaged many of friends to express her happiness that both of her boys were on the right path and making lives for themselves. And honestly, Mitchell and Chandler had every advantage in life to be successful and happy. They'd grown up with extreme privilege, specifically the extreme privilege of having two parents who were happily married and who loved and supported them through every stage in life. And in those growing up days, the father, Bart, worked a lot to provide for the family so that Krista could be a stay at home mother and focus on raising their two sons. But Bart was still available to act as a den leader for Boy Scouts, which both Mitchell and Chandler participated in. Chandler played soccer as a kid, but he'd always been an extremely, extremely good swimmer. And in high school he became a star on the swim team where both of his parents cheered him on from the Sidelines at every single swim meet. So I want to, I want to very much like State. You know, Bart is busy because he's working a lot to provide. Krista's a stay at home mom so she's got her own to do list every single day. Both of them made sure that they were still actively involved in their kids lives at every single swim meet. Bart's being the den leader for boy Scouts. They were very much were focused on making sure that their, their sons had every opportunity to be successful and have

[Derek Levasseur]

a good life from the outside looking in just the, the perfect family, right? Like they had everything going. Two parent, home, supporting, loving, all doing well, school, extra recreational activities. Like this is, this is what you hope for, this is what you want.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yes, exactly. This is what you want to build. And so many people, they struggle to do that because of this or that. But the Haltersons were doing it.

[Derek Levasseur]

How many times have we heard this story though? And then things aren't always how they, how they look.

[Stephanie Harlow]

From what I could tell, Bart Halderson was the more sensible, logical parent. But everyone knew that Krista, for her being a mother, was her entire world. She was known to be very focused on it with her son Mitchell, even describing her as a helicopter parent. But he said not in a bad way. She was just very focused, focused on them, very concerned. If he was injured, she would be really kind of like anxious about it and always be texting him and wondering if he was okay and how he was doing. He said she was a helicopter parent in a way that showed how deeply she cared. And Krista was the perfect homemaker and doting mother. She loved doing art projects and cooking for her family. She was incredibly empathetic and protective of the people she loved, specifically her younger son, her youngest son, Chandler, who she called her baby boy even when he was an adult man. By all accounts, from everyone who knew, Bart and Krista, they were amazing people and the gold standard for what parents looked like.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

What kind of parents were Barton Christie amazing? What do you mean by that?

[Dolce Mander]

They never really got angry.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

Like

[Dolce Mander]

I throw myself under the bus because when I get mad at my girls, I used to yell. They weren't yellers. They didn't like, you know, do any of that stuff. I mean, I don't think they had probably ever even spanked their kids. They just, they always gave them options and choices.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So I've always believed that one of the clearest signs that someone was a good parent is when their children grow up and still choose to be close to them. Right. Because once children become adults, the relationship does change. They're no longer dependent in the same way. They're no longer required to spend time with their parents or share their lives or answer the phone or come for holidays, ask for advice, or seek comfort from their parents. So when adult children still want that closeness, when they still choose to call, visit, laugh with their parents, confide in them, and make space for them in their lives, that does say something powerful. It says those parents did the work when it mattered the most. They built something during the childhood years that lasted beyond obligation. They created a foundation of trust, safety, love, support, respect. They made their children feel seen and valued and protected enough that even after growing up and gaining the freedom to walk away, those children still chose to stay connected. And that dynamic that I just described was exactly what the Halderson family had. Even when Mitchell and Chandler were grown, they still remained close to their parents. In fact, Mitchell continued living with Bart and Krista as he went through college. And he was living with them in July of 2021 when they went off for a fun holiday weekend and never came home. So I think you would agree with that. Like, when you have a strained relationship with your parents in childhood, you know, when once you become an adult, you're like, okay, I get to choose now how much I want this person to be involved in my life. I have autonomy, and if it's a sign, you know, that you're still. And that's what we both want with our kids. Right? We want our kids that even when they're 18 plus and they don't have to come home anymore and they don't have to call and they don't have to be a part of our lives, they still choose to because we gave them good childhood and, yes, we loved them. And they know that.

[Derek Levasseur]

That's the hope. Yeah, I hope my kids stay with me forever, but we'll see.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So when you. I wouldn't necessarily say I want them to stay with me forever.

[Derek Levasseur]

I'm even trying to. I'm trying to manipulate them already to just go to a state school and live with me, but I want them

[Stephanie Harlow]

to be close forever. I don't want them to be, like, living in my house forever.

[Derek Levasseur]

I want to be. I want to be maybe like a

[Stephanie Harlow]

compound kind of thing.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah. I want them, like, right next to me.

[Stephanie Harlow]

That doesn't sound very healthy.

[Derek Levasseur]

No, I'm obsessed.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, I'm definitely obsessed. So I wanted to really to. To put an importance on that, because when Chandler, in 2021, he's 23 and his older brother Mitchell is 24. They're still actively seeing their parents. Yeah, they're coming home for Father's Day. Things were good. Things were good. Chandler lives there with them. Okay. And his girlfriend Kat was like, yeah. Him and his parents would cook together. They'd play the Wii together. You know, you know, if you're playing TV with your parents, that's awesome. You've got a great relationship. They chose to spend time together. This wasn't Chandler just, just doing his own thing and then coming home and sleeping there and then going off. He seemed to have a great relationship with them. So then we get to July of 2021. And at 11:25am on July 7, 2021, Chandler went to the northeast precinct of the Dane County Sheriff's Office, and he reported that his parents had left for their cabin on the morning of Friday, July 2, around 6am Chandler believed that his parents, Bart and Krista, were going to the cabin to work on a water pump and a fire pit that had been possibly damaged during a recent storm. So Chandler said he thought that his parents were supposed to have been back by the following Sunday night or Monday, but they weren't home. And when he called their cell phones, his calls were going straight to voicemail. So Chandler said he hadn't actually seen his parents leave on the morning of July 2, but he had helped them gather and pack up some items they were planning to bring with them to the cabin, including a pipe wr and a hatchet and gas cans for the chainsaw. He'd also helped his mother, Krista, pack up her medications, and he did this the night before they left. So he said when he Woke up at 6:15am on Friday morning to, like, let the dogs out, his parents were gone along with those items. And the last communication he'd received from his parents was a text from his mother, Krista, that she'd sent him around 11am on July 4, in which she stated that they were going to the parade in White Lake and they'd be home either Monday or Tuesday. So Chandler said it wasn't uncommon to not be in constant contact with his parents when they were out at the cabin because there wasn't great service there and his parents were busy, etc. Etc. So it wasn't actually Chandler's idea to go to the police and report his parents missing. And we're going to take a quick break and talk about that when we get back. This is episode is brought to you by Chime. And honestly, summer has a way of making you look a little more closely at where your money is going.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah, it definitely does. Summer is expensive in a very sneaky way.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Very sneaky. It's like, oh, it's just in or out. Then it's travel, gas, groceries, a random iced coffee, a concert, another dinner, kids camp. And suddenly your bank account is like, all right, we need to talk.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yep. And nobody wants that conversation.

[Stephanie Harlow]

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[Derek Levasseur]

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[Stephanie Harlow]

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[Derek Levasseur]

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[Stephanie Harlow]

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[Derek Levasseur]

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[Stephanie Harlow]

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[Derek Levasseur]

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[Detective Sabrina Sims]

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[Stephanie Harlow]

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[Derek Levasseur]

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[Stephanie Harlow]

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[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah. And just to confirm, that was July 2nd.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yes.

[Derek Levasseur]

Okay, July 2nd, she didn't show up

[Stephanie Harlow]

for work, which was a Friday. And this was very unlike her. Obviously. We always hear this whenever the co workers are calling and being like, hey, this person didn't come in. It's usually because it's like, this is very unlike them. Not just like, oh, yeah, Krista, she does this sometimes. She just doesn't show up for work, takes a long weekend. So we weren't concerned. No, they were concerned. It wasn't like her. And at that time, a man named Michael Hilgendorf received a call from Krista's office asking if he had talked to her or he knew where she was. And, you know, Michael and his wife Jane had known Krista since middle school. They'd been friends for 38 years and they considered each other family. So Michael and Jane had twin daughters, Haley and Hannah, who were close in age to Chandler and Mitchell. So their kids had grown up playing together and then also becoming friends. And Michael actually worked for the same company as Krista. He worked in kind of a different area, but for the same company. And when she'd been ready to stop being a stay at home mother when her kids got older and she wanted to enter the workplace again, he'd actually helped her get the job there because he'd known her for so long and he knew her so well. So Krista not showing up at work and not calling anyone was alarming. And then another co worker and friend of Krista's was also getting calls from Krista's office asking if he'd seen or talked to her. Daniel Croninger had the day off from work on July 2nd because he was closing on a house. And he also felt right away that something was wrong. Okay, so Michael, Krista's friend, works in like, kind of a different area of the same company. It's like a, a car place. And he works in like the Auto body area, different department. She's. Yeah, she's in kind of a different building, but they're in the same area. So he gets a call from her building, like. Like, where's Krista? You know, we know you've known her since middle school. This isn't like her. Have you talked to her? He was like, no. Daniel Croninger also works in the same place as Krista. He's got the day off. So people from her office are calling him because he knows. Because they know that he and. And Krista are close. And they're like, have you heard from her? And Daniel's like, no.

[Derek Levasseur]

Now, this is. This is a red flag for sure. I mean, the fact that she didn't show up, you could chalk it up to, oh, she had let somebody know and the message wasn't delivered to the right person. But she did let someone know.

[Stephanie Harlow]

That's why I think they're calling.

[Derek Levasseur]

But to not call anybody and just not show up, especially considering why we're here, you know, that this is a sign that something. Something more is going on than what it looks like on the surface. As far as just a. Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to call.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. So it's a holiday weekend, so people in the office might be like, well, maybe she went up to the cabin. Right?

[Derek Levasseur]

She might have told someone, just not the right person.

[Stephanie Harlow]

She might have told someone.

[Derek Levasseur]

They didn't put it in the computer or something like that. You know, maybe there's. I'm sure there wasn't alarms at first, but they're trying to call around. They're doing their own investigation, talking to people she knew to see if someone knew where she was. And maybe it was just a simple misunderstanding.

[Stephanie Harlow]

They're calling people she works with who are also friends with her in real life. So the thinking is if something's going on in Krista's personal life, like she took a trip to the cabin, they'll know even if we don't. But they didn't. Right. So Daniel Croninger had actually worked with Krista since September of 2019. He knew her family, he'd been to her house, and he knew how reliable and responsible Krista was. And since Daniel only lived a few miles away from the Hall Alderson's, he and his girlfriend decided, you know, let's just hop into the car and drive over to Krista's house. And they did this around 4:30pm so when he got there, he knocked on the door, but no one answered. So he peeked in through the front Window, but he didn't see anyone. So he went to the garage door and looked in, and he saw in the garage parked both Krista and Bart's vehicles.

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So both of their cars are there.

[Derek Levasseur]

That's a problem.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So, and this is July 2nd, the day that Chandler says they left at 6:00am to go to the cabin.

[Derek Levasseur]

They're already gone. And. And as far as Chandler statement's concerned, they're h. They're at the cabin. We're on their way there, at least.

[Stephanie Harlow]

On their way there, at least. Yeah. So at that point, then, what would

[Derek Levasseur]

you need to get there, Stephanie?

[Stephanie Harlow]

A car. Right.

[Derek Levasseur]

Need a vehicle. Bingo. Need a vehicle.

[Stephanie Harlow]

But remember, Chandler's going to claim, well, they got picked up by some friends. Oh, okay.

[Derek Levasseur]

Convenient. Okay.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So at that point, Daniel and his girlfriend, they're kind of looking around. They're like, what's going on? Both their cars are here. What's going on? And then Chandler Halderson, he came outside and he talked to Daniel and he explained that his parents had gone to their cabin up north and they'd be home in a few days. Then at this point, Daniel's like, well, their cars are here. And Chandler's like, yeah, they got picked up by like, a. A friend. Somebody picked them up. I wasn't awake when it happened, so I don't know who it. Who it was. Now, this was the same thing he told Michael Hilgendorf, the other friend, when Michael texted him on that same Friday, concerned about why Krista wasn't at work. So Michael's wife, Jane, really tight, close friends with Krista. Jane had already tried to call both Bart and Krista, but her calls were going to voicemail. So she called their son Mitch, the older son, and he said he didn't even know anything about his parents going to the cabin that weekend. And so then Jane called Chandler.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Did Chandler seem to have any more details other than they were with another couple and they went to the cabin.

[Dolce Mander]

He said that they loaded up a bunch of booze and took a whole bunch of money and maybe that they went gambling and they were going to have a really good time.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

I'm going to pause there for one second.

[Dolce Mander]

Okay.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Where Bart and Krista to people who loaded up a bunch of booze into their car, usually.

[Dolce Mander]

No,

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

you answered somewhat emphatically. What do you mean by that?

[Dolce Mander]

We had been to their house many occasions. My husband and Bart would have, like, a beer. That's all Bart would ever drink is a beer. Or he likes scotch. That was, you know, or a little Small glass of scotch, whatever. Just as we were winding down. Christy usually didn't drink. She would have maybe a beer. On one of my occasions when I went up to her house, I'm like, do you want me to pick up a bottle of wine for us tonight? And she's like, no, I don't want to drink in front of the kids. And I was like, you're an adult. You can.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Right?

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

You don't share that concern yourself?

[Dolce Mander]

No, I don't.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Okay, the money. Did that make any sense to you, that Bart and Krista would load up cash. A bunch of cash, and go up to the cabin?

[Dolce Mander]

No, Bart's a cpa. He was very tight with his money. They both were. They kind of had a budget, and they didn't spend outside that budget.

[Derek Levasseur]

All right, so first thing we can. We can confirm is Jane likes to have a couple drinks.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. Jane's like, I do not share that. I don't want to drink in front of my kids.

[Derek Levasseur]

But overall, she knows. She knows Bart. She knows Krista. She knows their, for the most part, how they conduct themselves.

[Stephanie Harlow]

She's known Krista since middle school. Yeah. And known Bart ever since Krista and Bart were married. Yeah.

[Derek Levasseur]

And she's animated here because obviously she knows more than I know and the audience knows at this point in the story. But she's obviously passionate about this, because it sounds like even initially when he said this, it raised some flags for her where she was like, correct. They loaded up a bunch of booze and money. These are people who are very frugal and don't drink a lot. Two things I wouldn't expect you to say, Chandler. So in hindsight, she's probably even more pissed now around knowing more about the story than we do.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. And, you know, she's also saying, like, I. I think it also says something about Krista where it's like, even when she's an adult and her kids are adults, she's still like, no, I don't want to set the wrong example. Very wholesome.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

You know, which is fine.

[Derek Levasseur]

To each their own.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I'm not gonna drink in front of my kids. Which I respect that. Like, yeah, I. I like Jane. And, like, no, if my kids are adults, I'm gonna have a few drinks in front of them. I don't care. But I wish I could be more like Krista and have this. You know, overall, the story's just not

[Derek Levasseur]

adding up because they're going up to a cabin for a weekend. I'm sure you've gone away to Cabins or vacation homes. On the weekend, as a lot of our audience has, it's usually a little bit more involved as far as the packing. Even if you own the place, you gotta bring up, you know, paper plates and food or groceries, whatever.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Usually.

[Derek Levasseur]

Usually you pack it up before you go up there. You might need certain toiletries and. And medications, whatever it is. And it's at least.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Well, remember Chandler said he helped his mother pack her medications the night before.

[Derek Levasseur]

Right. But. But it sounds like they packed very light for an entire weekend. When you're going up to the cabin, I would think that you'd have to bring a luggage. You know, you need clothes. And so you're gonna hop into someone else's car and. And I don't know how big their vehicle is, but you're gonna load up your personal belongings. Then you have two. You two, and then them two. It's not a lot of room. So logistically, without knowing details, it doesn't make a lot of sense. And then on top of that, which I'm sure you're going to get to. We haven't heard the name of these friends that they were picked up by. Allegedly. And so that's going to become a big crossroad in this whole story because that's where I would imagine some of this is going to fall apart.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. Because Chandler doesn't know who picked them up because he wasn't awake.

[Derek Levasseur]

Right, Right.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And all of Krista's friends are like, well, we're her friends, you know, so who would she.

[Crescent Lai]

Yeah.

[Derek Levasseur]

What other friend is picking her up that we're unaware of that would be going up to the cabin with her? It's not some Rand person she just met.

[Crescent Lai]

Exactly.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Who would get close? Would they be with. Yeah.

[Derek Levasseur]

Right. They have to be someone who are. They're local. Right. They're from the area. It's convenient for them to stop by and pick them up. So who are we talking about here?

[Stephanie Harlow]

And we've known Bart and Krista for decades.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And we can't for the life of us imagine who. Who they would be with.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah. It sounds like Bar and Krista. And this is an assumption on my part. Probably had a. A smaller circle of friends that they had a small.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I wouldn't say it was small because it was very extended. Right. Like, but. But that they were very close with, Especially Krista, who was talking to her friends every single day. Right. She's always telling them what she's doing, what's going on in life. She's keeping them constantly updated. So for her to have a whole different set of friends that nobody knew about, and for her to be going to the cabin and not have told Jane or anyone that we're going to the cabin this weekend. Yeah, yeah, that was very concerning. And so at this point, people were very unsettled by the sudden disappearance of Bart and Krista. Yes, they were adults. Yes, they could pick up and leave when wanted to. But a lot of things were happening that were so out of character for them that those people who knew them well were genuinely alarmed. Krista never missed work. She was always in touch. She always told her friends and her children where she was going and what she was doing. And yeah, Chandler knew, but their other son Mitchell didn't know. So the Halderson were also not the type of people to load the car with alcohol and money before a trip to their cabin. And gambling was something that neither of them ever took part in. So Jane said she did feel a little bit better on the fourth.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Fourth.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Because at that point, Chandler communicated with her and told her that he'd gotten a text from his mother. But the following Wednesday, which was July 7, Jane got a call from Chandler telling her that Bart and Krista, they hadn't come home yet and he still hadn't heard from them. So at that time, Jane and her husband Michael were at their own cabin. So they left on July 4th for a two week vacation at their own cabin. And their cabin was 88 miles away from the Halderson cabin. But Jane was so concerned when she got that call from Chandler on the 7th, and she was like, something's not right. Something's not right. So her husband Michael was like, you know what? Screw it, you're right. Let's just. To make you feel better, to make me feel better, let's get in the car, let's drive 88 miles. And we're going, yeah, we're going to check.

[Derek Levasseur]

I'm a Rhode Islander. So that's like, that's like. He's a true friend. Yeah, that's a, that's a real, that's a real close friend.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So it's like they're like, oh, we're at our cabin. They're at their cabin. It's, it's just a, you know, a 15 minute drive now. No, 90 miles away. They were, they were 90 miles apart. So they're like, let's get in our car, we'll drive it. We'll check on Bart and Krista for ourselves.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

What do you find?

[Dolce Mander]

There is two, like big old, like spoked wheels. Like, people use them in their outdoor motif all the time. And then there's a birch log across that. And I'm like. I take a picture, and I'm like, is this the cottage? And he's like, yeah. And then he's like, haven't you ever been there? And I'm like, no. At this point, I called him on my cell and I said, chandler, no one's been here. The grass is, like, 2ft tall. Well, 16 inches, 2ft tall. And when you drive over grass, like, when we haven't been up to the cottage, it gets pushed over, so you know that somebody's been there. It didn't. It wasn't pushed over. It was pretty tall.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

So you called Chandler.

[Dolce Mander]

I called him back.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Get back in your car, I would imagine. And you're talking to him.

[Dolce Mander]

My husband didn't let me go out of the car. He said, you stay in. I'm gonna go look. So I called Chandler back. So I have him on the phone, and I'm like, nobody's been here. And he's like, are the doors unlocked? And I said, no, they're locked from the outside. Which I thought was weird because ours has a normal, like, key lock.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Right?

[Dolce Mander]

And he's like, no, that's how it is. I'm like, okay. And he's like, did you check everywhere? Behind, like, the boathouse? And I'm like, uncle Mike's doing that right now. He's like, okay. He's like, did you find anything? And I said, like, what? And I was shocked that he said, any bullet shells or any blood or anything? And I went, what? And he's like, did you find anything? And I'm like, no, no one's been here. And he's like, okay, what do you think I should do? I'm like, you need to report them as missing. Obviously, they didn't make it here. I don't know how they could go to a parade if they didn't make it here. But whatever. Maybe they stayed somewhere else. I didn't know.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah, Jane's not playing around. Jane doesn't take any bullshit. For sure. I mean, she. She. And also I. What she said there, you know, Uncle Mike is looking like that.

[Detective Baverstock]

Exactly.

[Stephanie Harlow]

That shows you how close they were. Exactly.

[Derek Levasseur]

They weren't blood related, and yet that's how close they were. But you could tell. And maybe I'm giving her a little too much credit here, but she's. Something smelt off to her from the beginning.

[Stephanie Harlow]

She's a detective. She's like, there's no Grass pushed down.

[Derek Levasseur]

Man, she hadn't even gotten out of the car yet. And she's like, yeah, they haven't been here. This is some. This is not adding up. Someone's not telling us to try truth and.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And then come to find Jane. Jane and. And Michael, her husband. They also do a little, like, kind of looking into things. They find out there never was a parade in White Lake on July 4th, because, remember, Christa had allegedly texted Chandler on the 4th and said, oh, we're here. Everything's fine. We're going to a parade tonight. And you think, yes, July 4th. Places have parades. Maybe there was a parade. There never was. And you can see the people who know Krista and Bart, they're going through. Through this stuff in their head, and they're like, well, maybe they went to, like, a neighboring town, and they went to a parade there, but why did they say it was in White Lake? And maybe they found there was no parade in White Lake, so then they. They went and found a parade. Or maybe they found there was no parade in White Lake, so they didn't go to a parade, but they were not at this cabin. So, like, what's going on here?

[Derek Levasseur]

And. And by the way, I don't want to skip over the fact that what Jane said there was extremely important. I mean, it's been minutes since she showed up at the cabin with Mike, and already Chandler's asking if there's any shell cases.

[Stephanie Harlow]

He's like, did you find anything, like

[Derek Levasseur]

bullets or anybody in the comments section, listening, watching right now? If there's ever been a time where you were looking for someone within a matter of minutes, did you think to yourself to ask the person who was doing.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Well, they must have been executed outside the cabin.

[Derek Levasseur]

Any ballistics evidence around there that I should be aware of? Like, never crossed my mind as a former cop.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Jane's like, what the hell?

[Dolce Mander]

What?

[Stephanie Harlow]

No bullets? What are we talking about?

[Derek Levasseur]

Everybody should be thinking, oh, maybe it's just something. There's a miscommunication.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Maybe they were going friend's cabin.

[Derek Levasseur]

Something that we're unaware of, where it's just a chain of events that resulted in a lack of communication. Not. Hey, any signs of a murder up there that I.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Shell casings, do you see?

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah.

[Detective Baverstock]

So.

[Derek Levasseur]

Nope, not good.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So, yeah, there's a lot going on here. It's. It's suspicious. Like, did Bart and Krista leave with somebody unknown who hurt them? What's going on? Did they lie to Chandler? I don't know, but stuff's going on Here. So let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by Veracity Self care and their metabolism Ignite.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah, I feel like everyone is talking about GLP1 right now. It's a very common trend that I see online.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Everyone, right? It's GLP1 this, GLP1 that. Are you on one? Do you know someone on one? Is your neighbor's cousin's dog on one? It's everywhere.

[Derek Levasseur]

The dog seems a little unnecessary, I'll

[Stephanie Harlow]

be honest, and I don't know if you guys know, but. But I've been looking into GLP wants because everyone's talking about it. And so I was curious about Veracity's metabolism ignite. I wanted to see if it was worth it, if it worked. I wanted something that could support my goals without adding another complicated step to my day.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah, for sure. Because the more complicated the routine is, the less likely you're gonna stick with it.

[Stephanie Harlow]

That goes for everything.

[Derek Levasseur]

So everything.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I do not need a 14 step wellness ritual that requires me to wake up at 4:45am and become a literal different person who's actually organized.

[Derek Levasseur]

That sounds horrif. All set? Pass.

[Stephanie Harlow]

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[Derek Levasseur]

The 3pm snack spiral is a very real thing.

[Stephanie Harlow]

It is. One minute you're being normal, the next minute you're absolutely ravenous and you're staring into the refrigerator like it owes you answers.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Yeah.

[Derek Levasseur]

And you notice it never has those answers.

[Stephanie Harlow]

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[Derek Levasseur]

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[Stephanie Harlow]

Very, very. And sometimes wellness brands act like you have unlimited time, unlimited energy, and a kitchen that looks like a clean girl Pinterest board. I do not. I need something I can actually remember to do while drinking coffee and answering emails.

[Derek Levasseur]

That feels more realistic to me. Yeah, that works.

[Stephanie Harlow]

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[Dolce Mander]

So you go up north and you meet the deputy up there? Correct. What do you do once you're up there?

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Before the deputies arrived, I took a lap around the cabin myself just because I didn't want to wait outside any longer. Eventually, Langley County, I guess the deputies, I believe they were sheriffs and deputies met us there. And eventually I took another walk around the property with them, just pointing out things that I noticed. And also they busted into the doors because they were all locked, and the keys that I had were not working at any point.

[Dolce Mander]

Obviously, you did not find your parents up there.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

No.

[Dolce Mander]

Did you find any signs at all that they had been there?

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Nothing looked like it had been used. There was a couple pieces of trash around, but I believe that's just because sometimes people will walk through the property on the way, either between properties or just in the way. Either way, I do not believe it had been used anytime recently.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

Hi there. I'm Detective Sergeant Groans of Langley County. Are you guys the whole.

[Dolce Mander]

Hoderson, You.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

Okay. You are affiliated with them?

[Dolce Mander]

Yes.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

Okay. What. What's your relation?

[Dolce Mander]

I'm their son.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

You're their son. Okay. All right.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Yeah.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

It's my understanding someone from the Dane County Sheriff's office is going to be up here soon. I don't know if you.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

They unfortunately were just called from being informed. They were just called back, actually.

[Dolce Mander]

Oh. So they will not be here.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Really?

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Yeah.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Okay.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

That's news to me, too.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

This is actually someone from the sheriff's office, if you want to talk to them.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

Oh,

[Dolce Mander]

Yeah.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

I think he was monitoring the radio. But

[Detective Brian Shunk]

we probably could get in if

[Stephanie Harlow]

you wanted us to.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

I.

[Derek Levasseur]

Obviously there'd be some damage. We'd try to minimize it as best we could, but.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Yeah, no, I think that honestly at least makes sense at this point.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

Yeah. Yeah, I. To be safe rather than sorry. I mean, yeah, we. We're not going to drive a. A truck through a wall, but. But no, unfortunately, if it's locked, we would have to do something.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

But I wouldn't expect the. The locks to be crazy strong anymore at this point.

[Dolce Mander]

Is it just the padlock on the front door?

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Yeah, it's just a padlock.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

Okay. And I have a pry Bar and we might have some other options to. Yeah, a lock is a lot cheaper to replace than the wall. But do you, based on, I guess your experience with the property, do like a. Of people walk the shoreline or. I know there's. There's campground and stuff. Is that like common for people to. To kind of wander?

[Detective Brian Shunk]

I guess it's hard to say cuz I don't. Not when we're here at least. Sure, it's possible. I guess they do when we're not here.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. Sheriff's office. Anybody outside, note your presence. Make yourselves known.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

All right. So we were able to just basically just pop the latch off the front door. So it shouldn't. That really should be. The only thing that would need to be fixed is just the latch. It should still lock and everything. Nobody inside and nothing looks like it's disturbed. But if you want to take a look with us because you might know better if anything looks out of the ordinary. I'm just trying to think of any other possibility. Like, you know, when you were a kid, when you came up here years past, I mean, is there anywhere else you guys would go, like up to Mana or Rhinelander or anywhere like that? Like if you were up here, like take a day trip somewhere.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

I'm not going to know the name of it, but we would go to a candy store just for fun, but that would be about it.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

Okay.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Maybe my parents would go there since they like the taffy there if they were up here. But it was a pretty big place. But I don't know. Sure.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

To my knowledge nothing was reported. Like we didn't have any accidents or anything like that. You know, sometimes we have like car accidents, fourth of July weekend, but nothing where like we didn't have somebody who wasn't identified or anything like that.

[Dolce Mander]

So the other thing we've been wondering about is like hospitals. I'm sure they're looking into that from daycare routine. And like your brother had been saying that your mom was having some health diagnoses or something. Yeah.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

I was supposed to get. Have an appointment for like skin cancer or something.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

Okay.

[Dolce Mander]

And so we didn't know like if they had gone do that, do that instead and just didn't want to tell anyone.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

Yeah. I'm not sure if Dane Cony would have called our hospitals up here. I know like if we ever have like a missing person's case, we usually call if you know there's a different area they're believed to be in. But I can certainly call, you know, Aspirus and Anago and Wausau are kind of the. The two closest, most common ones.

[Derek Levasseur]

All right, so from that video, I guess there's. There's a lot we can talk about, but for the sake of just staying on, on course with the story, the big thing to me is that even though this is kind of a secluded area, there was in the beginning of the clip, a. Another house right next door. And I have to imagine. Imagine, just based on my own personal experience with beach houses and log cabins, like, if you own something in that area, it's probably been owned by the same families for a reasonable amount of time. And you're pretty close with the people around you. And you would think that if at any point Bart and Krista had come up to that cabin, the people next door would have said, yeah, yeah, we saw the car here the other day. You're familiar with what's going on around you. So although that wasn't on camera, I'm sure that's something that was done that was asked.

[Detective Baverstock]

Asked.

[Derek Levasseur]

And then as far as the actual property, it's kind of like Gene said, Right. Like, it looks like it's been almost deserted for a while. And. And you would think that if they were up there, there would have been some landscaping or something done to make the place.

[Stephanie Harlow]

If you're not easier, you're not at your cabin for months. Probably one of the first things you do when you get there is mow the grass, take care of it. Yeah.

[Derek Levasseur]

The only other thing that I'd be asking at this point, if I was the first guy on scene was, did they own a boat? Right. Is it possible that, again, you would still expect to see activity in the home that doesn't. That doesn't rule that out. And that as far as it doesn't appear anybody had been there in a while. But I would ask if they had a boat and if, you know, they could have taken the boat out and something happened there, which, again, still wouldn't make a lot of sense because it wouldn't be like they got out of their car and the first thing they did was hop on their boat and go for a ride. But you got to dot all your I's, cross all your teas. What did you take from the video?

[Stephanie Harlow]

I mean, it kind of breaks my heart because first of all, you hear they're asking Mitchell, like, is there a place you like to go when you kids. And he's like, yeah, there's this candy shop my parents like the taffy there may be there. But other than that, I don't know. And then the police are like, well, you know, we don't have any accidents that have been reported where the victims are unknown. So they're thinking about everything. And then Mitchell's girlfriend, fiance, she says, well, your brother did say your mother was having some medical issues. So we were wondering maybe did Krista and Bart go to get some tests done? And they just didn't want to worry us. So they told us they were coming to the cabin, but that's not where they went. And that's when they start talking about like, yeah, we can check the hospital and things. But something that's very important to note that happened pretty much in the first, I don't know, 30 seconds of that clip. You heard that this is, this is in Great Lakes. So it's a different county than where they live in Windsor, right? Yeah, it's like a three hour drive. And you heard that the local law enforcement who were reporting to the cabin, you heard them say that the officers from the Dane County Sheriff's Office had been on the their way to the cabin in White Lake to basically meet with local law enforcement and to talk to Mitchell. But then they'd been called back. And this is what Mitchell says. And the local law enforcement, they're like, oh, really? Like that's weird. And, and they call. I didn't put that part in there, but they call Dane County. And Dane county is kind of like very vague about what's happening. Well, the reason that Dane county had been on their way to the cabin and then they turned around, around was because they were investigating a tip they'd received that morning that led police to a property in Cottage Grove which was about 20 minutes southeast of the Halderson home in Windsor. And that property, it was huge. It spanned roughly 80 rural, heavily wooded acres along Nor Road. The property owner had called the police to report that on Monday, July 5, they'd witnessed some strange activity city there. So on the afternoon of July 8, Dane county search teams and K9 units swarmed the property. And one of the first things Detective Baverstock would testify he saw when he arrived was vultures circling over an area of woods property line. Yeah, so I'm going to try to. It's a very complicated sort of setup. But the main house was large. There's an expansive area of manicured grass. And then further away from the house, there's a swimming pool.

[Dolce Mander]

And.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And it's kind of so far away from the house that they had a golf cart where they would get in the golf cart from the house and, and drive the golf cart to the swimming pool. So it's a big property. And then police, they get out on July 8, they get out of their cars. They walked towards a large wood sided utility shed standing at the edge of the property line, really far back away from the main house. And this is when they spotted distinct fresh tire tracks leading into the tall grass and weeds at the wooded property line. So there's like the, that they're living in their, their property which is kept mowed and stuff. And then they have like this area that's not mowed, tall grass leading into woods.

[Derek Levasseur]

A lot harder to get to. Yeah, a little bit more secluded.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So the police, they continue on into the trees. They go through the thick brush, the low hanging branches, and about 20 to 30 yards into the dense forest, they spotted something out of place just beyond a large mossy log on the forest floor.

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

So there's the mowed section of the grass which is just south of the barn. There's a stack of old logs sitting there. But to the right is where we could see what appeared to be two tire marks going into the deeper grass.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Did you follow those tire marks?

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

Yes, I did. Where the tire marks end, there's another area of depressed grass in all different directions at the end of it. So if you're standing near where all that grass was padded down at the end of the tire marks in the grass, you look over and you can see more of the grass is like pressed down, heading towards the woods.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

And was that, you know, we're seeing it on a photograph, but I'll say, I'll ask you, because you were out there, was it apparent to you that this was an area that had been walked through or trampled in some way by someone or something?

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

Yes.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

And did you follow it?

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

Yes, I did.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Okay, and so you entered the woods right there.

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

Correct. It's hard to tell from this picture, but there's actually a downward slope here. You know, if the trees weren't here, it'd be a good little sledding hill for little kids. But there's like a downward slope that goes down into. You can see like a little brush pile down there, more of the trampled grass that goes to this log that goes across. And then you can see to get the green moss on the log. But there's areas where the green moss had been scraped off, as if something had scraped it off.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Did you notice anything ultimately beyond that log at this point?

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

Yeah, the pile of sticks on the other side of the log. And there was Just something that wasn't natural under the sticks.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Did you go check it out?

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

Yeah, I got as close as I had to, couldn't quite tell what it was right away, so I stepped over the log and got a little bit of a closer look.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

And what did you find?

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

I didn't know what it was at first.

[Derek Levasseur]

What do you mean by that?

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

It just, it took me a while to process what I was seeing, you know, then I was became obvious that I was looking at a human torso.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

We're starting to maybe be able to see that, what you saw that day.

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

Yes.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Under those sticks.

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

Yeah, and this is about the view that I had. You could see the flesh colored skin on the right and the belt and pants and a black rope attached to it. You can see the rope coming out from the bottom of the stick pile.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

What are we looking at there?

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

That's the rope that was attached to the body.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Was it a considerable pile of debris on top of the torso? If you could describe in any way

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

you could, you know, it wasn't natural to. It looked like it had been accumulated and placed on top. There wasn't another pile of stone sticks nearby. Similarly, it's mostly a collection of, of dead wood that was placed on top.

[Derek Levasseur]

I feel for that officer right there. It's something we've talked about before. I remember early on in my career and other, other officers and detectives have described it similarly. It almost looks like a mannequin. And it takes a moment for your brain to process it, to catch up with what you're seeing. Like your eye see it, it. But even though you're a police officer and you should be, you know, aware of this and understand it could happen, those moments leading up to it, when you're just walking down this grassy path and you see these tire tracks, you're not expecting to find a dead body. It just, it's never something you can you think about it, but until it actually happens, you don't understand that feeling. And, and when you're looking at it now, and like you said, obviously now it looks like a body, but in that moment you're like, wait a second, what is that? No, it can't be, it can't be that. And then it's like, oh, that's exactly what it is, you know, and you could tell he struggled with it.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, that was Detective Beaverton. And like I said, you could definitely tell that it's even trying to recall it. It's like, yeah, I, I just, I don't, I don't even want to go Back there, You know, I have to for court, but I don't. I don't really want to.

[Derek Levasseur]

I don't know how long he's been on or what he's been in. I don't know that area. But not just because you're determined, Detective. It doesn't mean that you've seen hundreds

[Stephanie Harlow]

of dead bodies, that you're always encountering these things. Yeah, Right.

[Derek Levasseur]

So this could be something for that area, which there is not normal. And so to. He may have been on 15, 20 years on the job. Maybe he had one or two cases like this. So he's going out there doing his due diligence, not expecting to find this.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I mean, they all kind of said, all the police on this, they were like, we've never really seen anything like this. This was horrific. This was nightmare inducing.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So, um, we are going to talk about what they did find, but let's take a quick break first. This episode is brought to you by Quint. And every summer, I have the same realization, which is that I want to look effortlessly put together, but I don't want to put in a heroic amount of effort.

[Derek Levasseur]

That seems fair. Effortless should not require a full strategy meeting. I think most people would agree with you.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Especially when it gets warm like this. You know, it's. It's not easy to just kind of like, throw. Throw something on and layer. I want lighter fabrics, easy pieces, things that look elevated but still feel comfortable. I want to look like I casually threw something on and walked out the door, even if there was a whole internal negotiation happening beforehand.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah. So what Stephanie is saying is polished on the outside, but complete chaos on the inside, which I think is relatable to a lot of us.

[Stephanie Harlow]

That's. That's my. That's my whole aesthetic.

[Derek Levasseur]

That's your mantra.

[Stephanie Harlow]

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[Derek Levasseur]

Absolutely. Love Quince. I'm glad you're on board with me, because whether we're sponsored by them or not, I'm going to be wearing their gear. There's no doubt about it.

[Stephanie Harlow]

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[Derek Levasseur]

All right, so I'm going to ask you then, because I always talk about my Quints gear. What's your Quint summer uniform these days?

[Stephanie Harlow]

Anything linen. Linen pants, linen dresses, linen sets. They make you look like you have your life together, even when you're just trying to survive humidity.

[Derek Levasseur]

That's a strong endorsement right there.

[Stephanie Harlow]

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[Crescent Lai]

He just seemed kind of off, like, kind of weird, actually. I mean, I remember asking him how he felt, you know, because I just. He just kind of seemed okay.

[Dolce Mander]

You asked him how he felt, what it, what did you remember how he responded?

[Crescent Lai]

Yeah, he just said, oh, you know, I'm.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I'm.

[Crescent Lai]

I'm doing okay or I'm doing the best that I can. And because he had. He had an accident, he fell down the stairs or something. So I thought maybe it was because of the accident that he was acting off.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Sure.

[Dolce Mander]

Was he displaying any physical symptoms on July 4th?

[Crescent Lai]

Not that I. Not that I saw, no.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Okay.

[Dolce Mander]

Was he wearing a neck brace at all on July 4th when you saw him?

[Crescent Lai]

No. Well, shortly after he was done eating, kids were sitting at the table in my family room, and they'd gotten up, and I was kind of walking towards the kitchen, and he approached me and asked me if he could have my phone number, my personal phone number, because he wanted to know if he could come and use the pool.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Okay.

[Dolce Mander]

Did you give him your number?

[Crescent Lai]

Yeah, I gave him my cell number and I also gave him my. My Landline.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Okay. So Crescent said that before that weekend, Chandler had never been to the house alone before. And he had never really talked about his parents all that much that Crescent didn't even know their names to. He really didn't discuss his parents. So the following day, which would have been July 5, Crescent saw Chandler again.

[Dolce Mander]

Did you have any interactions with chandler on Monday, July 5th?

[Crescent Lai]

Yes. The first interaction was I opened up my window. I, you know, I live in a two story, and I saw a car in my driveway. I came in from outside to get a drink of water and I saw a car and it didn't recognize the car. And someone was standing in my driveway, and it was Chandler. So I opened the window because he was kind of standing, holding his phone and looking around. So I opened the window and I asked him if he was okay. And he said, yeah. And I said, oh. I said, are you here to use the pool? And he said, yeah. Would that be all right? And I said, yeah, sure.

[Dolce Mander]

Were you expecting Chandler that day?

[Crescent Lai]

No. No.

[Dolce Mander]

Okay.

[Crescent Lai]

Like I said, I was just a little startled because I'm like, who's here? You know?

[Stephanie Harlow]

Sure.

[Dolce Mander]

Your property's pretty remote.

[Crescent Lai]

Yeah, it is.

[Dolce Mander]

So what happened after you told Chandler

[Stephanie Harlow]

he could use the pool?

[Crescent Lai]

Well, he drove up, you know. Cause if you come, I live on a hill. And when you come to the driveway, it's kind of in the middle of the hill. And so you have to drive further up the hill to where the pool is. So. So he drove up there.

[Dolce Mander]

So do you guys have any further discussion before he goes to use the pool?

[Crescent Lai]

He did come down to where I was working on my project, which was putting on a ramp on my deck. I was putting a ramp so that my father and my brother could get up and down the deck on the scooter and the wheelchairs. Okay. And so when I was working on that, he had come down. There's a hill that leads down to my house. And he'd come walking down that hill. And then we had a conversation. He was telling me about his accident. He said he was at a doctor's appointment. And so he was talking to me about what the doctor had said and what was going on. Well, he told me that he had like, damaged. And I asked him where. And he said in this area of his head, in the back of his head. And. Well, he said it wasn't good, that they might have to do some surgery or something. And that he said he was having trouble, like with numbers. And he said he got lost. He had to use a gps. He's just, like, said his mind was kind of messed up and wasn't thinking so well. Asked him, you know, basically how he was overall doing and about his job, because he said he was getting a new job in Florida. And I asked him about that.

[Dolce Mander]

What did he say?

[Crescent Lai]

Well, he said that he probably wasn't gonna get the job, that some manager told him that it wasn't gonna work out because of his injury, that he wasn't able to work. So he seemed concerned about, you know, maybe not having a job and what was he going to kind of do. And I asked him, you know, would he talk to his parents? You know, maybe could he talk to them or, you know, things like that, just to try to reassure him, because he just seemed upset about this news that he had gotten from the doctor.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Sure.

[Dolce Mander]

And what did he respond to that? To the idea of talking to his parents about his job and health?

[Crescent Lai]

And he said, no, they're still up north. And I just says, well, you know, maybe it would help you to talk to him. And his response is, he says, no, they'll just be mad. Which seemed odd to me why his parents would be upset with him that he was hurt and couldn't work. You know, it just seemed odd to me.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah. And this video says so much more than just about this case we just covered earlier this week. Kevin Verville. And we talked about the people in the lives of the person we're looking for. And as detectives, you're always trying to develop a baseline on someone you just met, which is extremely difficult. But the people in their lives, they have that built in baseline. They know what their normal behavior is and what's different. So it's not only about what the person is saying. It's their behaviors and how they're saying it. And someone like Crescent in this video, she was able to pick out something being off almost immediately because she knows Chandler personally. And so it's so valuable to have someone like that come forward and say, no, no. Not only was his specific behavior is different, but his. His actual conduct, him coming over here to use the pool, completely out of character. This is information that is extremely valuable.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. And he had kind of asked her the day before, you know, can I have your number? Because I might want to do that. And she's like, yeah, whatever, you know, they. They seemed both. Both Crescent and Dolce seem to be very welcoming people, pretty chill. And she says, he. He pulls in, she sees him in the drive driveway. And then there's this kind of moment of she's like, what's going on here? She calls him up. Instead of going right down to the pool, he comes to the main house where Crescent's working on a project, putting in this ramp. And they're talking, they're having this conversation. And Chandler tells her, I'm not doing well. You know, my health isn't doing well because of this injury I have from falling down the stairs. Now because of that, this very valued, prized job that I was supposed to get with SpaceX that's falling through. And I can't talk to my parents about it because they're just going to be mad at me. And the conversation at this point is happening while Crescent and Chandler are sitting on the deck. And it lasted roughly about 20 minutes. And during that conversation, Chandler's girlfriend's mother, Dolce, arrived home. She walks up, she's like, what's going on? Chandler told her the same thing about losing the SpaceX job in Florida. And then he went to go swim in the swimming pool. Pool where Crescent and Dolce kind of stay at the main house. Now later, Crescent and Dolce decided to also go use the pool because it was hot that day, really hot. It's July, it's humid. They wanted to swim, but they also wanted to see kind of what Chandler was doing because he was acting weird, right? And when they're in the pool, they get in the pool. Chandler's not in there, okay? The Cottage Grove property is very large. The pool area is located up a hill away from the main house. They had to drive a golf cart to the pool area. When they got there, they immediately noticed that the solar cover was still entirely covering the swimming pool. Chandler was nowhere in sight. So they get in the pool, they're talking, and I think it was Crescent who testified. They were like, what the hell's going on with Chandler? And Dolce was like, I wonder if he's on drugs or something, cuz he's acting weird. Now while they were in the pool, they did see the car that Chandler was driving, a Subaru. It was parked all the way back on the property at the Wood line and the hatchback part was wide open. So like I said, Dolce and Crescent, they get into the pool, they start swimming. They're talking about what's going on with Chandler, he's acting weird. Is he using drugs? What's going on? Now this is where it got a bit awkward because Crescent usually swam in the pool topless. And at some point while they were swimming, Chandler walked up to the pool edge, also without a Shirt on and asked if he could get in. And it was weird because when they got to the pool, Dolce was like, I to need know that that Crescent's going to swim in the pool topless. This is her home, her property. Chandler's nowhere to be found. But hopefully when he does, like approach the pool, he'll see what's happening and he'll, you know, give some discretion and he won't walk right up to the pool and be standing there and staring at us. But that's not what happened.

[Dolce Mander]

He asked is, is he wants to, is he can get in the pool without us.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Okay, and what did, what did you say?

[Dolce Mander]

I was like, no, no. But I say it myself.

[Stephanie Harlow]

No.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Why?

[Dolce Mander]

Because Chris didn't have clothes on. The top.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

She didn't have a top on. Okay, what happened next? Did, did Chandler go away? Did he get in the pool? What happened?

[Dolce Mander]

He got in the pool.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

What did Chandler do once he got in the pool?

[Dolce Mander]

He was just, he was looking to the horizon.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

How was he, what was he doing in the water physically? Was he moving around? Was he swimming?

[Dolce Mander]

He was like going underwater and you know, put it on water on his body and you know, so you're making

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

those motions on your arm and this is one of those weird things because we have to type down everything that's happening. How would you describe what he was doing when he, when he was. Put your hands on your arms, like

[Dolce Mander]

he was, you know, put it on water. You know, when you put water and you can.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Did Chandler tell you where he had been?

[Dolce Mander]

No, I thought he was. He went for a walk. Cuz he wasn't in the car, he was walking. That's what I thought. That's what I thought. That's what I say to Chris.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Did he tell you anything at all about what he was going to do next or what his plans were that day?

[Dolce Mander]

Yes, he was. He was going to my place because Katherine was making his favorite. And we asked what was his favorite and he says, McDonald's.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

He said he's gonna go get McDonald's.

[Dolce Mander]

McDonald's. And I said, Catherine is a lazy. She shouldn't not make McDonald's.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

You thought your daughter would cook something better?

[Detective Brian Shunk]

I'm like, yeah.

[Dolce Mander]

I mean then always cook good food and the house.

[Derek Levasseur]

I do love McDonald's. I can't judge him for that. I mean, I think we all, I mean, love McDonald's. But clearly he's washing himself off. Right? He didn't care.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, exactly. So they're trying to get her to say that.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that. That's the picture they're painting. He didn't care whether they said yes or no to the pool. He was going to pretend he didn't hear it and get in anyways because he had to. He had to wash himself off. He was probably covered in dirt and grass and potentially his father's DNA. Yeah. Yeah. So he was. Chlorine in a pool. That's a perfect place to go after doing something like that.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And you got Crescent in the pool topless and me. Maybe normal Chandler, under different circumstances, would have exercised discretion and been like, oh, probably. But because he was like, I need to get in that pool.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah, I need. I need that pool. Maybe he didn't think they were going to be there or whatever, and he probably didn't.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah.

[Derek Levasseur]

And also not only in that moment, him being aggressive and going in the pool, even when he probably realized this was an awkward moment, as they said, he had never gone in that pool before.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Well, not when. Not just of his. When he was there with Kat or they had the Fourth of July party. Yeah. But not just like, I'm by myself. Hey, can I come over and hang out with you ladies? Yeah. And. And when they're in the pool, they keep talk. They keep talking, dude. Right? Like, he's still talking.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

And.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And it was that point, I think Dolce was like, are you on drugs, dude? Like, what's going on? And he's like, no, no. And she's like, I don't care what you do, but, like, don't bring that around my daughter and don't ever bring that stuff here to Crescent's property. And he was like, no, no, I would never. I would never do that. It's like, okay. So after being in the pool for about 15 minutes, Chandler got out. He went to get his car that was still parked at the tree line, and then he drove away, leaving the property. He drove by the pool, he waved at them. That was it. So Dolce and Crescent decided to contact the police as soon as they heard that Chandler's parents were unaccounted for, because it triggered their memory of his odd behavior that day, July 5, at the cottage Grove Farm. They estimated that between the time Chandler said he was going to go swimming and the time that he actually got into the pool was about 45 minutes to an hour. And Chandler seem when he got into the pool, as opposed to how he had been behaving before getting into the

[Crescent Lai]

pool, it was odd because he just seemed really different when he. He got in the Pool from when he was talking to us before.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Different how?

[Crescent Lai]

Well, he seemed more lucid. Like, he just seemed more present.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So feeling that Chandler may have used the property for some unknown, suspicious purpose. Right when his parents vanished, Crescent and Dolce contacted the police and gave them permission to search the property. So going to that same area of the woodline where Dolce and Crescent had seen the Subaru parked, investigators discovered the remains of Chandler's father, Bart Halderson. And after this, the dominoes started to fall down. Painting a picture of what had happened in the early days of July 2021, before Bart and Krista uncharacteristically left their home and went on an unannounced trip to their cabin with some unknown person. All right, so on the evening of July 1st, this would have been the night Bart and Krista allegedly left to go to the cabin. Steven Griber, a man who not only lived across the street from the Haldersons, but was a retired detective, he was outside when he started to smell a strong odor of burning wood.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

What would caught my attention was while I was there doing that for a period of time, all of a sudden I had could detect a strong order just of burning wood. And so I thought someone maybe had a fireplace or I should say a fire pit or something outside going, they're

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

just burning some firewood. But about five minutes or so later,

[Detective Brian Shunk]

all of a sudden, that odor of burning wood became a distinct

[Crescent Lai]

odor that

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

was more like in the line of

[Detective Brian Shunk]

what I thought someone was like, barbecuing

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

a large pork, like in one of

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

these large

[Detective Brian Shunk]

barbecue pits or whatever that can hold a whole pork.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

And how long did that smell persist in your neighborhood?

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Well, for the remainder of the time I was outside, it was present, kind of became real strong, kind of like

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

a pungent smell to the point that I actually walked down my driveway half

[Detective Brian Shunk]

the distance, kind of looked up and down the street to see if anybody was doing anything like grilling or something

[Stephanie Harlow]

else was going on.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

And I didn't see anything at that point.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

If you had to guess or if you had to estimate distance wise from the location you are to the Halderson home, about how far away is it? About maybe 100 to 130ft. And you have that observation that day. You're not here to say exactly what that that smell was, other than it

[Detective Brian Shunk]

smelled to me like, yeah, it was something burning of a meat or fats or something.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. So Steven Griber, he's a retired detective and he doesn't really say it during his testimony. But later he's like, yeah, you know, I have smelled things similar before. So. Another neighbor, Colin lynch, would later provide police with security camera footage from a camera that was pointed towards the Halerson home. And the video showed that later on in the evening of July 1st and into the early morning morning hours of July 2nd, there was a flickering light inside the Halderson home. A flickering light that started around 12:18am and continued on until about 4:30am when

[Detective Baverstock]

I initially got briefed on this case. Upon my return to Madison, I made contact with Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk. He had been assigned to look at the video from 7022 Bridgman Road, Mr. Lynch's DVR video, and to catalog the series of events chronologically that he applied observed in the video. I've trained Mike Wilk in the past at Madison College, so I'm familiar with him and his work. And I said, mike, let's meet. I just want you to show me what you see, what you don't see, and what your observations are. And he indicated to me that on the video there was a flickering light that he believed was coming from the Halderson residence on the early morning hours of July 2, 2021. And I said, what do you believe that light to be? He said, I think it's a fire in that family room at the house. And I asked him why he believed that, and he said things that made sense to me. It's a flickering light. He had knowledge. He told me that there was a fireplace in that room, and I had not yet at that point, been in the house. And I said, well, how do you know it's coming from that window? He said, well, I've looked at daytime video, and I think that's where it is. So I looked at that video, and not being familiar at that point with the residence, I thought, he's probably right. But really, it's a perception thing. We perceived it probably was that window. So the question I posed to him and to Detective Shunk and Sims is I think we have an opportunity here with this video to not only perceive what we think was the source of that light, but to prove it. And so the question really was, where was that light coming from? Not what the source of the light was, but where in the Halderson residence was that coming from?

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah, this is great. I smell a recreation coming up here, going in there and redoing it. Because initially when I heard flickering, I was thinking like a light bulb. And my first thought was, oh, sign of struggle. Maybe a lamp got Knocked over. And it was flickering because it had been damaged or the. The electrical cord had been damaged, but not knowing that there was a fireplace in the house. Now I have a different visual of more of a. Not a flickering, like a on off type flickering, but more of just like an inconsistency with the lights that you would see more similarly with. With a fireplace. Not a. Not a blinking light.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Well, yeah, and now we have, you know, Colin Lynch's video showing the flickering light for like four hours. And then we have it in combined with Steven Grieber's testimony that he's SM something burning. And now you have the police saying, like, well, we think it was the fireplace, but we have to prove it. So to prove that the flickering light was a fire coming from the family room of the Halson home, investigators performed a real world test using the neighbor's security camera. Coll security camera. So they went back to the neighborhood at night. They looked through the exact same camera feed, and they had an officer go inside the Halderson house to shine lights in front of different windows. So by comparing the light live test to the original video, digital experts mapped out the exact layout of the house on the screen and proved the flickering light wasn't from a TV or a bedroom lamp. It was coming directly from the family room window where the fireplace was located and burning Most intensely around 3am so we have a couple areas now here where we're. We're focusing on. First, we have Jane at the. The cabin in. In White lake. And Chandler's like, do you see shells or bullets there? So it's kind of making you think, did something happen at the cabin? And then we have Crescent lei's property about 20 miles from Chandler's home. And then you have the Halterson home itself, and you have Bart's body or partial body discovered. But where's Krista? So we got a lot going on. Now, remember Christa's coworker and friend, Daniel Kroninger, who had gone to the home, halterson home on July 2, which was that Friday, to check on Krista because she hadn't shown up for work. And we know that while he was there, he encountered Chandler. And Chandler's like, yeah, my parents left for the cabin. Oh, why are there cars here? They went with a friend. I don't know who that friend was. I wasn't awake. Now, Daniel would testify about some things that stood out while he was talking to Chandler that day.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

When we arrived at a period, he had just gotten out of the shower.

[Detective Baverstock]

I confirmed with him that his parents were.

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

Were not there.

[Dolce Mander]

And other than Chandler just getting out of the shower, was there anything else unusual about his appearance?

[Detective Baverstock]

He had a bandage on his large toe.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Not sure which side it was, but

[Stephanie Harlow]

he had a bandage on one of his toes.

[Dolce Mander]

Did he say anything about his foot?

[Stephanie Harlow]

He said that he had broken the

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

glass around the fireplace while playing with the dogs.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Did he describe his injury at all?

[Detective Brian Shunk]

He just said there was blood everywhere.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So now we have Daniel Kroninger talking to Chandler on July 2, and Chandler says, oh, I broke the glass around the fireplace. So now we got a fireplace involved in Chandler's story. Okay. So when the detectives went to talk to Chandler at the house on July 7, Chandler showed them around the house, which they reported was well kept, even though there was some remodeling going on. And Detective Shunk noticed that there was a piece of glass missing from the fireplace. And Chandler. Chandler explained that he'd been playing with the dogs when the dogs broke the fireplace. And he got a piece of glass stuck in his left big toe. So Detective Shunk actually inspected Chandler's injury and reported that it looked more like a blood blister. And it didn't appear to be recent. Chandler also had warned the detectives that there would be a lot of blood in the house as a result of his injury, like he had told Daniel Kroninger. But they didn't see any blood in the house. So on that day, one of the detectives spoke to a neighbor who mentioned that she had also noticed the small windows in the Halderson's garage were open. And she said she had never seen the small garage door windows open before. And you gotta thank God for nosy neighbors because I would never notice that about, like my neighbors windows, like the small windows of the garage are open. And that's never the case. Like, I would never notice that. I'm not paying that much attention to my neighbor's garages, but there are some neighbors, I guess she also did say, like, hey, there'd been maybe some, like, weird things happening in the neighborhood. So she was being a bit more vague, vigilant.

[Derek Levasseur]

But yeah, I think a lot of neighborhoods have that. I have it too, where there just people who are bored. But it's a good thing sometimes because you can catch things that others would miss. So you hate the Karens and Kens of your neighborhood at the time, but for something like this, until you need them, we're very appreciative of their nosiness.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Thank you. Thank you all for your nosiness. Yes. So there's some stuff happening at the Halderson home that's not usual. The Halderson are missing. Chandler starting to look very suspicious.

[Derek Levasseur]

No, it's all, it's all starting to make sense because you found Bart's body but you didn't find Krista's and now you're starting to get the, the light and also the smell. And I think everybody out there are part time detectives are starting to put two and two together.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yes. So if something happened on July 2nd, then Chandler goes to his girlfriend's mom's partner's home on July 4, he's acting weird. He shows up there again on July 5, he's doing something by the tree line, which is exactly where B. Bart's body is found. It's, et cetera, et cetera. We're starting to put it together.

[Derek Levasseur]

And by the way too, the fire at 3 o' clock in the morning being the most active, that is a red flag as well. Where again, normal behaviors. Is that something that the neighbor had seen in the past? Probably not. And who's really starting a fire?

[Stephanie Harlow]

That's what I'm saying.

[Derek Levasseur]

Get going.

[Stephanie Harlow]

At three in the morning in July.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly, exactly.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Yeah.

[Derek Levasseur]

So there's some things here that behaviorally just for anybody at that time of night and, or I should say time of mourning and during that time of year, suspicious.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So we are going to take our last break. We'll be right back. Before we jump back into today's case, this episode is brought to you by One Skin. And you guys know I love skincare.

[Derek Levasseur]

The way you've described it, there are a lot of steps, we'll just put it that way.

[Stephanie Harlow]

There are so many steps. Cleanser, serum moisturizer, spf, vitamin C, more serums, you know, something in a tiny bottle that costs more than din, honestly. And at some point you're like, am I doing skincare or am I preparing evidence for a lab?

[Derek Levasseur]

Let's be honest, both require precision.

[Stephanie Harlow]

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[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah, every time you say that, I think to myself, zombie cells sounds like something that belongs in one of our cases.

[Stephanie Harlow]

It really does. And it's, I like it's sensient cells. But basically as time passes, certain skin cells Stop functioning the way they should, the way they used to. And that can drive visible signs of aging, like fine lines and dullness. But one skin's OS1 peptide is designed to address those cells. So you're getting everything you want from great skin care, but with technology, most skincare was not never built to have.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah. So it's not just another moisturizer with pretty packaging, which is a lot of what we see out there now, a

[Stephanie Harlow]

lot of what we see. And that's what stood out to me. I want my skin to look smoother, firmer, more refreshed. But I also don't want a routine that feels like I need a spreadsheet to keep track of it. And I've had those routines in the past, and they didn't last long. So One skin makes it easy to be consistent and with everything. Even skincare consistency is everything.

[Derek Levasseur]

Especially. Especially in the summer.

[Stephanie Harlow]

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[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah, it's amazing.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So if you're looking for skincare that works differently, especially going into the summer, check out One skin. Born from over a decade of longevity research, skin is helping you unlock your healthiest skin now. And as you age, for a limited time, try one skin with 15 off using code crime weekly at Oneskin co. Crime weekly. That's 15 off OneSkin Co with Code crime weekly. After you purchase, they'll ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them that we sent you. Okay, so on July 8, 2020 21. And if you'll remember, this is the day that they're finding Bart's torso on Crescent le property. So on this day, Chandler Halderson sat down with detective Shunk and Detective Hendrickson for an interview. Wearing a hoodie and baseball cap, Chandler often appeared tired, slow moving. He would frequently complain about having a headache or a memory lapse that he claimed was due to a breakdown he had suffered from because of the stress of his parents going missing and losing his job and all of these things. Now, he specifically showed confusion right from the start as he was being read his Miranda rights.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Do you understand the rights I just read you? I do. Okay. Realizing that you have these rights, are you now willing to answer questions or Make a statement. Just need a yes.

[Deputy Sheriff Mike Wilk]

Yeah.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

So the second one. So I'll just read it again. Realizing that you have these rights, are you now willing to answer questions or make a statement? Oh, I will make a statement. Okay, so you understand them. Could I have the card so I could read it? I missed some. I'm sorry. Still having a little bit of problems. That the third one. I'll just, I'll read it. Let's start all over. Yeah. So you have the right to remain silent.

[Derek Levasseur]

Reading is hard.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Listening is hard. Yeah, I want to make a statement that like as I started looking into this case and everything a lot of people were like oh Chandler's so good looking and that's why he wasn't suspect. I don't see it, man.

[Derek Levasseur]

I'm not gonna judge. I mean like I've always said like, you know, whatever, to each their own.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I think that it's funny too because you can see Chandler's doing this whole like I don't, I can't remember. He's acting kind of out of it. Like.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah, not lucid at all. Just completely confused by this, this very brief statement.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, like he's, you know, you could. And, and this is how he was acting apparently kind of on July 4th and July 5th when he's talking to Crescent and Dolce and that's why they're like, yeah, he's kind of acting weird. That's why maybe they thought he was on drugs. I could see why you would think that cuz it does kind of seem like this guy's high man, you know? Like how much did he smoke before sitting down for this police interview?

[Derek Levasseur]

Like aloof. Aloof. Is that a good word?

[Stephanie Harlow]

No, distant.

[Derek Levasseur]

Kind of like detached from everything.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah. Like a disassociated maybe. Like he's just, it's kind of how, yeah. When you're, when you're high and you're kind of just like spaced out and you're not totally like connected and locked in. He's going to do this and he's going to keep saying well it's because of this concussion and because of this injury and, and this is why he couldn't get his job with SpaceX and all of this stuff. And he's going to really play it up. So they then start talking to Chandler about Wednesday. Now this would have been, been June 30, the last day of June, the day before July 1.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Let's just go back to, to last Wednesday. Wednesday I was with my dad. We. What time Wednesday. I remember it it was kind of a bad day. Okay. Why was it a. Well, my ma had work, so she was gone. My dad and I were watching something over lunch. It was the Wheel of Fortune. And we have. We'd normally have the couch, like with our back facing her. The table we sat at at the end of. You coming downstairs or up? Downstairs. Okay. That room with the tv. I toss the ball and I smashed the glass. Okay. With the dog, the door. So that. Yeah, set my dad off. We tried to clean it up. Okay. I don't know about him, but I got injured. But he was mad. He didn't really talk to me too much that day. And my mom got injured. Home at five, I believe. All right, so you just tossing that around? Broke the fireplace glass. You said you were injured. What type of injury? I got a pretty deep hole in my foot last night. Mary looked at it and she said the reason it keeps bleeding is cuz there's glass in it. Oh, that's the. You showed us your toe. Yeah, I showed the protective leaf. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So that one. It could be infected is what she's thinking, but Neosporin's been helping. Okay, good. Keeping it clean and stuff the best you can. I. I know how, I guess. Yeah. Okay. Once I. Oh, Wednesday. Back to Wednesday. Once I got all the glass out of the dog's hair, she didn't stay. Sustained any injuries.

[Crescent Lai]

Good.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

I thought that was roughly around 2. And then the rest, he didn't really talk to me. I went back to doing like a job search. Kind of just my day away, just getting games. YouTube maybe. That's when I came across of the jobs I liked. Then five o' clock rolled by and we. Mom came home. Dinner. By the way, a detective at my house said something's happened. And while we were leaving, people were going inside. Is there a warrant for my house? Should there be? No, I'm just wondering if. Okay, as far as I know, they were at your house and they were going to be there talking to you to ask if you would come up here and talk. Yeah, but Officer Haley just like walked pretty much in to the gate. You know the gate on the outside, she's kind of walked in. I was wondering, was that when you were getting your wallet? No, we were. We were. I was in the car waiting to leave. I was just wondering. Wondering if everything's okay. Because she said something's happened. Okay. And we need to go down. All right. We'll find out what that's about.

[Derek Levasseur]

I gotta tell you, man, I could just Watch interrogation videos all day. We gotta just start another podcast where it's just reacting to interrogation videos. That's a great idea. But just like the subtleties here, like he's so concerned that someone's inside, but he's like trying to be passive about it.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, he's like, did something happen?

[Derek Levasseur]

But he's also like, oh, you're kind of infringing on my fourth amendment. You know, she walked through the gate. This is.

[Detective Baverstock]

You're.

[Derek Levasseur]

But you're trying to also present yourself as someone who is completely oblivious to what's going on. Because you're looking for your parents.

[Stephanie Harlow]

You don't want to seem too concerned about it because you'd want them to be investigated.

[Derek Levasseur]

You want them in there. Right.

[Stephanie Harlow]

But you're just casual, like something does something.

[Derek Levasseur]

They said something happened, something I should be aware of.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Do I need an attorney?

[Derek Levasseur]

But it's like I'm trying to present myself as the son who just kind of has no clue what's going on. And I'm as concerned about where they are are as you are. And yet I'm also concerned that you could be looking at something that I don't want you to look at. So even though he thinks in his mind he's probably doing a good job, everybody listening or watching right now is.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, they're like, they're like this. Is there a warrant? Should there be?

[Derek Levasseur]

Yes. Should there be is great. It's great. And he's like, no, no, no. I'm just, just wondering because she kind of just walked through the gate with

[Stephanie Harlow]

like, you know, without my consent, making, making conversation.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

Yeah.

[Derek Levasseur]

Crazy, crazy, crazy. But in his mind, he's like, I'm, I'm crushing this right now.

[Stephanie Harlow]

They have no idea. But did you also see how he kind of is like posing this, like, oh, it wasn't a good day. You know, my dad got mad at me cuz I broke the fireplace, you know, playing with the dog. So he was mad he didn't talk to me. So he's trying to make his dad seem like, you know, this kind of mean guy, hard to be around. It's like it was a bad day cuz mom was at work and she left me alone with dad. And he was mad because I broke the fireplace. And then he says something that I thought was interesting. I don't know about him, but I got injured. So that was interesting. Like, I don't know if he's gonna have any injuries.

[Derek Levasseur]

I think we can all agree him, Chandler, accident prone.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Like Chandler's. Yeah, Chandler's got some bad luck.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

He's, he's going through and he's kind of making it seem like, yeah, my mom's at work, me and my dad are home while she's at work. And it's just really awkward. You know, we were, we were watching something on tv, but he wasn't really talking to me after I broke the call glass, and I was kind of my day away on YouTube and, and job search. So now we're also getting this idea that he's lost his job. So he's looking for a job. And we have an idea, if you're the detectives and you don't suspect him of anything, that maybe his dad isn't like the best guy to be around. Maybe he's kind of angry, kind of holds things against his son. They don't have a great relationship. Right. So they did not have a warrant to enter and search the Halderson home that day. Yeah. But they didn't need one at the time because Chandler had reported his parents missing. So police had implied cons to check the premises for clues regarding their whereabouts.

[Derek Levasseur]

That is, that is a slippery slope, if I'm being honest, but I get it. Exit and circumstances, implied consent. They're just basically looking in the main areas for a human being. That's would be, that would be the exception here, where it's like, well, we weren't looking in drawers. We weren't doing any of that. We weren't looking for evidence relating to a crime. We were there for the safety of

[Stephanie Harlow]

two adults, which is what they are. And they're making observations along the way. They're not opening anything, they're not saying, collecting anything.

[Derek Levasseur]

Right.

[Stephanie Harlow]

But they are making some observations.

[Derek Levasseur]

I'm going to play a little inside baseball with you guys, though, right now. They're definitely looking in stuff. I don't know, they shouldn't be, but I'm telling you, they are. I, I, I, it's, they, they, they're already looking at him as the guy and I, you know, they're not going to, they're not going to touch anything. But do I think they might be peeking in some areas where a human being wouldn't fit?

[Stephanie Harlow]

Well, I almost wonder if they wanted him. Like, did they do this in a timely manner where as he's leaving to go to the police station, the police are like, hey, we want to talk to you again. As he, the police walk by him and they're like, yeah, something happened and we're going in your house. And now they want him to be stressed going into this interview.

[Derek Levasseur]

You could tell by that interview and by the tone they're already on to him. Oh yeah, because they're already onto him.

[Stephanie Harlow]

They're way past the body of his father's been found where he was seen. Yeah, of course.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yep, they're onto him for sure.

[Stephanie Harlow]

To the detectives, obviously it's a major red flag that Chandler was even asking like, what's going on? Did something happen? And he seemed to be probing for details about the investigation. Chandler, once again, he told the detectives that he'd been sleeping downstairs because it was closer to the bathroom. And due to his injury, he wasn't able to handle the stairs all that well. He said he always slept with his door closed. But he had a feeling his parents were arguing that Wednesday night.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

What were they arguing about? Probably would set my dad off that day. The glass. Okay. Us not having food ready, stuff like that. We, I mean, we just microwave whatever is in the fridge, I suppose. Yeah. Who is upset about that? Dad was okay. He usually doesn't like that. He likes when we cook. Okay, okay. Does he ever cook? I haven't seen him cook. Oh, he grills. He likes to grow. He grilled on Thursday.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So Chandler's over here like, yeah, my dad's just this like, like chauvinistic, masochistic male. And he's like, oh my Chris has been working all day. You were just going to microwave something? That's unacceptable. And then they're like, well, does he cook? And he's like, oh, I mean, I never do. Oh no, he grills actually. And then Chandler proceeds to tell a whole story about his dad, like grilling on Thursday and he made them lunch. So it's like, yeah, he doesn't cook. He just gets mad when my mom doesn't cook or when me and my mom don't cook. But then he comes to find out he like made this elaborate like delicious meat that he, you know, heated up the grill to make sure it was all done and ready for, for lunch for them on Thursday. So it's just absolutely ridiculous. But he's trying to make it sound, I think like maybe my dad killed my mom. Cuz he already knows something's happening and he knows more than what I've even showed you that he knows we're going to talk about it, but he knows that the police know stuff.

[Derek Levasseur]

So yep, they're on them. I personally think he's setting up a potential defense fence down the road.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Or like he had to protect his mother.

[Derek Levasseur]

Like his mom was killed and then he killed his dad.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Well, yeah, we'll see.

[Derek Levasseur]

I. I think he knows that this could go bad. And if it does, he needs a plan B. Yeah. And this is what I think he's thinking that's possible.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So Chandler then discussed what happened on Thursday morning. He helped his mother get ready to leave for work. He said he always did that. He helped her. You know, he's the best son ever. She left for work. His dad started getting the grill ready. They ate lunch around noon. They watched their TV shows in the living room while they ate and then went off to do their things. Chandler was searching for his job. His mother got home, they ate dinner, and that's when they told him they were going to the cabin the next morning. And then he helped them gather everything to get ready to leave for the following day. So Chandler proceeded to lock himself into a highly specific timeline from June 30 to July 7. July 1, the last day he saw his parents. July 2, the day his parents left early in the morning before he woke up. July 3, Chandler spent the entire day alone at the house doing chores, cleaning up, and resting his injured foot. July 4th, he last heard from mother via text message when she said they were at the cabin planning to go to a Fourth of July parade. And then he went to Crescent's house for the party. July 5. Chandler said he was starting to feel a little bit isolated and he wanted to go for a swim. So he went over to Crescent. And when he talked about July 5th and going to Crescent's farm, he said that he wasn't in the pool when he said he was supposed to be because he'd gone off to the shed to have a breakdown.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

I'm there talking to their mom and Chris. Then I. Then I go up to have, you know, break down by their shed, and they go swimming. Right by the swimming pool is the shed. So they're. They wanted to watch me, like, you

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

know,

[Detective Brian Shunk]

break down and all that. So after I noticed they're just watching, watching, I just walk over to him. Describe your breakdown to me. I actually cried, started kicking grass, just doing the toddler tantrum shift. Then I hopped in the water with them. Okay, I was there. I. Too late. I was in the water. And I realized Crest didn't have a top, and that was uncomfortable. But I talked to them more, and that's what she brought up. The housing situation, how she doesn't like. How my parents, like, are. I guess. I don't know. She doesn't. She doesn't know them that well. She's never met them. Okay. Chris was saying that Cat's mom is. Speaks is her first thought right away. Yeah. So she's. So they're offering me to get a job, live with them, work for them while I'm working and pay rent. And that's kind of their. Their deal. I would have, like, a month free of rent or a month or two maybe if. If they're thinking I could be able to borrow a car from Cress. Maybe if she's nice not using it, I'd be able to go to work. What were you having a breakdown about? You ever have your legs? No, I haven't. Just I don't even know if they're done eating, like, as bad as they can be yet. So that's not fun. And I think you were telling me last night it was. It's a symptom of a concussion. Right. So is that right? That's not it. That's a. It's a symptom of nerve damage from the hit on my spine.

[Detective Baverstock]

So.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Okay.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Permanent.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Okay, I understand that now. Better. Yeah. So it's just legs and Creates waist feeling is probably colostomy bag down the road and all of that. But here we are. So Sunday. Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So, yeah, if you notice, it's like always everybody else with Chandler. Everybody else is the problem. And he's like, oh, they went swimming in the pool because I was having a mental breakdown and crying and they wanted to watch me do that.

[Derek Levasseur]

Like, okay, I feel bad for him.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And then I got in the pool and I didn't even realize she didn't have a top on until I got in the pool. And not that I was standing there, like, getting ready to. I. I didn't notice then I was

[Derek Levasseur]

just standing in the corner of the pool crying.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And then he's like. And then, you know Kat's mom, Dolce, she's like, talking about my par. Even though she's never met them. She doesn't even know that, but she just says whatever's in her head. And then they were offering me a job, you know, because they were worried that I wasn't gonna have a job and. And even offering me a place to live for a month's free rent and, you know, a car, even if Crescent's nice. And. But still, they're bad. They wanted to watch me have a mental breakdown even though they're trying to help me. Everybody tries to help me. And then the police, like, what were you having a mental breakdown about? He's like, have you ever not been able to use your legs. Spoiler alert. Chandler's not injured, but we'll talk about that soon.

[Derek Levasseur]

I mean, he walked down that big hill allegedly to. To put Bart's body. But we're moving on.

[Stephanie Harlow]

There are no concussions. There's no muscles not working in the legs. He's like he has spinal fluid. It's a permanent nerve damage. None of that. But also, I want you to understand, this whole concussion thing happened in June. So was this premeditated or does he just like to be a victim or does he have a grander plan? Plan, that's the question. So, yeah, understand Chandler's now telling the police that all of his nerve damage is permanent. He may not ever be able to use his legs normally again. He's very much affected by this and losing his dream job. So on July 6, Chandler said he met up with his girlfriend, Catherine Cat. They went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. And July 7, he was starting to get worried because his parents were long overdue in their return. So he said he spent the afternoon walking around his neighborhood knocking on doors to see if any of his neighbors ring doors. Doorbell cameras had captured anything about his parents before he went to the sheriff's office to report them missing. Okay. July 7th, he said he did this before he went to the sheriff's office.

[Detective Sabrina Sims]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Okay.

[Derek Levasseur]

We all know why he was.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Well, he, he. It is true. It is true. The Chandler walked around the neighborhood asking about ring doorbell.

[Derek Levasseur]

No doubt about it.

[Stephanie Harlow]

But it was not on July 7th. It was on July 8th.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Hi, my name is Chandler, Chandler Halderson. I live just down the road. Oh yeah, you're the one who followed the police. Yeah, I was told you the fancy security system. I was wondering if you were able to capture the road or my house.

[Stephanie Harlow]

The police actually came in and downloaded everything they have.

[Dolce Mander]

It's actually my sister's house.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Oh, okay.

[Crescent Lai]

Yeah.

[Dolce Mander]

So they were here think till like

[Stephanie Harlow]

9 o' clock last night and downloaded

[Dolce Mander]

all the video she's got.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So we're hoping that.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

Yeah.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Did it capture anything on.

[Stephanie Harlow]

We don't know.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

We don't know.

[Dolce Mander]

They just took a copy of everything.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And so we're hoping.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Wide angle lens.

[Crescent Lai]

Yeah.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

And it's all able to get it.

[Crescent Lai]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And it's all hd.

[Dolce Mander]

And then I think there's one, especially

[Detective Brian Shunk]

in the dark, it looks like it has a little bit of night vision. Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And there's one on the.

[Dolce Mander]

The corner of the garage too.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I don't know if that one quite

[Dolce Mander]

goes that direction, but maybe.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

See this road? I think Different.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah.

[Dolce Mander]

So hopefully, I mean, they give them everything that we had.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So we're hoping we find something on there.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah. Excuse my language. This is a visual representation of I'm.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, yeah. She's like, she's like, yeah, we already gave it the police. He goes, really?

[Dolce Mander]

Really?

[Derek Levasseur]

Oh, it looks like you got a little night vision on there too, huh? You really didn't spare any expense for

[Stephanie Harlow]

this camera right here.

[Detective Sergeant Groans]

Right here.

[Stephanie Harlow]

He's, he's like, I heard you have a fancy security camera.

[Derek Levasseur]

What are you guys, NASA?

[Dolce Mander]

Is this the CIA home?

[Derek Levasseur]

Jesus.

[Stephanie Harlow]

He's like, and there's another one in the garage.

[Derek Levasseur]

Oh, that's, that's great. That's great looking.

[Stephanie Harlow]

With his hand. He's like, it probably captures this angle, huh, Right here.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah. And he's thinking, he's. Yeah, it's not, it's the whole.

[Stephanie Harlow]

You can clear clearly see a freeze happening in Chandler when he's informed that the footage from the HD cameras with night vision had already been handed over to the Dane County Sheriff's Office. Right. So it's funny because he said, I did this on July 7th. No, he went to the police to report them missing on July 7. Then the police started investigating. Part of the investigation was obviously going to neighbors and seeing if they had ring footage to see who the Halderson had left with. Right? And then there they got all the stuff, stuff and they left. And now he's finding out on July 8th. Cuz he said, oh, I heard you're the one that called the police. Right? So somehow he found out a neighbor had called the police and said, we have really a really fancy camera with all the bells and whistles, HD night vision, everything. He's like, that was you. So like, did it capture anything? And she's like, I don't know. They just downloaded it. Like we didn't watch it. They didn't, you know, they, they took it. They didn't sit here and watch, watch it with us and narrate what was happening. They just took it. And he's like, oh, the police know something. And now they want me to come in and talk to them them today. And, and then he's going to leave and the, and the police are there at his house and they're like, something happened and we're going into your house. And he's like, oh, this is not looking good.

[Derek Levasseur]

He knows.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So after Chandler finished laying out his timeline, the detectives informed him that they knew more than he thought they knew.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

We got all the background, I think, right? Yeah, I think so. So I think it's time we start talking about what happened to your parents. Like, truthful version. Okay. Okay. So we have, like, 20 pages of writing. We're going to start with a clean, white piece of paper for you to start telling the truth. Okay? Why?

[Detective Baverstock]

Because.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

Listen. Listen to me. This is the only chance you're going to have to tell us the truth. Okay? Okay, What? We. Listen, listen.

[Derek Levasseur]

I can't tell you what we know,

[Detective Brian Shunk]

but we know you're not telling us the truth. We know your parents are no longer with us, okay? And we know the reason why. Okay. Need to tell the truth. There's. Listen, listen. You need to tell the truth about what happened and just tell us why it happened, okay? If something happened, if you were defending yourself or if you just got fed up with stuff, you need to tell us the truth, okay? This is your chance to tell us why. Okay? I'm not BSing you. Okay? So can we do that? Okay. Okay. What happened? Okay, you know what happened. We're not going to tell you what happened. You know what happened. You were there when it happened.

[Dolce Mander]

Happened.

[Detective Brian Shunk]

We're not BSing you. Okay? When it happened. We know more than you think we know. I understand, but there's people that have told us things. We have. We have evidence. We have proof that more has happened. Okay? So your parents never made it to the cabin, and I think you know that.

[Derek Levasseur]

No reaction to your. We know your parents are no longer with us because he. That's just an acknowledgment. No reaction from him. Body language or verbally? Because he.

[Stephanie Harlow]

But he looks stressed. I think the body language looks like he's like.

[Derek Levasseur]

He's stressed because he knows I'm in a corner. Yeah, he's done. But if this was someone who was innocent when he said, we know your parents are no longer with us, it would have been. What? Wait, what? What did you just say?

[Stephanie Harlow]

My parents are dead?

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's already thinking, oh, I gotta go to plan B now.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So obviously they're like, tell us the truth. And he's like, I want a lawyer. Right?

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Harlow]

So he does not. It's funny because the police are like, we have 20. 20 pages of.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah, so we're gonna throw that out.

[Stephanie Harlow]

We're gonna crumple that up. We're gonna start with a fresh white piece of paper, and you are going to write the truth on that. Now.

[Derek Levasseur]

Thanks for the story, Mother Goose. Now let's go to the real one.

[Stephanie Harlow]

We had fun.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yep. That was great.

[Detective Baverstock]

Cute.

[Stephanie Harlow]

But now it's time to tell the truth. And he's. He lawyered up. He obviously was not like, let me confess everything to you. Because the fact of the matter is there was so much to confess at this point, and it went so deep. Like, the detectives told Chandler that they knew what happened and they knew why it had happened. But at that point, I don't think the detectives understood just how deep Chandler's deception had gone, how much effort he put into covering up all of his lies, how long it had been going on, and how hard it was all going to come crashing down around him. Which is where we will pick up in part two.

[Derek Levasseur]

Yeah, I. I can't wait for part two. This case reminds me a lot. And I'm going back into memory here, but I'm sure you wrote it. So you all know Le Lisa and Joel Guy.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Yeah, Joel Guy. Yeah.

[Derek Levasseur]

Not the same. That was a. That was crazy. That was. With the acid and all that stuff.

[Stephanie Harlow]

But though this just. This gets just as crazy. Don't get it twisted.

[Derek Levasseur]

Well, I, I'm. I'm looking forward to diving into part two. This is one of those cases where you could see some good investigative work you have people do, dotting their eyes, crossing their T's. Chandler did not do a good job with any of this. He really just thought everyone around him was going to be completely ignorant to his behavior. And it unfolded in for him a lot more rapidly than we see in other cases where sometimes they can put up a farce for at least a couple weeks. But within a matter of hours of reporting his parents missing, he was already. He was already doomed.

[Stephanie Harlow]

I think he was underestimating how well other people knew his parents, how well they knew their habits, how close they were to them. Yeah, because you'll find out that Chandler is. There's nothing authentic or honest about him. So I don't think he can comprehend his brain for. Can't comprehend the kinds of relationships and connections and honest, genuine person has. Like, he doesn't get that because he lies to everybody all the time about everything.

[Derek Levasseur]

I'm looking forward to seeing how the investigation unfolded, what they did to tie everything together to ensure that.

[Stephanie Harlow]

And where's. Where's his mother?

[Crescent Lai]

Right.

[Derek Levasseur]

Where's his mother? I think. I think we have an idea. I think we have an idea. But I want to see how that goes. I also want to see the motive. Well, his motive. We may never know a true motive. Maybe we will. You know more than me. But what I want to know is what's the plan of action here? Because Chandler thinks he's the smartest guy in the room and they're always the best people to deal with because you prove them wrong. And so I'm wondering what plan B is because I think we hit on it earlier. He's going to paint his bad, his dad as a bad guy and he's going to go that route and, and he was a hero in all of this. But we will see. I'm looking forward to it guys. Let us know your comments below if you're watching on YouTube. If you're listening on audio, please leave, leave a review, leave five stars. That would be greatly appreciated. It helps more people see what we're doing especially when we're covering cases like we did earlier in the week where we're trying to get word out there about cold cases that haven't been talked about in 45 years. We appreciate the love. We appreciate the support. Everyone stay safe out there. We will see you soon.

[Stephanie Harlow]

Sam.