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Peyton Moreland (1:40)

You're listening to an ONO Media podcast. Hey everyone and welcome back to the into the Dark podcast. I am your host Peyton Moreland and I'm so so so happy you are here. It feels like it's been so long since I recorded ITD because I recorded early took the week off for my birthday. Speaking of that, thank you so much for all of the birthday wishes. I felt so special and I truly love you guys so much. If you are watching this on YouTube and can subscribe, turn on notifications, leave a comment down below. Thank you so much. It's just a great way to interact with the podcast and help out and if you are listening on audio and can leave a review I would appreciate it. Honestly thank you so much for consistently supporting this show. It means more than you will ever never know. For my 10 seconds I just wanted to talk about all of the people who tagged me in their Spotify wrapped this year. Honestly, it's one of those days that just feels surreal year after year, but especially this year with into the Dark as a new podcast. You guys know how scary it was for me to start this show and to see so many people who had both martyr with my husband and into the Dark on their Top Podcast was an insane feeling. I don't know if this life will ever feel real, but I can't thank you guys enough. And I just wanted to make this 10 seconds about that, because I saw all of it, and I love you so much. Just a quick, cutesy little 10 seconds. And with that, let's jump into the episode. So, so often when we tell true crime stories, there's a toxic romantic relationship at the heart of the case. Could be a controlling, violent partner or an affair that turns deadly. But today's story is also about a dangerous love affair. But the victim wasn't who you might expect. And to this day, there's actually a lot of controversy about this story and how everything in it somehow went so wrong. So in the fall of 2000, Daniel Halseth was starting his final year as a student at Western Oregon University. Again, 2000, Daniel starting his senior year in Oregon. He was majoring in music and had a reputation for being an excellent piano player and drummer. Actually, his friends nicknamed him Drummer Dan. He was also an avid photographer, and Daniel liked to go on these long walks where he'd take gorgeous pictures of the natural world around him. And on top of all of that, he also had a job in telecommunications, which, let's be honest, probably gave him a lot more stability than his music degree would. But that year, he met a local high school senior named Elizabeth. So he's a senior in college, and Elizabeth is a senior in high school. And right away, they felt a connection. So they began dating, and they actually got married very quickly. In fact, the wedding was on July 2, 2001, pretty soon after both of their graduations. His from college, hers from high school. And then they would go on to have three children together, one right after the other. The oldest was born in 2002, the next in 2003, and then the youngest, a girl named Sierra, came along in 2004. So, basically, in the blink of an eye, this couple went from dating to married to being parents in a family of five. And like you often see when relationships move this quickly, the marriage was rocky, especially given the age gap. Four years isn't a huge deal for older adults, but it can be a major gap when one person is in high school like Elizabeth was. So, anyway, by 2006, Elizabeth and Daniel were both thinking about their future careers. Daniel had actually gone back to school to get a master's degree, and now he had an IT job in Nevada. And Elizabeth, at this point, felt called to get involved in politics. She won an election that year, and Then she climbed the ranks, going from local positions to higher ones. And then finally, Elizabeth was actually voted into the Nevada State Senate. The position meant she had to work in a city that was four hours away from home. And because of this, she was traveling a lot. In fact, sometimes in this family, it felt like the mom, Elizabeth, was never around, and her relationship with Daniel soured. They spent some time in marriage counseling, trying to make it work, but by 2011, it was clearly time to call it quits. So that year, they divorced. However, according to some allegations, the long distance and Elizabeth's job were not the only reasons for this split. There may have been something darker at the core of this marriage. That same year, In October of 2011, Elizabeth accused Daniel of physically attacking her. She reported the incident to the police, and he was arrested. Daniel was charged with open and gross lewdness, and he didn't fight those charges. He pleaded guilty. Then he was sentenced to six months of probation. And just a few weeks after this incident, he formally filed for divorce. So that's the timeline. First the attack happened, then they ended the marriage, and then Daniel had to spend six months on probation. Now, that wasn't a very serious sentence, but it probably made it harder for him to advocate for himself in the custody negotiations. The courts were not going to have much sympathy for a man who'd admitted to hurting his wife. And to make matters worse, in 2012, Elizabeth decided to move out of state to Alaska. She quit her government job, only saying that she had to leave due to a, quote, incredibly difficult private matter. The truth was, the stress of everything had been getting in the way of her work for a while. She had missed important meetings and hearings, and her colleagues were even thinking of disciplining her for it. So Elizabeth realized at this point, she needed a fresh start, a way to get away from all of this. And that fresh start was going to be in Alaska. But Daniel would be staying in Nevada, which meant a shared custody arrangement for their three kids would be almost impossible. There was no practical way for the children to travel back and forth between those states. So one parent would get full custody, and the other would almost never see their son and daughters. And as it worked out, Elizabeth won custody, she moved to Alaska, and she took the three kids with her. But then a few years later, she would actually return to Nevada, which was when Daniel decided to reopen negotiations and try to change the custody terms now that the kids were in the same state with him. And this new battle turned vicious. At different times. Both Daniel and Elizabeth were accused of being abusive to their children, and they weren't just accusing each other. At least one of their daughters also made allegations. So it began around 2020, although I'm not sure of the exact date. So that's when 15 year old Sierra, this is the youngest child, started texting Daniel, her father, to say that she did not feel safe in her mother Elizabeth's home. She wanted to live with her dad full time because the conditions at her mother's house were impossible for her. Except at other times, Sierra actually told other people that her father, Daniel, was the abusive parent. I don't know the specifics of what she said, but I do know that the adults in her life took her claims very seriously, and she agreed to cooperate in a full investigation with child protective services. But they weren't able to find any definitive evidence one way or the other. So none of these allegations were ever proven. We can't say for sure what was going on behind closed doors in either household. All we can do in this situation is focus on the facts we do know, which is that in 2020, Sierra and her siblings stayed with Daniel over the summer. And this was with Elizabeth's permission. It was the first time Daniel had the chance to have any real quality time with his kids since the divorce. And he used this opportunity to get to know them and learn what sorts of people they were. Now, Sierra was quiet. She kind of kept to herself. She didn't seem ready to open up to her father. And they actually had a lot of conflicts because she was so strong willed. Like a lot of teenage girls, she didn't like for Daniel to set rules or tell her what to do. So there was a lot of tension and coldness between them. But eventually Daniel figured out how to reach Sierra. She loved to dance. All he had to do was put on some music, start swaying to the rhythm, and pretty soon she would jump up and join in. And it was something they bonded over. And they finally began to establish a father daughter relationship. In fact, from the sounds of things, they might have become pretty close. Because when fall came and it was time to go back to her mom, Sierra refused to leave. She just stayed at Daniel's house. And eventually law enforcement got involved and told her she had to go back to her mom's. So Sierra moved in with her mom, only to run away right afterward and end up back at her dad's house again. And everything got messy enough that Daniel and Elizabeth had to go to family court to work out a new custody arrangement in October of 2020. Now, during the hearing all of these different abuse allegations came up. And to try and get to the bottom of things, a judge talked to Sierra and he could tell something was wrong with her. He actually said, quote, something else is going on with Sierra. I don't know yet what that is, whether that's parental alienation, whether that's human trafficking, whether that's manipulation. And I don't know who at this point is to blame for that, which was such a telling summary. Clearly something was wrong, but nobody knew what. Maybe Sierra's mother was hurting her. Maybe it was her father. It could have been both of them or someone else entirely, like a family friend or a teacher. All we can say at this point in this story is that something was not right with Sierra. All right, you guys, we all take supplements, or at least we know we should. But why are so many supplement companies charging ridiculous prices for products that really aren't that special? It's frustrating and frankly unacceptable. And that's why I want to introduce you to LiveGood, a brand that's turning the supplement industry on its head. Livegood believes that everyone deserves access to high quality supplements without the insane markups they offer. Premium products formulated by an industry leading team of natural health experts and they cut out the middleman to sell them at the lowest prices anywhere. I recently got my hands on their organic super greens as well as their multivitamins and I'm so, so excited to get started. 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It's about about building healthier habits that actually stick I love how the app's daily lessons and coaching keep me motivated while still allowing me to enjoy my favorite foods. It's flexible, sustainable and most importantly, works for me. And did you know active Noom users lose an average of 15 pounds in 15 weeks? That's science backed progress without sacrificing the foods you love. Over 5.2 million people have already used Noom to achieve their goals. So why aren't you Stay focused on what's important to you with Noom's psychology and biology based approach. Sign up for your trial today@noom.com based on a three and a half year study of actively engaged Noom users with a minimum starting BMI of 25. Individual results may vary. Visit their website for more information. By the spring of 2021, Sierra was now 16 years old and living with Daniel at their home in Las Vegas and from what I can tell, her other two siblings were with their mom. Now, on April 8, Elizabeth sent Daniel a few text messages. Just checking in, clarifying a few things. This is divorced parents texting each other checking in, but Daniel never responds. And the same thing happened when his mother Christine tried to get a hold of him. She called in the morning and he didn't pick up. She also texted him all through the day and again she gets no reply. And all day long she tried everything she could think of to try and reach him, calling and texting over and over. But Daniel never gets back to her. So eventually his mother Christine gave up on trying to talk to her son directly and so grandma figures granddaughter would know where he was and if he was okay. So as soon as Christine asked Sierra what was going on with her dad, Sierra gives her grandma a very vague answer. She wouldn't say where Daniel was or what was going on, which only made Christine feel more worried. So she got a little more forceful, pressing Sierra to explain what he'd been up to all day. One of Christine's texts said, quote I'm trying to get a hold of your dad. Where is he? And Sierra's response at this point was his phone has been acting up but he's okay. It should be all fixed by tomorrow night. No worries. Then she ended the message with a smiley face emoji. Now if you believe what Sierra said, it was clear why Daniel couldn't answer a reply to text. But Christine grandma didn't believe it. Everything Sierra said was setting off alarm bells in her head. She could tell the teen was changing her story, so she asked more pointed questions. But the more aggressive Christine became, the Vaguer and more evasive Sierra would get, almost like she was hiding something. So at this point, Christine was incredibly worried, of course. So as a last ditch effort, she asked a friend, Peggy Newman, for help. By this point, it was late in the evening and even though Peggy lived somewhat close to Daniel, she wasn't comfortable going to his home at this time of night. So Peggy told Christine, don't worry, I will head over to Daniel's house the next morning and make sure he's okay. And that's what she did on the next day on the 9th. Now, before Peggy made it to Daniel's house, Christine tried to reach him and Sierra one last time. Maybe she hoped Sierra's story was true, that Daniel's phone really was just broken and he'd reach out and confirm he was fine eventually. Except he still wasn't answering. And when Christine once again asked Sierra about it, she said, oh, he's just in the shower. And that he text her back as soon as he got out and had a chance to look at his phone. Except Christine didn't believe that it was after 10am at this point and Daniel was not a late sleeper. It would be weird. This would be a random time for him to be showering. So Christine replied to Sierra and told her point blank, I don't believe you. And she also warned that she would figure out the truth. One of the last messages Grandma Christine sent to her granddaughter Sierra was, why are you doing this? Now the police are involved. Except it wasn't the police who were on their way to Daniel's house at that moment. It was Peggy, Christine's friend. And she actually brought her roommate with her because she had a bad feeling. She didn't know if she was going to be safe going there alone. And so Daniel's mom's friend Peggy and her roommate get to the house and they go straight inside, which is easy to do because the door was closed, but not locked. Now, right away they could tell something was wrong and that's because the house was on fire. Now, the flames weren't big enough to be visible from the outside yet, so they didn't realize this before going in. But when they opened the door, the interior was filled with smoke. So now Peggy and her roommate thought there's a chance Sierra or Daniel could be trapped inside the house. So rather than run away, they actually go through the burning home. They race to each bedroom, the kitchen, the living room, yelling Daniel and Sierra's names. Remember, they went over here in the first place to check on the wellness of Daniel but there was no sign of the father or the daughter. So in the moment, I have to think that Peggy and her roommate were panicked and horrified. And I'm not sure if they actually were paying attention to the surroundings of the house. But I do think it's worth mentioning that the place was visibly trashed. There was a huge mess everywhere, which must have made it harder for these two to even get around and search the home. So finally, they pushed their way into the garage, and that's where they saw something lying on the ground against one of the walls. It was a sleeping bag. But it. It didn't look empty. It looked like it was full of something. And after a little examination, Peggy and her roommate realized something was in the sleeping bag. It was a person, and they were dead. Now, at first, Peggy thinks the body is Sierra's. She actually didn't get a good look at the deceased person, but her assumption was that the 16 year old girl had tragically somehow died in this house fire. So Peggy calls 911 and the first question the dispatcher asked was, do you need police, fire or medical? But Peggy didn't know how to answer because she needed all of the above. So she stammered. She's like, there was a fire. We went in to investigate, and there's a dead body in the garage. Well, once the police arrived on the scene, the evidence told a different story that didn't fit Peggy's assumptions on the 911 call. First, the deceased person in the sleeping bag in the garage was not Sierra. It was an adult man, Daniel. And he hadn't died in the fire. In fact, his autopsy showed that there was no smoke in his lungs, meaning he was already dead and not breathing before the fire even started. And even worse, his cause of death was actually a brutal stabbing. In total, there were more than 70 wounds on his body. Most of his injuries, 42 of them, were on his back. His attacker had also cut his throat, arms and legs, and punctured his lungs three times. Many of those injuries were from after he was dead. And it seemed like the killer had used different tools before and after Daniel's death. It was hard to say with certainty because about 40% of his body had burned in the fire. But one theory was that the murderer stabbed him to death with a knife and then switched to using either a circular saw or a chain saw after he passed away. I've seen both of those possibilities reported in different sources. And police figure this because besides the body, the police also found power tools all over the house that were fairly New, they clearly hadn't been used in any construction projects. But all of these power tools were covered in blood. So the police assumed that someone had murdered Daniel with a knife and then used this power tools to try and dismember the body. But it didn't work. Which might be why the murderer then lit the the remains on fire. It was pure luck that Peggy and her roommate arrived when they did. They were able to get help before that fire destroyed all of the evidence. So after a bit of investigation, police found out that in the past day, someone had made a lot of purchases using Daniel's credit card. It had paid for bleach, lighter fluid, drop cloths, gloves, and a bunch of cutting tools, including a saw that matched the cuts on the body. So police believe that the murderer had stolen the victim's card to buy the tools after stabbing him to death. And that's not all they took. Daniel's car wasn't at his home, so the detectives reported it as missing and put out a notice all over the region so other divisions would know to watch for it. Now, within four days, police in Salt Lake City, Utah, spotted Daniel's truck. And when they searched it, there was a rug in the trunk of the truck, and it was drenched in blood. The police had a hard time coming up with a theory about why the killer took the rug, if it was meant to be a souvenir or if the killer just didn't want to leave the evidence at the scene. Except left everything else. Or maybe something else was at play. But here's where it gets interesting. During the course of those four days between the murder and the search for the truck, nobody had seen Sierra. She wasn't in the burnt house. She also hadn't come to school. So by this point, Christine had told the police that, yes, Sierra was living with him. And here's these weird, vague texts that she had sent me on the 8th. So it was pretty clear that Sierra had been hiding something during the time that Daniel was missing and was probably dead. And in that garage. And on top of that, the police went to all of the stores where the killer had bought tools with Daniel's card. They found surveillance footage, and it was Sierra making those purchases. She was the one who'd bought the bleach, other supplies. She also went to an ATM and withdrew hundreds of dollars worth of cash from her father's account. So the top theory at this point was that Sierra had committed the murder. She had lied about Daniel's phone being broken to help cover up the crime, and then she took his truck and skipped town. Well, when the police tracked Daniel's car to Salt Lake City, they also found Sierra there. She had just bought a train ticket. Who knows how far she would have gotten if the police hadn't caught her that day. Instead, they got to her just in the nick of time. Sierra was at the station with her ticket in her hand. And she was just about to board the train when police arrested her on April 13, 2021. And interestingly, she wasn't alone.