A married couple goes missing over a holiday weekend; a social media clue leads to a shocking discovery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened to Bart and Krista Halderson?
Hey, I'm Brad Milkey. I'm the host of the Crime Scene Weekly, a new show from ABC Audio about the latest headlines in true crime. This week, we're talking about the massive prison break that shocked Louisiana in recent weeks. How did these inmates escape, and was it an inside job? Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts.
An all-new 2020 starts right now.
Sheriff's office to make yourselves known. No, this is no crawl space.
This is a dark, creepy space. You've got to be ready for anything. Absolutely. The clock was ticking. We needed to find them. The steepest stairs I've ever seen.
The Halderson's are gone. They're missing.
What do you mean they're missing? I can't even comprehend what that means.
The story is a couple came and picked them up and took them to the cabin.
And nobody knew who that couple was. There was a concern that Bart and Krista had been kidnapped by this couple that picked them up early that morning.
There were all these questions. For each answer you get, there are 17 more questions.
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Chapter 2: How did the Haldersons go missing?
This case really highlighted how social media tracks everything. And that became so crucial.
I was like, hey, where you at? Where you at? Like, you're not responding to me on Snapchat.
You've got to get to that cabin. You've got to get to that cabin right now to figure out what happened.
Mine goes to, did the worst happen? So what happens next?
He kind of had the craziest phone call that I had in my law enforcement career. He couldn't say much, but I should probably watch the news the next day. Holy . I don't really have words for it, to be honest.
Fourth of July, it's a day when people come together to celebrate our independence and the spirit of America. And that's what you'll see in Madison, Wisconsin.
Fourth of July celebrations have been going on all weekend, but of course Americans are going all out today.
The lakes are really core to the identity of Madison. Just being around water, being around nature is really big to a lot of people here.
Madison is Wisconsin's gorgeous capital city. Built on a strip of land connecting Lakes Monona and Mendota, generations of families have come here to lay roots. But as residents of a small town just north of here would come to know, secrets, lies, and betrayal don't stop at these shores.
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Chapter 3: What were the last known communications from Krista?
The strange disappearance of Bart and Krista Halderson is a mystery captivating local Wisconsiners.
Are we rolling?
We're rolling now.
Including a pair of podcasters.
I'm Jill.
And I'm Richard.
And we do the True Crime Brewery podcast. We're very fascinated with true crime and just love to really figure out what's going on behind the scenes.
Ready.
So, you know, we've been talking more and more about these cases.
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Chapter 4: What was discovered at the Halderson family cabin?
Chandler tells detectives that his parents planned to fix a water pump and a fire pit up at the cabin, and that both were damaged in a recent storm. So he says he helped them pack supplies, including a pipe wrench, a hatchet, and gas cans for a chainsaw.
He also said that they brought alcohol and cash with them.
He mentioned they were maybe going to a casino to go gambling. We learned that it's out of character for them to go gambling and that the Haldersons, especially Bart, was pretty frugal with his money.
When investigators inspect the Halderson home, they see both Bart and Krista's cars are still in the garage.
Both their cars are still there. What's going on with that? Chandler says, well, they went with this other couple. I don't know who they are, but they took the other couple's car.
Chandler tells detectives that his parents left in an unknown vehicle. And when detectives review neighbors' home security cameras, they spot a white van driving down the Halderson Street in the early morning hours on Friday, July 2. Could this van be the vehicle driven by that mystery couple?
We were looking for a van. It was an unknown vehicle, and then we saw it on surveillance camera.
Hoping he might know who the couple is, investigators speak to Chandler's older brother, Mitchell, who lives close by. But he says as far as he knows, none of his parents' friends went with them to the cabin.
Nobody knew who that couple was. No phone numbers, no names, nothing. I mean, for them to drive up to the cabin with somebody that nobody even knew who they were, that was very odd. Where's the other couple? That was the other thing. Where's the other couple? Because no one's heard from them, whoever they are.
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Chapter 5: What evidence linked Chandler to the disappearance?
She got back to me. They made it safely. Their plans were going up with their friends and do some minor repairs on a cabin. Did you literally see them pulling out of the driveway heading out? No.
With the town now buzzing about the missing couple, Chandler's back at home. And he notices a different kind of activity outside his window.
Chandler sees this uptick in police activity outside his house, so he calls Detective Shunk to find out what's happening. That phone call was recorded.
He was asking if everything was okay. He was asking why there were so many police in his neighborhood.
I'm a little confused. Is everything all right?
And I had to explain to him, you know, we were canvassing the neighborhood.
Yeah, I mean, well, they're probably doing reports. All right. Any news on your end at all? Have you gotten any phone calls, text messages? Well, I'll keep you posted if I hear anything. Yeah. Yeah.
Later that night, Chandler comes voluntarily into the Dane County Sheriff's Office, where investigators bring him into this room and seat him in this chair.
So if you just want to have a seat right there. Perfect. Thank you so much.
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Chapter 6: How did investigators confront Chandler Halderson?
How does him not knowing about that human torso affect the way you interview him, the way you talk to him?
Hey, Chandler.
How are you doing? So the way we wanted to interview him initially was to have him lay out the story of what he was telling us from the first night.
So I think it's time we start talking about what happened to your parents, like the truthful version.
So at that point, after we let him tell his entire story, we confront him and say that we know more than what he believes. We told him to come clean, basically not using those words, and we told him to tell us the truth.
Listen to me. This is the only chance you're going to have to tell us the truth, OK?
That's when investigators lower the boom on Chandler.
This is your chance to tell us why, OK? I'm not BSing you, OK?
So can we do that? Now it's time for the really hard questions.
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Chapter 7: What shocking evidence was found in the woods?
The man accused of killing his father. He's now being held in jail on a tentative charge of first degree intentional homicide, hiding a corpse, and mutilating a corpse.
Sheriff's personnel tonight remain at the Halderson home in Windsor.
Investigators are leaving no stone unturned in the search for Krista Halderson. But with Chandler now in custody, hope is fading fast. Every minute that passes becomes more crucial.
And there was just this big void of Bart being gone and no idea where Krista was. I'm hoping she's alive.
A big question remained in our mind. Where's Krista Hilderson?
But things are about to take a dramatic turn. When police first spoke to Chandler's girlfriend, Kat Melander, she voluntarily gave them her cell phone. And on it, they found a vital clue to their investigation. By the time Kat comes in for a second interview, both she and police realize how important it can be.
Is there something you want to tell us right away? She comes to the realization that she didn't tell us everything and that she had something on her phone that could be helpful and valuable to finding the Hallersons. And it wasn't something that she intentionally withheld from us.
Tell me what you find on Kat's cell phone. During the review of Kat's cell phone, we found numerous clues and treasures that I don't even know she knew she had. We found all of their message history, and we also found a screenshot of a Snapchat location that she had had.
That screenshot saved on Kat's phone shows Chandler's avatar labeled hubby on the banks of the Wisconsin River. Snapchat is a social media app specifically designed to share photos that disappear. Once you open a message, you only have a few seconds to take a screenshot before that picture is gone for good.
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Chapter 8: What are the implications of the findings?
It did, yeah. They were killed down here.
So you had the shell casings, you had the ammo, but you didn't have the murder weapon. Where was that recovered?
The rifle was recovered at the farm in Cottage Grove.
The weapon was found hidden in a barn on the farm's property. No one had any idea it was there.
Chandler really liked first person shooter video games. And in those games, you can choose what weapon you use. And he liked to try a variety. You know, he wasn't a single gun type person, but he liked the SKS rifle in those video games. He used it a lot.
Now you have a link between the shell casings and the ammo in this gun at the farm. Yes.
The picture that we were seeing at that point is that Chandler had murdered Barton Christa Helderson in the home and went through extensive work to dispose of their bodies.
What was the reason for it? All in all, they were a loving family from what we were told by everybody.
Those questions, prosecutors promise, are about to be answered. The lawyers will now make opening statements.
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