The feature of tracking the location of the Social Media application has helped investigators break a terrible murder case in Wisconsin, where a son killed his parents after his network of lies for college and false work at SpaceX began to unravel.
The case began on July 7, 2021, when 23-year-old Chandler Halerson reported his parents, Bart and Krista Halderson, who disappeared from their home in Windsor.
A new episode “20/20”, the roadmap of the murder, airing Friday, May 30, at 9:00 pm ABC and streaming the next day of Hulu, examines the case.
You can also get more behind-the-scenes from the episode of each week, listening to “20/20: After the show” Weekly Series right in the podcast issue “20/20” on Monday, hosted the “20/20” co-hair Deborah Roberts.
Photo: Chandler Halderson reported that their parents Bart and Krista Halerson had disappeared from their home in Wisconsin on July 7, 2021 (Maria Falcorer)
Chandler claims that his parents went to their family cabin for the fourth July weekend, but they never returned.
“He mentioned that they may go to a casino,” Dine Sabrina Sims County Sheriff’s detective told 20/20.
Sims, however, noted that the red flags are quickly appearing.
“We learned that they were without character to go to gambling and that Haldersons, especially Bart, were quite frugal with money,” she said.
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When investigators checked the family home, they said they had found cars for both parents still in the garage. A visit to the family cabin to the Wolf River did not reveal signs of recent use.
A breakthrough came from a resident of the nearby village of Cottage Grove. The witness reported that he sees Chandler to support his car near a wooded area on July 5, 2021.
“She watched him go from the wooded area … and found it unusual,” Sims said.
Photo: Chandler Halderson was seen in this unsaid photo by the sheriff office of Dane. (Dan’s Sheriff’s Sheriff’s Service))
Police searched the location and made a terrifying discovery – a male torso that was later identified as Bart Halerson. In the nearby oil drum, investigators found scissors, blade cutters and bolt. Autopsy revealed that Bart was shot dead and then dismembered.
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Detectives have found that the Cottage Grove farm belongs to the family of Chandler’s girlfriend, Catherine Melander.
Investigators asked Chandler and Melender to come voluntarily for interviews. Chandler was then arrested for claiming incorrect information to investigators. In the coming days, he was detained in prison with a first -degree premeditated indictment.
The investigation turned another turn when Melender provided decisive evidence to his mobile phone to the police from the Snapchat social media app.
Its Snap Map feature, a personalized card that shares your location with Snapchat friends, told Chandler on the Wisconsin River on July 3, 2021. After this lead and another advice from an eagle neighbor near the river, investigators found more human remains. This time the remains belong to Chandler’s mother, Krista.
Photo: Dine County Sheriff Detectives Brian Shuk and Sabrina Sims told Ryan Smith on Abc News that they believed that Krista and Bart Halerson were killed in the basement of their home in Wisconsin. (ABC News)
According to investigators, they have determined at the beginning of the investigation that Melender has nothing to do with the killings and clears it.
During the January 2022 trial, Chandler confronted eight charges, including two first -degree premeditated murder, mutilation of corpses and providing false information about missing persons.
He admitted that he was not guilty of all charges.
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Madison’s college enrollment officer Omar Jobs said he would never forget his phone conversation with Bart, who called at the Chandler’s school as he tried to receive transcripts from his son at college.
“This is a normal phone call we get every day. This man was trying to ask for a copy,” a pocket told “20/20” in an exclusive interview.
According to investigators, Bart has been trying unsuccessfully for months to receive transcripts from his son Chandler and became suspicious.
Prosecutors said Bart’s phone call was rude to see if Chandler was enrolled in college, but it turned out that Chandler had actually failed from school.
The prosecutor’s office also claims that Chandler has created fake email accounts in an attempt to mislead his father why his college transcripts are not coming.
“Chandler created counterfeit emails with fake school employees to send an email forward and forth on the transcript issue,” Sheriff’s office of Dane County. Brian Shunk told 20/20.
Photo: Barbie Townsend talks with Ryan Smith on ABC News about his cousin Cryst Halderson. Townsend described Halderson as a very happy man who poured his heart into his two sons. (ABC News)
Prosecutors also claim that SpaceX Job Chandler claims to be arranged is also a lie.
When Bart approaches the truth, prosecutors claim that Chandler was desperate.
“When Bart understood it, Chandler realized he could lose everything,” Caroline Deid, an anchor that covered the story of a Wisconsin branch of ABC Wkow, “20/20” said. “The story they [prosecutors] He was painted that Chandler did not give himself another option. “
In the trial, prosecutors told the jurors that Chandler had killed both parents to prevent his lies from exposing. The Defense team disputes this theory.
“The whole country has managed to prove that Chandler is a liar, not a killer,” said leading lawyer Crystal Vera.
The jury disagreed and Chandler was found guilty of all eight charges. He received a life sentence without the possibility of probation. In April 2023 two from Chandler [lesser] Beliefs were released to hide a corpse.
Chandler filed a complaint in the case.
“They would give everything and everything to help him,” said Krista’s cousin, Barbie Townsend, said “20/20” about Bart and Krista. “They would be there. These are the people as they were.”
Wisconsin’s parents killed by College Lies: How Snapchat helped to reveal the truth originally appeared on abcnews.go.com