Road Map to Murder

20/20

The 20/20 episode "Road Map to Murder" investigates the 2021 disappearance and subsequent murder of Bart and Krista Halderon, a beloved Wisconsin couple, whose son Chandler was convicted of their killings. The case unraveled through forensic evidence, contradictory alibis, and a web of lies about Chandler’s fabricated identity and whereabouts.

Key takeaways

Chandler Halderon was convicted of murdering his parents, Bart and Krista Halderon, after a trial revealing a pattern of deception and forensic evidence linking him to the crime.
The discovery of dismembered remains in the Wisconsin River and a hidden rifle on a farm tied Chandler directly to the murders.
Evidence such as blood in the home, tin foil-wrapped phones, and a broken fireplace glass panel supported the prosecution’s theory of a staged disappearance and cover-up.

Transcript preview

Three decades ago, a young woman named Angie Dodge is found brutally murdered in Idaho Falls. Police put a man behind bars. But as the years pass, doubts emerge about whether the real killer was ever caught, that's when Angie's own mother embarks on a decades-long mission to uncover the truth. Listen to the snare, a new series from ABC Audio. Listen on Apple Podcast, Spotify or your favorite podcast app and ad free on Amazon music. The sheriff's office to make yourselves known. No, it's just no crawl space. This is a dark, creepy space. You've got to be ready for anything. Absolutely. The clock was taking. We needed to find them. The steepest stairs I've ever seen. The Halderons 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. that Bart and Krista had been kidnapped by this couple that picked him up early that morning. There were all these questions for each answer you get. There were 17 more questions. What's going on in the household? You know, what aren't we discovering? This case really highlighted how social media tracks everything and that became so crucial. I was like, hey, where you're 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 right now right now 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 my shit. I don't really have words for it, to be honest. 4th 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. 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. competed against them two or three times a year. And just being neighbors, they were just people that ran into all the time. Absolutely salt of the earth people were Barton-Crista. Their house always looked good. It was well manicured. It was well-moated. It was always taken care of. There were competitions in the neighborhood about who had the best lawn and who cared the most about their yards and BART cared about his yard. They weren't rich, but they were comfortable. Yeah, they were just regular people trying to do their best. She was the youngest cousin, bright red hair. She was the baby of the family. Barbie Townsend grew up in Southern California, but would often visit her younger cousin Krista at the family's rustic cabin in Northern Wisconsin. Krista was fun, energetic, creative. She just was very exuberant. Very outgoing. Happy person. Very happy. Yeah. Loved her lot in life. I know you got to know Bart a little bit later, but what was he like? I was happy for her that she found her person and they were a really good team. They complimented each other. Definitely, definitely. You know, he would have his strengths and she would have her strengths, but they always were together. Barbie told me that nothing matters more to Krista and Bart than their two sons, Mitchell and Chandler. They poured themselves into their children. They did family. They did family. They did family. nights, they would cook dinner, barbecue together. In spring 2021, Krista had sent a picture of them all standing together. She was so proud of them. Mitchell had been with his girlfriend at that time about seven years, and Chandler had been with Cat, maybe two years, on and off. Mitchell, the oldest works in IT, and he lives with his fiance, not far from his parents home. And Chandler, an Eagle Scout, is a young man on the rise. He's working part time for an insurance company, living at home. finishing his college degree and that's not all. Chandler had told his family about this great job opportunity he had been given with SpaceX. He would move to Florida and actually he would bring his girlfriend with him. Everything was going well for everyone. I don't know any family who wouldn't want to be in the situation the Haltersons were in. But in June of 2021, the Halderons good fortune takes a turn. And then right after that, their younger son, Chandler, fell down a flight of stairs at the Halderson's home. He was taken to the hospital and he was diagnosed with a head injury. In that picture, on Father's Day of 2021, standing next to Bart, he's got the brace on. His neck was injured and was going to affect his ability to walk. He might have a colostomy bag. He couldn't fly. So he couldn't go back to Florida for the job. is going to change because he had this fall. I know once he was in that neck brace his job situation with SpaceX was kind of pushed on the back burner. It seemed like he would not be able to take the job at SpaceX. He wouldn't be able to help around the house. He wasn't even able to walk properly. And after that, Chandler required help. His mother would assist him going up and downstairs would bring him meals. on her son's in their time of need. She rarely missed a day of work. So on Friday morning, July 2nd, when she fails to show up at her job, coworkers are concerned. Krista was one of these people who was always at work, and she always let people know what her plans were. It's a Friday right before the 4th of July holiday, but she hadn't asked off. She hadn't told anyone she wasn't going to be there. It was really unusual for her to not show up. for work. She'd never done it before. She wasn't answering her phone. The coworker decided to go over to the house and make sure she was okay. When he looked in the garage, both of the Halderson's cars were there. The Halderons aren't here. The cars are here. Where are the Halderons? Now the Halderons have a family cabin they love to go to on weekends. And initially there's some speculation that this is where Bart and Krista are. the neighbors saw them leave. As far as we know, no one saw the Halderons that day. They told their neighbors when they were going up to the cabin, who they were going to be with, where they were going to be. So for there to be so many unknowns about what happened that weekend was a little unusual. And when Krista fails to make a medical appointment on Monday, it really raises red flags. She was recovering from some skin cancer. And so this was an important appointment for her. Is it like her to just miss that she wasn't going to. No. Chris is not the person that would just not show up. Everyone who knows her says she wouldn't have missed that appointment. She was planning to be there and then she wasn't. And that's when people really start to get concerned because no one knows where Bart and Krista are. All of a sudden my wife comes in the bedroom she says, the haltersons are gone. They're missing. My mind went to the bad spot like that is not right. It was just kind of disturbing for somebody that I know suddenly be gone. What's going for your mind? Something's really wrong. I don't know what and why and how, but something's really wrong. The strange disappearance of Barton-Chal-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 Bureau podcast. We're very fascinated with true crime and just love to really figure out what's going on behind the scenes. Their podcast, as the name suggests, mixes Suds. We pick a beer in the area the crime occurred. With sleuthing. Today we're covering a case from Wisconsin. And have I got a beer for you? I feel like it brings together the personality of the city where the crime happened. for their family. Bart and Krista just loved the 4th of July. You could always catch them at the parade. It was probably their favorite holiday. But that weekend in July 2021, strangely, the couple are nowhere to be found. Bart and Krista had not told anyone that they had a plan to go away for 4th of July weekend. forthcoming as to why they're not there. So the only time people heard from Bart and Krista over the 4th of July weekend was when Krista texted Chandler on July 4th. The text to her son Chandler says, they arrived at the family cabin three hours north. It read, made it safely, love you lots. Their friends learned that she had reached out to him, which made sense. She was a mom who talked to her kids all the time. we hung out and collected rocks and played games. So this is early on, it's my dad, and that's the cabin in the background. And that's Krista right there. This is Krista. I can always tell Krista by that shock of red hair. Shock, I mean fiery red hair. And she was the youngest. The cabin has been in Barbie and Krista's family since the 1940s, when it was built by their grandfather. The cabin was our way to get back together and be together. There was no phone, no indoor plumbing, very rustic. Sounds like this was a place where you and Krista really bonded. The cabin was where we would reunite. Chandler had told family members he knew his parents were going to the cabin for the weekend, but he was expecting them home by Tuesday the 6th. Now Tuesday's come and gone and the couple seems to have vanished. How did you learn that Barton Krista were missing? I got an email from my cousin that said please pray Barton Krista are missing and I remember thinking What do you mean they're missing? I don't I can't even comprehend what that means and so we started calling cousins you know like what's happening? On July 7th six days after Barton Krista were last seen Chandler heads the Dane County Sheriff's office to report his parents missing. Chandler says I haven't seen my parents. We need to start looking for them. Detective Sabrina Sims and Brian Shunk will lead the investigation and they meet with Chandler later that day at the Halterson home in Windsor. At that point you're here just trying to figure out what happened. Yeah just to ask more follow-up questions and trying to get the timeline of events. His parents left around 5 a.m. Basically left without a peep. From everything that you knew about Bart and Krista, was that the kind of thing they do? No, we were. No, we were learning from friends. We were learning from friends, we were learning from friends, we were that that's completely out of character for them to not tell people where they were going. Chandler tells detectives that his parents plan 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. that the Halderson's, 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. Say, what's going on with that? Chandler says, well, they went with this other couple's car. 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 neighbor, home security cameras, they spot a white van driving down the Halderson Street in the early morning hours on Friday July 2nd. 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. who that 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. They're gone, their cars are here. What are you thinking? I think at that point we decided we need to send a team up to the cabin. got to get to that cabin right now to figure out what happened. Yeah. I have to imagine your mind starts going to terrible places. Yeah, your mind starts thinking all kinds of things. And when investigators finally reach the cabin in the woods, Sheriff's Office, make yourselves known. What or who will be lurking in the shadows? We're so on crawl space. Holy shit. I'm a bill calendar. I'm a member of the Wolf River Fire Department and Rescue in Langley County, Northeast Wisconsin. With all the recreation we've got here and we've got a big area people do get turned around they go missing and then that's usually then when we get called out. The Wolf River area is really a nice area, fairly lightly populated, but we've got a lot of great recreation. We've got the Wolf River, you know, very popular fishing, streams. Lots of recreational opportunities. We've got the Rapids on the river go up to Class 3. We've got of our township is in the Schmame and-ickely National Forest. And Wolf River is the area where Bart and Krista Halderson had their family cabin and where they were supposed to spend the 4th of July weekend. It's a beautiful place, but it can be a dangerous place, like anywhere that's completely natural and completely wild. There are pitfalls to that. A river can easily become someplace you drown. the woods can easily become someplace you're lost and so it's not unheard of for people to go missing in this area. Now back in July of 21 our chief got a call from one of the Langley County deputies and said that you know we may be needed. Cell service isn't fantastic out here either. Weather always seems to change but crime never does. I'm Detective Sergeant Girls of Landley. On July 8th I received a call to assist the day and office with a search of the Halderson cabin. As an investigator I was assigned a body camera which was activated when we arrived at the property. What's your relation? You're their son. Okay. So this footage we're looking at here it's recorded by your body camera. That's correct. Okay and who are you speaking to here? This was Mitchell Holderson and his fiance. One week after his parents mysteriously vanished Mitchell tells investigators that he's so concerned about his parents well being that he and he and his parents well being that he and he and his fiancee that he and his fiancee make hour drive north to the cabin. They seemed concerned and also as perplexed as we were about Bart and Krista Halterson's whereabouts. Maybe we could just take a walk around and see you. So at that point we took a walk around the exterior of the property. We noticed that the grass and the weeds had not been kept up in some places it was waste or even chest high. Did it look like the cabin had been used any time recently? They started walking around. And everything still locked up, the grass is really tall. What first struck me when they were walking, I was like, that's our cabin, that's our family cabin. Was there a sense of urgency at this point? With the information we had and things not really making sense, our possibilities were dwindling. I was starting to just wonder what we were going to find next. But I was worried they were going to be inside. That's what I thought. Something went horribly wrong. Yeah, that was very disturbing. There was a concern that Barton Krista had been kidnapped by this couple that picked him up early that morning and something had been done to them by them. Now it's your presence, make yourselves known. I think the police were very concerned that they were going to find two dead people there. But once inside, despite everyone's worst fears, the cabin appears empty to police. It was dark so you could tell nobody had been there for a while. has been empty. The steepest stairs I've ever seen. As Detective Groans makes his way through the cabin, he spots a door to the cellar. So right about here you draw your gun, why? Yeah, whenever we go into an unknown space, that's something that we would do just in our