In his opening statement delivered Tuesday at the Dane County Circuit Court against a young man accused of killing his parents, Prosecutor William Brown gave gruesome details of the July 2021 double murder.
Brown said that Chandler Halderson, 23, shot his father Bart Halderson, 50, to death before gunning down his mom, 53-year-old Krista Halderson, hours later when she arrived home on July 1.
The prosecutor then detailed how Halderson used a saw and scissors to dismember the victims’ bodies and how he burned their heads and other parts in a fireplace at the family home, where fragments of skulls and knees were later discovered.
After tossing what’s left along the Wisconsin River and in the woods, Halderson reported the couple missing on July 7, telling police that they vanished while on a weekend trip to their cabin.
The prosecution added that the gruesome murders came after Bart Halderson found out about his son’s “web of lies” and that he actually never attended college or worked as he had long been claiming.
Halderson’s attorney, Catherine Dorl, told the eighteen jurors to listen to evidence as jurors and not “story corroborators.”
“The evidence will show you that there is a gap of evidence when it comes to that time frame,” she said. “Look for what’s missing. Look for alternate explanations.”
