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No defense witnesses called in Wisconsin dismemberment trial

By: Associated Press//January 20, 2022//

No defense witnesses called in Wisconsin dismemberment trial

By: Associated Press//January 20, 2022//

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A jury on Thursday convicted a Wisconsin man accused of killing and dismembering his parents last summer.

Jurors deliberated for just over two hours before finding 23-year-old Chandler Halderson guilty on all counts related to the July 1 killing of 50-year-old Bart Halderson and 53-year-old Krista Halderson at their home in Windsor, about 80 miles west of Milwaukee.

Chandler was convicted on two counts each of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, hiding a corpse and falsifying information about a missing person. A first-degree intentional homicide conviction carries a mandatory life sentence.

Defense attorneys for Halderson rested their case Thursday without calling witnesses or testimony from the defendant.

Over seven days, prosecutors laid out their case that Halderson killed his parents. They contend he first tried to dispose of the bodies by burning them in the family fireplace, then he scattered their dismembered body parts across Dane County.

Investigators said Halderson killed his parents after his father discovered he had been lying about attending Madison Area Technical College. It was one in a web of lies the 27-year-old told about work, school and being on a police scuba dive team, according to prosecutors.

Halderson was arrested July 8 after telling police a day earlier that his parents had gone missing following a Fourth of July trip to northern Wisconsin. Investigators said it was soon clear his story didn’t add up.

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