Wisconsin man, 23, spun 'web of lies' after killing, dismembering his parents, authorities say

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A judge in Wisconsin on Wednesday entered a not guilty plea on behalf of a suspect accused of killing and dismembering his parents.

The suspect, Chandler Halderson, of Windsor, didn’t speak during a roughly two-minute hearing before Dane County Circuit Judge John Hyland.

Halderson, 23, reported his parents, Bart, 50, and Krista, 53, missing on July 7 after he claimed they failed to return from a Fourth of July weekend trip to their cabin in northern Wisconsin, police said. 

Chandler Halderson, 23, is accused of killing and dismembering his parents, Bart and Krista, earlier this year. (Dane County image via YouTube/Dane County Sheriff’s Office)

But prosecutors alleged Halderson spun a “web of lies,” after reporting his parents missing, including a claim that they had planned to attend a parade in White Lake when no parade had been scheduled, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

The torso of Bart Halderson was found July 8 on a rural property in Cottage Grove, Dane County – the day Chandler Halderson was arrested. 

On July 14, a search was conducted on land owned by the state Department of Natural Resources near Sauk City, where additional human remains – later identified as Krista Halderson’s – were located by investigators. 

The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Bart Halderson had been shot once before being dismembered.

No motive was immediately unclear, but Chandler Halderson allegedly used his Google account to search terms like: “Body found Wisconsin,” “Woman’s body found in Wisconsin,” “Wisconsin dismembered body found” and “Dead body found in Wisconsin,” according to a criminal complaint.

While in custody, the suspect reportedly told a detective, “You don’t know the whole story,” after the detective told him investigators had new information in the case. And when the detective asked if Halderson was feeling suicidal, the suspect reportedly told the detective he “didn’t feel bad about what I did,” the complaint added.

Halderson is charged with two counts each of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, hiding a corpse, and providing false information on kidnapped or missing persons.

He remained jailed on a $1 million bond. The judge said he was eyeing a January start date for a trial in the case.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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