S11, Chapter 17: Closing Arguments

0:00 He had two options own up to his lies, stand up and finally tell the truth for once, or like a coward, shoot your father in the back. And that's exactly what happened. Tapes from the Dark Side contains descriptions of violence and sexuality. Listener discretion is advised.

0:41 I think everyone has a bit of a fascination with the dark side. I myself always love the dark side as well. I think it's something that everyone secretly longs for and wants. We're here because of the deaths of mart and Cristal Holderson, and they are dead, there's no doubt about that. But on some level, whoever Chandler Holderson was died years ago as well. Yes the date July eighth, two thousand and twenty one.

1:31 In a matter of hours, Chandler Holderson will be placed in handcuffs and for the first time, taken into police custody, charged with providing false information on a missing person's case. In what would prove to be the last few free hours of his life, Chandler scrambled to try and steady the House of Cards, which was swaying around him. His first mistake that day was using a non anonymous browser to perform Google searches such as Wisconsin dismembered body found. Mind you, this was before it was made public that Bart and Christa had been dismembered. Chandler's next move was to begin scrambling around his neighborhood to try and track down anyone who might have a doorbell camera pointed at his house. At this point, he couldn't keep track of the many lies he had told his family, friends, and most importantly, the police over the previous days, and he shuddered to think video footage might confirm the exact times that he had left and entered his house. We covered the first neighbor in the previous episode, and now Chandler approaches a second except this particular neighbor just so happened to be a retired cop, and he immediately sent something was off about the situation, specifically about Chandler.

2:49 Well, being a police officer for many years. I felt all right. I suspected something wasn't right based on my observations from the day before. I saw three squad cars outside the Haller and Hollerson house for an extended period of time. So you recorded the interaction I. Did definitely didn't me. I think we might want he replace. When Yeah, we wanted to first and move over there. I think we met. Sorry about what's going. On, what it is, but I was wondering if. You your camera, you would have a writing Now does a kick up the road? Yeah? Some it does.

3:29 Would you have any notifications from Friday morning, Kurby before six fifteen? We can check, that's not a problem with that before fifteen, Yeah, before six fifteen, kind of since Thursday midnight. Okay, any notifications? Okay. I my wife is one and I thought to run that, so I'll have her pull it up on the computer. Okay, with your name Chandler Chandler okay. And you do you have one brother? And I was gonna say when you move when your parents moved in there, I remember meeting two boys. Okay, what's your brother's name? Sure, okay, yeah, I don't know if i've met in interviews since Yeah, it's eight it's a while.

4:13 Yeah, Okay, call me if. You need any anything appreciated, Okay, Okay. If you can think of anything, you give me a ring or. The the Just from my law enforcement background, the best thing you can be doing is being in constant contact with the detective. That's a signed to the case. If I was you, I would be lighting this phone up. What's going on? Where things have? You know? Just being in constant contact, they're gonna well, and the officers. Know where your parents work. Okay, so they're doing their trust me, they're doing what their jobs are, so that should all be covered.

4:57 And then's I would it all just say? In contact with the cops, they're going to buy us for more information that they have questions from the answer the questions whatever you've been doing of assistance. When Chandler returned to his house after his visit with the retired cop, he was no less unnerved. He sensed his neighbors suspected something, and now he knew they had already turned over whatever footage they had to police. It was only a matter of time before police would be able to track the exact day in times he had entered and left his home. Would they be able to pin down exactly when he had purchased the ice from the gas station or the tarp from the hardware store.

5:40 What about the times he had left the house to scatter his parents' dismembered bodies across Madison and the surrounding counties. Chandler entered a fit of full on paranoia, except can you really call it paranoia when it's true? This was more like a reckoning. Chandler paces methodically back and forth across the wooden living room floorboards of what used to be the Halderson family home, except precisely one half of that family no longer exists. He stops every few minutes to peer out the front living room blinds at two squad cars parked outside his house. And then Chandler does what any good died in the wool narcissist might do.

6:25 He calls the police, specifically the lead detective in the case, and demanded to know what was going on. We're looking, hus I got two squads parked right outside of my house. They're not really camvushin, they're just kind of sitting there. Everything all right, Yeah, I mean they're in the area doing canvas scene and they're also probably doing a shift change right now. I'll getting our second shift crew on around three three thirty. Oh there's poor now, something going on that we need to know. Well, they're probably doing reports, they're probably doing shift change.

7:07 You know, they've been going around trying to get older neighbors. So I'm wondering if they're in the area trying to catch people know that they're coming home from work. I'm not sure. I haven't talked to any of them in just a little while. All right, Well, any news, brother, I haven't heard from him. No, As far as I know, they're still on their way up north a couple hour drives. So he's probably halfway into it, right. Uh, yeah, I suppose about. Yeah, any news on your end at all? Have you gotten any phone calls, text messages, gotten. Any messages over them from concerned parents? I can't. There's no mail, I got it. There's a hole on my mail.

7:56 Okay? Is that that normal? I are you guys getting it at least? No, we don't put a hold on people's mail. I've never heard of that happening before. There's a hold on my mail. There's a ticket in there. All mail held at the station, is what it says. Okay, Yeah, nothing done by us, that's for sure. Is that really my medical bills? Yeah? No, we wouldn't put a hold on people's mail, and typically only the people that live at the address can do that. Did your parents put a hold on the mail. Does it say who put the hold on the mill? Can you go check? I suppose.

8:37 Do you know of anything? So, I don't know. It's kind of stressful. Sorry. So there's nothing new going on, not that I'm aware of. All right, Yeah, who's there there? You're at home? Story obviously because you're saying the outside, who's there with you? Yeah? No, I'm not with me? Four squads? Hi? Okay? Who was just talking in the background? Cat? Yeah, okay, so we're with me? Oh okay, okay, No, I mean I can definitely give you a call or message you.

9:19 I guess, depending what time are you planning on going to dinner? I'm not sure, but okay. Pretty soon here. Any news about that blue house with the big cameras. The blue house with the big cameras? Is that the one across the street. Yeah, across the street kind of in the corner. It's a newer house. I haven't got to stop by the house. Yeah. I have a detective that's getting footage from the area. I don't know exactly which houses he's gotten video from. Oh, but yeah, you're downloaded all of it and already have. It at IP. Okay, so he's probably reviewing it now. Yeah, it takes time to go through those things. He figured going fast forward so much. All right, all right, well, I'll give you a holler if anything pops up, you know, and I'll give a call around and just kind of get a briefing from people up in the area.

10:17 Yeah, I appreciate that. Okay, thanks Chandler, Thank you, Mike. Despite what you just heard, Detective Brian Schunk tell Chandler, the police were not there simply for a shift change. They were there to take Chandler and Cat downtown for questioning. As they might say, they're not formally arrested, they're not even handcuffed. But as Chandler sits in the back of a squad car alone Kat is in a separate vehicle, he feels his control over the situation fading into oblivion. I believe it's at this very moment that Chandler realizes he might have just reached the end of the line and this might be one of his last car rides he ever takes as a freeman.

10:59 Luckily, tell me something, I honestly don't know anything. Do you think they're okay that they're doing this? Yeah, I haven't heard anything. I was out here earlier walking around doing the canvassing stuff. And that's basically what I've been doing. Up to. Officer, Yeah, what are they up to? You hear that? What are they up to? You know?

11:39 They they went into the house. To go to the policies. They think you just went behind it. Did you just call me a suspect? One subject? Right now? We have a family. As the police take Chandler away to the station, they execute a warrant on his house and find numerous incriminating pieces of evidence. A number of key items are found in the garage which we have yet to discuss. Inside a pair of shoes in the Holderson family garage wrapped up in tinfoil. This is what police found.

12:36 It that was wrapped in foil. This is then myself opening this foil wrapped item. We can see now Bart Helderson's Wisconsin issued photo driver's license, and we can see the Apple iPhone that is located underneath the driver's license. What is three point fifty one display? We can see Christa's Wisconsin driver's license and an additional phone. So both phones and driver's license were wrapped together in the same packaging. Correct. Remember that Chandler said his parents had gone up to the cabin on the fourth of July, and that his mother sent him a text on Saturday for forty seven pm.

13:23 Krystal Holderson's phone text Chandler's phone, what does that say? Made it safely? Can't get anything through? And yes it's packed, going to White Lake today for the parade and we'll be home Monday night Tuesday early. Love you lots. The use of the last phrase love you lots with exclamation points that had occurred at other times in the messages with Krista and Chandler. Yes, I had that message that was supposed to be sent by Christa while she was at the cabin. According to GPS, was actually sent from inside the Holderson's house. What are we looking at there? July fourth? His phone has activity for the first time in several days, and it's only for a short timeframe. Christa's particular tower usage was inclusive of some data session records that occurred from eleven oh two to eleven oh four am. And this is also where there was an outgoing message to Chandler's device at eleven oh four to twenty three.

14:27 And was that the message listed there made it safely, can't get anything through though, and yes. It's packed. That is correct. Okay, that message was sent from Windsor, Wisconsin. It was not White Lake, Wisconsin. That is correct. Chandler crafted that message, sent it to himself from his mother's phone, and then he turned the phone off, covered it in tinfoil, in a pair of shoes in the garage with his mother's and father's IDs. The prosecution's closing, I think, is a masterclass. But one thing you won't hear is that Chandler Alderson committed this crime in part because he was addicted to a video game. And even I don't think it's that simple. It's impossible to count all the factors that go into an individual's decision to commit a homicide. In Chandler's case, we know money could have been a motivator. We know the desire for self preservation was certainly a play. Chandler did not want his web of lies to be exposed. But it's also impossible to ignore that his web of lies formed in part to give him more time to play video games, namely Tarkov in Arma III. All those days that Chandler would wake up at six a m. And pretend to be working or studying in his room. He was really just playing video games. Anytime he felt stressed or bored, he seemed to reach to a video game as a quick fix for an uncomfortable emotion. One telltale sign of addiction

15:59 is when an attic uses it to deal with a variety of issues. The drug becomes a kind of panacea, a cure for boredom, a cure for anxiety, a cure for when I'm feeling angry or sad, but also a reward when I'm feeling at ease or have had a good day. Now, we can never diagnose someone else's addiction. It's one of those afflictions that only the individual can diagnose, which makes it particularly insidious, as true addicts generally are in a state of denial about their addiction. Why because they like the comfort that the addiction provides them. I'm not here to convince you that Chandler was or was not addicted to Tarkov or any other video game. My only goal is to propose a motive that I think, in light of the evidence, cannot be ignored. Now, before I play for you the closing arguments, I want to go over some facts about the trial. We already know that the defense made very little attempt to cross examine any witnesses, and in addition to that, they did not call any witnesses themselves. Also, Chandler obviously did not testify.

17:12 This is quite peculiar, especially considering how good the prosecution's case against Chandler was. There was also the month long suspension of the trial when Chandler tested positive for COVID nineteen, but we have no reason to believe this really had any bearing on the results of the trial. When it came time for closing arguments, there were rumblings that perhaps the defense would not attempt a closing argument, perhaps some kind of hail mary, because if the defense doesn't make a closing argument, then the prosecution can't make a closing argument. Now the judge can decide to allow or not allow this kind of strategy. But in the end, the defense did make a closing argument, a thirty minute long closing and which defense attorney Crystal Verra made her case that the prosecution hadn't truly provided enough motive for her client, Chandler Halderson to commit first degree intentional homicide.

18:13 First, let me talk about my job. A lot of people think my job is to quote unquote get the defendant off on their charges, to object to every single question that's asked, To ask any question, I possibly can have witnesses to be loud, obnoxious and make a scene so that I can try to get this person. Off of their charges. It's not. My job is to make sure that they do their job. My job is to make sure that if they're bringing charges on someone, they're doing it because they can do it beyond a reasonable doubt. They can prove those charges beyond a reasonable doubt. And people don't like when I say those words beyond a reasonable doubt because it almost feels like a cop out. And if you think that it's a cop out, well, then your issue is not with me. Your issue is not with Chandler. Your issue is with the US Constitution that says that without them, you don't have me, and without me, you don't have them.

19:24 My job is to make sure that the state, with. All of its powers, look they even have more tables than we do, that they do their job. And I'm going to do that job today. The first thing I want to address is sort of the obvious channel lies. He told a lot of lies. Not only does he lie, but he goes to extreme lengths if he will to keep those lies going or to cover up those lies. I guarantee you every single one in every single person in this room has told a lie, has either covered up that lie, or has done something to keep that lie going. Maybe not now, maybe when you were a teenager.

20:17 Go back to high school. I'm sure you lie at your parents all the time. You're not on trial, so your lies are not exaggerated and highlighted right now, but they are here. So when we were going over jury selection, I asked you how would you feel if you didn't testify? And a couple of people said, I wouldn't need to hear from him. A couple of people said that they would treat him the same way they would do every witness bullshit. He lies, and they did a great job of making it known that he lies. If he testified, you were not going to believe anything he said. I also said that it was a game day decision, and most of the times it is a game day decision.

21:05 This never was. If you heard from him, were you even going to believe him? You weren't, And that's fine because it doesn't matter because at the end of the day, There's only one lie that really does matter, and that's the one that he said about his parents missing. I'm going to make your life a little easier, and it's going to be a little unconventional. There are certain charges that I believe the state has met their burden and they have proved it beyond a reasonable doubt. And I get it from the beginning. First degree intentional homicide is a serious charge. We've been here for the homicides. A piece of paper that is signed, a formal piece of paper that's signed by Chandler to the Dane County Sheriff's office about a missing person's that clearly is not true.

21:59 This is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. I want you to think about that when it comes to talking about these homicides. And I made a weird noise. I apologized, but I want you to think about another thing. When I turney. Ramond did her closing two phrases, if you will really caught on. Several times she said, we know X, Y and Z happened. We know that this happened. Pay attention to the times where she said we don't know, we don't know.

22:42 I can't tell you how she was killed. We don't know. Whatever, And it was always in the parts that had to do with the homicides. When I was in law school, I was told that the words I don't know should never come from that table, because you should know. If you're charging people with crimes, you should know. Now, I'm going to walk you through the evidence that I think that they skipped over that matters for me in proving that first degree intentional homicide was not something that they met their burden on. I first want to talk about the cabin. There is a cabin. There's no disputing that Bart and Krista went to the cabin at least two or three times a year, I think is what someone testified to It's possible that they could have gone to the cabin that weekend. In fact, you don't even know what their weekend plans were. Certain lives mattered, certain lives did not. I'm going to clear up something that they got wrong. The evidence does not show that Bart and Christa knew about this SpaceX job.

23:57 You heard from Kat's mother. That she knew about it. You also didn't hear that they knew about the scuba team, dive team, whatever you want to call it. Lie with the City of Madison Police Department. You heard it from his girlfriends, ex's girlfriends and Kat, you heard it from his friends, but you didn't hear it from people that. Knew Bart and Krista said that they mentioned it. So I want to talk about the two lies that the state really honed it on. Boy did they do a great job talking about these lies and making it seem like it really was a big deal. Let's talk about MAATC. First of all, yesterday I think we heard from an official person from MATC that said no record that he attended school during this time. Detective Schunk showed us transcripts.

24:47 You saw all his grades. He did attend at some point during their opening and throughout the case, they made a big deal about this email. It was an email between Bart and CHRISTI. First of all, the email happened October tenth, twenty twenty. The jig was up a long time ago. It didn't all of a sudden crash and burn on the first of July twenty twenty one, and Bart knew he was onto it. He says, he sounds just like Chaz on the phone. Use your common sense. These email exchanges are from people with a Dotgmail dot com address. You want to tell me that they honestly thought that this was legit, or maybe they knew that their child was lying and they were just going to carry on the lie. Same with ANFAM and I use AMFAM colloquially, but American family in terance. It's not an element that they needed to prove. It's not a charge that they needed to prove. They just wanted you to know that he's a liar. And what doesn't matter. Here's what you need to ask yourself. What doesn't matter? Because according to them, that's motive. That's the reason why he did what he did. This house of cards, built of lies was crashing.

25:58 Down, and he had nothing. You couldn't do anything, but he had to murder these people. Why why you don't know why. You were never told that they were going to kick him out of the house. You were never told that they were going to disown him. You were never told anything about why it matters. If this is going to be motive, If this is the reason you're intentionally killing someone, it better matter. There better be consequences. Kids lied to their parents all the time. You honestly think that he's complaining about things crashing down and his mind is going straight to well, now, I'm. Just going to murder them. There was another motive that was mentioned very briefly, but it was mentioned, so I'll talk about it. When Mitchell testified, the very last question was about a life insurance policy, and I believe he said that the payout may have been about a million dollars, and he acted confused, he didn't really know about it.

26:56 It could very well. Be that the only reason he knows that number that value is because of. Things that are happening. Now. There was no evidence that was provided to show that Chandler knew that there was a policy in place, that he knew the value, knew enough of that value to do something very drastic to get that money. There was no evidence that he needed money. Yes, he didn't have a. Job, but nothing came out that he needed money. And I'm spending time talking about a motive because, as a judge said, they don't need to prove a motive. Motive does not mean intent, and I need you to understand that motive does not mean intent. The other important part that I want to focus on is this timeline. If you go back to the opening, the state said that from three PM to five pm on the first the killings occurred. Well, first of all, Chris, they didn't get home until after five o'clock, roughly around five to twelve.

27:53 They made a big deal about this MAATC MEETINGMATC with Chaz Chaz MATC. You don't know if that was in person. You don't know what it's about other than MATC. You don't know if it was just a conversation that they were going to have. You don't know if it's a follow up. You don't know anything about it other than some kind of MATC chat was going to happen between bart and Chamber, and that was going to happen at three o'clock. During their closing, the state said that the neighbor smelled something around eight to nine pm. No, they testified that it was around seven o'clock that they started smelling something. So again, another leap that you're supposed to make is that while he's allegedly murdering his parents, he decides, I'm going to start this fire. I'm going to put some things in that fire. But wait, I have to go to a quick trip.

28:44 Use your common sense. That makes sense to absolutely no one. What you have is a medical examiner to medical examiners that could not say the time of death. So, really, truly, do you know what time these alleged homicide's happened? You don't. Let's talk about what else you. Do not know. You do not know what gun was used. That medical examiner was not able to tell you what kind of gun, wasn't even able to tell you if it was a high powered rifle, just a gun. So whenever you don't know about something, you have to ask yourself, have they met their burden? Is this proof beyond a reasonable doubt? Because you do have examples of what proof beyond a reasonable doubt is those maps that we saw yesterday tracking Chandler's every single move, matching up with where the bodies were found and at the time that they were found. That's proof beyond a reasonable doubt. A bloody tarp and some tools, that's proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

29:42 But that doesn't mean that a homicide occurred. It means that something awful happened, and no one's disputing that. No one is saying that nothing happened to Barton Christa. Something awful happened to these two people, And the very least you can say, is that Chandler reacted but you do not know what happened. And I know some of you have already made up your mind. I see it, and that's fine. Maybe you do think he murdered his parents. The question I have for you is did this state meet their burden when it comes to first degree intentional homicide. Now I don't get to come back up when I'm done. The state's going to come up and they're going to do their rebuttal and they're going to say everything that I said is flawed some way, somehow, or that you shouldn't pay attention to it. And that's fine, that's their job.

30:26 They have the burden, they have the last say. But when they're talking during their rebuttal, I want. You to think of this. What if I told you that at any minute, someone's going to walk into that door, Someone from the Dane County Deputies Department is going to walk in and say. I found it. I found the video we were looking for. I know exactly what happened in that house on the first And if you're going to look at that door hoping that someone comes in, you have reasons to doubt. There are plenty of. Reasons to doubt that a first degree intentional homicide occurred. I want you to spend time on the homicides, ask yourself. The questions that you need to ask.

31:07 I guarantee you that the twelve of you that are going to go back and deliberate are all going to have twelve different theories on what happened, and that's a problem. I'm asking you to find him not guilty a first degree intentional homicide. Thank you. We're going to take a quick break, and when we come back, we'll hear the prosecution's rebuttal don't go anywhere. So a lot of talk in the defense closing and opening about thing you say learned in law school or going to law school. And I think in the opening I heard at one point being a jury is different than being a person, if any that's true, but with law school, and I do this for a living, I operate in a world of common sense and not fantasy full thoughts of just this guy finding his dead parents and deciding, no big deal, let's just cut them apart and hide them around the state, but who knows how they die. I live in that world. That's the world you should live in too, because being a juror is no different than being a person. I'm like, maybe what you were told earlier, you're told by the judge, although they figured out a way to say it in about two paragraphs. You use your common sense and experience and the roles of everyday life for something along those lines.

32:34 A bunch of lawyers got together and thought about it for two weeks and figured out a way to say, use your common sense. Tsavera just stood up here and said, what if this was an awful accident. Bart Holderson was shot in the back twice. You do not fall down and shoot yourself in the back twice. Bart Holderson and Kristal Holderson had their heads chopped off, had their arms and legs removed. That was an awful accident. Think of for a second. You heard about the bones. You saw those marks and the bones. Those attempts, some of them three, some of them ten, some of them five false starts is what the anthropologists called them. That is, someone on their hands and knees. Chandler apparently, which was just as was saying, I guess we're admitting to that now. They lied and chopped him up and hit him around the state on his hands and knees, some of them from the front to back, meaning probably could see the face of his mom.

33:37 And his dad as that saw moved back and forth, back and forth, and you just saw the bones. But what's before the bones, the skin, the blood, the muscle, the fat, the smell that they. Had to produce the blood of his own parents. An awful accident. We heard I go days without googling things. I don't. Maybe you do, but I bet you don't google dismembered body found Wisconsin when you're crying on the local news about your missing parents. I bet you don't google woman's dismembered body found. I bet you don't do legal research about some other guy who chopped up his family members and throw him in a river. Bet you don't do that. This process is common sense. Miss Vera talked a lot about the lies. Chandler is a liar, and it seems like we all agree on that. Now, lots of people lie. I can agree with Ms Vera on that. The question in this case isn't who would do this? And maybe that's something that's gone through your mind here, Who would do this? Who would go through all this? Who would make up all these lies? Who would take it this far, all these fake people, the burner phone, the nonsense, the calls to his dad, the emails back and forth, the friends and family, the move

35:09 to Florida. Who would do this? And you're going to leave this room. Six of you are going to go home. Twelve are You're going to go into a room and talk to each other. And you're never going to have an answer that question, because who would do this? In the common sense meaning of it, nobody does something like this. But that's not the role of a jury. You're answering a different question, which is who did this? Not who would do this? Because for the life of you, I bet before you've got that notice in the mail a couple of months ago saying you had to come here, you would say nobody. You would have said nobody. Nobody would shoot their dad in the back twice and kill their mom, lay them on the ground in front of their family fireplace. Take scissors and pruning shears, take a hacksaw, took a keyhole saw and saw off their heads, arms, legs, burn him in the fireplace. Over a hundred fragments of human bone found in that fireplace. You would say, no one would do this, But you got your jury summons, and you ended up here and you found out that someone did do it, Chandler Halderson did it. So those lies are important because you at some level have to grasp how this man got to that point. As I said in the opening statement, the murders were just a small piece of the puzzle. None of the things that happened before, none of the things that happened after make any sense. Got to have the murders to understand why

36:45 he did that bizarre story for seven days of his parents going missing with the unknown couple. And you can understand the murders if you understand what happened before, with his bizarre actions of building up this life that wasn't real. Why were those lies important? They were important because it's all he had. We're here because of the deaths of Bart and Crystal Holderson, and they are dead. There's no doubt about that. You have most decidedly concluded that at this point you have seen their bodies. But on some level, whoever Chandler Holderson was died years ago as well, and what was left was this shell of a person who made this nonsense up, who built himself up to be a tech employee rescue, scuba diving guy who's going to college.

37:37 It was all he had. It was all he had, and that started to unravel. Maybe his parents suspected it, but you listened to Bart Holderson on that call just about a day before he was killed. That sounded like someone to you who knew his son had been lying to him those text messages. I spoke to Omar Joe, I'm ready whenever you are. He didn't know what was going on until that moment. So when Bart Holderson finds out that this is a lie to Chandler whoever Chandler Holderson is, the whole world crumples, because if you weren't going to school, they sure weren't going to hire you an American family insurance. That couldn't have been real. There's no way you've got a job at SpaceX. What else are you lying about? Where you going all the time?

38:26 When you say you're training for this scuba diving team, everything about him falls apart. He doesn't have any money. Remember when he texts his girlfriend he was going to the police, Hey can I have five dollars for a sandwich? He can't just leave, he can't move out, he can't get in the car and head west. He probably couldn't make it out of the state with the amount of money he had because he never had a job. He had two options own up to his lies, stand up and finally tell the truth for once, or like a coward, shoot your father in the back. And that's exactly what happened.

39:07 That's exactly what happened. Mss Veris says, Wow, we just got a shellcasing. Yeah, we got a bullet fragment. Just happens to have bart Holderson's DNA on it, and you looked at it. It just happens to appear to have blood all over it. And then text my mom, Hey, pick up soda for me. Dad's phone's dead. She gets home. Who's blood spatters on the safe right there by the bullet fragment, Those little red dots human blood. It's Crystal Holderson. We don't know what happened. We know exactly what happened. Murders are not captured on video. That's not how this happens.

39:48 That's how this works. Sure, in the grand scheme of things, there are some people who are stupid enough to walk up to a gas station, stand in front of the security camera and shoot somebody. But that's not real life, that's not common sense. Chandler Alderson did this in the basement of his house. The blood is everywhere, the bullets there. You heard from mister Leatherberry who testified he only found one and the one he found was kind of rolled behind under that bench. He tried to clean up peroxide everywhere. He's having people bring him peroxide. Blood all over that fireplace, stoop bone, fragments in the ash trap. You know exactly what happened. You don't need a video. The lies are important because it's all Chandler Alderson had, and when they were exposed, he started coming up with this plan. And yeah, after the Omar job comes in, text comes in on the twenty ninth, he's having a conversation with his girlfriend.

40:55 You heard miss Fair, actually read it, that's Fair. The day before, Hey, are we going to the cabin? What's going on? They're talking about the cabin. He's starting to dabble with the idea of what he's doing. But then I think it was at one o four pm, just about an hour and a half, two hours before he did it. He says they're going to the cabin. This weekend. He made his final decision because at that moment, moment, Chandler Halderson knew there was no way out. He couldn't get in the car and drive away. He couldn't make up another lie, he couldn't make up another email, he couldn't buy another burner phone. It was done. Everyone was going to see him for what he was, just some liar, some guy without a job, not going to school, who'd been lying to everyone for years. And he couldn't handle that, so he committed the ultimate act of betrayal against your parents, perhaps against any human being, but especially your parents, the person who held you when you were a baby, and cleaned up your cuts on your knee when you were learning to ride a bike, comforted to you when you were crying. The ultimate act of betrayal shot his parents, and then he cut him up, and he hid them.

42:21 But the lies didn't even stop there. It was a new line. That's the cabin. Now he's on the news. Now, he was given interviews, given two three more days. Don't think for a second there wouldn't have been two three more fake emails, text messages from my mom. A whole new world, a whole new reality, for Chandler that he got to live in. His checklist was right there. Finally he was going to get a job. Obviously mom and dad couldn't support him anymore. Maybe he's going to get some life insurance. Maybe he knew, maybe he didn't. But he certainly got to continue on his fake life. He got to keep his girlfriend. People continued to respect him, His friends probably continued to think that he was successful. Important.

43:12 The lies were rinsed and repeated, rinsed and repeated. And I promise, I'm I'm about dumb, and I'm the last person who talks. Judge's going to talk a little bit more. What happened here wasn't a mistake. What happened here wasn't innocent lies, coincidences. Mister Holderson's statements of the police that my mom has knows bleeds, and my dad he just scratches his psoriasis doesn't explain his blood on a bullet fragment. It doesn't explain all of their blood on the fireplace. It doesn't explain the Holderson's teeth in the ash trap. It doesn't explain their skull and the ash trap and placed on top of the fireplace. What I'm asking you to do is to look for the truth and not to negotiate. Not take the idea that well, there's one piece of paper there where he signed a document and says he lied to the cops, and maybe that's maybe that's good enough. These people were killed. This is a first degree intentional homicide. And there is only one person who did those things here, and that is Chandler Halderson, and we're asking you to find him guilty. Thank you, thank you, Coles.

44:42 Coming up on the next episode of Tapes from the Dark Side, the jury returns a verdict and Chandler Halderson speaks in the courtroom for the first time. My name is Teazy, and you've been listening to Tapes from the Dark Side. This month on Patreon, we released a bonus episode called hot Pot, a look at a tragic incident that occurred in Yellowstone National Park. I think it's one of our best night Terrors yet, and I've already got another case lined up that I'm working on, actually a couple. So if you're interested in some bonus one off episodes our exclusive night Terrors series, you can go listen on patreon dot com slash Tapes from the Dark side. We've also got a couple episodes that are unlocked. All you have to do is join for free and you can listen to those episodes without any monthly payment. Now to our newest Patreon members, we have Dave McManus, shawna Dinzart, Matt delve Delvell del Va, Rachel Cannon, Marquito Gillespie, Crystal Hogan, Renee Aubrey s Lyles, Britt Pleck, Melissa Hudson, Timmer White Kiss, Melissa Stokes. And we have some yearly members. I have

46:12 a note that maybe I've mispronounced the name last week, Galina Simons. We have Aaron v Sonny Farinacci, Kate Zimmerman, Laura Christine, Jilly Burton, Nikola Chesterman Ginger, Andreas Heida, Holly Deaton, Jessica Bell Sullivan and Danny Ashford. Also there is a producer tier member that I've been messing up their name so they are Scottish wait Irish. So actually saved their voice note because I think they have a lovely voice, and I'm gonna play I'm gonna play you them describing how their name actually is pronounced.

47:00 Here's how you say it, Lara, that's my name Nie, which means daughter of whereas if you ever hear people say, oh that meets son of but nick, which is the Irish form of Kenna. We have one new producer, Jason Loose, and we always read out to our producers at the end of each episode. Check out the producer tier on Patreon. That's truly the workhorse of the podcast, the true supporters. Thank you guys so much. Sidney Raynan, Jody c Kevin, Stephenson, Erica, Angela, mf Michael, Paul Dekel, Ducky Crawford, Veronica Aaron Kristin, Rice, Jesse Bateman, Mariah, Monique Wilkinson, Teddy Redman, Jason Irvin, Jessica Cooper, Fiona Gibson, Sun Dean Joyce, Lovelace, Malory Bitterman, Santana Savine, Vanessa Miller, Jonathan Cox, Gino, Ai Bunco, Tyler, Ernster, Pencil Junkie, Sherry Sly, Shelley Jones, Fran Alexis, Kathleen and Greg b.

48:20 If you sign up for a yearly membership, you get two months free automatically, and it also just helps me kind of budget for the year on the podcast. So come and join us. Patreon dot com slash Tapes from the Dark Side. As always, I have to thank the incredibly brilliant twenty six hundred for allowing us to adapt one of his songs for a main theme in the legend Augusta Trevororum truly some of the best electronic music out there. You're probably hearing one of his tracks right now. I haven't mixed it up yet, but I'm guessing I'll use one of his tracks for the credits. That's all I got for today. Thank you for listening, and until next time, try to enjoy the daylight.

49:24 A dark Side. Scot