Authorities on Monday indicated they believe a 23-year-old Windsor man shot and dismembered his father before dumping him in a rural area, then lied to investigators by telling them both his parents had gone away for the Fourth of July weekend and never returned.
No charges have been filed yet against Chandler M. Halderson in the death of Bart A. Halderson, 50. His wife and Chandler’s mother, Krista, 53, remains missing. The three shared a home on Oak Springs Circle that is now considered a crime scene.
Dane County Court Commissioner Mark Fremgen set bond in Chandler’s case at $10,000 Monday, rejecting pleas from Deputy District Attorney William Brown for $1 million bond after Chandler’s attorney, Catherine Dorl, noted no charges have been filed against her client since he was booked into the Dane County Jail on Thursday night on a tentative felony charge of providing false information on a missing person.
Late Monday afternoon, authorities added three more tentative felony charges, according to the Dane County Jail roster: First-degree intentional homicide, hiding a corpse and mutilating a corpse.
Brown said formal charges are expected Thursday and called the situation “very unique,” but acknowledged he had no reason to believe Chandler was a flight risk.
“At this point we have an extremely complex investigation,” he said. “We have a defendant who had six days to hide evidence of his crime, and lied to police in the course of this missing persons investigation, which he instigated. He has lied dozens of times in the course of this investigation. He is now seen leaving the area in which the dismembered remains of his father were found with gunshot wounds.”