Wisconsin man charged with homicide after father’s remains found; mother still missing

WINDSOR, Wis. (TCD) --

A Wisconsin man who reported his parents missing last week has been charged with homicide after human remains found in the investigation were identified as his father.

A second set of human remains found in another location is still in the process of being identified.

Chandler Halderson, 23, reported his parents missing at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 7, 2021.

Halderson told investigators his parents -- Bart and Krista Halderson, whom Chandler lives with -- left their Windsor house on the morning of Friday, July 2, to spend the holiday weekend at their White Lake cabin, according to the Dane County Sheriff’s Office. He said they left with an unknown couple.

Langdale County Sheriff’s deputies checked the White Lake property but found no one there and no sign of activity.

Detectives found human remains on a rural property in Cottage Grove on Thursday, July 8, about 15 miles south of Windsor.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports a witness saw Chandler Halderson driving his parents’ vehicle in the Cottage Grove area three days before the remains were found there.

Investigators searched the Cottage Grove property, which belongs to Chandler's girlfriend’s mother’s partner, and found a torso wrapped in pants with a belt and a rope, the State Journal reports, and a pair of scissors and a saw blade were found nearby.

Chandler Halderson was then taken into custody and charged with providing false information in a missing-person investigation.

On Wednesday, July 14, investigators found more human remains near Sauk City, on Dept. of Natural Resources land, about 30 miles west of Windsor.

On Thursday, July 15, the Dane County Sheriff’s Office announced the Medical Examiner’s Office identified the human remains found in Cottage Grove as Bart Halderson, 50.

Chandler Halderson has been additionally charged with first-degree homicide; hiding a corpse; and mutilating a corpse. He was held in the Dane County Jail on $1 million bond.

Autopsy results were pending.

A search of the Windsor property was ongoing, the sheriff’s office said.

Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said Krista Halderson, 53, is still considered a missing person, and said he’s optimistic she’s “alive and well,” the State Journal reports.

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