Chilling Snapchat clues in disappearance of Chandler Halderson's parents Bart and Krista revealed in shock 48 Hours doc
James Austin
Published Sep 05, 2026
CHILLING clues uncovered on Snapchat helped investigators make an arrest after a son reported his parents missing.
How the social media app helped detectives crack the mysterious case is being revealed in a new episode of 48 Hours.
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Chandler Halderson, 24, was arrested and found guilty of killing his parents.
He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and had no reaction when the judge gave the verdict in the courtroom.
A clue on Halderson's Snapchat helped detectives crack the case before arresting him the day after he reported his parents, Bart, 50 and Krista, 53, missing.
CBS News will be revealing details about how the location services on the social media app helped investigators find the body of Halderson's mother in an episode of 48 Hours on Saturday night.
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Chandler's girlfriend, Cathryn "Cat" Mellender, would keep tabs on him via Snapchat.
She told investigators that on early on July 3, she opened the app and saw Chandler at a remote location near the Wisconsin River and saved a screenshot of it.
Investigators said: "We needed to search this area because of how remote it is and wooded it is, and the access to water to see if we could find any evidence."
A part of Halderson's mother Krista's body was found along the Wisconsin River near Sauk City.
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The remains of his father were found at a farm located about 20 miles away from the Halderson home.
Police initially charged the then-23-year-old with lying to the police.
When he reported them missing on July 7, 2021, he said they left for 4th of July weekend to go to their cabin in northern Wisconsin and hadn't returned.
He also reportedly told police that his parents had gone to attend a parade in White Lake but no such parade occurred.
It's said that Halderson used a saw and scissors to cut up his parents' bodies before dumping some of their remains in the woods and burning others.
At Halderson's sentencing, Dane County Assistant District Attorney William Brown noted that ashes from the fireplace in the couple's home contained human remains.
Halderson had lied to his parents about attending Madison College.
He claimed to have been working at an insurance company and also said that he was getting a job in Florida at SpaceX, according to Brown.
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The lawyer said that Bart had learned his son hadn't attended classes at the college for over a semester, Law and Crime reported.
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Bart and his son were supposed to meet with school officials before the then 23-year-old allegedly shot his father to death on July 1.
