SNAPCHAT led to the arrest and conviction of a man for the murder and dismemberment of his parents.
Chandler Henderson, 23, reported his parents, Bart and Krista Halderson, missing in July 2021.
4
4
4
4
Halderson was living with his parents in Windsor, Wisconsin, outside Madison, and told police that did not return after they visited the family cabin during the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
During the investigation into Bart and Krista's disappearance, Chandler's girlfriend, Cathryn (Cat) Mellender, allowed investigators to gather data from her phone, according to CBS' 48 Hours.
Detective Sabrina Sims heard that Mellender would track Halderson's real-time location using Snapchat because he had cheated on her in the past.
Mellender took a screenshot on the app of Chandler's location early on July 3, 2021. He was in a remote area near the Wisconsin River when his parents were missing.
Read more on murder
When detectives searched the area, they found the remains of Chandler's mother Krista.
Investigators also found the remains of Chandler's father Bart at a farm about 20 miles from the Halderson home.
The farm owner told detectives that she saw Chandler coming out of the farm's woodline.
When they checked the area, they found Bart. He was shot at least twice in the back.
Most read in The US Sun
Chandler was charged with the murder and dismemberment of his parents as well as lying to police.
He pleaded not guilty and went on trial in January 2022.
Prosecutors said that Chandler killed his parents because they found out he was lying to them about failing out of college.
Chandler also told them was offered a job at Elon Musk's aerospace company, SpaceX. This also turned out to be a lie, according to the prosecution.
Prosecutors believed that on the day of the murders, Chandler's father Bart scheduled to meet his son at the college he claimed to be attending.
Security video from the Haldersons' neighbor on the day that prosecutors believe Bart and Krista were murdered was shown to the jury.
A flickering light from a window in the Halderson home could be seen in the footage. The light was from their fireplace, according to prosecutors.
Over 200 human bone fragments were found in the fireplace, a forensic expert testified.
Chandler's defense team argued that the prosecution lacked enough evidence to prove their case, however after two hours of deliberations, a jury found Chandler guilty on all charges.
His full list of charges included first-degree intentional homicide, lying to investigators, mutilating a corpse, and hiding a corpse.
Chandler was sentenced in March 2022 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In April 2023, a judge vacated his two convictions for hiding a corpse as the jury should not have been given the option of convicting Chandler on charges of hiding and also mutilating a corpse.
Under the state statute, someone can only be convicted of hiding a corpse when the evidence is not strong enough to hold up a conviction for mutilating a corpse, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
Even with these convictions vacated, Chandler is still serving a life sentence without parole for the murder and dismemberment of his parents.
During Chandler's sentencing, he asked for a lawyer to help him appeal his case.
"It's not that I do not have feelings, it's that I was warned to not show them due to the scrutiny of this case," he said as he broke his silence in court after not testifying during his trial.
Read More on The US Sun
He did get a new lawyer and has filed an appeal.
48 Hour's full episode of The Snapchat Clue is reairing on Saturday at 9pm on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
