WI v. Chandler Halderson Trial Day 2 - Lisa Murray - Halderson Family Neighbor

It.

Thank you. Please be seated.

State calls lisa murray.

Good afternoon. If you can do so comfortably and responsibly, we would appreciate testimony without a mask for purposes of a witness. Thank you so much. Go right ahead. Attorney Raymond.

Good afternoon. Could you please state your first and last name for the record and spell both?

Yes, Lisa. Lisa. Last name is Murray. M U R R A Y.

And Ms. Murray, where did you live.

In July of 2021 at 4593 Oak Spring Circle? Into Forest.

And you have kind of an interesting history with the 4595 Oak Springs Circle address. What is that history?

The 4595 Oak Springs addresser. The Halderson home used to be my mother's home. She purchased the home in 1982, lived there until she passed away in 2009. I lived there for two or three years, and then I owned the vacant lot next door. Built a new house right next door.

Okay, so fair to say you're very familiar with the neighborhood and with that home in particular. Correct. Did you know Bart and Krista Helderson?

I did.

How did you know them?

Being neighbors, just cordial in the yard. How are you? You know, just chit chat.

Were you familiar with Chandler Halderson?

I had met Chandler maybe once or twice.

So you knew who he was, but not any particular intimate knowledge?

Correct.

Did you, though, have a conversation with Chandler Halderson on July 8th of 2021?

Yes. The morning of July 8th, about roughly 8:30 in the morning, we. Somebody rang our doorbell. I answered the door and then called Jay. And Chandler had. Was at the door and had just said, hi, I'm Chandler from next door. And we just said, you know, we're sorry about your mom and dad, you know, and he said, yeah, weird. And I think the next thing he said is he was looking for help. So he was looking to see if we had seen anything, if we had surveillance cameras or ring doorbell. I responded, no, that we did not have a ring doorbell. And then I think, you know, I think we kind of started asking maybe a little bit of questions.

What did you ask?

Well, I know Jay asked, are you the one with the neck brace? Because we had heard that one of the kids had fallen and had a neck brace. Was it? And Jay had just mentioned, is that you or your brother? And he goes, no, it's me. And Jay said, do you need to wear that? And he responded, no. And then he explained a bit about his parents, that somebody had picked him.

Up.

And he wasn't quite sure who had picked him up. And I guess it was unusual because we started asking questions and said, well, wouldn't that other couple be missing?

What, if anything, did Chandler say to that?

He said, no. No, not necessarily. He said that other couple might have been going on to their next trip or continued on with their trip. And Jay had said, wouldn't they need to bring your parents back?

And did Chandler have any response to that?

He didn't have a response. He just was maybe in an awkward silence and just said, I don't understand. My dad always drives.

How did that conversation end?

I think it had just become, you know, uncomfortable for him. And after that, it was more. He just kind of turned around. I'm sorry, I did miss one part early on when he was asking about if we had surveillance. We said, no. But we do know that other people down the street have high security system or we also know the people that have ring doorbells. I'm sorry. I missed that part.

So that's okay.

But how it ended was he just kind of turned around and walked off the front porch, went down to the end of the driveway and looked left, looked right and just started walking down the street to the left.

Ms. Murray, I'm gonna approach you and have you look at what has been marked as Exhibit 54. Could you Please describe exhibit 54 for the jury?

Exhibit 54 is a picture of a.

Window that I took of whose house?

This is the Halderson's home. The picture is the west side facing window into the garage. There are two side windows into the garage. This is the one that is the closest, near the pond or the lake.

And what date did you take that picture?

I took it on July 7th at.

5:20Pm and does Exhibit 54 appear to be a true and accurate print of that picture that you took?

Yes.

I would move Exhibit 54 into evidence.

Any objection?

None.

It is received, and I would ask to publish.

You may. The photo should show up on the computer model.

Okay.

Now, Ms. Murray, why in the world did you take a picture of your neighbor's window?

It was very unusual that the window was open. It was July. It was very hot. And those windows are never open. You know, that side of the house, you know, is. We see three. You know, we see out that side of the house from three different sets of windows. From our kitchen, from our dining room, and from our sunroom, we can see that side. And there's only four windows on that side of the house. I've never seen a window open there.

Okay.

And that struck you as unique, and you wanted to document it in some way?

Very unique.

Is that window. You've lived in this home. Is that window difficult to get to?

It is. It's kind of an awkward window with it being at the end of the house. You have to walk around the cars to get there. I've never been in the home since the Haldersons owned it. You have to, kind of. When we owned it, you had to fall over a workbench area to get to the window. So it really was an awkward window to open.

And the Haldersons had lived in that home approximately five years?

Correct.

And to your knowledge, that's the only time you observed that window open was July 7th of 2021?

Correct.

No further questions.

Cross examination.

Just to be clear, that window goes into the garage? Correct. And you didn't have any recent reason to know what was the layout inside the garage at that time? Correct. I'm sorry, I couldn't quite hear you.

Sure.

Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. You hadn't been in that garage recently? Correct? Correct.

That's all.

Thank you.

Any redirect?

No.

May this witness be excused and released from subpoenas?

Yes.

Thank you very much for your time. Have a good rest of your day. Thank you.

Thank you. State calls eric novak to the standard matters the truth.

Good afternoon, sir. If you are comfortable and believe you can do so safely, we would appreciate your testifying without a mask, if you're able.

Check.

Thank you very much.

Judge, before we start, could we approach, please? Sure.

It's it.

Good afternoon. Could you please state both your first and last name and spell both for the record?

Eric Novak. E R I, C, N O, V.

A K. And can you just pull that microphone right in front of your mouth there?

The fans are running and some tones of voice don't get picked up as well. So we want you to be comfortable that can be moved as close as can be.

Eric, do you know somebody by the name of Chandler Halderson?

Yes.

How do you know Chandler Halderson?

I met him in middle school, and we've been friends since then, and we lived together two years ago. Okay.

I believe the court will probably direct everyone but the jury to remove their mask for a few seconds. But do you see Mr. Halderson in the courtroom today?

Before answering, I would ask anyone who's not in the jury box to lower their mask as I count to three. One, two, three. Go ahead and replace your masks.

Yes.

Could you identify him by where he's seated and the color of his shirt?

He's seated on that table, third from the right. And he's wearing a black suit.

Okay.

Thank you. During the. At some point in time, did you learn or from a news story or wherever that Mr. Halderson's parents were missing?

Yes.

And did you reach out to Mr. Halderson?

I did.

I'm going to show you what has been marked as Exhibit 56. Is exhibit 56, is it fair to say that is screenshots of messages between you and Chandler?

Yes.

And you call him Chas?

Yes.

I would move Exhibit 56 into evidence.

Any objection?

No objection.

It is received.

All right. And there should be a little screen in front of you, which hopefully I'll try to move it so you can read. And I just thought it might be easiest to read through these. So is the blue part what you say?

Yes.

Okay. Why don't you go ahead and read what you first wrote to Chandler?

Hey, Chaz. Saw a post about your parents. Wanted to check up with you if you need anything, or I can do anything to help. Happy to do it.

And then Chaz responds, you sent that message on July 8th at 10:55am yes. Okay. And it appears that Chandler responds, I appreciate it. I'm sorry, but I don't have a name to this number.

So.

Who may this be?

Eric?

Sorry, I can't think of anything to do. I've searched the house with the cops for clues, but I couldn't find anything. Fingers crossed that they get the court order to open up their laptop.

And then I believe they went up to the cabin. Right. They haven't tried tracking their phones.

We need a court order for that. Every time I call, it goes straight to voicemail. So I think the phones are off or out of range.

Okay. Hopefully they move on that. When were they supposed to be back?

Monday, Tuesday.

Have you been able to reach them at all since they left?

They sent a text on Sunday, but I don't know when they made it because of the reception.

I see. I'm not really sure what to do either.

Or how to help.

Or how to help.

All right. And that was basically your conversation via text with chandler?

Yes.

On July 8th. So I know you don't know a lot about this case, but during your friendship with Chandler, did you guys ever go swimming?

Yes.

Where did you guys go swimming?

We went up to a beach in Sauk City.

Okay. I'm going to show you what has been marked as Exhibit 55. Could you please describe Exhibit 55?

So on the right of the picture, that's kind of the area we would walk to. And then we'd swim over there and go to the sandbar in the middle.

Okay, so you said over to the right. I don't think everyone can see that. Okay, over to the right here is where you would walk to?

Yes.

Okay. And then you would swim to the sandbar in the middle?

Yes.

And does this appear, this picture, Exhibit 55, appear to be a true and accurate depiction of that area, as far as you know it?

As far as I know, yes. All right.

I'd move Exhibit 55 into evidence.

Any objection?

No objection.

It is received.

No further questions.

Any questions?

No.

Thank you.

May the witness be excused and released?

He may be excused, but not released.

You are excused from any further testimony today, but you're still under subpoena to the state. Thank you very much. Have a good remainder of your day.

Thank you. You, too.

At this time, I'll recall Detective Brian Shunk to the stand.

We solemnly swear.

If you would again, as long as nothing's changed since your last time on the stand, testify without your mask. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Name still spell the same as yesterday?

Yes, it is.

In the course of this case? Many times. And you found yourself with other law enforcement officers over at the holidays? Us. Correct?

Correct.

And at times, people were conducting varying levels of searches of that home. Is that fair to say?

Yes.

When you conduct a search of a home? When I say varying levels of searches. Meaning some are more invasive or destructive than others? Definitely. Early on in this case, people were looking around the home, but maybe weren't being wholly invasive or wholly destructive at that time, correct?

Yes.

And for instance, you walked around the home at one point?

Yes.

Were you at that time with other detectives, ripping out drawers and throwing things on the floor?

No.

What kind of search were you doing initially in the home?

When I was first there, initially, we were just doing a visual search, consensual, consented to by Chandler Halderson.

You're looking around?

Yes.

At some point later on in the investigation, a very thorough search was done by someone who specializes kind of in searching homes, right?

Yes.

Detect or, excuse me, Deputy Greg Leatherberry, who's going to testify in this case, correct?

Correct.

And prior to that search being conducted by Deputy Leatherberry and his staff and the people that work with him, was a video taken of the entire Halderson home to try to document the state it was in, at least to the best of your ability, before that that more intrusive, destructive search was completed?

Yes.

And those videos are long, aren't they?

Yes.

And in fact, this one's an hour and a half, isn't it?

It's very thorough video.

And there's no narration to it.

Correct.

Doesn't make for engaging viewing always, right?

No.

The video has the ability to be sped up, correct?

Yes.

And you've seen it sped up in preparation for this case, correct?

I have.

And in fact, it can be sped up to one third so that the video is less than an hour long?

Yes.

In speeding it up in. In your view, having been in the Halderson home and having watched the original, does it change the quality of the video at all or what you're able to see?

It does not.

It just moves it along a little bit quicker.

Yes.

What is the purpose of these walkthrough videos that are done by law enforcement?

These walkthrough videos will document the home as is prior to any searches, just documenting how the home was found, basically on law enforcement's first arrival.

And they'll go into every single room?

Yes.

And they'll open up drawers and things like that?

They do.

I'm going to show you what's been marked in this case. Exhibit number 543. Just feel around. And you've seen this before. In fact, a couple hours ago, you saw it. This is a USB drive, correct?

It feels like it, yes.

Containing the video of the walkthrough in the home?

Yes.

I'll move exhibit 543 in evidence.

Any objection?

No objection.

It is received.

We'll get it queued up.

Don't move.

We'll publish it. So as we're getting it queued up. And if you could switch to hdmi.

Thank you.

Just to preface this again, this is going to be a walk through of the Halverson home. We'll pause it right there at 4595 Oak Spring Circle. And it's going to take, well, it says an hour and 28 minutes and 55 seconds. We're going to speed it up by about a third. It's going to be just under an hour, correct?

Yes.

And I will hit play here in a second. Judge, if you wanted to dim the lights, and I know everyone probably wants to get comfortable, it's gonna. It's gonna take a minute.

It's, It's, It's, It's, It's.

Detective, that was the walkthrough video, right?

Yes.

And the time that was conducted, the whole purpose was to see the entire house. No one knew what was really relevant yet or not relevant yet, Right? Correct. And while we might talk about all of the rooms in the next couple of days. Fair to say that the basement of the house, the room with the fireplace, Mr. Halderson's bedroom, those will be the three primary areas that we're going to continue talking about the next few days.

Correct.

At this point in the trial, and I suppose as one of the primary investigators, we've now heard from pretty much everyone who was involved in Mr. Halderson going door to door looking for security videos, correct?

Yes.

We might hear from a few more people that were in the area, but at this point, we. We've heard from those folks. One of those folks, Mr. Lindsmeer, mentioned to Chandler that he should give the cops a call. And in fact, you were one of the people who left a card and ultimately got some calls from Chandler, right?

Yes.

And we're going to hear about that later on in the trial.

We will.

Okay.

Now, that home, the Halderson home, obviously there was a large amount of police presence there in early July of this year. At points, Chandler was there, and then at some point, I think we're all in agreement that he was. He was arrested. In fact, you were one of the people in the room, and he was arrested on the 8th in the afternoon or early evening, correct? Correct. From the 8th onwards. So let's say July 8, when Chandler was arrested, all the way through August 4, that house remained in the custody of the Dane County Sheriff's Department, correct?

Yes.

And it was guarded at all times, was it not?

Definitely.

Can you tell us just briefly, what it means to guard a house? A crime scene guard.

Yes. So our crime scene investigators will secure the home. They'll put up some type of evidence tape on the doorway to make sure that no one snuck into the home. There will be a deputy assigned to that location, to that crime scene, and they'll remain there for their entire shift. They won't leave unless they're relieved. So no bathroom breaks, no going to a restaurant. They are there guarding that home?

Sure. So from the time of Mr. Halderson's arrest on July 8th all the way through August 4th, nearly a month, at 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there was a Dane County Sheriff's deputy guarding that home?

Yes.

And they kept a log of everyone who came and went, correct?

Correct.

And that was turned over to my office. In the defense, it's a normal part of the. The process in the court system.

Yes.

And people who entered that home, I think we may have saw people wearing booties when they passed by a mirror. People were outfitted with appropriate equipment to protect any biological evidence when they were coming and going?

Yes.

Including yourself at times.

Correct.

No further questions at this time.

Cross examination?

No.

Thank you.

I would just ask one clarifying point. The deputy in charge or assigned to guard the home, did they guard from the outside or the inside?

No one's allowed inside the home except for the crime scene investigators at that time. So they are outside of the home.

Thank you. Anything in follow up to my question?

No.

Thank you, Detective. You may return back to the table. Would this be a good point for us to break for the day?

I think we've been staring at that snow showers message on the bottom right for a while, so I think that'd be a good idea.

Very good, ladies and gentlemen, at this point, then we will adjourn for the remainder of today. I don't think there's any bad weather this afternoon or tonight or tomorrow, so that should relieve us. However, it's supposed to be very cold tomorrow. So if you want to make any different plans other than leaving the building tomorrow, you'll still have plenty of time to do so. You also may wish to leave or. We'll take enough breaks tomorrow because, as I understand the flow of the presentation that the State is providing, tomorrow will be a day of more difficulty as far as the testimony and evidence which the State will need to present as we move into some of the things which were discussed in the opening statement which haven't been brought out yet today or up to today in the testimony. Your notebooks stay here. And I charge you once again to not discuss anything about this case with anyone, where you are headed to or who you are with between now and tomorrow morning. And to not look at any news reports, seek out any information on the Internet or the print or digital media or television of any kind. And if you are subject to anyone trying to speak to you about the case, please ignore them or walk away or put a stop to that and remain as you have been diligent until we see you tomorrow morning. Have a very good and restful evening. Thank you. Oh, and what time? Same time? If we could. Same time. So we'll. We'll strive to start at 8:45. If everybody's here by 8:45.

All right, the jury.

This.