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[Music] My name is Damian Chandler. [Music] I have been accused of double homicide
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and I am innocent. Is it hard to believe you're sitting here again to talk about
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this? Yeah, it really is. I didn't think 20 years later that this is what would be happening in this situation.
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July 7th of 2002, my dad and his fiance Karen were shot and killed in their beds. I was 17 and
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my brother was 15. And there was just shock. The only person that hated them was my
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mom. Dana, what should people understand about the fact that you, Dana Chandler's
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daughter, thinks Dana Chandler killed your father? I do have a mind of my own and I'm not biased in this situation.
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I don't want it to be her. I want the truth to come out. And I want true justice for my dad, Karen.
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Mike and Karen were together for the weekend alone. They did everything. They loved each other. They drove up to a
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casino, spent a few hours there, and then arrived back home in the early morning hours. They were found uh Sunday
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afternoon, July 7th. The killer made it downstairs, shot Karen Harkness multiple
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times, shot Mike Cisco multiple times. It's unnerving to think that somebody could sneak into a house and do this and
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leave quietly and nobody knows about it till the next day. Whoever it was that did this hated these people. They wanted
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them dead and they wanted to make sure they were dead. Both hands out of the car. It could be
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the justice two families have long been waiting for. The arrest of Dana Chandler
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in the 2002 killings of Karen Hartness and Michael Cisco. You have a trial where she's found guilty. We, the jury,
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find the defendant guilty of the crime of murder. And then the Kansas Supreme Court comes and says, "This is
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prosecutorial misconduct, and it's so bad that we're going to go ahead and overturn her conviction. You have a new
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trial. The jury is unable to reach a unanimous verdict." And now they've had a hung jury and they're going to try her
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again. That just is almost unheard of. For the third time, Dana Chandler is back on trial. Opening statements today
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is Chandler will represent herself in this case. I knew it was different. I just didn't know what was going to
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happen. I could never predicted it. When officers talked to friends, family, co-workers, they all said the same
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thing. You guys should look at Dana Chandler. The truth is that she murdered them. I did not kill Mike Cisco. I did
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not kill Karen Hartness. I am an innocent woman. [Music] [Music] Dana Chandler has spent decades
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maintaining her innocence against allegations she was responsible for the 2002 murders of her ex-husband Mike
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Cisco and his girlfriend Karen Harkness. My uh liberty, my freedom is hanging in the balance. In 2025,
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Chandler took on her own defense, representing herself in the third trial the state brought against her for the
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murders. I wanted to understand what happened and why and and and actually know the truth of what happened. Haley
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Seal is Dana Chandler and Mike Cisco's daughter. She and other family members of Mike and
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Karen have spent decades grieving, searching for answers, and for justice. Hi Dana Harold D CBS News. 48 Hours
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first started covering the murders in 2008 and spoke with individuals involved several times over the years. It's hard
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to swallow and it's it's hard to believe. It's insane. For Haley, it all started on July 7th,
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2002. She learned her father and Karen had been killed in Karen's Topeka, Kansas home. I immediately just saw a
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bunch of tape around the house and police and my grandma was sitting in there and um she just told me that they
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had been shot. The night before the murders, Mike and Karen enjoyed an evening at a casino
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about an hour outside of Topeka. Surveillance footage shows them leaving about 1:30 a.m. They then stopped to get
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coffee, the last time video captured Karen alive. They were extremely happy. You could just see that. Karen's father,
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Harold Warswick. Everything they did was for each other. The day after Mike and Karen's night out, a family get together
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had been planned at Karen's house. Relatives thought the couple might be announcing they were engaged. and I rang
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the doorbell and knocked on the glass and couldn't raise anybody. I thought, "This is strange." Karen's father, who
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has since died, recalled that he entered Karen's home that afternoon through an open sliding door, didn't see any sign
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of her or Mike. So, he headed downstairs to the bedroom. Just I got the foot of the stairs, I could see Karen, and I
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said, "Oh, Christ." I knew she was dead. Then I found Mike on the outside of the
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bed. Harold would then call 911. I've just located my daughter and she's downstairs and she's dead. I got a radio
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call just after 2:00 on July 7th, 2002. Richard Voloy, now retired, was the Topeka Police Department's lead
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detective on the case. It was a report of two dead bodies in a basement. Five bullets had struck 53-year-old
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Karen, including in her back and buttocks. Mike, 47, suffered between five and seven gunshot wounds. The
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couple had been in bed. The rest of the house appears undisturbed. Investigators found more than $1,000 in
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cash, a Rolex watch, and other jewelry left behind. Robbery was quickly ruled out. To understand who might want Karen
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and Mike dead, police turn to their families for information. What we're left with is an emotional killing. It's
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an emotional execution. Mike, a salesperson for a welding company, and Karen, who worked in the hospitality
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industry, were both previously married and now divorced. The well-liked couple had been dating about four years. It was
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a surprise to everybody that this would happen to somebody like her. Karen's children, Chad and Aaron, were in their
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20s at the time of the murders. My mom was an amazing woman. She She didn't have enemies. And I remember telling her
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on several occasions that if I could be half the mom that she was to me, that I would be the best mom in the world. Mike
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had custody of his two children. Haley, then 17, and Dustin, 15. My dad was really in my life growing up. He was
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really my hero. Haley's relationship with her dad was more complicated. I wasn't happy with my dad. I wasn't happy
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with my mom. I wasn't happy at my school. By Haley's own admission, she was a difficult teenager. My dad gave me an
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ultimatum. Either you follow my rules or you move out. choosing to live with her
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then boyfriend Chris. I moved in with Chris and then my dad was killed. That defiance made Haley and Chris of
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interest to police. They were polygraphed and questioned. I'm just curious. Is everything all right with
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your dad and everything? Uh yeah, we weren't really getting along for a little while.
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Authorities said their alibis checked out, as did the alibis of Karen's daughter, Aaron, and her husband, Jeff
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Sutton. Karen's son, Chad, was also questioned. I was hooked up to a polygraph machine and asked if I had
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murdered my mother or in any way participated in the murder of my mother. Police concluded none of them were
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involved, but family members thought they knew who was responsible. Mike's ex-wife, Dana Chandler. She just she
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never fit in. Kathy Boots, Mike's sister, watched Dana and Mike's relationship deteriorate. After 15 years
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of marriage, the couple went through a bitter divorce, finalized in 1998. Mike's relatives say Dana had a drinking
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problem, and she sporadically stalked Mike during and after the divorce with frequent calls and bizarre visits. The
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kids were upstairs in their room and we heard a noise and there she was in the middle of the night jumping on a
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trampoline in the backyard of Mike's home. I think she became obsessed with the fact that Mike was moving on with his
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life. Mark Boots, Mike's brother-in-law. Uh, and then when Karen entered the picture, that's when things really
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started, I think, escalating. Mike kept track of some of the incidents from 1998 in a day planner, writing,
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"July 28th, Dana stalking neighborhood at 8:30. Caught her. She left. November 12th, Dana came in house while I was at
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Karen's from 7 to 11. Went through stuff. She was willing to travel great distances to show up back in his life."
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According to the Boots, the last time Dana showed up at Mike's home was in the spring of 2002,
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several months before the murders. Kathy said Mike told her Dana went there to talk about moving back in. She said,
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"The kids are getting older. They're having different issues with themselves now. They need both parents. I think I
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should move back in and we should parent together." All this harassment and stalking had
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come to the point that Mike told me that he and Karen now feared for their lives.
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Mark says Mike made that clear to him on a fishing trip 9 days before the murders. He turned to me and said,
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"Mark, you're going to wake up and find me dead, and I want you to know who did it, Dana Chandler." But Dana Chandler
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lived 8 hours away in Denver, and there was no sign that she had been in Karen's
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house in Topeka the night of the murders. The victims were doing absolutely nothing and may not have seen it coming
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at all. Investigators were trying to determine who would gun down Mike Cisco and Karen
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Harkness as they lay in bed. Detective Richard Volley called Mike's ex-wife, Dana Chandler, to inform her of
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Mike's murder. Your husband was found shot to death today, this afternoon. Your ex-husband, I'm sorry. Can you tell
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me when the last time was that you talked to him? Dana, Volley says, did not ask many questions and did not seem
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concerned. She would later say she was very upset on that call, but only Volo's side of their conversation was recorded
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due to a technical error, he said, on his part. The next evening, Chandler called the
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Topeka Police Department, leaving a message on a different officer's voicemail. Hi, my name is Dana Chandler,
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and I got a registered phone call last night. Someone had said that my son had been killed, and I'm just calling to to
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see if that's true or not. Dana would later explain her call was simply seeking confirmation. Given the
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personal nature of the murders, no signs of a burglary, and those stories about a
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messy divorce and stalking, Dana Chandler became the main suspect. Detective Volo decided to talk with
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Chandler in person, recording this audio 4 days after the murders. Tell me about
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what happened on 6. I got my hair, but again, there was an issue with the recording in most of the rest of the
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conversation. Dana is difficult to hear. Detective Volo recounted what he said she told
00:14:16
him. She said she'd been at home uh Saturday morning, that's July 6th, and then made a couple of errand stops.
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Dana said she bought cigarettes, snacks, and a car cigarette lighter at several stores around Denver and then got gas.
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But Voy says she failed to mention one purchase he saw on a credit card receipt. She'd fought two 5gallon gas
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cans as well. Voley wondered why she didn't tell him and why she would even need gas cans unless she had been
00:14:50
planning a trip perhaps to Kansas and didn't want to stop for gas along the way. According to Volo, Dana had also
00:14:58
said after running those errands, she went home to her Denver apartment. Didn't have any visitors, no contact
00:15:06
with anybody. And the next day got up and went for a drive in the mountains at 10:00 in the morning.
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But Voy couldn't verify that Dana was in her apartment the night of the murders,
00:15:18
nor that she took a drive in the mountains the next day. Voy said the area Dana described driving through
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would have meant she'd have to pass Rocky Mountain National Park surveillance cameras. Those cameras were
00:15:33
checked. Volley said there was no sign of her car. The particular person that I had view that tape looked at every frame
00:15:44
slowly. She was never there. Investigators also reviewed Dana's cell phone records. They said that while she
00:15:52
tended to use her cell phone frequently, she oddly had no activity around the time of the murders. What we found was
00:16:01
there was a 27hour window where her phone wasn't used. Still, there was no DNA, no fingerprints, or other forensic
00:16:09
evidence to tie Dana to the killings. The gun used in the murders hadn't been found, though investigators learned the
00:16:17
bullets were from an Israeli weapons manufacturer, and Dana would go on to say she didn't
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even own a gun. But family members remained convinced that Dana was responsible for the
00:16:32
murders. They say they pushed to have a meeting with then DA Robert Hec, Tim Cisco, Mike's brother. I specifically
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would went into this meeting wanting to know if he would pursue a circumstantial
00:16:49
case. And the answer was without that murder weapon, we don't have enough hard evidence to move this forward.
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Mike's and Karen's families grew increasingly frustrated and decided to take action, looking for more
00:17:03
information about Dana's possible involvement in the murders. I put her picture up everywhere. Have you seen
00:17:10
this person? Several months after the murders, having more questions than answers, Mike's sister Kathy said she
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and their mom, Carol, went searching for clues, even lifting up manhole covers and looking in rest stops
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for the gun used in the murders. We thought, you know, maybe she threw the gun somewhere, so I would stand on a
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toilet and try and push a tile up. They found nothing. But Haley, Dana and Mike's daughter, was
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also working the case. I felt the need to do something. I didn't want to just sit back with my hands tied and
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helpless. In 2005, 3 years after the murders, Haley began secretly recording conversations with her mother, trying to
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learn what happened to her dad and Karen. I think that the only way I can really move on with a relationship with
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you is if we can get it. You know, if you can just tell me yourself that you did it. You know, number one, I didn't
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do it. And number one, I number two, I don't know what happened. Haley, one thing Haley asked about was why her
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mother had no cell phone activity for 27 hours around the time of the murders. Why did it have no call? It wasn't
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known. you know, it could be trade. I was in the mountains. I didn't have a signal. Dana insisted she had nothing to
00:18:32
do with the murders, but did say she had violent thoughts about Mike. I said I could kill him. Ever think about killing
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him? No. But I did. Honestly, they go over it with you. The official investigation though seems
00:18:49
stalled. So, authorities asked Vernon Girth, a homicide and forensic consultant and former New York City
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Police Department detective, to review case files. In 2007, nearly 5 years after the murders, he issued a report
00:19:08
concluding Dana Chandler is the one and only person who had the motive, means, and opportunity to commit these murders.
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It was Girth who brought the case to the attention of 48 Hours. In 2009, 48 Hours
00:19:26
aired its first report on the murders and tried to talk with Dana Chandler. Did you know anything about the death of
00:19:33
Michael and Karen? I have no idea what happened to Michael. 48 hours ended the episode asking
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viewers to contact police if they had any information. Again, the case seemed to be going nowhere. recon this morning.
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But two years later, a new DA, Chad Taylor, decided he was willing to take a chance with the evidence they had. He
00:19:58
chose to move the case forward and arrest Dana Chandler. One team come up this way, one team. With our cameras
00:20:06
rolling, laid eyes on her this morning. Law enforcement zeroed in on Dana Chandler in Oklahoma where she was
00:20:13
staying at the time. Taylor didn't just help plan the arrest, but went on it with a gun at the ready.
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Both hands out of the car. And on July 24th, 2011, Dana Chandler was in custody, charged with the murders of
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Mike Cisco and Karen Hartness. I hit a point where I didn't know if justice would ever be served.
00:20:54
For Haley, who was convinced her mother killed her father, Dana's arrest was nearly a decade in the making. It was
00:21:03
such a feeling that I I it was unbelievable. She was determined to get justice as she
00:21:10
prepared to face Dana in court. I made it this far. I can do anything. All right. In March 2012, Dana Chandler
00:21:22
went on trial. Jackie Spradling, then chief deputy DA, began by referring to those conversations Haley had taped
00:21:30
years earlier with her mother. I could kill him. I thought about killing him. These are the words of this defendant
00:21:41
about her ex-husband, Mike Cisco. In her opening statement, Sprdling suggested a
00:21:48
possible motive for murder. Two days before the homicides, the defendant called Mike.
00:21:55
Mike at this time told the defendant in that five minute phone call that he and Karen were going to be married. But
00:22:02
there is no recording of that call. It's easy to make allegations. It's difficult to prove those
00:22:11
allegations. And in his opening, defense attorney Mark Bennett argued the case against Dana Chandler was all
00:22:19
speculation. show you that there is no evidence that places Dana Chandler in or near
00:22:28
the Harkness residence on July 6 or 7, 2002. But to authorities, there was the question about exactly where Dana was
00:22:39
during that time. Detective Voloy says she told him she was home Saturday, the night of the murders, and then drove
00:22:46
through the mountains the next day. But Dana's business acquaintance, Jeff Bailey, testified Dana told him
00:22:54
something different. That she slept in her car in the mountains the Saturday night of the murders. She told me that
00:23:02
the story she was giving me was the truth. And the story that she'd given to the law enforcements was not the truth.
00:23:10
And prosecutors told the jury Dana did not use her cell phone for 27 hours the weekend of the murders. Remember, Haley
00:23:19
accused her mother of trying to avoid being tracked. Volley found another instance when Dana didn't use her phone
00:23:27
a month before the murders. There were no calls registered. There were some calls came to the phone, but none were
00:23:33
picked up. And prosecutors say that's important because during that time, a month before the murders, was Dana's dry
00:23:41
run for the killings. They called her friend Anne Carander to the stand. Carander says Dana told her she had
00:23:49
driven to Topeka. She had um gone to Mike's house um through the window. Um nobody was home. What else did she
00:24:04
tell you? That she had gone um and sat outside Karen's house. Sprdling says Dana was obsessed with
00:24:13
Mike and presented evidence that in the six months leading up to the murders, she called Mike and Karen more than 600
00:24:22
times. The defense argued Dana was calling to talk to her kids, but Haley remembered
00:24:28
her mother's calls differently. What was the thing that she talked to you the most about?
00:24:35
She talked about my dad a lot and um I I I really feel like she was was really just
00:24:43
obsessed with him. An FBI analyst testified Dana often called late at night and frequently made repeated calls
00:24:52
in a short time period, including a month before the murders. On June 3rd, she made 17 calls in 18 minutes. Both of
00:25:02
Dana's children testified for the prosecution, saying that their mother also had a history of stalking their
00:25:11
father. She took me and my sister uh with her to go spy on my dad. And so we were uh in the car and she told us, you
00:25:19
know, we're just going to be her little helpers. She asked if I would go go up to the house with her and we did. And
00:25:24
she was looking in all the windows and she told me to look in the windows and I did. Okay. What was it that she was
00:25:31
looking at in there? Um, I think that she um was was thinking there was a a lady in there with my dad.
00:25:40
Haley also testified about those recordings she made talking with her mother. During one of them, Dana, who
00:25:48
attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, gave an explanation as to why she bought
00:25:53
those gas cans. I ran into a girl that had run out of gas at an AA meeting and so I went and got gas for her. She asked
00:26:01
me for money and we don't give people money at AA. Prosecutor Sprdling told the jury that she believed Chandler used
00:26:08
those two 5gallon gas cans to have enough gas so she would not have to stop and potentially be seen near the crime
00:26:17
scene. But Chantloo's attorney argued there was no proof she was ever in Topeka during the time of the murders.
00:26:25
Did you or any other members of the Topeka Police Department ever find an eyewitness that put the defendant Dana
00:26:34
Chandler in Topeka, Kansas on either July 6th or July 7, 2002? No. The closest law enforcement was able to
00:26:45
come was here at a gas station in Wini, Kansas, nearly halfway between Denver and Topeka. Clerk Patty Williams wasn't
00:26:54
sure, but she thought she might have seen Dana the night of the murders. Patty was shown a picture of the
00:27:00
defendant, and Patty indicated that she was 70% sure that that was the woman who
00:27:05
had been there. But by the time Chandler went on trial, Patty Williams had died. A different
00:27:12
worker from the gas station testified about seeing a black car that looked similar to the one Chandler drove that
00:27:19
day, but she said it might have had license plates from Virginia. When it was the defense's turn, Bennett pointed
00:27:27
out there was no proof Dana was ever there. There wasn't any receipt from Walkini, was there? No. And Bennett
00:27:35
questioned whether Detective Volo investigated other suspects, like two men with criminal records who had stolen
00:27:43
checks from Mike Cisco and cashed one after the murders. That didn't make him a suspect. No, because the check wasn't
00:27:50
taken from Karen Harkness's house where the murders occurred. The check was actually taken from Mike Cisco's house
00:27:55
where the murders did not occur. And one of the men was in jail when the murders
00:28:00
occurred. In closing arguments, Bennett reiterated there was no forensic evidence linking
00:28:08
Chandler to the crime. All this time they've been trying to put her in Kansas when this happened.
00:28:16
And for nine and a half years, they've come up dry. Sprdling reminded the jury of Dana's
00:28:23
stalking behavior and tried to make sure they knew just how scared Mike was of Dana. She said Mike had gotten a
00:28:31
protection from abuse order against Dana. So, he got a court order saying she has to stay away.
00:28:37
The protection from abuse order did not stop the defendant, though. After two weeks of testimony, it took the jury 83
00:28:47
minutes to reach a verdict. Defendant would please stand. We the jury find the defendant guilty of
00:28:56
the crime of murder in the first degree is charged in count one. I feel better in the sense that my dad's
00:29:05
killer is paying for their actions. I don't feel better that my mom is capable of killing my dad.
00:29:19
When it was time for sentencing, Haley asked that her mom receive the maximum sentence. We each have a deep scar in
00:29:27
our souls from what this monster has done. But Chandler would also get a chance to speak. But most importantly, I
00:29:34
deny that I murdered Mike Karen. I am innocent. I did not murder Mike Karen. Dana Chandler was sentenced to life in
00:29:43
prison, but soon that verdict would be called into question. [Music] A lot of my mind has been focused on her
00:30:08
getting away with killing my dad and just drags me down. For years, Haley Seal's thoughts were consumed with
00:30:18
proving her mother killed her father, Mike Cisco, and Karen Harkness. With Dana Chandler in prison, Haley was
00:30:26
relieved she could concentrate on other things. But her relief was tinged with pain. I want to focus on my future and
00:30:36
what I want to do with my life. I want to be everything my mom wasn't. But Haley's focus would turn again to
00:30:47
the case. Dana Chandler almost immediately began filing motions as she worked to appeal her conviction.
00:30:56
She and her attorney cited, among other things, the actions of prosecutor Jackie
00:31:02
Sprdling. In particular, statements Bradling made at trial about that protection from abuse order. Mike got a
00:31:10
protection from abuse, a court order. He applied and said, "Hey, judge, please order this woman to stay away from me."
00:31:18
And the judge agreed. And that is just a blatant misstatement. Stacy Schlimmer, one of Chandler's appeal attorneys, was
00:31:27
never able to find a protection from abuse order. I went through the whole case. I went and looked for every
00:31:34
possible order I could find, and there wasn't one that she was referring to. In 2018, Schlimmer argued that Jackie
00:31:42
Sprdling's actions constituted prosecutorial misconduct. I I think that Miss Chandler never had an opportunity
00:31:50
at a fair trial from the get- go. Schlimmer contended the case against Dana Chandler should be thrown out. The
00:31:57
court agreed. The Kansas Supreme Court held that it's so bad that we're going to go ahead and overturn her conviction.
00:32:07
Other issues about statements Bradling made at trial also came up, including describing a route Dana took between
00:32:15
Kansas and Denver when there was no evidence that she drove that way. She drove directly up to Nebraska. And after
00:32:23
she gets on Nebraska, she turns around and goes home. They just kind of hypothesized, well, she must have went
00:32:30
up and went over from Nebraska. There was no evidence of that at all. Schlimmer also contended the state did
00:32:37
not have enough evidence to prove Dana Chandler's guilt. We argued insufficiency of evidence as an issue
00:32:45
for appeal. Meaning, you don't think prosecutors had enough to make a legitimate case. Jurors didn't have
00:32:51
enough evidence before them if you took out all the evidence that should have never been presented or told to them
00:32:58
incorrectly. The Kansas Supreme Court described Jackie Sprdling's actions as quote
00:33:05
intolerable acts of deception and she was desparred. 48 Hours reached out to Sprdling but did
00:33:13
not receive a response. When a case gets reversed, like a case like this, we essentially have an innocent woman who's
00:33:23
been convicted of crime because of a prosecutor or we have a family that has now a reverse
00:33:32
conviction that has to go through the system again. Either way, there's an injustice, right? So, that conduct is
00:33:39
going to affect someone. The court did decide though there was sufficient evidence to retry Dana
00:33:46
Chandler if the district attorney chose to. When I found out that this Kansas Supreme Court overturned the verdict, it
00:33:55
was very shocking. What does this mean? Will the DA's office retry her? Were you angry with
00:34:03
the prosecutor who was cited for misconduct? No, I've never been angry with her. I think it was an
00:34:12
innocent mistake. Had Jackie not made those comments, we wouldn't be sitting here today. This would be over. Chad
00:34:20
Harkness, Karen's son, takes a different view of Jackie Sprradling's actions. Now, all these years later, we're still
00:34:28
having to, you know, live through this again. And it's just it's not right. It's not fair.
00:34:35
The decision whether to retry Dana Chandler was now in the hands of Shaun County's new DA Mike Kang. We analyzed
00:34:45
every aspect of the case and ultimately we came to the conclusion uh that we believed justice demanded that we move
00:34:52
forward and we pursue another trial. Pursuing that would take years. Dana Chandler remained incarcerated. She and
00:35:01
her defense lawyers argued she should be set free and fought against having another trial.
00:35:09
What were those years like? Unbelievable. For Haley, the delays seemed endless. Dana and her lawyers filed nearly 400
00:35:20
motions, including ones requesting a change of judge, to retain an investigator, for her bond to be
00:35:28
reduced, and to disqualify the Shauny County District Attorney's Office, and through it all, she fired several of her
00:35:37
lawyers. She went through seven lawyers in that time. between representing herself. There were
00:35:45
also dozens of hearings, including one where Haley was called to testify and Dana did the questioning. She took me on
00:35:55
the stand for at least 45 minutes and she directly questioned me. What was that like? It was the most awful
00:36:03
thing I've ever I mean the the suspect in the killing of my dad is now having the power to
00:36:12
question me on the stand and talk to me. Not just the suspect in the killing of your dad, your own mother. Yeah. Yeah. I
00:36:21
mean it it it was awful. But Haley was willing to take whatever steps necessary to ensure her mother would stand trial
00:36:30
again for the murders. If she could bring out something to prove where she was, to say she didn't
00:36:39
do it, prove she didn't do it. That's not just for me. That's for her and her own freedom. But she can't and she
00:36:45
hasn't. My dad and his fianceé were shot and killed. Whoever it was that did this
00:37:00
hated these people. Three trials. Is my mom capable of killing my dad? And finally, a verdict. Your mom scares you?
00:37:09
Yeah. The 48 hours 2-hour season finale continues next and streaming on Paramount Plus.
00:37:26
Two innocent people were murdered in our community. That demands justice. Although Dana Chandler's conviction had
00:37:36
been overturned, prosecutors were determined to retry her for the murders of Mike Cisco and Karen Harkness. By
00:37:44
2021, the organization Miracle of Innocence got involved advocating for Dana. Dana Chandler was someone who we
00:37:54
believed in her innocence. When we looked at the case, the facts was just nothing connected this lady to the
00:37:58
crime. Daryl Burton is the co-founder of Miracle of Innocence. He's someone who was wrongfully imprisoned and had his
00:38:06
murder conviction reversed. He says before sending someone to prison, the case needs to be more convincing than
00:38:15
the one made against Dana Chandler. There's no evidence, no fingerprints, no DNA, no confession, no weapon, no
00:38:23
witnesses, nothing when it comes to, you know, these kinds of crimes of murder. You just got to have more than that.
00:38:30
Dana and her attorneys also raised other issues as they tried to get the case dismissed.
00:38:36
some allegations related to the 2009 48 Hours broadcast. Chandler falsely accused law enforcement of forming a
00:38:46
partnership with 48 Hours to film an episode aimed at convincing the public that Ms. Chandler murdered Mike Cisco
00:38:54
and Karen Harkness. What do you make of the idea that if 48 Hours had not reported starting in 2009
00:39:02
on this case that Dana Chandler would never have been arrested or tried? I don't think it was 48 hour. 2009 is a
00:39:11
lot different than when they arrested her. They arrested her three or four years three years later. I think the
00:39:18
family was what kept it going. They believed that Miss Chandler did this. It was the new prosecutor and it was the
00:39:26
family probably saying, "Hey, we need justice done in this." But Stacy Schlimmer, Dana's former
00:39:35
appeal attorney, does take issue with the handling of the 2011 arrest and the show of force.
00:39:44
You've seen Dana Chandler's arrest many times, right? And it bothers you. It bothers me a lot. 48 hours as well as
00:39:54
the Topeka Capital Journal were given advanced notice of the arrest by the office of then DA Chad Taylor.
00:40:04
Are you bothered by law enforcement or are you bothered by the fact that there were cameras there? I'm bothered by the
00:40:11
prosecutor. and then you and I will leave. I'm bothered by the district attorney showing up at an arrest and
00:40:19
having that arrest filmed. So, they wanted video of law enforcement with their guns out. I think they wanted then
00:40:28
the public to see that that to me was it seemed like such a production for a case
00:40:34
that prosecutor should never have done that. Ultimately, the various arguments Dana
00:40:40
Chandler's team made to dismiss the case were unsuccessful. Chandler's new trial was scheduled for
00:40:47
the summer of 2022. Before the trial began, 48 Hours again tried to speak with Dana Chandler. She
00:40:56
said she would only agree to an interview if CBS paid her million dollar bond. We declined.
00:41:04
Never thought we'd be sitting here again and getting ready to start a retrial on
00:41:09
this. It's just mind-blowing. Chad Harkness, Karen's son, was relieved the DA's office decided to retry Dana
00:41:18
Chandler, but was concerned about going through this yet another time. Just us kids having to
00:41:28
relive this again. And it just it makes me sick. Haley too was not looking forward to another trial, but said
00:41:36
testifying again could give her some control of the situation. If I can realize my power and it gives
00:41:45
me courage to go forward because I know the truth. The truth is that she murdered
00:41:53
them. The passage of time has left Haley with so much loss. loss she holds her mother responsible for.
00:42:02
And as a mom herself, having married her high school boyfriend, Chris, Haley's feelings are even more complicated.
00:42:13
When you think of your mom, do you think mother or do you think Dana? I think Dana.
00:42:22
Yeah, she's Dana to me. Actually, mom is is a an ucky word to me to the point where I don't even like my kids to call
00:42:30
me mom. I don't like mom. Mom is a a very hurtful person. No matter the name, Dana Chandler is
00:42:44
someone Haley will have to face again in court and someone who will eventually tell her side of the story. Start by
00:42:53
stating my name. My name is Daniel Chandler. I, as everyone know, have been accused of double homicide
00:43:01
and I am innocent. Next, my dad and his fianceé were shot and killed. Whoever it was that did this
00:43:16
hated these people. Three trials. Is my mom capable of killing my dad? And finally, a verdict. Your mom scares you.
00:43:25
Yeah. The 48 hours 2-hour season finale continues next and streaming on Paramount Plus.
00:43:34
[Music] They were found uh Sunday afternoon, July 7th. My dad and his fianceé Karen were shot
00:43:55
and killed in their beds. I was 17 and my brother was 15. And there was just shock.
00:44:06
The killer made it downstairs, shot Karen Harkness multiple times, shot Mike Cisco multiple times. Whoever it was
00:44:14
that did this hated these people. The only person that hated them was my mom. Dana, what should people understand
00:44:24
about the fact that you, Dana Chandler's daughter, thinks Dana Chandler killed your father? I do have a mind of my own.
00:44:33
And I'm not biased in this situation. I don't want it to be her. I want the truth to come out. I wanted to help the
00:44:43
police. So, I started to record my conversations with her. I think that the only way I
00:44:51
can really move on with a relationship with you is if we can get it, you know, if you can just tell me yourself that
00:44:59
you did it. You know, number one, I didn't do it. And number one, I number two, I don't know what happened. Did you
00:45:06
know anything about the death of Michael and Karen? I have no idea what happened
00:45:09
to Michael. I hit a point where I didn't know if justice would ever be served. both hands out of the car.
00:45:19
I needed justice for my dad and for Karen. We the jury find the defendant guilty of the crime of murder in the
00:45:27
first degree. I feel better in the sense that my dad's killer is paying for their
00:45:34
actions. I don't feel better that my mom is capable of killing my dad. And then the Kansas
00:45:44
Supreme Court comes and says, "This is prosecutorial misconduct. We're going to go ahead and overturn her conviction.
00:45:51
You have a new trial. My liberty, my freedom is hanging in the balance." If she could bring out
00:46:00
something to prove she didn't do it, that's for her and her own freedom. But she can't and she hasn't. I did not kill
00:46:08
Mike Cisco. She would not hesitate to get revenge on me. I did not kill Karen Hartness. I know the truth. I am an
00:46:17
innocent woman. The truth is that she murdered them. She scares me. Your mom scares you.
00:46:27
Yeah. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] I wanted to understand what happened and why and actually know the truth of what
00:47:22
happened. For two decades, Haley Seal has been waiting for justice in the murders of
00:47:30
her father, Mike Cisco, and his girlfriend, Karen Harkness. This hasn't been resolved.
00:47:39
In 2002, multiple bullets struck 53-year-old Karen and 47year-old Mike as they lay in bed in Karen's Kansas home.
00:47:50
Authorities believed it was a crime of passion as the rest of the house seemed undisturbed with money and jewelry left
00:47:58
behind. And Haley believed it was her mother, Dana Chandler, who was responsible. The truth is that she was
00:48:07
in Karen's house on July 7th in the middle of the night with a gun and she shot them both multiple times
00:48:16
and she murdered them. I hate that that's the truth, but it is the truth. I've never seen a case like
00:48:24
this. Daryl Burton is co-founder of Miracle of Innocence, an organization that paid for Dana Chandler's lawyers
00:48:31
and supports individuals it believes are wrongfully convicted. No DNA, no fingerprints, no confession, no weapon.
00:48:40
It just doesn't add up. In the summer of 2022, Dana Chandler was on trial for the
00:48:49
second time for the murders of Mike Cisco and Karen Harkness. As in her first trial, the defense focused on all
00:48:56
that was lacking in the case against Chandler. There is no evidence that she was in the Harkness residence. No
00:49:03
evidence she was in Topeka. There's no evidence she was in the state of Kansas. Defense attorney Tom Bath insisted Dana
00:49:10
Chandler was in Colorado at the time of the murders, more than 500 miles away, and faulted investigators for zeroing in
00:49:18
on her. Everything they looked at, everything they examined excluded Dana. The lack of physical evidence was
00:49:26
acknowledged by Shaunie County Deputy District Attorney Charles Kit. Science is not going to solve this case.
00:49:34
This case is not based on DNA. This Instead, the state focused on evidence such as Dana's hatred of her ex-husband
00:49:43
and his girlfriend. This case is based on jealousy, rage, and obsession. Prosecutors presented evidence they say
00:49:53
showed that obsession, including records of more than 600 phone calls Dana made to Karen and Mike in the 6 months before
00:50:01
the murders. And they introduced witnesses who said Mike and Karen told them some of those calls were menacing.
00:50:09
Yes, Karen's coworker, Kim Warren. And she said she had been up all night receiving phone calls from Dana. She
00:50:17
told you she was afraid? Very afraid. Erin Sutton also testified that her mother, Karen Harkness, was scared of
00:50:26
Dana. She spoke about messages she said she heard that Dana left on her mother's
00:50:32
phone. She would call my mom horrible names. And like what kind of names would she
00:50:38
call her? he would call her a [ __ ] In addition to testimony about calls Dana Chandler made, there was also
00:50:45
attention paid to when there was no call activity on her phone, specifically during 27 hours the weekend of the
00:50:53
murders. Authorities believe Dana Chandler's phone was turned off, so it could not be
00:51:01
traced as she traveled to Kansas, but the defense suggested it could have just been Spotty Cell phone service in
00:51:08
Colorado. Prosecutors told the jury about a purchase Dana made the day before the
00:51:14
murders, but failed to mention to investigators. Kit asked Richard Voloy, the lead detective on the case, about
00:51:22
the purchase. Can you tell us what that is? This is an AutoZone receipt. It shows the p first two purchases were
00:51:34
$5 or 5 gallon gas cans. Authorities wondered why Dana didn't tell them about the gas cans and why she would need gas
00:51:42
cans unless she was planning a trip perhaps to Kansas and did not want to stop for gas along the way.
00:51:51
And there was the issue of Dana Chandler's alibi. According to detective Voy, a changing, unconfirmable one. One
00:52:00
witness testified that Dana said she was in the mountains in Colorado at the time
00:52:05
of the murders, but Detective Voley testified Chandler told him she was at home in her Denver apartment. Uh, she
00:52:14
said she'd stayed at her house, had no guests or phone calls, and that she turned in about 9:00. A friend of Dana's
00:52:21
testified about something authorities thought might have been a dry run for the murders. She said about a month
00:52:28
before the killings, Dana called and told her about a trip she made to Mike's home. She told me that she knew nobody
00:52:37
was in the house and that she went into Mike's home through the window. After that, she did go to um his girlfriend's
00:52:46
house and sat outside her house waiting for them to come home, but they didn't show up. Did she tell you what she did
00:52:54
when she uh got into Mike's house? She wanted to see what it looked like on the inside,
00:53:02
but Dana's attorney questioned the reliability of her testimony, pointing out she may have gotten some dates wrong
00:53:09
regarding calls with Dana. It must not have been a Monday. Okay. But 20 years ago, you said it was a
00:53:16
Monday, right? Sure. Testimony about Chandler's behavior also came from Kathy Boots, Mike's sister. She described an
00:53:25
incident several years before the murders that she said she witnessed while staying at Mike's house. We went
00:53:31
to bed that night and I woke up in the early morning hours to a noise out in the backyard and we had left the back
00:53:40
porch lights on and I looked out through the blinds and Dana was jumping on the trampoline out back.
00:53:50
And Mike's brother-in-law, Mark Boots, recounted a disturbing conversation he said he had with Mike 9 days before the
00:53:59
murders. Mike told me that the patterns of harassment had increased and that he feared for he and Karen's lives.
00:54:09
Mike and Dana's daughter, Haley, was going to be in the uncomfortable position of testifying against her
00:54:16
mother. And who is Damon Chandler to you? She's my mom. I was absolutely still nervous and and
00:54:53
scared being up there. It causes conflict. As Haley Seal reflected back on testifying against her mother, Dana
00:55:02
Chandler, she recalled the stress she was under. As a prosecution witness, Haley was asked to describe some of her
00:55:10
mother's behavior. behavior Haley said she found obsessive. Was there a time where you were asked to spy on your dad?
00:55:19
Yeah. Haley recounted an incident after her parents split up when she said Dana drove her and her brother to Mike's home
00:55:28
and they all sat in the car to watch the house. She said, "Come on, we need to watch your dad. You can be my little
00:55:34
helpers." She had me go with her to the house after so long. And um and she wanted to
00:55:42
look in the windows. Did she look in the windows? Yeah, we both looked in the windows and she said, "Did you see that?
00:55:49
Did you see that?" And I said, "No, I didn't see anything." It was episodes like that which led
00:55:55
Haley early on to think her mother could be responsible for the murders. I always suspected she had something to
00:56:05
do with it because of the history of her harassment, stalking, hatred, talking bad about them to us all the time. Haley
00:56:14
testified about some of the ways her mother expressed that dislike of her father, like the demeaning ways Dana
00:56:22
referred to him in emails and online chats. Yeah. including ones where Dana referred to Mike as it sent when Haley
00:56:31
was 14 years old. Did she call him manipulative and deceiving? Yes. Uh and then calls him a rapist. Yeah. And just
00:56:41
a couple of lines down. I hate his guts. Yeah. Are those things that you want to
00:56:46
type to you? Yes. Nobody can say that you were in Colorado that weekend. Also played in court were
00:56:54
those conversations Haley secretly recorded with her mom as she tried to learn more about Dana's possible
00:57:01
involvement in the murders. In all the conversations you had with her over the days, weeks, months, even years after
00:57:09
this happened, she never told you something that made you think, "Well, at least my mom didn't do it." No. Every
00:57:19
time I talked to her, I felt more and more confident that she definitely had something to do with it. And perhaps
00:57:24
most telling to Haley was a conversation played in court where Dana said she had
00:57:30
thought about killing Mike. Ever think about killing him? No, but I did. In one of those discussions, Haley
00:57:39
asked her mother about why she bought those two gas cans, which authorities thought could have been used to help
00:57:45
drive round trip from Denver to Topeka without stopping in Kansas for fuel. Dana, who'd been a problem drinker,
00:57:54
explained she bought them for someone else, a woman she met at AA. She asked me for money, and we don't give people
00:58:01
money at AA. I said, I'll go buy you some gas. The prosecutor asked Haley if she was able to learn anything more
00:58:09
about that woman from Dana. She wouldn't tell you who that person was. No, she didn't. But Dana's defense team argued
00:58:16
those recorded conversations proved nothing about the murders. And regarding the two gas cans, it
00:58:24
maintained that the 10 extra gallons the cans could hold would not have been enough for Dana to drive round trip from
00:58:31
Denver to Topeka without still needing to stop for fuel. The defense accused authorities of
00:58:41
tunnel vision, including not looking more thoroughly at other suspects. And her lawyer said Dana Chandler never
00:58:48
owned a 9mm gun. The type of weapon used in the murders, which was never found. What was found were unusual bullets made
00:59:00
in Israel. Israel Military Industries. That's the manufacturer. Dana's attorney questioned a firearm examiner who had
00:59:08
worked with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation about those bullets. Is that a bullet
00:59:14
you would ammunition you typically see? Actually, we had not seen that before and so it was a little bit unusual to
00:59:22
us. The prosecution though explained there were places one could buy those bullets. Could that ammo have been
00:59:29
brought into Kansas and sold at a gun show? Yes, sir. Could have been exchanged by individuals. Yes, sir.
00:59:35
There were other parts of the investigation that the defense argued supported its case. There was forensic
00:59:41
work it said eliminated Dana Chandler. Unidentified fingerprints found at the house did not match Chandler. None of
00:59:49
Dana's DNA was found at the murder scene, nor were any fibers found from her clothing or any of her hair. I did
00:59:56
not find any hairs that were consistent with the known samples coming from Miss Chandler. In 20 years, the state had no
01:00:03
evidence, no evidence whatsoever that placed Dana Chandler in Karen Harkness's home, in the city of Topeka, or from the
01:00:13
state of Kansas. After 3 weeks of testimony, that lack of physical evidence would be the defense's theme in
01:00:20
its closing argument. Each and every time they tested something, it excluded Dana. From the beginning, I told you
01:00:28
this case is about obsession, jealousy, rage. The state focused on Dana's behavior, her calls, emails, and her own
01:00:41
family's testimony against her. The defendant clearly hated Karen and my words from her own mouth and her own
01:00:49
fingers typing those messages. A lot of evidence about Dana's bad behavior. That's true. That's not evidence. They
01:00:56
have not proven this case beyond a reasonable doubt. On August 25th, 2022, the case went to the jury and Haley was
01:01:06
waiting for a verdict. I've really tried to trust the process as I knew I didn't
01:01:10
have any control over it. So, it was going to be what it was going to be. But the wait to find out what the verdict
01:01:16
would be was a long one. [Laughter] When you retire to the jury room, you will first select one of your members as
01:01:37
presiding juror. The person selected will preside over your the case in the second trial of Dana Chandler for the
01:01:44
murders of Mike Cisco and Karen Harkness went to the jury on August 25th, 2022. [Music]
01:01:54
That day came and went, as did several more. Members of the jury, would you like to
01:02:01
recess for the day? Yes, we would like. After about 4 days, I started to get nervous and think, "Wow, this actually
01:02:09
could not come back in a guilty verdict." And I started to think about that possibility.
01:02:15
And so I prayed and I just trusted that if she did get away with this that life would have to
01:02:26
go on. Right. Members of the gallery, I would ask that you just please refrain from any
01:02:34
outbursts at After 6 days of deliberating, Dana Chandler would learn her fate. I understand that the jury is
01:02:42
unable to reach a unanimous verdict at this time. Is that correct? That is correct. The jury informed the judge
01:02:50
they were deadlocked. You're hung at this time. Is that correct? There were seven votes to convict and five to
01:02:56
acquit. We did what we could with what we had. Ben Alfred and Carrie Kimes were two
01:03:05
members of the jury who voted to find Chandler not guilty. I never saw actual evidence that Dana Chandler was ever in
01:03:15
the Harkness home. I can't send somebody to spend the rest of their life in prison if you can't even prove she left
01:03:22
Colorado that weekend. The science is not going to solve this case. Everything that was tested for DNA proved
01:03:29
inconclusive, and that's pretty remarkable. But for juror Randy Edwards, the state's depiction of Dana Chandler's
01:03:38
behavior was persuasive evidence. She was beyond upset. She was obsessed. He also found those conversations Haley
01:03:47
recorded with her mother to be convincing and voted to convict. Ever think about killing it? No, but I did
01:03:55
when I was able to comprehend that Dana said that she had thought of killing Mike, that was probably the the piece
01:04:02
that pushed me beyond any question of reasonable doubt anymore. There was a split verdict, but the majority of the
01:04:08
jury was in favor of a conviction and that was meaningful. DA Mike Kay decided to retry Dana Chandler. The next issue
01:04:19
that we have before the court is a motion to modify bond. Her lawyers convinced the court to reduce her bond,
01:04:26
which allowed her to be released with supervision as she awaited the next trial. The court is going to direct that
01:04:34
she have GPS monitoring. Welcome home. Welcome home, Dana. After spending more than a decade
01:04:45
incarcerated, Dana Chandler celebrated her freedom with Daryl Burton and Miracle of Innocence. Anybody who's
01:04:53
getting out of prison after you've been in prison for any length of time, it is.
01:04:56
It's a joyouish occasion. You're happy that someone's been released and you, you know, also feel like, well, maybe
01:05:01
it's a good chance that, you know, we can, you know, mount a defense, you know, and get her totally acquitted. As
01:05:08
a condition of her release, Dana was not allowed to contact her children. Still,
01:05:14
Haley worried about her safety. She is married to Chris Seal, her high school boyfriend, and is a mother of three. I'm
01:05:22
scared to death that she's going to hurt me or she's going to affect my kids in some way. Hayy's fear only grew when
01:05:33
Dana made this post to her Facebook page. Chandler complained about her treatment at trial, calling it a
01:05:41
kangaroo court. And in the background, she showed images of Haley's children. Haley says Dana somehow learned which
01:05:50
church she attended and downloaded a live stream of a service to create the photos. It was chilling and it was
01:05:59
disturbing. I feel like it was a direct message to me. And what was the message?
01:06:04
Intimidation. I don't care about your boundaries. Her belief that her mother committed the
01:06:18
murders remains unwavering and she says disturbing. She's my mom, but if you're my mom, why
01:06:27
would you do that to to my dad? For your kid's sake, maybe maybe that would be a reason not to do it. Being a
01:06:34
mother now I have a new perspective it becomes even more unreal now. Also unreal to Haley thoughts of a third
01:06:46
trial. What are your expectations for yet again another trial? Uh this time I'm not as confident.
01:06:58
For trial number three, jurors would be from Pawatami County, Kansas. The defense requested a change of venue and
01:07:06
the judge agreed, citing excessive media coverage. It would take place in West Morland, a
01:07:14
smaller, more rural area 60 mi away from the last setting in Topeka. July 7th, 2002 was going to be a good
01:07:25
day. Mike Cisco, Karen Hartness had been in a relationship for a few years. The trial got underway with opening
01:07:34
statements on February 7th, 2025. One name just kept coming up. Dana Chandler. Charles Kit was back
01:07:43
retrying the case, joined by prosecutor Dan Dunar. Judge Cheryl Rios again presided.
01:07:52
And in a lastm minute change on the morning of opening statements, Dana Chandler dismissed her defense
01:08:00
attorneys. My name is Dana Chandler. And Dana Chandler decided the best person to
01:08:06
represent her was herself. I am innocent. I did not kill Mike and Karen. I think this case is a character
01:08:33
assassination. [Music] In February 2025, Dana Chandler was on trial for the third time for the murders
01:08:43
of Mike Cisco and Karen Harkness. But this time she was representing herself. She was exercising her constitutional
01:08:53
right. It was an unknown. It was certainly unexpected. One thing that was the same as in the
01:09:03
previous trials, Haley Seal testified. Good afternoon. Hi. Can you please tell a jury your name? Um, Haley Seal. Haley
01:09:13
was asked again by the prosecution about her mother's inappropriate behavior. What sort of things would she say about
01:09:21
Karen? She called her a home wrecker. Um, a [ __ ] Very bad names. Prosecutors were
01:09:33
also interested in an incident when Dana Chandler drove Haley and her brother to
01:09:39
drop them off at Karen's house. We waited there for a really long time in the car. Then my dad and Karen got there
01:09:47
and my mom got out and yelled at them and just was very angry with my dad. Haley, I don't have any further
01:09:59
questions. Thank you. When it was time to be cross-examined, Haley knew it would now be her mother doing the
01:10:06
questioning. really the seal. I really went up there with like my game face on, you know? I I knew it was war.
01:10:14
I knew it wasn't going to be a nice, a cordial, a thoughtful, you're the victim. This was your dad and I'm so
01:10:21
sorry place that she'd be coming from. Dana Chandler challenged Haley about her description of that drop off at Karen's.
01:10:29
Chandler said it was Haley's father, Mike, who was behaving badly, not her. When your dad Karen drove up, your dad
01:10:37
stormed over to the car. Oh, no. No, he did not. And he started banging on the window. What? No. No, he did not. I was
01:10:45
inside that car and my dad absolutely did not bang on the windows. And I didn't get out of I never got out of the
01:10:51
car. You were the first one out of the car. I was just in disbelief because I knew she just made that up because it
01:10:59
never happened and he never did that. But I didn't get concerned. I just said, "No, you know, I'm glad you asked so I
01:11:08
could straighten this out. That never happened." And then it comes down to who's
01:11:13
believable and I wasn't worried about that. As another way to seemingly explain some
01:11:21
of her past behaviors, Chandler brought up that she used to have a drinking problem. And I did tell you that I was I
01:11:28
realized that I had a problem with alcohol. You did tell me you had a problem with alcohol. Something Dana
01:11:33
said she stopped by 1999, three years before the murders. I told you I was going to three AA meetings a
01:11:41
day trying to get well. True. I knew you were trying to get well. Yes. The state
01:11:48
questioned though if becoming sober changed Chandler's behavior. When she came back clean and sober, did that
01:11:56
change how she treated you? No. Did it Did it change how she talked about your dad?
01:12:05
No. Did it change how she talked about Karen? No. Do you swear the testimony you're out in
01:12:15
this case with the truth? The whole truth. doing things. Dana Chandler not only thought she was the best person to
01:12:23
represent herself, but when it was time to put on her defense, she decided she would be her own main witness. But I
01:12:32
feel like that I need to kind of tell my story to kind of put things in perspective.
01:12:40
She testified over 7 days. You have not seen evidence that I was in Topeka, Kansas on July 7th of 2002.
01:12:49
speaking for about 20 hours. I kind of like to review a little where I left off. There was times when she would take
01:12:56
so long to try to get her point across. Dana Chandler's supporter Daryl Burton was concerned when she put herself on
01:13:05
the stand and sometime it seemed as though she was just rambling, you know, and that was just unfortunate. She may
01:13:11
have knew, she probably knew where she was trying to go, but she'd get lost. But I continued drinking. She again
01:13:17
addressed issues such as her drinking and inappropriate conversations with Haley. I was writing emails with
01:13:24
drinking the blackout. I'd get up the next morning and not even remember those emails. I had a serious problem and
01:13:32
horrible things I said about Karen spreading her legs. I mean, seriously, Haley was 14 years old.
01:13:39
I am just so ashamed and embarrassed about that. And I hate it that Haley that I put Haley through that. And
01:13:46
Chandler in her own testimony addressed again that incident when she waited outside Karen's house to drop off Haley
01:13:55
and Dustin with the couple. She said it was done out of necessity. I yelled through the window I could not afford to
01:14:03
feed Haley and Dustin and that I needed to leave them with him. Chandler contrasted those times to when she
01:14:10
stopped drinking, showing videos of her spending time outdoors with Haley and Dustin.
01:14:20
This video was taken about 9 months into my recovery. Dana also disputed making frequent harassing calls to Karen and
01:14:28
Mike, saying when she called, there was a reason. I was calling to speak with my
01:14:34
children, Haley and Dustin. As to her having disagreements with Karen Harkness, she testified there were none.
01:14:42
I never ever had any confrontations with Karen Harkness at all. Chandler also pointed out what she said was sloppiness
01:14:52
in the police investigation. When Chandler questioned lead detective Richard Volley, she asked about whether
01:14:58
police were too focused on her and should have been looking more thoroughly at other possible suspects. Did you or
01:15:06
did you not receive any leads for other suspects besides me? Uh, early on in the investigation, there
01:15:15
were several other people that were looked at as possible leads. So, it's a matter of checking people off to
01:15:22
dismissing people that couldn't have done it. Uh, when we can't dismiss them, we can keep focusing on them like we did
01:15:28
with you. Chandler though said there was an area where she felt law enforcement thoroughly investigated whether she
01:15:35
bought a 9mm gun like the one used in the murders and they came up emptyhanded. I've never owned, purchased
01:15:45
or possessed a 9 mm fire. And throughout her defense, Dana Chandler was adamant that at the time of
01:15:54
the murders, she was in Colorado and no one could place her in Karen's house or even in Kansas.
01:16:17
[Music] It seemed like a simple question Dana Chandler was asking Detective Volley.
01:16:25
Did you ever develop any information that I was into beating Kansas on July 6th or 7th of 2002? But in answering
01:16:34
that question, Volo said there was a woman named Patty Williams who may have spotted Chandler in the state of Kansas
01:16:42
around the time of the murders. What do you know about Patty Williams? She was a
01:16:45
clerk at a convenience store in Wini, Kansas. The gas station convenience store in Wini, where Williams worked,
01:16:52
was nearly halfway between Denver and Topeka. It had been visited by an investigator searching for locations
01:17:00
where someone may have spotted Chandler around the time of the murders. There, the investigator showed Williams this
01:17:09
photo of Dana. She was seven out of 10 that it was you. According to Volo, the clerk was 70% sure she had seen Dana
01:17:19
Chandler and described some distinguishing features. She has or said that she had gray near
01:17:26
the hairline. Chandler though told the jury she did not have gray hair back then. By the time of the trials,
01:17:34
Williams had died and could not be questioned again. Chandler also expressed concern that the investigator
01:17:41
only showed a single photo of her initially instead of an array of photos, including different people. Something
01:17:49
Volley did do when he went to the gas station about 2 weeks later. We later later went out with a what we call
01:17:56
sixback photo. It's six photographs of people that look very similar and amongst those photos was Miss Chandler.
01:18:05
Volo said Patty Williams immediately picked out Chandler and again was 70% sure she saw her there, but Voloy
01:18:15
acknowledged using an array initially would have been better. There was still for law enforcement the
01:18:22
issue regarding Dana Chandler's alibi. Remember, Voloy said Dana told him she was home in her Denver apartment the
01:18:31
night of the murders, but she told others, including an acquaintance, Jeff Bailey, she slept in her car in the
01:18:38
Colorado mountains that night. I was confused. Dana Chandler told the jury she had been confused when she spoke
01:18:47
with Volo, but prosecutor Kit was not accepting that explanation. So, what you told Detective Bolley is not consistent
01:18:55
with what you told Jeff Bailey, is it? Uh, as far as my trip to Miss Chandler, it's not consistent with that part.
01:19:02
Okay. Yeah, I would agree with that. Um, I would that's true. Have you seen that
01:19:09
document before? Once again, those secret recordings Haley made with her mother were played in court. Ever think
01:19:17
about it? No, but I did. This time, Kit questioned Dana herself about its authenticity. Was that your voice
01:19:26
saying, "Did you ever think about killing him?" I did. It sounds like it is. When it was time for the final
01:19:33
witness, Dana Chandler decided it should be Dana Chandler. She knew the jury heard witnesses testify about her
01:19:41
parenting and past behavior. Chandler explained if she was a less than attentive mother, it was because of her
01:19:49
drinking and a lack of money, not a lack of love. I absolutely did want to have a
01:19:56
relationship with my children. You know, I think the financial the substance abuse combination um it
01:20:05
just wasn't feasible. That's all I have. Thank you, Mr. uh during this time that you
01:20:14
couldn't afford to feed your children, you were buying booze, correct? I was. You're buying enough alcohol to get
01:20:19
blackout drunk. I was. Okay. Thank you for the questions. And with that, after 18 days of
01:20:28
testimony, prosecutor Charles Kit and Dana Chandler presented their closing arguments.
01:20:36
Why are Mike and Karen dead? And the evidence shows one simple answer. control. I think Kit nailed it when he
01:20:46
said it was about control. The state described Chandler losing control of Mike as he planned his future with Karen
01:20:54
and the rage that followed. And that's what led to the defendant traveling to Topeka, Kansas on July 6th and murdering
01:21:03
them on July 7th. Kit spoke about Chandler's depiction of events not lining up with the testimony of others.
01:21:11
It's the defendant versus everyone. You can believe the defendant's testimony or you can believe everybody else that
01:21:20
you heard from in this case. In Dana Chandler's closing, she used a scam to make her point that prosecutors, whom
01:21:28
she called her accusers, did not have enough evidence to tip it in their favor. the
01:21:36
um the accusers must uh tip the scale here. I'm innocent. I have my infirmities and I have my shortcomings, but I do
01:21:49
stand here before you all today and proclaim that I am an innocent woman. She acknowledged the life she led was
01:21:59
not perfect, but said that doesn't make her a murderer. The state has wolffully failed to meet its burden to prove
01:22:09
beyond a reasonable doubt that I killed Mike Cisco or Karen Harkness. About 4 hours later, the jury delivered
01:22:20
its verdict. We the jury find Dana Chandler guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in
01:22:26
count one. Verdict form guilty of the murders of Mike Cisco and Karen Harkness. After hearing the verdict, Dana Chandler
01:22:37
turned away. And while it was the verdict Haley hoped for, the end result is nothing she ever wanted. It is so
01:22:46
much worse that my mom is the one behind these murders because we lost my dad and Karen, but then
01:22:54
through all this now we've lost our mom. I really wish it was someone else. I don't believe that they have proved this
01:23:02
case beyond a reasonable doubt. Chandler's supporter Daryl Burton remains undeterred. He still believes
01:23:10
she is innocent. The evidence just doesn't, you know, prove that she's guilty of anything.
01:23:15
Dana Chandler is filing motions for an appeal. 48 Hours reached out to Chandler again for this episode, but did not
01:23:24
receive a response. I am very confident in this verdict. District Attorney Mike Kge is certain the jury convicted the
01:23:32
right person. I have every confidence in my prosecutors and how they handled this
01:23:39
case. The focus of this case has gone almost completely to Dana Chandler and that the victims has really been
01:23:53
lost which is really sad. More than 20 years have passed since Mike Cisco and Karen Harkness were
01:24:01
murdered and Haley wants to make sure the lives lost are not forgotten. I was trying to tell my daughter about
01:24:12
who my dad is and I said he was a really fun, supportive, encouraging guy who believed
01:24:22
in me and my brother and Karen was so kind, so accepting. I miss him a lot. [Music]
01:24:42
I can only describe it as evil. Something horrible from 48 hours. This is Train to Kill the Dog Trainer, the
01:24:49
Aerys, and the Bodyguard. He couldn't control his obsession. Who was the hunter and who was the hunted? Follow
01:24:56
and listen on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. [Music]