2025 True Crime Stories | “48 Hours" Full Episodes | Forensic Files

My name is Daniel Chandler. >> I have been accused of double homicide and I am innocent.
>> Is it hard to believe you're sitting here again to talk about this? >> Yeah, it really is. I didn't think 20
years later that this is what would be happening in this situation. [music] July 7th of 2002,
my dad [music] and his fiance Karen were shot and killed in their beds. I was 17
and my brother was 15. And there was just shock. The only [music] person that hated them
was my mom. >> Dana, >> what should people understand about the fact that you, Dana Chandler's daughter,
thinks Dana Chandler [music] killed your father? >> I do have a mind of my own and I'm not
biased in this situation. I don't want it to be her. I want the truth to come out. And I want true
justice for my dad, Karen. Mike and Karen were together for the weekend alone. They did everything. They
loved each other. >> They drove up to a casino, spent a few hours there, and then arrived back home
in the early morning hours. They were found uh Sunday afternoon, July 7th. >> The killer made it downstairs, shot
Karen Harkness [snorts] multiple times, shot Mike Cisco multiple times. It's unnerving to think that somebody could
sneak into a house and do this and leave quietly and nobody knows about it till the next day. Whoever it was that did
this hated these people. They wanted them dead and they wanted to make sure they were dead.
>> Both hands out of the car. >> It could be the justice two families have long been waiting for. The arrest
of Dana Chandler in the 2002 killings of Karen Hartness and Michael Cisco. You have a trial where she's found
guilty. >> We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of the crime of murder >> and then the Kansas Supreme Court comes
and says, "This is prosecutorial misconduct and it's so bad that we're going to go ahead and overturn her
conviction. You have a new trial. >> The jury is unable to reach a unanimous verdict." [music]
>> And now they've had a hung jury and they're going to try her again. That just is almost unheard of. For the third
time, Dana Chandler is back on trial. Opening statements [music] today is Chandler will represent herself in this
case. >> I knew it was [music] different. I just didn't know what was going to happen. I
could never predicted it. >> When officers talked to friends, family, co-workers, [music] they all said the
same thing. You guys should look at Dana Chandler. >> The truth is that she murdered them.
>> I did not kill Mike Cisco. I did not kill Karen Harness. I am an innocent woman.
[music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Dana Chandler has spent decades maintaining her innocence against
allegations she was responsible for the 2002 murders of her ex-husband Mike Cisco and his girlfriend Karen Harkness.
>> My uh liberty, my freedom is hanging in the balance. In 2025, Chandler took on her own defense,
[music] representing herself in the third trial the state brought against her for the murders.
>> I wanted to understand what happened and why and and and actually know the truth
of what happened. >> Haley Seal [music] is Dana Chandler and Mike Cisco's daughter.
She and other family members of Mike and Karen [music] have spent decades grieving, searching for answers, and for
justice. Hi, Dana. Her Harold D, CBS [music] News. >> 48 Hours first started covering the
murders in 2008 and spoke with individuals involved several times over the years.
>> It's hard to swallow and it's it's hard to believe. It's insane. [snorts] >> For Haley, it all started on July 7th,
2002. She learned her father and Karen had been killed in Karen's Topeka, Kansas home. I immediately just saw a
bunch of tape around the house and police and my grandma was sitting in there and um she just told me that they
had been shot. >> The night before the murders, Mike and Karen enjoyed an evening at a casino
about an hour outside of Topeka. Surveillance footage shows them leaving about 1:30 a.m. They then stopped to get
coffee, the last time video captured Karen alive. >> They were extremely happy. You could
just see that. >> Karen's father, Harold Warswick. >> Everything they did was for each other.
>> The day after Mike and Karen's night out, a family get together had been planned at Karen's house. Relatives
thought the couple might be announcing they were engaged. and I rang the doorbell and knocked on the glass and
couldn't raise anybody. I thought, "This is strange." >> Karen's father, who has since died,
recalled that he entered Karen's home that afternoon through an open sliding door, didn't see any sign of her or
Mike. So, he headed downstairs to the bedroom. >> Just I got to foot of the stairs, I
could see Karen, and I said, "Oh, Christ." I knew she was dead. Then I found Mike on the outside of the
bed. >> Harold would then call 911. >> I've just located my daughter and she's downstairs and she's dead.
>> I got a radio call just after 2:00 on July 7th, 2002. >> Richard Voloy, now retired, was the
Topeka Police Department's lead detective on the case. >> It was a report of two dead bodies in a
basement. Five bullets had struck 53-year-old Karen, including in her back and buttocks. Mike, 47, suffered between
five and seven gunshot wounds. The couple had been in bed. The rest of the house appears undisturbed.
Investigators found more than $1,000 in cash, a Rolex watch, and other jewelry left behind. Robbery was quickly ruled
out. To understand who might want Karen and Mike dead, police turn to their families for information.
>> What we're left with is an emotional killing. It's an emotional execution. >> Mike, a salesperson for a welding
company, and Karen, who worked in the hospitality industry, were both previously married and now divorced. The
well-liked couple had been dating about four years. It was a surprise to everybody that this would happen to
somebody like her. >> Karen's children, Chad and Aaron, were in their 20s at the time of the murders.
>> My mom was an amazing woman. She She didn't have enemies. And I remember telling her 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 had custody of his two children. Haley, then 17, and Dustin, 15. >> My dad was really in my life growing up.
He was really my hero. >> Haley's relationship with her dad was more complicated.
>> I wasn't happy with my dad. I wasn't happy 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 ultimatum. Either you
follow my rules or you move out. choosing to live with her then boyfriend [music] Chris.
>> I moved in with Chris and then my dad was killed. >> That defiance made Haley and Chris of
interest to police. They were polygraphed and questioned. >> I'm just curious. Is everything all
right with your dad and everything? >> Uh yeah. We weren't really getting along for a little while.
Authorities said their alibis checked out, as did the alibis of Karen's daughter, Aaron, and her husband, Jeff
Sutton. Karen's son, Chad, was also questioned. >> I was hooked up to a polygraph machine
and asked if I had murdered my mother or in any way participated in the murder of
my mother. >> Police concluded none of them were involved, but family members thought
they knew who was responsible. Mike's ex-wife, Dana Chandler. She just she never fit in.
>> Kathy Boots, Mike's sister, watched Dana and Mike's relationship deteriorate.
After 15 years of marriage, the couple went through a bitter divorce, finalized in 1998.
Mike's relatives say Dana had a drinking problem, and she sporadically stalked Mike during and after the divorce with
frequent calls and bizarre visits. The kids were upstairs in their room and we heard a noise and there she was in the
middle of the night jumping on a trampoline in the backyard of Mike's home. >> I think she became obsessed with the
fact that Mike was moving on with his life. >> Mark Boots, Mike's brother-in-law.
>> Uh, and then when Karen entered the picture, that's when things really started, I think, escalating.
Mike kept track of some of the incidents from 1998 in a day planner. Writing July
28th, Dana stalking neighborhood at 8:30. Caught her. She left. November 12th, Dana came in house while I was at
Karen's from 7 to 11. Went through stuff. >> She was willing to travel great distances to show up back in his life.
According to the Boots, the last time Dana showed up at Mike's home was in the spring of 2002,
several months before the murders. Kathy said Mike told her Dana went there to talk about moving back in.
>> She said, "The kids are getting older. They're having different issues with themselves now. They need both parents.
I think I should move back in and we should parent together." All this harassment and stalking had
come to the point that Mike told me that he and Karen now feared for their lives.
>> Mark says Mike made that clear to him on a fishing trip 9 days before the murders.
>> He turned to me and said, "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 lived 8 hours away in Denver, and there was no
sign that she had been in Karen's house in Topeka the night of the murders. The victims were doing absolutely
nothing and may not have seen it coming at all. Investigators were trying to determine
who would gun down Mike Cisco and Karen Harkness as they lay in bed. Detective Richard Voloy called Mike's
ex-wife, Dana Chandler, to inform her of Mike's murder. Your husband was found shot to death today, this afternoon.
Your ex-husband, I'm sorry. Can you tell me when the last time was that you talked to him?
>> Dana Volley says, did not ask many questions and did not seem [music] concerned. She would later say she was
very upset on that call, but only Volley's side of their conversation was recorded due to a technical error, he
said, on his part. The next evening, Chandler called the Topeka Police Department, leaving a
message on a different officer's voicemail. >> Hi, my name is Dana Chandler, 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 see
if that's true or not. Dana would later explain her call was simply seeking confirmation. Given the
personal nature of the murders, no signs of a burglary, and those stories about a
messy divorce and stalking, Dana Chandler became the main suspect. Detective Volo decided to talk with
Chandler in person, [music] recording this audio 4 days after the murders. >> Tell me about what happened on the set.
I got my hair, >> but again, there was an issue with the recording in most of the rest of the
conversation. >> Dana is difficult to hear. Detective Volo recounted what he said she told
him. >> She said she'd been at home uh Saturday morning, that's July 6th, and then made
a couple of errand stops. Dana said she bought cigarettes, snacks, and a car cigarette lighter at several
stores around Denver and then got gas. But Voy says she failed to mention one purchase he saw on a credit card
receipt. >> She'd f two 5gallon gas cans as well. Voy wondered why she didn't tell him and
why she would even need gas cans unless she had been planning a trip perhaps to Kansas and didn't want to stop for gas
along the way. According to Volo, Dana had also said after running those errands, she went home to her Denver
apartment. >> Didn't have any visitors, no contact with anybody. And the next day got up
and went for a drive in the mountains at 10:00 in the morning. But Voy couldn't verify that Dana was in
her apartment the night of the murders, nor that she took a drive in the mountains the next day. Volley said the
area Dana described driving through would have meant she'd have to pass Rocky Mountain National Park
surveillance cameras. Those cameras were checked. Volley said there was no sign of her car. The particular person that I
had view that tape looked at every frame slowly. She was never there. >> Investigators also reviewed Dana's cell
phone records. They said that while she tended to use her cell phone frequently,
she oddly had no activity around the time of the murders. >> What we found was there was a 27-hour
window where her phone wasn't used. Still, there was no DNA, no fingerprints, or other forensic evidence
to tie Dana to the killings. The gun used in the murders hadn't been found, though investigators learned the bullets
were from an Israeli weapons manufacturer, and Dana would go on to say she didn't
even own a gun. But family members remained convinced that Dana was responsible for the
murders. They say they pushed to have a meeting with then DA Robert Hec, Tim Cisco, [music]
Mike's brother. >> I specifically would went into this meeting wanting to know if he would
pursue a circumstantial case. And the answer was without that murder weapon, we don't have enough hard evidence to
move this forward. Mike's and Karen's families grew increasingly frustrated and decided to
take action, looking for more information about Dana's possible involvement in the murders.
>> I put her picture up everywhere. Have you seen this person? Several months after the murders, having more questions
than answers, Mike's sister Kathy said she and their mom, Carol, went searching for clues, even lifting up manhole
covers and looking in rest stops for the gun used in the murders. >> We thought, you know, maybe she threw
the gun somewhere, so I would stand on a toilet and try and push a tile up. >> They found nothing.
But Haley, Dana and Mike's daughter, was also working the case. >> I felt the need to do something. I
didn't want to just sit back with my hands tied and helpless. >> In 2005, 3 years after the murders,
Haley began secretly recording conversations with her mother, trying to learn what happened to her dad and
Karen. I think that the only way I 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 you did it. >> You know, number one, I didn't do it.
And number one, I don't number two, I don't know what happened to Haley. >> One thing Haley asked about was why her
mother had no cell phone activity for 27 [music] hours around the time of the murders.
>> Why did I have no calls the whole time? You know, it could be traced. I was in the mountains. I didn't have a
signal. >> Dana insisted she had nothing to do with the murders, but did say she had violent
thoughts about Mike. >> I thought I could kill him. >> Ever think about killing him?
>> No, but I did. >> Honestly, I go over it with you. [music] >> The official investigation though seems
stalled. So, authorities asked Vernon Girth, a homicide and forensic consultant and former New York City
Police Department detective, to review case files. In 2007, nearly 5 years after the murders, he issued a report
concluding Dana Chandler is the one and only person [music] who had the motive, means, and opportunity to commit these
murders. It was Girth who brought the case to the attention of 48 Hours. In 2009, 48 Hours
aired its first report on the murders and tried to talk with Dana Chandler. >> Did you know anything about the death of
Michael and Karen? >> I have no idea what happened to Michael. >> 48 hours ended the episode asking
viewers to contact police if they had any information. Again, the case seemed to be going nowhere. uh recon this
morning. >> But two years later, a new DA, Chad Taylor, decided he was willing to take a
chance with the evidence they had. >> He chose to move the case forward and arrest Dana Chandler.
>> One team come up this way, one team come up here. >> With our cameras rolling,
>> laid eyes on her this morning. >> Law enforcement zeroed in on Dana Chandler in Oklahoma where she was
staying at the time. Taylor didn't just help plan the arrest, but went on it with a gun at the ready.
>> Step out of the car. Both hands out of the car. >> And on July 24th, 2011, Dana Chandler
was in custody, charged with the murders of Mike Cisco and Karen Harkness. I hit a point where I didn't know if
justice would ever be served. >> For Haley, who was convinced her mother killed her father, Dana's arrest was
nearly a decade in the making. >> It was such a feeling that I I it was unbelievable.
She was determined to get justice as she prepared to face Dana in court. >> I made it this far. [music] I can do
anything. >> All right. >> In March 2012, Dana Chandler went on trial. Jackie Spradling, then chief
deputy DA, began by referring to those conversations Haley had taped years earlier with her mother.
>> I could kill him. I thought about killing him. These are the words of this defendant
about her ex-husband, Mike Cisco. >> In her opening statement, Sprdling suggested a possible motive for murder.
>> Two days before the homicides, the defendant called Mike. Mike at this time told the defendant in that five-minute
phone call that he and Karen were going to be married. But there is no recording
of that call. >> It's easy to make allegations. It's difficult to prove those allegations.
>> And in his opening, defense attorney Mark Bennett argued the case against Dana Chandler was all speculation. show
you that there is no evidence that places Dana Chandler in or near the Harkness residence
on July 6 or 7, 2002. But to authorities, there was the question about exactly where Dana was
during that time. Detective Volo says she told him she was home Saturday, the night of the murders, and then drove
through the mountains the next day. But Dana's business acquaintance, Jeff Bailey, testified Dana told him
something different. That she slept in her car in the mountains the Saturday night of the murders.
>> She told me that the story she was giving me was the truth. And the story that she'd given to the law enforcements
was not the truth. >> And prosecutors told the jury Dana did not use her cell phone for 27 hours the
weekend of the murders. Remember, Haley accused her mother of trying to avoid being tracked. Volley found another
instance when Dana didn't use her phone a month before the murders. >> There were no calls registered. There
were some calls came to the phone, but none were picked up. >> And prosecutors say that's important
[music] because during that time, a month before the murders, was Dana's dry run for the killings. They called her
friend Anne Carander to the stand. Carander says Dana told her she had driven to Topeka.
>> She had um gone to Mike's house um through the window. Um nobody was home. >> What else did she tell you?
>> That she had gone um and sat outside Karen's house. Sprdling says Dana was obsessed with
Mike and presented evidence that in the six months leading up to the murders, she called Mike and Karen more than 600
times. The defense argued Dana was calling to talk to her kids, but Haley remembered
her mother's calls differently. >> What was the thing that she talked to you the most about?
She talked about my dad a lot and um I I I really feel like she was was really just
obsessed with him. >> An FBI analyst testified Dana often called late at night and frequently made
repeated calls in a short time period, including a month before the murders. >> On June 3rd, she made 17 calls in 18
minutes. Both of Dana's children testified for the prosecution, saying that their
mother also had a history of stalking their 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 know, we're just going to be our little helpers.
>> She asked if I would go go up to the house with her and we did. And she was looking in all the windows and she told
me to look in the windows and did you? >> I did. >> Okay. What was it that she was looking
at in there? >> Um, I think that she um was was thinking there was a a lady in there with my dad.
>> Haley also testified about those recordings she made talking with her mother. During one of them, Dana, who
attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, gave an explanation as to why she bought
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
me for money and we don't give people money at AA. >> Prosecutor Sprdling told the jury that
she believed Chandler used those two 5gallon gas cans to have enough gas so she would not have to stop and
potentially be seen near the crime scene. But Chandler's attorney argued there was no proof she was ever in
Topeka during the time of the murders. >> Did you or any other members of the Topeka Police Department ever find an
eyewitness that put the defendant Dana Chandler in Topeka, Kansas on either July 6 or July 7, 2002?
>> No. The closest law enforcement was able to come was here at a gas station in Wini,
Kansas, nearly halfway between Denver and Topeka. Clerk Patty Williams wasn't sure, but she thought she might have
seen Dana the night of the murders. >> Patty was shown a picture of the defendant. Patty indicated that she was
70% sure that that was the woman who had been there. But by the time Chandler went on trial,
Patty Williams had died. A different worker from the gas station testified about seeing a black car that looked
similar to the one Chandler drove that day, but she said it might have had license plates from Virginia. When it
was the defense's turn, Bennett pointed out there was no proof Dana was ever there.
>> There wasn't any receipt from Walkini, was there? >> No. And Bennett questioned whether
Detective Volo investigated other [music] suspects, like two men with criminal records who had stolen checks
from Mike Cisco [music] and cashed one after the murders. >> That didn't make him a suspect.
>> No, because the check wasn't taken from Karen Harkness's house where the murders
occurred. The check was actually taken from Mike Cisco's house where the murders did not occur.
>> And one of the men was in jail when the murders occurred. In closing arguments, Bennett reiterated
there was no forensic evidence linking Chandler to the crime. >> All this time they've been trying to put
her in Kansas when this happened. And for 9 and a half years, they've come up dry.
>> Sprdling reminded the jury of Dana's stalking behavior and tried to make sure
they knew just how scared Mike was of Dana. She said Mike had gotten a protection from abuse order against
Dana. >> So, he got a court order saying she has to stay away. The protection from abuse order did not
stop the defendant, though. >> After 2 weeks of testimony, it took the jury 83 minutes to reach a verdict.
>> Defendant would please stand. We the jury find the defendant guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree
is charged in count one. >> I feel better in the sense that my dad's killer is paying for their actions.
>> I don't feel better that my mom is capable >> of killing my dad. When it was time for sentencing, Haley
asked that her mom receive the maximum sentence. >> We each have a deep scar in our souls
from what this monster has done. >> But Chandler would also get a chance to speak.
>> But most importantly, I deny that I murdered Mike Karen. I am innocent. I did not murder Mike Karen.
>> Dana Chandler was sentenced to life in prison, but soon that verdict would be
called into question. >> [music] >> A lot of my mind has been focused on her getting away with killing my dad and
just drags me down. For years, Haley Seal's thoughts were consumed with proving her mother killed
her father, Mike Cisco, and Karen Harkness. With Dana Chandler in prison, Haley was relieved she could concentrate
on other things. But her relief was tinged with pain. >> I want to focus on my future and 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
the case. Dana Chandler almost immediately began filing motions as she worked to appeal her conviction.
She and her attorney cited, among other things, the actions of prosecutor Jackie
Sprdling. In particular, statements Brad Spradling made at trial about that protection from abuse order.
>> Mike got a protection from abuse, a court order. He applied and said, "Hey, judge, please order this woman to stay
away from me." And the judge agreed. >> And that is just a blatant misstatement.
>> Stacy Schlimmer, one of Chandler's appeal attorneys, was never able to find a protection from abuse order.
>> I went through the whole case. I went and looked for every possible order I could find, and there wasn't one that
she was referring to. In [music] 2018, Schlimmer argued that Jackie Sprdling's actions constituted prosecal misconduct.
I I think that Miss Chandler never had an opportunity at a fair trial from the get- go.
>> Schlimmer contended the [music] case against Dana Chandler should be thrown out. The court agreed.
>> The Kansas Supreme Court held that it's so bad that we're going to go ahead and
overturn her conviction. Other issues about statements Brad Sprdling made at trial also came up,
including describing a route Dana took between Kansas and Denver when there was no evidence that she drove that way.
>> She drove directly up to Nebraska. And after she gets on Nebraska, she turns around and goes home.
>> They just kind of hypothesized, well, she must have went up and went over from
Nebraska. There was no evidence of that at all. Schlimmer also contended the state did not have enough evidence to
prove Dana Chandler's guilt. >> We argued insufficiency of evidence as an issue for appeal.
>> Meaning, you don't think prosecutors had enough to make a legitimate case. >> Jurors didn't have enough evidence
before them if you took out all the evidence that should have never been presented or told to them incorrectly.
The Kansas Supreme Court described Jackie Sprdling's actions as quote intolerable acts of deception and she
was desparred. 48 Hours reached out to Sprdling but did not receive a response. When a case gets reversed, like a case
like this, we essentially have an innocent woman who's been convicted of crime because of a prosecutor, or
we have a family that has now a reverse conviction that has to go through the system again.
>> Either way, there's an injustice, >> right? So, that conduct is going to affect someone.
The court did decide though there was sufficient evidence to retry Dana Chandler if the district attorney chose
to. When I found out that this Kansas Supreme Court overturned the verdict, it was very shocking.
What does this mean? Will the DA's office retry her? >> Were you angry with the prosecutor who
was cited for misconduct? No, I've never been angry with her. I think it was an innocent mistake.
>> Had Jackie not made those comments, we wouldn't be sitting here today. This would be over.
>> Chad Harkness, Karen's son, takes a different view of Jackie Sprdling's actions.
>> Now, all these years later, we're still having to, you know, live through this
again. And it's just it's not right. It's not fair. The decision whether to retry Dana Chandler was now in the hands
of Shaunie County's new DA Mike Kay. >> We analyzed every aspect of the case and
ultimately we came to the conclusion uh that we believed justice demanded that we move forward and we pursue another
trial. >> Pursuing that would take years. Dana Chandler remained incarcerated. She and
her defense lawyers argued she should be set free and fought against having another trial.
>> What were those years like? [sighs and gasps] >> Unbelievable. >> For Haley, the [music] delays seemed
endless. Dana and her lawyers filed nearly 400 motions, including ones requesting a change of judge, to retain
an investigator, for her bond to be reduced, and to disqualify the Shauny County District Attorney's Office, and
through it all, she fired several of her lawyers. She went through seven lawyers in that
time and between representing herself. >> There were also dozens of hearings, including one where Haley was called to
testify and Dana did the questioning. >> She took me on the stand for at least 45
minutes and she directly questioned me. >> What was that like? It was the most awful
thing I've ever I mean, the the suspect in the killing of my dad is now having the power to
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 mean, it it it was awful. But Haley was willing to take whatever
steps necessary to ensure her mother would stand trial again for the murders. If she could bring out something to
prove where she was, to say she didn't 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 hasn't. >> [music] >> Two innocent people were murdered in our
community. That demands justice. Although Dana Chandler's conviction had been overturned, prosecutors were
determined to retry her for the murders of Mike Cisco and Karen Harkness. By 2021, [music]
the organization Miracle of Innocence got involved advocating for Dana. >> Dana Chandler was someone who we
believed in her innocence. When we looked at the case, the facts was just nothing connected this lady to the
crime. Daryl Burton is the co-founder of Miracle of Innocence. He's someone who was wrongfully imprisoned and had
[music] his murder conviction reversed. He says before sending someone to prison, the case needs to be more
convincing than the one made against Dana Chandler. >> There's no evidence, [music] no
fingerprints, no DNA, no confession, no weapon, no witnesses, nothing. when it comes to, you know, these kinds of
crimes of murder, you just got to have more than that. >> Dana and her attorneys also raised other
issues as they tried to get the case dismissed. Some [music] allegations related to the
2009 48 Hours broadcast. Chandler falsely accused law enforcement of forming a partnership with 48 Hours to
film an episode aimed at convincing the public that Ms. Chandler murdered Mike Cisco and Karen Harkness.
>> What do you make of the idea that if 48 hours had not reported starting in 2009
on this case that Dana Chandler would never have been arrested or tried? >> I don't think it was 48 hour. 2009 is a
lot different than when they arrested her. They arrested her three or four years 3 years later. I think the family
was what kept it going. They believe that Miss Chandler did this. It was the new prosecutor and it was the family
probably saying, "Hey, we need justice done in this." >> But Stacy Schlimmer, Dana's former
appeal attorney, does take issue with the handling of the 2011 arrest and the show of force.
You've seen Dana Chandler's arrest many times, >> right? >> And it bothers you. It bothers me a lot.
>> 48 hours as well as the Topeka Capital Journal were given [music] advanced notice of the arrest by the office of
then DA Chad Taylor. Are you bothered by law enforcement or are you bothered by the fact that there
were cameras [music] there? >> I'm bothered by the prosecutor >> and then you and I will leave. I'm
bothered by the district attorney showing up at an arrest and having [music] that arrest filmed.
>> So, they wanted video of law enforcement with their guns out. >> I think they wanted then the public to
see that that to me was it seemed like such a production for a case >> that prosecutor should never have done
that. Ultimately, the various arguments Dana Chandler's team made to dismiss the
case were unsuccessful. Chandler's new trial was scheduled for the summer of 2022.
Before the trial began, 48 hours again tried to speak with Dana Chandler. She said she would only agreed to an
interview if CBS [music] paid her milliondoll bond. We declined. Never thought we'd be sitting here again
and getting ready to start a retrial on this. It's just mind-blowing. >> Chad Harkness, Karen's son, was relieved
the DA's office decided to retry Dana Chandler, but was concerned about going through this yet another time.
>> Just us kids having to relive this again, and it just makes me sick. Haley too was not looking forward to
another trial, but said testifying again could give her some control of the situation.
If I can realize my power and it gives me courage to go forward because I know the
truth. The truth is that she murdered them. [music] >> The passage of time has left Haley with
so much loss. loss she holds her mother responsible for. And as a mom herself, having married her
high school boyfriend, Chris, Haley's feelings are even more complicated. [music]
When you think of your mom, do you think [music] mother or do you think Dana? >> I think Dana. Yeah, she's Dana to me.
Actually, mom is is a an ucky word to me [music] to the point where I don't even
like my kids to call me mom. I don't like mom. Mom is a a very hurtful person. No matter the name, Dana Chandler is
someone Haley will have to face again in court and someone who will eventually tell her side of the story.
>> Start by stating my name. My name is Daniel Chandler. I, as everyone know, have been accused of double homicide
and I am innocent. >> 48 hours to miss it would be a crime. >> Were [music] you at all prepared for
what happened in this case? >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> They were found uh Sunday afternoon,
July 7th. >> My dad and his fiance Karen were shot and killed in their beds. I was 17 and
my brother was 15. And there was just shock. The killer made it downstairs, shot
Karen Harkness multiple times, shot Mike Cisco multiple times. Whoever it was that did this
>> hated these people. >> The only person that hated them was my mom. >> Dana, >> what should people understand about the
fact that you, Dana Chandler's daughter, thinks Dana Chandler killed your father?
I do have a mind of my own and I'm [music] not biased in this situation. I don't want it to be her. I [music]
want the truth to come out. I wanted to help the police. [music] So, I started to record my
conversations with her. >> I think that the only way I 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 you did it. You know, number one, I didn't do it.
And number one, I don't number two, I don't know what happened. >> Did you know anything about the death of
Michael and Karen? >> I have no idea what happened. >> I hit a point where I didn't know if
justice would ever be served. >> Both hands out of the car. >> I needed justice for my dad and for
Karen. >> We the jury find the defendant guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree.
I feel better in the sense that my dad's killer is paying for their actions. >> I don't feel better that my mom is
capable of killing my dad. >> And then [music] the Kansas Supreme Court comes and says, "This is
prosecutorial misconduct. We're going to go ahead and overturn her conviction. You have a new trial.
My liberty, my freedom is hanging in [music] the balance. >> If she could bring out 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 Mike Cisco. >> She would not hesitate to get revenge [music] on me.
>> I did not kill Karen Hartness. >> I know the truth. >> I am an innocent woman.
>> The truth is that she murdered them. She scares me. >> Your mom scares you? >> Yeah.
>> [music] [music] [music] >> I wanted to understand what happened and why and actually know the truth of what
happened. For two decades, Haley Seal has been waiting for justice in the murders of
her father, Mike Cisco, and his [music] girlfriend, Karen Harkness. >> This hasn't been resolved.
In 2002, multiple bullets struck 53-year-old Karen and 47year-old Mike as they lay in bed in Karen's Kansas home.
Authorities believed it was a crime of passion as the rest of the house seemed undisturbed with money and jewelry left
behind. And Haley believed it was her mother, Dana Chandler, who was responsible. The truth is that she was
in Karen's house on July 7th in the middle of the night with a gun and she shot them both multiple times
and she murdered them. I hate that that's the truth, but it is the truth. I've never seen a case like
this. Daryl Burton is co-founder of Miracle of Innocence, an organization that paid for Dana Chandler's lawyers
and supports individuals it believes are wrongfully convicted. >> No DNA, no fingerprints, no confession,
no weapon. It just doesn't add up. >> In the summer of 2022, Dana Chandler was on trial for the
second time for the murders of Mike Cisco and Karen Harkness. As in her first trial, the defense focused on all
that was lacking in the case against Chandler. >> There is no evidence that she was in the
Harkness residence. No evidence she was in Topeka. There's no evidence she was in the state of Kansas.
>> Defense attorney Tom Bath insisted Dana Chandler was in Colorado at the time of
the murders, more than 500 miles away, and faulted investigators for zeroing in on her. Everything they looked at,
everything they examined excluded Dana. >> The lack of physical evidence was acknowledged by Shaunie County Deputy
District Attorney [music] Charles Kit. >> Science is not going to solve this case.
This case is not based on DNA. This >> Instead, the state focused on evidence such as Dana's hatred of her ex-husband
and his girlfriend. This case is based on jealousy, rage, and obsession. >> Prosecutors presented evidence they say
showed that obsession, including records of more than 600 phone calls Dana made to Karen and Mike in the 6 months before
the murders. And they introduced witnesses who said Mike and Karen told them some of those calls were menacing.
Yes. >> Karen's coworker, [music] Kim Warren. >> And she said she had been up all night
receiving phone calls from Dana. >> She told you she was afraid? >> Very afraid.
>> Erin Sutton also testified that her mother, Karen Harkness, was scared of Dana. She spoke about messages she said
she heard that Dana left on her mother's phone. >> She would call my mom horrible names.
>> And like what kind of names would she call her? he would call her a [ __ ] >> In addition to testimony about calls
Dana Chandler made, there was also attention paid to when there was no call activity on her phone, specifically
during 27 hours the weekend of the murders. Authorities believe Dana Chandler's phone was turned off, so it could not be
traced as she traveled to Kansas, but the defense suggested it could have just been Spotty's cell phone service in
Colorado. Prosecutors told the jury about a purchase Dana made the day before the
murders, but failed to mention to investigators. Kit asked Richard Voloy, the lead detective on the case, about
the purchase. Can you tell us what that is? >> This is an AutoZone receipt. It shows the p first two purchases were
$5 or 5 gallon gas cans. >> Authorities wondered why Dana didn't tell them about the gas cans and why she
would need gas cans unless she was planning a trip perhaps to Kansas and did not want to stop for gas along the
way. And there was the issue of Dana Chandler's alibi. According to Detective Voy, a changing, unconfirmable one. One
witness testified that Dana said she was in the mountains in Colorado at the time
of the murders, but Detective Voley testified Chandler told him she was at home in her Denver apartment. Uh, she
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 testified about something authorities thought might have been a dry run for the murders. She said
about a month before the killings, Dana called and told her about a trip she made to Mike's home.
>> She told me that she knew nobody 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 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 when she
uh got into Mike's house? >> She wanted to see what it looked like on the inside,
>> but Dana's attorney questioned the reliability of her testimony, pointing out she may have gotten some dates wrong
regarding calls with Dana. It must not have been a Monday. Okay. >> But 20 years ago, you said it was a
Monday, right? >> Sure. >> Testimony about Chandler's behavior also came from Kathy Boots, Mike's sister.
>> She described an incident several years before the murders that she said she witnessed while staying at Mike's house.
We went 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 porch lights on and I looked out through the blinds and Dana was jumping on the trampoline out back.
And Mike's brother-in-law, Mark Boots, recounted a disturbing conversation he said he had with Mike 9 days before the
murders. >> Mike told me that the patterns of harassment had increased and that he
feared for he and Karen's lives. >> Mike and Dana's daughter, Haley, was going to be in the uncomfortable
position of testifying against her mother. And who is Damon Chandler to you? >> She's my mom.
I was absolutely still nervous and and scared being up there. It causes conflict.
>> As Haley Seal reflected back on [music] testifying against her mother, Dana Chandler, she recalled the stress she
was under. As a prosecution witness, [music] Haley was asked to describe some of her mother's behavior. behavior Haley
said she found obsessive. >> Was there a time where you were asked to spy on your dad?
>> Yeah. >> Haley recounted an incident after her parents split up when she said Dana
drove her and her brother to Mike's home 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 helpers."
She had me go with her to the house after so long. And um and she wanted to look in the windows.
>> Did she look in the windows? >> Yeah, we both looked in the windows and she said, "Did you see that? Did you see
that?" And I said, "No, I didn't see anything." >> It was episodes like that which led
Haley early on to think her mother could be responsible for the murders. I always suspected she [music] had
something to do with it because of the history of her harassment, stalking, hatred, talking bad about them to us all
the time. >> Haley testified about some of the ways her mother expressed that dislike of her
father, like the demeaning ways Dana referred to him in emails and online chats.
>> Yeah. including ones where Dana referred to Mike as it >> sent when Haley was 14 years old.
>> Did she call him manipulative and deceiving? >> Yes. >> Uh and then calls him a rapist.
>> Yeah. >> And just a couple lines down, I hate his guts. >> Yeah. >> Are those things that he want to tie to
you? >> Yes. >> Nobody can say that that you were in Colorado that weekend. Also played in
court were those conversations Haley secretly recorded with her mom as she tried to learn more about Dana's
possible involvement in the murders. In all the conversations you had with her over the days, weeks, months, even years
after this happened, she never told you something that made you think, "Well, at
least my mom didn't do it." >> No. Every time I talked to her, I felt more and more confident that she
definitely had something to do with it. >> And perhaps most telling to Haley was a
conversation played in court where Dana said she had thought about killing Mike.
>> Ever think about killing him? >> No, but I did. In one of those discussions, Haley asked her mother
about why she bought those two gas cans, which authorities thought could have been used to help drive round trip from
Denver to Topeka without stopping in Kansas [music] for fuel. Dana, who'd been a problem drinker, explained she
bought them for someone else, a woman she met at AA. >> She asked me for money, and we don't
give people money in AA. I said, alcohol, buying gas. The prosecutor asked Haley if she was able to learn
anything more about that woman from Dana. >> She wouldn't tell you who that person
was. >> No, she didn't. >> But Dana's defense team argued those recorded conversations proved nothing
about the murders. And regarding the two gas cans, it maintained that the 10 extra gallons the
cans could hold would not have been enough for Dana to drive round trip from Denver to Topeka without still needing
to stop for fuel. The defense accused authorities of tunnel vision, including not looking
more thoroughly at other suspects. And her lawyer said Dana Chandler never owned a 9mm gun. the type of weapon used
in the murders, which was never found. What was found were unusual bullets made in Israel.
>> Israel Military Industries, that's the manufacturer. >> Dana's attorney questioned a firearm
examiner who had worked with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation about those bullets.
>> Is that a bullet you would ammunition you typically see? Actually, we had not
seen that before and so it was a little bit unusual to us. >> The prosecution though explained there
were places one could buy those bullets. >> Could that ammo have been brought into
Kansas and sold at a gun show? >> Yes, sir. >> Could have been exchanged by individuals.
>> Yes, sir. >> There were other parts of the investigation that the defense argued
supported its case. There was forensic work it said eliminated Dana Chandler. Unidentified fingerprints found at the
house did not match Chandler. None of Dana's DNA was found at the murder scene, nor were any fibers found from
her clothing or any of her hair. >> I did not find any hairs that were consistent with the known samples coming
from Miss Chandler. In 20 years, the state had no evidence, no evidence whatsoever that placed Dana Chandler in
Karen Harkness's home, in the city of Topeka, or from the state of Kansas. >> After 3 weeks of testimony, that lack of
physical evidence would be the defense's theme in its closing argument. >> Each and every time they tested
something, it excluded Dana. From the beginning, I told you this case is about obsession,
jealousy, rage. >> The state focused on Dana's behavior, her calls, emails, and her own family's
testimony against her. The >> defendant clearly hated Karen and Mike. Words from her own mouth and her own
fingers typing those messages. >> A lot of evidence about Dana's bad behavior. That's true. That's not
evidence. They have not proven this case beyond a reasonable doubt. >> On August 25th, 2022, the case went to
the jury and Haley was waiting for a verdict. >> I've really tried to trust the process
as I knew I didn't 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 would be was a long one. When you retire to the jury room, you
will first select one of your members as presiding juror. The person selected will preside over
>> the case in the second trial of Dana Chandler for the murders of Mike Cisco and Karen Harkness went to the jury on
August 25th, 2022. That day came and went, as did several more. >> Members of the jury, would you like to
recess for the day? >> Yes, we would like. After about 4 days, I started to get nervous and [music]
think, "Wow, this actually could not come back in a guilty verdict." And I started to think about that possibility.
And so I prayed and I just trusted that if she did get away with this that life would have to
go on. Right. Members of the gallery, I would ask that you just please refrain from any
outbursts. >> After six days of deliberating, Dana Chandler would learn her fate.
>> I understand that the jury is unable to reach a unanimous verdict at this time.
Is that correct? >> That is correct. [music] >> The jury informed the judge they were
deadlocked. >> You're hung at this time. Is that correct? >> There were seven votes to convict and
five to acquit. [music] We did what we could with what we had. >> Ben Alfred and Carrie Kimes were two
members of the jury who voted to find Chandler not guilty. >> I never saw actual evidence that Dana
Chandler was ever in 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 Colorado that weekend. >> The science is not going to solve this
case. Everything that was tested for DNA proved inconclusive. And that's pretty remarkable.
>> But for juror Randy Edwards, the state's depiction of Dana Chandler's behavior
was persuasive evidence. >> She was beyond upset. She was obsessed. >> He also found those conversations Haley
recorded with her mother to be convincing and voted to convict. >> Ever think about killing it?
>> No, but I did. When I was able to comprehend that Dana said that she had thought of killing Mike, that was
probably the the piece that pushed me beyond any question of reasonable doubt anymore.
>> There was a split verdict, but the majority of the jury was in favor of a conviction, and that was meaningful.
>> DA Mike Kay decided to retry Dana Chandler. >> The next issue that we have before the
court is a motion to modify bond. Her lawyers convinced the court to reduce her bond, which allowed her to be
released with supervision as she awaited the next trial. >> The court is going to direct that she
have GPS monitoring. >> Welcome home. >> Welcome home, Dana. After spending more than a decade
incarcerated, Dana Chandler celebrated her freedom with Daryl Burton and Miracle of Innocence.
>> Anybody who's getting out of prison after you've been in prison for any length of time, it is. It's a joyous
occasion. You're happy that someone's been released and you, you know, also feel like, well, maybe it's a good
chance that, you know, we can, you know, mount a defense, you know, and get her totally acquitted. As a condition of her
release, Dana was not allowed to contact her children. Still, Haley worried about
her safety. She is married to Chris Seal, her high school boyfriend, and is a mother of three.
>> I'm scared to death that she's going to hurt me or she's going to affect my kids
in some way. >> Haley's fear only grew when Dana made this post to her Facebook page. Chandler
complained about her treatment at trial, calling it a kangaroo court. And in the
background, she showed images of Haley's children. Haley says Dana somehow learned which church she attended and
downloaded a live stream of a service to create the photos. >> It was chilling and it was disturbing. I
feel like it was a direct message to me. >> And what was the message? >> Intimidation. I don't care about your
boundaries. Her belief that her mother committed the murders remains unwavering and she says
disturbing. She's my mom, but if you're my mom, why would you do that to [music] my dad?
For your kid's sake, maybe maybe that would be a reason not to do it. Being a mother now I have a new perspective it
becomes even more unreal now. >> Also unreal to Haley thoughts of a third trial.
>> What are your expectations for yet again another trial? >> Uh this time I'm not as confident.
>> For trial number three, jurors would be from Pawatami County, Kansas. The defense requested a change of venue and
the judge agreed, citing excessive media coverage. It would take place in West Morland, a
smaller, more rural area 60 mi away from the last setting in Topeka. >> July 7th, 2002 was going to be a good
day. Mike Cisco, Karen Hartness had been in a relationship for a few years. The trial got underway with opening
statements on February 7th, 2025. >> One name just kept coming up. >> Dana Chandler.
>> Charles Kit was back retrying the case, joined by prosecutor Dan Dunar. Judge
Cheryl Rios again presided. And in a lastminute change on the morning of opening statements, Dana
Chandler dismissed her defense attorneys. >> My name is Dana Chandler. >> And Dana Chandler decided the best
person to represent her >> was herself. >> I am innocent. I did not kill Mike and
Karen. >> [music] >> I think this case is a character assassination. [music] In February 2025, Dana Chandler
was on trial for the third time for the murders of Mike Cisco and Karen Harkness. But this time she was
representing herself. >> She was exercising her constitutional right. It was an unknown. It was
certainly unexpected. >> One thing that was the same as in the previous trials, [music]
Haley Seal testified. >> Good afternoon. >> Hi. >> Can you please tell the jury your name?
>> Um, Haley Seal. Haley was asked again by the prosecution about her mother's inappropriate [music]
behavior. >> What sort of things would she say about Karen? >> She called her a home wrecker. Um,
a [ __ ] Very bad names. >> Prosecutors were also interested in an incident when Dana Chandler drove Haley
and her brother [music] to 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 and my mom got out and yelled at them and just was very
angry with my dad. >> Haley, I don't have any further questions. Thank you. >> When it was time to be cross-examined,
Haley knew it would now be her mother doing the questioning. >> The seal. I really went up there with like my game
face on, you know? I I knew it was war. 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 sorry place that she'd be coming from. [music]
>> Dana Chandler challenged Haley about her description of that drop off at Karen's.
Chandler said it was Haley's father, Mike, who [music] was behaving badly, not her. When your dad Karen drove up,
your dad stormed over to the car. >> Oh, no. No, he did not. [music] >> And he started banging on the window.
>> What? No, no, he did not. I was 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 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 never
happened and he never did that. But I didn't get concerned. [music] I just said, "No, you know, I'm glad you
asked so I could straighten this out." That never happened. >> And then it comes down to who's
believable. And I wasn't worried about that. >> As another way to seemingly explain some
of her past behaviors, Chandler brought up that she used to have a drinking problem.
>> And I did tell you that I was I realized that I had a problem with alcohol. You
did tell me you had a problem with elbow. >> Something Dana said she stopped by 1999,
three years before the murders. >> I told you I was going to three AA meetings a day
trying to get well. True. >> I knew you were trying to get well. Yes. >> The state questioned though if becoming
sober changed Chandler's behavior. >> When she came back clean and sober, did that change how she treated you?
No. >> Did it Did it change how she talked about your dad? >> No. >> Did it change how she talked about
Karen? >> No. >> Do you swear that the testimony you're out in this case happened the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth? American things. >> Dana Chandler not only thought she was
the best person to represent herself, but when it [music] was time to put on her defense, she decided she would be
her own main witness. >> But I feel like that I need to kind of tell my story to kind of put things in
perspective. >> She testified over 7 days. >> You have not seen evidence that I was in
Topeka, Kansas on July 7th of 2002. speaking for about 20 hours. >> I kind of like to review a little where
I left off. >> There was times when she would take so long to try to get her point across.
>> Dana Chandler's supporter Daryl Burton was concerned when she put herself on the stand
>> and sometime it seemed as though she was just rambling, you know, and that was
just unfortunate. She may have knew, she probably knew where she was trying to go, but she'd get lost.
>> But I continued drinking. She again addressed issues such as her drinking and inappropriate conversations with
Haley. >> I was writing emails from drinking to blackout. I'd get up the next morning
and not even remember those emails. I had a serious problem and horrible things I said about Karen spreading her
legs. I mean, seriously, Haley was 14 years old. I am just so ashamed and embarrassed
about that. And I hated that Haley that I put Haley through that. >> And Chandler in her own testimony
addressed again that incident when she waited outside Karen's house to drop off Haley and Dustin with the couple. She
said it was done out of necessity. >> I yelled through the window I could not afford to feed Haley and Dustin and that
I needed to leave them with him. Chandler contrasted those times to when she stopped drinking, showing videos of
her spending time outdoors with Haley and Dustin. >> This video was taken about 9 months into
my recovery. >> Dana also disputed making frequent harassing calls to Karen and Mike,
saying when she called, there was a reason. >> I was calling to speak with my children,
Haley and Dustin. As to her having disagreements with Karen Harkness, she testified there were none.
>> I never ever had any confrontations with Karen Harkness at all. >> Chandler also pointed out what she said
was sloppiness in the police investigation. When Chandler questioned lead detective Richard Voloy, she asked
about whether police were too focused on her and should have been looking more thoroughly at other possible suspects.
Did you or did you not receive any leads for other suspects besides me? >> Uh, early on in the investigation, there
were several other people that were looked at as possible leads. So, it's a matter of checking people off to
dismissing people that couldn't have done it. Uh, when we can't dismiss them, we can keep focusing on them like we did
with you. Chandler though said there was an area where she felt law enforcement thoroughly investigated whether she
bought a 9mm gun like the one used in the murders and they came up empty-handed.
>> I've never owned, purchased, or possessed a 9 mm firearm. And throughout her defense, Dana
Chandler was adamant that at the time of the murders, she was in Colorado and no
one could place her in Karen's house or even in [music] Kansas. [music] It seemed like a simple question Dana
Chandler was asking Detective Volley. >> Did you ever develop any information that I was into Kansas on July 6th or
7th of 2002? >> But in answering that question, Volo said there was a woman named Patty
Williams who may have spotted Chandler in the state of Kansas around the time of the murders. What do you know about
Patty Williams? >> She was a clerk at a convenience store in Waini, Kansas. >> The gas station convenience store in
[music] Wini, where Williams worked, was nearly halfway between Denver and Topeka. It had been visited by an
investigator searching for locations where someone may have spotted Chandler around the time of the murders. There,
the investigator showed Williams this photo of Dana. She was seven out of 10 that it was you.
>> According to Voley, the clerk was 70% sure she had seen Dana Chandler and described some distinguishing features.
>> She has or said that she had gray near the hairline. >> Chandler, [music] though, told the jury
she did not have gray hair back then. By the time of the trials, Williams had died and could not be questioned again.
Chandler also expressed concern that the investigator only showed a single photo
of her initially instead of an array of photos, including different people. Something Volley did do when he went to
the gas station about 2 weeks later. >> We later later went out with a what we call six-pack photo. It's six
photographs of people that look very similar and amongst those photos was Miss Chandler. Volo said Patty Williams
immediately picked out Chandler [music] and again was 70% sure she saw her there, but Voloy acknowledged using an
array initially would have been better. There was still for law enforcement the issue regarding Dana Chandler's alibi.
Remember, Voloy said Dana told him she was home in her Denver apartment the night of the murders, but she told
others, including an acquaintance, Jeff Bailey, she slept in her car in the Colorado mountains that night.
>> I was confused. >> Dana Chandler told the jury she [music] had been confused when she spoke with
Volo, but prosecutor Kit was not accepting that explanation. So, what you told Detective Oley is not consistent
with what you told Jeff Bailey, is it? >> Uh, as far as my trip to >> Miss Chandler, it's not consist.
>> Okay. Yeah, I would agree with that. Um, I would That's true. >> Have you seen that document before?
>> Once again, those secret recordings Haley made with her mother were played in court.
>> Everything about the illness? >> No, but I did. This time, Kit questioned Dana herself about its authenticity.
>> Was that your voice saying, "Did you ever think about killing him?" "I did." >> It sounds like it. Yes.
>> When it was time for the final witness, [music] Dana Chandler decided, "It should be Dana Chandler." She knew the
jury heard witnesses testify [music] about her parenting and past behavior. Chandler explained if she was a less
than [music] attentive mother, it was because of her drinking and a lack of money, not a lack of love.
>> I absolutely did want to have a relationship with my children. You know, I think the financial
the substance abuse combination um it just wasn't feasible. That's all I have. Thank you,
>> Mr. Sher. uh during this time that you couldn't afford to feed your children,
you were buying booze, correct? >> I was. >> You're buying enough alcohol to get
blackout drunk? >> I was. >> Okay. Thank you for the questions. [music] >> And with that, after 18 days of
testimony, prosecutor Charles Kit and Dana Chandler presented their closing arguments.
>> Why are Mike and Karen dead? And the evidence shows one simple answer. control.
>> I think Kit nailed it when he said it was about control. >> The state described Chandler losing
control of Mike as he planned his future with Karen and the rage that followed. >> And that's what led to the defendant
traveling to Topeka, Kansas on July 6th and murdering them on July 7th. >> Kit spoke about Chandler's depiction of
events not lining up with the testimony of others. It's the defendant versus everyone. You can believe the
defendant's testimony or you can believe everybody else that you heard from in this case.
>> In Dana Chandler's closing, she used a scam to make her [music] point that prosecutors, whom she called her
accusers, did not have enough evidence to [music] tip it in their favor. the um the accusers must uh tip the scale
here. I'm innocent. I have my infirmities and I have my shortcomings, but I do stand here before you all today and
proclaim that I am an innocent woman. She acknowledged the life she led was not perfect, but said that doesn't make
[music] her a murderer. >> The state has woefully failed to meet its burden to prove beyond a reasonable
doubt that I killed Mike Cisco or Karen Harkkins. >> About 4 hours later, the jury delivered
its verdict. We, the jury, find Dana Chandler guilty of murder in the first degree as charged
in count one. Verdict form >> guilty of the murders of Mike Cisco and Karen Harkness.
After hearing the verdict, Dana Chandler turned away. And while it was the verdict Haley hoped for, the end result
is nothing she ever [music] wanted. It is so much worse that my mom is the one behind these murders because
we lost my dad and Karen, but then through all this now we've lost our mom. I really wish it was someone else.
>> I don't believe that they have proved [music] this case beyond a reasonable doubt.
>> Chandler's supporter Daryl Burton remains [music] undeterred. He still believes she is innocent.
>> The evidence just doesn't, you know, prove [music] that she's guilty of anything.
Dana Chandler is filing motions for an appeal. 48 Hours reached out to Chandler again for this episode, but did not
receive a response. >> I am very confident in this verdict. >> District Attorney Mike Kge is certain
the jury convicted the right person. >> I have every [music] confidence in my prosecutors and how
they handled this case. >> [music] >> The focus of this case has gone almost completely to Dana Chandler
and that the victims has really been lost which is really sad. >> More than 20 years have passed since
[music] Mike Cisco and Karen Harkness were murdered and Haley wants to make sure the lives lost are not [music]
forgotten. I was trying to tell my daughter about who my dad is and [music] I said he was a really fun,
supportive, encouraging guy who believed in me and my brother and [music] Karen was so kind,
so accepting. I miss him a lot. 48 hours. Don't miss an episode. [music] >> [music]
[music] [music] [music] >> My uncle Joe's creativity made his photography so special. He had the eye
of a child. His sense of humor was unmatched and it really showed through all of his art.
>> I worked with a lot of photographers and Joe was the best. He had such a magnetic
personality. >> Every picture [music] I see, he just looks so charismatic, bright blue eyes.
>> Yes. anytime he'd see you, hey, like his mouth like lit up, his eyes went wide.
If you were judging somebody by their appearance, you'd say, you know, he's a he's a jock. And then you talk to him
for 2 minutes [music] and he's this deep soul that was a school teacher in DC. When you were with him, you wanted to be
better. I got a call from my dad and he's like, "We can't find Uncle Joe." I knew right away that something really
[music] sinister had happened. >> 911 emergency. What is your name? >> My name is Heather Snider.
>> I'm Heather Snyder. I'm Joe Shamansky's ex-wife. >> Okay, Heather, tell me exactly what
happened. >> I was returning my two children to my [music] ex's house. He's missing. We
don't know where he is. >> His car was there. His phone was there. His wallet was there. Where [music] is
he? >> All right. So, we are here because your h your ex-husband Joe is missing right
now. >> It was surreal. Like, what's going on? >> We all knew Joe wasn't missing. We all
knew Joe was gone and it [music] was just a couple of days later that they had found his remains.
>> So, at that point, this had gone from a missing person's case to a homicide. >> Technically, yeah.
>> It's like I'm living in a horror movie. >> Are you in any relationship right now?
Upon questioning Heather, they asked her who her last boyfriend was, and she mentioned Brandon Hullbrook.
>> The police focused in on Brandon Hullbrook as the sole perpetrator. >> Brandon Hullbrook had no motive.
>> There are no forensics linking my client to this crime. >> This story is not about a guy who
decided to drive 200 miles and kill a man that he had never met. Do you think Heather Snider played some
role in your uncle's murder? >> Yes. I wish I had answers. I don't know anything.
>> It's a big twist in the story. >> Describe. >> We know each other. >> We do. We grew up together.
>> We did. >> Heather Snider I grew up with was an A student. >> Mhm. >> Cheerleader, field hockey player.
>> Mhm. One of the most unlikely people to be caught up in a murder case. Correct.
>> Did you have any involvement at all in Joe Shamansky's murder? >> No. >> Do you believe any of it?
>> No. >> We need to piece the pieces of the puzzle together. We know there's more to
this story. We can't rest until the whole truth comes out. >> [music] [music] >> The investigation of Joe Shamansky's
murder began as a missing person's case. >> Yellow. >> Hi. >> Where's everybody at?
>> Um, I'm not sure where everyone went. They have the drone up. It was September
4th, 2023 at 7:47 p.m. when sheriff's deputies in Calvert County, Maryland were called to the home of the
well-known photographer. >> How are you doing tonight? >> I'm Heather. I'm I'm Joe's ex-wife.
>> Okay. >> His ex-wife, Heather Snider, met them in the driveway. She would tell authorities
she had arrived by card about 700 p.m. from her home in Pennsylvania. Um, I was supposed to return the kids to him
>> at 7:00 tonight >> to hand off custody of their then 8-year-old daughter and [music]
seven-year-old son. [snorts] >> Kids went in the house cuz he he usually just comes right out like he knows that
they're coming. >> But nobody was home. Heather had checked with the neighbors and called 911.
>> Yeah. I don't know what I even should do at this point. Everything about it is weird.
>> Okay. >> All the signs suggested Joe Shamansky should be there. His car was in the
driveway. >> Joe, you home? >> His keys and phones were in the house. Authorities started searching the
property. >> So, I'm going to try to put the drone up. Do >> you know if he ever goes out hiking in
the woods or anything? >> I mean, I wouldn't put it past him. >> I answered their questions about
everything. They asked, you know, the situation. >> Among other things, investigators wanted
to know about Heather and Joe's divorce from the previous year. >> I know it was very contentious, so there
was a lot of arguing. Specifically, the drop off location for the kids was their
biggest argument. Joe Shamansky's neighbors, Allison Stinson Poundsberry and Colton Poundsberry, were home that
night when Heather Snyder knocked on the door. >> She had asked me if Joe was here. I
said, "No." How was Heather acting? So, Heather was acting a little annoyed. Um,
she was annoyed that he wasn't here for drop off after she had already driven 4 hours.
>> The Poundsberries went to Joe Shamansky's home, telling authorities they hadn't seen Joe since the previous
afternoon. Yeah, we saw him yesterday about 4:00. He was helping me with some drywall.
>> Okay. >> We gave him some dinner. >> Any depression issues? >> Not that I noticed. What do you think is
going on? >> I have no idea. >> Okay. All right. >> Yeah. >> The Poundsberries ended up giving
Heather and the kids places to sleep for the night. [music] But first, Heather went inside Joe's
house. >> I didn't have any clothes for the kids, so it was late at night. They let me go
in and get pajamas. Do you remember how you were feeling when you went inside? Upset.
>> It was surreal. >> Fine. >> No, you're fine. Absolutely fine. It's a lot to deal with.
>> I mean, do you have ever been kids? What are you going to tell him? [music] >> How could he not be there? Especially
knowing that the kids are going to be there. >> It was about 2 and 1/2 hours later that
Heather Snider called Joe's older brother, Ted Shamansky. And Ted's wife, also named Heather. I felt like I was
like punched in the stomach. >> So there was no way in the world that Joe would have missed this meeting with
the kids. This isn't this something's wrong. >> It fell to Ted to deliver the news to
the Shamansky sister Mary. >> When I heard that Joe was missing, I fell to my knees and said a prayer
because this was such a bizarre situation. It felt like I needed I needed something greater than me right
away. And then the morning after Joe disappeared, investigators noticed something they'd been unable to see at
night. There was blood in his driveway. >> Did Joe have any enemies? Not that we
knew of. >> An investigator asked Heather Snider to come to the station. >> Do you know of anybody that that'd be an
enemy of his? >> No. >> Are you in any relationship right now? >> No. >> No boyfriends or
>> No. But Heather told them she had recently broken up with someone who lived near her in Pennsylvania.
>> I had a boyfriend, but briefly, but I don't >> recently. >> Yeah, within the last couple months.
Yeah. >> What's his name? >> Brandon Hullbrook. >> The name Brandon Hullbrook entered the
scene quite quickly. >> The Shamanskys say Joe told them he'd never met Brandon Hullbrook.
>> Sorry. How long were you and Ren together? >> We were friends for a while. Um, since
20 2022, I want to say >> you're okay. >> Or it might have been like November 2021.
>> Authorities then decided to look more closely at Brandon Hullbrook. They pulled his car registration and
discovered a camera had picked up his license plate near Joe's house the very day Joe vanished. Investigators now had
a person of interest and headed to Pennsylvania notifying police there. >> This one was definitely different than
anything that we've seen before. On September 5th, 2023, Sergeant John Chester of the Mifflin County,
Pennsylvania police got a call that Maryland authorities were investigating a homicide. They wanted to talk to a
person of interest, Brandon Hullbrook. >> We've arrested Mr. Hullbrook in the past.
Over the years, Hullbrook had pleaded guilty to at least five counts of indecent exposure.
They approached his house at about 11 p.m. >> This is where you walked up. >> Yes.
>> An investigator noted Hullbrook's eyes were bloodshot and that there was a strange particular smell both on him and
the covered bed of his pickup in the driveway. This truck reeks. Oh man, that smells
terrible. Yeah, >> it smelled like death. >> Holbrook told authorities he was a driver for a Pennsylvania plant that
processes chicken slaughterhouse waste. >> Just have a seat right in there, bud.
>> He denied being near Joe's house or anywhere in Maryland the day Joe disappeared.
>> We knew his truck was in Maryland. >> One police report indicates he also denied any contact with Joe. Another
says he was not being entirely truthful and appeared nervous. So in the early morning hours of September 6th, 2023,
investigators arrested Brandon Hullbrook for the murder of Joe Shamansky. By then, detective Jessica Arent had
reported for duty. >> I was called in when they got back to the station with him
>> and helped them get warrants for Hullbrook's truck and house. We still didn't know the magnitude of what we
were dealing with. >> In the truck cab, investigators found gloves and plastic sheeting. And in the
truck bed, something described as human blood. >> It looked like a homicide scene.
>> There were firearms in the house, and plastic garbage [music] bags, bleach, Lysol, and wet tools in a trailer
outside. in the garage. >> There was an open tool case. >> And next to it, an open package of
[music] power saw blades, but investigators didn't spot a matching saw. Is that a tool that's powerful enough to
dismember a body? Possibly. Authorities with cadaver dogs began following a dirt road caddy cornered to
Brandon Hullbrook's house leading into the woods. The next day, they made a grizzly discovery in a clearing near a
creek. >> They found the jawbone with some of the ear and some teeth still intact.
>> Incident reports show there was also a burn barrel which smelled of decomposition scattered nearby. Piles of
ash. Authorities sent the material off for testing, [music] but they had a strong hunch they were human remains.
and a strong hunch who's >> it's a hope that we can keep this memory alive. >> Fearing the worst, Joe Shamansky's
[music] family and friends gathered in Washington. >> He was a person that would give you his
shirt off his back even in a rainstorm. >> Joe met Alton McDougall in 2000 [music]
after coming to DC to teach middle school history and social studies. Alton says Joe became his mentor, exposing him
to new ideas and to photography. He taught you how to see the world. >> Yes, through a lens.
>> They eventually became friends, says Alton, and partnered in the photo business at Eastern Market. That's where
[music] Joe first started dating Heather Snider. She was then a single mom of three kids and was running a vegetable
business. He was fun, very charming. Then he swept you off your feet. >> He did.
>> Heather and Joe married in July 2014 and bought a house in rural Calbertt County.
Heather gave birth [music] to a daughter and a son a year later, but Joe's family
and friends say by 2020 the marriage was in trouble. >> Heather Snyder and Joe Shamansky were
never on equal [music] footing financially. >> The spinning was definitely a problem.
Alton says Joe wrote Heather a check for thousands of dollars to pay off a debt on a house she owned. Then he gave her
more money to help her [music] launch a new business. >> I used to tell him all the time, "She's
using you." >> Heather Snider says that's not true. She was never after Joe's money. She blames
the difficulties in the marriage on Joe, saying he could behave erratically, and
that he started pushing her and her older children away after their own kids were born. [music]
Joe's attention was just on the those two children. It was almost obsessive to a degree. It was he cared less about
what I thought or what I was saying. And it was all about those two. She says Joe was emotionally abusive to
her and there was one instance she claims when he got physical. He body checked me into a car
and that was after chasing me around the house. >> The Shamansky family says Heather's
abuse allegations don't match the Joe they knew. By 2021, Heather says she'd had enough.
I was afraid he was going to snap and hurt me and then my children were going to see it and he just left. I left.
He was devastated. Joe's friend, Anna Lee Warner, noticed it, too. >> That spark that made Joe Joe was gone.
It was gone. >> Heather had moved back to her hometown of Newport, Pennsylvania. She told
investigators that it was a few months later that she began seeing Brandon Hullbrook. All the while, St. Joe's
friends and family, he and Heather were arguing over custody and cash. It got so
bad, Heather says she began recording their interactions around the kids. Anelise says Joe was also upset and made
recordings too about Heather for their children to hear one day. >> The mom has a way of manipulating
everyone. everyone. She's toxic. Honestly, I am honestly afraid for your mental and emotional safety.
>> There's no safety in mom for me. It's dangerous to be close to mom for me. >> Joe was in a contentious, ugly divorce.
>> But Anelise says things had slowly started going Joe's way. Though he and Heather had joint legal custody of the
[music] kids, he had primary physical custody once school was in session. He'd bought a million dollar life
insurance policy, naming [music] the children as beneficiaries. And just weeks before he vanished, the
court had [music] reduced the settlement he owed Heather Snider. Joe had started
winning. >> Analy and the Shamansky [music] family say thinking back over the former
couple's problems, they began to wonder if Heather Snider could have known more about Joe's disappearance than she was
saying. In midepptember 2023, forensic [music] experts matched the remains that they found in that clearing
near Brandon Hullbrook's house to Joe Shamansky. Mifflin County Coroner Andrea Alcala.
>> What was Joe Shamansky's cause of death? >> Uh, he had a gunshot wound to the head.
What was his manner of homicide? >> Could you just state your name? >> My name is Brandon Hullbrook.
This is This thing has my whole head messed up. >> Authorities had uncovered evidence that
didn't look good for Brandon Hullbrook. We knew the white truck had been in Maryland based on the license plate
reader had read the tag and the tag matched the vehicle that was sitting here. >> And with the saw blades in Hullbrook's
garage, the cleaning supplies and tools in his trailer [music] and Joe's remains
in the clearing nearby, it all seemed to suggest that Hullbrook had killed Joe in
Maryland [music] and brought his body to Pennsylvania. But for all the evidence investigators
had, the case still contained some inconvenient truths. >> Did you find any of Josh Mansky's
remains on Brandon Hullbrook's property? >> No. Did you find a murder weapon? >> No.
>> In addition, records show Hullbrook's phone had only ping towers near his Pennsylvania home. The afternoon and
evening Joe disappeared. And remember, images of Hullbrook's truck in Maryland did not show who was driving. And when
the blood in the truck bed was tested, it wasn't human. It was animal. Because he had access to the chicken plant, did
he put stuff in there and cover it up with the chicken remains. >> Joe's family and friends had trouble
believing Hullbrook could have devised such an elaborate plot without help. I do not believe that Brandon Hullbrook is
the only person involved in my brother's death. I think he was highly inspired by
Heather Snider. Heather Snider is the common denominator in this entire picture. Alton McDougall also thinks
Heather Snider was involved a few days before Joe went missing. Alton says they were hanging out and Joe told him
Heather was coming over to drop off the kids instead of meeting halfway between their homes like they usually did. Alton
says he told Joe that concerned him. >> I just don't want her to come to your house, dude. I just don't trust her.
>> He says Joe dismissed his concern, but the conversation haunts him to this day.
>> I get chills right now. >> What are you feeling? >> That if he'd listened to you, he might
still be here. I mean, he might be right. >> Jill's family and friends acknowledged
their suspicion of Heather Snider was just a gut feeling [music] and that the investigation hasn't turned up any
evidence of her involvement. Nevertheless, Alton says he shared his speculation with authorities.
>> Heather at least planned it. Her boyfriend had least helped. He says he and the family find it
strange that Heather Snder reported Joe is missing before he was even an hour late.
>> You're jumping to >> he's missing >> that he's missing like >> call the police.
>> I mean and you're going to call 911. >> Especially they say because she had then
waited more than 2 and 1/2 hours to notify them. >> That seems extraordinary long period of
time before she'd let the immediate family know that Joe was missing. And they questioned Heather's behavior when
she went in Joe's house with investigators. >> And she walks in the house and she
begins to cry, >> sobbing over her ex-husband that she would do anything to get away from.
>> They suspected it was all an act, something Heather Snider denies. >> She just wanted to paint a picture that
he was missing because she knew the plan. And the [music] Shamanskys believe she
was untruthful with investigators about Brandon Hullbrook. >> Are you in any relationship right now?
>> No. >> She told the police that she broke up with him and that they were no longer
together. Bull. >> Janine says she suspects Heather had used Brandon Hullbrook to get rid of
Joe. >> So she just needed it done and she found her person that would do that for
[music] her. You think Heather Schneider was the mastermind? >> Yes. Is there any doubt in your mind?
No. >> Brandon Hullbrook was in custody and authorities had combed the clearing, but
weeks later, Mary Shamansky was visiting the site when she found more burnt remains. She acknowledges searchers may
have simply missed them in the woods. But she and coroner Andrea Alcal believe there's another possibility.
>> I think the more likely is that there were remains dumped after the fact. That would mean they were dumped by
someone else. >> That's a bombshell. Yeah. >> But Alcal says Maryland authorities seem
skeptical. The Calvert County Sheriff's Office declined our request for an interview. Still, the theory that
someone else was involved in Joe's death is a point Hullbrook's attorneys will argue from the start of his trial. Only
one person's life is better today than it was before the murder of Joseph Schumansky, and that is Heather Snyder.
Did you have anything to do with Joe's death? >> I did not. On March 31st, 2025, the trial of
Brandon Hullbrook for the murder of Joe Shamansky got underway. Prosecutors wanted a conviction on premeditated
murder. They argued Hullbrook fatally shot Joe Shamansky in Maryland, [music] drove him back to Pennsylvania, put
chicken parts in his truck to cover his tracks, [music] then disposed of Joe's remains in that clearing near
Hullbrook's house. And they brought in the barrel searchers found, [music] suggesting it was used to burn him. But
Hullbrook's defense team says it was a tactic. >> It was there for the emotional impact.
>> There were no cameras allowed in court. Defense attorney Brendan Callahan tried
to turn the jury's attention away from Brandon Hullbrook and towards Heather Snyder. She was mentioned more than 400
times at trial. Though she hasn't been charged with a crime, >> the only person with an obvious motive
was Heather Snyder. She was in a a heated custody fight that she was not going well for her.
>> And Callahan told the jury Heather Snider had a million other reasons, too. If Joe was dead, Callahan said she might
stand to gain control of his life insurance payout since her children, the beneficiaries, are still minors.
>> When you throw in the million-dollar life insurance policy, the the motives write themselves.
>> Heather told us she knew nothing about Joe's life insurance before he died. Prosecutors kept the focus on Hullbrook.
They introduced videos of his truck near [music] Joe's house in Maryland the day
Joe disappeared. Hullbrook shopping for cleaning supplies in Pennsylvania the morning after.
And video that's hard to see, but that they say shows Hullbrook near his white truck dumping something which turned out
to be burned human remains. It put the defense in a corner. >> There's evidence that he is involved
at some point, but there's very little evidence that he's the one who committed the actual murder. And while Brandon
Hullbrook's truck might have been spotted near [music] Joe's house that day, Callahan says someone else could
have been driving it. >> Brandon Hullbrook had absolutely no reason to kill Joseph Shamansky.
>> The state contended Hullbrook did have a motive. Love for Heather Snyder and hate
[music] for Joe Shamanssky. Intense enough that Hullbrook took matters into his own hands.
This man was obsessed with Heather Snider. >> Prosecutors painted a picture of that
obsession, showing an image taken nearly 7 months before the murder of a car Hullbrook also owned near Joe's house.
And they showed a text exchange between Heather and Holbrook from January 21st, 2023, also months before the murder, in
which she is complaining about Joe. I'm just tired of the abuse, Heather told him. It's been years upon years.
Holbrook later suggested she see a therapist, but added, "I have other solutions in mind, but probably not the
best way to go." >> That could mean a lot of things. I mean, it's very easy to read in it the most
nefarious intent, and that's what the state tried to do in this case. But it could mean just about anything. It could
be a joke. >> Whatever it meant, Heather didn't respond to Hullbrook immediately. She
later texted him, "I'm looking for a therapist." Do you think how could Heather Snider
possibly not know? >> There's a lot in this case that you could say that for about Heather Snider
and her behavior around the the time of the incident is overall very suspicious.
Callahan's co-consel Thomas Mooney points to texts between Heather and Hullbrook, suggesting they were still
involved shortly before the murder. >> She indicated to the police, but that the relationship had had cooled.
>> No boyfriends or >> No, I had a >> but the text messages seemed to suggest otherwise.
>> 6 days before the murder, Hullbrook wrote, "I like the smell of your hair on my pillow." And later in the day, she
texted, "Wish I was in your bed." The next morning, he wrote back, "You can come to my bed anytime, XO."
>> Heather Snider is lying to the police and saying that she didn't have an involvement with Hullbrook.
>> In another text, Heather complains specifically about her custody agreement with Joe. "I keep thinking karma is
going to catch up with him," she wrote. "But I'm tired of being patient." Anything that suggests
that there were other people involved makes Brandon Hullbrook's role in this unclear
and therefore is suggestive of his innocence. But prosecutors introduced Tech, suggesting Heather Snyder was surprised
to find Joe missing when she got to his house. "I have no idea where he is," she
wrote to Hullbrook. "The car is [music] here." Both the defense and the prosecutors wanted to question Heather
under oath. But when she was called as a witness, she declined to testify, invoking her fifth amendment privilege.
What does Heather Snider pleading the fifth say to you? >> That a truthful answer could tend to
incriminate her. >> And Callahan wanted the jury to consider something else about Heather Snider.
>> She had a gun. >> She did. Heather had told authorities about a gun Hullbrook had given her
before the murder, but there were never any bullets or casings found, [music] so
it would have been impossible to tell if it was the murder weapon. Still, Callahan says authorities were slow to
collect it from her. >> That wasn't investigated until weeks before the trial started, even though
they knew about it. >> And he says they failed to ever search Heather's home or property. She has
acres of land that the police are on that land and they don't even ask to look around. They just take her word for
everything. >> Prosecutors say there was a thorough investigation and they saved what might
be the most explosive evidence for near the end of their case. There's no way Heather could have killed Joe. They say
why? The afternoon Joe disappeared, you can see Heather on video buying pizza in
Pennsylvania about three hours away. Heather Snider has an alibi. I mean, she's on surveillance video buying pizza
miles away. >> Yes. >> She couldn't have physically gotten there in time. >> Yes. But there are all sorts of
different roles that one can play in a crime. He says Heather could have encouraged
Brandon Hullbrook or at least known about his plan. Hullbrook doesn't take the stand, but in closing, his attorneys
remind the jury there's no proof he was even in Maryland that evening, let alone
at Joe Shamansky's house. the burden is on the state and we thought that they presented a strong
case that he was involved after the fact, but we're still waiting on the evidence that he was ever in that
driveway. >> But it took just 80 minutes for the jury to reach a verdict. Brandon Hullbrook is
guilty of the firstdegree premeditated murder of Joe Shamansky. >> How are you feeling?
extremely happy. >> Joe's loved ones were happy [music] but not satisfied. At sentencing, Analy
Warner presented a photo montage of Joe that also included some of those audio recordings about Heather that he made
for their children. >> And I'm worried about you guys growing up in a world where you're afraid of
mom. She takes her love away from you and if you piss her off, you're done. few minutes.
>> And then a number of friends and family addressed the court, suggesting Heather
could also be at least in [music] part to blame for what happened. The judge gave Hullbrook life without parole and
said he was not closing the book on the case. You're at the center of this case.
I am. [music] >> No. >> Do you remember the last time we saw each other before this story reconnected
us? >> I believe it was at homecoming in 1998. Heather. >> It was more than 25 years ago here on
our high school sports fields in tiny Newport, Pennsylvania. Heather Snider and I had grown up together. In fact, I
was the 1997 homecoming queen and she was my successor. >> I put a crown on your head and now here
we are. And we're back. We hadn't communicated since then until reporting this story brought me back to some of
the most familiar terrain of my life. But it's taken me into uncharted territory in the process, confronting
someone from my youth who has been caught up in a murder case. Heather told me she wanted to set the record
straight. She agreed to the interview with no questions off limits. [music] She acknowledged she was upset with Joe
during their custody fight. Did you ever say to Brandon Hullbrook, "I wish Joe were dead."
>> No. The most I said to Brandon was that I thought Joe should be in jail for the
way he was acting. Did Brandon tell you he wanted to kill Joe? >> No. >> Did you help him cover it up?
>> Nope. >> No. >> So, what about those texts between her and Brandon Hullbrook? Like when he
mentions other solutions to help deal with Joe? >> I thought it was a just a joke. It
didn't cross her mind for a second. Then he might hurt Joe. >> No. >> As for her text about karma catching up
with Joe in which she wrote she was tired of being patient. >> That's how I was feeling. Do you think a
text like that may have triggered Brandon? >> I don't know. Heather, who at the time
was in that custody fight with Joe, says she ended her relationship with Brandon
Hullbrook about a month before the murder when Hullbrook had been arrested again for indecent exposure. What was
the reason that you told Brandon you needed to end the relationship? Because of his charge.
The Shamansky suspect Heather was [music] actually worried if Joe heard she was dating a sex offender, she would
lose custody of their kids. They believe Heather continued to secretly see Hullbrook. About a week before Joe went
missing, Brandon Hullbrook texts you, "I like the smell of your hair on my pillow."
>> He did? >> Mhm. >> Were you with him? >> I stopped by his house. >> It sounds like you're still involved.
>> We were friends. that you were intimate. Then >> we were friends. >> Heather also texted Brandon, "Wish I was
in your bed." Weren't you and Brandon still involved this whole time? We weren't. We weren't. People were going
to watch and say, "You're lying." >> We were friends, so it was hard to give up a friend.
Why was there a smell of your hair on his pillow? >> Cuz I was probably laying on his pillow.
She says they were only talking. What did you talk about? >> That was the last time.
It was just like it was almost like a goodbye, honestly. >> What did [music] Brandon say? Was he
upset? >> We were both upset. We were both crying. >> Heather told us that even after Joe's
murder, [music] I still have love for Brandon. >> Wow. >> Wow. Is right. >> How? I don't I think
obviously psychologically he snapped over something. It's not like I don't think he should be in jail. I think he
did something horrible, horrific. He hurt my family. He hurt me. If you could see him face to face, what would
be your first question? Why? What happened? And while she hasn't seen him in person,
she did have a chance to ask him. Shortly before his sentencing, she accepted his call from jail.
>> This call will be recorded and is subject to monitoring at any time. >> Heather tells Hullbrook she believes
Joe's family is trying to incriminate her. >> Are trying to prove that I did something
wrong. >> Never in a million years will I say you had anything to do with this. I swear.
>> I didn't. I just wish I knew what happened. No, I just want the truth. >> Holbrook tells her.
>> I I would love to tell you everything that I know, but I'm not going to do it
on one of those recorded lines. >> And then he denies killing Joe. >> I'll tell you one thing for sure. I
never saw Joe, talked to Joe, had any interaction at whatsoever with Joe his entire life. I promise you that. Heather
says Holbrook never confessed to her and she never had an inkling of his plans. She says there is nothing suspicious
about her calling 911 so quickly when she didn't find Joe at the house. She says it was her divorce attorney who
advised her to make the call and a criminal lawyer who advised her to [music] plead the fifth in the trial.
Did you have something to hide? >> No. If you don't have anything to hide, why not just get up there and [music]
testify? >> People twist your words. and the words Joe used to describe Heather in those audio messages.
>> It's dangerous [music] to be close to mom for me. >> Heather told us Joe was twisting reality
at the time. She says Joe was the dangerous one. And she created a website, Heather's abuse story,
detailing her side. We also asked Heather about that gun she says Brandon Hullbrook gave her before Joe's murder.
She says it was only for target practice. Is there any chance that gun is the murder weapon?
>> I don't know. No, I mean, obviously it was locked in my closet. >> Is there anything you're not telling us?
>> No. >> Look me in the eye. Are you lying about anything? >> I am [clears throat] not.
>> Either you're a bold-faced liar or you are extraordinarily unlucky. >> I am unlucky.
Heather says her focus is on raising her and Joe's children, and she's sad that they'll grow up without a father.
>> Miss, >> they have a very happy memories of their father, and I try I try to do what I can to honor and keep
that safe. >> She knows the Shamanskys want to see the kids, but says Joe's relatives can't
expect a full relationship with them while publicly pointing a finger at her. There needs to be a place we move on
>> other than this where they're constantly blaming me for something that I didn't
do. >> Are you afraid authorities will come for you? >> No. Not at all. >> I'm not worried at all. No.
>> If Joe never met Hutter Snider, Joe would be alive today. Calvert County, Maryland's top
prosecutor, Robert Harvey, declined our request for an interview, but wrote to us that there was a thorough and
exhaustive investigation into Mr. Shamansk's death. Mr. Hullbrook received a fair and impartial trial. Because Mr.
Hullbrook's case is under appeal, it remains open. Therefore, I'm not going to respond to questions regarding the
investigation, and I'm not going to speculate on what may or may not happen in the future. And when we asked
Pennsylvania authorities about Heather Snider, >> is there a current investigation into
Heather Snyder? >> I can't answer that question. Should there be? I can't answer that question.
>> Do you think Heather Snyder is involved in this crime in any way? >> I can't answer that.
>> But you do know the answer. >> Yes, but I'm not allowed to say. So many people watching are going to be
frustrated and they're going to think it it just >> logically you have to have known
something, >> right? But I didn't. That's the torturous part because people will, it's almost like they want to
believe that I was involved with it. They want that true crime narrative and it just simply wasn't the case.
>> [music] >> So, Captain, just where are we? What is this place? >> So, we're in the town of Kingsbury at
the bridge that goes over the canal on New Swamp Road. >> July 24th, 2005. Investigators are
called out here. What brought them out here? >> So, we had a report that a fisherman had
been going by. He saw what he thought to be a toolbox that goes in the back of a
pickup truck floating. >> What did investigators find inside that toolbox? Uh they found a woman's body
that was uh duct taped and handcuffed and wrapped in a comforter. It was terrible. It was a terrible thing to
see. [music] >> In January of 1996, I just finished my first semester of college in upstate New
York. My ex-boyfriend Shawn Doyle and I had been broken up for [music] approximately 4 months. My name is Cece
Opinowski. My mother was going away for the weekend, so I had this whole big house to myself and my friend Shannon
and I, [music] we were very close. I said, "Well, let's stay at my house cuz there's no one around." It was just a
girl's night. We just wanted to chill out. >> You know, it's winter, it's cold, we
built a fire. My parents had a [music] great stereo system. So, you know, we put on some music and danced around and,
you know, just did girl stuff. >> We both went to Sage Junior College, Albany. I'm really introvert. and she
was very bubbly and happy and chipper and she just she brought me out of my shell.
>> When you were first meeting her, was Shawn Doyle around at the time? >> Yes. He was obnoxious. She would argue
with him a lot on the phone. >> And then in January is when this incident happens at her
house. >> Mhm. We were having a good time. It was just the two of us, >> but he keeps calling.
>> Mhm. Wanting to know what we were doing, wanting to know if he can come over. She
had a cell phone and I was like, "Just [music] turn it off." Like, she's like, "No, cuz if I turn it off, he's going to
come here. We finally wake up and all we wanted was coffee." I had the of the mindset. I'm
like, "Oh, I can't go out in public looking like I'm a mess. Let me go home and get dressed." So, Shannon leaves and
I get up and go around the house doing whatever, watching TV, you know, being a lazy teenager. And I get a knock at the
door and I open it [music] and it's him. and he said, "I just want to talk to you." And once he was inside, things got
much different. He pushed me onto the couch, started, you know, holding me down and restraining [music] me and, you
know, yelling at me. And he picked me up and pushed me against the French doors and [music] kept banging me against the
French doors. After I got done out of the shower getting ready, I called. Nobody
answered. My hair was in a ponytail and he [music] picked me up, held me up, and cut my
hair off. He was gone. Just all of it. He had already been choking me and I thought he was going to stab me. I
called her back a half an hour later. She still didn't answer. And [music] that's when
my eyebrows kind of went up. >> I'm in complete shock. I can't believe it's happening and I have to figure out
how to get out of it. But during this [music] time, the phone continues to ring.
I waited a couple minutes and I called her back. >> I explained to him if I don't answer
this phone, my mother will call the police. So, I do pick up the phone and [music] it's Shannon.
>> I said, "Hey, are you okay?" >> And I don't know why I did this, but I started unloading the dishwasher and I'm
saying [music] to her, "No, no, yeah, everything's fine. No, no." And no kept coming out of my mouth and he didn't
pick up on it, but she sure did. And that's [music] when she said, "Is he there?" And I said, "Yes." And I hung up
the phone [music] and I called the cops. >> Believe me, I do realize how lucky I am.
>> Investigators are continuing to piece the case together now that they [music]
found Lorie Leonard gagged and bound with duct tape in a pickup body was found floating in a toolbox.
>> I'm fortunate that it could have been much, much worse. >> [music] [music] [music]
>> I can tell you that I knew nothing was ever going to be the same and it was going to change the way I
looked and everything. For Cece Opinowski, it has taken almost 30 years to talk about the day her former high
school boyfriend, Shawn Doyle, attacked her in her family's home in Hudson Falls, New York, [music] and then used
scissors to cut off her ponytail. What was it like to have your hair cut off in this way?
>> Demeaning. [music] >> Demeaning. Think that's why he did it? >> Probably. Just to make sure he could
knock me down somewhere. On that day, January 27th, 1996, as Doyle went in [music] and out of violent rages, at one
point holding the scissors to her throat, CeCe says she wasn't sure she would make it out alive until she says
her college roommate, Shannon McAuliff, called [music] when she finally picks up the phone.
What did you hear in her voice? Fear. >> Shannon says she knew that Doyle had been harassing Cece. So when CeCe told
her Doyle was there, Shannon notified police and then rushed over to Cece's house.
>> I pulled onto her street and I parked and then I saw the the the police officers and everything, so I kind of
went in after the fact. She [music] looked terrified and angry and sad. [snorts]
CeCe says she thought when police arrived they would make her feel safe, but that's not exactly what happened.
>> They do not put him in handcuffs and they put us in the back of the same police car. Mind you, all of this time
I've [music] clearly look like I've been assaulted. My hair is completely cut off. And when they arrived at the police
station, >> I was like, why why are we here? Why is he not why are we in the same room? CeCe
says instead of separating them, police questioned them together >> and they made it seem like it was some
fight between two young kids that turned, [music] you know, slightly dark. >> When 48 Hours reached out to the Hudson
Falls Police Department, they acknowledged that law enforcement's response to domestic violence has
evolved over the past several decades to better work with and support victims. >> [music]
>> Police arrested Doyle and charged him with menacing harassment and trespassing.
>> Looking at it and you're saying, [music] "Did this really happen to me?" You know, how could this happen to me?
CeCe Openski and Shawn Doyle grew up in the small town of Hudson Falls, located in upstate New York.
To protect Cece's privacy, we chose not to show the actual house where she lived.
>> He was nice to me. He was really nice. [music] >> When Cece started dating Shawn Doyle,
she was just 15 years old, a sophomore in high school. Doyle was one year older.
>> You know, we would go and do lots of things together. You know, we just hung out all the time.
>> CeCe says Doyle had troubles at home. [music] During his junior year, Doyle told her his parents kicked him out. So
Cece begged her parents to let him move in with them. >> Did you feel sorry for him? Oh,
definitely. >> Soon after he moved into Cece's family home, she says she saw a change in
Doyle's behavior. Cece says he became jealous and would secretly follow her around. Something she says she didn't
think at the time was a big deal. when you're a 16, 17 year old girl and you know you're looking at oh jealousy, you
know, he must love me so much and that's why he's doing this or he followed me home. He's so worried about me.
But is that really what the case is? When you you look back as an adult and someone with experience, you know, you
you think that's probably not not okay. And Doyle showed even more possessive behavior that Cece found troubling.
>> He at one point did get a tattoo. It was a heart on his arm and it had my name in
the middle. >> What did you say? Why would you do that? >> And his response, >> I love you.
>> Was it a red flag? >> Definitely. >> During his senior year, Cece says Doyle dropped out of high school and was
working odd jobs that he couldn't keep. >> And this is where things start to get
[music] darker. you know, he he doesn't have any prospects. He knows that I'm getting
ready to go away to school, and [music] to him, his whole life is is about to completely change. But Cece says she
stuck by him, [music] writing in her senior yearbook, I love you, Shawn. And in the summer of 1995, when she left
[music] to attend what is now Russell Sage College in Albany, they agreed to stay together and see each other on
weekends. But at the end of September, things took a scary turn when Cece told Doyle she
would not be coming home every weekend to see him. Doyle showed up at her dorm. >> He stood outside basically threatening
that he was going to kill me. >> And now he's threatening not just you, but anyone around you.
>> Basically anyone around me. So he was arrested. >> Doyle was charged with harassment and
trespassing. [music] It was the final straw for Cece, who says she broke it off with Doyle for
good, and he moved out of her parents' house. Later that winter, that's when Shawn Doyle showed up and viciously
[music] attacked her at her home. I know he threatened a lot, but did you ever believe that Shawn Doyle would have
physically hurt you? Not until that day. Not in that way. After [music] the attack, Cece returned to college and
finished up her freshman year. But Shannon says her friend had changed. I think it had a profound impact on her
life. You know, I was always looking over my shoulder. [music] I bought myself a Swiss Army knife. I'm
having night tears, you know, waking up crying, [music] waking up screaming, not
being able to sleep. Awful. Awful. So, eight months after the attack, when it was time to take the case to trial,
Cece, who was still [music] just a teenager at 19 years old, told prosecutors she couldn't go through with
it. She says she was too traumatized and scared. >> I didn't want to have to face him in
court. I didn't want to be going over this over and over and over again. I really wanted it to go away.
>> Doyle was offered a deal. He pleaded guilty to menacing in the second degree and was sentenced to just three years
probation. CC transferred colleges and moved hours away [music] from Hudson Falls, New York.
>> I needed peace and I didn't know how to get it. >> CeCe tried to forget her past. But she
says she was haunted by a conversation she had with the prosecutor. [music] She said, "You know, based on what I see
here, he is going to do this again to another person." And that has for the past 28 years stuck
in my head. >> [music] >> Nine years after CC Openowski left upstate New York for a new life far away
from Sha Doyle, 33-year-old Lorie Leonard [music] disappeared. >> Say hi, Lorie.
>> Say hi. Lorie Leonard was a single mom who lived with her two sons, Austin, who
was nine at the time, and Zachary, five, in Chinnano, a small town outside Syracuse, New York.
>> She was a a very caring mother. The memories of her just us always being happy together, [music] spending time
kind of always the three of us. >> Say hi. >> It was just a lot of love and affection.
Her dream was to have a home, a father figure for her kids and for them to be happy. She wanted the white picket
fence. >> Jennifer Leonard was Lor's older sister. >> We were good friends, but I was a little
bit of a bossy mother to her. I had been through a lot of things already in my life, in my relationships, and [music] I
was very, I would say, overprotective. In 2003, Lori met a man on a dating website, cupcid.com. [music]
His name Shaun Doyle. Online dating was new back then, so [music] Jennifer was skeptical about him.
>> He was not charismatic. He was not social. He was like a piece of furniture that you just walked around.
>> But she says Lorie didn't agree. She only saw the good in people. >> She would say, you know, he's
misunderstood or he's shy. Jennifer says Lorie told her very little about Doyle except that he lived 3 hours away in
Hudson Falls, New York, and worked at an ice cream [music] factory. She also mentioned that Doyle was on probation.
>> She told me that he was a boxer, that he was protecting a woman at a bar and was
arrested because he used some of his professional boxing moves. >> Did you ever see any sort of evidence of
his professional boxing? I mean, did he do you think he was even a boxer ever? >> I didn't buy the stories that he was
selling her. It sounded like he was trying to be something that he was not. >> Jennifer says after her sister met
Doyle, Lorie became distant. >> I would talk to Lori three times a day. >> And then when Shawn came into the
picture, [music] >> it was it was a little quiet >> and things only got worse. I had called
her one night and he was over there and all I could hear in the background was him yelling at her and that I was like,
"What is this?" And she's like, "You know, I'll call you back. It's not a big deal." But I think what scared me more
than anything was when he was caught yelling at her, it stopped. The kind of guys that, you know, don't want anyone
else to see what happens behind closed doors. He was sneaky. Soon after this incident, Lorie ended
her romantic relationship with Doyle. Lorie told Jennifer they agreed to be just friends and that he was fine with
it. >> And I was like, "No, he's not. Nope. People like that aren't just okay with
being friends." >> Despite the breakup, Doyle would still drive 3 hours from Hudson Falls to visit
Lorie, [music] oftentimes hanging out at the bar where she waitressed late at night. Sean always called me and he he'd
call me to get advice. >> Dorothy Tucker lived down the street from Doyle in Hudson Falls and
considered him a close friend. >> I saw a sweet guy who would bend over backwards if I asked him to.
>> However, after the relationship with Lorie ended, she says Doyle told her he had followed Lorie and watched her as
she went out on a date. I was like, "Sean, you can't do that. She does not want to be with you."
>> Were you starting to get concerned about him and his behavior at that point? >> No. No. Because he agreed with me. I
didn't see the monster that he really was. He hid it quite well. >> On Friday, [music] April 29th, 2005,
Lorie, who was living with Jennifer, moved to a new rental apartment. >> Usually, people are miserable when
they're moving. She was just happy. Lorie's nephew, Dustin Delator, who was 15 at the time, helped with the move.
>> She wanted her own place. She saw her future in that day. >> Also helping with the move was Shawn
Doyle, who offered up use of his truck. >> She had asked a couple other people before that, so he was a last resort. He
was still playing the I'm your friend. >> What was Shawn like that day? >> Standoffish, just I mean, quiet.
Jennifer says the move went smoothly until Doyle decided to hang around and stayed with Lorie in her new place for
days. >> It was starting to get on her nerves. Now, >> 5 days after the move, Jennifer says
Lorie told her Doyle was finally leaving because Lorie had plans to go to Albany
for the afternoon. She was supposed to go pick up the tickets, >> tickets to a Yankees game, [music] a
gift from someone she had met at work. >> Were you concerned at all about her going to pick up tickets from a
stranger? >> Yes, but that was how she was. She was very trusting. >> On Wednesday, May 4th, Jennifer called
Lorie in the afternoon, hoping to catch her while she was heading to Albany. >> And it kept going straight to voicemail.
>> Was that weird? >> Oh, her phone never went straight to voicemail. It was never off. At first,
Jennifer thought she may have gotten lost on the drive or that her phone battery had died.
>> It wasn't a thought at the time that that something bad happened, just that, you know, [music] where is she?
>> 24 hours later, when Lorie never called or returned home, Jennifer notified the
Chinano police. >> Patrol started looking into her whereabouts at that time. >> Lead investigator Wade Irwin searched
Lorie's rental apartment. She had just moved into the home. There were still lots of boxes, items being unpacked.
Didn't appear that there was any signs of a breakin or a crime that occurred at the home, but her car was there.
>> And he said there was something else unsettling about the scene. >> And there was one shoe in the center of
the bed. That was odd. >> Investigator Irwin says he was determined to speak to one person. The
last person that that we were able to determine that saw her was Shawn Doyle. >> But before investigators could reach out
to Doyle, Jennifer says she tracked down Doyle's number and called him herself. >> Sean, have you talked to Lorie? And uh
he goes, "No, I haven't talked to her in a couple of days." "Um, wasn't she supposed to get tickets the other
night?" And I'm like, "Yeah, she [music] was, but we haven't heard from her since." I'm like, "You know, if she
calls you, let us know because the phone's off." off and he's like, "Oh yeah, definitely let you know." When I
hung up, I was like I had chills and I'm like, "He's full of it." He knows something.
[music] As the days went by, Chinenangeno investigators reached out to everyone who had contact with Lorie
Leonard prior to her disappearance, including the man she was supposed to get Yankees tickets from in Albany.
>> He was an executive for a company. We were able to track him down. He was interviewed.
>> Detective Wade Irwin says the executive waited for Lorie in Albany and when she
never showed up, he called her [music] and even left a message. who was calling with concern of where she was. We're
supposed to meet up. I got the tickets. I'm here. Are you okay? I hope an accident didn't happen.
>> His alibi checked out, but Lorie's phone records would reveal a lot more about
another person [music] who hadn't called. >> What became concerning for myself as a
person that cared about her supposedly, >> Shawn Doyle. >> Shawn Doyle never called, never left a
message. When Chidanango police went to interview Lor's former boyfriend, he told them that on the day she
disappeared, he left her apartment about 300 p.m. and then drove 3 hours home to
Hudson Falls. >> He just always had said all along that he left her and she was alive at the
apartment. >> When they checked out his alibi, Detective Irwin says they couldn't clear
him. Yet Doyle was cooperative and even allowed investigators to search his truck and take photos. When they
searched Doyle's glove compartment, they found something curious. >> There was a key for the serial number on
it. >> As investigators [music] kept an eye out on Doyle and continued to search for
Lorie, Jennifer says her family struggled to explain Lorie's disappearance [music] to her two young
sons. After several days to several weeks, you know something's up. Your mother's not home. There's a question as
we know. Where is she? What's what's she doing? >> We would say things like, "She got lost.
You know, we'll get her. We'll find her." >> To make matters worse, Austin and Zachary were now separated, staying with
their fathers and only seeing each other on weekends. >> We'd lived together our whole lives.
That was obviously different, you know, waking up every day with one, your mom's
not there, uh, but [music] two, now your brother isn't. We were suffering and every day
our family was doing something to find her. We were looking for her. We were a welloiled machine.
>> Jennifer suspected Shawn Doyle had something to do with her sister's disappearance. So [music] weeks after
Lorie vanished, she headed to Hudson Falls and held a demonstration, hoping someone there would know something about
Doyle that could help investigators. [music] We had posters. We had signs. We had
Sean's name up on signs. If anybody will speak to us. >> Dorothy Tucker says when she heard
Lorie's family was in town, she immediately called Doyle. >> I was like, Sean, what's going on? You
know, did you do something? I didn't do anything to her. She's probably off on a
beach somewhere with some guy. >> But you believe Sean at the time? >> Oh, definitely. Later that day, when
Dorothy passed Lor's family rallying on the streets, she says she [music] did something she has come to deeply regret.
>> Like an idiot, I yelled out the window, [music] telling them to go home. Shawn
didn't do anything and they needed to leave. >> As months passed, with no sign of Lorie,
the family's hopes began to dwindle. I made a promise to find a resolution to this for them and give them [music]
the closure and answers that they needed. It was disheartening because every night [music]
I'd call them and give them an update regardless of whether there was positive or negative [music] information. And
then on July 24th, 2005, 3 months after Lorie went missing, >> we had a report that a fisherman had
been going by in this area here. >> Captain TonyLair is with the Washington County Sheriff's Office. [music]
>> He saw what he thought to be a toolbox that goes in the back of a pickup truck
floating. Thought it may be useful for him, [music] so he grabbed onto it, towed it with his boat about a mile and
a half, and then they dragged it out of the water. The box was locked and emitting a
[music] foul odor. So, police were called and when they broke open the lock, authorities discovered a body
inside [music] >> and there was contents, pillows, bedding, purse, but right on top was
Lorie's ID. >> Also in the box was a photo of Lorie's two sons. >> She was handcuffed behind her back.
There was duct tape [clears throat] around the handcuffs. Her feet were bound together and duct taped. Her face
from chin to forehead. Um had duct tape and then once that duct tape was removed, there was a bandana
tied in her mouth. >> The medical examiner would rule that Lorie died of asphyxiation.
>> I couldn't wrap my head around what they were saying. What do you mean she was
found in a toolbox in the water? I I couldn't I couldn't I couldn't accept it. >> Detective Irwin says that's when Shawn
Doyle went from a person of interest to a [music] suspect in the case. >> Everything started to come together real
quickly. We got a search warrant within hours to go to his residence. [music] During their search, police found sand
tubes in his garage that matched the sand tubes inside [music] the toolbox used to weigh it down. We were able to
track down in the home similar handcuffs, bandanas, [music] duct tape, other means he used that matched what
was used on Lorie. >> Remember the key investigators had discovered in Shawn Doyle's truck? It
matched the lock of the toolbox, tying Doyle directly to the crime. [music] When investigators checked the bridge
near the canal where the toolbox was found, they discovered scratches on the bridge railing that match scratches
found on the bottom of the toolbox. Just tell me about what investigators think happened. What was the theory? The
theory is that he came here with his pickup truck, came to the bridge um somewhere in the center of the canal and
took the toolbox and basically just pushed it over the edge. And as he did, it scraped across.
>> Just one day [music] after the discovery of Lorie's body in the toolbox, investigators arrested Shawn Doyle. What
was that moment like for you? overwhelming. >> Jennifer says it was time to break the
news to Lorie's two young sons. Zachary remembers the moment [music] even though
he was only 5 years old. >> I felt it as soon as I walked into the room. And I think my dad was the one
that said that she's not coming home. [music] Just kind of fell into him and just didn't know how to react.
>> I watched a little boy break. He said not a word. Then it was time to tell 9-year-old Austin.
>> You know, I left out kind of like a shriek [music] and and kind of just collapsed uh in my dad. And that I can
still kind of feel it. >> And he wailed. It wasn't a cry. [music] It was it was a
pained guttural whale. I'll always have that sound in my head. Jennifer says she couldn't truly mourn
her sister [music] because she had to prepare for Doyle's upcoming trial. I was going to make sure that he got what
he deserved. >> [music] >> In late summer of 2005, [music] Cece Openowski received a phone call from her
father. Her exboyfriend Shawn [music] Doyle had been arrested for murder. >> I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I
couldn't believe it. You don't want it to be true, and it's terrible. When CC learned the victim was 33-year-old Lorie
Leonard, a single mom of two young boys, she said she was overwhelmed with extreme guilt.
>> That was a breaking point for me. I felt for her whole entire family and her two
young children. >> CeCe says she was haunted by the choice she made as a traumatized and scared
teenager. And all I can think about is if I could go back, I would have done it differently.
I would have pressed my charges much further. >> So just weeks later, when investigators
reached out to Cece and asked if she would testify at Doyle's trial, she was determined to help.
>> I need to make sure that he is put away for for murdering [music] Lorie. At this
point now, I'm angry. I'm not fearful. But Cece was not Doyle's only ex-girlfriend, who investigators hoped
would [music] testify against him. 5 years after Doyle attacked Cece, he allegedly tried to kill 23-year-old
Sarah Walmer. >> When the investigators came a couple months ago and got me out of my work,
>> 48 Hours reached out to Vulmer and received no response, but she did speak with the CBS affiliate in Albany about
the attack in 2005. He had tied me up with shoelaces and um put the duct tape back over my mouth and then just began
strangling me until I passed out and then my mother walked in on it. >> Doyle was charged with unlawful
imprisonment in the second degree and assault in the third degree. But again, a deal was made. Doyle pleaded guilty
only to the charge of unlawful imprisonment. A judge sentenced him to three years probation.
On January 23rd, 2006, Shawn Doyle's trial began. It was a day that Lorie's sister, Jennifer, had waited for.
>> I was going to be her advocate. I was going to speak for her. I was going to speak for the boys.
>> When Doyle entered the courtroom, Jennifer says she was caught off guard because his appearance had changed.
>> What do you look like? >> Choir boy. He'd grown his hair. He had a sweater on.
>> Kevin Courtright, now retired, had only been district attorney for less than a
month. He says key to his case was making sure Doyle's other victims, Cece and Sarah, would be allowed to testify.
Often times, judges do not allow a defendant's prior bad acts to be brought into trial. Why were the women so
crucial? >> It shows what he was capable of. He'd done it almost exactly the same in the
past. It's his motus operandi. It's strong proof. >> Despite the defense's objections, the
judge ruled that CC and Sarah could testify. But first, DA court presented the jury with all the pieces of physical
evidence that pointed to Shawn Doyle, like the items they found in Doyy's garage and home, the sandbags and
handcuffs. And what about that bandana? He wore a bandana 24 hours a day. He had
bandanas in his bedroom. He had bandanas in his truck. The bandana in Lor's mouth
was the one I believe he was wearing that day. [music] And then there was that toolbox. Courtright called to the
stand a clerk from a local AutoZone store [music] who says she sold Doyle the toolbox just one week before Lorie
disappeared. >> She identified him perfectly. She even identified his shirt he was wearing. And
the [music] most important piece of evidence, that key found in his glove compartment that tied Doyle directly to
the box. >> That was as strong as evidence as you could get. >> Retired journalist Don Leman covered the
trial [music] for the Postar newspaper. >> The key to the toolbox was there was no
way around that. >> Then court called Dorothy Tucker, Shaun's once close friend, to the stand.
He says she was a major witness because she provided information as to how they believe Doyle transported Lorie's body
from Tinango. 3 hours over to Hudson Falls after he murdered her. >> He just kept calling me.
>> Dorothy told the jury that the day that Lorie disappeared, Doyle stopped by her
house. In the back of his truck, she says, [music] was a very large cardboard box. I said, "Sean, what do you got
there?" He saw just garbage junk I had at Lorie's. He said, "Take it to the dump."
>> DA Courtright believes Lorie's body was in the box and that at some point Doyle
transferred her body to the toolbox. Dorothy testified just days after his first visit. Doyle showed up at her
house again and the cardboard box had been replaced by a large tool box. I walk out and I said, "Hey Sean, what do
you need a toolbox for? You don't have any tools to put in it." And he laughed and Yeah. Yeah. You know. So then he
started saying about a friend he was going to meet him. They were going to go fishing.
>> Dorothy said Doyle told her he was going to fish by the Champlain Lock Canal area, a place he knew well and
frequented often. Doyle had even taken Cece there many times when they dated. >> Lori was in the box that day and he was
taking her to dump her in the canal where she was later found. >> District Attorney Courtright called Cece
Openowski as his last witness. >> He always put the best for the last. >> I was very, very nervous.
>> CeCe told the jury about the attack and the longlasting [music] mental anguish
Shawn Doyle caused her. What did you want Shawn Doyle to see? that I wasn't afraid, that you're not my scary
anything anymore. >> When it was the defense's turn, Lehman says they tried to poke holes in the
prosecution's case. >> There just was not not a lot of holes to poke. >> We reached out [music] to Shawn Doyle
and members of Doyle's family, but they declined to be interviewed. After three long days of testimony,
the case went to the jury. Lorie Leonard's family members held their breath. >> I felt like I hadn't exhaled in months.
And that's what I needed. [music] I needed to exhale. Despite all the evidence against Shawn
Doyle, retired journalist Don Leman says no one knew which way the jury would rule. But there have been times that
we've seen many cases where the [music] jury does things that just kind of defy the evidence.
>> On January 26th, 2006, after just 2 and 1/2 hours of deliberations, the jury came back with a verdict. Guilty of
seconddegree murder. When the guilty verdict was read, Lorie Leonard's family burst into cheers and
sobs, but Shawn Doyle showed little reaction. >> Guilty. >> Mhm. What went through your mind when
you heard that word? >> Thank God. >> Why does it still affect you? >> Because bad things happen to good
people. >> I was relieved and happy that he was going to be punished for what he did.
>> For Cece, it was difficult to process the fact that a person she once loved was convicted of murder.
>> To me, it almost felt like there wasn't a man left inside of him. but more like
a monster. For your crimes to become worse as you go, to almost perfect them, to think about them in that serial
fashion. >> One month later, before Doyle was sentenced, a judge listened to testimony
and read over victim impact statements from Lorie's friends and family. >> Prison isn't even the right place for
someone like him. It's not punishment enough. >> It's a good picture. That's a good one.
Austin and Zachary. Lor's sons were too young to attend trial, but both wrote letters to the judge.
>> She let me sleep with her when I was scared and when I see something scary and hear something scary. We used to
sing songs we like the most together. I think my mom was the greatest mom in the world.
My mom, my brother, and I had really great times together. >> [snorts] >> I'm also sad because
[snorts] I'll never see my mom anymore now because of what happened. >> Shawn Doyle was sentenced to the
maximum, 25 years to life with the possibility of parole. >> Was that enough? >> I didn't think so.
>> You don't want him getting out? >> No. Mm-m. There's no forgiveness. No way, man. None. None.
>> He's [music] a danger to society and I I hope he never gets out. >> Dorothy Tucker, who initially stood by
Doyle, says she feels betrayed [music] by him. >> He lied straight to my face. And [music] here is someone that I
trusted, thought I knew, never saw that side of him. >> Dorothy hopes Lorie's family will
forgive her for how she previously treated them when they came to rally against Doyle in Hudson Falls. [music]
>> I wanted to tell them how sorry I was, and I still am. That was totally [music]
uncalled for, and it was unacceptable behavior on my part. Don Leman, who has covered many domestic violence cases in
his almost 30 years as a reporter, says there are important lessons that can be learned from Cece and Sarah's attacks
and Lorie's murder. >> Every case of domestic violence is a potential homicide. They all have to be
taken seriously. They all have to be handled in a way to protect these victims. you know, as a young woman with
two young kids. It's just mindboggling that these kids lost their mom to a guy like this.
Cece, who bravely came forward to tell her story, hopes that others can learn from her.
Be vigilant. Look at what's happening in front of you and make sure someone knows. Don't keep it quiet. Pay
attention. And when you have that feeling, that one that doesn't go away, you know, the one that you try to push
down, that's the one you should listen to the most. She says she is ready to let [music] go
of the guilt she has felt for what happened to Lorie. I've waited so long and I've had to live
with it for all of these years. It's not her fault. It's the system [music] that failed. She did what she had to do.
I don't blame her. I feel sad that she's felt guilt all this time. >> How do you want your sister to be
remembered? Lorianne, she so fun, so funny, so loving. For Jennifer, she longs for the life she
always thought she would have with Lorie. >> We were supposed to be living in the
same place and going out and raising our kids and having parties. And that's what it was
supposed to be. [music] That's what we were supposed to have. And I'm it. Just me and the kids trying to get along
without her. >> What do you miss the most about Lori? >> In moments where I'm [music] really sad,
where I'm like, I just need her to hold me. And she hasn't been able to do that in 20 years.
48 hours. To miss it would be a crime. >> Were you at all prepared for what happened in this case?
[music] [music] >> [music] [music]

Catch up on some of the intriguing true-crime investigations that “48 Hours” released in 2025. Watch the YouTube super marathon, which includes "My Mother's Murder Trials: Part 1," "My Mother's Murder Trials: Part 2," "My Uncle Joe's Murder" and "Facing a Monster."

00:00 My Mother's Murder Trials: Part 1 43:30 My Mother's Murder Trials: Part 2 01:25:17 My Uncle Joe's Murder 02:06:27 Facing a Monster

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Brief Summary

Dana Chandler faces multiple trials for the 2002 murders of her ex-husband and his girlfriend, with family dynamics complicating the case.

Key points

Dana's Defense Strategy. Dana Chandler represents herself in court during her trial for the murders.
Haley's Quest for Justice. Haley, the daughter of Mike Cisco, is determined to seek justice for her father's murder.
Haley's Testimony. Haley testifies against her mother, revealing the emotional turmoil of the situation.
The Role of Obsession. The prosecution argues that Dana's obsession with her ex-husband and his girlfriend is key evidence against her.
Jury's Split Verdict. After deliberating, the jury is deadlocked, with seven votes to convict and five to acquit.
Dana Chandler's Testimony. Chandler reflects on her past and her relationship with her children, expressing regret and a desire for connection.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I thought I could kill him.

Dana Chandler admits to having violent thoughts about her ex-husband.

18:38WatchDec 20, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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