Kriti Mehrotra
When Mike Sisco and Karen Harkness were found heinously murdered in the basement bedroom of the latter’s Topeka, Kansas, home on July 7, 2002, it left both their families shattered. The duo actually seemed ready to start the next chapter of their lives at the time, according to CBS’ ’48 Hours: My Mother’s Murder Trials,’ which made the matter even more heartbreaking. Therefore, with there being no signs of a robbery and some past issues with his ex-wife, Dana Chandler, officials quickly zeroed in on the particular individual for the deaths of the engaged couple.
Dana Chandler Didn’t Take Her Divorce From Mike Sisco Well
It was reportedly around 1982 when Dana Lynn Chandler married the man she believed to be her forever partner, Michael “Mike” Ray Sisco, before happily settling with him in the suburbs. The couple welcomed two children into the world – Hailey Sisco and Dustin Sisco – in the years that followed, only for their entire reality to change by the time the mid-1990s rolled around. That’s because their marriage had crumbled apart to such an extent that they filed for divorce in 1994, which then proved to be so bitter and contentious that they couldn’t finalize anything until 1998.
According to records, Dana was admittedly struggling with alcohol abuse at the time, so the children’s primary custody was awarded to Mike as he could provide a stable environment. In fact, while he remained in Topeka, Kansas, his former partner soon relocated to Denver, Colorado, approximately 500 miles away from the life and the family they once knew. The mother of two reportedly worked hard on getting sober, even going as far as to attend 3 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a day at one point, but the separation still affected her a lot.
As per court records, Dana became “obsessed” with Mike and his new romance with Karen Harkness in the ensuing years, calling them, harassing them, and stalking them at every turn. She also spoke negatively about them, calling her ex “it” and a “rapist” in an email to Hailey when she was just 14 and often referring to her ex’s partner as a “homewrecker,” “s**t,” or “w***e.” All this spanned years, reportedly driving Mike to tell his brother-in-law he was scared for his and his fiancée’s lives 9 days before they were found dead in her home on July 7, 2002.
Authorities Zeroed in on Dana Chandler for the Double Homicide Based on Circumstantial Evidence
When officials called Dana Chandler to inform her about Mike and Karen’s double murder on the day their remains were discovered, they found her reaction to be very emotionless and wary. The fact that she called the police station 4 days later to “confirm” the couple was dead struck them as strange, too, giving rise to suspicion about her possible involvement in the matter. All of the victims’ loved ones pointing their fingers at her almost immediately didn’t help her either, especially as they gave a background of why they believed her to be responsible.
According to the show, investigators looked into other potential suspects, such as their children and two individuals who had allegedly recently stolen from Mike, but all had rock-solid alibis. On the other hand, Dana claimed she went to a store on July 6, then returned home, spent the night alone, and went to the Colorado mountains early the next morning. However, not only did she fail to mention buying two 5-gallon gas cans alongside her other purchases, but her phone was also not used for roughly 27 hours over the weekend. Moreover, detectives could not confirm she ever went to the mountains, and one of her co-workers later testified that she told him she’d spent the night of July 6/7 in her car in the mountains.
Dana eventually claimed she had bought the gas for a friend from Alcoholics Anonymous, an alibi that investigators testified they could not verify because she never named the friend. Investigators then tried to confirm her alibi, but surveillance footage from Rocky Mountain National Park did not show her entering or exiting the area when she claimed she did. They also couldn’t find any proof of her driving from Denver to Topeka to commit the murders, but a truck stop employee around mid-way did state she was 70% sure she saw her that night. One of her friends reportedly came forward to say she had driven to Topeka around a month before the incident for no reason, which prosecutors theorized was a “dry run.”
Dana Chandler Was Convicted of Murder in 2012
Although Dana was the primary suspect in connection with Mike and Karen’s 2002 case, she wasn’t arrested initially because there was no concrete evidence to prove her guilt. Even the DNA samples and fingerprints recovered from the scene did not match hers (or anyone else’s), but statements regarding her past actions and conduct led the DA to press charges in 2011. She was arrested in Oklahoma on July 24, 2011, where she had moved years before in the hopes of moving forward in her life, following which she was charged with 2 counts of murder. She stood trial for the same in March 2012, during which her ex-brother-in-law, ex-sister-in-law, two children, co-workers, and a former friend all testified for the prosecution.
According to court records, they all detailed Dana’s “obsession” with Mike and Karen through various examples and accounts of things they had allegedly witnessed firsthand. Hailey and Dustin also stated she once even dragged them along as her “little helpers,” making them spy on their father by peeking through windows. Hailey further opened up about secretly recording conversations with her mother from 2005 onwards in the hopes of getting a confession because she believed her to be responsible. In one such taping, Dana could be heard saying she had “honestly” thought of killing Mike.
The prosecutors further claimed Dana’s ex-husband had an order of protection against her and brought out forensic experts to testify about her pattern of harassment and stalking. They brought to light the fact that she called Mike and Karen a total of 645 times in 2002 alone – from January 1 to July 7 – with them often being late at night and in quick succession. One such example of it was from June 3, when she called them 17 times in 18 minutes. As a result, after just 83 minutes of deliberations, she was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole for a hundred years.
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After 3 Trials Over 13 Years, Dana Chandler is Now Incarcerated in State Prison
Dana’s team quickly began filing appeals to fight her conviction and sentencing, but it was in 2019 that the Supreme Court overturned the verdict on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct. The lead prosecutor in the case had falsely stated Mike had an order of protection against his ex-wife and given jurors the suspected path she had driven on the fateful night as if it were a fact. Therefore, stemming from the prosecutor’s “intolerable acts of deception,” her entire conviction was thrown out, but the DA immediately decided to retry her, and so she was held on bond.
Dana’s second trial was scheduled for the summer of 2022, before which she reportedly filed nearly 400 motions seeking her release from prison, challenging her $1 million bond, and opposing further prosecution. Nevertheless, she remained in custody until she finally returned to court in August 2022 to face the same charges of two counts of first-degree murder. After 3 weeks of testimonies, the case went to the jury, but they remained deadlocked even after 6 long days of deliberation, resulting in a mistrial. While 7 jurors voted to convict, 5 voted to acquit.
Dana’s bond was subsequently reduced, allowing her to be released under state supervision with a GPS ankle tracker at all times. She was tried for a third time in early 2025, with the proceedings held in the rural area of Westmoreland due to extensive media attention on the matter. On the morning of opening statements on February 7, the defendant dismissed her attorney and decided to represent herself, so she navigated the entire trial. She even took the stand and testified for over 20 hours over 7 days, all the while also cross-examining all of the prosecutors’ witnesses. In the end, after about 4 hours of deliberations, the jury found her guilty as charged. On June 3, 2025, Dana was sentenced to 2 consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole for 50 years each (100 years total). So, today, at age 66, she is incarcerated in a Kansas prison. However, we should also mention that she has since started working on an appeal.
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