Daughter suspects mother in double murder as Kansas courtroom drama deepens

Hailey Seel told a Shawnee County jury that her mother, Dana Chandler, watched the homes of Mike Sisco and Karen Harkness and confronted them before they were shot to death in Topeka. Years after the killings, Seel gave a victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing.

Sisco, 47, and Harkness, 53, were killed on July 7, 2002, in Harkness’ Topeka home. Each was shot multiple times with a 9mm gun, and the murder weapon was never found. Police quickly focused on Chandler after members of the Harkness and Sisco families described bizarre visits and frequent phone calls that followed Sisco’s bitter divorce and custody battle.

Chandler has always denied killing the couple. She said, “I have always maintained my innocence. I continue to maintain my innocence. I was not in Topeka, Kansas, on July 7. I never owned or possessed a 9-millimeter firearm. What is happening in this courtroom is a grave injustice. I was not the one who killed them.” The case moved through a long series of reversals and retrials: Chandler was arrested in 2011, convicted in 2012, and later had those convictions overturned in 2018 by the Kansas Supreme Court over prosecutorial misconduct, including statements the court called “made-up” and “misleading.” One prosecutor later faced disbarment. Her second trial ended in a hung jury in 2022.

Chandler represented herself in her third trial in 2025 after firing her attorneys before opening statements. On March 7, 2025, jurors found her guilty on two counts of first-degree murder. On June 3, Judge Cheryl Rios sentenced her to two consecutive life terms, with no chance of parole for 50 years and credit for about 13 years already served.

At the hearing, Seel told the court she could no longer live in a fairy tale. Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay called the outcome justice served. The two-hour season finale, My Mother’s Murder Trials, aired May 31, 2025.