Dana Chandler Was Tried Three Times for a Double Murder. Why Is Her Case So Controversial?

On July 7, 2002, Mike Sisco and his fiancée, Karen Harkness, were found shot to death in her home in Topeka, Kansas. Police suspected Sisco’s ex-wife, Dana Chandler, but did not charge her until 2011. She has since stood trial three times for the murders. Now, HBO’s A Killer Story examines why her convictions remain so contentious.Sisco’s family told police that Chandler had harassed him and Harkness since the divorce. But Chandler lived in Denver and claimed she was in Colorado the weekend of the murders. The investigation went cold, and Chandler was not charged until a new district attorney took the case forward in 2011. After three trials, Chandler was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison on June 3, 2025.But not everyone was so sure of her guilt. True crime enthusiasts Eileen Umbehr and her husband Keen, a lawyer, had followed the case for years. They didn’t know Chandler, but after her conviction, they began going through the evidence, convinced that she was innocent. The couple contacted investigative journalist Joe Sexton, and after 2,714 emails from the Umbehr’s, he agreed to investigate. This investigation would become the new three-part HBO docuseries.Here’s what to know about Dana Chandler’s case, her trials, and the murders of her ex-husband and his fiancée.What Happened to Mike Sisco and Karen Harkness?Sisco, 47, and Harkness, 53, spent the evening of July 6, 2002, at a casino outside Topeka. They left around 1:30 a.m. and arrived at Harkness’s townhome before 3 a.m. They were found shot to death in their bed by Harkness’s father, Harold Worswick.When Worswick found them on July 7, Herkness was still wearing her jewelry. Sisco had cash in his wallet, and Harkness had cash in her purse. Investigators recovered shell casings, but found no fingerprints on them. The gun was never found. The only piece of DNA is a single hair left behind on a shell casing found in the bedroom, according to Time.What Was the Evidence Against Dana Chandler?Chandler was arrested in Duncan, Oklahoma on June 25, 2011 and charged with two counts of first-degree murder, according to WIBW. Prosecutors said Chandler had become fixated on Sisco after their divorce. At her first trial, an FBI analyst testified that she had made 645 calls⁠ to Sisco’s home and cell phones and Harkness’s home phone between January and July 2002. Witnesses also described Chandler confronting the couple and watching their homes.Investigators questioned where she’d been on the murder weekend. Receipts placed her in Denver on July 6 and elsewhere in Colorado late the next afternoon. Chandler gave different accounts of her travels during the hours between. She’d also bought two five-gallon gas cans, which she hadn’t mentioned to police. Prosecutors argued⁠ she used the time to drive to Kansas, kill Sisco and Harkness, and then return to Colorado.They pointed to a long gap in her phone activity that weekend. Chandler maintained she had stayed in Colorado. No one at the first trial testified to seeing her at Harkness’s home, and testing excluded her as the source of a hair found on a shell casing.The jury convicted her of both murders in 2012. Jurors reached their verdict in 83 minutes.Why Was Dana Chandler’s First Conviction Overturned?In 1998, Sisco asked a court for a restraining order against Chandler, saying she’d followed and harassed him. The record shows no judge ruled on his request. But at Chandler’s first trial, Detective Richard Volle testified that Sisco had obtained a protection-from-abuse order, and prosecutor Jacqueline Spradling told jurors a judge had granted it. No such order existed.The Kansas Supreme Court overturned the convictions⁠ in 2018, ruling that the false claim and other errors had kept Chandler from having a fair trial. The judges also found enough evidence for prosecutors to try her again.Keen Umbehr, an attorney who’d been examining the case with his wife, Eileen, filed a complaint⁠ about Spradling’s conduct in 2016. The resulting disciplinary investigation was paused while Chandler’s appeal went forward.Spradling was disbarred in 2022 for misconduct.What Happened at Chandler’s Second Trial?Near the end of the 2022 retrial, prosecutors called a new witness. Terri Anderson said she heard gunshots around 11:30 p.m. and saw someone resembling Chandler drive away from the area. Anderson had lived about a block and a half from Harkness.The time didn’t fit. Sisco and Harkness were still at the casino⁠ and did not leave until about 1:30 a.m. Police also found no record of the 911 call Anderson said she made. Defense attorney Tom Bath challenged her account. But prosecutor Charles Kitt, in an unusual move, told jurors he wasn’t asking them to believe or disbelieve it. Instead, he asked them to consider Chandler’s behavior toward Sisco. “This is not a case that science can solve for us,” he said.After six days of deliberations⁠, seven jurors favored conviction and five favored acquittal. The judge declared a mistrial.What Happened at Chandler’s Third Trial?Chandler dismissed her attorneys as her third trial began in 2025 and took over her defense. Her children, Hailey Seel and Dustin Sisco, testified for the prosecution, as they had at the earlier trials. Both believe their mother killed their father and Harkness. This time, Chandler questioned them herself.⁠She also testified for approximately 20 hours over seven days, denying that she had gone to Topeka or owned the kind of gun used in the murders. The jury found her guilty of both killings in March 2025. She received two consecutive life sentences that June.At sentencing, Seel described what years of trials had done to her relationship with her mother. “I don’t want to call you evil killer, but I can’t live in a fairytale,” she said⁠. Chandler continues to deny killing the couple.Who Are the Umbehrs in A Killer Story?Eileen and Keen Umbehr didn’t know Chandler when they began investigating the case. Eventually, Keen closed his law practice and the couple sold 500 acres of family land⁠ to work on it full time.In 2017, Eileen began emailing investigative journalist Joe Sexton. He initially declined to pursue her tip, but she kept sending records. Email number 2,714 brought news that the Supreme Court had overturned Chandler’s convictions. Sexton finally agreed to meet with the Umbehrs.The couple also suspected another man, Jeff Sutton, who denies any involvement. Police have never named him a suspect and testing excluded him as the source of the hair on the shell casing.Where Is Dana Chandler Now?Chandler, now 66, is serving her life sentence at the Topeka Correctional Facility in Kansas. She’s currently pursuing an appeal⁠, though her motion for a fourth trial was denied in April 2025.Chandler won’t be eligible for parole for another 50 years, with credit for about 13 years of time served. Her earliest release date is December 8, 2063.How to Watch A Killer StoryA Killer Story follows Sexton⁠ as he examines the state’s case and the Umbehrs’ claims. Directed by Matthew Galkin, the three-episode docuseries premiered on HBO in September. It showcases the Umbehrs’ working to prove Chandler’s innocence and Sexton’s investigation into the case. Episodes are released weekly and are available to stream on HBO Max.