One Disillusion From Murder

Disillusion This is the story of love gone wrong in so many different ways. Family relationships, romantic relationships and the disconnection between them all that can lead to murder. Our story begins in the summer of 2000 with 24 year old Daniel Halseth who is in school at Western Oregon University, getting his bachelor degree in music. At this point in his life, he meets 17 year old Elizabeth Schworak. The two instantly become a couple and they marry in 2001 after Elizabeth turns 18 and graduates from high school Both Daniel’s family and Elizabeth’s love the couple together and support them fully despite the age difference. They all agreed they were perfect together. They immediately want to start a family and they do – Elizabeth gives birth to Lucy in 2002, Connor in 2003 and Sierra in 2004. The happy family moves to Vegas in 2005 when Daniel gets his dream job in IT. They all love Vegas and things are looking up even further with Dan’s job paying well. Both Daniel and Elizabeth are very interested in politics and they get involved in it. Elizabeth really flourishes in politics and she begins getting more and more involved in the local political scene. In fact, she gets so involved immersed in it, that she ends up being voted in as a Nevada senator in 2010. This seemed like the perfect situation for the family. Dan got to work from home and take care of the kids while Elizabeth focused on her demanding political career. Dan was the doting father, always making fun family videos and posting them for extended family to enjoy. While Dan is loving the time with the kids, Elizabeth is so busy with her senatorial work, that she’s gone traveling often. While she’s gone so much, Daniel begins to wonder if she’s gone so much just for her job or if there might be more to it. He sees on her phone that she’s in nearly constant communication with a certain name, Tiger Helgelian. They were texting at all times of the day and night. Not one to just sit by, Daniel reaches out to Tiger and asks him to stop contacting his wife. But… this doesn’t seem to work. The two continue to be in constant communication. Then, Daniel discovers Elizabeth and Tiger went away together alone on an extended “work trip.” Dan confronts Elizabeth when she returns, accusing her of having an affair. An argument breaks out and the confrontation gets heated. The two were screaming and yelling at one another and at some point, Daniel gives up and leaves the room. Elizabeth calls the police. She tells police that Daniel had touched her inappropriately during the fight and claimed that Dan had become controlling, had taken her phone, purse, and her car keys. Daniel told police that he was attempting to get his wife’s attention by trying to scare her. The pair both agree that the incident ended when Dan said it was all a joke. Weird, for sure. It didn’t seem like a huge incident from what I read, but without a lot of details, it’s hard to tell. Because of Elizabeth’s claim that Daniel had touched her inappropriately during the argument, he is arrested and charged with open and gross lewdness which is basically unwanted touching of another person. He is found guilty and sentenced to six months of probation and anger management classes. He then must register as a sex offender. Dan tries as hard as he can to save the marriage and the couple even try couples counselling, but it bombs. They end up divorcing and Dan moves into an apartment and a visitation schedule is set up with the kids. The divorce is hard on everyone of course, but it seems to hit their youngest daughter, Sierra, the hardest. It’s obvious she’s struggling, and she withdraws into herself. Dan tries what he can to help Sierra, but his custody doesn’t allow much time with the kids. He sees Sierra withdrawing more and more and does what he can to include her in anything he and the other kids do and even makes plans around her to attempt to cheer her up. When he did get time with his kids, he’d always make big plans for fun activities. Sierra just became more and more difficult and other family thought she was just selfish with how she acted. Dan never felt that way, seeing a kids who was struggling and feeling like he’s partly to blame. He'd spend half the time he had with the kids trying to break down the wall she’d built up and he seemed to be the only one able to do so. She loved music and dancing, much like him, and she would eventually get to laughing and smiling when he worked his magic on her. Dan was huge into video journaling his life and especially the time he spent with his kids, so he always had cameras at the ready to chronicle any events, knowing that every moment with his kids was time to cherish. Then, in 2012, Elizabeth moved to Alaska with her new husband who was also the guy she had an affair with, Tigre and they take the kids with them. Dan tries as hard as he can to fight the move so that his kids wouldn’t be what seemed like half a world away, but to no avail. Once they leave, he decides to try to focus on work to take his mind off of the pain. He now works as an IT consultant and his business begins to take off with his devotion to it. In 2017, he moves to Texas where his business had the most traffic. This goes on for quite a few years, with Dan only seeing his kids periodically; on the odd holiday or whenever he was given the chance. Then, in 2020, Elizabeth and crew move back to Vegas. Dan is thrilled his kids will once again be closer so that he can spend more time with them. Dan travels to Vegas in March of 2020 and stays with a friend while he conducts business he has there. But then, the pandemic digs it’s claws in and, as we remember, no flights are happening, not to mention meetings in person and the like. So, Dan decides to stay in Vegas with his friend and works remotely. During this time period, Sierra starts texting her dad about things that are unsettling for Dan. She tells him in vague ways that she’s not safe at her mom’s house, that she’s scared and in trouble. Dan tries to squeeze some info out of her in hopes of helping, but without physical evidence of abuse and without her saying much, nothing can be done legally. However, since he’s closer and maybe because of the pandemic, he gets to keep the kids for a while in June of 2020. He takes them on a road trip to Oregon to spend time with his parents and extended family. The kids seemed to be having a ball, all except for Sierra. She seemed to try to act normal but her true feelings would rear up here and there. Like on one occasion, the kids along with the cousins around there ages were sitting around a campfire, roasting marshmallows. They’re all talking about how tough life is with parents – the younger cousins are saying how they get angry, yell, maybe throw things when they don’t get their way. Sierra, though tells them if you’re not getting your way, get rid of whomever is causing the problem. It was weird and I can imagine the silence that hung around the campfire for an awkward moment or two after that comment. Since Sierra had been moved to Alaska, this brooding, self-centered attitude. However, Dan could never see any wrong-doing in Sierra and always defended her, probably feeling somewhat at fault for it. After nearly a month with their dad, it was time for the kids to return to Elizabeth. While the other kids ran to hug their mom, Sierra refused to get out of the car. She demanded to live with her dad. However, depending on the state and rules put forth in the custody agreement, kids don’t get to decide those things. However, Dan sees the pain in Sierra and he knows he has to do all he can to keep her with him. He petitions the court for custody of Sierra believing something must really be toxic at her mom’s house. In the opinion of other family members, though, Sierra knew her dad would do anything for her and she also knew how to manipulate him to get her way. Dan even goes so far as to move into her school district, knowing that the judge for sure wouldn’t grant custody unless he was. It's about this time that Dan begins dating a woman named Kari. The two had met through social media and Dan felt Kari would be a good influence on Sierra and could act as another positive female figure in her life. Kari noticed how quiet and withdrawn Sierra was, but she was up to the challenge of getting to know the girl. Meanwhile, Dan and Elizabeth fight a bitter court battle for Sierra’s custody. Even with Dan trying all he could to win Sierra, the judge sides with Elizabeth. At her home, she had a stable environment with 2 parents, and being a senator for a time, Elizabeth probably held some sway over the judge in that regard. As Kari saw it, from a removed perspective, Sierra didn’t want to live with her mom because it was a more controlling environment where she couldn’t get her way much, but at Dan’s, she had much more freedom and leniency. When Sierra was asked why she wanted to live with her dad, she gave a good excuse of wanting to get to know him on a deeper level and to rekindle their bond. When Dan tries to drop Sierra off with her mom as the court ordered, she would just run away to her dad’s house. Near this time, Sierra is about 15 years old. Dan goes on a work trip and his mom, Sierra’s grandmother, (her name is Christine) comes to stay at their house to look after Sierra while he’s away. On the very first night, when Sierra thinks Christine is asleep, she tries to leave the house. Christine stops her and asks what the hell she’s doing leaving at 9 at night. Sierra says she wanted to go on a walk. Christine calls Dan about it and says she’s pretty sure the 15 year old is staying out all night and sleeping all day. Dan says he has no clue and is shocked that Sierra is capable of this kind of trickery. While Christine is there, she also discovers that Sierra is talking A LOT to a boy online. They text and call all day and all night it seems. Christine questions Sierra, “does you dad know about this guy?” Sierra just says, no, but he will. The boy Sierra had met online is 18 year old, Aaron Guerrero. Since Aaron is quite a bit older than Sierra, at least in the maturation timeline, Dan is pretty concerned and uncomfortable with the situation. He’s very worried about the influence that an 18 year old man would have on his young daughter. He’s proven right when he discovers that Sierra and her boyfriend were making plans to rob her grandparents and run away together. So Daniel calls Aaron’s parents and they agree that the teens shouldn’t see one another. They’re forbidden to interact and Sierra claims not to care and she plays it off well enough that everyone believes her. Things seem to be going well and Sierra is happier and coming out of her shell. She turns 16 and celebrates with her dad who is sure to video tape it. Some teens are pretty sly and for sure don’t like being forbidden from things. Sierra WAS actually still talking to Aaron and possibly sneaking around with him as well. It’s now spring of 2021 and Daniel and Kari both have work trips that are scheduled out of town to separate states. Sierra has no other family to stay with, though I’m not sure if they had asked if she could stay at Elizabeth’s – maybe because of the ongoing custody issue. Dan didn’t feel overly comfortable leaving Sierra alone, but Dan (who is clueless that Sierra is still seeing Aaron) wants to trust Sierra and give her a chance to feel grown up. On April 7, Dan returns to Vegas after what seemed to be an awesome trip to Boston when everyone sees the videos he posts online. Since these videos are online as well as pics of the sunset in Vegas he had posted, his family is aware that he’s back home. So, the next morning, Dan’s mom, Christine tries to call him… and calls him… and texts him, but gets no answer. So then she texts Sierra. She’s relieved when Sierra texts her back saying that Dan’s phone is just acting up and it should be fixed by the following evening. The next day, when she still can’t get a hold of Dan, Christine starts to get a bad feeling. She texts Sierra and tells her to have Dan call her on her phone since it’s working. Dan is notorious for making sure to be easy to connect with and doesn’t ignore phone calls. Now, she gets even more distressed when Sierra stops texting her but she doesn’t want to be a nag so she gives it until the next day. Well, there’s still no contact from either Dan or his daughter the next morning, so Christine calls a woman named Peggy. Peggy is a longtime friend of Dan’s who is also his landlord. Peggy starts heading to Dan’s house to check on him and she brings along another man just in case. Smart lady who must listen to murder podcasts. BREAK Then Christine texts Sierra again, hoping for some sign of them. She gets a response that says Dan is in the shower, otherwise she’d have him call. The strange thing about that is it’s late morning and Dan is an early riser who takes his showers as soon as he gets up. Now Christine is pissed and texts Sierra, do I need to call the police? Peggy is on her way over now. No response comes. When Peggy and her friend Joey get to the house, the door is unlocked. When they open the door, the strong smell of smoke hits them in the face. They immediately run upstairs looking for anyone or the source of the fire. Finding no one upstairs, they head back downstairs. They saw in the living room what had been a fire that had burned itself out. When Joey swings open the door into the garage, he’s horrified to find a body. They run and call 911. Joey explains that it seems there was a fire but it was out, however there was a body. The dispatcher asks if they need an ambulance and Joey responds, with a no, it’s not needed because the girl is clearly dead. Police and fire show up and see that the body is so badly burned that they can’t even tell if it’s a male or a female. The body is sent to the medical examiner, and it’s determined to be Daniel Halseth. The cause of death is sharp force injuries. He had been stabbed over 70 times, 42 of which were around his head, neck and shoulder area. One wrist is almost cut completely off intentionally. He had no soot in his lungs, which was further proof that he didn’t die from the fire – not sure if that was really a question when they found he’d been stabbed over 70 times. It looked like Dan had been on the couch in the living room when he was killed due to the amount of blood found on it. There were no signs of forced entry, in fact, there was even a key still in the lock. There are mops propped up along the wall and cleaning supplies all over the place. On a table was a table saw and a brand-new chainsaw. The scene looked like a hurried attempt to clean up and that the killer took off before they finished. Fortunately for police, receipts are also lying about. One of those is from Bank of America and police head there to get the surveillance video. On the video, it clearly shows Dan’s car pulling up and Sierra withdrawing $600. You can also see someone is in the passenger seat, but you can’t tell who it is or any details, just that they’re wearing a pink shirt. Another receipt is from Home Depot, so they go get that video. On that tape is footage of Aaron Gurerro buying the saws, drop cloths, disposable gloves and he’s wearing a pink shirt. And yet another receipt is from WinCo. On that footage, they see Sierra show up at 2:50 am on April 8th. She buys a bunch of cleaning supplies. So now police are sure the teens killed Dan together. Detectives get arrest warrants for the pair and it’s added to a database that alerts law enforcement around the US to look out for them. 5 days after the murder, police on a transit tram in Salt Lake City ask a couple of teens for their tram tickets. When they admit they didn’t buy any, police ask for their IDs which they hand over. When police run name checks, the warrants pop up and Sierra and Aaron are taken into custody. In their possession was a cell phone with some very damning evidence. Police forensically download all of the info from the phone which chronicles their trip through Utah along with a video which I’ll play for you. INSERT VIDEO In case you couldn’t tell what was said there – they both say day 3 and Aaron says after murdering somebody. Then he mentions that all the sex they’re having is payment for doing the murder. Sierra shocks everyone with how she seems so happy and carefree, not caring in the least about viciously murdering her own father. Here’s how the cops and prosecution believe the murder happened. Daniel had returned home on that Wednesday, April 7 of 2021 from his trip to Boston. He fell asleep on the couch in his living room and that’s when Sierra and Aaron attack him and stab him to death. Two folding knives had been found on the scene – one with Aaron’s DNA and one with Sierra’s. This showed that both of them partook in the killing. Then, at 2:30 in the morning, Sierra goes to WinCo to buy all the bleach and cleaning supplies. This shows the deed had been done prior to her trip to WinCo. By morning, it seems like they come up with a different plan or maybe added to their plan. They decide to dismember Dan. That’s when Aaron heads to Home Dept to get the circular saws and tarps and such. Their project gets interrupted when Sierra gets the text that Peggy and Joey are on their way to the house. That’s when they stuff Dan’s body in a sleeping bag, douse everything with lighter fluid, light it up and hope everything gets incinerated. The weird thing was, if they had wanted to run away together, they had ample opportunity to steal Daniel’s car, some money and driven away, but for some reason they decide they need to take his life. Authorities believe it was a type of revenge for keeping them apart. Both teens plead guilty to murder and are tried together. At the sentencing, Sierra didn’t apologize or give any excuses while Aaron did apologize for his part in the scheme. They are found guilty and sentence to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 22 years. I did read that though they portrayed themselves as the perfect parents, Daniel and Elizabeth both hadn’t had the best of behaviors, but certainly nothing the justified murder. Sources: 8newsnow.com, fox5vegas.com, crimesandcuriosities blog, reviewjournal.com, American Monster: Day 3 after murder, medium.com