My Mother's Murder Trials Part 2

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They were found Sunday afternoon, July 7th.

My dad and his fiancé, 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 Siscoe 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 not biased in this situation.

I don't want it to be her.

I want the truth to come out.

I wanted to help the police.

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, and number two, I don't know what happened, Jane Lee.

Did you know anything about the death of Michael and Karen?

I have no idea what happened to Michael and Karen.

I hit a point where I didn't know if justice would ever be served.

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 of the men.

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 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 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 Sisko.

She would not hesitate to get revenge on me.

I did not kill Karen Harkness.

I know the truth.

I am an innocent woman.

The truth is that she murdered them.

She scares me.

Your mom scares you.

Yeah.

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 Sisko, and his girlfriend, Karen Harkness.

This hasn't been resolved.

In 2002, multiple bullets struck 53-year-old Karen and 47-year-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 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's just an add-up.

In the summer of 2022,

Dana Chandler was on trial for the second time for the murders of Mike Siscoe 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 Shawnee County Deputy District Attorney Charles Kitt.

Science is not going to solve this case.

This case is not based on DNA.

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 six months before the murders.

And they introduced witnesses who said Mike and Karen told them some of those calls were menacing.

Karen's co-worker, Kim Warrender.

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?

She would call her a whore.

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 Voley, the lead detective on the case, about the purchase.

Can you tell us what that is?

This is an AutoZone

receipt.

It shows the 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 Voley, 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.

She said she'd stayed at her house, had no guests or phone calls, and that she turned in about nine o'clock.

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 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 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.

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 nine 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 Dana Chandler to you?

She's my mom.

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I was absolutely still nervous and scared.

Being up there, it causes conflict.

As Haley Seal reflected back on testifying against her mother, Dana Chandler, she recalled the stress she was under.

As a prosecution witness, 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 and you can be my little helpers.

She had me go with her to the house after so long 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 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,

including ones where Dana referred to Mike as if

sent when Haley was 14 years old.

Does she call him manipulative and deceiving?

Yes.

And then calls him a rapist?

Yeah.

And just to call the lines down, I hate his guts.

Yeah.

Are those things that he wanted to talk to you?

Yes.

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 for fuel.

Dana, who'd been a problem drinker, explained she bought them for someone else, a woman she met at AA.

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 lawyers 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 in the state of Kansas.

After three weeks of testimony, that lack of physical evidence would be the defense's theme in its closing arguments.

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 gonna be what it was gonna be.

But the wait to find out what the verdict would be was a long one.

I can only describe it as evil.

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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 jury.

The case in the second trial of Dana Chandler for the murders of Mike Sisko 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 four days, I started to get nervous and 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's correct.

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.

We did what we could with what we had.

Ben Alford 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

No, but I did.

When I was able to comprehend that Dana said that she had thought of killing Mike, that was probably 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 Kagay 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 a joyous occasion.

You're happy that someone's been released and you also feel like, well, maybe it's a good chance that we can

mount a defense 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 Seale, 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 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?

This time, I'm not as confident.

For trial number three, jurors would be from Pottawatomie County, Kansas.

The defense requested a change of venue, and the judge agreed, citing excessive media coverage.

It would take place in Westmoreland, a smaller, more rural area 60 miles away from the last setting in Topeka.

July 7, 2002 was going to be a good day mike sisco karen harkness 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 kitt was back retrying the case

joined by prosecutor dan dunbar judge cheryl rios again presided

and in a last-minute 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 herself.

Yeah,

was herself.

I am innocent if I did not kill Mike and Kieran.

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I think this case is a character assassination.

In February 2025, Dana Chandler was on trial for the third time for the murders of Mike Sisko 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, Haley Seale testified.

Good afternoon.

Hi.

Can you please tell the jury your name?

Um, Haley Seale.

Haley was asked again by the prosecution about her mother's inappropriate behavior.

What sort of things would she say about Karen?

She

called her a home wrecker,

a slot, very bad names.

Prosecutors were also interested in an incident when Dana Chandler drove Haley and her brother 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.

Well, Miss Seal.

I really went up there with like my game face on, you know?

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.

Dana Chandler challenged Haley about her description of that drop-off at Karen's.

Chandler said it was Haley's father, Mike, who was behaving badly, not her.

When your dad and Karen drove up, your dad stormed over to the car.

Oh, no.

No, he did not.

Then he started banging on the windows.

Wow, 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.

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.

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 alcohol.

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 change how she talked about your dad?

No.

Did it change how she talked about Karen?

No.

Do you always learn the testimony you're up to and this case happened with the truth?

The whole truth and nothing about the truth?

Yeah, exactly.

Dana Chandler not only thought she was the best person to represent herself, but when it 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 seven days.

You have not seen evidence that I was in Topeka, Kansas on July 7th of 2002.

Speaking for about 20 hours.

I'd 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 sometimes it seemed as though she was just rambling, you know, and that was just unfortunate.

She may have known, 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 hate 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.

That's a

This video was taken about nine 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 Voley, 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?

Early on in the investigation, there were several other people that were looked at as possible leads.

So it's it's a matter of checking people off to dismissing people that couldn't have done it.

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 nine millimeter gun like the one used in the murders.

And they came up empty-handed.

I've never owned, purchased, or possessed a nine-millimeter 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 Kansas.

It seemed like a simple question Dana Chandler was asking Detective Voley.

Did you ever develop any information that I was in Topeka, Kansas on July 6th or 7th of 2002?

But in answering that question, Voley 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 Waikini, Kansas.

The gas station convenience store in Waikini, 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 ten that it was you.

According to Voley, the clerk was 70% sure she had seen Dana Chandler Chandler and described some distinguishing features.

She had a clerk said that she had a gray near the hairline of her outcheck.

Chandler, 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 Vole did do when he went to the gas station about two weeks later.

We later went out with a, what we call a six-pack photo.

It's six photographs of people that look very similar.

And amongst those photos was Ms.

Chandler.

Voley said Patty Williams immediately picked out Chandler and again was 70%

sure she saw her there.

But Voley acknowledged using an array initially would have been better.

There was still for law enforcement the issue regarding Dana Chandler's alibi.

Remember, Vole 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.

The eyebrows confused yourself.

Dana Chandler told the jury she had been confused when she spoke with Voley.

But Prosecutor Kit Kit was not accepting that explanation.

So what you told Detective Vole is not consistent with what you told Jeff Bailey, is it?

As far as my trip to Ms.

Chandler, it's not consistent with that part.

Okay, yeah, I would agree with that.

I would, that's true.

Have you seen her document before?

Once again, those secret recordings Haley made with her mother were played in court.

Ever think about killing it?

No, but I did.

but.

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 is.

When it was time for the final witness, Dana Chandler decided it should be Dana Chandler.

She knew the jury heard witnesses testify about her parenting and past behavior.

Chandler explained if she was a less than 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,

it just won't be speaking.

So that's all I have.

Thank you.

Shadow, during the assignment, you couldn't afford to feed your children, you were buying boots, scraps.

I was.

You're buying enough alcohol to get a blackout drunk i was okay thank you there for the questions

and with that after 18 days of testimony prosecutor charles kitt and dana chandler presented their closing argument

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 point that prosecutors whom she called her accusers did not have enough evidence to tip it in their favor.

The

accusers must

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 her a murderer.

The state has woefully failed to meet its burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that I killed Mike Sisko or Karen Harvest.

About four hours later, the jury delivered its verdict.

The jury finds Dana Chandler guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in count one.

Verdict from count one.

Guilty of the murders of Mike Sisko 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 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 this case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Chandler's supporter, Darrell Burton, remains undeterred.

He still believes she is innocent.

The evidence just doesn't, you know, prove 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 Kagay is certain the jury convicted the right person.

I have every confidence in my prosecutors and how they handled this case.

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 Mike Sisko and Karen Harkness were murdered.

And Haley wants to make sure the lives lost are not forgotten.

I was trying to tell my daughter about who my dad is.

And I said he was a really fun,

supportive, encouraging guy who believed in me and my brother.

And Karen was so kind,

so accepting.

I miss him a lot.

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