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This story beforehand aired on March 4, 2023. It was up to date on Aug. 26.
It was a discipline journey to a ghost city. Off a rustic highway, the procession turned slowly up the lengthy driveway of the imposing property. The convoy held the jury within the double homicide trial of Alex Murdaugh.
“Moselle” is the looking lodge of the Murdaugh household — Alex, his spouse Maggie, and sons Paul and Buster.
The jury was taken to the canine kennels and the small feed room the place Paul had been shot at shut vary with a shotgun. Just a few yards away, Maggie was shot a number of occasions with a 300 rifle. Neither weapon has ever been discovered.
There was a time when this property mirrored the huge energy and status of the Murdaugh authorized dynasty. Now, the withered grounds appear to echo Alex Murdaugh’s steep fall from grace: from a wealthy highly effective lawyer to an admitted drug addict, thief and convicted assassin.
That is the place Alex Murdaugh’s life unraveled on June 7, 2021.
911 OPERATOR: What’s your emergency?
ALEX MURDAUGH: That is Alex Murdaugh. My spouse and youngster have been shot badly.
That evening, when Murdaugh was interviewed by investigators, he was fast to supply up an evidence for the murders of his spouse and son.
ALEX MURDAUGH (to investigators in patrol automobile): My son Paul was in a ship wreck … There’s been a number of damaging publicity about that and there is been lots of people on-line, simply actually vile stuff.
The crash that will kill 19-year-old Mallory Seashore occurred about 2:20 a.m. on February 24, 2019, when a ship carrying six younger mates smashed right into a bridge. Connor Prepare dinner made the frantic name to 911.
911 DISPATCHER: 911, the place’s your emergency?
CONNOR COOK: We’re in a ship crash on Archers Creek.
CONNOR COOK: There’s six of us and one is lacking.
911 DISPATCHER: Who’s lacking?
CONNOR COOK: A feminine, Mallory Seashore is lacking. … She’s within the water.
Lynn Reavis: Mallory, she was simply this excellent, fun-loving, joyful lady. And all people liked her.
Lynn Reavis and her niece Mallory have been extraordinarily shut.
Lynn Reavis: You at all times obtained a hug whats up and a hug goodbye. And the very last thing she informed me was she liked me (cries).
In piecing collectively occasions, investigators discovered earlier that evening, 19-year-old Paul Murdaugh used his older brother Buster’s ID to purchase beer at a comfort retailer.
Michael DeWitt: And for those who take a look at the video footage when Paul comes out of the shop, he is holding the beer up. … He is celebrating.
After staying at a celebration for a number of hours, the group took the Murdaugh household’s boat to a bar, the place Paul and Connor had extra to drink round 1 a.m.
Michael DeWitt: They went in, pounded a few photographs.
Michael DeWitt is an creator and editor of the Hampton County Guardian, a part of the Gannett | USA As we speak Community.
Michael DeWitt: Someplace round 1, 1:30, you see the video footage of them leaving the boat dock.
Michael DeWitt: It was form of a tragic, touching second if you see Mallory and her boyfriend … I feel, is the final second that anyone … captured a picture of her alive.
It was round 1:15 a.m. after they took off once more on the boat.
MILEY ALTMAN (police interview): Paul was simply driving, doing doughnuts.
Passenger Miley Altman informed investigators tempers have been working quick.
MILEY ALTMAN (police interview): And, so, Connor begins driving for a bit of bit after which Paul, he like stops Conner and he is like, “No, that is my boat,” like, “let me drive …”
MILEY ALTMAN (police interview): I noticed the bridge coming …
CONNOR COOK to 911: What bridge is that this … Paul, what bridge is that this?
First responders’ sprint cam video captured the mayhem.
OFFICER: The place’s all people else at?
UNIDENTIFIED: On the bridge, on the backside of the bridge.
Then-Beaufort County Deputy Sheriff Steven Domino was one of many first on the scene.
Stephen Domino: All people was crying, scared, shocked, simply frightened about their pal.
After Domino obtained Mallory’s distraught boyfriend Anthony Prepare dinner into his patrol automobile, Paul Murdaugh got here into sight.
Stephen Domino: He was strolling up from the place the boat was.
ANTHONY COOK (to Domino): Get that m———– proper there away from me.
Stephen Domino: He really tried to hurry by means of me to get to Paul as a result of I assume he noticed him smiling.
Nikki Battiste | “48 Hours” contributor: Paul was smiling whereas Anthony’s girlfriend is lacking within the water?
Stephen Domino: Right.
ANTHONY COOK [to Paul Murdaugh]: Why are you f—— smiling prefer it’s f—— humorous? My f—— girlfriend’s gone, bro.
That is when Anthony Prepare dinner definitively recognized the particular person he stated was driving the boat.
ANTHONY COOK: Do y’all know Alex Murdaugh?
STEPHEN DOMINO: Yeah, I do know that title.
ANTHONY COOK: That is his son.
STEPHEN DOMINO: That is the one driving the boat?
ANTHONY COOK: Good luck.
Stephen Domino: That is when he indicated that he could not be touched.
Mallory’s physique was discovered every week later.
Michael Dewitt: And within the weeks after that … we’re simply ready … Is somebody going to make an arrest? Is there going to be an act of contrition or accountability?
Michael Dewitt: I feel that from day one, floor zero, the hassle was … what can we do to get Paul out of this?
A MOTHER AND SON MURDERED
Nikki Battiste: Who do you suppose is chargeable for Mallory’s loss of life?
Lynn Reavis: I feel Paul Murdaugh was.
A month after the deadly boat crash, pissed off that there was no arrest, Mallory Seashore’s household filed a wrongful loss of life go well with towards members of the Murdaugh household, which allowed them to depose the survivors about what occurred that evening.
Michael DeWitt: Paul was allegedly performing rash and reckless.
In his deposition, Paul’s pal Connor Prepare dinner stated that the morning of the crash he did not inform investigators that Paul was driving the boat as a result of he was afraid. And, whereas on the hospital, he says he was informed by Alex Murdaugh that he “did not want to inform anybody who was driving.”
Michael DeWitt: Alex … reportedly went from room to room to attempt to talk with the opposite boat crash passengers and get all of them on the identical web page.
On the hospital a number of hours after the crash, Paul’s blood alcohol stage was thrice over the authorized restrict.
Michael DeWitt: He was getting belligerent with the nurse’s employees in keeping with courtroom information, simply being loud and troublesome.
However that morning, and for weeks to return, many felt that Paul Murdaugh was not handled like a suspect in against the law.
Lynn Reavis: We did not suppose he was gonna be charged.
Nikki Battiste: Why?
Lynn Realis: As a result of it was takin’ so lengthy. We simply did not suppose we would see that day.
Almost two months after the boat crash, Paul was charged with inflicting the loss of life of Mallory Seashore. He pleaded not responsible and remained free after posting bond — and the Murdaugh title started to tarnish.
Two years handed. And on June 7, 2021, as Paul Murdaugh was awaiting trial within the loss of life of Mallory Seashore, gunfire erupted on the Murdaugh household property.
ALEX MURDAUGH to 911: That is Alex Murdaugh at 4147 Moselle Street.
At 10:06 p.m., a panicked-sounding Alex Murdaugh referred to as 911 saying he had simply arrived dwelling to search out his spouse of almost 28 years, Maggie, and their son, Paul, shot.
911 OPERATOR: Is he shifting in any respect? Your son? I do know you stated that she was shot. However what about your son?
ALEX MURDAUGH (cries): No person — they are not — neither one in every of them’s shifting.
Maggie’s pal Caroline Value referred to as her godson, Buster Murdaugh, when she heard the horrible information.
Caroline Value: I stated, “Please inform me this is not true.” And he stated, “Sure ma’am, Ms. Caroline, it’s.” And he instantly with out immediate stated, “It was premeditated and revenge.” … they have been tryin’ to say that … it was related to the boat crash.
Nikki Battiste: That somebody was indignant at Paul.
Caroline Value: Proper.
As a result of Murdaugh household’s shut ties with native regulation enforcement, the South Carolina Regulation Enforcement Division, referred to as SLED – the state’s prime investigative company – took over the case.
Shellie West: It was superb to me how fast this rumor mill began.
Maggie’s pal Shellie West heard in regards to the murders from a pal.
Shellie West: And I simply stated, “Do you suppose Alex did it?” And he stated, “No. There have been two weapons on the scene.”
Nikki Battiste: Nevertheless it really crossed your thoughts that he might need executed it — even early on.
Shellie West: Yeah, I imply, yeah. I imply, that was my first preliminary response … a number of — lotta occasions the husband’s the primary suspect.
And Value says she had an odd dialog with him after Maggie and Paul’s funeral.
Caroline Value: He talked so much about Paul. The truth that he wasn’t gonna get his day in courtroom, he wasn’t gonna get to clear his title.
West says they felt like nobody was speaking about Maggie within the aftermath of the murders.
Shellie West: She was an individual, she was a mom, she was a sister, she was a pal, she was a daughter. , she’s not the — the spouse that was murdered. I imply, we do not need her to be remembered that method.
Maggie’s mates felt that she was getting misplaced in the entire hypothesis.
Shellie West: We needed to actually begin tryin’ to consider good occasions and bear in mind Maggie the way in which she was and never … what occurred.
Murdaugh provided a $100,000 reward as rumors and hypothesis swirled. Studies on the time raised questions on their marriage and claimed that Maggie was consulting with a divorce legal professional.
Caroline Value: Marian, her sister, requested me, “Do – are you aware something about this?” And I stated, “No.” And she or he stated, “She by no means stated something to me, and she or he tells me every little thing.”
Nikki Battiste: Maggie by no means talked about there was any hassle within the marriage?
Caroline Value: Uh-uh (damaging).
At a listening to just a few months later, “48 Hours” contributor Nikki Battiste questioned the Murdaugh household legal professional Dick Harpootlian in regards to the Murdaughs’ relationship.
Nikki Battiste: Had been there any issues in Maggie and Alex’s marriage?
Dick Harpootlian: Completely none, none. And — belief me, I used to be with them for nearly two years … At all times affectionate, at all times courteous … only a image of home bliss.
And as for the idea that the murders have been in retaliation for the boat crash, Maggie’s mates say she by no means talked about any threats towards their household.
Caroline Value: She talked about how unkind all people was — and imply.
Shellie West: The seems and the sneers …
Caroline Value: They did not appear to really feel unsafe. I imply, they have been nonetheless carryin’ on with their regular routine, day to-day actions and issues.
As investigators tried to determine who would need Paul and Maggie Murdaugh lifeless, and why, a name got here in to 911 that one other member of the household was beneath assault.
Michael DeWitt: It is nearly been a case of episodic tv the place, “Tune on this week and we’ll see what’s subsequent from Hampton County, dwelling of the Murdaughs.”
MORE MURDAUGH MYSTERIES
Three months after the taking pictures deaths of Maggie and Paul, Alex Murdaugh once more referred to as 911 – this time claiming he’d been shot.
ALEX MURDAUGH to 911: Any person stopped to assist me … and so they tried to shoot me.
Murdaugh informed investigators he was altering a flat tire on a rural highway when an individual in a pickup truck handed by, requested Murdaugh if he was having automobile hassle, after which shot him within the head.
Murdaugh’s dialog on the way in which to the hospital was captured on police physique cam:
OFFICER (physique cam video): Are you aware what sort of gun it was?
ALEX MURDAUGH: No, I do not know what sort of gun it was. Nevertheless it sounded – it gave the impression of a shotgun.
On Sept. 6, 2021, two days after being shot, Alex Murdaugh launched this assertion: “I’ve made a number of selections that I actually remorse” he stated, and introduced he was leaving the regulation agency.
LISA WEISMANN | WCSC NEWS: “Alex Murdaugh put out a press release saying… he is going into rehab.”
Alex Murdaugh stated he had been hooked on opioids for 20 years. It wasn’t solely claims of drug abuse now staining his fame. He was additionally accused of stealing tens of millions from his personal regulation agency and was requested to resign the day earlier than he was shot.
Michael DeWitt: Friday, the regulation agency has a come to Jesus assembly with him … we all know you are allegedly stealing cash, you are out … Saturday, the reported taking pictures … Monday, Alex releases a press release saying, “I am going into rehab.'”
Then, got here the much more weird information that Murdaugh had allegedly employed his distant cousin, Curtis Smith, to shoot him.
Nikki Battiste: He wished you to kill him.
Curtis Smith: Yeah, he wished me to kill him.
Authorities say Murdaugh wished his killing to appear to be homicide so his surviving son Buster may accumulate a $10 million life insurance coverage payout. Smith says he refused.
Curtis Smith: Yeah. Ain’t taking place.
It is unclear precisely how Murdaugh got here to be shot.
Nikki Battiste: Why did you allow the scene?
Curtis Smith: I did not know anything to do.
Smith was charged in reference to the taking pictures however has not entered a plea. On Sept. 16, 2021, going through fees of insurance coverage fraud, conspiracy, and submitting a false police report, Alex Murdaugh turned himself in.
Michael DeWitt: The truth that a Murdaugh sat in a chair in a jumpsuit with handcuffs is somethin’ I’ve by no means seen in my lifetime.
Alex Murdaugh was launched on bond and allowed to return to rehab. Whereas Murdaugh was there, investigators have been trying into all of his enterprise dealings and the suspicious loss of life of Gloria Satterfield.
Ronnie Richter: Gloria was the housekeeper for the Murdaugh household for greater than 20 years.
Ronnie Richter is an legal professional for the Satterfield household.
Ronnie Richter: She actually helped increase Alex Murdaugh’s sons, Paul and Buster.
In 2018, the 57-year-old died after a fall on the Murdaugh property.
Ronnie Richter: What’s been reported is that she was on the home that day on the entrance steps. The canine obtained a bit of rambunctious and gave her a push and she or he fell down the steps.
Satterfield’s loss of life was dominated “pure,” and no post-mortem was ever carried out.
Ronnie Richter: There may be nothing pure a few 57-year-old lady falling down a flight of steps and dying from head trauma.
At Satterfield’s funeral, Murdaugh did one thing very odd, says Richter. He beneficial Gloria’s sons file a wrongful loss of life lawsuit, towards him. Murdaugh even steered them towards an legal professional — his pal, Cory Fleming.
Ronnie Richter: Numerous belief was positioned in each Alex and in Cory to do the proper issues, and it actually went south from the outset.
Courtroom paperwork present a $4.3 million payout by Murdaugh’s insurance coverage firm, however not one of the cash ever went to Satterfield’s household.
Nikki Battiste: The place did that cash go?
Michael DeWitt: Properly, allegedly it went into Alex Murdaugh’s pocket.
Alex Murdaugh was charged with two felonies for his position within the Gloria Satterfield insurance coverage fraud. This time, a decide ordered him to be held with out bond.
As Murdaugh sat in jail, he was indicted on dozens extra fees for defrauding shoppers out of tens of millions of {dollars}. After which in July of 2022, greater than a yr after the grisly murders —
NORAH O`DONNELL | CBS EVENING NEWS: Disgraced South Carolina legal professional Alex Murdaugh was indicted right now within the high-profile murders of his spouse and son final yr.
Alex Murdaugh was charged with killing his spouse Maggie and son Paul. Maggie’s mates have been relieved that the case was shifting ahead.
Caroline Value: I used to be kinda like, “Phew.” , “Lastly. … perhaps we’re gonna get some solutions.”
PAUL MURDAUGH’S CELL PHONE HOLDS CRITICAL CLUE
On Jan. 25, 2023, 19 months after Maggie and Paul have been gunned down close to the canine kennels at their household looking property, prosecutor Creighton Waters started laying out the state’s case towards Alex Murdaugh.
CREIGHTON WATERS: The defendant Alex Murdaugh, over there, informed anybody who would pay attention that he was by no means at these kennels.
CREIGHTON WATERS: The proof can be going to point out from these items that each one of us, most of us, carry round in our pockets that he was there. He was on the homicide scene with the 2 victims.
SGT. DANIEL GREENE | Colleton County Sheriff’s Workplace: I may see Mister Murdaugh down on the finish of the driveway.
SGT. DANIEL GREENE (physique cam): Central 717… Scene is safe … each gunshot wounds to the pinnacle.
First responders described the harrowing scene captured by their physique cams.
SGT. DANIEL GREENE: The male sufferer was near a small shed and the canine kennel on the left. There was a big deal of blood that had pooled round his physique.
SGT. DANIEL GREENE (physique cam): Flip round for me.
ALEX MURDAUGH: I haven’t got something.
SGT. DANIEL GREENE: Sure, sir I see that.
SGT. DANIEL GREENE: That is your spouse and son?
ALEX MURDAUGH: Is it official they’re lifeless?
SGT. DANIEL GREENE: Sure sir, that is what it seems like.
Investigators interviewed Murdaugh in a patrol automobile.
ALEX MURDAUGH: My boy over there, I may see, it was … (cries).
Murdaugh stated he hung out with Paul earlier within the night, driving across the property. After Maggie obtained dwelling, he dozed off on the sofa and when he obtained up, there was no one round.
ALEX MURDAUGH (in patrol automobile): I referred to as Maggie, did not get a solution. …Maggie is a canine lover … And I knew she’d gone to the kennel. … And I left to go to my mother’s. …my mother’s late-stage Alzheimer’s affected person.
His go to together with his in poor health mom would develop into his alibi. Murdaugh informed investigators when he returned round 10 p.m., there was nonetheless nobody dwelling, so he drove right down to the canine kennels. That is when he discovered Maggie and Paul.
ALEX MURDAUGH: I attempted to show Paul over first. … Then I went to my spouse, and I imply I may see. … I touched them each. … I attempted to take their pulse on each of them.
Detective Laura Rutland interviewed Alex Murdaugh that evening and informed the jurors she famous regardless of his declare of touching the blood-soaked our bodies of his spouse and son, he appeared clear.
PROSECUTOR JOHN MEADORS: How would you describe the defendant’s palms if you noticed him?
DET. LAURA RUTLAND: They have been clear.
JOHN MEADORS: How would you describe his T-shirt?
DET. LAURA RUTLAND: Clear.
JOHN MEADORS: Did these garments look like contemporary?
DET. LAURA RUTLAND: They did.
JOHN MEADORS: Like they simply got here out of laundry?
DET. LAURA RUTLAND: It may very well be.
Maggie and Paul died from a number of gunshot wounds. Day by day Beast senior nationwide reporter Pilar Melendez shared the investigators’ findings.
Pilar Melendez: So, Paul was shot first … he was shot twice with a shotgun.
Pilar Melendez: Paul was discovered right here subsequent to the feeding room. … Very shut by … proper right here is the place Maggie was discovered.
Maggie was killed with a 300 Blackout rifle and suffered 5 gunshot wounds. Against the law scene specialist described her remaining moments.
KENNETH KINSEY: The shooter was proper right here (demonstrating with a pointer) … The second shot was not as shut, but it surely nonetheless wasn’t at lengthy distance. It was roughly right here into the crown of the pinnacle.
Three days after the murders, constructing their timeline, investigators talked to Alex Murdaugh once more.
ALEX MURDAUGH (in patrol automobile): We sat round and ate supper … we hung round the home for a short time. I do know that Maggie went to the kennels. Um, I do not know precisely the place Paul went, however he left the home, too. … I stayed in the home. … and I really fell asleep on the sofa.
AGENT DAVID OWEN |SLED: The final time … you noticed Paul and Maggie is if you all have been consuming supper?
ALEX MURDAUGH: Sure, sir. (cries)
The Murdaughs have been avid hunters and had greater than 25 weapons on the property.
Throughout a search, SLED brokers discovered spent shell casings and ammunition that matched the bullets that killed Maggie and Paul. However the homicide weapons have been by no means discovered.
Maggie’s cellphone was additionally lacking. The day after the murders, investigators discovered it on the facet of the highway, half a mile from the property. SLED analyzed the information from Alex, Maggie and Paul’s cell telephones.
At 7:56 p.m., Paul despatched a Snapchat video of his dad to a pal. Paul is heard laughing within the background.
Pilar Melendez: Round 8:30, Paul’s cellphone begins shifting in direction of the canine kennels. He is additionally calling and texting two mates then … responding to Snapchats – till about 8:40, when he will get on a four-minute cellphone name together with his pal Rogan Gibson.
Rogan Gibson informed investigators their cellphone name was about his canine who was staying on the kennels. Rogan thought he heard Alex within the background.
Pilar Melendez: That instantly units a crimson flag for regulation enforcement, as a result of that completely messes up Alex’s timeline. And the way may he be on the canine kennels at 8:40 when he claims he was … sleeping?
Two months after the murders, brokers interviewed Alex Murdaugh once more, this time at a SLED workplace. They requested him if he went right down to the kennels that evening.
SLED AGENT: I’ve obtained data that … you have been heard within the background. … Was it you?
ALEX MURDAUGH: No, sir, not if my occasions are proper.
SLED AGENT: Who do you suppose it may have been?
ALEX MURDAUGH: I do not know.
In November 2022, there was a breakthrough within the investigation. Brokers confirmed Gibson a video of his canine Money that they’d discovered on Paul’s cellphone. Paul had shot it at 8:44 p.m., minutes earlier than he was killed.
CELL PHONE VIDEO: Voice 1: It is guinea. Voice 2: It is a rooster. Voice 3: Come right here, Bubba …
PROSECUTOR JIM GRIFFIN: What voices did you hear?
ROGAN GIBSON: Paul’s, Ms. Maggie, and Mr. Alex.
JIM GRIFFIN: How positive are you now?
ROGAN GIBSON: Constructive.
JIM GRIFFIN: 100%?
ROGAN GIBSON: That is appropriate.
The prosecutor says Murdaugh is heard saying “Come right here Bubba” — calling the household canine.
Pilar Melendez: This can be a big piece of testimony as a result of it locations Alex within the kennels roughly 5 minutes earlier than prosecutors say Maggie and Paul have been murdered.
Authorities believed Maggie and Paul have been shot round 8:49 p.m. when their cellphone screens have been locked and by no means opened once more. The prosecutor requested a number of different witnesses in the event that they acknowledged Murdaugh’s voice on that video.
Pilar Melendez: Each single witness has stated with a 100% certainty that that is Alex within the background of that video … it utterly shatters his alibi.
Alex Murdaugh’s automobile and cellphone information confirmed he drove to his mother’s home shortly after 9 p.m. Between then and till he returned and dialed 911 at 10:06 p.m., he made 10 calls to household and mates, together with 5 to Maggie.
Pilar Melendez: Prosecutors principally allege that … after killing Paul and Maggie, Alex took steps to cowl up … and present that he’s … speaking to all these folks, so how may he homicide his spouse and son?
As to the motive, the state had a idea that an ideal storm was gathering for Alex Murdaugh.
Pilar Melendez: Alex was scared about data popping out that he had been stealing cash from his shoppers and his regulation agency for years.
On the day of the murders, Murdaugh was confronted by his agency about lacking authorized charges of just about $800,000. Additionally, that week, he was due in courtroom for a listening to on the boat crash civil case. Murdaugh was being sued for $10 million by Mallory Seashore’s household.
Pilar Melendez: The prosecution is alleging that, as a way to dissuade additional questions on his monetary crimes and garner sympathy from the neighborhood and his regulation agency, he killed his spouse and son.
Pilar Melendez: It is the actions of a determined man.
After the decide dominated Murdaugh’s alleged monetary schemes may very well be introduced in, the state referred to as the agency’s CFO Jeannie Seckinger.
PROSECUTOR CREIGHTON WATERS: Was anybody involved about … these lacking charges after the murders occurred?
JEANNIE SECKINGER: We weren’t as a result of we have been involved about Alex … we weren’t going to go in there and harass him about cash when … his household had been killed.
The Seashore household’s legal professional Mark Tinsley additionally testified and informed the jurors, within the wake of the murders, the civil case towards Alex Murdaugh would have gone away.
MARK TINSLEY: If Alex is the sufferer of a vigilante, nobody goes to carry him accountable. … The case could be over.
Because the state rested its case, Alex Murdaugh made the dangerous determination to take the stand.
MURDAUGH’S “TANGLED WEB”
JUDGE CLIFTON NEWMAN: Have you decided as as to whether you are gonna testify?
ALEX MURDAUGH: I’m going to testify. I need to testify
In opposition to his legal professional’s recommendation, Alex Murdaugh determined to take the stand in his personal protection. Beneath questioning by legal professional Jim Griffin, Murdaugh is hoping the jury will look previous his lies and consider that now he is telling them the reality.
DEFENSE ATTORNEY JIM GRIFFIN: Did you kill Maggie?
ALEX MURDAUGH: No, I didn’t kill Maggie. I didn’t kill Paul. I’d by no means damage Maggie and I’d by no means damage Paul. Ever. Beneath any circumstances.
After all of the testimony figuring out him on that kennel video, Murdaugh is compelled to confess he was together with his spouse and son minutes earlier than prosecutors say they have been gunned down.
JIM GRIFFIN: Had been you, in actual fact, on the kennels at 8:44 p.m. on the evening Maggie and Paul have been murdered?
ALEX MURDAUGH: I used to be.
KENNEL CELL PHONE VIDEO: “Come right here Bubba.”
JIM GRIFFIN: Did you proceed mendacity after that evening, did you not?
ALEX MURDAUGH: As soon as I lied, I continued to lie. Sure, sir.
JIM GRIFFIN: Why?
ALEX MURDAUGH: Oh, what a tangled net we weave. However as soon as I informed a lie, I imply, I informed my household, I needed to hold mendacity.
Murdaugh claims he’d been compelled to lie due to an opioid habit he battled for 20 years, spending tens of hundreds of {dollars} every week and taking as much as 60 or extra drugs per day.
ALEX MURDAUGH: As my habit developed over time, I’d get into conditions or circumstances the place I’d get paranoid pondering.
However he dismisses the prosecution’s idea of mounting strain from his habit and alleged monetary crimes main as much as the murders.
JIM GRIFFIN: Mr. Murdoch, on June the seventh, did you consider that your monetary home of playing cards was about to crumble?
ALEX MURDAUGH: Completely not.
Throughout a six-hour cross-examination over two days, Prosecutor Creighton Waters grills Murdaugh about his lengthy historical past of mendacity to his monetary victims.
ALEX MURDAUGH: And Mr. Waters, simply to attempt to get by means of this faster, I admit —
CREIGHTON WATERS: I do know you need to get by means of it faster, however we’re not. So, reply the query please.
ALEX MURDAUGH: What I – what I admit is that I misled them. I did incorrect. And that I stole their cash.
Waters contends it was solely as a result of he’d been caught in his lie about being on the kennels that Murdaugh lastly got here clear.
CREIGHTON WATERS: The fact is … you, such as you’ve executed so many occasions over the course of your life, needed to again up and make a brand new story that form of match with the information that may’t be denied. Is not that true, sir?
ALEX MURDAUGH: No sir, that is not true.
Waters then tries to field him in to his new timeline on the evening of the murders, zeroing in on 4 minutes — between 9:02 and 9:06 p.m. — when his cellphone logged 283 steps, proper earlier than he left to go to his mother.
CREIGHTON WATERS: That is much more steps in a shorter time interval than — than any time prior that you’ve got seen from the testimony on this case. So, what – what have been you so busy doing? … Going to the lavatory?
ALEX MURDAUGH: No, I do not suppose that I went to the lavatory.
CREIGHTON WATERS: Getting on a treadmill?
ALEX MURDAUGH: No, I did not get on the treadmill.
CREIGHTON WATERS: Jog in place?
ALEX MURDAUGH: No, I did not jog in place.
CREIGHTON WATERS: Doing leaping jacks?
ALEX MURDAUGH: No, sir. I didn’t do leaping jacks.
Murdaugh reasserts his idea of the murders.
ALEX MURDAUGH: I consider that boat wreck is the rationale why Paul Paul and Maggie have been killed … As a result of I can let you know for a reality … that the particular person or individuals who did what I noticed on June the seventh, they hated Paul Murdaugh, and so they had anger of their coronary heart.
All through the trial, the protection makes the case that Alex Murdaugh was a faithful household man. His son Buster describes a dad who’d coached his Little League groups and was now stricken with grief.
BUSTER MURDAUGH: He was destroyed. He was heartbroken. I walked within the door and noticed him and gave him a hug and simply — simply damaged down.
The protection calls against the law scene analyst who, based mostly on blood spatter, place of photographs fired, and the truth that two completely different weapons have been used, says there was a couple of shooter.
TIM PALMBACH: My opinion is the totality of the proof is extra suggestive of a two-shooter state of affairs.
The prosecution disagrees.
CREIGHTON WATERS: That is Alex the prosecutor, the lawyer. He is pondering by means of this. He is thought by means of this. He will use two weapons as a result of it will confuse folks that maybe there have been two shooters.
In his closing to the jury, Waters argues that every one the proof factors to Alex Murdaugh.
CREIGHTON WATERS: Paul, who had stippling from that first shot at shut vary, shot with no indication that he detected a menace from the one who fired that weapon. And why? Trigger it was him (factors at Alex Murdaugh)! Maggie sees what occurs and she or he comes working over there. … She was working to her child … she obtained mowed down by the one particular person now we have conclusive proof was at that scene simply minutes earlier than. And who lied about that actual fact.
And he describes how Murdaugh may have cleaned up on the kennels afterwards.
CREIGHTON WATERS: Would not take lengthy to strip down and wash your self off. … Get in that cart and get again to the home.
JIM GRIFFIN: Right here we’re with a Mr. Clear idea … He takes a hose and washes himself off? He will get in a golf cart — butt bare I assume — and drives to the home?
Protection legal professional Jim Griffin pushes again on the prosecution’s idea.
JIM GRIFFIN: He must be a magician to make all that proof disappear. … The shooter’s coated in blood. The shooter’s gun is roofed in blood. … Frequent sense factor right here is there have been two shooters.
As a substitute, stated Griffin, investigators zeroed in on Murdaugh to the exclusion of different suspects as a result of he was a simple goal.
JIM GRIFFIN: Longtime drug downside, his monetary points, misconduct have been uncovered … straightforward, straightforward, straightforward, straightforward goal for SLED … the proof is crystal clear … they began fabricating proof towards Alex.
Griffin tells the jury SLED additionally introduced false proof to the grand jury when searching for an indictment towards Murdaugh.
JIM GRIFFIN: They got here up with a report that claims Alex’s T-shirt had excessive velocity blood spatter on it.
The lead SLED agent testified he had not acquired an electronic mail replace that additional testing had proven there was no blood.
DAVID OWEN | SLED Agent: I didn’t see that report. I used to be not made conscious of its existence.
JIM GRIFFIN: SLED failed miserably in investigating this case. And had they executed a reliable job that Alex would have been excluded … a yr in the past.
Then he addresses the one most problematic piece of proof for the protection.
JIM GRIFFIN: Actually, we’re again to the lie. … ‘Trigger that is all they’ve on this case … He lied as a result of he had a closet stuffed with skeletons. …. However what he did not lie, what he did not lie for is as a result of he was overlaying up for the truth that he killed Maggie and Paul. … Alex wouldn’t have killed the folks he liked most on the planet.
CREIGHTON WATERS: This defendant … has fooled everybody, everybody. … And he fooled Maggie and Paul too, and so they paid for it with their lives. Do not let him idiot you, too.
After listening to from 75 witnesses in additional than 5 weeks, the jury deliberates for just below three hours earlier than returning with a verdict. Murdaugh is discovered responsible of murdering his spouse and son.
At sentencing the subsequent day, Choose Clifton Newman offers Murdaugh one final probability to enchantment to the courtroom.
ALEX MURDAUGH: I respect this courtroom, however I am harmless.
Unmoved, Choose Newman sentences him to two consecutive life phrases in jail.
JUDGE CLIFTON NEWMAN: I do know you must see Paul and Maggie throughout the nighttime if you try to fall asleep. I am positive they arrive and go to you.
Maggie’s mates plan to maintain her reminiscence alive.
Nikki Battiste: What would you like folks to know in regards to the Maggie you knew?
Shellie West: That she was enjoyable. She had a character, that she was witty.
Caroline Value: She liked her household … her boys… She was a dutiful spouse.
Nikki Battiste: I am unable to cease excited about the truth that it’s a video on Paul’s personal cellphone that actually was vital on this case.
Creighton Waters: Properly, I feel it’s ironic … in a homicide case the victims cannot testify, however in some ways, they do … they depart one thing behind that permits you to know what occurred to ’em. And on this case, it was Paul’s video. … It is Paul testifying from the grave.
In Might 2023, Alex Murdaugh was indicted on federal conspiracy, wire fraud, financial institution fraud, and cash laundering fees.
He nonetheless faces greater than 100 fees in state courtroom together with fraud, cash laundering, tax evasion, forgery and conspiracy.
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