Voices of Alex Murdaugh and the murder of his wife, Maggie and Paul, the father of a dynastic family in South Carolina’s Lowcountry
The testimony comes just over a month into the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, the 54-year-old disbarred attorney and member of a dynastic family in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, who is accused of killing his wife and son.
The court will hear testimony from witnesses that identify Paul’s voice, Maggie’s voice and Alex’s voice, Waters said. Murdaugh “told anyone who would listen he was never there … The evidence will show that he was there. His phone “locks forever” while he was at the murder scene with the victims.
Dove said that three different voices could be heard in the footage. Dove said, “You can tell that they’re different voices.”
The night of the murders: Murdaugh’s final call and missing communication with his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, in a video interview
Murdaugh has claimed he last saw Maggie and Paul earlier in the evening that day. They ate dinner together before Murdaugh took a nap and then drove to Almeda, to visit his mother, he has said. He told authorities that when he got back to the family property in Moselle, he found the bodies of his wife and son.
Murdaugh acknowledged his voice can be heard in a video appeared to be filmed that evening at the dog kennels before the killings, and testified he previously lied about being there because of “paranoid thinking” stemming from his addiction to painkillers.
Prosecutors, however, have used a piece of video evidence to argue that Murdaugh was at the crime scene shortly before 9 p.m. – which they say would contradict Murdaugh’s assertion to investigators that he had not been to the kennels that night before finding the bodies.
In his own opening statement, Harpootlian said the audio simply showed Murdaugh and his wife having a “normal discussion” with “no animosity.” Harpootlian said that Paul is very happy. “Nobody’s down there threatening him. Daddy is not pulling out a shotgun and killing him.”
Prosecutors accuse Murdaugh of killing his wife and son to distract from an array of alleged financial crimes, in which he separately faces another 99 charges, and rested their case last week.
Shelly Smith, a home care worker who was taking care of Murdaugh’s mother, testified that Murdaugh indeed visited his mother’s home for about 15 to 20 minutes on the night of the murders. She testified that Murdaugh insisted that he had been there 30 to 40 minutes on the night of the murders, even though they saw each other again a few days later.
Maggie’s phone showed repeated missed calls from her husband over the course of the next hour, Dove testified, along with evidence it had switched to portrait mode. The expert said that that was an indication the phone was in someone’s hand. A final call from Murdaugh was missed just before 10:04 p.m.
In his opening statement last week, Waters told the jury Murdaugh repeatedly called his wife that evening before texting her that he was going to visit his mother and driving to Almeda, South Carolina.
A jury rule on Murdaugh’s personal finances and financial dealings with his father in a case of a fatal shooting in Orlando, Fla
The display of the phone was turned off at 8 p.m. Dove stated that the camera activated when the phone was moved and that the camera tried to locate a face but couldn’t.
Asked specifically if the calls were deleted from the log, Dove said, “it would appear that way,” noting there was no way to know when they were deleted or who was responsible.
Dove said there was only a way to remove the calls from the log, and that it was best to do it manually.
Additionally, Murdaugh was in the same group chat as his wife when relatives were texting about his dying father, Dove said Wednesday. Dove said that Murdaugh did not read the messages until the next day, despite telling state investigators that he was concerned about his father’s health.
Murdaugh testified his opioid use was “certainly a cause” of his financial problems, but not the only cause. He said he was using some of the money he stole from clients to buy pills. The prosecution called the money used to fund a wealthy lifestyle a wealthy lifestyle, but Murdaugh did not take issue with that term.
A prosecution witness talked about the financial dealings of Murdaugh. The chief financial officer of his law firm testified she had confronted Murdaugh about missing funds on the morning of June 7, hours before the killings. After his coworkers offered him sympathy, he was given a break from the financial issues.
Wilson testified that on June 7, 2021, he spoke to Murdaugh three times on the phone. In the short conversations, nothing sounded out of the ordinary, Wilson said.
For the defense, the financial evidence amounts to little more than “speculation” and “conjecture,” defense attorney Dick Harpootlian has argued. The prosecution has focused on the irrelevant financial misconduct charges against Murdaugh, but they have neglected his romantic relationships with his family.
He and Murdaugh had worked on a personal injury case and won a verdict of over 5 million dollars. Murdaugh asked Wilson to write the check to him personally rather than his law firm, and Wilson did as requested.
Much of the testimony this week has focused on Murdaugh’s financial issues. The judge overseeing the case ruled on Monday to allow such evidence, saying it was “so intimately connected” with the state’s case “that proof of it is essential to complete the story.”
Also in court Thursday, Michael “Tony” Satterfield, the son of Murdaugh’s former housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, testified about being defrauded by Murdaugh.
Satterfield’s family heard about the settlement through media reports. He said when he asked Murdaugh about it in June 2021, Murdaugh told him “it was still making progress” and to be ready to settle by the end of the year.
The case of Alex Murdaugh, the lawyer representing the victim of the boat crash, was closed by a gesture by his son Buster in front of a judge
The CEO of the local bank testified that Murdaughs account had been overdrawn by 350,000 dollars. As of August 2021, Murdaugh had a total debt to the bank of $4.2 million, according to Palmetto State Bank CEO Jan Malinowski.
State Judge Clifton Newman was aware of an obscene gesture by Alex Murdaugh’s son Buster in front of Mark Tinsley, the attorney who is representing the family of the victim of the fatal boat crash. The gesture happened Monday during Tinsley’s testimony outside the presence of the jury.
Owen said that Smith arrived in the investigation on September 4th, the day of the incident. According to Owen, Murdaugh had never mentioned his involvement with Smith before.
On Thursday, the prosecution asked Tinsley about how that lawsuit was proceeding. He said he wanted $10 million from Murdaugh, but was told that he might only be able to get $1 million. Tinsley is expected to resume his testimony on Friday.
“We weren’t going to go in there and harass him about money when we were worried about his mental state and the fact that his family had been killed,” the CFO, Jeanne Seckinger, testified.
Indeed, that “day of reckoning” didn’t come for another three months, when his law firm again confronted him about misappropriated funds, leading to his resignation, a bizarre murder-for-hire and insurance scam plot, a stint in rehab, dozens of financial crimes, his disbarment and, ultimately, the murder charges.
Testimony in recent days similarly undermined statements Murdaugh made to SLED during the August 2021 interview – namely, that Maggie decided to go to Moselle the night of the killings because she was worried about him and his father, whose health was deteriorating.
Witnesses in Alex Murdaugh’s Double Murder Trial are a little worried about the case against his wife and son in South Carolina
“She was concerned about the amount of money that they were requesting in that lawsuit – $30 million is what she told me,” Turrubiate-Simpson said. She said she knew the amount of money they were asking for.
People might stop by and bring food, according to Turrubiate-Simpson. He said that I need to make the house look like it is supposed to look. I went to the house after I said OK.
The jury in Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial will visit his South Carolina estate where his wife and son were shot to death in 2021, before prosecutors call rebuttal witnesses.
The Murdaugh relatives were ordered to sit back in the South Carolina courtroom due to inappropriate contact and conduct, according to the Colleton County clerk of court.
In court Wednesday, Alex Murdaugh’s sister Lynn Murdaugh Goettee passed him a book through a member of his defense team. It was not shared with the victim’s advocate, and Goettee had been admonished just five minutes before that, a source with knowledge of the incident told CNN.
The book was considered contraband because it was not clear what was in it, the source said, adding Murdaugh was already back in his jail cell with it before anybody could check it. The book – John Grisham’s “The Judge’s List” – was later confiscated.
Hill said that the younger Murdaugh was admonished for the incident. Lynn Murdaugh Goettee could be banned from the courtroom if there are more violations.
Amid the book incident, Wednesday’s testimony was interrupted when a bomb threat was called into the clerk’s office and the courthouse in Walterboro was evacuated, Hill said. The court resumed after a while.
The final trial schedule was glimpsed Thursday, with attorneys estimating that closing arguments could start by February 23, weeks after the original end date.
The state hoped to rest its case by the middle of next week, prosecutor Creighton Waters said, while the defense will need at least a week, defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said, noting it could be on the shorter side because of how long testimony already has lasted.
The defense requires out-of-state experts to testify, which makes it difficult and expensive to schedule, Harpoonlian said. 44 witnesses have been called and more than 400 exhibits of evidence have been introduced by the state.
Judge Clifton Newman approved a request from the defense on Monday to allow the jury to view Murdaugh’s property in Islandton, particularly its dog kennels where the bodies of Murdaugh’s wife, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, and son Paul Murdaugh were found. That visit will happen sometime after the rebuttal witnesses’ testimony, Newman said without specifying a day.
Throughout the trial, prosecutors have tried to place Murdaugh at the scene of the killings shortly before the crime, notably with the help of a video clip authorities say was recorded shortly before the shootings.
About 30 seconds after Greene and Murdaugh begin talking, the deputy asks him whether the gun he brought to the scene was from inside the home. Murdaugh says yes, and gives his reasons for why someone would kill his family.
The deputy asks where the gun is, and Murdaugh tells him it is leaning against Murdaugh’s vehicle. The deputy checks Murdaugh’s shirt before talking further.
This is not a short story. My son was in a wreck a while back. He has been getting death threats, says Murdaugh. “Most of it’s been benign stuff. He has been getting punched and we did not take it seriously. I know that is what it is.
When Greene asked Murdaugh when he was last with the pair, Murdaugh answered, “earlier tonight,” before explaining that at one point that evening he’d left the home to visit his mother, who lived about a 15-minute drive away.
The injuries to Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, 48, were caused by a shot in the back of the head, according to Ellen Riemer
Ellen Riemer, a pathologist at the Medical University of South Carolina, gave graphic testimony about the injuries caused toMaggie andPaul, under question from the prosecution.
Riemer said that the force of the shot ejected his brain, which arrived to the autopsy separately. At this testimony, Alex Murdaugh was visibly upset, and grabbed a tissue and wiped his eyes and nose.
Medical records showed that Mr. Murdaugh had been shot in the back of the head, but he had been able to call for help afterward. Two days later, Mr. Murdaugh issued a statement apologizing to his family, friends and colleagues and said that he was going into rehab for an addiction to painkillers.
Riemer did not see anything on his hands that would suggest he was bracing himself for the injury. “That first shot, his arm was down, and I don’t see any evidence of injury to his hands from the second.”
The next shot was upward and went through the left side of her face. Riemer claimed that the first two shots caused her to double over, with her head bent over. She said this wound would have been fatal. Riemer testified that the last shot was to the head.
High-Redshift Jurors in South Carolina Described by Murdaugh and Harvey on the September 20, 2021, Shootings
The remaining jurors were tested Monday and will be tested again Wednesday. Prosecutors and defense attorneys discussed with the judge postponing the day’s proceedings, but Judge Clifton Newman said jurors would wear masks and “they have a positive attitude.”
Editor’s Note: The HBO docuseries “Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty” chronicles the family’s influence in South Carolina. CNN will show it on Sunday, February 19 at 8 p.m.
Murdaugh explained how in September 2021, two months after the killings, he decided to ask a man who he was initially intending to get pills from to instead shoot him.
On the same day, Murdaugh used her cell phone to look up the white pill on the internet. There is a similarity between the description and a pill. Maggie then deleted her searches for the pills, the prosecution said.
Defense attorney Phillip Barber showed a text Alex Murdaugh sent to his wife the following day, on May 7, 2021, which read: “I am very sorry that I do this to all of you. I’m fond of you.
The defense has painted Murdaugh as a loving father and husband being wrongfully accused of the killings after what it says has been a mishandled investigation and crime scene.
More than a week ago, Colleton County Coroner Richard Harvey testified that he estimated the time of death to be around 9 p.m. – just minutes after Murdaugh’s voice was captured on the video – based in part on armpit checks he conducted to feel how warm the bodies were.
The court also earlier on Friday heard from an investigator who offered a timeline of the night Maggie and Paul were killed, combining data from cell phones and vehicle systems which showed Alex Murdaugh drove by the spot where his wife’s phone was later found and that he called police seconds after his car arrived in the area the bodies were found.
During his testimony on Friday, Peter Rudofski, an investigator with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, said he was able to plot Murdaugh’s movements on the night of the killings through latitude, longitude and speed data provided by General Motors.
Records show that Murdaugh reached speeds as high as 80 mph on rural roads, far above the posted speed limit. He passed the place where the phone was found on the side of the road.
After turning into the front entrance at the Moselle property at around 10 pm, Murdaugh headed over to the family dog shelter located there a short time later, according to the investigator.
Murdaugh’s voice, Owen’s, was recognized by his father, Rogan, after the murders of his father Paul, whose father died
According to previous testimony, he told investigators on the night of the killings that when he arrived at the crime scene and discovered the bodies, he tried to turn Paul over, then attempted to check Paul’s cell phone, and then attempted to tried both of their pulses, before calling 911.
The case was transferred from the local solicitor to the Attorney General’s Office because of the long standing ties that the Murdaugh family have with the local solicitor.
The SLED has opened an investigation into Murdaugh for allegedly misappropriating funds at his law firm.
“And Rogan’s been around your family for pretty much all his life,” Owen said, something Murdaugh agreed with. “And he recognizes your voice, and you have a distinct voice. Can you imagine anyone else with a voice similar to yours that has the same meaning to it?
The jury watched a short video from Paul, showing his father wearing blue and khakis an hour before the murders. The clothes haven’t been found.
You and Paul had a video on his phone that night. Owen said that when he met you, you were in shorts and a T-shirt. “At what point in the evening did you change clothes?”
Blanca Simpson, a family housekeeper, similarly testified last week that Maggie told her the day of the murders that Alex had asked both Maggie and Paul to come to Moselle that night.
Alex Murdaugh, aka Curtis Edward Smith, had no drug debt or cell phone contact during the August 7 shootings of his son and his wife, Maggie,
“And the reason you didn’t, (was because) you weren’t concerned about those clothes. The investigation was focused on the t-shirt, shorts, and shoes he wore when he called for help.
Owen told a county grand jury that an expert had found blood on the front of the T-shirt and that it was sent to a lab for testing. The test, however, found no blood on the shirt.
“Y’all completely overlooked the fact that when you did a HemaTrace test to confirm whether there’s blood, it came up negative. Is that not taken care of? asked the man.
“Whoever killed Maggie and Paul would likely have biological material on them from the blasts that killed the two victims, right?,” Griffin asked Owen.
Before Murdaugh testified Thursday, a motion from the defense to limit the scope of questioning he would face was denied by Judge Clifton Newman – in particular, allegations of financial wrongdoing.
The defense appeared to suggest last week that the killings could be related to a financial dispute with a drug gang, saying Murdaugh was buying $50,000 worth of drugs each week from a man who was in significant debt to a gang.
“Prior to that day, had Alex Murdaugh ever mentioned to you Curtis Edward Smith or anyone else that might have been involved in his son’s or his wife’s murder?” prosecutor John Meadors asked.
Asked if a cell phone analysis had been performed to see if any of the drug gang members were in the area the night of the killings, Owen said drug gang members typically use burner phones, and he didn’t have their phone numbers. But state investigators performed an analysis around Moselle and had identified only first responders as coming to the scene, Owen said.
The defense attorney also asked Owen if any DNA analysis had been done to match a small amount of unknown male DNA found under Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernail. Owen said no.
In opening statements of Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial, the prosecution went into a lengthy defense of the value and importance of circumstantial evidence.
Defense attorneys point to what they describe as a mishandled police investigation, adding Murdaugh is a troubled but loving father and husband whose other misdeeds still do not add up to him being a murderer.
There are no witnesses. The lawyer said there was nothing on camera. “There’s no forensics tying him to the crime. None.”
“It does make the case more difficult,” said trial attorney Misty Marris. “But at some point, if the prosecutors have enough evidence that they can put together that story, and show motive and opportunity, it can certainly rise to the level needed to get a conviction.
Jurors want science, jurors want genetics, and jurors want something that makes them think. “But because (prosecutors) lack it … their focus is now on the tenuous motive and the lies after the fact, but neither of those things … substitute the evidence that they need.”
Alex Murdaugh, a 34-year-old father of two and a dog, and the boat accident in Mallory Beach, South Carolina
The video focuses on one of their dogs and appears to have been recorded at the kennels at their family home in Islandton. In the background there are different voices, and family friends have identified those voices as those of Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh.
The prosecution has used that video and others to try and prove his assertion that he was asleep, as well as cut into his claims about how long he had been with his mother.
Finally, state prosecutors have tried to put forth an adequate explanation of why Murdaugh – described as a loving and devoted family man – would slaughter his wife and son.
On Tuesday, Alex Murdaughs attorneys called his son to testify in the double murder trial that is trying to refute the allegations of killing his wife and younger son.
The first witness of the day was man namedBuster Murdaugh. A source familiar with the case has said that the accident reconstructionist will look at how the investigators treated the scene and what conclusions were drawn as a result.
Although the title “Murdaugh Murders” ostensibly references the killing of Paul Murdaugh and his mother, Maggie, which resulted in his father and her husband, Alex, being put on trial, that’s something of an afterthought in the way the episodes are constructed. The focus of the first two parts, rather, centers on the boat crash.
Indeed, if ever a true-crime docuseries would have benefited from using a narrator, it’s this one; instead, the producers let the group of friends who were swept up in the tragic boat accident that claimed the life of 19-year-old Mallory Beach drone on, augmenting their accounts with blurry reenactments that look like something out of a cheap horror movie.
Those who were on board speak of Paul, who often drank excessively, driving the boat, and the Murdaugh family – thanks to patriarch Alex, a well-connected South Carolina attorney – allegedly using its wealth and influence over the authorities to protect him.
There are many inconsistencies and allegations about times when the Murdaughs escaped scrutiny as suspicious events occurred, such as the death of a housekeeper and nanny, Gloria Satterfield, who they claimed was seriously injured by the family dog.
The Murdaugh Effect in Colleton County, Alabama, During a Shooting by a High-Spin Kid: “You can’t do anything wrong with a little money”
Officers with the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office wrote in reports that they had discovered several shell casings and had called a tow truck company to the scene. They also said they had looked for surveillance cameras from neighboring homes and businesses, though the heavily redacted police reports did not indicate whether they found any.
He admitted that he asked Mr. Smith to shoot him. Mr. Murdaugh wanted to make his death look like a murder so he could collect on his life insurance policy.
He admitted to taking money that was not his and he shouldn’t have done it.
During the cross-examination of him by the prosecution, Murdaugh admitted that he took money that wasn’t his and shouldn’t have.
When he went back to the house after visiting his mom, he assumed that Margaret and Paul were still at the kennels.
While on the phone, Murdaugh said he tried to tend to Paul and his sister after calling for help. Paul’s injuries were particularly bad, Murdaugh said, and he recalled trying to check his son’s body for a pulse and trying to turn him over.
Murdaugh said he didn’t know why he tried to turn him over. My boy is laying face down. He has done it the way he always has. His head was the way he was meant to be. I could see that he was laying on the sidewalk. I didn’t know what to do.”
The Murdaugh Family of Seventy-Year-Old and Current Attorney General (Murdaugh) has a 14th Circuit Solicitor
Referring to cell phone data and other evidence from the night of the slayings, Waters sought to poke holes in Murdaugh’s account of his whereabouts at the time.
Murdaugh believes his addiction was caused by surgery he had to recover from a college football injury. He said he needed a few surgeries, and he started getting addicted to hydrocodone around 2004 before moving on to oxycodone around 2008.
Murdaugh said he changed his plan because he didn’t know if that drug transaction actually happened.
Over three generations, a member of the Murdaugh family has served as the 14th Circuit Solicitor, which leads prosecutions for Allendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties in the southern part of South Carolina.
The family has been linked to a bloody tragedy and allegations of malfeasance, while trying to get millions of dollars in life insurance.
The first non-Murdaugh to hold the 14th Circuit Solicitor position was Duffie Stone, who in 2006 was appointed by then- Gov. Mark Sanford. He was elected for a fourth time in 2020, according to the website.
Gloria Satterfield, a longtime housekeeper for the Murdaugh family, dies in what is described as a “trip and fall accident” at the Murdaugh home, according to attorney Eric Bland, who is representing her estate.
A boat crashes at a bridge near Parris Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, on February 24, killing 19-year-old Mallory Beach, according to the South Carolina Attorney General in documents obtained by CNN.
The Murdaugh Killings of Gloria Satterfield and Other Housekeepers: A Criminal Investigation and a Letter to the SC Attorney General Alan Wilson
On June 15th the SLED releases basic information about the killings on June 7th, saying that Alex Murdaugh called for help at 10:00 pm.
A family spokesman issues a statement saying that the injury of Alex Murdaugh was more serious than a superficial wound. The spokesperson also says an unknown person was to blame.
September 15: SLED announces it is opening a criminal investigation into the February 2018 death of Gloria Satterfield, a housekeeper for the Murdaugh family, and the handling of her estate.
Stone, the solicitor, writes a letter to South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson saying he intends to recuse himself from the Murdaugh death investigations, CNN affiliate WCSC-TV reports.
On September 4, 2021, nearly three months after the killings, Murdaugh reported he was shot alongside a road and was treated for a “superficial gunshot wound to the head,” authorities said.
Dick Harpootlian released a statement on behalf of Murdaugh saying he is leaving the law firm and entering rehabilitation. Murdaugh’s other attorney, Jim Griffin, says his client has an opioid addiction.
Alex pulled over when he saw a tire indicator light. Alex was shot after the man in the blue pickup asked if he had car troubles.
The connection to the crash. Waters questioned Murdaugh about the idea a “random vigilante” could be involved in the murder of his wife and son. Murdaugh testified that he believed a fatal boat wreck that Paul Murdaugh was involved in was the reason for the killings. He then clarified that he did not believe anyone involved in the 2019 boat wreck had anything to do with the murders — but suspected it was someone who had heard about what happened.
October 14: After being released from a drug rehabilitation center, Alex Murdaugh is arrested in Orlando, Florida, on suspicion of misappropriating settlement funds in connection with Gloria Satterfield’s 2018 death, authorities said.
November 12: Alex Murdaugh cites privilege against self-incrimination in declining to respond to allegations by his former law firm that he converted firm and client money to his own personal use, according to court filings.
June 28: The attorney general reported that Murdaugh and Smith had been indicted by a state grand jury. According to an indictment, Murdaugh gave Smith hundreds of checks for over two million dollars.
The indictments include four counts of breach of trust with fraudulent intent; seven counts of obtaining signature or property by false pretenses; seven counts of money laundering; eight counts of computer crimes; and one count of forgery.
The Case of Gloria Satterfield’s Death: A Coroner’s Call to the Law Enforcement Division and a Resolution of Waters’ Controversy
December 14th Eric Bland, the attorney for Gloria Satterfield’s family, said that a settlement had been reached with Murdaugh.
The exhumation stems from a Hampton County coroner’s request that led to the state law enforcement division opening a criminal investigation into Satterfield’s death.
The Coroner didn’t get a report on the death, nor did they perform an autopsy. The manner of death was ruled Natural, which is inconsistent with injuries sustained in a trip and fall accident, according to the Coroner’s Request to the law enforcement division.
After about six hours of testimony Friday – which included a prosecutor grilling the former disgraced South Carolina attorney over lies, drug use and details in the grisly case – the court adjourned for the weekend and is set to resume Monday morning.
You do not agree with my assertion that you have a photographic memory of the details that have to fit, but you are fuzzy on other things that complicate that? You disagree with that?”
Waters queried Murdaugh about the dogs barking at the kennels when he was with his wife and son.
“I know what I wasn’t doing, Mr. Waters, and what I wasn’t doing is doing anything, as I believe you’ve implied, that I was cleaning off or … washing off guns or putting guns in a raincoat. Murdaugh promised that he was not doing any of that.
He said he didn’t make any alibi because he didn’t hurt his wife or child. I have always been able to point out that I never, ever created an alibi.
He said that the person who did what he saw on June 7 hated Paul Murdaugh. They had anger in their hearts.
Murdaugh testified he did not believe anyone involved in the 2019 wreck had anything to do with the murders. But he said he suspected the killer was someone who had heard about what happened.
Waters focused on the financial crimes that the state alleges drove Murdaugh to murder, asking whether the clients he stole from are real people.
Shortly before 4 p.m., Waters concluded his cross examination and Murdaugh’s defense attorney, Jim Griffin, began questioning him again after a brief break. The court adjourned for the day after the questioning was over.
Alexandre Waters, the man responsible for the Murdaugh’s death, testified by a New Haven expert in crime scene reconstruction
“They are real people. They’re good people. They are all people that I care about and a lot of them people I did wrong by.
“Whether that came from me looking them in the eye or not, I can’t answer that. I agree with you that every client I ever had, I looked them in the eye and believed the people who I stole money from were trusting me.
“This defendant … has fooled everyone, everyone, everyone who thought they were close to him,” Waters told the jury. Everyone who thought they knew who he was has been fooled by him. He fooled Maggie and Paul too, and they paid for it with their lives. Don’t allow him to fool you as well.
He said that he made a decision to lie to police because of a number of reasons, including his distrust of the SLED, questions about his family and the fact that he had a pocket full of money. The prosecution played clips of the police interview.
There was an expert in crime scene reconstruction who testified that there was evidence to suggest that at least two people were responsible for the deaths of Margaret and Paul Murdaugh.
Timothy Palmbach, a former professor of forensic science at the University of New Haven, was hired by Alex Murdaugh’s defense to review the case and analyze the crime scene.
In defending his two-shooter theory, he noted that Paul was shot by a shotgun and Margaret was shot by a Blackout rifle. The shooting of Paul was the first one and the shooter would have been slightly shocked by the violence.
A prosecutor’s summary of testimony in the murder of a dog kennel in Islandton, South Carolina, on June 7, 2021
He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two weapons charges in the fatal shootings at the dog kennels of their family estate in Islandton, South Carolina, on June 7, 2021. He separately faces 99 charges for alleged financial crimes that will be adjudicated at a future date.
The prosecution, which had 61 witnesses over three weeks of testimony, plan to ask rebuttal witnesses on Tuesday. Judge Clifton Newman also ruled jurors will be allowed to visit the family’s sprawling estate after the rebuttal witnesses but prior to closing arguments.
The 14th and final defense witness was the defendant’s brother John Marvin Murdaugh, who testified in emotional terms that law enforcement released the crime scene back to the family without cleaning up Paul Murdaugh’s remains.
“It had not been cleaned up. The man testified that he saw blood, brains, and pieces of skull. I thought it was something I needed to do for Paul to clean it up. It was the right thing to do. I felt like I owed him and started cleaning. I can promise you that my family won’t have to see or do what I did that day.
The defense tried to portray the investigation into the case as shoddy, stating that the crime scene was not properly secured. Mark Ball, a former Murdaugh Law Firm colleague testified that there were no barricades or police tape around the property on the night of the killings.
In particular, they have tried to prove he was at the crime scene that night, worked to show he lied to investigators and painted a picture of a fraudster who killed his wife and son in a desperate bid to distract the investigations into his actions.
That shooting was followed by a stint in rehab for drug addiction, dozens of allegations of financial crimes, his disbarment and, ultimately, the murder charges.
Prosecutors said Murdaugh had a problem with rigor mortis and didn’t take exact temperatures during the 2011 shootings
The state plans to call a number of witnesses to testify on issues raised by the defense, and hopes to have all of them present by Tuesday, Waters said.
The defense rested its case on Monday, after calling 14 witnesses including Murdaugh who pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder.
“If I was under the pressure that they’re talking about here, I can promise you I would hurt myself before I would hurt one of them, without a doubt,” Murdaugh said on the stand Friday.
Prosecutors have used a video to show that Murdaugh was at the scene just as the killings took place.
Harvey, who said he arrived on scene at 11:04 p.m., also testified that rigor mortis – the stiffening of a body’s joints and muscles following death – had not yet set in, and that it typically starts developing one to three hours following death.
Jonathan Eisenstat, a forensic Pathologist, testified that armpit temperature checks are not a valid method to try to make a determination of time of death.
Instead, he said, someone arriving on scene should first check the ambient temperature of the area where the body is found and then take a rectal temperature to get as close to a core body temperature as possible.
Harvey denied earlier he took rectal temperatures that night. Prosecutors asked if the coroner had an idea of when the killings happened since he didn’t take exact temperatures.
“The evidence that you’ve heard shows that the defendant became so addicted and so dependent on the velocity of money that the millions of dollars in legal fees that he was receiving was not enough and so he started to steal,” Waters said.
A father and wife tell the truth about the murders of his wife and child Maggie, whom they murdered in Moselle, Michigan, and discovered through phone forensics
Primarily using phone forensics, Waters reconstructed a timeline of the prosecution’s version of events before, during and after the murders by the kennels at Moselle.
Everything changed because of that. Why did it change so much? Opportunity. Being at the scene of the crime when the murders occurred,” Waters said. The most important thing he could have given the law enforcement was lies. ‘When was the last time I saw my wife and child alive?’ Why wouldn’t a reasonable father and husband tell the truth about what happened? He didn’t know that the video was there.
He pointed to testimony from a weapons expert that said that casings for bullets from a Blackout rifle that were discovered near Maggie’s body matched casings found on other parts of the family’s property by investigators.
A family killed a person. It was present in a couple months before the murders. A family weapon the defendant cannot account for killed Maggie.”
Police searched Murdaugh for gunpowder and talked to him about his relationships with his family after finding trace gunpowder in his hands.
Evidence against Murdaugh in the Moselle House: Evidence for a chaotic murdering and gunman’s death during the 1997 June 7 boating accident
Waters said that the reason you told the jury about the most important part of your testimony was a lie.
The defense team that was working for Murdaugh focused on the fact that sloppy police work undermines the case against him.
Numerous vehicles and people were allowed onto the Moselle grounds in the hours after the killings, including Murdaugh’s relatives and friends. Despite the rain and mist, the bodies of Paul and Maggie were not covered by tarps.
Mark Ball was Murdaugh’s former law partner and said that people kept showing up. There was nothing to keep cars away, and first responders were walking around inside a taped-off area, he testified, adding that he saw water dripping from the kennel roof onto Paul’s body.
Ball said his large group eventually left the area – but instead of being sent away, they were told to go inside the main house, despite Ball’s own concern that it could be part of the crime scene. He said some of them worked on the house.
The prosecutor focused on a different case after the murders, over the fatal boating accident in which Paul was criminally charged. It struck her as odd.
The Murdaughs gave their two sons, Paul and his brother, the custom rifles as Christmas gifts. A new gun was bought after the Paul’s one was stolen, but the older one hasn’t been found.
There were many variables that prosecutors said could have caused Paul’s death, including the chaotic scene and the possibility of firing from a kneeling position.
The state’s final rebuttal witness, forensic expert Kenneth Kinsey, told Attorney General Alan Wilson that the defense’s theory the gunman had to be shorter than Murdaugh’s 6-foot-four-inch frame was “preposterous.”
The outfit is similar to the testimony of Turrubiate-Simpson, who remembered fixing Murdaugh’s collar that morning. She also told jurors about a conversation with her employer two months after the murders.
Early in the evening of June 7, his phone seemed to be sitting immobile at the main house. The data shows a burst of activity starting at 9:02 pm, when Murdaugh took 283 steps in four minutes. That’s right after experts say the murders occurred.
How much time were you busy? Waters, the prosecutor, asked Murdaugh. The accused man didn’t give details, saying only that he was getting ready to visit his mother, who has Alzheimer’s.
Smith had never seen Murdaugh visit his parents at 6:30 in the morning. She said that he did that one day after the shooting, carrying a blue vinyl tarp that looked like something was inside.
Murdaugh denied doing that. The blue raincoat that was found at the house was wrapped around a recently fired weapon, leading investigators to believe it was a blue raincoat.
Annette Griswold described Murdaugh as a “Tasmanian devil”, a person who was always late for work. It was Griswold who first discovered missing settlement fees from early 2021. Griswold said she initially assumed Murdaugh had misplaced them. She approached the firm’s chief financial officer to report her suspicions.
Seckinger, who has known Murdaugh since high school, said that when she went to confront him about the missing money on June 7, he shot her a dirty look that she’d never seen before, asking, “What do you need now?”
In the months after the murders, a check was found floating in the ground and she discovered that he was stealing money. It hit her hard, she said: “I was beside myself. … He’d been lying the whole time.”