Graphic footage of Alex Murdaugh sobbing just meters from the blood-soaked bodies of his wife and son has been revealed.
Edited body-worn footage of the first officer at the scene was finally released Monday after being shown to jurors earlier in his double murder trial.
The disgraced legal scion, 54, speaks on the phone and asks an officer, “You’re dead, aren’t you?” The bodies of Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, are blurred after they were found on June 7, 2021 family hunting grounds were shot multiple times.
“It’s bad, I took her pulse,” Murdaugh tells the officer while pacing the property next to the dog kennel in a white T-shirt, shorts and sneakers.
Murdaugh tells Sergeant Daniel Greene that he was gone about an hour and a half to visit his mother. “I saw her about 45 minutes beforehand,” he says.
Alex Murdaugh is seen at the crime scene of the family’s hunting lodge in Islandton, South Carolina on June 7, 2021. Murdaugh speaks on the phone in the video and tells the officer that his brother is on the line.
PAUL’S BODY: Paul’s body can be seen in front of a door at the Zwinger. The body is blurred
MAGGIE’S BODY: The body of Murdaugh’s wife is blurred in the extreme foreground as he paces near his parked Chevrolet Suburban in a white t-shirt
“I drove around in the pickup with Paul for two hours this afternoon,” he tells the police officer.
Then he asks, “Did anyone go to check them out? Have you checked them? Are you sure you’re dead?’
The officer confirms they are dead.
Murdaugh’s Chevrolet Suburban is parked nearby, a shotgun propped against it. He tells the officer he found the shotgun but is otherwise unarmed.
In the video, the disgraced attorney speaks on the phone and tells the officer that his brother is on the line.
The footage comes as prosecutors plan to drop their case this week.
Murdaugh is accused of shooting Maggie five times with a high-powered assault rifle and his son Paul twice with a shotgun.
The state says it killed the couple to distract from their financial crimes. He embezzled millions from his law firm and was facing a lawsuit over his son’s drunk boating accident that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach in February 2019.
On the day Maggie and Paul were murdered, Murdaugh had been confronted with over $792,000 stolen from his company.
A hearing was due later that week in the boatwreck lawsuit to determine the status of his finances.
Murdaugh told Beach’s family lawyers that he was broke and the court heard him divert funds from the company to his personal accounts to protect the money from the lawsuit.
Maggie recently confided in her housekeeper that they were being sued for $30 million.
The defense theory is that someone else killed Maggie and Paul in revenge for the boat accident.
His Chevrolet Suburban is parked nearby, a shotgun propped against it. Murdaugh tells the officer that he found the shotgun but is otherwise unarmed.
Paul’s body appears to be lying in front of a door and is blurred in the edited footage
Murdaugh gestures with a torch while speaking to Sergeant Daniel Greene, the first officer to arrive at the estate on the night of the murders
WHERE MAGGIE DIED: A pool of blood can be seen outside the kennels near the kennel where Maggie Murdaugh was shot. Fire AR bullets in total, two of which pierce her brain
WHERE PAUL DIED: Blood spatter on the floor in the kennel storeroom where Paul Murdaugh was shot. He was killed with one shot in the chest and a second in the head. Two shotgun shells were seized by police – two 12 gauge, two different brands – one Federal, the other Winchester
They argue that their client was a “loving” husband and father who could never have killed his wife and son. They have branded the state’s alleged financial motivation as “ridiculous.”
Murdaugh claims he went to see his mother around 9 p.m. on the night of the murder. The state says Maggie and Paul were killed just after 8:49 p.m. and that video taken by Paul at 8:45 p.m. proves he was at the scene.
Several witnesses, including close family friends, have testified that they can hear Alex, Maggie and Paul’s voices in the footage.
But the alleged killer told investigators he was never inside the kennel.
Murdaugh says the family had dinner together around 8:15 p.m. and that Maggie and Paul went to the kennel while he fell asleep in front of the television.
At 9:06 p.m., his Chevrolet Suburban was started and he visited his mother in Almeda, about 15 minutes away.
He claims he was there for around 40 minutes, although this is disputed by his mother’s caregiver, who said he was only in the house 20 minutes.
Alex Murdaugh arrives in Colleton County Court in South Carolina on Monday
Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh
At the time of Maggie and Paul’s deaths, Murdaugh and his son were facing a civil lawsuit over the boatwreck that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach in February 2019. Murdaugh told officers Paul and Maggie were killed in revenge for the accident
Murdaugh says he arrived at the hunting grounds to find Maggie and Paul dead in the kennel. He called 911 at 10:07 p.m.
First responders have testified that they did not examine Maggie or Paul because their injuries were so horrific that they were “incompatible with life”. Two shots went into Maggie’s head while Paul’s brain was completely detached from his skull.
The court has previously heard evidence that when police arrived, Murdaugh’s clothes looked so clean that police believed he had recently changed.
Blood tests done on his white T-shirt later came back positive. However, Murdaugh says he touched their bodies to look for signs of life.
Earlier video taken by Paul at 7:56 p.m. that evening shows Murdaugh in a blue shirt, long pants and brown loafers.
The family’s housekeeper, Blanca Simpson, testified last week that she never saw the clothes again.
The state intends to drop its case by Wednesday, at which point the defense will begin calling its own witnesses.
Alex Murdaugh listens as his friend Chris Wilson testifies at the Colleton County Courthouse Thursday during his double murder trial
The family’s housekeeper, Blanca Simpson, testified that Alex told her to go to the house the day after Maggie and Paul were killed on June 7, 2021 in the kennels on the Moselle, South Carolina estate and clean up
The trial takes place at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, a sleepy, rural town 50 miles west of Charleston in a low-lying region of South Carolina over which the Murdaugh family has wielded immense legal and political power.
In fact, in the courtroom where Murdaugh will be tried, a portrait of his late grandfather — legendary longtime 14th Circuit Solicitor Buster Murdaugh Jr. — hung on the wall before it was removed before the trial.
Following the murder trial, Murdaugh faces more than 100 other criminal charges ranging from drug trafficking to allegations that he stole nearly $9 million from clients and other attorneys.
Prosecutors say Murdaugh lured his wife and son to their 1,700-acre hunting lodge and shot them.
The state also claims his life spiraled out of control amid years of opioid addiction and mounting debt.
Murdaugh pleaded not guilty in June, and the blockbuster trial is expected to include wild allegations of dark family secrets, financial ruin and hedonistic excess.
A total of over 220 people were able to testify against Murdaugh in the trial.
SCHEDULE: NIGHT OF THE KILLS
Alex Murdaugh, 54, is accused of shooting dead his wife Maggie, 52, and younger son Paul, 22, on the night of June 7, 2021 at the family’s hunting property in Islandton, South Carolina.
Here are the key events in the timeline established by the prosecution:
At 7.56pm, Paul sent a Snapchat video to friends showing the 22-year-old driving around the property with his father.
At 8:15 p.m., Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, came home and the trio had dinner together. Autopsies showed similar stomach contents for Maggie and Paul.
Around 8:30 p.m., Paul’s phone moves in the direction of the kennel.
Then, at 8.44pm, a second video taken by Paul in the kennel – soon to lead to a murder scene – allegedly proves Maggie, Paul and Alex were together.
At 8:49 p.m., prosecutors say Paul’s phone was locked and forever silent, never to text again or make another call.
Between 9pm and 9.30pm, Paul and Maggie were killed – according to the coroner.
At 9:06 p.m., Murdaugh’s car is set on fire.
The alleged killer said he was visiting his mother in Almeda, about 15 minutes’ drive away, who has late-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
At 10:07 p.m., Murdaugh called 911 and claimed he got home to find his wife and son shot.