COP CLAIMS MURDAUGH SAID ‘I DID HIM SO BAD’
In his second interview with police officers on June 10, 2021 – three days after the murders – Murdaugh was asked about the “traumatic image” he encountered when he found Maggie and Paul.
The jury was played the audio on Monday, in which Murdaugh was heard saying, “It’s just so bad, I did him so bad.”
Prosecutor Waters interrupted the video to ask Special Agent Jeff Croft to clarify what Murdaugh had said. Croft repeated: “It’s just so bad, I did him so bad.”
But Murdaugh defiantly shook his head in court when responding to Croft’s interpretation of the audio and appeared to be telling his attorneys, “I didn’t say that.”
However, his legal team did not object and the recording continued to play.
Detectives at the time didn’t take up the alleged confession, as Murdaugh continued to tell them about Paul, “He was such a good boy too.”
Murdaugh tells the police about a boating accident
Murdaugh told 911 about Paul’s boating accident and claimed his son had been “threatened for months.”
The first officer to arrive said Murdaugh “immediately started” telling him about the February 2019 accident that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach.
“I know it is,” he said.
At the time of Paul’s death, the 22-year-old was on trial for driving under the influence of alcohol in the boat accident.
The defense theory is that someone killed Maggie and Paul Murdaugh as revenge for the accident.
Prosecutors allege Murdaugh made the comments on purpose to divert suspicion from himself.
Murdaugh didn’t cry
First responders all agree so far that Murdaugh didn’t cry.
Although he looked and sounded upset, police officers and firefighters have said there were no tears in the lawyer’s eyes.
Murdaugh’s behavior will play a central role in the case. Prosecutor Creighton Waters asked jurors on opening day to “closely look” at the body-worn footage.
‘Watch them closely. Pay attention to his facial expressions. Listen to what he says and what he doesn’t say,” Waters said.
Murdaugh sounded clear throughout his dealings with officers that night, even greeting one by saying, “How are you?”
The defense has argued that Murdaugh was distraught after the murders and had a “bonding experience” with his son just hours before, as captured in a Snapchat video Paul recorded with his father.
NO BLOOD VISIBLE ON MURDAUGH – BUT T-SHIRT SHOWS MARKS
Murdaugh had no visible blood on his white T-shirt, first responders told the court.
Police described seeing pools of blood under the bodies of Maggie and Paul.
Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian described to jurors how Paul’s head “literally exploded… like a watermelon.”
Murdaugh previously told 911 he checked his wife and son’s pulses – but when police arrived they saw no blood on him.
The jury heard Friday from Detective Laura Rutland, who said Murdaugh was “clean” from head to toe. Rutland added that it appeared Murdaugh had changed after the murders, noting that she found it odd that the defendant was sweating but his clothes were “dry.”
Later, forensic science expert Melinda Worley said Murdaugh’s white T-shirt and khaki shorts tested positive for a blood test.
However, she acknowledged that the test can also be triggered by bleach and rust.
GRAYER MAGGIE AND PAUL’S GRAY SHOOTINGS
Terrifying bodycam footage of the “butchered” bodies of Maggie and Paul was played to the jury.
The 12 men and women sometimes covered their mouths while Murdaugh bent over to cry.
Fire Chief Barry McRoy told the court that Paul’s “brain had come down from his ankles” when he arrived and that he did not examine either victim because “both had injuries incompatible with life.”
The defense argues that given the brutality of these execution killings, it is simply “not believable” that Murdaugh – a “loving” husband and father – could have carried them out.
The defense suggests two gunmen killed Maggie and Paul
Harpootlian claimed Monday that “a reasonable explanation” for the distance between the shots that killed Paul and Maggie was that there were two gunmen.
“There are two people, there are two guns, one is a shotgun, one is an AR,” he told the court.
Harpootlian suggested that Paul may have been shot by one perpetrator while another acting as a “lookout” was surprised by Maggie.
Worley looked confused and said, “I wasn’t there,” before agreeing with Harpootlian that his theory might be “an explanation” — not “the explanation.”
FOOTPRINTS AND TIRE MARKS “NOT RECEIVED”
Murdaugh’s defense team has already attacked several first responders for failing to preserve footprints and tire tracks found at the scene.
Sergeant Daniel Greene even noted that there were several tire tracks in the wet grass that were inconsistent with the number of vehicles on the property.
He said he didn’t tell SLED (state law enforcement agencies) about the evidence because it “wasn’t part of my job description.”
Harpootlian snapped at Greene for failing to take photos and not putting anything on his feet to conserve the blood and brains splattered on the floor.
Later, for the same reason, he tore up another officer and told him, “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
Despite his failure to secure evidence, Greene told the attorney he was “unaware” that evidence would be destroyed or contaminated.
MURDAUGH’S PHONE DETAILS
In the body worn footage, Murdaugh can be heard telling the first officer on the scene that he was visiting his mother with late-stage Alzheimer’s.
He said Maggie and Paul were at the kennel when he left.
But Waters told jurors data from “cellphones will show otherwise.”
Prosecutors say the timeline created by phone pings places Murdaugh at the property when his wife and son were killed.
The prosecutor stressed that phone records will be critical in the case and the jury will hear that the Murdaughs were “prolific” cellphone users.
MURDAUGH GORGE AS HE TELLS DETECTIVES HIS WIFE MAGGIE WAS ‘A WONDERFUL GIRL’
Murdaugh’s second police interview on June 10, 2021 – three days after the murders – was played to the jury Monday.
In it, Murdaugh broke into sobs as he described Maggie as “a wonderful girl, a wonderful woman, an amazing mother.”
Murdaugh told police: “She always said it was her job to look after me and the boys, she did everything, she did absolutely everything.”
He said their relationship is “as good as it gets” and arguments between the pair are rare – but when they clashed, it transcended the time they spent with their family.
Murdaugh said he and the boys would rather stay at home than visit his in-laws.
When asked about friction in his relationship with Paul, Murdaugh said he sometimes had to discipline his son for “irresponsibility.”
Paul tended to have his belongings hung everywhere, including clothing and guns.
“He left everything lying around and it wasn’t uncommon for there to be guns out there,” he said.
Murdaugh said his son would visit friends without packing because he had leftover clothes everywhere.
AMMUNITION FOUND AT MURDAUGH PROPERTY KILLED MAGGIE AND PAUL
SLED Agent Jeff Croft was called to the booth, where he held up an AR-15 style rifle and two 12 gauge shotguns from Murdaugh’s impressive collection.
The guns are not claimed to have been used in the murders – no murder weapons have ever been identified – but the types of ammunition discovered with the guns correspond to the grenades and rounds from Paul and Maggie’s bodies.
The ammunition contained in the rifle — Sellier & Bellot .300 AAC BLK — was the same type used to kill Maggie, Croft told jurors.
The agent also described finding boxes of 12-gauge ammunition in the home — including Federal and Winchester, the same brands as the two grenades found near Paul’s body.
The defense objected to the evidence, arguing that showing the jury the array of guns was detrimental to their client.
“There is no evidence connecting these weapons to the crime,” said Murdaugh’s attorney, Jim Griffin.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters argued that they showed how the search for weapons was conducted and how the weapons were thoroughly tested.
Judge Clifton Newman sided with the state and dismissed the objections.
GUNS REMAINS ON THE SEAT BELT OF MURDAUGH’S CAR
In his opening, Waters said gunshot residue was found on the seat belt of Murdaugh’s car as well as on a raincoat that was discovered at his mother’s house.
Murdaugh says he returned home to find his wife and son shot dead after visiting his elderly mother, who has late-stage Alzheimer’s.
However, Murdaugh was in possession of a shotgun when police arrived – which he said he had removed from the house because he feared the killers were still “out there”.
In previous court filings, the defense argued that the amount of debris found was “inconsistent” with the prosecution’s theory that Paul was shot at point-blank range.
The defense says the prosecution is based solely on circumstantial evidence.
In his opening, Harpootlian told the jury, “There is no direct evidence. There are no eyewitnesses. There is nothing on the camera. There are no fingerprints. There’s no forensic evidence linking him to the crime. None.’