Alex Murdaugh’s brother broke today as he described how he cleaned up Paul’s brain the day after the murders because “it felt like the right thing, I felt a debt to him”.
John Marvin Murdaugh, the alleged killer’s younger brother, said he returned to the hunting ground after arriving at Alex’s side the night his wife and son were shot dead on June 7, 2021.
He said the grass where Maggie’s blood-soaked body had lain was covered in dirt, “so there really wasn’t anything to do.” But the feeding room in the kennel, where Paul was hit twice with a shotgun, was still covered in blood and brain matter.
John Marvin sobbed as he described the scene, telling the jury: “I saw blood, I saw brains, I saw pieces of skulls, I saw tissue, and I don’t know it was just horrible.
“And for some reason I thought it was something I had to do to make Paul clean it up. It felt like it was the right thing to do, I felt like I owed him something, and I started cleaning.
John Marvin sobbed as he described walking to the feeding room. He told jurors: “I saw blood, I saw brains, I saw pieces of skulls, I saw tissue, and I don’t know it was just horrible. “And for some reason I thought it was something I had to do to make Paul clean it up. It felt like it was the right thing to do, I felt like I owed him something and started cleaning.
Murdaugh cried at the defense table as his brother described cleaning up his dead son’s brains, which were still scattered in the kennel’s feed room, the day after the murders
Buster, Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh on a family vacation in Lake Keowee in May 2021 – a month before the murders
“I can promise you that no mother or father, aunt or uncle will ever have to do and see what I did that day.
“I don’t blame anyone but I was just overwhelmed and did everything I could and I had moments where I stopped crying for a moment just in disbelief.”
Murdaugh cried at the defense table as his brother described the horrific ordeal.
“At one point I called my brother Randy and told him what I was doing and he told me to stop and said I couldn’t be there,” said John Marvin.
“And I couldn’t stop. I had to do it for Paul. It’s exactly what I had to do.”
He added: “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever been through in my life.”
He previously described his brother’s relationship with his sons, saying that “the boys always came first” and that Maggie and Alex had a “good marriage.”
John Marvin apologized to the jury when he started crying: “Excuse me, it’s going to be difficult for me to talk about Paul because we had a very special relationship.”
He told the court that Paul and his older brother Buster “always came first” to Alex.
Describing his relationship with Maggie, John Marvin said they had a “great relationship.” All marriages have hiccups here and there, but let me tell you, it was a good marriage.’
He recalled attending a Darius Rucker concert with his wife Liz, Maggie and Alex and how he looked down and they were “holding hands and swaying together and [Liz] said, “why don’t you hold my hand?” So my beer was put down.’
John Marvin said his brother called him the night Maggie and Paul were shot.
“Alex called me absolutely hysterical. As soon as I heard his voice, I knew something bad was going on,” said John Marvin. “I think he said Maggie and Paul were hurt very badly and said can you get over here as soon as possible.”
Maggie’s body was found a few yards to the right of a kennel, while Paul’s lay by the door at the end of the kennel. dr Ellen Riemer described how Paul’s brain was shot out of the back of his head with a shotgun and that the organ arrived at the morgue “in a separate bucket.”
Paul’s body was found in the feed room door at the end of the row of dog cages in the kennels
Maggie’s blood-soaked body lies under a sheet at the crime scene on the night of June 7, 2021. She was shot five times with an assault rifle, while Paul was shot twice with a shotgun a few yards away in the kennels on the estate
MURDER SCENE: Paul’s body lies outside the storage room while Maggie lies just outside the kennel by the kennel
He said that when he got to the hunting estate in Moselle, South Carolina, he ran to his brother.
“He was just broken, he was desperate. We just hugged and cried. I don’t even know we talked,’ said John Marvin.
Prosecutors called 61 witnesses compared to 14 for the defense. Murdaugh’s attorneys plan to drop her case on Monday.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters said he plans to call “a few” respondent witnesses to refute defense evidence and indicated their testimony would not take long.
Closing arguments would follow and the judge would direct the jury as to what could happen Tuesday or Wednesday, Murdaugh defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said in court on Friday. The judge did not set a strict schedule.
Murdaugh put forward his own theory about who committed the murders during the trial, testifying on Friday that he believed someone upset about a fatal boating accident involving Paul had done so.
He acknowledged that he lacked evidence to support this theory.
During his testimony, he also said he defrauded legal partners and clients of vast sums of money to feed his drug addiction, which may have undermined his credibility with the jury.
Under cross-examination, Waters attempted to frame Murdaugh as a serial liar who was under pressure from mounting financial problems in the months leading up to the murders.
Buster Murdaugh, centre, arrives with his girlfriend Brooklynn White, Alex’ sister Lynn (left) and brother John Marvin (right).
Murdaugh arrives at the courthouse Monday surrounded by sheriffs
Murdaugh admitted lying to investigators after the murders by telling them he was not in the kennel the night of the murders.
He changed his account after the jury saw cellphone video that included audio of Murdaugh’s voice placing him at the scene minutes before investigators said his wife and son had been killed.
Born into a powerful South Carolina legal family, Murdaugh was indicted by a grand jury in July and pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and possession of a gun.
The case has drawn intense media coverage given the Murdaugh family’s political clout in South Carolina.
Murdaugh’s only surviving son, Buster, 26, has appeared in court every day and testified last week. He was staying with his girlfriend near Charlotte at the time of the murders.
Disfellowshipped attorney John Marvin’s brothers and Randy, and sister Lynn, have also visited the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro most days.