Alex Murdaugh's former law partner identifies accused murderer in Paul Murdaugh video clip

Alex Murdaugh is escorted from the Colleton County Courthouse Feb. 7, 2023. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)

Alex Murdaugh was led out of the Colleton County Courthouse Tuesday at the end of the 10th day of his double murder trial.

He's accused of executing his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, 52, with a rifle, and his son, Paul Murdaugh, 22, with a shotgun June 7, 2021.

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) forensic scientist Megan Fletcher is expected back on the stand Wednesday morning for cross-examination.

She testified on direct that she tested the clothes Alex was wearing when he found his slain wife and son and a raincoat recovered from his parent's home for gunshot residue.

The inside and outside of the raincoat tested positive for gunshot residue as did the shirt and shorts, she said.

The panel of 12 jurors and five alternates heard from three witnesses Tuesday including Fletcher.

Earlier in the day, Alex's former colleagues, lawyer Ronnie Crosby and Parker Law Group CFO Jeanne Seckinger, took the stand.

The trial is schedule to resume at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Evidence # 226, a raincoat, in the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, SC, on Monday, February 6, 2023. Jeff Blake/The State/Pool

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) Forensic scientist Megan Fletcher on Tuesday afternoon said she found gunshot residue on a blue raincoat that he allegedly left at his mother’s house about one week after his wife and son were murdered.

SLED conducted particle lifts on the large raincoat and clothing items that Alex wore on the day of the double murder and tested them for evidence.

Fletcher said gunshot residue was found on the outside and inside of the jacket.

Special agent Kristin Moore, who is with SLED’s crime scene unit, testified on Monday that she executed a search warrant at Alex's parents' home in Almeda Sept. 16, 2021, in search of a blue tarp.

A caregiver to Alex's mom, Shelley Smith, told investigators that Alex visited his parents' home one week after the double slaying with a balled up blue tarp that appeared to have something inside it.

A tarp, which was not tested for gun residue, and the blue raincoat, were recovered from the search.

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) forensic scientist Megan Fletcher testifies on Feb. 7, 2023. (Fox News screenshot)

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) forensic scientist Megan Fletcher on Tuesday afternoon said she could smell laundry detergent on Alex Murdaugh’s white T-shirt worn the night of his wife and son’s murders.

Alex is accused of fatally shooting his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and youngest son, Paul Murdaugh, on June 7, 2021.

“I could smell the laundry detergent, as well,” Fletcher said of Alex’s shirt when her colleague called her in to examine and smell the shirt, adding that the clothing items that usually come in to her office smell like mildew, so the detergent scent seemed unusual.

There was some slight staining on the shirt, but it was “relatively clean.” Alex’s cargo shorts were “clean,” Fletcher said.

Fletcher conducted a particle lift and described gunshot residue found on Alex’s shirt and shorts. She said the residue could have come from the clothing being in the vicinity of a gunshot or from being in contact with an object that had residue on it.

On Monday, former SLED technician Jamie Hall, who prepared evidence for gun residue analysis after the double murder, also described Alex's shirt as "freshly laundered" in her notes.

Alex's green cargo shorts, tennis shoes and a white Hanes T-shirt were collected after Paul, 22, was killed with a shotgun and Maggie, 52, was executed with a rifle June 7, 2021.

“It smelled freshly laundered which is not typical of the clothing in the lab, which usually smells slightly musky when we get it,” Hall told jurors.

Alex Murdaugh appears to cry in a Colleton County courtroom on Tuesday, Feb. 7. (Fox News)

Alex Murdaugh appeared to cry in court Tuesday afternoon as his friend and former colleague described the scene where Alex’s youngest son, Paul, and wife Maggie, were killed on June 7, 2021.

Ronnie Crosby had worked with Alex at Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick before it was renamed Parker Law Group and was close to both of Alex’s sons.

He visited the site of the double murder on June 8, 2021, after the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) released the scene.

“I was asked to go there by Randy’s brother, Alex,” Crosby said. 

"Was there still blood -- biological material -- there at the scene?” asked defense attorney Jim Griffin.

Crosby, who also became emotional on the witness stand, replied, yes.

“That area and that room…it was so bad. We thought we were going to, at some point, clean it up, but it overwhelmed my partner Mark and I,” Crosby said. "We just couldn’t be there. It was bad.”

A third witness said he can hear Alex Murdaugh's voice in a cellphone video that his son, Paul Murdaugh, took just before he was murdered near the family's dog kennels.

Alex is charged with fatally shooting his youngest son with a shotgun and his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, with a rifle near the dog kennels of the family's sprawling hunting estate known as Moselle at about 8:50 p.m. June 7, 2021.

About three minutes prior to their deaths, Paul Murdaugh recorded a video of one of the dogs on the family's property that belonged to his friend because something was wrong with the dog's tail.

The video was played again in court Tuesday while Ronnie Crosby, a friend of the Murdaughs and an attorney at The Parker Law Group, took the witness stand.

“The three voices on that video are the voices of Paul Murdaugh, Maggie Murdaugh and Alex Murdaugh," Crosby said.

“How sure are you?” prosecutor Creighton Waters asked.

“I’m 100% sure," Crosby said.

Last week, two of Paul's close friends also testified that they could hear Alex's voice in the video undercutting his claim to investigators he wasn't near the dog kennels the night of the murders.

Alex has said that he, Paul and Maggie had dinner then he took a 20-minute nap.

Paul left the house and Maggie went to the kennels to run the dogs. At around 9 p.m., Alex said he awoke and called and texted Maggie, but she didn't answer. 

Alex then went to visit his mother in nearby Almeda then returned to the main house but no one was home. At 10:07 p.m. he called 911 hysterical and sobbing to report that his wife and son had been "badly shot."

Prosecutors have argued that Alex committed the double murder to prevent his decade-long corruption schemes from coming to light.

Read more about Paul Murdaugh's cellphone video here.

Fox News' Rebecca Rosenberg contributed to this report.

Murdaugh family boat that crashed in 2019. (Beaufort County Sheriff)

Parker Law Group attorney Ronnie Crosby on Tuesday testified that Alex Murdaugh may have been trying to hide legal fees related to a fatal 2019 boat crash involving his son.

Alex was facing a $25 million wrongful death lawsuit as a result of the boat crash, which occurred while his son drove his friends around on the Murdaughs’ boat off the coast of South Carolina while intoxicated, Crosby testified.

Mallory Beach, 19, was killed in the accident.

Murdaugh had “suggested to” Jeanne Seckinger, CFO of The Parker Law Group, that he was attempting to hide fees “from the boating case,” Crosby said.

“Oh f–k no, we’re not,” Crosby said of his reaction to the suggestion.

The attorney said Murdaugh’s suggestion was “illegal, unethical,” and might put the law firm at risk when asked why he had that reaction.

Crosby also testified that when he became aware of some of Alex’s alleged financial crimes with the law group in May 2021, he did not assume Alex was stealing but that he was facing financial pressure resulting from the boat crash.

Read more about the Murdaugh boat crash here.

Parker Law Group attorney Ronnie Crosby (Fox News screenshot)

Attorney Ronnie Crosby testified Tuesday afternoon that his firm, The Parker Law Group, changed its name after Alex Murdaugh’s alleged financial crimes.

The Hampton, South Carolina-based firm formerly known as Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick was founded by Alex’s great-grandfather in 1910.

“As a result of the actions that you heard about earlier today, we did change not only the name of the law firm but [changed it] to a separate legal entity,” Crosby said on the witness stand Tuesday.

Crosby said he started working at the firm in the summer of 1994.

The Parker Law Group had to repay its clients about $5 million as a result of Alex's alleged theft from his family's own personal injury law firm, according to another witness who testified Tuesday.

“In a real way, the law firm is a victim of this conduct,” defense attorney Jim Griffin said in his cross-examination of Jeanne Seckinger, CFO of The Parker Law Group, where Alex used to work.

“Correct,” Seckinger replied.

Alex allegedly embezzled funds from the firm’s clients and then used those funds to pay off debts and for personal use since 2011— 10 years prior to the murders of his wife and son, defense attorney Jim Griffin noted.

Buster Murdaugh, Lynn Murdaugh and Brooklynn White left the Colleton County Courthouse for a lunch break on Tuesday in Walterboro, South Carolina. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)

Buster Murdaugh; his girlfriend, Brooklynn White; and Alex Murdaugh's sister, Lynn Murdaugh, left the Colleton County Courthouse for a lunch break on Tuesday in Walterboro, South Carolina.

Monday marked the start of the third week in Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial.

Alex was escorted into the courthouse by law enforcement on Tuesday morning, hiding his handcuffs under his jacket.

CFO Jeanne Seckinger testified Tuesday that she confronted Alex about $792,000 in missing fees June 7, 2021, hours before the double murder. Her testimony came after a Monday ruling by Judge Clifton Newman that evidence of Alex's alleged financial crimes can be admitted at his trial.

Both Randy and Buster watched the testimony from the gallery. Randy is currently a partner at Parker Law Group.

Alex is charged with gunning down his wife Maggie Murdaugh and son Paul Murdaugh on June 7, 2021 at the family's Islandton hunting estate, known as Moselle.The Hampton firm, formerly known as Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick, was founded by Alex and Randy's great-grandfather in 1910.

Former Palmetto State Bank CEO Russell Laffitte exits federal court in Charleston, South Carolina, on Sept. 6. (John Monk/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Russell Laffitte, the former CEO of a local South Carolina bank, was convicted in November on six financial crimes charges related to disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh's decade-long corruption schemes.

The Laffitte and Murdaugh families rose to South Carolina prominence around the same time in the early 20th century, when the Lafittes founded Palmetto State Bank and the Murdaugh family began a personal injury law firm.

Three generations of the Murdaugh family served as the top prosecutor in the Lowcountry of South Carolina for 86 years.

Laffitte helped Murdaugh steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from six of the former lawyer's clients, according to federal prosecutors.

While the initial indictment did not mention Murdaugh by name, it said Laffitte collected nearly $392,000 in fees for serving as a personal representative for the six clients of a "personal injury attorney at a law firm in Hampton, South Carolina," according to a July press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of South Carolina

The clients included two sisters, Alania Spohn and Hannah Plyler, who were injured in a 2005 car accident that killed their mother and brother when they were children.

Laffitte transferred personal loans to himself and Murdaugh from the six conservator accounts, and they used the funds for personal expenses, prosecutors said during his trial last year.

Alex Murdaugh arrives at Colleton County courthouse on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. (Mark Simms for Fox News Digital)

The Parker Law Group had to repay its clients about $5 million as a result of Alex Murdaugh's alleged theft from his family's own personal injury law firm, according to a witness who testified Tuesday.

“In a real way, the law firm is a victim of this conduct,” defense attorney Jim Griffin said in his cross-examination of Jeanne Seckinger, CFO of The Parker Law Group, where Alex used to work.

“Correct,” Seckinger replied.

Alex allegedly embezzed funds from the firm’s clients and then used those funds to pay off debts and for personal use since 2011— 10 years prior to the murders of his wife and son, defense attorney Jim Griffin noted.

“He managed to fool a lot of people, myself included,” Seckinger said.

The CFO added that she takes Alex’s alleged crimes “very personally” because she unknowingly cut checks at Alex’s request after working alongside him for 22 years.

“It haunts me that…this happened,” she said, adding that Alex’s alleged crimes are a “big betrayal of trust” at The Parker Law Group.

Alex Murdaugh was escorted into Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina Tuesday morning, February 7, 2023. He is seen wearing a white button-down shirt and dark pants, hiding his handcuffs under his jacket.

Alex's double murder trial entered its third week on Monday - the same day Judge Clifton Newman ruled that evidence of Alex's alleged financial crimes can be admitted at his trial.

CFO Jeanne Seckinger, of Parker Law Group, testified Tuesday in front of the jury that she confronted Alex about $792,000 in missing fees June 7, 2021, hours before the double murder.

Alex's brother, Randolph "Randy" Murdaugh IV, and his son, Buster Murdaugh, watched the testimony from the gallery. Randy is currently a partner at Parker Law Group.

Alex is charged with gunning down his wife Maggie Murdaugh and son Paul Murdaugh on June 7, 2021 at the family's Islandton hunting estate, known as Moselle.

The Hampton firm, formerly known as Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick, was founded by Alex and Randy's great-grandfather in 1910.

Jeanne Seckinger, CFO of The Parker Law Group, testifies on Tuesday. (Fox News)

Russell Laffitte, Alex’s friend at the CEO of Palmetto State Bank at the time, sent an email to Alex Murdaugh in 2013 asking him to "get" Jeanne Seckinger, CFO of The Parker Law Group, to “recut” a 2012 settlement check to the firm and listed four different amounts.

Alex emailed him back in 2013, asking Laffitte to direct Seckinger to recut a $1,325,000 settlement check made out to Palmetto State Bank.

Seckinger received word from Laffitte and then directed Parker Law Group staff to recut the checks.

“They were used to make personal payments on Alex’s behalf, so again, the funds that he stole to pay obligations he had,” Seckinger testified Tuesday when asked what happened to the funds after the checks were recut. 

“I don't think I ever really knew.,” she added when asked if she knew about Alex and his schemes to defraud his own firm. “I don’t think anybody really knows.”

Laffitte was convicted of wire and bank fraud charges in November for helping Alex steal from his clients by processing the stolen funds and using them to cover Alex's debts at the bank.

Laffitte’s family founded Palmetto State Bank in 1907, around the same time Alex’s family founded The Parker Law Group, formerly known as Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth and Detrick, in 1910.

Judge Clifton Newman reminded the court after Seckinger's testimony that Alex's alleged financial crimes do not indicate guilt for his two murder charges but do indicate potential motive for the 2021 shooting deaths of his wife and son.

Evidence photo of a partial credit card statement showing a $1021.10 purchase at a Gucci store. (Andrew J. Whitaker/ The Post and Courier/ pool)

SLED special agent Jeff Croft testified last week that he found a credit card statement that showed a charge of $1021.10 at a Gucci store in Charleston.

Croft did not disclose the date of the purchase or who made it. The purchase is circled in blue ink, according to the evidence photo. Part of the credit card statement appears to be torn off.

Croft found the financial record when he sifted through the trash at Moselle, the family's sprawling hunting estate in Islandton, after Maggie Murdaugh and her son, Paul Murdaugh, were shot to death June 7, 2021.

Maggie was in Charleston the day of the murders for a doctor's appointment.

A staffer at the luxury Italian retailer on King Street, in Charleston, told Fox News Digital the last purchase that Maggie made using her email address was May 3rd 2021.

She spent $3,041 on a shoulder handbag and Gucci slides.If she made any purchases at Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue or an outlet store, they would also show up on her account, the staffer said.

Prosecutors haven't yet revealed why the $1021.10 receipt is relevant to the double murder case.

Alex Murdaugh is accused of stealing more than $790,000 from his law firm. (Fox News)

Alex Murdaugh “stole” hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees from his former law firm, a witness testified Tuesday.

Jeanne Seckinger, CFO of The Parker Law Group — formerly known as Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth and Detrick -- said Alex deposited dozens of forged settlement checks into a "fake Forge" account.

Alex is accused of stealing millions from the firm by depositing settlement checks into a Bank of America account that he controlled but created to look like it belonged to the legitimate company Forge Consulting.

The Parker Law Group is still in the process of repaying all the clients Alex stole from, she said.

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters repeatedly asked Seckinger why the firm had to pay back each client.

“Because Alex Murdaugh stole it,” Seckinger said of multiple forged checks presented as evidence in a Colleton County courtroom on Tuesday. She also identified Alex’s handwriting on the checks.

On June 7, 2021, she confronted Alex and told him she had reason to believe he received $792,000 in missing fees directly, and he needed to prove he had not.

Alex assured her the money was in a trust, and the check hadn't been cut to the firm yet.

Their conversation ended abruptly when Alex received a call that his father was back in the hospital and his condition was terminal.

Seckinger learned later that night that Paul, 22, and Maggie, 52, were brutally murdered at the family's estate in Islandton, South Carolina.

Fox News' Rebecca Rosenberg contributed to this report.

Parker Law Group CFO Jeanne Seckinger testifies Feb. 7, 2023, at Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial. (Fox News)

CFO Jeanne Seckinger testified Tuesday that she confronted Alex Murdaugh about $792,000 in missing fees June 7, 2021, hours before the double murder.

“He looked at me with a pretty dirty look - one I had not seen before," Seckinger told jurors at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina. "[He] said, 'What do you need now?' clearly disgusted with me, which kind of raised my hackles, so I said let’s go in your office and talk about it."

She told him she had reason to believe he received the $792,000 settlement directly, and he needed to prove he had not.

Settlements are supposed to go directly to the firm then are disbursed to partners at the end of the year.

Alex assured her the money was there but the check hadn't been cut to the firm yet.

Their conversation was cut short when Alex received a call that his father was back in the hospital and his condition was terminal.

That same day, Alex called Seckinger at about 4 p.m. to ask for his 401k balance. He said he needed the information for a hearing later that week in the Mallory Beach's family's wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a deadly boat wreck.

The Murdaughs were being sued after Paul Murdaugh drunkenly slammed his father's boat into a bridge in 2019, killing Mallory Beach and injuring four other friends.

Seckinger learned later that night that Paul, 22, and Maggie, 52, were brutally murdered at the family's estate in Islandton, South Carolina.

Randy and Buster Murdaugh arrives at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina on Tuesday, February 7, 2023. Alex Murdaugh is on trial for the double slaying of his son, Paul, and wife, Maggie, in June 2021. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)

Randy and Buster Murdaugh arrived at Colleton County Courthouse on February 7, 2023 for the 10th day of Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial.

26-year-old Buster Murdaugh, Alex's only living son, was seen walking into the South Carolina courthouse with his girlfriend, 26-year-old Brooklynn White. Randy, Alex's brother, is a partner at Parker Law Group, and Alex is charged with embezzling funds from the family firm.

Alex is on trial for gunning down his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and his youngest son, Paul Murdaugh, on June 7, 2021, at the family's Islandton hunting estate, known as Moselle.

Alex's family members have been in court everyday since the trial began with opening statements Jan. 25, 2023.

Parker Law Group CFO Jeanne Seckinger is back on the stand Tuesday to testify in front of the jury after a Monday ruling that evidence of Alex's alleged financial crimes can be admitted at his trial.

Fox News' Rebecca Rosenberg and Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.

Defense lawyer Jim Griffin and Alex Murdaugh in Colleton County Court Feb. 6, 2023. (Jeff Blake/ The State/ pool)

Alex Murdaugh cashed a pair of $120,000 checks written out to his brother, Randolph "Randy" Murdaugh IV, who worked for the same law firm at the time, CFO Jeanne Seckinger testified.

The brothers were partners at Parker Law Group , then known as Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth and Detrick, the firm founded by their great-grandfather in 1910.

In 2017, payroll made a clerical error and mistakenly issued a $120,000 check to Alex that was meant for Randy.

Some of the partners would loan money to the firm -- but Alex never did this. The check was a loan repayment to Randy, Seckinger testified.

A few days later, Alex went to payroll and said he'd lost the check and asked for a new one.

"A replacement check was then written to Alex again which was a mistake again and that second check got cashed," Seckinger said. Alex ultimately cashed both checks, and the system flagged the error.

When confronted, Alex said he "made a mistake and thought he had loaned the money that year." He paid the funds back, she said.

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters Jan. 30, 2023, at Alex Murdaugh's murder trial. (Andrew J.Whitaker/ The Post and Courier/ pool)

The CFO of the Parker Law Group testified Tuesday at the Colleton County Courthouse that Alex Murdaugh had a successful career at the firm, often raking in six and seven figure bonuses.

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters asked her whether he was a skilled lawyer.

"Successful not from his work ethic but his ability to establish relationships and manipulate people into settlements and clients into liking him," she said. "So he did it through the art of bullsh-t basically."

She described his personality as "loud, always busy, always in a rush."

Seckinger added, "He had the gift of gab but always seemed last-minute and hurried and frenetic."

Alex was later pushed out of the law firm founded by his great-grandfather in 1910, after he was caught embezzling millions from the firm and his clients.

He now faces 99 financial crimes charges spanned 18 indictments stemming from the theft of nearly $9 million.

Jeanne Seckinger testifying Feb. 2, 2023, at a hearing in Alex Murdaugh's murder trial. (Andrew J. Whitaker/ The Post and Courier/ pool)

Jeanne Seckinger testified Thursday at a hearing to determine whether evidence of Alex Murdaugh's alleged financial crimes can be admitted at his trial.

She was one of eight witnesses who testified outside the earshot of the jury.

Judge Clifton Newman ruled Monday that the evidence can come in, and Seckinger retook the stand Tuesday to testify in front of the jury.

Seckinger, an accountant, said she's known Alex since high school, and worked at the Parker Law Group since 1999, which was formerly known as Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth and Detrick.

"If a law partner were to divert fees and not send them directly to the law firm what would that be?" lead prosecutor Creighton Waters asked.

"Stealing," she replied. Alex is accused of embezzling millions from his former law firm and his clients settlements.

Judge Clifton Newman Feb. 6, 2023, presiding over Alex Murdaugh's trial. (Jeff Blake/ The State/ pool)

Judge Clifton Newman denied a defense motion Tuesday to bar testimony about gunshot residue found on a blue raincoat investigators retrieved from the home of Alex Murdaugh's parents after the murders.

The caregiver for Alex's mother, Shelley Smith, testified Monday that Alex came to his parents' home one week after the double slaying with a bundled up blue tarp that appeared to have something inside it.

Investigators executed a search warrant at the property in September 2021 and found a blue tarp and a blue raincoat.

Smith insisted on cross-examination that what she saw was a tarp and not a raincoat. But on redirect, she testified that an evidence photo of the crumpled up raincoat was consistent with what she had seen.

Defense lawyer Jim Griffin argued that the raincoat evidence shouldn't come in since prosecutors hadn't established through Smith's testimony that it had been in Alex's custody.

"This witness' testimony was consistent on one hand and inconsistent on the other hand, but that doesn’t render the evidence inadmissible," Newman ruled.

In opening statements, Creighton Waters said that the raincoat was coated in gunshot residue.

Alex Murdaugh at his double murder trial Feb. 6, 2023. (Jeff Blake/The State/pool)

Alex Murdaugh, 54, the once powerful scion of a South Carolina legal dynasty, is on trial for the slayings of his wife and son.Prosecutors say Alex gunned down 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh and their troubled 22-year-old son, Paul, on June 7, 2021.

The Murdaughs, a prominent Democratic family, wielded enormous judicial and political power for nearly a century.

A comprehensive timeline details the events that contributed to Alex's downfall and the progress of his murder trial.

The family’s dominance began to wane after Paul was criminally charged for a deadly 2019 boat wreck that triggered a series of lawsuits and threatened to expose his father’s financial schemes.

The accident set in motion a spiral of destruction that has stained the family’s legacy.

For 87 years, three generations of Murdaughs served as the top prosecutor overseeing five counties in South Carolina's Lowcountry.

That reign ended in 2005 when Alex's father, Randolph Murdaugh III, stepped down from the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office -- the chief prosecuting agency for Colleton, Hampton, Allendale, Beaufort and Jasper counties.

At the time of the murders, Alex was a volunteer prosecutors in the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office.

Paul Murdaugh was 22 when he and his mother, Maggie Murdaugh, were shot to death near the dog kennels on the family's sprawling hunting estate in Islantdon, South Carolina.

His father, Alex Murdaugh, is on trial for their murders accused of executing his wife with a rifle and gunning down his son with a shotgun.

Paul was at the helm of his father’s boat in February 2019 when he crashed into a bridge, killing 19-year-old Mallory Beach and injuring four others.

He was charged with three felony counts of boating under the influence. Paul had used his mother’s credit card and his older brother Buster Murdaugh’s ID to buy alcohol for the excursion.

The Murdaugh family was hit with a wrongful death suit that threatened to expose Alex’s decade-long schemes to steal from his law firm and clients.

Three days after Paul’s murder, a hearing in the boat wreck case to determine whether Alex would have to disclose his financial records was canceled. 

Several witnesses have described Paul as an outdoorsman who loved  hunting, fishing and roaming the family’s 1,700 acre property. 

 "Paul’s just a really fun guy," his friend, William McElveen, testified. "The life of the party kind of guy. Everybody that really knew him loved him. Just a great guy."

Spectators line up outside the Colleton County Courthouse Feb. 7, 2023, to snag a seat in the courthouse for Alex Murdaugh's trial. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)

A line of more than 50 people snaked outside the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, at 7:30 a.m.

The group began to gather more than two hours before Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial is set to resume at 9:30 a.m.

Tuesday marks the trial's 10th day, and prosecutors have called 32 witnesses. The state's most-anticipated trial in decades was initially scheduled to last three weeks.

But after Judge Clifton Newman ruled that evidence of Alex's alleged financial crimes can be introduced, the trial may last twice as long.

Evidence shown in Alex Murdaugh’s trial for murder at the Colleton County Courthouse on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier/Pool)

South Carolina investigators found Maggie Murdaugh’s iPhone about half-a-mile from where they discovered her body on June 7, 2021.

Maggie and her youngest son, Paul Murdaugh, were shot to death that evening on the Murdaugh's hunting estate called Moselle in Islandton.

Dylan Hightower, an investigator with the 14th Circuit Court, testified Thursday that he visited the hunting estate on June 8, 2021, and used Find My iPhone to locate Maggie’s phone on Moselle Road. The road is about half a mile from where investigators located her body and Paul’s body near the family’s dog kennels on the 1,700-acre property.

Hightower also downloaded the data on Alex Murdaugh's phone a few days after the slayings. He reviewed Alex Murdaugh's Verizon call records and compared them with data from his cellphone.

On Alex Murdaugh’s physical iPhone, Hightower saw two calls on the day of the double murder, but the Verizon record showed there were 73 calls.Lt. Britt Dove previously testified that Alex deleted entries in his call log.

Alex Murdaugh at his trial on Jan. 31 in Walterboro, South Carolina. (Joshua Boucher/ The State/pool)

While Alex Murdaugh’s net worth may have at one point been in the millions, the disgraced South Carolina lawyer’s current ledger is unknown.

Alex is charged with 99 financial crimes alleging he stole more than $9 million going back more than a decade.

Palmetto State Bank CEO and President Jan Malinowski testified Friday that Murdaugh owed the bank $4.2 million as of August 2021.

Prosecutors have argued that Alex was "burning through cash like crazy" and "extremely leveraged,” which they allege was part of his motive in the murders of his son, Paul, and wife, Maggie.

In the financial crimes indictments, Alex Murdaugh allegedly embezzled funds from multiple clients who employed the services of his personal injury law firm and used those funds for personal use.

Alex was once a  successful attorney and one of the biggest producers at the law firm founded by his great-grandfather then known as Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick, P.A. , according to trial testimony.

He and his wife owned a home in Edisto Beach, South Carolina — an island south of Charleston in Colleton County — that went up for sale in 2022 and received an all-cash offer of $955,000 in April, according to The Island Packet.

The family’s primary residence, a 1,700-acre hunting property known as Moselle in Islandton, South Carolina, was owned by Maggie. The estate was listed for $3.9 million in 2022.

Other than property, Murdaugh’s assets reportedly include three bank accounts totaling about $10,000, a retirement account worth about $2.1 million, an IRA fund worth between $350,000 and $400,000 and more real estate, according to the Greenville News, citing South Carolina attorneys John Thomas Lay and Peter McCoy, who control the former lawyer’s assets.

Mallory Beach, top right, was 19 years old when she died in an accident on the Murdaugh family’s boat in 2019. (Beaufort County Sheriff)

She had been in the boat with friends while Paul Murdaugh was driving while intoxicated along the South Carolina coast.

After Paul drunkenly crashed his boat into a bridge, killing Mallory and injuring several others, the Murdaugh family was given special treatment at the crime scene, a lawyer testified Monday. 

The victim's distraught mother, Renee Beach, wanted to go down to the Archer Creek Bridge in Beaufort, South Carolina, where the boat crash had occurred, but the scene was cordoned off, the family's attorney Mark Tinsley said.

"[Renee Beach] is told she can’t go down there and just a few minutes later Alex’s father and his wife pulled up in a car and are waved under the tape, and they go down to the bridge, and she was very upset by that," said Tinsley, who represents the Beach family in their wrongful death lawsuit against the Murdaughs.

Alex's father, Randolph Murdaugh III, was the top prosecutor overseeing South Carolina's Lowcountry until 2005 – including Beaufort County where the accident occurred. The family wielded enormous influence in the region.

After witnessing the favoritism shown to the powerful Murdaugh family, Renee Beach called Tinsley – setting in motion an unthinkable spiral of destruction. 

Read the full story on Tinsley's testimony on boat crash litigation.

Chris Wilson, trial attorney, is questioned by prosecutor Creighton Waters during a hearing in the middle of the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, on Thursday, Feb. 02. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier/Pool)

Chris Wilson, a South Carolina attorney and longtime friend of Alex Murdaugh, testified last week about his experience witnessing Alex’s downfall, starting when he learned that Alex had been embezzling money from his own law firm.

Wilson had received a call from Alex's law firm partner, Lee Cope, disclosing Murdaugh's decade-long theft of millions.

"That hit you like a thunderbolt," prosecutor Creighton Waters said to Wilson on the witness stand.

"It knocked me down," said Wilson, who appeared distressed. On Sept. 4, 2021, Wilson met Alex and confronted him.

"He broke down crying," Wilson testified. Alex then told him he had been addicted to opioids for more than 20 years and had been stealing the money to feed his habit.

"I was so mad. I had loved the guy for so long, and I probably still loved him a little bit, but I was so mad, and I don’t remember how it ended," said Wilson, who was stunned to learn his best friend was a drug addict. "How did I not know these things or see these things?”

A few hours later, Wilson got a phone call informing him that Alex had been shot in the head.

Waters asked Wilson to describe his reaction.

“What the devil is going on? I thought he tried to kill himself,” he replied.

Alex didn't try to kill himself but hired a former client to shoot him in what he claimed was a murder-suicide attempt, so his older son would get a $10 million life insurance payout.

Wilson was testifying at a hearing, outside of the earshot of the jury, to determine whether evidence of Alex Murdaugh's prior financial crimes can be introduced at his double murder trial to prove motive.

Alex never paid Wilson back. The last time he heard from him was in a text.

“I’m so sorry for the havoc I created for you," Alex wrote. "I would do anything to make it right.”

Two witnesses last week placed Alex Murdaugh at the crime scene minutes before his wife and son were gunned down in a major blow to the once-powerful attorney's alibi.

Paul Murdaugh's close friend and neighbor, Rogan Gibson, took the stand after the lunch break in the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina.

Alex is charged with fatally shooting his youngest son with a shotgun and his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, with a rifle near the dog kennels of the family's sprawling hunting estate known as Moselle at about 8:50 p.m. June 7, 2021.

Gibson described the Murdaughs as his "second family."

He had left his black lab, Cash, at the Moselle dog kennels. Paul placed a four-minute call to Gibson at 8:40 and they discussed a possible issue with Cash's tail.

Paul told him he'd take a video of Cash's tail and send it to him as soon as the call disconnected – but it never arrived.

SLED agent Kristin Moore displaying a rain coat to jurors that prosecutors say was coated in gun residue. (Fox News)

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) special agent Kristin Moore, who is with the crime scene unit, testified Monday that she executed a search warrant at the home of Alex Murdaugh's parents in Almeda in September 16, 2021.

A caregiver to Alex's mom, Shelley Smith, told investigators that Alex came by his parent's home one week after the double slaying with a balled up blue tarp that appeared to have something inside it.

Agents located a blue tarp and a blue raincoat in an upstairs closet during the search.

But when Smith was questioned on cross-examination, she insisted that Alex entered the house with a balled up tarp -- not a raincoat.

In opening statements, Creighton Waters said the raincoat was coated with gun shot residue.

But defense lawyer Jim Griffin has objected to any testimony coming in about the residue, arguing that prosecutors were unable to tie the jacket to Alex through Smith's testimony.

The tarp was not tested for gun shot residue.

Judge Clifton Newman is expected to rule the matter Tuesday morning.