Alex Murdaugh’s alibi defense is starting to ‘unravel’: Cully Stimson
Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow Cully Stimson provides professional analysis of Alex Murdaugh’s ongoing murder trial following the release of new evidence.
Alex Murdaugh's son, Paul, confronted him about his drug use one month before he and his mom were shot to death on the family's hunting estate in South Carolina, prosecutors revealed for the first time Friday.
Colleton County jurors were shown a text that Paul sent his father May 6, 2021.
"I am still in EB because when you get here we have to talk. Mom found several bags of pills in your computer bag," Paul allegedly wrote. "EB" likely refers to the family's Edisto Beach house.
Murdaugh is accused of executing Paul, 22, and his wife, Maggie, 52, June 7, 2021.
ALEX MURDAUGH: TIMELINE OF ONCE-POWERFUL SOUTH CAROLINA LAWYER'S SPECTACULAR DOWNFALL
Alex Murdaugh looks over to his defense attorney Jim Griffin in his trial for murder at the Colleton County Courthouse on Friday, February 10, 2023. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier/Pool)
Assistant Attorney General Creighton Waters called special agent Peter Rudofski, of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, as the state's final witness.
ALEX MURDAUGH SPED UP WHEN HE PASSED LOCATION WHERE HIS SLAIN WIFE'S PHONE WAS FOUND: WITNESS
The text was introduced during his testimony. It was also revealed that Maggie had conducted several internet searches from May 6 to the 26th of 2021 to identify specific pills.
"White pill 30 on one side rp," she typed into a Safari search engine on May 6, describing a 30 milligram tablet of oxycodone.
Alex Murdaugh's son, Paul, confronts him over his drug use in a text May 6, 2021 – about a month before Paul and his mom were murdered. The text introduced Friday at Murdaugh's double murder trial. (South Carolina Attorney General's Office)
The next day, Murdaugh texted his wife. "I am very sorry that I do this to all of you. I love you," he wrote. Maggie didn't respond, according to Rudolfski.
Maggie's older sister, Marian Proctor, testified Tuesday at the Colleton County Courthouse.
She said Maggie called Paul her "little detective" because if there were pills in the house that his dad shouldn't be taking, he was determined to find them.
MAGGIE MURDAUGH'S SISTER RECOUNTS ALEX MURDAUGH'S 'STRANGE COMMENT AFTER MURDERS IN TEARFUL TESIMONY
Three months after the slayings, Murdaugh admitted to investigators after a botched suicide attempt that he spent as much as $60,000 a week on pills.
He confessed that on Sept. 4, 2021, he had his drug dealer, Curtis "Cousin Eddie" Smith, shoot him in the head, so his living son, Buster, could collect a $10 million life insurance payout. But Smith only grazed his head.
Alex Murdaugh, left, bows his head as his sister-in-law, Marian Proctor, testifies Feb. 14 on behalf of the state at his double murder trial in Walterboro, South Carolina. (Fox News )
State law enforcement division agents later found $2.4 million in checks Murdaugh wrote Smith.
The disbarred attorney told investigators that he'd misappropriated fees from his law firm and his clients to fuel his raging addiction.
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Murdaugh faces 99 counts of financial crimes spanning 19 indictments that allege he stole nearly $9 million through various schemes.
In another text from Murdaugh to former Palmetto State Bank CEO Russell Laffitte, he urgently requested a credit line of $600,000 on Moselle.
Prosecutors introduced two photos as they questioned their final witness. Marian Proctor, and her younger sister, Maggie Murdaugh in the photo to the left. Buster, Maggie and Paul Murdaugh in the photo to the right. (South Caroline Attorney General's Office)
"My dad will sign also if needed. How much turn around will that take?" he asked in the June 3, 2021, message. Laffitte was later convicted of six federal crimes stemming from his dealings with Murdaugh.
At the end of Rudofski's testimony, Waters showed jurors two photos. In one, Maggie poses with Proctor, her only sister.
In the second, she is beaming in a blue dress, as Buster and Paul stand on either side of her.
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Prosecutors have argued that Murdaugh killed his wife and son to prevent his financial misdeeds from being exposed.
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