Day 18: Judge reverses course, jury will hear evidence on Alex Murdaugh’s attempted suicide

Alex Murdaugh, a once prominent Hampton-based attorney from a well-known politically connected family, is on trial in the deaths of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.

Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty. He faces life in prison without parole if found guilty. The trial started Jan. 23 with jury selection, opening arguments and the initial round of witness testimony. For now, the trial is expected to stretch at least through Friday, Feb. 17.

5:10 p.m. – Court reverses ruling on Alex’s Labor Day shooting

Just before adjourning court, Judge Clifton Newman issued an important reversal to a ruling made Wednesday morning.

Jurors will now hear evidence related to Alex Murdaugh’s Sept. 3, 2021, attempted suicide, Newman decided.

Newman explained that the defense opened the door to further testimony after they asked SLED lead investigator David Owen whether he was aware Murdaugh’s cousin, Curtis “Eddie” Smith, was deeply in debt to a drug gang called the Cowboys.

Defense attorney Jim Griffin suggested Paul and Maggie Murdaugh’s deaths may have been a “drug hit” conducted because Smith was deeply in debt to the gang.

The prosecution hit back at the suggestion, pointing out Murdaugh never mentioned Smith or the gang to SLED investigators until he was shot on the side of the road in September 2021. Smith was the gunman in the incident, which Murdaugh initially lied about.

Murdaugh has been charged with insurance fraud in the shooting, and allegedly intended to leave his surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, with his life insurance policy. Smith was used in order to elude the insurance’s suicide exemption, authorities have said.

4:50 p.m. – State calls internet crimes expert

David Grubbs, an investigator with the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office, has taken the stand.

Grubbs specializes in investigating internet crimes against children, he testified, such as operations in which agents pose as minors online to arrest potential sexual predators.

Grubbs generated a report on Paul Murdaugh’s cellphone, specifically how many times it ran out of battery the week of his death.

4:35 p.m. – Alex never mentioned Smith before roadside shooting

On cross-examination, prosecutor John Meadors hit back at defense attorney Jim Griffin’s suggestion that Maggie and Paul Murdaugh may have been killed as part of a “drug hit.”

Griffin brought up Alex Murdaugh’s drug addiction, pointing out he purchased tens of thousands of dollars worth of drugs from his cousin, Curtis Eddie Smith, weekly.

Smith was in debt to a drug gang called the Cowboys, Griffin said.

But Owen testified to Meadors that Murdaugh never brought up Smith or the Cowboys as a potential suspect during prior interviews. SLED did not include Smith in the murder investigation until after Murdaugh was shot on the side of the road on Sept. 3, 2021.

Smith was the gunman in Murdaugh’s botched attempted suicide.

4:15 p.m. – Defense brings up theory the murders were a ‘drug hit’

Just before jurors returned from a short break, prosecutor John Meadors spoke with Judge Clifton Newman about allowing questions related to Alex Murdaugh’s botched attempted suicide in September 2021.

Meadors said the defense’s questions regarding Curtis Eddie Smith, Murdaugh’s cousin and alleged accomplice in the attempted suicide, “opened the door” to the further questions about the roadside incident.

Smith was mentioned due to his role as Murdaugh’s drug supplier. Murdaugh was being supplied tens of thousands of dollars worth of drugs a week, Griffin said, and Smith was deeply in debt to a gang, suggesting Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s killings could have been a “drug hit” in retaliation for the debt.

The court held a hearing on admissibility of the Labor Day shooting evidence earlier Wednesday morning. Newman ruled against allowing the testimony.

Newman said he “agreed” with Meadors that Smith being mentioned was surprising, but scolded Meadors for bringing the issue up as court returned from a break.

“He is in the middle of his cross-examination,” Newman said. “Now is not the time.”

3:40 p.m. – SLED investigator says grand jury received bad info

SLED Special Agent David Owen testified part of a presentation to the Colleton County Grand Jury in 2021 was incorrect.

SLED Agent Sarah Zapata testified Monday that the white T-shirt agents seized from Alex Murdaugh the night Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were killed had no blood on it, though it did have DNA consistent with Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

The shirt had a positive preliminary test result for blood, Zapata said, but returned a negative result when SLED used a “confirmatory” test.

The earlier test is less precise and could be triggered by more substances, Zapata explained, and the confirmatory test is more specific, only responding to human, ferret and primate blood.

Owen testified that he presented evidence to the grand jury stating an out-of-state expert identified several areas of blood spatter on the white T-shirt. He said he’d never seen SLED’s test results until November 2022.

“You didn’t know then, but you know now that what you told the Colleton County Grand Jury was not correct?” defense attorney Jim Griffin asked.

“In reference to the shirt, yes,” Owen testified.

3:15 p.m. – Defense blasts missed opportunity to search Alameda

SLED Special Agent David Owen confirmed his agency didn’t search Alex Murdaugh’s mother’s home at Alameda until months after Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were murdered.

Defense attorney Jim Griffin sharply criticized the investigation for failing to check the home. Murdaugh had been forthright in telling agents he was there that night, Griffin said, and had been at the center of SLED’s investigation from the beginning as the person who discovered the bodies.

Agents conducted a search of Murdaugh’s home at Moselle for clothes, blood, guns and ammunition, Griffin said, which raised questions about why they hadn’t done the same at Alameda.

“Would you agree that was an opportunity missed?” Griffin asked.

“Probably, yes,” Owen responded.

3:07 p.m. – Defense cross-examines lead SLED agent

Defense attorney Jim Griffin has begun cross-examination of SLED Special Agent David Owen, the agency’s lead investigator in the murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.

Griffin established early skepticism Alex Murdaugh could have killed Maggie and Paul around 8:50 p.m., cleaned himself, disposed of the murder weapons, and then driven to his mother’s house at Alameda by about 9:20 p.m. the same night.

No weapons were ever discovered between Moselle and Alameda, Griffin added. Murdaugh didn’t stop between Moselle and Alameda, Owen confirmed.

2:45 p.m. – SLED investigator asked Alex whether he killed family

SLED Special Agent David Owen was candid with Alex Murdaugh in an August 2021 interview.

“Did you kill Maggie?” Owen asked Murdaugh directly in a recording played for the jury. “Did you kill Paul, do you know who did?”

At that time, Owen testified, Murdaugh was the “only known suspect” in the murders.

Murdaugh denied both the killings, and asked whether the questions meant he was still considered a suspect.

“I have to look at all of the evidence and the facts presented,” Owen responded in the interview.

He added he hadn’t been able to move Murdaugh out of the investigative circle yet. Earlier in the interview, Owen pointed to issues with the timeline Murdaugh had given investigators, particularly his denial he was at the Moselle kennels that night.

Prior to the Aug. 11 , 2021, interview, a friend of Paul Murdaugh’s had identified Alex Murdaugh’s voice in a video SLED recovered from Paul’s phone. That video was taken at the kennels around 8:45 p.m. the night Paul and Maggie Murdaugh were killed.

There were also inconsistencies with how long Alex Murdaugh visited his mother on the night of the murders. Murdaugh told Owen he visited his mom for 45 minutes to an hour. When Murdaugh was interviewed in June 2021, Owen said, he originally said he visited for 25-30 minutes.

Mushelle “Shelley” Smith, the caretaker for Murdaugh’s mother, said he’d been there for about 20 minutes.

“It wasn’t just one inconsistency,” Owen testified. “It was several inconsistencies over a period of time that were repeated.”

2:30 p.m. – Court resumes

The jury has returned to the courtroom. SLED Special Agent David Owen is still at the stand.

Owen was the lead investigator in the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh. Prosecutors are currently playing a recording to an Aug. 11, 2021, interview Owen conducted with Alex Murdaugh and Corey Fleming, an attorney with Alex’s former law firm.

1 p.m. – Alex’s timeline drew SLED scrutiny

In an Aug. 11, 2021, interview with Alex Murdaugh, lead SLED investigator David Owen asked several questions trying to “wrap his head around” the timeline Murdaugh presented to investigators.

Among the discrepancies Owen sought to clarify was why Randy Murdaugh said he saw his brother at the PMPED law offices around 6 p.m. that night, and swipe card data showed Alex Murdaugh’s card was used to enter the building at 5:30 p.m.

Murdaugh hadn’t previously told investigators whether he’d gone back into the office aside from earlier that morning.

Owen also raised the issue of Murdaugh telling 911 dispatchers he last saw Maggie and Paul Murdaugh alive about an hour and a half to two hours ago, when the call was made at 10:06 p.m. That timeline, Owen said, would put Alex back at Moselle having seen his family around 8:06 or 8:36 p.m.

Murdaugh’s voice was identified in a video Paul Murdaugh took at the kennels around 8:45 p.m. the night Paul and Maggie Murdaugh were killed.

“So you believe I’m giving you an inconsistent answer?” Murdaugh asked during the interview.

“No,” Owen said, “I’m just trying to wrap my head around the timelines.”

As the interview moved on, Murdaugh also asked whether Owen had any knowledge of how many shooters were involved, or whether Maggie and Paul had lived long after they were shot.

Owen said the two were likely killed in “a matter of seconds,” but couldn’t say for certain whether it was one or multiple killers.

The possibility of Murdaugh himself being at the crime also came up, with Owen saying he’d “hate to give any credence to the media” theories proposing Murdaugh as the killer.

Judge Clifton Newman sent the court into lunch recess until 2:20 p.m. When court resumes, the remainder of the interview video will be played.

12 noon – Alex said he visited his mother for ‘45 minutes, 1 hour’

During the interview with Owen, Murdaugh said he visited his mother for “45 minutes, an hour” on the night Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were killed.

The timeline of Murdaugh’s visit with his mother has been key in the prosecution’s case. Mushelle “Shelley” Smith, the caretaker for Murdaugh’s mother who was working that night, testified last week Murdaugh visited for about 15 to 20 minutes that night.

Just a few days after the murder, during a wake for Alex Murdaugh’s father, Smith said Murdaugh approached her. Unprompted, she said, Murdaugh mentioned how he’d been at the house for around 30 or 40 minutes that night.

Prosecution has suggested Murdaugh lied about the length of the visit to build an alibi.

In the same interview, Murdaugh said he didn’t visit the kennels that night. Eight separate witnesses have identified Murdaugh’s voice in a video Paul Murdaugh took at the kennels around 8:45 that evening, minutes before his phone activity ended.

11:51 a.m. – Alex: Maggie came home because concerns for Alex, his dad

In an Aug. 11, 2021, interview with SLED lead investigator David Owen, Alex Murdaugh said Maggie Murdaugh came home on June 7, 2021, because she was worried about Alex Murdaugh and his father.

The same day, Murdaugh received word his father’s health was declining and he wouldn’t survive.

Earlier witnesses, including the Murdaughs’ former housekeeper, Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson, testified Maggie Murdaugh went to Moselle at Alex Murdaugh’s request that day.

Turrubiate-Simpson testified Maggie Murdaugh didn’t seem like she wanted to leave her Edisto Beach home, which she preferred to stay at.

11:47 a.m. – Fleming upset SLED interviewed Alex ‘as supsect’

Jurors are currently viewing an Aug. 11, 2021 interview between Alex Murdaugh, his friend a fellow attorney Corey Fleming, and lead SLED investigator David Owen.

In the recording, Fleming, Murdaugh and Owen met for an interview. Near the start of the interview, Fleming was angry, as he thought the group was meeting so Murdaugh could hear updates on SLED’s investigation of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s murders.

Owen indicated he also wished to ask more questions to Murdaugh relevant to the investigation.

“Why can’t you give us information first?” Fleming asked. “I’m uncomfortable with you asking him questions as a suspect when I came here with the thought that you were going to be telling him where you were in the investigation, what it is you’ve done, seen, uncovered, whatever. That’s why we came here.”

Owen responded that any murder investigation begins with the person who was closest to the victims or who found the bodies, and he needed to ask more questions, since he hadn’t been able to “get Alex out” of the investigative circle.

11:35 a.m. – Jurors to see critical interview

Prosecutors are preparing to show SLED’s Aug. 11, 2021, interview with Alex Murdaugh.

The interview has not been shown in court so far. The interview was voluntary, Owen said, and Corey Fleming, another PMPED lawyer, was present.

Owen testified Murdaugh said he wanted to ask investigators questions about their findings during the interview as well.

11:15 a.m. – SLED canvased area near Moselle for potential killers

Much of lead SLED investigator David Owen’s testimony has reestablished facts presented earlier in the trial by numerous law enforcement witnesses.

Owen recounted his original interview with Alex Murdaugh at the crime scene, conducted in his patrol car. Murdaugh, fellow PMPED law firm attorney Danny Henderson, and another law enforcement official were in the vehicle at the time.

Owen said Henderson’s presence wasn’t unusual. Attorneys who wish to be present for such interviews are rarely turned away, Owen said.

In the days following Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s deaths, Owen said SLED canvased the area around Moselle for any suspects.

When Owen interviewed Rogan Gibson on June 8, 2021, Gibson said he was “99% sure” he could hear Alex Murdaugh’s voice in a video Paul Murdaugh took at the Moselle kennels around 8:45 p.m. the night of his death.

Gibson is a long-time friend of Paul Murdaugh’s who took the witness stand on Feb. 1. Gibson was the first of eight witnesses to identify Alex Murdaugh’s voice in the video, adding he was “100% sure” now.

Interviewing Murdaugh again as soon as possible became a priority, Owen said, since Murdaugh has denied ever being at the kennels that night.

The defense has undercut SLED’s investigation throughout the trial, attempting to seed doubt in jurors. The first responders’ potential contamination of the crime scene by walking over potential evidence and not properly documenting footwear impressions have been specific points of criticism.

10:30 a.m. – Lead SLED investigator testifies

The jury has returned to the courtroom. The state’s first witness today is South Carolina Law Enforcement Division special agent David Owen, who oversaw the agency’s investigation of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s murders.

Owen was present for several key interviews with Alex Murdaugh early in the investigation.

9:55 a.m. – All jurors test negative for COVID

Judge Clifton Newman announced the trial’s remaining jurors have all tested negative for COVID-19.

The tests were ordered after two jurors were excused from duty Monday. The jurors had contracted COVID-19.

9:45 a.m. – Jury won’t hear testimony on Labor Day shooting

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters opened Wednesday’s preliminary hearing arguing testimony related to Alex Murdaugh being shot on Sept. 3, 2021, is admissible.

The relevant testimony could be given in about an hour, Waters said. Witnesses and recordings of the incident present relevant information for the murder trial because the circumstances are parallel to Murdaugh’s circumstances around June 7, 2021, Waters argued.

“(The case) is intricate and complex on a scale that I think none of us have ever seen,” Waters said. “(The September shooting) is the same thing that happened on June 7, 2021.”

On the morning of June 7, 2021, Murdaugh was confronted by the CFO of his law firm, Jeanne Seckinger. Seckinger was asking about $792,000 in missing fees from a case Murdaugh worked in January 2021. The law firm was supposed to receive that money, but Murdaugh allegedly took the fees for personal use.

The state has theorized Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s murders were intended to elicit sympathy from the public and take scrutiny away from Murdaugh’s finances.

“What’s important ... is what the defendant said about” the Sept. 3 roadside shooting, Waters said, “and that he immediately tells this lie about him being targeted by an unknown assailant.”

Waters suggested Murdaugh lied about the attack to once again drum up public sympathy for himself and his remaining family.

Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian again countered Murdaugh intended to die in the Sept. 3 shooting.

Judge Clifton Newman ruled that the evidence is “a bridge too far” for the murder trial but might be relevant for the future financial trial.

“This evidence I find goes beyond motive … but more toward a common scheme or plan, but it does not survive the logical relevancy test,” Newman said, “and it goes more toward showing propensity to commit violent acts, which would cause it not to survive the 403 analysis.”

9:30 a.m. – Court ponders Labor Day shooting testimony

Jurors will be absent from court until 10:30 a.m. Wednesday as Judge Clifton Newman holds another evidentiary hearing, this time regarding Alex Murdaugh’s roadside incident on Sept. 3, 2021.

Murdaugh was shot in the head while allegedly changing a tire on his car and airlifted to Savannah for medical treatment.

Tuesday, prosecutors claimed Murdaugh never intended to die in the scheme but aimed to drum up sympathy as mounting evidence of his alleged white-collar crimes loomed and his personal finances crumbled.

“’Oh my God, the real killers are back,’” lead prosecutor Creighton Waters said. “I believe that’s the exact effect the defendant intended.”

The defense countered the evidence isn’t relevant to the murder trial, given the incident took place months after Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s June 7, 2021, killings.

Murdaugh “intended to die” to set his surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, up with millions in life insurance, defense attorney Dick Harpootlian argued.

“Unfortunately, Eddie Smith (Murdaugh’s distant cousin and alleged accomplice), at 4 feet away, couldn’t shoot somebody in the head,” Harpootlian said.

This story was originally published February 15, 2023 at 9:24 AM with the headline "Day 18: Judge reverses course, jury will hear evidence on Alex Murdaugh’s attempted suicide."

Blake Douglas

The Island Packet

Blake is the Hilton Head Island reporter for the Island Packet. A Tulsa, Oklahoma native, Blake has written for his hometown Tulsa World, as well as the Charlotte Observer. He graduated in May 2022 from the University of Oklahoma with a journalism degree.