Opening statements have begun in the murder trial involving a prominent South Carolina legal dynasty, with prosecutors revealing new evidence against disgraced former attorney Alex Murdaugh.
Murdaugh is accused of murdering his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul, to build sympathy for himself as his embezzlement of millions of dollars from his law firm and clients was about to be revealed.
“Listen to that gathering storm that all came to a head,” lead prosecutor Creighton Waters said in his opening statements, according to The New York Times. “The evidence is going to be such that you are going to reach the inescapable conclusion that Alex murdered Maggie and Paul, that he was the storm, that the storm was coming for them, and the storm arrived on June 7, 2021.”
Waters said that Murdaugh texted and called his dead wife’s phone after allegedly committing the murders to create an alibi, but that evidence shows Murdaugh was at the dog kennels on his family’s estate when the murders occurred. The prosecutor pointed to bullet casings matching those found around Maggie’s body in other places on the property, which Waters suggested meant she was killed with “a family weapon.”
He added that Murdaugh didn’t have an explanation for where two of the three rifles he had purchased over the past couple of years had gone. Waters also mentioned that empty boxes of ammunition with the same brand and type of bullets as those in the bodies were found on the property.
Even more damning was a raincoat with gunshot residue found at Murdaugh’s mother’s home, where he went after his wife and son were murdered.
Waters also pointed to cell phone evidence taken from Paul’s phone less than five minutes before he was killed. Paul had filmed one of the dogs to send to a friend, and prosecutors allege Murdaugh’s voice can be heard in the background of the recording. Murdaugh has said he wasn’t at the kennels that night. Prosecutors allege that Murdaugh murdered his wife and son around 8:49 p.m., just a few minutes after the video was taken.
In the defense’s opening statements, Murdaugh’s attorney Dick Harpootlian argued that the brutal nature of the murders was one reason Murdaugh couldn’t be the killer since he was described as a loving father and husband.
“He didn’t kill — butcher — his son and his wife,” Harpootlian said in his opening statement. “And you need to put from your mind any suggestion that he did.”
The defense also argued that the prosecution’s timeline was wrong and that Maggie and Paul were killed at some point after Murdaugh had left to visit his mother, People Magazine reported. Murdaugh has said he left his estate around 9 p.m., returning an hour later and calling 911 to say he had found his wife and son dead.
Murdaugh was already in prison for dozens of other charges, including financial crimes and charges related to his alleged attempt to stage a fake “hit” on himself. Those charges, according to The Washington Post, were made after his wife and son were killed, but he had not been indicted for their deaths until July 2022.
The murder charge was the last in a long and bizarre story regarding the once-prominent South Carolina attorney. After Murdaugh’s wife and son were murdered, police began looking into Murdaugh’s life and discovered numerous disturbing details.
Murdaugh was accused of stealing $8.5 million from people who had hired him as their attorney. He is also alleged to have orchestrated his own murder by hiring a friend to kill him so that his surviving son, Buster, could receive a $10 million life insurance payout. Murdaugh allegedly lied to police about the incident, claiming a stranger shot him on the side of the road. This all took place just days after Murdaugh’s firm discovered he had stolen money from clients.
Further, state police began looking into the hit-and-run death of a 19-year-old in July 2015 as a possible connection to Murdaugh, but no additional details have been released. Authorities also exhumed the body of Murdaugh’s former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who was said to have died after a fall in 2018. Murdaugh allegedly collected more than $4 million from his home insurer by claiming wrongful death and saying he was working for Satterfield’s family, but the family didn’t receive any of the money, according to prosecutors.
In June 2022, Murdaugh was also indicted for alleged money laundering and creating a “distribution network” for painkillers, the Associated Press reported at the time. Murdaugh allegedly ran the drug ring with the same friend he allegedly hired to kill him.
Murdaugh has repeatedly denied killing his wife and son, saying he was visiting his parents when they were killed. He’s been in jail since October with a $7 million bond. Last summer, the South Carolina Supreme Court disbarred him, with his attorneys declining to contest the arguments against his disbarment.