WALTERBORO, S.C. — Jurors in the Alex Murdaugh double murder trial heard graphic detail about the how an examiner believes the victims were shot and a recording that showed Murdaugh admitting to a murder for hire scheme to get insurance money for his family.
Murdaugh is accused of killing his wife, Maggie, and their adult son, Paul, at the family's 1,700 acre property in rural Colleton County, South Carolina in June of 2021. The prosecution says Murdaugh acted alone in killing his family, while the defense says police and prosecutors rushed to judgment in naming Alex as the suspect.
Murdaugh is also facing separate trials on allegations he stole millions from his law firm and clients. While he's not directly facing those charges, the prosecution said his financial crimes was a motive in the case.
You can find trial updates here every day. Live streaming coverage can be on wltx.com, on the WLTX+ streaming app on Amazon Fire and Roku TV, and on the News19 WLTX YouTube page.
Alex Murdaugh Trial Updates for Thursday
Thursday morning begins with defense counsel Jim Griffin is objecting to Judge Newman’s reversal of an earlier ruling that will now allow testimony to come in regarding the roadside shooting in September 2021. Judge Newman says of his ruling yesterday was based on Griffin’s introduction of the relationship and Alex Murdaugh and Eddie Smith during questioning of SLED Agent Dave Owen. The judge said he had ruled pre-trial that the roadside shooting was going to be off limits but said with Griffin making the connection on Wednesday and “not expecting to get burned” by their actions did have repercussions.
Harpootlian is asking the judge to not allow two interviews conducted at the Savannah hospital. He said Murdaugh was under medication and the doctor would have to be called to testify on Murdaugh’s competency at that time.
Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters is stating that he and the defense team made a deal over the night that would allow Agent Kelly, the agent at the roadside scene, and the defendant’s claim that he was attacked by an unknown stranger when he actually arranged it to be allowed in court. Waters would also like to enter a phone interview with Alex admitted.
Judge Newman said he has not reviewed the evidence in question and if the two parties have agreed, then take a few minutes to get things in order before the jury is called. There is a ten minute break.
Testimony continued with David Grubbs, a chief forensic examiner at the SC Attorney General’s Office, who is certified in CelleBrite data and is an expert in cell phone forensics.
Grubbs has analyzed all phones in the case and created a timeline using each phone’s battery usage and habits. Some of the results of the analysis was presented Wednesday afternoon include:
- On June 7, the battery in Pauls’ phone died 10:34 pm, the last text to Paul’s phone by Rogan Gibson, “yo,” unread between 9-10 pm.
- Maggie’s phone shows a lot of data being recorded in the background. Orientation changes recorded show someone handling the phone, going from vertical to landscape. At one point, the camera interacts with the phone for about one second around 8:54.
- At 8:53-9:08, iOS snapshot is a record of what the phone is doing in the background while apps are running in the background. Maggie’s phone is locked at this time and remains locked until next day.
- In the same timeframe, the Siri app pops up – Grubbs said it could be running in the background, it could be someone holding the button down to trigger the Siri app.
- Grubbs identifies 9:07 pm as the time Maggie’s phone turned off. Turned on at 9:31. If the phone was tossed, it would not have recorded an orientation change.
The trial picks up Thursday morning with Grubbs on the witness stand. There is no cross-examination of this witness.
Dr. Kenny Kinsey
Kinsey is chief of detectives at Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Department, a criminal justice professor at Claflin University, and a former SLED agent. Kinsey answers directly to the sheriff and manages over 100 deputies and civilian employees. He testifies he has processed over 800 death scenes in his career and has been an independent consulting for some homicide cases.
Kinsey did a crime scene reconstruction of the June 7 murders of Paul and Maggie using collected evidence, measurements from the scene and personal investigation. He was told to look at all of the evidence and use his own judgement to come to his own conclusions regarding the events of June 7.
Kinsey said Paul suffered two shotgun wounds: one buckshot to the chest near the midline, and the second fatal birdshot to the shoulder/head. Kinsey testifies the first non-fatal wound came as Paul was standing slightly at an angle, the shot came in Paul’s left side, pellets exited the left arm, reentered the body before exiting and going into the window behind him.
Kinsey identifies photographs of views of the floor of the feed room seen from the entrance, and Kinsey’s rendering of the recreation of Paul’s location in the feed room. Kinsey says blood has a viscous nature and the 90-degree blood drops on the floor mean Paul was standing for a moment after the first shot and he was walking slowly after being hit. The feed room is 10 feet deep, and Paul was approximately five feet away from the doorway when he was hit. Kinsey made his determinations based on blood spatter, the shape of the entrance wound, and his knowledge of firearms.
Kinsey is a gun instructor for all types of firearms. In a typical buckshot, he says, there are nine pellets in the shot type that struck Paul.
The location of the shooter cannot be defined exactly, he says, but the breach of the shotgun – where you load and unload a shotgun -- was inside the door of the shed. The expended shells were found behind the door.
Kinsey identifies photos showing Kinsey’s enhanced image of the door to show the path of the fatal second shot. Other photos are Kinsey’s photographs of the feed room door that he took when he was at the crime scene.
Once he received the second shot, Paul stopped moving. Any movement was involuntary. Paul fell where he was found by force of gravity.
The approximate shot path is from slightly below. Kinsey arrived at the path by observing blood spatter, shot defects in the door and a “void” in the spatter that would indicate where Paul was standing when he was hit with the fatal shot. Blood, brains, and other biological matter were found at the top of the door and on some items on a top shelf inside the feed shed.
With a shotgun wound from birdshot, Kinsey said, you have over a hundred pellets doing damage that throws body fluid and blood in a pattern. Kinsey points out the void on the door that shows Paul’s body was blocking the area on the door. Kinsey determined Paul was slightly outside of the doorframe when he was hit; the shooter was to the right of the doorway, outside the feed room.
Kinsey said the doorway would have shielded the shooter from some of the spatter.
Waters asks Kinsey if there was any way the second shot could have been a contact wound? No way to replicate the blood spatter pattern if it was a contact pattern -- and the shot would have to have come from above. It was not a suicide or self-inflicted wound. There is no way to hold the shotgun out and shoot it at that angle and get that blood spatter that is present in the feed room.
The second wound was birdshot. The first shot was buckshot. Buckshot are bigger pellets, and the number of pellets is smaller. In birdshot, there are 150-156 smaller pellets in the shell. Shotguns do not have rifling like bullet projectiles do.
The shooter was outside the door frame for the second shot, the spent shotgun shell was found inside the doorframe. The ejection port is on the right side and if the gun was pointed at an angle, Kinsey testified, the shell would be found under the door.
The second shot showed stippling. Kinsey shows what he believes to be the path of the second shot using Waters as a model. The body is bent to the left, favoring the side he was shot, and the second shot comes in at an angle to the left shoulder and travels along the shoulder before going through the chin and out the back of the head.
Maggie’s injuries
Kinsey says Maggie had three non-fatal injuries: left wrist, left thigh, and through her midsection. The thigh and midsection wounds were close together because of stippling, shot quickly together, shot within 4-5 feet; the first fatal wound on left side of abdomen out of breast into left chin and into the brain, had burning, she dropped at that point. The second fatal injury was down into her head and the entrance and exit wound were close enough to cause a large hole in the skull.
After the third shot, she would have been bent over and from the angle, she would have been on her knees with a hand on the ground. The 300 Blackout shell casings show a right-side ejection port, but the path of the ejection does not necessarily show movement of a shooter, according to Kinsey.
Kinsey said the first fatal wound came from behind, about five or six feet away. It burned her stomach before entering her body and she would have dropped. The second fatal shot was from the front, into the crown of the head.
Kinsey identifies a comparison report on the bruising on Maggie’s leg. An photo of Maggie’s leg is shown to the jury with a general impression of a footprint on Maggie’s calf and the gunshot wound she sustained. Kinsey determined Maggie stood for a moment after being shot because of the blood pattern on her leg.
The mark on the back of her leg is an unknown impression. Kinsey identifies the unknown impression in a cropped photograph. A Polaris side-by-side ATV is in close proximity to Maggie’s body, under a shed connected to the hangar. Kinsey looked for biological material on the tires of the ATV. Kinsey said there is biological material on one of the ATV’s tires.
Kinsey explains he was looking at footwear and tire track treads – dimensions of tread pattern, shape, size, class characteristics that might make an impression. To make an identification to the exclusion of all others there needs to be something unique or accidental to the tread. Three-dimensional impressions are best for making comparisons and possible identifications.
Kinsey identifies photos of the unknown impression on Maggie’s calf and the known impression of the ATV tire. By comparison, side-by-side, the tread on the tire and the impression on Maggie’s calf are the same.
Kinsey said, from the shot patterns, if Maggie was angled on the ground, she would be facing the feed room.
Waters: Are the shots consistent with the shooter coming from the feed room? Yes, it could be.
Waters: With this tire impression, is there a reasonable explanation of how the impression got onto Maggie.? At some time, Maggie made some impact with the driver’s side tire with her leg.
Kinsey identifies a photo of a cell phone sitting on top of Paul. Kinsey is asked if that is how Paul was found at the scene? Yes
Could Paul’s phone have popped out and landed there on his back? Kinsey said the phone was placed there by someone else. If Paul had the phone in his hands, it would have been beneath the body or to the side.
Kinsey is asked if there is forensic value in taking swabs from bathrooms in a home. He responded, If there is an unknown person, yes, but there is no forensic value to take swabs from bathrooms in a family home because it is common to have blood in the drains.
Waters: Have you owned guns? Kinsey responds he has seven rifles, including an automatic 223. The 300 Blackout is louder than a shotgun and during COVID the ammunition became expensive and hard to find.
Kinsey says all of his conclusions are peer reviewed before he publishes his reports.
Did you see any evidence of a struggle between Paul and the shooter? Kinsey says no defensive wounds were found on Paul or Maggie
CROSS EXAMINATION by Dick Harpootlian
The wounds to Paul, for his bloody footprints to have been there, he would have been standing how far back? Approximately six foot inside the feed room.
You teach how to take crime scene photographs? Yes. There are 3 types of crime scene photos, one includes a scale. You take multiple photographs at 90 degrees overhead, and more than one shot at different perspectives.
The shoes that made the footprints were definitely Paul’s shoes. When the crime scene photo was taken, where would Paul had been? Kinsey said it would be hard for him to orient as to where he was exactly.
The trail of blood goes to the door? Yes. The trail is about five foot long, Paul’s feet were inside the door, his head and shoulder slightly outside the door.
Then the fatal shot hits his shoulder? Yes
Dr. Riemer said shoulder, chin, head. The DMV showed Paul’s height at 6’6” and Dr. Riemer had his height at 6’9” why the difference? Kinsey said Paul had significant damage to top of his head and Kinsey assumed his height to be 6’5”. The shoulder wound was at 4’7”
Harpooltian asks Kinsey to mark the height and angle of the shoulder wound from the ground on a drawing board propped on an easel, using a tape measure. Looking at the defects at the door, Kinsey got a 135-degree angle of the fatal shot.
Any evidence of stippling around the wound? No evidence of stippling
Kinsey believes the shot was from about two feet away. He says he’s not disagreeing with Dr. Riemer, the pathologist. Kinsey made his own measurements. She is looking at the wound, Kinsey says, she knows the angle to Paul but not how that relates to defects at the scene.
The angles by Kinsey and Riemer are close.
Harpootlian asks Kinsey to draw out the angle of the shot. Kinsey is asked how far away was the shooter? Kinsey says about two feet, three feet is a stretch because there is no damage to the door frame. But it could also depend on the length of the barrel on the shotgun.
Kinsey is shown the Benelli shotgun and asked to show the angle the shot would have been taken. The shooter was holding the gun low, lower than the shoulder.
Harpootlian asks why so low? Kinsey says he cannot say why, he only deducts how. For the second shot, the gun only had to be pointed towards the room, not in the room.
Does that change the calculation of where the gun was? Kinsey said he cannot determine the mechanics of the shooter, but the shot could have been high or low or at the shoulder.
Why the second shot so low? What circumstance would cause a person to change position? Kinsey can only testify to the angle of the shot, not the mechanics behind the shot.
If first shot at shoulder, any way to figure out the height of the shooter? No way to scientifically figure. Kinsey looks at angles, looks at the damage and draws his conclusions.
Kinsey was hired in October and looked at evidence in November 2022. He saw the crime scene report by Bevel. Harpootlain said Bevel’s report was generated in March 2022.
Kinsey said he was contacted after the homicides but not working on the case until 2022
Harpootlain asks if Kinsey looked at the body cam interview with Murdaugh where Alex said the phone fell out of Paul’s pocket, the SLED report by Worley indicating the shooter’s path, and the autopsy report where Riemer indicated an angle of 135 degrees. Kinsey said he looked at reports but did not rely on the reports to make his own determinations.
You looked at lab photos of victims clothing, trace reports, crime scene photos relevant to your work, interviews with people? Kinsey said he had access to reports but didn’t necessarily look at everything.
Was the wound on shoulder larger than the one to his neck? Kinsey said you have to take into consideration the angle of the wound and the proximity of the gun. The damage to Paul’s body is not inconsistent with Kinsey’s conclusions.
Harpootlain has Kinsey’s report. You say the exact position of the shooter cannot be determined in Maggie’s case, so you couldn’t determine trajectory in Maggie’s case? No. Because the shooter could be moving, Maggie could be moving, both could be moving.
The impression on Maggie’s leg, again, there was a photo taken of her leg or the tire to make a comparison? If Kinsey needed to make a determination to the exclusion of all other, there would have to be a scale of the tire.
So, you’re not saying that tire made that impression? Kinsey says he is telling the jury the tire is the class of the tire that made the impression, you can see tread markings that are unique to the tire and the impression on Maggie’s leg. In his opinion, the impression was made by that tire or a tire with similar characteristics.
REDIRECT
Waters asks Kinsey if he was contacted by SLED to look at this case? Kinsey says yes, he made his own conclusions in the case.
Did you see mud on the impression, were there any other tires other than the ones on the ATV at the scene? No
Shell casings were located around the feed room where Maggie was found? Yes
The spent shells were not going to get thrown 30 feet or in a different direction? Not in Kinsey’s experience
Can homicide scenes be fluid, shooters can move, victims can move? Yes
Does all that stuff you and Harpootlain did with the easel change your opinion of what happened to Paul? No
RE-RECROSS
We agreed what we did was a mirror image of what we did? Yes
We agreed the trajectory of the shotgun was low? Yes
Lunch break
Judge Newman appointed a foreperson for the jury.
SLED Senior Special Agent Ryan Kelly
After the lunch break, State called SLED Senior Special Agent Ryan Kelly
Kelly is stationed at the SLED Lowcountry Division and had a tangential role in the Moselle murders and was a responding officer at the September 4, 2021, roadside incident where Alex was shot in the head.
Kelly said there was a black Mercedes SUV belonging to Maggie at the scene on Old Salkehatchie Road. The vehicle had a driver’s side flat tire – a run-flat tire. After reviewing the tire, Kelly said there looked like a small hole in the tire created by a pocketknife-like instrument.
Kelly obtained a copy of the 911 call made by Alex Murdaugh. Kelly describes the call Alex says he is near a church and got a flat, pulled off the side of the road, another vehicle pulls up, the driver got out and shot him.
It is played for the jury. In it, Alex is heard giving his location as near a church with a red roof. The 991 operator asks what’s going on. He said he had a flat tire, pulled over to fix it, someone came up behind him and tried to shoot him. The 911 operator asks where he was shot and he said somewhere in the head, he was bleeding.
A body cam image from the responding officer at the scene shows Alex sitting in an ambulance telling his story to EMS. He said a car passed him and came around and parked behind him and a good-looking man got out and shot him. Alex tries to give description of the gun, sounded like a shotgun.
Alex tries to give a description of the vehicle, thinks it was a blue GMC or Chevrolet; gun was fired once; he says he lost his vision when it happened; EMS said they will fly Alex to Savannah.
Kelly said he met with Alex and Randy Murdaugh at the hospital. Kelly said Alex was receiving treatment and was awake and answering questions. Alex stated a driver passed by, turned around and came back, Alex said he made contact with the driver, turned around to go back to his car, and when he turned around the driver shot him. Alex said he thought the weapon was a 22 caliber. He said he lost his vision for a few minutes and dropped to his knees, but did not lose consciousness.
Alex described the suspect vehicle as a blue pickup truck with special wheels, the driver as a nice-looking guy 30-40 years old. Alex gave no name, but said it was someone he didn’t know but would recognize if he saw him.
Kelly recognizes an image from the inside of the Mercedes showing Alex’s Assistant Solicitors badge.
Kelly is asked, on Sept 5, did agents continue to search the scene? Yes, looking for significant debris that may have caused Alex’s flat tire. Kelly said across the street from where the Mercedes was found, they recovered a grey utility knife. Kelly said they did not find any debris that would cause a flat.
Kelly testified SLED took DNA swabs on the knife and results from the DNA swabs gave profiles of Alex and Curtis Eddie Smith.
Did Kelly know before the incident on Sept. 4, Alex had a confrontation with Chris Wilson and that Wilson wanted to find out what was going on with the missing $192K Alex owed him? No
On Sept. 5, SLED sent a composite sketch artist to Savannah so Alex could get a sketch of a suspect in the shooting. During that interview, Kelly said Alex was able to answer all of the questions put to him, agreed to the discussion, and the information was consistent with what he had told SLED earlier. On Sept. 6, Alex worked with sketch artist and a sketch was completed based on Alex’s descriptions.
An image of the composite sketch is entered into evidence.
On Sept. 6, SLED Special Agent Owen got a call from Randy Murdaugh and was told Alex had been making calls to unknown numbers and was trying to convince or pay hospital staff to use the phone. A specific name and number was given to SLED – Curtis Edward Smith.
SLED agents canvassed the area along Salkehatchie Road, including St. John’s Baptist Church which happened to have surveillance video. Agents looked at the tape for images the pickup truck and Alex’s car. At 1:35 p.m., they found the blue pickup; 1:37, the car going in the same direction; and around 1:50, the pickup again, traveling in the opposite direction.
A search warrant was issued for Curtis Edward Smith’s home and agents found drugs, medical books and a spiral notebook that had a list of various numbers and names of pills and a sales ledger.
Kelly identifies an image of transaction receipts for Curtis Edward Smith’s Enterprise bank accounts, found in Smith’s home. Kelly said at this time, agents knew Alex had a drug problem, had been fired from the law firm for stealing and had been trying to reach Smith from the hospital. The bank accounts showed transactions of thousands of dollars.
Bianca Simpson was contacted by SLED about insurance information because Alex had called her about getting the insurance card information before he was shot.
SLED wanted to re-interview Alex and got in touch with his attorneys -- Harpootlian and Griffin. Kelly said the lawyers told him told Alex was in out-of-state rehab. Harpootlian reached out to SLED and scheduled a telephone interview with Alex on Sept. 13.
The telephone call is played for the jury.
Griffin, Harpootlian and Alex are on the call from an office in Atlanta. In the interview, Kelly stated for the record the defense team had asked for the telephone call, SLED would prefer an in-person interview.
Kelly started out by stating, obviously Alex had been receiving treatment and asked if Alex is of sound mind and body, Alex said yes. Harpootlian said his client is of sound mind and body and gave ground rules for the interview – Kelly was not to speak of Moselle or Alex’s financial issues.
Harpootlian conducts the interview from the office in Atlanta and asks Alex who he met with on Sept. 4, and Alex said he met with Chris Wilson. Alex said the two talked about Alex’s financial problems. Alex admits to a 20-year opioid addiction and had taken pill s around 4 a.m. on Sept. 4 and was having withdrawals when he met with Wilson. Alex said his mind was in a bad place at that time and it would be easier on his family, and they would be better off if he were dead. Alex said he had a life insurance policy that was worth $10M.
Alex said called Curtis Eddie Smith, he bought pills from Smith – paying about $40, $50K a week for pills. Alex said he called Smith after he met with Jim Griffin and Chris Wilson on Sept. 4. Smith agreed to meet him on the side of the road and followed Alex into town to Sunoco gas station.
Alex was in the Mercedes, Smith in a pickup truck. Alex said he told Smith things were getting bad and it’d be better off if he wasn’t around and asked Smith to shoot him. Alex said Smith was surprised but eventually said yes. Alex said he told Smith to shoot him in the head. Alex said he made the plan -- he’d make a flat tire, Smith was to pass him by and come around and shoot him. Alex gave him the gun, a revolver pistol, a 38.
Alex said Smith followed him out to Salkehatchie Road and Alex stopped and made the tire flat with a knife and then threw the knife across the road. Smith had already passed him and turned around and came back, stopped and got out of the truck. Alex said he didn’t look at Smith and Smith shot him in the back of the head. Alex said he was disoriented, and it took him a couple of minutes to come back to his senses. He remembers two cars came by -- one stopped and tried to help him. He said the people who stopped to help were crowded in their car so the young lady got in the Mercedes and was going to drive him to the hospital but then they put him in the front of their car and drove to meet the ambulance.
Alex said his intent was for Smith to shoot him and Buster would be better off with the life insurance money. Harpootlian asked Alex to repeat the name again and Alex says “Curtis Edward Smith.”
Harpootlian asks how long it was from Alex asking Smith to kill him to when he was shot, and Alex said it was as long as it took to drive to Salkehatchie Road.
Harpootlian asked Kelly if this call is being recorded. Kelly said yes.
Alex apologizes for lying to Kelly in the hospital and Kelly asked how long had Alex known Smith. Alex said he’s known Smith a longtime, about 10-12 years. The two would talk frequently on the phone about getting pills. Alex would pay him to get pills, the amount varied several times a week with cash and checks.
Kelly asks where money came from and Alex says the checking account at Bank of America in his name and another account that’s dba Forge, and his checking account at Palmetto State Bank.
Kelly asks Alex did he give anyone else money for drugs? Alex names Kenny Hughes, a guy Alex would call up and ask if he knew anyone he could get pills from. Alex said he told Hughes he had a client who couldn’t get pills legally and could Hughes help him out. Alex said he paid Hughes in cash and checks.
In the past Alex said he paid other people and named a lady who worked at his mom’s house.
Kelly asks Alex if the 38 revolver was his? Alex said yes, it was at his mom’s house, and he picked it up when he was there earlier in the day on Sept. 4. He said he gave the gun to Smith and didn’t know what Smith had done with it.
Kelly asked Alex id he knew that Smith had first named Alex as his attorney and then named his brother Randy? Harpootlian said there is no way Alex is representing Smith.
Kelly asked Alex if Randy had knowledge of the suicide agreement with Smith. Alex said he told his brothers about the pact with Smith on Sept. 12 (the day before this interview).
Harpootlian asks Alex if he had talked to Smith after the shooting. Alex said he doesn’t remember what he said but the called Smith in while he was in detox. Harpootlian asks Alex if he called from the hospital, Alex said he doesn’t remember but his brother Randy told him he had called Smith.
Alex said he doesn’t know where the gun is at, the last time he saw it it was in Smith’s possession.
The money was coming from where? Harpootlian said we can say the bulk was not legitimately obtained.
Kelly said Alex is independently wealthy and Harpootlian said not anymore.
Kelly said the money is ill-gotten gains and Alex responds some of the money was his.
Alex says he didn’t pay Smith to shoot him, it was a verbal agreement.
The checks paid to Smith were significant amounts? Alex said yes.
The last payment to Smith was when? It would have been several days before the hooting but Alex can’t remember how much the payment was.
Kelly asks if Alex if he owes money to drug dealers? No. So, there’s no threat to Buster? No.
The payments you made were payments in full so, there’s no outstanding debt? Yes, to best of knowledge he doesn’t owe anybody.
Kelly says to Alex: You don’t remember how much you paid, but it was for pills and you didn’t pay him to shoot you? Alex says yes.
Kelly said that doesn’t make sense. Kelly wants to make sure everyone’s on the same page… “you entered into a verbal agreement where Smith would shoot you, and it would be a suicide set up as a robbery/homicide so Buster could get the money? Yes
Kelly asks Alex if his will was left in Mercedes intentionally? Alex had met with lawyers the day before and left it in the car. Alex said he had met with Buster’s girlfriend’s employer to make sure everything was cleared up. He’d had the policy more than two years.
Kelly asks Alex how did he get the knife? Was it your knife? Alex believes it was Smith’s knife. He punctured the tire with the knife and threw it across the road from where the Mercedes was parked.
Do you know if the gun was disposed of and registered to anyone? Don’t know if disposed of but registered to Alex. Alex doesn’t remember where he might have purchased it.
Any other dealings with Smith, his girlfriend or anyone else related to him? Alex said he helped Smith’s girlfriend with legal issues over the years but she was not involved in the pills and money.
Kelly asks Alex if he owns property in Huger, near Charleston? Yes. Alex said he was paying for property and Smith worked there digging ditches over the past couple of months. Property is on United Drive – Red Beard and Zero United Drive.
Anything else? You communicated with Curtis over the phone? How many phones did you have? Alex had one phone, Griffin took possession of that phone, there was a second phone and SLED has both phones, so Alex now has a burner phone.
Kelly asked Alex if anyone other than you and Smith know of this? No. Alex said didn’t tell anyone the truth until yesterday afternoon (Sept. 12) and sincerely apologizes for lying to law enforcement.
Kelly asks if Alex is right-handed? Yes
So, you didn’t shoot yourself? No
Kelly asked Alex when did he get the knife from Smith? Alex said he believes he got the knife when Smith got the gun, somewhere along the side of the road.
So, Smith drove past you, you pulled over on the side of the road, made the flat tire, walked to Smith’s vehicle and turned around and, about five feet from the car, you waited for Smith to shoot you and then he shot you in the back of the head. Yes
Back in the courtroom, Waters asks Kelly: Prior to the conversation and ambulance call, did Alex mention or identify Smith until the lies at the side of the road was exposed? NO
Did Alex say Curtis Edward Smith had anything to d with the murders at Moselle? No
Is there any evidence that Curtis Edward Smith had anything to do with the murders at Moselle? No
Cross examination of Kelly will begin Friday morning.
Check back for more updates as the day progresses.
Wednesday Trial Recap
Wednesday was consumed by the introduction of the videotaped third interview of Alex Murdaugh by SLED Agent David Owen, the lead investigator in the case. The interview was conducted in August 2021 and shows Alex meeting with Owen, initially asking about an update on the case but Owen proceeding to ask Alex for clarification on some answers he had given to questions in two previous interviews. From the video, the court learned SLED did not search the Almeda property belonging to Alex’s parents for evidence pertaining to the June 7 murders. There was no search for bloody clothes or guns or any other evidence that would have linked Alex to the murders of Paul and Maggie.
The second witness of the day was cell phone forensics expert David Grubbs, of the SC Attorney General’s Office. Grubbs was able to collect and analyze data – including location data – from phones belonging to Maggie, Alex and Paul. Grubbs’ testimony will continue on Thursday.
In a surprising turn of events, Judge Clifton Newman reversed an earlier decision and now will allow testimony regarding the September roadside incident where Alex was shot in the head. Newman based his reversal on the defense opening the doors to that line of questioning after Curtis “Eddie” Smith was mentioned by name during the cross-examination of Agent Owen.