BLOG: Day 20: New data tracks Murdaugh’s vehicle on night of killings
WALTERBORO, S.C. (WCSC) - The state presented evidence from updated technology in the SUV that Alex Murdaugh was driving the night his wife and son were murdered on the 20th day of the Murdaugh trial.
Murdaugh is standing trial for the June 7, 2021, killings of his wife, Maggie; and their youngest son, Paul.
Prosecutors said they just received the new evidence from General Motors over the weekend that details the movement, speed, direction and locationof Murdaugh’s Suburban minute by minute.
Investigators said the data showed that Murdaugh arrived at the family’s Moselle Road property at 6:42 p.m. on the night of the killings and his speed during that trip from work was within the speed limit.
However, additional data showed that he left Moselle for Almeda to visit his ailing mother at 9:07 p.m. Data showed Murdaugh’s vehicle reached speeds of up to 74 mph and arrived there at 9:22 p.m.
Approximately 20 minutes later, at 9:43 p.m., Murdaugh’s vehicle leaves Almeda and heads back to Moselle. During the return trip, data showed the vehicle was going as fast as 80 mph before he arrived back at Moselle at 10 p.m.
The Colleton County coroner estimated the murders happened between 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s phones went silent at 8:49 p.m. that night.
Murdaugh called 911 at 10:05 p.m., telling investigators he has arrived back at Moselle and discovered the victims.
Jury hears crime scene reconstruction evidence during Thursday testimony
Jurors listened Thursday to a recording of an interview with Alex Murdaugh on the roadside shooting in Hampton County that occurred on Labor Day weekend 2021, just less than three months after the killings.
READ RECAP: ‘I was in a very bad place’: Jury hears suicide-for-hire confession during Murdaugh murder trial
In that recording, Murdaugh was heard telling South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Agent Ryan Kelly that he had a sizable life insurance payout worth some $10 million and that in terms of his state of mind, he was “in a very bad place.”
“I thought it would be better for me not to be here anymore,” Murdaugh said in the recording.
In that recording, Murdaugh was heard telling South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Agent Ryan Kelly that he had a sizable life insurance payout worth some $10 million and that in terms of his state of mind, he was “in a very bad place.”
“I thought it would be better for me not to be here anymore,” Murdaugh said in the recording.
Murdaugh’s acknowledgment that he asked a man named Curtis Eddie Smith to fatally shoot him so Murdaugh’s surviving son, Buster, could inherit that insurance payout was something the jury almost didn’t hear.
Judge Clifton Newman ruled Wednesday morning that it would not be admitted because it could not be considered motive in the killings. But after the defense questioned a witness about Smith’s connection to Murdaugh, Newman reversed the decision, saying they had opened the door to have information about the alleged insurance plot heard by jurors.
Also during Thursday’s testimony, Kenneth Kinsey, a crime scene investigator prosecutors hired in late 2022 to examine documentation of the crime scene, Kinsey told the court he believed Paul Murdaugh was shot first with his arms down and that the fatal shot came from a shotgun about two feet away. Maggie Murdaugh, Kinsey said, was shot several times with two possible fatal shots; he said one came from behind and the killed most likely then walked around to shoot her again while she was on the ground.
SPECIAL SECTION: The Murdaugh Cases
Smith has not yet been called to the stand, but has previously denied being involved in a plot and said he did not shoot Murdaugh.
Murdaugh defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said after Thursday’s trial that he expects the trial to continue through the beginning of March.
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