SC - Paul Murdaugh, 22 and mom Margaret, 52, found shot to death, Islandton, 7 June 2021 #12

[legalmomma]

Maggie and Paul Murdaugh's Final 24 Hours

 

[Elley Mae]

After the murders, Alex Murdaugh went to stay with his in-laws — his wife’s sister and her husband — and remained closely in their presence for “around three months,” multiple sources tell FITSNews.

Prior to June 7, though, Murdaugh’s connection to the Branstetters wasn’t seen as particularly strong, according to multiple sources, and he often found excuses not to accompany Maggie and the boys on visits to them.

“It’s been said he didn’t particularly like them,” one source close to the investigation said.

https://www.fitsnews.com/2022/04/28...selle-on-the-night-of-her-murder-sources-say/

…

MM’s sis &bil are well off, I wonder if AM was jealous and did what he did to “keep up with the joneses”.

Jmo

 

[LetsSolvIt]

In the days following Maggie’s and Paul’s deaths, friends of Alex say he seemed focused on his loss of Paul – lamenting that because of what happened Paul would never be able to prove his innocence in the 2019 boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach of Hampton, S.C.

The boat crash, in many ways, is at the heart of what many see as Alex Murdaugh’s unraveling.

In the weeks after the murders, it was also cited by multiple members of the Murdaugh family as the motive for the murders — hinting that Maggie’s and Paul’s deaths were a result of vengeance.

Multiple sources have told FITSNews that Maggie Murdaugh was not a fearful person, but she did not like staying at Moselle.

At the time of her death, Maggie had just completed a redecoration of her Edisto Beach home and was embarking on a project to make Moselle “more homey.”

There was no indication prior to her death that Maggie feared for her life or Paul’s life — especially as it relates to “revenge” for the boat crash or any other incident in which her sons might have been involved, according to multiple sources.

Friends of Maggie says that Paul and Buster were the center of her life. Multiple sources have told FITSNews that “Maggie Murdaugh lived for those boys.”

She knew of their whereabouts at all times, and they knew hers. In fact, Buster had an app on his phone that showed his mother’s location through her phone. It is this app that helped investigators locate her discarded phone in the woods.

On the day of her murder, she knew Paul — who worked that day at his uncle’s equipment rental shop and ate dinner with his uncle’s family at their home in Okatie — would be at Moselle that evening.

Paul left Okatie for Moselle at around 6:00 p.m.

Maggie is believed to have arrived at Moselle sometime between 7:00 and 7:30 p.m.

This new information helps shed light on some of the circumstances surrounding the murders.

https://www.fitsnews.com/2022/04/28...selle-on-the-night-of-her-murder-sources-say/

Eta

Paul was killed with a shotgun, which caused multiple injuries. He, too, was shot in the head, according to his death certificate. He was killed with one round of birdshot and one round of buckshot, according to multiple sources.

There are a lot of details coming out this week that I don’t think we’ve heard before with very few specific sources cited. I have a hard time believing that SLED is leaking all this. Or are they? It sounds like perhaps FitsN has maybe been sitting on the reports from “friends” and waiting for the right time or enough people to give the same account before they released details? … When it was thought Maggie and Paul arrived at Moselle, what Paul did that day, a bird shot round and a buckshot round, etc. … these are very specific details.

FitsN writes “sources tell us,” and SLED is silent. Who are sources? Why spill the beans before official word? It seems like more than just wanting to break the story. What is going on? Is this a way to scare up confessions?

 

[LetsSolvIt]

<snipped> … Paul was killed with a shotgun, which caused multiple injuries. He, too, was shot in the head, according to his death certificate. He was killed with one round of birdshot and one round of buckshot, according to multiple sources.

This detail about two types of shot is interesting. If the shotgun used could be loaded with two rounds at once, it makes me think someone grabbed what ammunition was handy and loaded quickly. In other words I don’t think the shotgun was used for a premeditated plan.

Bird shot and buck shot are very different — bird shot being smaller lead pellets that spray widely, buckshot much larger slugs.

IMO someone bringing a weapon to a planned murder would more than likely be consistent in his ammunition, especially at a hunting lodge where there would no doubt be plenty of options.

MOO.

 

[Elley Mae]

Jmo

Fitsnews is the only one that has the guts to release what some others probably have but are sitting on for fear of upsetting ppl that would not be happy about stuff coming out that could harm them being ‘friends’ or associates of the M’s. I would imagine that the ppl involved in the investigation are locals and tired of nothing happening.


Jmo

 

[LetsSolvIt]

After the murders, Alex Murdaugh went to stay with his in-laws — his wife’s sister and her husband — and remained closely in their presence for “around three months,” multiple sources tell FITSNews.

Prior to June 7, though, Murdaugh’s connection to the Branstetters wasn’t seen as particularly strong, according to multiple sources, and he often found excuses not to accompany Maggie and the boys on visits to them.

“It’s been said he didn’t particularly like them,” one source close to the investigation said.

https://www.fitsnews.com/2022/04/28...selle-on-the-night-of-her-murder-sources-say/

…

MM’s sis &bil are well off, I wonder if AM was jealous and did what he did to “keep up with the joneses”.

Jmo

Can you imagine the male privates it would take to play the grieving widower and go stay with the family of your wife you just murdered.

 

[Rusty123]

This detail about two types of shot is interesting. If the shotgun used could be loaded with two rounds at once, it makes me think someone grabbed what ammunition was handy and loaded quickly. In other words I don’t think the shotgun was used for a premeditated plan.

Bird shot and buck shot are very different — bird shot being smaller lead pellets that spray widely, buckshot much larger slugs. IMO someone bringing a weapon to a planned murder would more than likely be consistent in his ammunition, especially at a hunting lodge where there would no doubt be plenty of options.

MOO.

Does anyone here recall which gun was found at the scene and which one is still missing? The missing gun could have been disposed of along the way as AM drove to the “hospital” in the same manner MMS cell phone was disposed of.

 

[LetsSolvIt]

Does anyone here recall which gun was found at the scene and which one is still missing? The missing gun could have been disposed of along the way as AM drove to the “hospital” in the same manner MMS cell phone was disposed of.

Don’t think it was ever confirmed which gun was found on scene, in fact, I don’t recall that it’s actually a fact that one gun was found at scene and belonged to Murdaughs. I think that was “thought” or alleged/rumored.

Also, I don’t think it’s been revealed what, if anything, was found in LE’s search of river/swamp near Moselle.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

This detail about two types of shot is interesting. If the shotgun used could be loaded with two rounds at once, it makes me think someone grabbed what ammunition was handy and loaded quickly. In other words I don’t think the shotgun was used for a premeditated plan.

Bird shot and buck shot are very different — bird shot being smaller lead pellets that spray widely, buckshot much larger slugs. IMO someone bringing a weapon to a planned murder would more than likely be consistent in his ammunition, especially at a hunting lodge where there would no doubt be plenty of options.

MOO.

I think your thoughts about the two different types of shot are very good and they mesh with what I have been thinking for a while. This week’s new information fall into place too.
The prime target was MM. I thought with a high powered rifle he shot her from a distance, but apparently he killed her face to face pretty much, hence the blood spatter. PM was not supposed to be there and witnessed this from the kennels. He grabbed a shotgun and whatever ammunition was handy and confronted his father who wrestled the gun from him and killed PM.
That explains the statement early on that at least one weapon was owned by the Murdaughs. I’m thinking it was found at the scene.
Just my thoughts.

 

[Elley Mae]

Does anyone here recall which gun was found at the scene and which one is still missing? The missing gun could have been disposed of along the way as AM drove to the “hospital” in the same manner MMS cell phone was disposed of.

Over under shotgun (2 barrels) can hold both buckshot and birdshot shell, one gun 2 different shells.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

Can you imagine the male privates it would take to play the grieving widower and go stay with the family of your wife you just murdered.

No doubt, that’s a pretty shocking thing to do. He probably thought it would somehow make him look innocent and maybe they would make public statements about how sad AM was and how they know he had nothing to do with the murders…they of course remained silent. And maybe they would feel sorry for him and hand some money over to him to help through this rough time.
We all know by now, money is the only thing AM really loved.

 

[Rosiebones]

So AM's only alibi, aside from taking his father to the hospital, is that he was with his mother (who has dementia and isn't a reliable source) in Varnville, less than 20 minutes away from Moselle. I am thinking the last thing to pin down is this timeframe...before his arrest. Ring cameras? Other CCTV along the route? Neighbors? Who else can be a witness to support or contradict this alibi?

His mother must have had round the clock care-givers. She couldn't have been left alone. Those care-givers must know when AM arrived and left.

 

[Diddian]

I wonder if any other individuals have been sweating bullets since it was learned a PI had planted a camera at the Moselle property prior to the night PM and MM were shot.

Also, wonder what SIDE of the road MM’s phone was later found on. If thrown from a vehicle driving away from Moselle, was it thrown from the driver’s window or from the passenger’s?

And if a gun was tossed from a vehicle into the river or creek where LE later searched, same question (although in moving water, that may have been difficult to tell).

 

[LetsSolvIt]

I think your thoughts about the two different types of shot are very good and they mesh with what I have been thinking for a while. This week’s new information fall into place too.
The prime target was MM. I thought with a high powered rifle he shot her from a distance, but apparently he killed her face to face pretty much, hence the blood spatter. PM was not supposed to be there and witnessed this from the kennels. He grabbed a shotgun and whatever ammunition was handy and confronted his father who wrestled the gun from him and killed PM.
That explains the statement early on that at least one weapon was owned by the Murdaughs. I’m thinking it was found at the scene.
Just my thoughts.

Think you got it nailed down!

 

[Diddian]

Graphic discussion:

FITS News asks a forensic expert about high velocity blood spatter. In the last few minutes of the 16 minute video, the expert also discusses spatter of brain matter:

 

[Diddian]

Graphic discussion:

FITS News asks a forensic expert about high velocity blood spatter. In the last few minutes of the 16 minute video, the expert also discusses spatter of brain matter:

In response to my own post:

One question I wish the interviewers had asked was if there were two victims “x” many feet apart, a shotgun used on one and a semiautomatic rifle on the other, what could the discernible patterns of splatter of blood and other matter tell about which victim went down first and what was the position of the other victim at that time.

 

[girlhasnoname]

Can you imagine the male privates it would take to play the grieving widower and go stay with the family of your wife you just murdered.

Yep, and Big Red has them in spades. He is a sociopath IMO.

 

[Elley Mae]

In response to my own post:

One question I wish the interviewers had asked was if there were two victims “x” many feet apart, a shotgun used on one and a semiautomatic rifle on the other, what could the discernible patterns of splatter of blood and other matter tell about which victim went down first and what was the position of the other victim at that time.

If you believe this woman they were not always together, or feet or Yards apart.

…

“She is the victim, having lost her son, being part of the slaughter at the farm, and [having] her world turned upside down,” one woman who claimed to know Maggie told The Post. “Have [people] ever thought of the terror she faced that night being dragged through the dark to the dog kennels to see the carnage?”

Murdaugh mystery deepens as murder cold case with ties to family reopens

 

[Diddian]

If you believe this woman they were not always together, or feet or Yards apart.

…

“She is the victim, having lost her son, being part of the slaughter at the farm, and [having] her world turned upside down,” one woman who claimed to know Maggie told The Post. “Have [people] ever thought of the terror she faced that night being dragged through the dark to the dog kennels to see the carnage?”

Murdaugh mystery deepens as murder cold case with ties to family reopens

That woman’s words have been much on my mind since first learning of the high velocity blood spatter and that MM was shot at close range, while she was face down on the ground, in the back and in the back of the head.

If this is so, she was clearly executed.

Was she chased down and knocked to the ground, or was she first shot from a distance, and then approached and executed? I would think that blood splatter (ETA: and other evidence related to the gunshot wounds) will tell a lot of that story. And it will also possibly tell another story: when MM was executed, how many individuals were standing in the range of spatter of her blood and other matter?

 

[Elley Mae]

Being that a shotgun is used for birdshot, buckshot it’s a preferred weapon for home defense. I lean towards that a shotgun as the cause of blood splatter.

Jmo