The Colleton County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) was the first on scene when Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were murdered in June of 2021. Alex Murdaugh, Maggie's husband
abcnews4.com
3/16/23
COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — The Colleton County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) was the first on scene when Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were murdered in June of 2021. Alex Murdaugh, Maggie's husband and Paul's father, was
found guilty of the murders in March and
sentenced to life in prison.
Capt. Jason Chapman, Det. Laura Rutland, and Det. Daniel Greene spoke about being on the scene the night of the double murders. They all took the stand during Murdaugh's six-week trial and all helped secure the courthouse and the people around it.
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Chapman said within the first hour of arriving on the scene the night of the murders, something wasn't right. He says Murdaugh's body language showed there was more going on than what he was saying. Murdaugh was showing clues, like not making eye contact, not blinking, turning on and off emotions, and other things that Chapman found odd.
"It's years and years of reading people," Chapman said. "A detective tells you a lot of times, it doesn't matter what comes out of your mouth in the interview room, it's what the body says. If we can have someone come in and sit and say the typical 'I swear I didn't do it, swear I didn't do it', but their body says everything opposite."
Within 72 hours, Chapman and Rutland reviewed what they had on the case - the 911 call Murdaugh made, Greene's body camera when he arrived on the scene, and Murdaugh's first interview with law enforcement. After that review, they felt Murdaugh was not telling the truth. Now, it is known Murdaugh was found guilty of killing Maggie and Paul.
Greene and Rutland both knew nothing about the Murdaugh family before the case started in June 2021. Greene was the first on the scene the night of the murders and Rutland was part of the entire investigation, helping interview Murdaugh with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
"I didn't know who the family was," Greene said. "None of this kinda triggered anything in my head that this is gonna end up being a huge thing. The initial thought wasn't (Murdaugh) killed his wife and son. It wasn't really one of the scenarios going through my head on the way there because he called and said, 'I found them'. Generally, when you get a call like that, you go into it thinking that's the truth."
Rutland said, "When (Murdaugh) first described Paul, breaking down, at first I thought it was a genuine emotion and genuine trauma. Of course, now I know he was traumatized - not by what he found, but what he had done."
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Chapman says after the verdict came out, the jurors thanked him, Rutland, Greene, and the entire sheriff's office for their work. He says they also wanted to thank SLED and the South Carolina Attorney General's Office. But, of course, they say the most rewarding part overall was getting justice for Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.
Throughout the trial, the defense kept pointing out mistakes they felt were made in the investigation into Maggie and Paul's deaths. Later this week, learn what the deputies thought about that.