SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #18

[Katrinepa]

Wow!! How are they compensated for all that time?
Is this jury sequestered, by the way? Can you imagine the effect that would have on a family/ marriage in a long trial?

Jury is not sequestered.

 

[Megnut]

Thus far, there's no evidence that MM consulted a divorce lawyer and there's also no evidence that MM texted a friend she thought AM was acting fishy or that she wanted to meet AM at hospital versus going home to Moselle. I think if there was any evidence of divorce rumors, the state would have led with this information to support an additional financial motive.

In fact, evidence showed MM requested Bianca prepare a meal for the family before she left for the day. IMO, I think AM was being his usual opportunistic self when asking MM to leave Edisto where he was able to take it all in (last supper with the family) before the demise of his family forever.

Tonight, I heard a talking head suggest an interesting theory where there could have been a heat-of-passion altercation between AM and PM at the kennels where PM said/did something wreaking of irresponsibility that was about to cost $$$ AM further (after AM spent the day preparing for the wrongful death hearing, and then challenged by his firm), and AM lost it on PM and witnessed by MM.

If I were defending AM, I think I'd be considering something like this that ties to AM's state of mind on June 7 when he'd been subjected to a boatload of bad news. MOO

I don't believe AM "lost it" that evening over something his son said, as suggested by a "talking head." It doesn't explain the blue raincoat. It doesn't explain how he was able to shoot his son, then rapidly grab a shotgun to fire at a running Maggie. She was shot 5 times, including in her leg. He wanted to take her down, then while she was positioned on one knee with her head leaning forward, he shot her in the head with a fatal blow. Deja Vu with BarryMorphew chasing Suzanne around the exterior of their home with a dart gun.

However, I agree with you in that the victims were served their final meal at their favorite Hunting Lodge. I could hear the glee in Maggie's voice when she said, "It's a guinea!" Up and until they were killed, I think AM wanted them to have one last fun experience at their beloved Moselle. AM enjoyed a final hour or two with Paul as we heard them laughing over the tree.

Other than BarryMorphew, I've probably never detested a male killer as much as I do AlexMur-dock. Dock, as the Judge told the courtroom today. He deserves the Firing Squad if found guilty of their murders.

All MHOO

I'm stuck at the blue raincoat.

He must have put it on at the house, before going to the kennels. Had the rain started? He wanted to protect his button-down (seen in the earlier tree video) and just happened to have it on when a sudden need to kill arose? Or it was very intentional.

What was Maggie wearing? Did AM have the only rainwear in the group? When did he acquire it? Had anyone ever seen him wear it prior?

Did Alex have the prepared dinner? Did he mention his workmoneytroubles to Maggie? Then throw on his raincoat?

How will the inevitable television series present that final +/- hour?

The missing weapon. Is it missing because it has Paul's fingerprints on it? Did he attempt to wrestle it from his father, perhaps resulting in the catastrophic head wound when AM got control of the weapon?

On the jailhouse, is AM still chatting it up with family members? Holding court, as it were. Does NOTHING drop his ego down a peg? How is there even room in his small cell for his big head?

JMjumbledO

 

[drama_farmer]

Good post. That all makes me wonder if getting that phone call, at the exact moment in time of the confrontation by his firm's CFO, with that dire news about his Dad didn't just push him over the edge leading to the actions of that night?

It may be as simple as AM connecting 'tragic news about a family member = delay of the inevitable consequences of his financial crimes. " He really strikes me as someone who thought he could" fix" just about anything.
His self-inflicted flat tire "attack" was yet another way to delay the inevitable and "fix" the situation by eliciting outrage and sympathy from a community that was increasingly giving him the "side eye."
If that had worked, he still had his mother and surviving son for use as distractions down the road.

IMO

 

[Elley Mae]

@Megnut. I read somewhere Maggie was wearing a dress.

Try to find.

 

[Snoopster]

Thus far, there's no evidence that MM consulted a divorce lawyer and there's also no evidence that MM texted a friend she thought AM was acting fishy or that she wanted to meet AM at hospital versus going home to Moselle. I think if there was any evidence of divorce rumors, the state would have led with this information to support an additional financial motive.

In fact, evidence showed MM requested Bianca prepare a meal for the family before she left for the day. IMO, I think AM was being his usual opportunistic self when asking MM to leave Edisto where he was able to take it all in (last supper with the family) before the demise of his family forever.

Tonight, I heard a talking head suggest an interesting theory where there could have been a heat-of-passion altercation between AM and PM at the kennels where PM said/did something wreaking of irresponsibility that was about to cost $$$ AM further (after AM spent the day preparing for the wrongful death hearing, and then challenged by his firm), and AM lost it on PM and witnessed by MM.

If I were defending AM, I think I'd be considering something like this that ties to AM's state of mind on June 7 when he'd been subjected to a boatload of bad news. MOO

I waffle on whether it was a heat-of-the-moment thing or planned.

Heat of the moment is more believable if he truly loved his family, but then I find it more difficult to square this with the 2 separate weapons.

As for a longer term planned event, it fits with how he was willing to steal from anyone, including close friends and family. A murder-suicide plan would allow for the 'hopeless' scenario where AM thought he would spare MM/PM from the change in life-style and social embarrassment that was to come. But, again, no need for 2 weapons and I don't think he would have been brave enough to kill himself.

So I'm leaning toward the idea that AM had toyed with the idea in the past and decided that day to go through with it due to the building pressure. He knew that the required financials for the boat case would blow everything out of the water and his wife would block some of his money-raising strategies and file for divorce. MM liked the nicer things...as evidenced by her $3000 Gucci purchase of slides and a purse(?) the previous month.

 

[Elley Mae]

At times Chapman gave highly detailed descriptions: the night of the killings, it was “hot, sticky, 79 degrees, 89 percent humidity,” with “an occasional rain drop and a little foggy.” A storm was on the way.

https://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article271678712.html

 

[Elley Mae]

@Megnut. I read somewhere Maggie was wearing a dress.

Try to find.

Here.

Perhaps the most morbid of the evidentiary material presented included autopsy evidence such as the deceased victims’ clothing, fingernail clippings, projective fragments taken from Maggie’s body and dress, shotgun pellets from Paul’s head area and plastic shotgun wadding from his left shoulder and armpit area.

Alex Murdaugh murder trial: Investigators' testimony continues to reveal vivid evidence

The Alex Murdaugh double murder trial continued Friday, Jan. 27 in Colleton County court. The latest updates and analysis, along with live video.

www.greenvilleonline.com

 

[Edvis]

So this is the big huge road that DH said it would be so difficult to throw anything across it from a car window.

Yup just a typical paved backcountry road which most are not as wide as the average two lane city roads. I've witnessed small children throw toy's and such out windows and get good air as they say with the object landing past the ditch lol.

 

[gremlin444]

With a quick look at today's Law & Crime video coverage, I notice AM has a white undershirt (can see at the collar of his button-down). I wonder if he had on the white shirt (from the night of the crimes when LE arrived) under the button-down he was wearing in the Snapchat video he & Paul did with the trees? Could that have been why there was seemingly no visible blood when LE arrived (but then later supposedly there was blood evidence on it; plus, he may have also had on a raincoat that was later found at his mother's with GSR.) MOO.

Screenshot I took just a few minutes ago from the Law & Crime live feed with an arrow I drew showing his white undershirt:

View attachment 399686


All speculation on my part. Just asking. MOO.

IMHO, he wasn't wearing the tshirt (that he was seen wearing as a primary shirt in the post murder photos and videos) as an undershirt below his short sleeve shirt in the tree video for several reasons:

1) the white tshirt from the post murder videos/photos has a pocket on the chest and appears to be of a thicker quality than what men generally wear under dress shirts. I've never seen a tshirt that is intended to be used as an men's undershirt have a chest pocket or be that thick--it messes up the line of the dress shirt over it.

2) The heat and the humidity of that day/evening makes it seem like it would be too uncomfortable to layer like that.

3) While not definitive because of the quality and brevity of the tree video, I do not see one at the neckline of his open collar of his shirt sleeve shirt.

 

[Edvis]

It's also very interesting, and perhaps Karma that he speaks of a nutso story of the one guy who was hired to track down Black Panthers and kill them. WTF?!! The Judge is Black, in case he didn't notice-lol And this Judge is Very measured in his Rulings. Just WOW.

Defense has been throwing everything out there, waiting for the kitchen sink along with the baby and bathwater to be tossed out next.

 

[Tanager]

I am firmly in the camp of people who think this was a premeditated event. What are the odds that it would happen at that location at that time by coincidence: a hunting property where gunshots were the norm, far from witnesses, littered with gun shells and the dna of all parties, in the dark, near a water source, during a brief period of looks-like-an-alibi with a phone turned off, at a time when the crescendo of events was turning into a cacophony of different music that A did not want to face...

Each time A orchestrated and manipulated events, he was trying to play more sounds over top of all of the noise so you can't hear the music, but it is there.

 

[arielilane]

Good morning!

Law & Crime live streaming...

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1621503080209735681

https://twitter.com/x/status/1621509100784975877

https://twitter.com/x/status/1621501306170146816

 

[ElizB]

AM made a 6 digit salary and was struggling for cash. I know they lived well, but was their money siphoning off somewhere else? Gambling? Blackmail? Something more than an opioid addiction was at play. JMO

I think he spent every penny (and then some) supporting the family’s lifestyle. It’s expensive to keep up two households, especially a big property like Moselle. Didn’t they have a groundskeeper and housekeeper at Moselle? I assume they had help at the beach house. Paul was in college and Buster had been in law school. They also had expensive toys (boats, cars, etc). Once AM started stealing money, he was never going to be able to catch up. MOO

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1621495928245944325

 

[cocky0]

AM made a 6 digit salary and was struggling for cash. I know they lived well, but was their money siphoning off somewhere else? Gambling? Blackmail? Something more than an opioid addiction was at play. JMO

There was some scuttle a while back about some smuggling operation he was involved in. Also the Moselle property was allegedly used in some manner of smuggling. (Hence the airstrip) I don't know how true any of that is, but I found it interesting that they focused some questions towards that one cop who consults on gang related crimes.

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1621508904055341063

https://twitter.com/x/status/1621494762967650311

A lot of options...

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1621154931205083143

 

[Elley Mae]

There was some scuttle a while back about some smuggling operation he was involved in. Also the Moselle property was allegedly used in some manner of smuggling. (Hence the airstrip) I don't know how true any of that is, but I found it interesting that they focused some questions towards that one cop who consults on gang related crimes.

And the previous owners name was brought up, Boulware.

 

[arielilane]

Friendly reminder: Jury will not be present until 11:30 am ET today.