SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #21

[clearskies1]

DBM.

 

[Smelly Squirrel]

I could be wrong, but I think (per her testimony) he was wearing the same seafoam shirt in the video and when he left that am. The problem is that he never mentioned a shower or clothing change in his timeline in police interviews. He was wearing dingy white t-shirt #1 at the crime scene when police arrived and decoy t-shirt #2 is on the floor by the shower. Furthermore, he alluded to a Vinyard Vines t-shirt in his attempted manipulation of Blanca, which I think he purchased later to try to match the missing seafoam one.

It is, very intentionally, confusing.

That's right, and I think it's also significant that Alex asked Blanca to go there the next morning specifically to "straighten up." It seems to me he wanted her to be a witness to these things that he left out.

Ultimately, this witness didn't work out for him the way he planned.

 

[bestill]

She also says there they quit living at Moselle after September 4th. Wonder whether she no longer trusted Alex after that. Or it could have been from when it came out next week that he had been stealing from PMPED.

Did he tell them they had to leave because he couldn't pay them anymore? jmo

 

[Warwick7]

I think it proves that he was not planning to die that day, which had been a mystery for me of what his intentions really were for the roadside plot.

I always wondered if Eddie was supposed to be killed. I wondered if he set it up to kill him and claim he came after Alex after killing Paul and Maggie.

 

[Warwick7]

That's right, and I think it's also significant that Alex asked Blanca to go there the next morning specifically to "straighten up." It seems to me he wanted her to be a witness to these things that he left out.

Ultimately, this witness didn't work out for him the way he planned.

Exactly!!

 

[LetsSolvIt]

I don't think the "help" idolized the Murdaughs. I think there is a huge power imbalance between the M family and everyone else, and desperate people are forced to work for whatever they can get. The M family takes advantage of the fact that they can pay "house help" under the table in cash, and not provide health insurance or benefits because the area is so economically depressed.

Gloria Satterfield was paid $10/hour.

 

[MinnesotaMary]

If I was a juror I would ask why Alex doesn’t take the stand? Sounds like he was/is an accomplished lawyer. Why wouldn’t a guy with his experience, if innocent, not stand up and defend his innocence? It’s not like he should be worried that the prosecution might trick him up and confuse him.

I totally agree with you: If a person is telling the truth, there's no fear about anything at all.... no need for a huge pile of 'tricky lawyers' .....

 

[Knox]

That Snapchat video of Paul and Alex with the tree was taken at 7:56, about an hour before the murders. It shows that Alex had different clothes on that what Blanca described AM left for work that day, suggesting he had changed when he came home into a different shirt and shoes, which she says she never saw again.

Since this was about an hour before the murders, he most likely had these clothes on during the murders.

Alex Murdaugh was in different clothes an hour before murders

Yesterday, the jury was shown a video in which Alex trying to plant a tree on the property. It was taken at 7.56pm, and shows him wearing a light blue shirt and khaki pants.

Thank you for explaining. What about the shoes in the video (brown slip-on), were those the shoes she said she never saw again. Or the red sperry's that MS said he was wearing when he came to see his Mom?

 

[Seattle1]

I think it was to prep for the "going into rehab" story they were going to sell the public. Isn't this the same day he had the conversation with Chris Wilson when he told him he "had s-hit him up"? JMO

Yes, but I think AM was planning for an alleged assault and not Florida rehab that was most likely outside of his SC Blue Shield network!

Also recalling the family picking up the tab for rehab (and suing for repayment after AM's assets frozen and placed under independent court receiver/guardian).

Judge approves plan to freeze Alex Murdaugh's assets, place under independent control

A judge has ordered that disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh’s assets be placed under control of independent representatives amid growing allegations of embezzling and unpaid debts.

www.postandcourier.com

Randy Murdaugh’s suit states that he loaned his brother $75,000 to cover an overdrawn account at Palmetto State Bank and another $15,000 to help pay the initial cost of his drug rehab. Randy Murdaugh was unaware at the time that his brother was in such poor financial health, the suit states.

 

[MinnesotaMary]

Gloria Satterfield was paid $10/hour.

WOW!! I had no idea!! It blew me away how Alex paid the couple $1,500/week to have free room and board, just be sure to mow the grass (*it stood out to me when Blanca said 'there is a lot of grass to mow....'). IMO Total hush-money. And remember: Alex stole the money of a deaf paraplegic, and both of the housekeeper's sons, one of whom 'cannot function as a normal human being does'.

 

[ReadySet]

Unfortunately, media is dependent on ‘sources.’ These days they are too often ‘anonymous’ sources. We are sometimes told these are ‘credible’ sources…but we really have no way of knowing if they are or not.

Perhaps the reporter has the same ideology or is pushing a certain narrative and anyone is credible to him that supports his point of view.

Perhaps the ‘source’ is in the pocket of other corrupt individuals. In an area where it seems that many individuals did the bidding of this Murdaugh family, who is to know if that source doesn’t owe a favor, 0r needs a favor?
\
We have seen corruption or the stench of corruption across many professions, many jobs…across the whole spectrum. IMO, local reporters and their ‘sources’ cannot be put in sny revered exempt category.

Quite the contrary.

Friend worked in radio and television for many years. They said if it's a local issue, your best bet is local source. Local media are invested in their community. Their local community holds them accountable.

 

[Smelly Squirrel]

Interesting to listen to this podcast again after the last weeks of testimony, it's AM's jailhouse calls:

That was very interesting. Can hear Alex scheming inside jail trying to game the commissary funds system to his benefit. Also he's riding Buster pretty hard to get back into law school, which he was kicked out of. Buster doesn't seem too eager to go back. He tells him to contact Butch Bowers, who is a very well connected lawyer, to do some influence peddling with the college. They also talk about a loan in connection with DH and JG, so maybe he is paying them something. Also sounded like Maggie's family was still supporting him at this point, though he hadn't been charged yet for the murders.

There was also a conversation where Alex was very insistent that Buster get Blanca's number so he can call her "to tell her what she's gotta do." Buster had been slow to contact Blanca cuz she had "irritated" him. Perhaps Blanca was having no more of it by then.

 

[Boodles]

Re the medical insurance card -- please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the judge has so far excluded evidence of the road-side shooting (on hearsay grounds when Chris Wilson tried to testify about it I think), so I'm not sure if the jury knows the meaning of it (yet). JMO.

But being they’re all local people from a rural area, they know about the shooting. Im not local, and was on vacay when it happened, without cable news access, and even I was notified about it when it happened. I think they will put 2+2 together.

 

[gremlin444]

Me too, especially while he's also being driven around handcuffed in a cage.

Something tells me that Creighton and his group would *not* have been staying at that estate with a private chef even if they did call about it. Not good optics when you consider they are being paid by the hard-working people of S.C.

I think I'll pass on taking the owner's word that the prosecution side called to inquire about renting there. *snort* They may claim to "not be particularly interested in the details" of the case, but that doesn't mean that haven't already made their decision as to Alex's guilt.

 

[BUF]

Thank you for explaining. What about the shoes in the video (brown slip-on), were those the shoes she said she never saw again. Or the red sperry's that MS said he was wearing when he came to see his Mom?

Blanca described the shoes in that video as his brown house loafers. She never saw them after the murders. She also said he had a pair of cloth deck shoes (Sperry’s) like what Shelly Smith described AM was wearing the night of the murders when he went to his moms house. Blanca said she never saw those shoes again also.

ETA: the shoes they took from AM after they interviewed him were white athletic type shoes with markings.

 

[gremlin444]

DBM dupe

 

[Cindizzi]

I must have missed this part of JS ( CFO ) testimony:

[…]

It proved a potent combination, seeming scatterbrained to everyone around him while instilling a sense of confidence that made people trust his abilities.

In 2017, for instance, his former law firm — Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick — gave him a check for more than $121,000 that was meant for his brother, who was also a partner. Rather than report the mistake, Murdaugh went to the accounting office and asked for a replacement, saying he’d misplaced the original, Jeanne Seckinger, the firm’s chief financial officer, testified.

He deposited the replacement check right away and kept the original to deposit a year later, getting more than $240,000 when he should have gotten nothing. Murdaugh wasn’t punished when he was caught, Seckinger said. He claimed he didn’t realize the money wasn’t his, and the firm moved on once he paid it back.

It was that same confidence in Murdaugh that convinced his firm to write millions of dollars in checks to a company that didn’t exist.

[…]

Alex Murdaugh murder trial highlights universal trust that kept alleged schemes hidden

 

[escape2sc]

Regarding the "missing" shirt - I think the Defense speculating about Alex having clothes in multiple locations and getting new clothes highlights the fact that the shirt and shoes have indeed been missing since the murders. As a juror, wouldn't you be wondering the following -
1) why didn't Alex mention to anyone prior to the Snapchat video being found- a year after the murders - that he had changed clothes and provide/describe the clothing he wore that day
2) Blanca saw a pair of khaki pants and damp towels on the floor but no shirt. Blanca did laundry and still did not see that shirt
3) if the defense is implying he has clothes at multiple locations then the shirt and shoes should still be in Alex's possesion, shown to LE and the mystery about the missing clothes would be solved
4) If not in his possession then Alex could have provided LE with the explanation that he gave them to charity after losing weight and needing new clothes. Alex did not do that, instead he suggested a new memory to Blanca about the shirt he was wearing.

 

[stmarysmead]

Friend worked in radio and television for many years. They said if it's a local issue, your best bet is local source. Local media are invested in their community. Their local community holds them accountable.

Then, for decades, where was the local press when all of this corruption was happening right in front of them? We can see the fear in so many of these wotnesses. If you lived and worked in these communities, and CARED about them…there were plenty of investigative avenues.

Corruption on such a wide and pervasive level requires a certain amount of consent and a lot of silence. It shouldn’t take two murders and the whole world looking in…to expose a cesspool like this.

 

[bestill]

That was very interesting. Can hear Alex scheming inside jail trying to game the commissary funds system to his benefit. Also he's riding Buster pretty hard to get back into law school, which he was kicked out of. Buster doesn't seem too eager to go back. He tells him to contact Butch Bowers, who is a very well connected lawyer, to do some influence peddling with the college. They also talk about a loan in connection with DH and JG, so maybe he is paying them something. Also sounded like Maggie's family was still supporting him at this point, though he hadn't been charged yet for the murders.

There was also a conversation where Alex was very insistent that Buster get Blanca's number so he can call her "to tell her what she's gotta do." Buster had been slow to contact Blanca cuz she had "irritated" him. Perhaps Blanca was having no more of it by then.

I think AM wanted Buster to continue the family legacy, not the attorney legacy as much as the con game. He had everything in place he just needed his player. JMO