I agree about the phone conversation. I'm very surprised there has not been more media interviews, not to mention testimony regarding MM and who she was aside from her sister. Where are the local female friends or the Edisto female friends?? Surely she had female friends and not just the residents who shunned her as has been implied. Where are the 4th of July friends?? I don't get it.
Life with an addict is isolating, and life with a mate with ADHD is exhausting. You handle way more than half of the adulting because your mate loves to initiate projects, and someone has to complete them, as well as maintaining the day-to-day tasks that don't sound fun to the person with ADHD. Not to disparage anyone with ADHD. There are so many lovable qualities in people with ADHD: creativity, superhuman levels of extroversion, high energy, hyperfocus, athletic ability, and on and on. It is just a brain that loves to GOGOGO. The combination of the addiction, and possibly ADHD, would make wrangling AM a huge job, and MM would be very busy catching dropped balls in their lives.
Friendships take time, and they take vulnerability and transparency between people. If you come from a family where surface impressions are valued above all else, you can't make friends because you can't be real with anyone. I don't think MM was devoid of friendships, but I think she might have been devoid of real friends she could confide in. Real friends show up for you.
I think it is also probable that while MM was not engaging in secrecy on the same level as AM, she had plenty to hide. She was embarrassed when a large check for charity bounced, and I think she was gradually realizing the depth of their financial issues, not to mention the growing horror of the reality of the boat crash consequences. The boat crash must have fractured her social circle, since the kids in the boat were family friends, and the lie that PM was NOT driving probably was too big an issue between them. It is much easier to stop connecting with people than to erect a fortress of secrecy around multiple topics.
I also think that MM's friends might be terrified about getting chucked into the death mechanism that swallowed a number of other people close to the family. I don't blame them for being afraid, and I can see why they'd avoid identifying as MM supporters.
From the outside, the southern culture of polite society seems to value pleasantness and keeping up appearances above all else. You don't say unkind or uncharitable things about people to their face. I think a number of people who have testified are giving this family their best effort to be publicly fair and they are waiting for a verdict so they can leave them behind with a clear conscience.