GUILTY SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #40

[ch_13]

Alex Murdaugh's risky testimony ultimately brought him down | CNN

Convicted former attorney Alex Murdaugh's decision to take the stand at his double murder trial was not entirely surprising given his family's legal legacy in South Carolina. It turned out to be a costly move.

www.cnn.com

I don't really buy the premise of the article, he would have been convicted whether or not he testified. Plus it's wrong on the facts:

A key piece of evidence came from Paul Murdaugh, who recorded a video moments before he was gunned down and killed. It showed a family dog near the kennels on the property. It also captured his father’s voice in the background, placing Alex Murdaugh at the scene of the crime.

The video, which Murdaugh didn’t know existed before the trial, eliminated his alibi.

Of course he knew about the video before the trial. It was turned over during discovery.

Sloppy work, CNN.

 

[Napoli]

He didn't start out at 60 pills a day. He says maybe 1000mg a day, on the stand, IIRC. That's 30 pills a day, btw, if we calculate using the pills that Maggie and Paul found bags of.

Alex Murdaugh’s wife and son found ‘bags of pills’ one month before murders

‘I am still in EB because when you get here we have to talk. Mom found several bags of pills in your computer bag,’ it says

www.independent.co.uk

It's just not unheard of. And people who gradually increase pain meds over a long period (say at least since 2018 when Mrs Satterfield found his pills) do not get "high" in the usual sense of the word. The "desired mood" is to maintain opiate levels in the blood, because the pain and discomfort of withdrawal is looming. Most addicts of this type will vary their dose downward (sometimes every other day, sometimes two days a week) to keep from having to bump up. The lower dose days are uncomfortable for them because they begin to feel pain again and also feel quite irritable.

Most high functioning addicts (or people who use pain meds legitimately) know how to maintain at a particular dose that either does not go up for periods of time or goes up very gradually. Alec spoke of his own attempts to "detox" (probably forced by unavailability of drugs). He sounds to me as if he has several times been forced to back his dose down - by his own lack of pills or because Maggie was onto him.

For all we know, he might have eventually graduated to a higher dose, but I am guessing he knew the implications of doing that and while the opiates were no longer giving a high, they were indeed still giving him the ability to function without severe withdrawal - and likely, some degree of pain prevention (without the opiates, his own body would not be able to produce enough endogenous morphine to soothe him).

IMO.


Maggie's checks were bouncing. Alec was $300,000 overdrawn. He had just been fired. What domestic help did they have at the time of the murders, except for the Moselle caretaker (who might have done his job in return for a place to live - do you know whether he was paid?)

When rich people go down, they panic as much as poor people, IME. Maybe more. We cannot judge how rich they were at that time by past parties they'd thrown.

Alec had just gotten his dying father to co-sign on a $600,000 LOC, IIRC.

I repeat: Maggie bounced a check (and, in my imagination, could not possibly have been happy about that). She had just $57 in her personal spending account.

Financially controlling spouses are a real thing, btw. It could certainly have been about finances. IMO.

Alex and Maggie Murdaugh's relationship was in crisis, source reveals

A source close to the Murdaugh family told DailyMail.com that Alex and Maggie's marriage was in crisis.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Wasnt Blanca domestic help? Didnt she cook dinner the night of the murders? Lots of people use credit cards and not checking accounts for every day transactions. She had $57 in her checking account? She had bounced a check? hey, happens to lots of people. Why would AM even let MM think that they were so broke she couldnt afford a pedi..As you said, his dad co-signed a loan..there was certainly money around for a Pedi..jmo

 

[Gut_feeling]

I keep seeing this description of the “drone video”. Do you have a link?

MOO - I saw the drone video on the Netflix series. I saw JMM (with BM) load only TWO long guns into a truck, along with a tote (not full of guns, but a hat and other rando items). Then they grabbed a dog and left. It looked pretty typical of a hunting trip. It is possible that it was just staged to look like one. But I don’t know where this “arms full of guns” is coming from.

Also, what was the exact date? Everyone seems to have a different opinion. I didn’t catch the exact date. But I had the impression that it was well after the homicides, not just “a couple days later”. MOO

Eric Allen, the person took the footage with his drone, released a video a few days ago explaining how this all came to be. He comes across as incredibly sincere. He makes a point of mentioning in the description that he did not ask for any money, nor was he offered any money for the footage. He says he took the footage on Sept 21, 2021, just a few weeks after the roadside shooting. He also states that he took more footage than what Netflix ended up using in their documentary.

I had never heard of this person prior to seeing this video, and I think he does a really good job of walking us through the very real concerns he had ("oh man, what am I seeing? What does this mean? Do I need to give LE a heads up about this? What is the right thing to do here? Should I contact the family to let them know what I have?") Apparently, Netflix contacted him because they wanted to hire him to obtain drone footage for their documentary. They did not know he had this footage at that time.

Here is the link to the video-

Edited to add that I see as least 6 guns, possible 8, being carried out of the house by JMM and Buster. When they are carrying the guns in "gun bags" (I'm unfamiliar with guns, so basically I'm describing a softsided guitar case but for guns) it looks like they both might be carrying 3 guns each.

 

[escape2sc]

The problem I have with AM killing MM for money, just didn't add up to me. AM had more than enough assets to cover everything he owed to the firm. Families in the south generally help each h
other out financially. We had an in law embezzle from the bank she worked. It was a big secret. The family paid the bank back in full, and the in law repaid the family. The family was shocked our nephew married such a woman.

I do think MM was trying to hide his assets in the wrongful death boating accident. This is why his assets were frozen.

I keep in mind, all of the accident victims were compensated by the boat insurance. The families were suing MM, BM, MM, PM and the bar for compensation, as well.

Alex Murdaugh has millions in 'protected' assets, but who will be compensated?

Alex Murdaugh's assets include retirement funds and an 'island' property in Beaufort County.

www.greenvilleonline.com

...Murdaugh's current assets:

• Three bank accounts, containing a total of $10,000 in cash.
• A retirement account worth somewhere between $2.1 and $2.2 million
• An IRA retirement fund worth somewhere between $350,000 and $400,000
• Real estate that Murdaugh has an interest in, along with other individuals, but can’t liquidate without court action, including a hunting club and some “small islands” around Beaufort County. Some of this real estate is owned through LLCs, Lay said.

Property records indicate that Murdaugh is listed as a co-owner of three wooded tracts totaling 30 acres amid the waterways of St. Helena Island. These tracts have a total estimated appraised value of $687,000, Beaufort County public records show.

Murdaugh's future assets:​

• An estate trust that is expected to come to Murdaugh following the June 2021 death of his father, Randolph Murdaugh III. The amount of this trust and when it will transfer to Murdaugh isn’t known at this time, Lay said.
• Probate assets that are expected to come to Murdaugh following the June 2021 death of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, who was shot and killed at their Colleton County home along with their younger son, Paul.

These assets include a beach house on Edisto Island and the “Moselle” property where Murdaugh was living with his wife and younger son at the time of the double homicide. The Moselle property, which contains 11 parcels of land totaling 1,772.2 acres in both Colleton and Hampton counties, has a total appraised value of $934,800, according to Hampton and Colleton property tax records.

Good points however...
1) the lawfirm would have continued to look into Alex's accounts - as they did months after the murders
2) Mark Tinsley was hellbent on getting Alex's financial accounts
3) Paul would have stood trial and likely been convicted of the wrongful death of Mallory Beach
3) Alex's assets were not enough to cover the millions of dollars he stole. The lawfirm had to borrow money to pay back clients.
4) the financial crimes would have eventually been exposed and Alex would have lost his law license and lost the ability to make a substational income
5) Once Alex lost his law license, he would no longer have the ability to steal funds to cover his lifestyle.

IMO Alex killed Maggie and Paul
1) to stop the criminal case against Paul and stop the boat case lawsuit
2) gain sympathy and time to inherit $ from his father and gain rights to the Edisto property to use it as collateral for a loan to essentially put a bandaid on his financial issues until the next big case came along and he had access to more funds to steal.

The money in Alex's accounts and his properties had been obtained/maintained with stolen funds. Alex is a gambler - he is like the person that only has $20 for groceries or gas in his car and uses that $20 to buy a lottery ticket for one more chance to win big.

 

[Simply Southern]

I keep seeing this description of the “drone video”. Do you have a link?

MOO - I saw the drone video on the Netflix series. I saw JMM (with BM) load only TWO long guns into a truck, along with a tote (not full of guns, but a hat and other rando items). Then they grabbed a dog and left. It looked pretty typical of a hunting trip. It is possible that it was just staged to look like one. But I don’t know where this “arms full of guns” is coming from.

Also, what was the exact date? Everyone seems to have a different opinion. I didn’t catch the exact date. But I had the impression that it was well after the homicides, not just “a couple days later”. MOO

Its in the Netflix movie ...hum.

Some say it was shown in the trial, I've been searching, to no avail.

Seems what we southerners consider normal behavior, implies an ulterior motive, to others.

Moo...

 

[bestill]

Agreed about the pills, I think that's what he meant when he said 'but I figured it out' in the first car interview that night.

Something just occurred to me. Maybe Paul or Maggie had destroyed his pills, he went to look for them in the house when they were at the kennel and this was why he changed his mind and went to the kennel. I also have wondered if he was stealing pills from his parents home, there is no telling what they may have been taking. Just more musings on my part because we will probably never know.

 

[Simply Southern]

Iirc from testimony Paul was said to carry phone in front pocket, so not sure what to make of that. Could Paul have had AM’s pills in the back pocket and the phone was out from impact of being shot?

I have several male neighbors, they visit often to do chores since my husband died. They ALL carry their IPhones in the shirt front pocket. It drives me crazy!!! They bend over and constantly drop them in the yard. I offer to hold, put in the porch, nope, back in the pocket it goes.
Moo....

 

[Cindizzi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1626262693991829504

 

[10ofRods]

Wasnt Blanca domestic help? Didnt she cook dinner the night of the murders? Lots of people use credit cards and not checking accounts for every day transactions. She had $57 in her checking account? She had bounced a check? hey, happens to lots of people. Why would AM even let MM think that they were so broke she couldnt afford a pedi..As you said, his dad co-signed a loan..there was certainly money around for a Pedi..jmo

The card in question was tied to her checking account - which is why the checking account is relevant.

Alec was borrowing $600,000 to try and pay back some of what he stole.

Thanks for the reminder about Blanca needing a paycheck.

And, well, if Maggie's account had so little money, maybe there wasn't - right then - money for a pedicure. Maybe she should have skipped it to pay for whatever else she was trying to use that account for.

Again, Alec was $300,000 over drawn.

I figure that if you've never been married to a financially controlling professional man, you might not know what they're like when money is tight. Some of us do. I've known more than one. In retrospect, some of the quarrels are hilarious (no one was killed - they actually loved each other, in their own way). But I could certainly regale you with the stories of attorneys, their wives, and their petty financial struggles (or, in the alternative, my own first marriage - to a very well-paid man).

Controlling people use money to control is another way of putting it. It's not about the bounced check - my point was distinctly different.

IMO.

 

[Cindizzi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1632441492638760960

 

[ChiaPet]

Not sure i agree with you on JMM. i think he was the son who didnt aspire to join the family business and was somewhat "less than" at least in his mind. So, he was a fixer and rescuer and perhaps not a bully and showman compared to the others. I dont think he fixed in a sinister way...but he maybe was a peacemaker? i dunno. As far as RG? He's a hero. He seemed truly broken, yet he maintained his composure, he gave the facts and also projected his affection for the entire family even AM...he still told the unadulterated truth, IMO.

I could see him feeling "less than" because he's the non-lawyer and maybe thats why he was so willing to help fix things after the boat crash and the shootings since he wasn't able to pull legal strings. Idk, he just seems more on AM's side than AM's other siblings and was close to PM so I sort of assume he's probably also willing to do whatever is necessary behind the scenes

 

[Cindizzi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1632440832753115136

 

[Spartygirl]

After being on virtual jury duty for 6 weeks, I have no idea what to do with my free time now

I know #justiceforGannon trial is coming up so will wait for that to start !!

 

[Simply Southern]

I don't live in the Low Country, but many contributors here who do have suggested how easy it is to rid evidence in one of the many thousands of swamps, one of which will one day, hopefully, spit out the guns.

I, personal don't think the swamp or waterways would be considered a good place to hide a gun. In summer, the beds of water are dry. You can walk in the squishy mud, and look for "stuff" with a metal detector. Yea, mental dectors are very popular at the beach, old farms, etc. We're always finding relics. Musket balls are popular finds in this area.

Me...I'd dismantle the guns, take my boat out in the ocean about 30 miles or so and drop those parts in various places.
Moo....

 

[Boodles]

OTOH, there is Video of John Marvin going to the house a couple days later and loading arms full of guns into a pick up and driving away. Cover ups seem a way of life. MOO

It was 3 months later, September 2021. The house had been released (was it ever even secured?!) long before.

Drone video shows Murdaugh's brother, son removing guns after murders

In a new Netflix show drone footage taken by an amateur sleuth showed John Marvin and Alex's surviving son Buster removing eight weapons from the 1,800-acre estate in Moselle, South Carolina.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Edvis]

After being on virtual jury duty for 6 weeks, I have no idea what to do with my free time now

I know #justiceforGannon trial is coming up so will wait for that to start !!

Hanging out over there as well toot toot and still taking in info and vids.

 

[escape2sc]

I, personal don't think the swamp or waterways would be considered a good place to hide a gun. In summer, the beds of water are dry. You can walk in the squishy mud, and look for "stuff" with a metal detector. Yea, mental dectors are very popular at the beach, old farms, etc. We're always finding relics. Musket balls are popular finds in this area.

Me...I'd dismantle the guns, take my boat out in the ocean about 30 miles or so and drop those parts in various places.
Moo....

My bet would be the guns were dropped in an abandoned well - either at Moselle or Almeda

 

[Pruddennce]

yes agree 100%...said similar some posts up. No one questioned anything about this or confirmed anything. Just because he bought drugs does not mean he ingested all of those and not one law partner, friend catching on? Yes good point he never moved on to some other drug of choice.

I keep seeing this description of the “drone video”. Do you have a link?

MOO - I saw the drone video on the Netflix series. I saw JMM (with BM) load only TWO long guns into a truck, along with a tote (not full of guns, but a hat and other rando items). Then they grabbed a dog and left. It looked pretty typical of a hunting trip. It is possible that it was just staged to look like one. But I don’t know where this “arms full of guns” is coming from.

Also, what was the exact date? Everyone seems to have a different opinion. I didn’t catch the exact date. But I had the impression that it was well after the homicides, not just “a couple days later”. MOO

IIRC, the owner of that drone video followed up that this event was after the search warrant was completed on the home. and it after the homicides. not that he said this, but various reports were it was about 3 months after.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

When Mrs. Satterfield found pills among Alec's possessions, according to the Netflix documentary, she told Paul because she was afraid to tell Maggie.

I consider that some indication of his pill use. That was in 2018.

When Paul found pills in Alec's computer bag, he sent a message to Maggie, which still survives. I believe Paul.

Maggie gets hold of the pills and finds out that one of the types is oxycontin, 30mg.

Murdaugh murders: Paul confronted father about finding pills month before shooting, prosecutors say

"Mom found several bags of pills in your computer bag," Paul said to his father in a voicemail roughly a month before the killings.

abc7chicago.com

When JMM (I believe it was) says that Alec lost control of his bowels in someone's truck, I believe that was part of withdrawal.

I don't know how many pills a day Alec was taking, but I find this to be a picture of addiction. And there were other bits and pieces to the story as well.

There is absolutely no rule that says oxycodone/oxycontin users will progress to heroin - different drug, different supply chain, not everyone's next drug of choice. I personally don't find it hard to believe that on some days, Alec was taking 30 pills. He might have alternated between oxycodone and the other pill found by Paul, apparently Librium (chlordiazepoxide - more powerful than xanax or valium) according to this article:

//The pills appear to be oxycodone and chlordiazepoxide.//

Alex Murdaugh’s wife and son found ‘bags of pills’ one month before murders

‘I am still in EB because when you get here we have to talk. Mom found several bags of pills in your computer bag,’ it says

www.independent.co.uk

And Paul didn't find "a bag" of pills, he found "bags of pills." 30 pills a day of oxycontin is not impossible if he builds up over 20 years.

IMO.

I have some personal experience as well as experience caring for someone taking increasing amounts of oxycodone for cancer pain. I just don't think his accounts of taking up to 60 (according to some reports) of the 30 mg pills per day or even half that amount is credible. That's nearly 2 g. Even after many years of addiction, he would have been experiencing severe bouts of constipation, stupor, and noticeably erratic behavior. Maybe it's not technically entirely impossible, but these amounts just seem way too exaggerated and maybe was intended to somehow bolster his case.

Further, to be getting such amounts through black market channels it seems almost certain he would have also encountered "fake" Rx pills that were actually substituted with various amounts of fentanyl. Supply chains of illicit real Rx drugs were undoubtedly disrupted by the crack down on "pill mills" and over prescribing that occurred during the prior 5-6 years. That would have made his adidiction far more erratic and would also be astonishing that he hadn't od'd on fentanyl before now.

‘Mexican Oxy’ Flooding U.S. Black Market — Pain News Network

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor New York City police and DEA agents have announced the seizure of 20,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills made with illicit fentanyl. The pills, which have an estimated street value of $600,000, are blue in color and stamped “M” on one side and “30” on the other, making them vir

www.painnewsnetwork.org

 

[Pruddennce]

Spoken words vs text words..emphasis could have been you were getting a ped!! Like that was a good thing. That's the problem with texting...I do NOT think spending 60 bucks on a pedi was a financial problem. At any given moment, they were feeding half the world at their home..paul's friends, buster's friends, their friends..they had lots of domestic help...nah.. this wasnt about an unaffordable trip for a manicure and pedicure. jmo

IMO, respectfully, those that think those exclamation points denote something, I cannot assign commonality to punctuation marks across the board as possibly significant to him or anyone else ....my own use shows weird characters at times because fingers moved over something. and talk text is even more misleading at times.