SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #16

[Warwick7]

https://twitter.com/AveryGWilks

The state has called its 10th witness, special agent Jeff Croft. Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters is questioning him. He responded to the crime scene the morning after the slayings.

Croft testifies he spoke with Rogan Gibson, one of Paul's friends, the morning after the slayings. He viewed and took photos of communications Gibson had received from Paul the night before. Waters puts them on the screen. We can't see them.

Croft testifies Paul called Gibson at 8:40 p.m. that evening and they spoke for 4 minutes. Then Paul called Gibson again at 8:44 p.m. Then at 8:59 p.m., Gibson texted Paul asking him to send a picture of a dog. No response.

Gibson called Paul five times over more than an hour. 9:10 p.m., 9:29 p.m., 9:42 p.m., 9:57 p.m., 10:08 p.m. At 9:58 p.m., Rogan texted Paul: “Yo.” Rogan also texted Maggie Murdaugh at 9:34 p.m. asking her to have Paul call him.

Rogan Gibson also had missed calls from Alex Murdaugh at 10:21 p.m., 10:24 p.m., 10:25 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., Croft testified.

State prosecutor Creighton Waters seems like he is about to introduce the jury to something the rest of us learned just before trial - that spent .300 Blackout shell casings found all over the Moselle property matched casings found near Maggie's body.

Croft testifies he entered the Moselle main house and searched the first-floor gun room. Outside the exterior door of that gun room, Croft says he found older spent .300 Blackout casings.

Croft testifies Alex Murdaugh's former law partners Lee Cope, Mark Ball and Ronnie Crosby were at Moselle as investigators searched the property on the day after the 6/7/21 slayings.

Croft testifies he found one gun on the Moselle property (Buster's .300 Blackout rifle) that could shoot .300 Blackout rounds. No others. It was in the gun room.

Croft testifies about finding an empty ammo box in the Moselle gun room that was labeled as 147-grain .300 Blackout rounds. 147-grain is a measure of the weight of those bullets. Bullets of the same caliber can still have different weights, Croft testified.

Croft testifies Bamberg attorney Chris Wilson, Murdaugh's friend whom he called on the night of the slayings, was in the gun room with the three PMPED attorneys at some point during SLED's search on the day after the killings. Murdaugh's brother, John Marvin, was there too.

State prosecutor Crieghton Waters seems to be in a very good mood. He overcomes Murdaugh attorney Jim Griffin's objection to showing a .300 Blackout rifle to the jury. In a chipper voice, he continues, "Let's see what else is in this box" before dumping out a magazine.

The latter part felt like an episode of Blue's Clues.

Apologies for the photo quality, but here’s Waters handling the .300 Blackout rifle

Waters and Croft now showing a 12-gauge shotgun that was seized from Moselle. Griffin objects, says a lot of weapons were seized from Moselle, wonders how this is relevant. Judge Newman overrules the objection.

I imagine he is about to make the case that Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were killed with Murdaugh family weapons and Murdaugh family ammunition.

Griffin again objects as Waters presents a parade of guns seized from Moselle. “There’s no evidence linking these guns to the crime." Waters: "It is very important to show the extensiveness of the investigation,” including all the testing SLED did with the seized guns.

Judge Newman again sides with Waters, who continues to unbox shotgun after shotgun.

As
@jocgrz
points out, prosecutors are showing jurors that the Murdaughs kept loaded firearms in their gun room.

As this testimony slows to a crawl, lunch weighs heavily on the mind.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters continues to inject some levity into his questioning. Presents body cam video of Croft digging through a trash can on the Moselle property on 6/8/21. Waters: “Is that a fun job?” Croft: “It’s not. Has to be done.”

Among Croft's findings in a trash can down by a shed on the Moselle property: Several empty 12-gauge ammo cases and a Gucci receipt on which someone had circled a $1,021.10 expenditure.
The plot thickens.

Waters presents the receipt to Croft. It's in a plastic bag.

Waters says he has a good bit of ground still to cover with Croft. Newman orders a break for the jury - sends them on their way.

With the jury gone, Murdaugh attorney Jim Griffin again objects to the Moselle weapons themselves being presented in court. The parade of "weapon after weapon" before the jury is "unfairly prejudicial," Griffin says.

Waters again argues that the defense has questioned the sufficiency/legitimacy of the state's investigation and presenting these guns is necessary to prove the extent of the state's testing. He says they are not prejudicial. Newman again sides with prosecutors.

We have now broken for lunch for at least an hour. (I didn't catch the exact time).

I am curious about who spent more than $1K at Gucci, what they spent it on, who circled that transaction on the receipt, and why prosecutor Creighton Waters thought that was relevant to this case. In the news business, we call what Waters just did there a "curiosity gap."

Did anyone catch the date on that receipt?

 

[Seattle1]

Wow -- DH's style of cross-examination of the state's witnesses by "sneak attack" where he mumbles along (i.e., testifying for the def) to introduce what he hopes jurors will accept as fact is so very bizarre to me. But talking heads are saying there are no grounds for the prosecution to object to DH's method of poking holes in the state's case. I'm not buying it -- especially when DH uses this to attack a witness where it's not within his/her scope to answer or speculate. JMO

 

[sunshineray]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1620104591017906176

I've got a question. How did the two different spent shotgun casings wind up behind the door to the dog food shed yet PM's body is outside the door with his feet just on the threshold?

If the shooter was standing outside shooting into that small shed space when shotgun was discharged, wouldn't the shells have ejected to the right and hit the wall opposite from where they are marked as being?

If shells ejected from the right side of the gun and wound up behind the door, the shooter would have been inside that feed room facing the door to the outside with PM back to the open door/outside.

In thinking about that small space, I think there was a struggle. Maybe PM turned and saw AM coming in with the shotgun out, grabbed the barrel, they spun around and then the chest shot happened? IDK, just seems odd rightside-ejecting shells wind up behind that door.

 

[bestill]

The receipt should be time stamped. If it isn’t it can be traced to the store who has the info.

There is only one Gucci store in South Carolina and it's in Charleston

Charleston Place​

Meeting Street, Suite A-118
Charleston, 29401, US

T:843-722-3788

 

[Snoopster]

https://twitter.com/AveryGWilks

<snip>

Croft testifies Paul called Gibson at 8:40 p.m. that evening and they spoke for 4 minutes. Then Paul called Gibson again at 8:44 p.m. Then at 8:59 p.m., Gibson texted Paul asking him to send a picture of a dog. No response.

<snip>

snipped by me for focus.

This is incorrect. The text from RG to PM regarding the picture was at 8:49, not 8:59. Avery Wilks made an error.

 

[BUF]

Goosey as he prounounced!
My only giggle in this long slow process

Gucci is probably somewhere this man would never shop at…but he knew it was an expensive item and someone probably filled him in.

I am so curious what this is about.

 

[Edvis]

I've got a question. How did the two different spent shotgun casings wind up behind the door to the dog food shed yet PM's body is outside the door with his feet just on the threshold?

If the shooter was standing outside shooting into that small shed space when shotgun was discharged, wouldn't the shells have ejected to the right and hit the wall opposite from where they are marked as being?

If shells ejected from the right side of the gun and wound up behind the door, the shooter would have been inside that feed room facing the door to the outside with PM back to the open door/outside.

In thinking about that small space, I think there was a struggle. Maybe PM turned and saw AM coming in with the shotgun out, grabbed the barrel, they spun around and then the chest shot happened? IDK, just seems odd rightside-ejecting shells wind up behind that door.

Shooter may have unknowingly kicked the shells to last location or weapon far enough inside the doorway to allow the shell's cycle out bounce off an object, door post ect. and end up there.

 

[Betty P]

Wow -- DH's style of cross-examination of the state's witnesses by "sneak attack" where he mumbles along (i.e., testifying for the def) to introduce what he hopes jurors will accept as fact is so very bizarre to me. But talking heads are saying there are no grounds for the prosecution to object to DH's method of poking holes in the state's case. I'm not buying it -- especially when DH uses this to attack a witness where it's not within his/her scope to answer or speculate. JMO

He's been doing that a lot - asking expert witnesses to testify about information that isn't in their scope of expertise, just so they have to say "I don't know". A cheap, dishonest stunt, it shouldn't be allowed.

 

[OttawaSleuth]

Who has the best coverage to watch?

I've been watching on here: Law & Crime Network on YouTube.

 

[sunshineray]

https://twitter.com/AveryGWilks

The state has called its 10th witness, special agent Jeff Croft. Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters is questioning him. He responded to the crime scene the morning after the slayings.

Croft testifies he spoke with Rogan Gibson, one of Paul's friends, the morning after the slayings. He viewed and took photos of communications Gibson had received from Paul the night before. Waters puts them on the screen. We can't see them.

Croft testifies Paul called Gibson at 8:40 p.m. that evening and they spoke for 4 minutes. Then Paul called Gibson again at 8:44 p.m. Then at 8:59 p.m., Gibson texted Paul asking him to send a picture of a dog. No response.

Gibson called Paul five times over more than an hour. 9:10 p.m., 9:29 p.m., 9:42 p.m., 9:57 p.m., 10:08 p.m. At 9:58 p.m., Rogan texted Paul: “Yo.” Rogan also texted Maggie Murdaugh at 9:34 p.m. asking her to have Paul call him.

Rogan Gibson also had missed calls from Alex Murdaugh at 10:21 p.m., 10:24 p.m., 10:25 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., Croft testified.

State prosecutor Creighton Waters seems like he is about to introduce the jury to something the rest of us learned just before trial - that spent .300 Blackout shell casings found all over the Moselle property matched casings found near Maggie's body.

Croft testifies he entered the Moselle main house and searched the first-floor gun room. Outside the exterior door of that gun room, Croft says he found older spent .300 Blackout casings.

Croft testifies Alex Murdaugh's former law partners Lee Cope, Mark Ball and Ronnie Crosby were at Moselle as investigators searched the property on the day after the 6/7/21 slayings.

Croft testifies he found one gun on the Moselle property (Buster's .300 Blackout rifle) that could shoot .300 Blackout rounds. No others. It was in the gun room.

Croft testifies about finding an empty ammo box in the Moselle gun room that was labeled as 147-grain .300 Blackout rounds. 147-grain is a measure of the weight of those bullets. Bullets of the same caliber can still have different weights, Croft testified.

Croft testifies Bamberg attorney Chris Wilson, Murdaugh's friend whom he called on the night of the slayings, was in the gun room with the three PMPED attorneys at some point during SLED's search on the day after the killings. Murdaugh's brother, John Marvin, was there too.

State prosecutor Crieghton Waters seems to be in a very good mood. He overcomes Murdaugh attorney Jim Griffin's objection to showing a .300 Blackout rifle to the jury. In a chipper voice, he continues, "Let's see what else is in this box" before dumping out a magazine.

The latter part felt like an episode of Blue's Clues.

Apologies for the photo quality, but here’s Waters handling the .300 Blackout rifle

Waters and Croft now showing a 12-gauge shotgun that was seized from Moselle. Griffin objects, says a lot of weapons were seized from Moselle, wonders how this is relevant. Judge Newman overrules the objection.

I imagine he is about to make the case that Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were killed with Murdaugh family weapons and Murdaugh family ammunition.

Griffin again objects as Waters presents a parade of guns seized from Moselle. “There’s no evidence linking these guns to the crime." Waters: "It is very important to show the extensiveness of the investigation,” including all the testing SLED did with the seized guns.

Judge Newman again sides with Waters, who continues to unbox shotgun after shotgun.

As
@jocgrz
points out, prosecutors are showing jurors that the Murdaughs kept loaded firearms in their gun room.

As this testimony slows to a crawl, lunch weighs heavily on the mind.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters continues to inject some levity into his questioning. Presents body cam video of Croft digging through a trash can on the Moselle property on 6/8/21. Waters: “Is that a fun job?” Croft: “It’s not. Has to be done.”

Among Croft's findings in a trash can down by a shed on the Moselle property: Several empty 12-gauge ammo cases and a Gucci receipt on which someone had circled a $1,021.10 expenditure.
The plot thickens.

Waters presents the receipt to Croft. It's in a plastic bag.

Waters says he has a good bit of ground still to cover with Croft. Newman orders a break for the jury - sends them on their way.

With the jury gone, Murdaugh attorney Jim Griffin again objects to the Moselle weapons themselves being presented in court. The parade of "weapon after weapon" before the jury is "unfairly prejudicial," Griffin says.

Waters again argues that the defense has questioned the sufficiency/legitimacy of the state's investigation and presenting these guns is necessary to prove the extent of the state's testing. He says they are not prejudicial. Newman again sides with prosecutors.

We have now broken for lunch for at least an hour. (I didn't catch the exact time).

I am curious about who spent more than $1K at Gucci, what they spent it on, who circled that transaction on the receipt, and why prosecutor Creighton Waters thought that was relevant to this case. In the news business, we call what Waters just did there a "curiosity gap."

I'm confused. Why would AM be calling RG from 10:21-10:30? Just very coincidental that AM, in his extreme shock and grief, would call PM's friend and the last person (besides the killer) to talk to PM alive, four times in 10 minutes. Did AM see PM's missed calls, when he tried to turn him over and his phone "fell out" and was placed on his behind, and decide, oh let me call this kid back and tell him why PM's not answering? That is very odd behaviour to me.

 

[Seattle1]

That made me feel really sorry for Maggie Murdaugh, having to live in and run a nice household where husband and kids were always standing at the back door shooting assault rifles. A fairly miserable existence. Ugh. What's the point in having a nice home in the country with all that noise, danger and mess. Like living in a war zone. They owned 1800 acres there. Is it too hard to get in yr 4 wheel thing or take a hike to get your gun shooting thrill?

Seems to me that the beach house in Edisto was indeed MM's safe haven that she could enjoy and decorate to her liking. Her own oasis if you will.

When raising children, it's really hard to rewind the clock and I'm afraid that MM was equally responsible for indulging the sons from an early age to treat the family home as if a frat house.

Many articles out where friends confirm MM lived for "those boys" if not too much for whatever and whenever they desired. MOO

Inside the toxic Murdaugh family dynasty of money, murder and mayhem

After the murder of two members of the powerful Murdaugh clan shocked the tiny town of Islandton, SC, locals reveal alleged cover-ups and corruption, and their theories on whodunit.

nypost.com

6/19/21

The couple would become the leading lights in otherwise mostly poor Hampton County, holding forth from one of their three estates. Maggie Murdaugh, who favored furs when the weather was cold enough, preferred to stay at the couple’s hunting lodge just outside the town of Hampton where their two sons, Buster and Paul, liked to shoot wild animals. In the summer the Murdaughs spent time on their 17-foot powerboat.

[..]

“Mrs. Maggie don’t deserve this,” said Gabby Thomas, 62, whose hunting club is adjacent to the Murdaughs’ lodge. “She’d give you the shirt off her back, that one. Wonderful woman. Them others? I don’t know. But she sure spoiled Paul. I heard him talk back to her once so bad in the beauty parlor once that I made him apologize.”

[..]

“Paul’s daddy don’t look like Boss Hogg,” said an older resident of Hampton who did not want to be identified by name, “but that’s who he is.”

Around town, where the Murdaughs are both liked and feared, there’s no end to the rumors of whodunit — and a long list of potential enemies, from former employees to people they helped prosecute or sue. Many people are afraid to talk for fear they will now be considered suspects acting out of revenge.

 

[BeachSky]

AM offers a reason in the second video below.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1619058473488228352

I just rewatched this interview for about the third time.
WHO would do this?!
WHY is he not saying -you need to find the monsters that did this- !
JMO but his answers about guns, timeline, MAggie & Paul’s habits were very controlling.
He kept suggesting ppl who could of been at odds with Paul ..but then walked it back.
He said the 911 operator -did good- .
Is that because she believed him ..or supported him going back to the house?
He took control of all conversations in that car IMO.
He said: Do you have a water?
If you don’t, I don’t need a water.
Reminds me of the passive/aggressive way a narc makes himself the -good person-
and a -victim- in all situations.
When he was done , he yes ma’am-ed & yes sir-ed …thanked them…said they were doing a great job…but he NEVER EVER EVER said find out WHO did this !

It’s like he thanked them all for believing his
performance!
MOO

 

[303gmf]

Gucci is probably somewhere this man would never shop at…but he knew it was an expensive item and someone probably filled him in.

I am so curious what this is about.

Nosey me can’t wait! Why circled and by who?

 

[Elley Mae]

I'm confused. Why would AM be calling RG from 10:21-10:30? Just very coincidental that AM, in his extreme shock and grief, would call PM's friend and the last person (besides the killer) to talk to PM alive, four times in 10 minutes. Did AM see PM's missed calls, when he tried to turn him over and his phone "fell out" and was placed on his behind, and decide, oh let me call this kid back and tell him why PM's not answering? That is very odd behaviour to me.

RG texted PM at 10:08 yes AM probably heard it and saw that he had texted multiple times.

RG then texted MM as well, may have heard those too.

 

[clearskies1]

I think AM said he texted and/or called MM to tell her he was going to mother's house that night. Seems an unlikely thing to do since AM was just with her at the kennels per Paul's snapchat dog video and he could have told her in person right then. JMO.

 

[Snoopster]

RG texted PM at 10:08 yes AM probably heard it and saw that he had texted multiple times.

RG then texted MM as well, may have heard those too.

I think he heard Paul's phone at 10:08 as well. He would likely have been on the phone with 911 at the time. I bet he went to Paul's body right after he hung up to check Paul's phone.

I don't think he would have heard the text notification on Maggie's phone though (at 9:34) since her phone was likely lying by the side of the road by then and AM was at his mother's.

 

[LetsSolvIt]

Almost like a deliberate ploy as I hear him say " Now where did I put those papers?.

I’ve come to the conclusion that this bumbling around and disorganization must be Poot’s technique and has somehow brought him great success. He is reputed to be one of the most talented defense attorneys in S.C.

I know if I were on the jury I would be angry and offended that he was wasting my time and the court’s. MOO.

 

[sunshineray]

Shooter may have unknowingly kicked the shells to last location or weapon far enough inside the doorway to allow the shell's cycle out bounce off an object, door post ect. and end up there.

I hate to even ask this but didn't the prosecution say in opening statements that PM's brain pretty much landed at his feet? So not outside but at the least by the theshold, at the most inside the room? Just seems to me there had to have been either a struggle at the first shot, PM facing inward to the room with shooter inside yet that second horrific shot, PM had to be facing outside/the doorway...yet both rightside-ejecting shells wind up inside behind the door. It all makes me think maybe there was a spin around struggle for that shotgun? IDK

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/AveryGWilks

55m
Prosecutors have been doing this all week, introducing clues and then not explaining their significance - letting jurors and the audience simmer on it. It's like they are flipping over puzzle pieces, but it isn't clear how they fit together or what image they show.

 

[Warwick7]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1620143710314041344