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

[LetsSolvIt]

If his Chevy Suburban had the remote start feature, he could have used the Chevy smartphone app to start the car and get his A/C running before he got in.

"Chevy came out with the remote start option on many models in 2003. By 2010 over 80 percent of the Suburbans had the feature factory installed. "

How To Remote Start A Chevy Suburban

In recent years, all the major vehicle brands have become more concerned with making your ride as safe and convenient as possible. One of the more convenient features available may be the remote start. You may be wondering how to access this ability for your Chevy Suburban. We have thoroughly...

vehq.com

@gremlin444 : I think you may have the answer! I have remote start in my car — the feature also works as a remote stop. I’ve been told if my car is stolen I can remote stop it — so that means it works from some distance (I think it bounces off satellite).

So, the question remains did he remote start the car, take an ATV (or bike?) a mile down the road to toss the phone and scuttle back up to his running car? He could have showered at mom’s — even rinsed off with hose and told caretaker he was too dirty from field work so rinsed off outside? (Probably far fetched). MOO.

Where would you all go with the remote start idea?

 

[gremlin444]

@gremlin444 : I think you may have the answer! I have remote start in my car — the feature also works as a remote stop. I’ve been told if my car is stolen I can remote stop it — so that means it works from some distance (I think it bounces off satellite).

No the question is did he remote start the car, take an ATV (or bike?) a mile down the road to toss the phone and scuttle back up to his running car? He could have showered at mom’s — even rinsed off with hose and told caretaker he was too dirty from field work so rinsed off outside? (Probably far fetched). MOO.

Where would you all go with the remote start idea?

So, before I had only been thinking about him using the phone app to remote start the car, and that's how the defense got an "exact" time of when he "fired up" the Suburban "at the house." But now I'm thinking about the keyfob.

And I think my idea is a far stretch, trust me.

The standard Chevy remote start keyfob says it works at 500-1000 feet. However, there are several aftermarket remote start keyfobs that boast being able to work as far as 3000 feet to a mile. One company says their fob can work at 3 miles! Why Remote Starter Range is So Important

So, this idea only works if the ATV was down at the kennels and he leaves his phone up at the house either in or near the Suburban. My idea (IMHO, JMHO) is he shoots Paul and Maggie, uses the hose to clean off his hands/feet. He takes the ATV to pitch Maggie's phone and shortly after doing so, uses his keyfob to remote start the suburban from that location. This only works if he has an aftermarket souped up model (I think, from what I've read).

Probably a stretch.

ETA: when he remote starts the Suburban with the keyfob, because his phone is close enough to it back at the house that it automatically connects via Bluetooth, which helps give the defense their time stamp.

 

[otto]

If this is a fact it does make you think Alec had help. There is no doubt in my mind he’s responsible, but I have wondered if his cuz assisted either as one shooter, or for both. Just not sure AM has the nautz to pull trigger looking his son in the face and taking down Maggie like a deer. MOO.

One thing that I also have wondered about was how he was able to maintain his composure at his mother’s house, in front of the caregiver, and in the several phone calls during his drives back and forth to Almeada.

I don’t care how much of a sociopath, despicable, scoundrel he is, I think a certain amount of his tears are from his new reality. I doubt his fantasy of the shootings included pieces of brain and body tissue blown everywhere. MOO. MOO.

I reserve the right to tweak my views later!

I'm still trying to understand where the shooter was standing. I saw one article speculating that the shooter was in the storage room, so perhaps the shooter entered the room first and picked up a gun, Paul was standing at the door facing the shooter in the storage room when he died.

Paul's shoe prints indicate he was facing the room when he was shot, but he was found face down outside the room. I'm curious whether Paul fell straight backward onto his back, and Alex did role him over to get his phone out of his back pocket.

If he was shot in the back of the head from outside the room, he would fall face down in the room. I don't understand why he was face down outside the room if he was shot in the face, unless he turned as he fell - which seems unlikely without a head.

"Worley photographed a set of bloody shoe prints found in the feed room. She compared those prints to the soles of Paul’s shoes and concluded they were a match, she testified. The prints were facing the feed room’s window, Worley said.

The agent noticed a lot of blood and brain matter on the outside of the feed room door, but not so much on its interior side, Worley said."​

Jan. 27: State presents more witnesses in Alex Murdaugh double murder trial

Prosecutor Savanna Goude is questioning the state's next witness, SLED agent Melinda Worley, who works in the latent print unit.

www.postandcourier.com

 

[LetsSolvIt]

So, before I had only been thinking about him using the phone app to remote start the car, and that's how the defense got an "exact" time of when he "fired up" the Suburban "at the house." But now I'm thinking about the keyfob.

And I think my idea is a far stretch, trust me.

The standard Chevy remote start keyfob says it works at 500-1000 feet. However, there are several aftermarket remote start keyfobs that boast being able to work as far as 3000 feet to a mile. One company says their fob can work at 3 miles! Why Remote Starter Range is So Important

So, this idea only works if the ATV was down at the kennels and he leaves his phone up at the house either in or near the Suburban. My idea (IMHO, JMHO) is he shoots Paul and Maggie, uses the hose to clean off his hands/feet. He takes the ATV to pitch Maggie's phone and shortly after doing so, uses his keyfob to remote start the suburban. This only works if he has an aftermarket souped up model (I think, from what I've read).

Probably a stretch.

ETA: when he remote starts the Suburban with the keyfob, because his phone is close enough to it back at the house that it automatically connects via Bluetooth, which helps give the defense their time stamp.

After I anonymously submitted your brilliant idea to the CCSD (in case they hadn’t thought of it, LOL), I realized the Suburban GPS history wouldn’t synch. The engine might start up but it wouldn’t leave Moselle, which GPS would track.

But maybe that is why they have been specifically saying his car “fired up.” They aren’t saying it left Moselle.

 

[Tanager]

Let's assume for a minute that DH's assertion that the car started at the same time as Maggie's phone was ditched is true. Then, Alex would be leaving the murder site or house directly after the murder? If someone else did it, why didn't he hear the gunshots or notice the commotion? That idea seems to nail down the timeline very tightly, and I think ditching a phone a half mile away is pretty easy to accomplish with the ATV in a minute or two while the truck is running. I think the behaviors Alex engaged in as cover-up are going to be the very pieces of evidence that can convict him.

 

[otto]

So, before I had only been thinking about him using the phone app to remote start the car, and that's how the defense got an "exact" time of when he "fired up" the Suburban "at the house." But now I'm thinking about the keyfob.

And I think my idea is a far stretch, trust me.

The standard Chevy remote start keyfob says it works at 500-1000 feet. However, there are several aftermarket remote start keyfobs that boast being able to work as far as 3000 feet to a mile. One company says their fob can work at 3 miles! Why Remote Starter Range is So Important

So, this idea only works if the ATV was down at the kennels and he leaves his phone up at the house either in or near the Suburban. My idea (IMHO, JMHO) is he shoots Paul and Maggie, uses the hose to clean off his hands/feet. He takes the ATV to pitch Maggie's phone and shortly after doing so, uses his keyfob to remote start the suburban from that location. This only works if he has an aftermarket souped up model (I think, from what I've read).

Probably a stretch.

ETA: when he remote starts the Suburban with the keyfob, because his phone is close enough to it back at the house that it automatically connects via Bluetooth, which helps give the defense their time stamp.

He did not have his phone with him at the time of the murders. There was no activity between 8:02 - 9:02. Alex claims he was sleeping during that time.

The murders occurred at 8:50. He must have returned to the house after the murders, where he retrieved his phone and used it to phone and text Maggie, to phone his father.

At 9:06 his phone and truck are at the house. It sounds like Maggie's phone was tossed at that time as well.

He could start the car at the house at 9:02, ATV to the kennel, grab Maggie's phone from the kennel area, take the ATV to toss the phone 0.5 miles down the road at 9:06, park the ATV at the kennel, 3 minute walk to the house, and drive to his mother's house.

The other problem for Alex is that: if the phone was tossed at 9:06 while Alex was at the house, why didn't he hear the gunshots? Is he claiming he slept through it - even though we know he was at the kennels at 8:45?

 

[Cindizzi]

I'm still trying to understand where the shooter was standing. I saw one article speculating that the shooter was in the storage room, so perhaps the shooter entered the room first and picked up a gun, Paul was standing at the door facing the shooter in the storage room when he died.

Paul's shoe prints indicate he was facing the room when he was shot, but he was found face down outside the room. I'm curious whether Paul fell straight backward onto his back, and Alex did role him over to get his phone out of his back pocket.

If he was shot in the back of the head from outside the room, he would fall face down in the room. I don't understand why he was face down outside the room if he was shot in the face, unless he turned as he fell - which seems unlikely without a head.

"Worley photographed a set of bloody shoe prints found in the feed room. She compared those prints to the soles of Paul’s shoes and concluded they were a match, she testified. The prints were facing the feed room’s window, Worley said.​

​

The agent noticed a lot of blood and brain matter on the outside of the feed room door, but not so much on its interior side, Worley said."​

Jan. 27: State presents more witnesses in Alex Murdaugh double murder trial

Prosecutor Savanna Goude is questioning the state's next witness, SLED agent Melinda Worley, who works in the latent print unit.

www.postandcourier.com

Starting on Page 41 is an expert’s opinion:

https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23580607/murdaugh-motion-for-sanctions.pdf

 

[LetsSolvIt]

I'm still trying to understand where the shooter was standing. I saw one article speculating that the shooter was in the storage room, so perhaps the shooter entered the room first and picked up a gun, Paul was standing at the door facing the shooter in the storage room when he died.

Paul's shoe prints indicate he was facing the room when he was shot, but he was found face down outside the room. I'm curious whether Paul fell straight backward onto his back, and Alex did role him over to get his phone out of his back pocket.

If he was shot in the back of the head from outside the room, he would fall face down in the room. I don't understand why he was face down outside the room if he was shot in the face, unless he turned as he fell - which seems unlikely without a head.

"Worley photographed a set of bloody shoe prints found in the feed room. She compared those prints to the soles of Paul’s shoes and concluded they were a match, she testified. The prints were facing the feed room’s window, Worley said.

The agent noticed a lot of blood and brain matter on the outside of the feed room door, but not so much on its interior side, Worley said."​

Jan. 27: State presents more witnesses in Alex Murdaugh double murder trial

Prosecutor Savanna Goude is questioning the state's next witness, SLED agent Melinda Worley, who works in the latent print unit.

www.postandcourier.com

What about the shell shots through the window in room back?

I have wondered about where the shooter was too. Have you read the Kinsey report connected to the motion to dismiss the shirt as evidence? Did you also see the creepy photo with mannequin legs in the feed room?

If I understand what Kinsey wrote, Paul was in the room and was shot in the arm and side and either began to fall towards or stepped toward the door frame, when he was shot again. MOO. Second shot was the fatal round.

I also heard Joseph Scott Morgan suggest in one of the many times he’s been interviewed lately, that the second shot was probably not from a shouldered weapon. The trajectory was probably hip level or lower. I think Kinsey’s report also supports this. MOO.

 

[Seattle1]

I'm confused about the shirts. If AM changed out of a shirt covered with blood into a fresh shirt we saw in the SLED interview then which shirt was tested? The clean white shirt couldn't have had blood or blood spatter on it from the shootings. If the tested the other shirt where did they find it?

And what is this about the defense claiming the shirt was destroyed?

What really blows my mind is if LE decided that night AM was guilty wouldn't they be smart enough to go search the house when they see a clean and dry AM?

Perhaps this is DH’s plan....just confuse one juror. He's a slippery one.
Can someone enlighten me?

The video below located by @Cindizzi gives a good visual of potential consumptive testing as alleged by the defense. (i.e., Not that the prosecution intentionally destroyed the t-shirt but in the process of testing/retesting by the state, parts of the fabric became consumed and were no longer available for testing by the defense).

Just found this video that shows photos of the t-shirt starting around 1:35

 

[otto]

Starting on Page 41 is an expert’s opinion:

https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23580607/murdaugh-motion-for-sanctions.pdf

That contradicts other evidence of Paul's shoes facing the storage room when shot. I guess we'll have to wait for testimony to understand how the prosecution interprets the information. Another point to consider is that this information is in an affidavit submitted by the defence - which means the evidence is interpreted to benefit the defendant.

It does support the argument that the shooter was outside the storage room, that Paul was shot from the left, twice, with one shot going through the window. I still can't visualize how he landed face down as he did.

 

[Boodles]

Interesting. The document talks about a t-shirt "which was almost completely a dark color." The t-shirt we've seen AM wearing that night is white.

I’m so confused about the blood/lack of the appearance of blood issue.

 

[Boodles]

Judge OKs sale of Murdaugh Edisto Island house

HAMPTON COUNTY, S.C. (WSAV) – A judge has approved the sale of the Murdaugh family beach house on Edisto Island. WSAV has learned an all-cash offer of $955,000 has been placed on the four-bedroom, …

www.wsav.com

June 30, 2022

HAMPTON COUNTY, S.C. (WSAV) – A judge has approved the sale of the Murdaugh family beach house on Edisto Island.

WSAV has learned an all-cash offer of $955,000 has been placed on the four-bedroom, three-bathroom home on 3606 Big Bay Drive. That’s $35,000 above the asking price.

The nearly $4 million Moselle property where Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were shot dead last June is also up for sale and apparently under contract.

[..]

Lis pendens filed in Hampton County kept the properties from being sold off without clearance by the receivership and the court.

[..]

While the properties and the family’s holdings were in Maggie Murdaugh’s name, Alex was the sole beneficiary of her will. Earlier this month, he attempted to give up his claim to his late wife’s estate, which would presumably go to the surviving Murdaugh son, Buster. But a judge denied that request.

Along with the approval of the Edisto Island sale, Judge Daniel Hall signed off on requests that will satisfy Palmetto State Bank’s more than $150,000 mortgage on the home and over $6,000 incurred by Lay and McCoy in selling the house.

“While the properties and the family’s holdings were in Maggie Murdaugh’s name, Alex was the sole beneficiary of her will. Earlier this month, he attempted to give up his claim to his late wife’s estate, which would presumably go to the surviving Murdaugh son, Buster. But a judge denied that request.”

WHAT? So he profited from allegedly killing his wife? Two weeks after this, AM was charged with their murders. Did he use proceeds from Maggie’s estate to pay for his defense? Buster should have become the beneficiary.

 

[clearskies1]

I’m so confused about the blood/lack of the appearance of blood issue.

Same. We'll see if they try to get the spatter evidence in. Hopefully the State will be able to put the blood evidence into a coherent story.

 

[Kittybunny]

One thing that stands out to me so far in AM's communications with the various law enforcement officers is he does not seem like he is on any type of drugs. Although I have no idea of how opiod addicition manifests in human behavior, he is not what I would think it looks like. Just my uneducated opinion.

As a member of the recovery community for over 10 years, I one hundred percent agree. I have never for one minute believed AM had or has ever had a serious opioid addiction.

 

[LetsSolvIt]

“While the properties and the family’s holdings were in Maggie Murdaugh’s name, Alex was the sole beneficiary of her will. Earlier this month, he attempted to give up his claim to his late wife’s estate, which would presumably go to the surviving Murdaugh son, Buster. But a judge denied that request.”

WHAT? So he profited from allegedly killing his wife? Two weeks after this, AM was charged with their murders. Did he use proceeds from Maggie’s estate to pay for his defense? Buster should have become the beneficiary.

If Buster got the inheritance it wouldn’t be available for all the people Alec cheated and mistreated who are lined up to get their due settlements. Signing the inheritance to Buster was actually an attempt to protect family money. IMHO. MOO.

 

[otto]

“While the properties and the family’s holdings were in Maggie Murdaugh’s name, Alex was the sole beneficiary of her will. Earlier this month, he attempted to give up his claim to his late wife’s estate, which would presumably go to the surviving Murdaugh son, Buster. But a judge denied that request.”

WHAT? So he profited from allegedly killing his wife? Two weeks after this, AM was charged with their murders. Did he use proceeds from Maggie’s estate to pay for his defense? Buster should have become the beneficiary.

Alex tried to transfer the entire estate to Buster, but the Judge denied the request to ensure that the property remained in Alex's name so that it could be sold and the proceeds used to pay the $9 million in stolen money.

 

[Cindizzi]

I’m so confused about the blood/lack of the appearance of blood issue.

Don’t forget about this in the Prosecution’s opening statement:

Week One Roundup: Testimony Reveals Lurid Details in the Shotgun Execution Slayings of Murdaugh Family

[…]
One point of evidence that has not been publicly mentioned before is the allegation that a witness told police they saw Alex Murdaugh going upstairs to his mother’s home about a week after the slayings with something that looked like a blue tarp.

On the night of the slayings, the defendant admittedly and briefly went to visit his ailing mother at her home, several minutes away from the Murdaugh family hunting lodge.

“He comes in,” Waters said. He’s carrying something in a blue tarp and he takes it upstairs. And eventually, law enforcement finds out about that, and they go upstairs and they find upstairs a wadded up very, very large raincoat, in a blue color, that could look like a tarp. And you’re going to hear evidence it was coated with gunshot residue on the inside.”
[…]

 

[Seattle1]

Starting on Page 41 is an expert’s opinion:

https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23580607/murdaugh-motion-for-sanctions.pdf

Thanks for linking the defense Motion for sanctions. The Motion is obvious in its effort to discredit and disqualify the blood spatter expert (Bevel)!

At trial, Senator DH used the analogy of how a certain SLED agent collected a cell phone from the crime scene and placed it inside a paper [evidence] bag as if a can of pork and beans, here, he's just as condescending to the state's blood spatter witness (Bevel).

Although Bevel received and met with the SLED investigators from South Carolina at a local, OK Police Department Crime Lab, it did not prevent DH from constantly referring to Bevel's work in this case as a homegrown "science fair" exhibit conducted in his garage, kitchen, or wherever. He even included google images of Bevel's modest residence in the Motion!

Seems that Bevel's use of his home [office?] address in correspondence with SLED was sufficient for the defense to assert assumptions made by DH as fact, and use the same as cheap shots to openly and without hesitation bully yet another state witness. MOO

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1619815563093774337

 

[BUF]

I’m coming to find myself on the fence as to whether there was a second person there.

Jmo

Just not adding up with the phones.

Alex always seemed to involve someone else in his crimes…Laffitte, Cuzin Eddie to name a couple.

This time though, was the secrecy of the murders of his wife and son too great and didn’t want anyone else involved? IDK

….waiting to see what comes up at trial