The jury is returning to the courtroom.
Owen testifies the participants in the interview were Alex Murdaugh and Cory Fleming. It was a voluntary statement. Cory Fleming, as you'll recall, has had his law license suspended over his alleged role in the Satterfield swindle. Good friend of AM.
In the recording, Murdaugh is wearing a light blue collared short-sleeve shirt. He appears to have already lost a lot of weight in the two months since the slayings.
The interview starts off confrontationally. Fleming wants to know why AM can’t ask SLED questions and get an update on the case first. Fleming: “Are you asking him questions to further your investigation, or are you asking him questions because you think he’s a suspect?”
Owen: “I am asking these questions to further my investigation.” Fleming: “Does that mean you are not asking him these questions as a suspect?” I either can't hear Owen's response, or he doesn't give one.
Fleming, acting as both AM's friend and his lawyer: “I’m uncomfortable with you asking him questions as a suspect when I came here with the thought that you were going to tell him where you are in this investigation.”
They eventually move on, and Owen begins asking Murdaugh about what he did that day before the slayings.
Murdaugh is crying as he tells Owen about riding around with Paul that day. Said they rode around a couple of hours. He doesn’t remember any rifles being in the trucks they used. Maybe some pistols.
Forgot to tweet this, but Fleming explained one of the reasons he was concerned about SLED questioning AM. “Everybody in the United States of America has an opinion on this case,” he said. He was worried SLED was buying into some of the rumor/speculation.
Video: AM tells Owen why Maggie came home to Moselle. “She was worried about me and me worrying about my Dad, and so she came home,” AM says.
Video: Owen asks what happened after dinner. AM: “I don’t know exactly how that went. I stayed on the couch and I dozed off. And then I got up.”
Video: Owen asks AM about the 7:38 p.m. Snapchat video on Paul’s phone that showed AM in a blue shirt and khaki pants. Owen asks when he changed. AM asks when the video was filmed. He seems unable to recall that. “I guess I changed when I got back to the house.
Video: Owen asks why AM called, texted Maggie before leaving Moselle to visit his mother in Almeda but didn’t go down by the kennels to see her before leaving. Owen said AM mentioned earlier that Maggie was supposed to accompany him to Almeda. AM says he can’t recall those plans.
Video: Owen asks how long AM stayed at his mother’s house the evening of 6/7/21. Murdaugh: “45 minutes, an hour.” We now know from Shelley Smith and Murdaugh’s SUV data he was there for about 20.
Video: Owen: “Were Maggie and Paul’s vehicles at the house?” AM: “Yes sir.” Owen: “How did they get down there (to the dog kennels) that night?” AM: “I was hoping you were going to be able to tell me that.”
Video: Owen confronts Murdaugh: Owen: “I’ve got information that Paul was on the phone and Maggie was heard in the background and you were heard in the background, and that was prior to-” AM: “Rogan Gibson asked me if I was up there. He said he thought it was me.”
Owen: “Was it you?” AM: “At 9 o’clock? No sir. Not if my times are right.
Owen: “When do you think it could have been?” AM: “I have no idea.” Owen: “And Rogan has been around your family for pretty much all his life?” AM: “Absolutely.” Owen: “And he recognizes your voice and you have a pretty distinct voice.” Could he have misheard? AM: “No, sir.”
Video: Owen asks AM how he normally loads his shotguns. AM doesn’t understand the question. He explains how to load a shotgun, generally. Owen clarifies he is asking what kind of ammo he loads. AM says all kinds. Birdshot. Buckshot. Etc.
Owen: “At the same time? Would you load birdshot and a buckshot in the same load?” AM: “Not normally.” You use whatever kind of ammo you need depending on what you’re hunting.
Owen asks if there are any guns missing from Moselle now. AM: Three guns: A Benelli shotgun. A Browning shotgun and a pump shotgun. The Benelli and Browning are automatic. AM doesn’t mention the .300 Blackout rifles.
OK, there it is. AM: “I understand also that a .300 was used that night. I know there has been some - I understand John Bedingfield said he only had two of those, one of which was lost a long time ago. But I’m telling you now that I am certain that we replaced that gun.”
So AM was actually forthcoming about the missing .300 Blackout rifles.
Owen now confronts AM about the .300 Blackout cartridge cases found all over the property. Owen to AM: “The ones by the house, and some of the ones by the shooting range, are confirmed matches as the ones found by Maggie.”
Owen tells AM that he can be heard on the 911 tape saying “I should have known.” He asks AM what he meant. AM: “I don’t remember saying that. But I guess all of the threats. I had been convinced that it was something to do with the boat wreck and all of that.”
Owen asks if Paul ever got physical with AM. AM said one time. When Paul had too much to drink and wouldn’t listen to AM. AM says he never got physical back. That was at Moselle. A while ago.
Owen: When you turned Paul over and his cell phone popped out. You said you thought about doing something but then put the phone down. What were you going to do?
AM: “I don’t know. When I went up to him and the phone came out, I don’t remember having intentions of doing anything with the phone.”
Video: Agent Jeff Croft asks AM how long dinner that night had been. AM says he can’t remember. Then he says 15-20 minutes, “best guess.”
Croft: You didn’t see any rifles or long guns in the trucks before that night. How long prior? AM: “I mean, Paul always had guns, so. It was very unusual for Paul not to have guns.” Croft: “Rifles, shotguns, both?” AM: “Everything.”
Owen tells AM about how he told the 911 dispatcher at 10:06 p.m. that he hadn’t seen Maggie and Paul in an hour and a half or two hours. AM: “I think that’s probably about right. … So you believe I’m giving you an inconsistent answer.”
Owen: “No, I’m just trying to wrap my mind around” the timelines of that night. Now they are getting into when AM actually left PMPED that evening. Owen said data show AM swiped his card at the PMPED office at 5:30 p.m., and Randy said he saw AM there at 6 p.m.
AM said he thought he left earlier. He said he and Paul rode "all over" Moselle that evening.
Owen: “What other questions do you have?” AM: Pauses. “I would like to know exactly what happened.” Sobs. Owen: “Me too. The best that I have been able to put together. I believe Paul was shot first.”
AM: Says he thought they shot Maggie first because she was shot in the back of the head.
Owen: “We may honestly never know who was first. But I think that it was Paul for the simple fact that if he saw his mother getting shot, he wouldn’t have run to that feed room.”
Owen: “We’ve already established that family guns were used. And if they came from Paul’s truck, Paul’s truck was at the house. So where were they?” AM: “And how did they get down there?” Owen: “And how did they get down there.”
Fleming put up a big fuss before this interview but hasn't really stepped in to object or shut this down, even though it quickly became clear from Owen's questioning that AM was indeed a suspect.
AM crying loudly now: “Can you tell me for sure if either of them lived after they were first shot? Owen: “Not long.” AM: “What’s that mean?” Owen: “The shooting happened very quickly.” AM: “Is this one person, two persons, three persons?”
Video pauses. Owen tells Meadors this is the first time AM has ever asked him that, about multiple shooters. AM: “Did either one of them suffer very long?” Owen: “A matter of seconds.”
Fleming jumps in. Says this comes from Randy Murdaugh: The family has a lot of friends in the community from the upper echelon to the lowest socioeconomic level. They think that they can ask people to keep ears out. Loose lips. Talking. That kind of stuff.
Fleming: But they don’t want to reach out to anybody unless y’all think it’s OK. They’re not talking about paying people, like investigators.
Owen: I’ve talked to Randy about this. I’m not going to ask any of them to do that because then it can be construed as if they are working as an agent of the state. I told Randy, I can’t stop you from going out. But I wouldn’t ask them to do it.
AM: You don’t have any substantive leads? Owen: “No, sir. Like I said, the only DNA we have are family and close friends.” No shoewear or tirewear impressions because it rained that night. Only thing we can go off of are the cell tower dumps and the SUV data.
AM offers to sign off on whatever authorization or permission investigators need to help with their search.
Video: Fleming and AM are offering any help they can to aid in the investigation, including trying to find ways to open up Paul’s phone. (The U.S. Secret Service ultimately broke into the phone months later in March 2022).
Fleming: Have y’all had to track down all the wackos on the internet?” Owen: “There has been a few that I’m looking at. But some of the information has been so far-fetched.”
Fleming praises SLED for limiting leaks about the case. Owen: “Nobody wants to know more than this man right here (pointing at Alex) and this man right here (pointing at himself).”
AM: How far apart in time were the shots?” Did one of them know the other was dead? Owen: “I think it’s impossible to know.” AM seems distraught at the idea that Maggie knew Alex had been shot. Owen: “It all depends on how many shooters were there.”
Owen: I hate to give any credence to the media, but the media keeps throwing you in there. He said it was possible the investigation could exonerate him. AM: “When you get my car stuff (data), that’ll help.”
Obviously, the tweet above should read: "AM seems distraught at the idea that Maggie knew Paul had been shot.”
We are now breaking for lunch. Back at 2:20 p.m.