I do think the jury got it right when they came back with a guilty verdict but I saw part of the program with Buster’s interview which also had the CFO on it and the 911 call AM made that night and it reminded me that I still have a little trouble grasping a couple of things and hoping some of you can help…
1) On the 911 call, AM says “my wife and child” have been shot bad - I found it a bit odd that he would say “child” instead of “son” when referring to Paul who was 22 years old and in interviews and testimony later he referred to him as his son or Paul or PawPaw but I don’t recall him ever referring to him as “my child” any time other than the 911 call. It came across to me as a bit strange - perhaps rehearsed or something and I was just wondering if any of you thought anything of it - or would it be a normal thing to say in the low country rather than saying my wife and son?
2) I‘m still puzzled about why he did it or what made him decide to do it or when he decided to do it. If I follow the timeline correctly…
AM was at the law firm from roughly 12:30pm to 6:30pm that day. Sometime between the time he got there and 4pm, the CFO confronted him about the missing money - at least what she knew at the time. During their conversation, he got a call from his mother’s caretaker who asked him to come by to check in on his mother who was distraught and agitated as his father was in the hospital and being told there was nothing more they could do. (I think he was sent home the next day and then died at home a few days later - but he wasn’t home on the 7th.) The CFO tried to console AM about the news regarding his father and did not pursue the conversation about the money any further as she thought he was leaving to go see to his parents. Then he called her around 4pm to ask about his retirement account balance as he was working on financial disclosures for the upcoming boat accident case and she was surprised he was still there. He stayed another couple of hours before heading home to Moselle. He did not go to the hospital or to his mother’s but straight to Moselle.
He arrived there roughly 6:45pm - about 20 minutes before Paul arrived. About 30 minutes after Paul arrives, he films the video of AM and the tree. And roughly 30 to 45 minutes after that Maggie gets to Moselle and they all eat dinner prepared by the housekeeper. Roughly 20 - 30 minutes after Maggie gets to Moselle they are at the kennels and 5 - 10 minutes later, Paul records the kennel video and about 5 minutes after that, Paul & Maggie are dead.
So did being confronted about the money set him off? Was it stewing about the financial reports he was putting together that afternoon? Did he think if Paul was dead the lawsuit would go away? If so why kill Maggie? Why not shoot Paul when they were out shooting earlier in the evening and say it was an accidental shooting? Did it have nothing to do with Paul and it was really Maggie he wanted gone because she was getting suspicious about their finances? No, it had to be both of them - there were two guns and he waited for both of them to be together. It would have made more sense if he had life insurance on one or both of them…and why didn’t he anyway - at least on Maggie?
If he decided to do it after the CFO confronted him or after working on the financial disclosures, when did he have time to put the guns down there by the kennels? Did he do that in the 20 minutes he was at the property that evening before Paul arrived?
Had he decided to do this before he went to his office that afternoon? (Before he was ever confronted about the money) Is that why he didn’t go to work until after lunch? Did he use the extra time that morning to set up for what he was going to do that night?
Whether before work or after work, he had to have had it set up when he was out riding around with Paul and laughing about a tree falling over. Could he do that knowing in a couple of hours his son would be dead at his on hands?
Or did he have the guns there before Paul & Maggie arrived at Moselle? Paul was at the kennels for about 10 minutes before Maggie got to Moselle. Was AM with him? Did he put the guns there then? What reason might he have given Paul for doing that?
Or did he take the guns with him when he went to the kennels with Maggie & Paul after dinner? What reason would he have given both of them for bringing the guns at that time?
Did Paul and/or Maggie see the guns that would be used to shoot them that night? Did one of them help him carry them to the kennels?
I know I’m trying to make some sense out of a senseless act, but these are just some of the questions still running through my mind and I realize they may only be answered with speculation at this point, but if any of you would like to speculate, please do.