The 8:44 p.m. video that placed Alex Murdaugh near the kennels before Maggie and Paul were found
Paul Murdaugh’s phone held a video recorded at 8:44 p.m. on June 7, 2021.
The timestamp sits in the middle of the evening his father said he was somewhere else.
In the video, voices were later identified as Alex’s and Paul’s, near the dog kennels at Moselle, the family’s hunting estate near Islandton, South Carolina.
The bodies of Paul, 22, and his mother, Maggie, 52, were found there that night.
Paul had been shot twice with a shotgun. Maggie had been shot multiple times with a rifle.
Alex Murdaugh told investigators he was not at the kennels that evening. He said he had been visiting his mother and returned to find the bodies.
The video does not show the moment of the killings. That is not established.
It captures voices near the kennels at 8:44 p.m. That is what the record shows.
How could a father be in that video and still claim he wasn’t there?
That was the question the prosecution would ask. That was the question the defense would answer with circumstance.
The video is a documented piece of evidence. The claim that it places Alex at the kennels at the time of the killings is an interpretation.
The record does not establish what happened after 8:44 p.m. The record does not establish who held the phone.
It was a mundane video, a routine recording. It became the hinge of the entire case.
THE 911 CALL AND THE DISCOVERY
He called 911 that evening.
The man on the phone was Richard "Alex" Murdaugh. He was the father of Paul and the husband of Maggie. He had found them, he said.
Paul was 22. He had been shot twice with a shotgun. He was the young man at the center of a 2019 boating accident that killed Mallory Beach, and he was facing legal scrutiny at the time of his death.
Maggie was 52. She had been shot multiple times with a rifle. She was the wife of Alex and the mother of Paul and Buster.
The bodies were at the family's hunting estate, Moselle, near Islandton, South Carolina. The evening was June 7, 2021.
The exact content of the 911 call is not in the record. The source only states that Alex called.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division took over the investigation shortly after. SLED moved in fast. The prominence of the Murdaugh name drew national attention.
Not because the killings were the first tragedy. But because Paul was already tied to a death.
The record does not establish what was said in that call. The record does not establish how his voice sounded when he made it.
A father found his wife and his son. He called 911. That is the fact.
The timeline would soon matter. The video from 8:44 p.m. would soon matter. The moment of the call was the moment the story became public.
THE TWO STORIES
Alex Murdaugh told investigators he had been at his mother's house that evening.
He said he returned to find the bodies.
The video on Paul's phone told a different story, prosecutors argued.
It was timestamped 8:44 p.m. It captured voices near the kennels. Those voices, they said, were Alex's and Paul's.
Alex had told investigators he was not at the kennels that night.
The prosecution argued the video proved he was there at the time of the killings.
The defense argued the evidence was circumstantial. They said Alex was not at the scene.
Forensic analysts found gunshot residue on Alex's clothing. They conducted DNA analysis.
It is not established that the gunshot residue or DNA conclusively places Alex at the scene.
The defense disputed that interpretation. The residue could have come from another source, they argued. The DNA did not place him at the kennels.
The investigation also revealed that Alex had been embezzling from his law firm.
Prosecutors argued that provided a motive. A man in financial ruin, they said, might kill his family to distract from his crimes.
The grieving father. The man with a motive.
Two stories, each demanding belief. The evidence between them was thin, circumstantial, open to reading.
Was he at his mother's house? Was he at the kennels?
The video said one thing. His statement said another. The residue and the DNA said nothing conclusive at all.
THE TRIAL AND THE VERDICT
In July 2022, Alex Murdaugh was arrested and charged with two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
The trial opened in January 2023 in Walterboro, South Carolina, before Judge Clifton Newman.
Creighton Waters led the prosecution. He built the case on circumstance: the cell phone video, gunshot residue, financial motive. One link after another, none of them direct.
Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin led the defense. They argued Alex was not at the scene. They argued the evidence was insufficient.
The specific weapons were never definitively identified in court. The prosecution presented a shotgun and a rifle found on the property. That is what the record shows. It is not the same as proof.
On March 2, 2023, the jury found Alex Murdaugh guilty on all four counts. He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
The verdict landed with finality. The question did not.
Was the video enough? Was the residue enough? Was the motive enough?
The jury said yes. The defense said no. The record says the evidence was circumstantial, and that word never quite goes away.
Buster Murdaugh testified at trial. He spoke of his father. He spoke of his brother and his mother. He has since said he believes in his father's guilt.
The Beach family, still carrying the 2019 boating death of Mallory Beach, kept watching. Their loss was cited as motive. Their grief was part of the courtroom air.
Alex Murdaugh now serves his life sentences in a South Carolina prison. The appeal continues.
The family left behind remains.
AND THE STORY STILL ISN'T OVER
He has appealed, citing alleged jury tampering by the clerk of court.
The appeal has not been resolved.
That is not in the record.
It is ongoing.
Alex serves his life sentences in a South Carolina prison.
The financial crimes brought more time.
Embezzlement from his law firm.
Embezzlement from his clients.
He pleaded guilty to those.
The name carries that now.
Buster Murdaugh has spoken.
He has spoken about grief.
He has spoken about his belief in his father's guilt.
He has largely stayed out of the public eye.
The Beach family keeps pursuing civil litigation.
Their daughter Mallory died in the 2019 boating accident.
Their loss was cited as motive in the trial.
Their grief was part of the courtroom air.
Their case continues.
The 8:44 p.m. video remains.
It is a documented piece of evidence.
It is also a prosecution interpretation.
It does not establish that Alex was at the kennels.
That would require evidence.
The record does not close that question.
The family left behind remains.
The appeals remain.
The civil suits remain.
The grief remains.
The video remains a haunting artifact.
Advertisement
You may also like
The duct tape on Laci Peterson's body that split a jury's theory
The duct tape was on Laci Peterson's body when she was found. That single object carried the weight of two opposing stories. The prosecution…
The open letter from the Richards that urged the government to seek the death penalty
Bill Richard and Denise Richard lost their 8-year-old son, Martin, to the bombs near the finish line. Their daughter, Jane, lost a leg in…
The flight attendant who took the note — and what she said about the man who vanished
She took the note without opening it. He told her to look at it, and she looked. The man at seat 18C called himself…
The uncle who found six shot in their beds — and the confession that followed
The door at 112 Ocean Avenue was an ordinary Dutch Colonial, the kind of house a family might call home for a decade. On…
The 15-year-old who vanished after one phone call about a job — his mother's final words
December 11, 1978. A 15-year-old boy told his mother he was going to meet a contractor about a job. Her final words to him…
The 95 million who watched O.J. Simpson's Bronco chase and what they saw
The white Ford Bronco moved at 35 miles an hour, and the whole country watched. On June 17, 1994, an estimated 95 million viewers…