Alex Murdaugh: Key evidence that brought him down

Watch: Four dramatic moments from Alex Murdaugh trial

By Holly Honderich

BBC News

Prominent lawyer Alex Murdaugh is hours away from being sentenced for the double murder of his wife and son.

The prosecution argued Mr Murdaugh killed Maggie and Paul in attempt to conceal years of financial crimes, crimes he himself admitted to in court.

Jurors heard from dozens of witnesses over six weeks of testimony in South Carolina, some providing new evidence, others offering emotional testimony.

Here is some of the evidence that most likely swung the case.

On 7 June 2021, Maggie and Paul were killed at the dog kennels on the family's sprawling hunting estate, called Moselle.

And for 20 months after their murders, Alex Murdaugh told law enforcement repeatedly he had not been at the dog kennels at all that evening, but had been at home napping.

But a Snapchat video filmed by Paul just minutes before prosecutors say the shootings took place features Mr Murdaugh's voice in the background.

And on the stand at trial, Mr Murdaugh admitted he lied, saying his years-long addiction to painkillers had put him in a paranoid state.

Prosecutors used the instance to argue Mr Murdaugh was an experienced and deft liar. "Don't let him fool you, too," he said.

Mobile phone and GPS data from the night of the murders featured heavily in court.

In the early evening hours on 7 June, Mr Murdaugh's phone seemed to be sitting still at his family's home.

But beginning at 21:02 local time - minutes after experts say the murders occurred - his phone shows a burst of activity, including 283 steps taken in four minutes.

Image source, Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier/Pool

Bullet holes were seen in the glass at the Murdaugh Moselle property during a visit by jurors

Mr Murdaugh also placed several calls to family and friends - including to his wife - and drove to visit his mother, who lived about 15 minutes away.

The defence argued in court this was standard operating procedure for the Murdaugh family, who regularly exchanged texts and calls.

But prosecutors argued these activities showed the efforts of a veteran lawyer to manufacture an alibi.

Early on in the proceedings, Judge Clifton Newman ruled that prosecutors could bring in evidence of Mr Murdaugh's alleged financial misdeeds.

Investigators say Mr Murdaugh stole millions from clients and colleagues, including $3.7m (£3m) in 2019 alone. And at trial, Mr Murdaugh admitted to wide-scale theft.

Image source, Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier/Pool

An evidential photograph of a phone found in undergrowth was shown to the jury

Prosecutors say this crime was what drove Mr Murdaugh to murder - that he thought the deaths of Maggie and Paul would stop his financial crimes from being exposed.

Mr Murdaugh and his defence team argued in court that this theory was ludicrous and that financial problems would never have led him to murder.

Several witnesses testified that on the night of the murders Alex Murdaugh asked Maggie, who had been at the family's other property in nearby Edisto Beach, to return to Moselle.

Maggie much preferred Edisto to Moselle and hadn't planned on leaving, her sister Marion Proctor told the court.

But Mr Murdaugh's elderly father was dying, and so Mrs Proctor encouraged her to support him. "Go be with him if he needs you," Mrs Proctor told Maggie, in what would be their final conversation.

Image source, Maggie Murdaugh/Facebook

Maggie Murdaugh, pictured here with Alex, was said to be a devoted mother

Prosecutors used the testimony to suggest Mr Murdaugh was trying to lure Maggie back to Moselle where the murders would take place.

And they were helped by Mrs Proctor who said it was "odd" that Maggie did not join her husband when he went to visit his parents.

"That's the whole reason she went home that night," she said.

But Mr Murdaugh testified that Maggie had not planned to see his parents, and that he asked his wife to simply return because he wanted to be with her. I loved Maggie "more than anything," he said.

Alex Murdaugh and his two sons were fond of hunting, and Moselle was home to a collection of guns.

Prosecutors alleged that Mr Murdaugh used one of these - a .300 Blackout assault-style rifle - to kill Maggie. But they were unable to find it and produce it at trial.

The Blackout rifle was referenced several times at court, as experts said that the shell casings from the murder scene matched tool markings on weathered casings elsewhere on the property, suggesting they were from the same gun.

The Murdaughs at one point had two custom Blackout rifles, given to Paul and his brother Buster as Christmas gift. Paul's was allegedly stolen in 2017 and a replacement was bought, but it was never found.

As Judge Newman told the court on Thursday, Mr Murdaugh has the presumption of innocence until the jury decides otherwise.

"It is a substantial right to which every defendant is entitled unless you the jury are satisfied from the evidence of the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt," he said.

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