A murder case in South Carolina winds toward the end as the prosecution rests.south carolina

debtOur weeks of prosecution testimony in Alex Murdau’s double-murder trial are now over as a twisted case that gripped America as the bloody saga of Southern Gothic horror came to an end.

After calling more than 60 prosecution witnesses, defense attorneys are due to file that case next week, and while the case remains circumstantial, Murdoh’s cause has gripped with the courtroom drama over the past month. I suffered cruelly.

But the lack of confessions, murder weapons, fingerprint evidence, or witnesses left the defense with enough holes in the state’s case against the 54-year-old disqualified attorney to raise reasonable suspicion. You can try to prove

Murdoh – The family has long wielded immense power in a corner of the countryside south carolina – accused of murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul in June 2021 and carrying out a bizarre suicide plan three months later.

The Colleton County Court trial, which has focused on two counts of first-degree murder and two related murder charges for use of weapons, which Murdoh pleaded not guilty to, has been coherent in the spiraling violence. It begins to suggest an explanation for the story. In Murdo’s orbit.

This includes the roadside shooting hoax enacted the day after partners at a law firm run by Murdau’s family forced Murdau to resign after discovering the firm was running out of money. will be He initially claimed that the man in the truck had pulled over to fix a puncture.

“I turned my head. That is, boom,” he said in his first police interview.

An apparent attempted murder that occurred shortly after the murders of his wife and son seemed to reinforce the idea that someone had gone out for Murdo. Central to these theories was that Murdoh’s opioid addiction created debt with a murderous drug cartel.

But it was all a lie. Or maybe they conveniently embellished the truth of something. A court heard Friday that Maggie found oxycodone 30mg in Murdoh’s computer in his bag a month before he was murdered. The prosecution included allegations that Murdoh spent his $50,000 a week on drugs. He spent two stints in rehab when his world implode.

Murdow, 54, said in a taped interview when he retracted claims that he had been the victim of an attempted murder and confessed to orchestrating a bizarre hired-for-hire suicide. I knew you were,” he said.

Prosecutors presented evidence piece by piece that the murder of his wife and son at the kennel on the family’s rural estate was staged as a diversion from the unraveled cascade of Murdo’s financial misconduct, The suicide plan shared that motive.

Prosecutors claim Maggie and Paul’s murders were committed to prevent legal disclosure in wrongful death lawsuit against Paul over alleged involvement in 2019 boating accident death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach Similarly, they say the subsequent suicide plot was made to win a $10 million insurance payout for their surviving son, Buster.

“There’s a symmetry between what happens on the roadside and what happens on June 7,” prosecutor Clayton Waters told court earlier this month. Violence happens when you are at Murdo’s Gate.”

The introduction of a suicide plan may, for most trial observers, be little more than a tribute to the murder charges against Murdoh, which have been comprehensively asserted by state prosecutors. Estimated 3 feet distance to victim.

Both victims faced their assailant, and neither had defensive wounds, suggesting to forensic expert Kenny Kinsey that they knew the executioner. .

Prosecutors also provided evidence to the court that they believed Murdo was at the scene at the time of the murder (8:50 p.m.), removed the weapon he used, took a nap after dinner, and then killed his mother. I built an alibi that I was visiting. with his wife and his son when the murder was committed.

Extensive phone records, including steps taken before and after the murder, and a video text sent by the family’s dog son Paul, filmed just before the murder, hear Maggie mentioning her husband by his nickname. It included background dialogue that could have also damaged the defense’s allegations that the defendant was not present at the time of the killing.

Time stamps, speed and mileage records recovered from Murdo’s car also appear to undermine his alibi.

State investigator David Owen said Murdoh was just a suspect for them — a number to the family of Murdoh’s housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, before his financial misconduct came to light. He filed 85 separate fraud charges, including a million dollar diversion of insurance proceeds.

But the trial itself is punctuated by an unexpected twist: on February 8, a bomb threat against the Colleton County Court Clerk, allegedly by a South Carolina prison inmate, left the courtroom empty. rice field.

Murdow’s family warned that Buster could be kicked out of court by presiding judge Clifton Newman after appearing to ‘flip the bird’ to Mallory Beach family attorney Mark Tinsley it was done.

On top of that, with the Covid outbreak among jurors, a controversial GoFundMe campaign revealed that Murdoh’s mother’s caregiver, Muschel “Shelley” Smith, had spent twice as much time as Murdoh. was to raise money “for her bravery” by testifying that she would be induced to tell investigators. As he was at his mother’s house on the night of the murder.

With the murder trial expected to last another two weeks, the failed suicide plot may provide the clearest evidence that Murdoh had the ability to mentally orchestrate the murder. in fact himself.