Pa Murdaugh Charged

What a LOSER! Lock him up for the dead nanny and gay boy too.

Finally, someone who lived up to his name.

I bet this guy will snuff himself before it’s all over.

And where’s Buster? Hiding whatever assets are laying around?

Any thoughts on who killed the gay boy? Stephen I think…

I’m sure all the other deaths will be investigated now too. I always thought Buster had a hand in the boy found dead on the road.

I suspected Alex killed the mother and son when they released the 911 call and he said while sobbing into the phone “oh Paul( -why did you have to get caught up in all of this”

- the wife had consulted divorce lawyers and a forensic accountant - his illegal financial activity would have been exposed so he killed her and then liked the son because he arrived on the scene as it happened.

Killed not liked *

R1, yes, I want to know about the other deaths and all of the other Murdaugh corruption.

GOOD. They should just execute him. He did so many bad things, it’s insane.

He’s proof that truth is stranger than fiction. Remember when he was supposedly shot by the side of the road?

I lost interest in following this too closely because it became downright Byzantine. But what I did love is that absolutely everyone in the story was dirty and corrupt.

Murdaugh Most Foul.

I agree with R5, that's the likeliest scenario. Wife is planning to ruin his life of prosperous corruption, and when he's killing her, the psycho son comes along and tries to save his mother. But what the hell was the scenario with the "murder attempt", where his methhead cousin supposedly tried to shoot him? My theory is that Murdaugh was planning to kill the guy and use the corpse to fake his own death.

But yeah, the odds of a real suicide are now good. A narcissist can live with the fact that they killed their own son, but not with the fact that everyone *knows* they killed their own son.

Bump

I had assumed he was just trying to get a life insurance payout on the wife and maybe the kid.

It goes before the grand jury tomorrow. Between the high velocity blood spatter on his shirt and video recording proving he was there (presumably from wife or son's cell), it's got to be a slam dunk.

Why'd he kill the normal-looking son, instead of the ugly red-headed one?

This guy isn’t human. An incomprehensible monster.

Buster’s no prize, either. Hopefully, he’ll get charged with the murder of Stephen Smith.

I thought we decided that the dead boy was the psycho in the family, hadn't he been responsible for at least one death and mutliple assaults?

Maw wanted a divorce, knew where Pawpaw had stashed the secret stolen insurance funds from the maid's death (whom I don't believe Pawpaw actually killed, but he DID cheat the shit out of her children and the insurance companies, some 5 million buck$). Paw knew Maw would rat on him about her share of the dough in any divorce settlement and would reveal the truth about it if he didn't pay her off, and so he blew her brains out, himself. Execution style. Junior was at the wrong place, wrong time, tried to save Maw, and Paw just *had* to kill him too, dontch'all understand? He HAD to....Awwrite Paw, take yer pick: Life in prison without parole, or jury trial and face the death penalty. We're waiting. It'll be over in just about 1 afternoon, we'll never hear another word about the whole mess.

^And thinking about it, perhaps Maw wanted ALL the insurance payoff or substantially all of it, under threat of turning Paw over to the cops if he failed to play along. Why not?

^She was at the house the morning the maid fell...

It was a foregone conclusion Paw did it. Im wondering just how dirty the ugly son is now. How is he living ? Im sure what little money was left is long gone.

I'm not concerned about him in the slightest. An entire family of CUNTS.

If this were a series it’d be unbelievable. Like “Ozark”. How can so many people die in the vicinity of this family? And they’re making money off all this death. And each of them is horrible in their own little way.

If I were an investigator in SC, I’d be looking for ties to this murderous grifting clan and any unsolved crime.

The Murdaugh Murders podcast has been fun since this story started hearing up.

It’s a local reporter who knows the people and terrain in South Carolina and gets the story better than the network news folks who parachuted in.

[quote]Before his death, Paul was driving a boat drunk when it crashed and killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach on board.

Dead men don't drive boats. Gotta love the DM.

[quote]Dead men don't drive boats.

But they tell no tales.

A trip down memory lane regarding how awful that family is. Police audio of the night they were looking for Mallory Beach. Her boyfriend points out how Paul murdaugh is seen laughing in the midst of it all. Sociopathy runs in the family obviously.

Rich cunts learn they have impunity, and one rich cunt learned that from Poppa Rich Cunt.

That doesn’t mean all people that can get away with stuff will go and murder others r27. Psychopathy can run in families.

One of the sites dedicated to the murders said the surviving son was kicked out of law school for cheating.

This family are almost the equivalent of the Trumps, southern trash version.

The son’s drunken boating that caused the death of poor Mallory Beach was the event that kicked all the scrutiny of these loathsome garbage people into high gear, correct?

R31, sure, locally. I think the double murder of Paul and Maggie kicked it off nationally.

Can we talk about this? Who’s “Gibson” and why is his name listed in the police report documents as Alec and the dead lady and son? Why is there a document about him the same as everyone who was at the crime scene? There aren’t any cops named Gibson but they have family friends named Gibson. What do those numbers after the names mean? Possible witness?

This is from the police report.

It’s probably just a neighbor or friend of one of the kids. It’s not a big deal. Probably the first name just didn’t transcribe well from police notes. There ain’t much co text here for what this is or where you got it. The redacted stuff is more interesting

When the ma and murderer son were killed, I thought it could possibly be revenge from one of the family members of the victim.

Then I started reading about the Murdaugh family and realised what a corrupt bunch of twats they were.

After pa did his pathetic suicide attempt, I started to realise it was him. Took me awhile but I got there.

Man is Paw Murdaugh a loathsome human being who spawned two children who learned at his knee how to also be awful. I'd love to read about the dead mother too; I don't think she was some wonderful human being either.

But the real story for me is that there were so many people in orbit around the family that never did anything to stop the Murdaugh's dealings... how many members of the law firm were there? School teachers who pointed out that the two spawns were sociopaths in training? Not ONE police office or detective from the local force to state investigator could make a case against any family member or cousin and being down the whole Jenga tower? Not ONE?

The fact that no one ever stopped these creatures points out how spineless so many people can be.

You couldn’t make a story of the Murdaugh family up, which is what is so intriguing about this whole saga. Once the case closes on Alec, and hopefully, the other questionable deaths, I’m sure there will be several non-fiction books about the family.

I really hope a good non-fiction author puts together a book that interweaves a subplot of antisocial personality disorders running in families coupled to the decades of skullduggery perpetrated by the Murdaughs in their multi-generational quest for power and influence. It would be a highly interesting read, to say the least.

R36, it's not just spinelessness. Families like the Murdaughs don't exist in a void. The whole social order of that area propped up people like them. The police and the court system were in their favor; think of all of the suspicious events that were never investigated. Plus they must have had connections to other wealthy, corrupt people. To many, I'm sure it seemed as if they had no place to turn even if they wanted to fight back.

Just a run of the mill junkie. Except most junkies avoid violence

This is the bitch that took him down, and a is taking down a whole lot of other people too. Team Mandy.

I read on Unresolved Mysteries on Reddit that the death of the maid was being re-opened due to pressure from her family. Apparently some posters had listened to the 911 call made by the mom after the maid’s “fall” and it was heart-wrenching . The 911 operator asked the caller to check on the woman-try and stem the bleeding, talk to her, etc. and the family didn’t even want to touch her! The mom sounded so inconvenienced by it all. Terrible, terrible people.

The maid's body is being exhumed.

I think Scott Turow is the southern author who could put the whole story together and keep it riveting and non-sensational.

The maid's family, the Beach family and the one for the young man who died along a road (I think I have that correct) would make for compelling characters.

And R38, you make some very good points about the whole social scene for the region's "upper crust".

Scott Turow would be an excellent choice. However, he's Chicago born and bred. I don't think his law career took him south.

This tidbit is new to me: after authorities unlocked Paul's phone, they found a recording made close to the time of the murder in which Alex and Maggie could be heard talking. Alex claimed that he hadn't seen either of them that day.

"In addition, a phone belonging to Paul Murdaugh was recovered on his body containing video and audio of Alex Murdaugh talking with his wife close to the time she and Paul were killed, the source said.

Alex Murdaugh is not seen on the video but is heard speaking with her, and that recording has a time stamp, the source said, which may prove key to the investigation."

^It's very weird that an attorney of long standing, from a family of attorneys going back almost 100 years, would not have had more sense about the evidence he was creating, the clues, the micro-spattering of blood on his clothes, cell phones transmitting their whereabouts (*especially*), etc. It's just kind of incomprehensible to me.

Maybe he wasnt a very good attorney R46 ?

If he duped those poor kids out of $5 million, he's clearly pretty good at SOME aspects of the trade. Clearly not very good as a murderer, though.

R46, he wasn’t that kind of attorney. And he thought he’d get away with it, because he always had, before.

The sons were so short.

He probably resented the wife for her bad genes.

Believe me as someone who knows what he's talking about, 49, if that guy's family had been attorneys in that godforsaken part of the United States for nearly 100 years, Paw had had a LOT of contact with the criminal law in that court system. There is just no way around that.

Same here, r46. He was an accident and personal injury attorney not in criminal defense, but anyone who's watched a police procedural would know a few of these things. Whenever I see pictures of him, he always looks like a big, dumb oaf. He looks stupid. He didn't know that his life insurance policy would cover suicide, so he tried to get meth head cousin to kill him. At the time, he was driving a Mercedes model that had tires that self inflate in the event of a puncture, so his ruse of stopping to change a tire made no sense. Either the guy was so addled by years of pill abuse or he's truly stupid. Or both. I'm in awe how he managed to keep the house of cards up for so long. I hope his brothers are being investigated.

^SOMEONE tossed one of the victims' cell phones out of "the getaway car" on the roadside near the site of the murders, and didn't even bother dropping it into the water (which is EVERYWHERE in that low-lying, swampy part of the country). It's hard for me to conceive of tossing that phone on dry land, assuming you WANTED it to be found, as a very smart strategic move on Paw's part. It was dumb as hell. -R51

My favourite Twitter comment is simply, "Damn he murdaughed his wife and kid."

Paw's not getting out of jail on bond for this one, too many squirrely things he did while he was out loose, including trying to stage his own "murder." If he's going to kill himself, he's gonna have to wrangle it in the pokey.

It has always amazed me that, after committing heinous crimes which could send one to death row, a killer would choose to keep a $35 blood stained coverall, a weapon or whatever. You really wouldn't think to dispose of these items and replace them later...?

How many stories have we seen where the perp's keep the shoes,clothing,weapon etc ? obviously criminals arent as smart as they think they are.

"Paw had had a LOT of contact with the criminal law in that court system. There is just no way around that."

That's why he was able to get away with so many crimes, he was part of a corrupt local legal system. I presume it was one of those system where anyone honest had been forced out over the years, and the police, legal, and judicial systems were all corrupt and used their power to enrich themselves, and to support the local oligarchy, and their reward was that the lawyers, judges, and chief of police got to *be* part of the local oligarchy.

And that's why I think that the "murder attempt" was Murdaugh trying to kill his meth dealer cousin, and use the corpse to fake his own death. Sure, any student of forensic medicine would have been able to prove that the corpse wasn't Paul Murdaugh, but if the coroner was as corrupt as everyone in the local oligarchy then Paul Murdaugh would have been declared dead and the case closed. And people would have hopefully stopped investigating local corruption and the petty oligarchs could go back to enjoying the horrible way of life they'd forced on the whole region...

Sorry to keep harping on this, but I see this whole saga as a slightly more tame version of “Ozark” with dumber and less moral people. They had everyone bribed up or intimidated; everyone.

Didn’t Alex have a mistress, too?

Remember the one thing we are *not* going to see from all these future books about the case is a thorough investigation of Buster's involvement in all this.'

You can't libel the dead, so any discussion of their crimes is legally safe, but you'd be a fool to libel a surviving family member in a clan of corrupt lawyers.

More proof that gingers have no soul.

R33- "Can we talk about this? Who’s “Gibson” He was a caretaker who was living in the caretakers house in from of the property, facing the road. He is a long time friend of Buster's, as they use to live next door to each other. R53: "^SOMEONE tossed one of the victims' cell phones out of "the getaway car" on the roadside near the site of the murders, and didn't even bother dropping it into the water " That isn't even the most stupid thing he did. He forgot to take Paul's phone which had audio/ video of him talking to his wife by the kennels minutes before the TOD, as well as proving he was lying about not seeing her that evening. But he took her phone, only for it to be easily found the next day. Changed his albi about his whereabouts several times, the first albi was that he had been hunting at night, in the rain, in June ( nothing to hunt then). It was obvious he lied in order to explain the GDR on his hands. Claimed to be an opioid addict when everyone who knew him was aware that he was a coke fiend and alcoholic. Wealthy, powerful men get opioids legvebtally from their many complicit doctors, they do not have to resort to street drugs. He is known to be involved in manufacturing meth and cheap oxycodone, as well as scamming his clients and various insurance companies. Despite these lucrative and nefarious business ventures, he was deeply in debt and millions of dollars can not be accounted for. He is said to be the only drug manufacturer too stupid to make a profit. Maggie was planning to divorce him and have an audit of their financials and his illegal activity would have been exposed, this because her check to a charity bounced. She certainly wasn't with that hideous looking motherfucker out of love. Alec had signed the deed to Moselle over to her years ago, and she was not feeling inclined to give it back to him. Paul was an alcoholic psychopath who was costing his Paw more money and scrutiny than the ugly little fucker was worth. Things haven't gone well for Alec since his rotten father died three days after the double murder. He is suspected in many other deaths, as is the unfortunate looking Buster. Buster is suspected of killing his former lover , Steven Smith. The saga continues...

R62- GSR, legally.

Are they Irish?

R64- Actually, yes they are, lolol! Seriously.

Psycho guy, insanity in his eyes. Probably the monster of the century. His devil offspring killed that beautiful biy Stephen .

R66- I believe Alec could be his killer. SS was dating an older, wealthy married man right before he was killed. Just a week or so after the double murders LE announced that they were reopening his case due to information they suddenly found. ( During the Moselle investigation). One of the Murdaughs killed Steven, it just isn't known which one yet. It is interesting that Steven's mother has nothing but nice things to say about Buster, though.

Well, there’s your clue, people at r65!

What is GSR? Can you girls stop using abbreviations nobody knows?

Gun shot residue, R69.

He has most definitely presented hole

Investigators are exhuming the body of the former housekeeper/nanny. She fell UP a small flight (6 steps) of stairs at the Moselle home. Alex, who claimed to be at work at the time of her fall, actually got to the scene of the accident before emergency services did. (He was at home, never left) He is caring that way. Her injuries, imo, are consistent with an automobile accident or someone in the last stages of osteoporosis. Thank goodness Maggie was there. She did sound very concerned... about being awakened by this trivial bullshit. The 911 operator advised and encouraged Paul (Maggs had shuffled off back to bed by this time.) to stop the bleeding but Paul wasn't about to touch the help. Both Paul and Maggie appeared to have the compassion of a serial killer.

My goodness, that mugshot. What a fucked up guy!

I guess emulating Jeffrey MacDonald didn't work out so well.

This has got to be one of the most anticipated crime documentaries--in my mind at least. Get me some popcorn.

I hope Mallory’s hot dad is doing okay.

Here's a nice timeline from CNN.

Tomorrow night (Saturday) 48 Hours on CBS will have an updated episode on the situation, including the new murder indictments and the upcoming autopsy of the housekeeper.

I wonder what the grudge against the housekeeper was.

R79 There wasn't a grudge, it was an insurance scam.

I didn't realize that Smith, the guy involved in the fake suicide, was also involved in the embezzlement schemes.

Gloria Satterfield:

According to a 2018 report from attorney Scott Wallinger, who was hired by Lloyds of London to represent Alex Murdaugh in the case, Gloria sustained a right-sided head laceration, a right-sided subdural hematoma, a traumatic brain injury, multiple left-side posterior rib fractures, a partially collapsed lung and a plumonary contusion.

R81- That is Cousin Eddie, lol. He really is a distant cousin to Alex Murdaugh. You just can't make this shit up. I believe AM called Cousin that to meet because AM was going to set him up and make it look as if Cousin attacked him and he killed him in self defense, thus claiming Cousin Eddie killed poor Maggie and Paul and attempted to kill AM. Of course the idiot Alex was too stupid to choose a secluded area in all of that vast swampland and he chose a church which had a CCT camera pointed right at the road they were on. Eddie, not being the trusting type, somehow got the upper hand and took Alex's weapon away and probably knocked the hell out of him.

R82 Granted I'm not an expert but can you get all of those things falling 6 steps...? Seems implausible to me.

R82- Sorry, it was 8 steps and she supposedly fell up the steps. Unless someone bashed her with a baseball bat as she was falling upward, I find that impossible. The fact that her death was not investigated and no autopsy was done is inexcusable to me.

Another victim: In the last month, Pamela Pinckney has been made aware that her former attorney Alex Murdaugh allegedly stole nearly $1 million from her family during the worst time of her life. She spoke with FITSNews about how devastated she was to learn that her attorney — someone she trusted to handle both her son Hakeem’s car accident case and his wrongful death case — stole from her family when they knew how much Hakeem suffered. He was paralyzed and required a ventilator to breathe. Someone unhooked/unplugged his ventilator and he died. Alex Murdaugh is a monster. A serial killer.

R62, I thought the caretaker was another guy. Not Gibson. And that guy has worked for a school and was fired for inappropriate contact. Gibson was a family friend and former neighbor, but the caretaker was living in the caretaker’s residence. Did a deep dive on this once and forgot the details. Ugh whatever. They’re all criminals.

There’s not enough jail time for this guy.

I wonder if he’s trying to bribe/threaten prison employees and other inmates, or if he’s been defanged, essentially.

R87- You are correct, they are brothers and both were friends with Buster. After the the charge of inappropriate behavior he was told to leave the Moselle property. His brother is the one who was living in the caretaker house when the murders occurred.

Unfortunately lawyers are valuable in prison. He'll be protected. Everyone thinks they're just one appeal away from getting out

R88- I believe Alex lost a lot of his power when his father died. The power was actually held by RM111 and AM was tolerated because his Daddy. RM111 died three days after Maggie and Paul were killed. He died from cancer. Everything seemed to go to hell for Alex immediately.

Strange that Murdaugh, Trump, Putin are all going down a the same time. One of the astrologers said that some moon was in something when Trump was born which was why he had so much luck but that moon has passed and his luck has run out. Looks like it is the same for the others too.

R92 That's got to be the only logical explanation for all of this

R92- I really hope that is true. It has become impossible to believe people like this ever have to face any justice anymore. I was absolutely shocked when they indicated Murdaugh. Never did I believe that would happen. Had the case not received national media coverage, I truly doubt he would have.

What is this part of South Carolina is this? It reminds me of the rural South I grew up in in that late 1950s and early 1960s. What a throw back.

R92 FFS

Now that we see how stupid and inept ol' Alek is, it really doesn't speak well for the populace of of Columbia, SC that he was able to bilk so many of them for so long.

R97, Alex fulfilled the typical pattern of dynasties—by the time you get to the third generation, everyone is spoiled and weak and can’t keep the family’s fortune together.

R40 is that frau small town Mandy with the vocal fry and endless self-promotion podcast.

She gets that vicious people like you criticize her voice. She’s discussed with with total disgust.

She’s an ace local journalist — something that is pretty much extinct. She’s been central to bringing this guy to justice.

But mock away. It must lift your spirits.

[quote] where the perp's keep the shoes,clothing,weapon

Oh, dear!

[quote] I wonder what the grudge against the housekeeper was.

Too much Lemon Pledge. The whole damn house reeked of it.

[quote] I guess emulating Jeffrey MacDonald didn't work out so well.

This dude was more closely akin to Ronald McDonald.

[quote] RM111

Oh, FFS.

What happened to the housekeeper who "accidentally" died and the gay teenage boy who died under mysterious circumstances?

Did you even read the thread?

I've read several times that the housekeeper's body "is being exhumed". How long does it take to undig a grave?

‘Bout seven hours.

That’s iffin we don’t take a lunch.

R107, in defense of the investigators it’s not like she’s going anywhere.

ID channel did a 3-part series on the murders. They played a tape of the 911 call when Maggie called to report the housekeepers death. I recall her being calm and matter of fact and when asked the woman's age coldly replied "I don't know." The housekeeper had worked for them for over 20 years.

Who is playing Alex in the inevitable made-for-Hulu film?

Neil Patrick Harris.

He’s very versatile.

An owl killed my wife and son! I swear!

Crazy, drug-obsessed hippies killed my wife and son! I swear!

Acid is groovy. Kill the pigs.

Come on, guys. I was here first.

"I believe Alex lost a lot of his power when his father died. The power was actually held by RM111 and AM was tolerated because his Daddy"

I wonder if Maggie decided to get out once Daddy Murdaugh was dead and his local dictatorship was gone, there was no point in sticking around... so it was time to get out of there with all she could get?

So is there now one kid who gets everything? If there's anything left?

They already sold their home and moved to the hunting lodge, and there will be so many judgements against the estate I'm sure there will be nothing left. Buster will have to continue selling his used clothing on eBay until he goes to the slammer, also.

Poshmark, Buster has a thriving business on Poshmark thank you very much!

[quote] there will be so many judgements

Like we’re judging you?

Stop with the fucking abbreviations-GSR, RM111, etc. This isn’t websleuths! Pretty soon we’ll get so fancy we’ll use the term “unsub”!

And R103, I burst out laughing!

Did I read Buster had moved in with some distant relative?

Maybe a second cousin once removed.

He should make himself useful.

Buster better change his name and be prepared to work his way up from the bottom. Or is that as a bottom?

[quote] Like we’re judging you?—Oh, dear.

Sorry, R122…what’s your “oh dear” for?

Did Buster ever come out,

[Quote] But what I did love is that absolutely everyone in the story was dirty and corrupt.

What was Mallory Beach's dirty business?

I don’t want to watch anything about this until Buster does something stupid again or AM does something psychotic in prison. The story of these crazies isn’t quite over yet.

Is Buster a real name or a nickname?

His real name is Busthim.

You mean Bustime?

Rich peckerwood NOT getting away with murder in South Carolina? Hell has frozen over.

R130 His real name is Richard Alexander Jr. Buster was the nickname of his paternal grandfather, Randolph, so I guess they transferred that nickname.

ABC has a 2 hour 20/20 on Pa Murdaugh's Murders

It may be partly a repeat of an earlier episode

This cunt did everything except rape the dog and set fire to the post office.

I'm a true crime addict, but when I this case first started I didn't pay much attention because I thought it was all about dead, rich, white people.

Little did I know...

Alex had it made, just had to go to law school, keep his nose clean, and he was set for life.

I hate when people piss away awesome opportunities.

r95 Lowcountry / Buford and Sea Islands with the Gullah speakers nearby which would account for the Murdaugh family's plantation mentality

r135, when's the ABC 20/20 episode? Tonight (Sat.) CBS is running an updated 48 Hours episode but I don't know whether it's on at 9 or 10.

* Beaufort not Buford

Just a reminder: Beaufort, SC is pronounced BEW-fert. Beaufort, NC, which isn't all that far away, is pronounced BOH-fert. Relevant because the Murdaughs had their beach cottage and their boats at the SC location.

[quote] Who is playing Alex in the inevitable made-for-Hulu film?

Larry Joe Campbell, the fat guy from "According to Jim."

I can't believe how many crimes this entitled shitbag committed.

I wonder - there had to be a first step. What was it?

How the hell do you manage to lay waste to your own life so thoroughly?

If it's true he had an expensive addiction and whores to keep as well as his family's expectations of a good living, it would have that - the need to keep getting money from the insurance payouts.

*have been

Funnelling a payout from his housekeepers death onsite to his own accounts... There's a place in hell for you, Pa Murdaugh.

*housekeeper's

I hate it when I am denied an opportunity to “oh, my”!

Now everyone is entitled to their day in court and the presumption of innocence.

Just kidding, the asshole did it.

I read this whole thread and it was a shit summary. Can someone link to the older threads we've done on this? Far more informative....

This was the original thread I started on this family, there were follow up threads, but some were inexplicably deleted. But this shows the early days.

We visited Beaufort a few years back as part of a Midnight in the Garden of Evil homage. We travelled from Savannah to Charleston, visiting the book's highlight locations in the Savannah area at the start, including the grave of Johnny Mercer in the Bonaventure Cemetery.

While in Beaufort we took a walking tour of the town's ghostly highlights culminating in visit to that town's small cemetery. Our tour guide was a delightful Southern Belle, about 19, who at the grave of a Civil War notable told us a ghost tale involving the war veteran and a "darkie." She employed an array of local accents to tell the tale, including the "darkie's" slave patois. It was both shocking, memorable, and amusing to hear her so speak so innocently that way as she told the tragic and racist story.

R150 This was the most recent previous active Murdaugh thread

WHERE are the WHORES??!!

Justice for Stephen Smith!

CBS has just started an updated episode about the Murdaugh murders (Sat., 10pm).

Well…

^ Episode of 48 Hours.

Try to imagine the scenario at "the plantation" (LOL) the night of the killings, where enraged Dad, holding a shotgun on his wife (presumably), forces her to allow him to tie her up with rope BEFORE he shot her in the head (a good long distance away from the house)...AND THEN, or simultaneously, he tied up Paul too. How can one man, holding a big gun, get the better of TWO people long enough to tie BOTH of them up? It's nuts. The mind just boggles. Why wouldn't the wife have just laughed at him? The bodies were found a good distance from the house, down near dog kennels which were closer to the road, so where did he make contact with the two victims? They MUST have been in the house, it was dark. Did the son go out to see why the dogs were barking? (The dogs would NOT have been barking at Paw, however, because they "knew" him...?). The whole event is just so very weird. It almost seems as if Paw would have needed accomplices, but this was NOT the kind of thing where you could ever trust anyone you paid to assist with it.

I thought Paul was caring for friends dogs, which wouldn’t necessarily have known Pa?

One thing about the dogs that just occurred to me: hunting dogs kept in kennels WILL typically start making a racket even when one of their owners comes near, because they think they're going to get fed or be let out of their cages, they start making a ruckus just from excitement, which would have tipped off Maw and Sonny Boy up in the house (drinking, almost certainly) that *someone* (or some animal) was down there in the dark, leading Sonny to go and investigate, maybe followed by Maw... -R159.

R161 I thought I read the wife was killed first, then a short time passed, then the son was killed. I think it was the CNN article that put the timeline together.

The CNN timeline is great. And what a list of horrors.

Maybe Sonny showed up home unexpectedly, while Paw was otherwise engaged...

Just say 'Buster,' r159.

[quote]Sorry, [R122]…what’s your “oh dear” for?

Your spelling of judgment.

Two different guns. Anyone have an explanation for that?

Maybe Sonny had one and Paw used both of them, ultimately. There COULD have been an accomplice, but it just seems so unlikely given the family scenario, and the fact that Paw was a lawyer and certainly would have known that he could never again trust anyone who had a hand in this. (THIS is what supports the idea that the roadside "suicide" via hit-man was REALLY going to be a murder and burning of the "accomplice," in Paw's "self-defense," to shore up Paw's contention that THAT victim MUST be the true killer of Maw and Sonny. It was a bungled attempt to put the blame elsewhere.)

R167- Maybe to make it look like there were two shooters that night? But I think he shot Paul with the shotgun at close range, Maggie turned to run and he used the AR to shoot her from more of a distance. He then walked up to her as she was lying face down on the ground and shot her again in the back of the head. Paul was at the kennel videotaping a friend's sick dog that was being looked after there. The dog belonged to a friend of theirs. That is how Paul inadvertently recorded Alex and Maggie talking to each by the kennel at the time of the murders. Maggie had been persuaded by Alex to meet him at Moselle to visit her father-in-law because he was dying. He died three days later.

[quote]He then walked up to her as she was lying face down on the ground and shot her again in the back of the head.

Was he heard to say, “You should’ve kept your fucking mouth shut”?

R169, why wouldn’t she just meet him at the hospital, where both patient and father were?

Sorry, none of this makes sense. I’m not picking on you or your theory.

I don’t even trust that the police investigated properly.

Alex Murdaugh Lured Estranged Wife Maggie to Lodge the Night She & Her Son Were Murdered: Sources. Article at link.

I wonder why Pa didn't just skip the murder plans when he realized that Paul was at the house. Or postpone them.

She must have given him an ultimatum within Paul's hearing.

Never say multiple homicide will wipe the cheerful smile off Nancy Grace's face!

R171- She agreed to see him at the hospital, she was going to meet Alex at Moselle and follow him there in her car.

173- Paul was intentional, imo. Big Daddy was about to take his last breath and Paul and Maggie were about to inherit a chunk of money. However, if an unfortunate accident occured the inheritance of both would then go to Alex. That is what I believe.

It makes a lot of sense.

Accused killer Alex Murdaugh compared to Charles Manson, Ted Bundy. The lawyer for for the family of Gloria Satterfield — the dead housekeeper in South Carolina whose heirs successfully sued her boss, accused murderer Alex Murdaugh — said Friday that Murdaugh is in so much trouble that he might be be better off dead himself.

“I would never advocate anyone committing suicide but in Alex’s case he has ruined so many people’s lives already and there’s so much more coming,” Eric Bland, the Columbia, SC attorney representing the Satterfield family, told The Post.

I knew that the bodies of Paul and his mother were found many yards apart but they said last night on the updated 48 Hours that he was found half in/half out of the kennel and she appeared to have been trying to run back to the house. I hadn't heard that before.

R179: I believe she shot near the equipment shed with the red roof as she was attempting to flee. Reportedly half of Paul's head was blown off and Maggie was shot with an assault rifle and 300 blackout ammo. Just brutal overkill and rage.

R180- Was shot.

He's *quite* a guy, that Paw.

Can y'all send me some $$$ on GoFundMe? Now that daddy's in jail I'm practically an orphan

Thanks, Alex! Now I no longer have the title of South Carolina's Biggest Piece of Shit

I want to know did Pa also kill Stephen Smith. And was Buster involved in that murder and his mother and brother's?

Murdaugh's crimes seem to have been financially motivated, and the one thing I don't see, is a way for Murdaugh to make money off the death of Stephen Smith.

So his death doesn't really fit the pattern of all the other Murdaugh-related crimes, unless the poor kid knew something that could cost Murdaugh money. So what gives there? Did the kid know something that Murdaugh needed keeping quiet, or was there some sort of sexual motive?

I wish the media would cool it with this story, I’m tiring of it.

Ok, Buster.

R186, Murdaugh didn’t just commit crimes for money, he also covered up family “mistakes” that might cost the family. The boat accident is an example of that. The death of Stephen Smith might have been another “unfortunate accident” that would have tested the limits of the family’s finances.

Didn't Murdaugh sound sorry or sad that Paul was killed? It does seem that Paul was killed because he was a liability or knew too much.

[quote] Larry Joe Campbell, the fat guy from “According to Jim.”

He resembles Pa Murdaugh so closely he should probably be glad he wasn’t arrested in his place.

R159, your usage of ALL CAPS for EMPHASIS marks you as a FRAUCUNT.

R178 that attorney is an idiot. Pa alive is more valuable for his clients.

R193 You must be crazy? He was stealing his clients' money. If they got a normal attorney they would get much better outcomes AND the attoney wouldn't be killing their loved ones to get their custom!

The clients of the new attorney, Rose. Whose job it is to claw back as much money as he can from Pa. Which gets harder if Pa offs himself.

Lawyer dynasties are known for the numerous fuck-ups and black sheep. Being forced to become a lawyer, because you’re expected to take over daddy’s firm, is a nightmare if you don’t have the talent or your interests and talents lie somewhere else.

Boy, Buster is quite the porker.

You're lyin, you're lying, I've never been so thin.

It's not clear to me that Paul was also targeted or he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. IIRC, Paw could be heard saying something like "Oh, Paul, why did you have to?" on the 911 tape. Did this suggest he hadn't anticipated his son being at Moselle to care for the sick dog? If Paul was found a distance apart from his mother's body, his body half in, half out of the kennel, does this mean he didn't try to come to his mother's aid when he heard fighting and gunshots?

Have they named who the dogs Paul was taking care of for? It’s hard to believe anyone woukd admit to being friends with him at that point.

[quote]Have they named who the dogs Paul was taking care of for?

Come again.

Maybe Paul was only at Moselle to take care of his friend’s sick dog?

Can you imagine being that friend? Granted, Paul sounds like he needed killin’ but that’s still a heavy burden.

[quote]This cunt did everything except rape the dog and set fire to the post office.

Trial hasn't started. There's hope.

That makes sense R199.

Alex had Ma meet him at an isolated building, soneehat removed from the main house. Confrontation (and the planned murder), were to have happen out of earshot, allowing Alex to say, incontrovertibly to LE, he’d just come home from his father’s bedside to find his wife dead.

However, unbeknownst to Pa, Paul happened to be out checking on his friend’s dog. He was just emerging from the kennel into all the commotion.

Much as he might have loved him, Alex couldn’t risk what Paul had heard, seen or might say to the police.

So he blew him away.

Then why did Alex have two guns on him?

[quote]Granted, Paul sounds like he needed killin’

In the south, before any charges are entertained, that’s the first thing the sheriff asks at a homicide scene. “Did he need killin’?”

[quote]Then why did Alex have two guns on him?

Pure speculation, but my guess is he was going to kill his wife with two guns, making it appear as though there were two shooters.

The man was not the sharpest knife in the spoon drawer.

We're the guns ever found?

How much knowledge or inkling did she have about the extent of her husband's depravity?

Supposedly she'd hired a forensic accountant so she probably had an inkling about the finances and it was why she was killed.

This case is so boring. Stop trying to make it more interesting.

maybe Alex had more than one gun out. Killed his wife with one. Discovered Paul and grabbed a different gun to kill him with. Just thinking of a different scenario.

R72 - My hypothesis about what happened to the maid: Paw was getting home early morning either loaded or hungover and accidentally hits her as she's arriving for her work day. Noticing how severe her injuries are, he panics, brings her into the house, and clumsily lays her out on the stairs. He goes off to shower. Ma and Paul wake up and discover her. By that time Paw's showered and dressed, claiming he came back from the office to get something.

R210 -. I meant more about the meth manufacturing, egregious embezzling, and that he was capable of murder. I guess she didn't think he was capable of killing her

R213 Nah, that's convoluted. In my opinion the simpler explanation is that Alex needed/wanted money and saw killing her as a way to claim a big insurance pay out.

R214 go write an unsuccessful book on it

R215 I see that you're the person who also posted:

[quote]I wish the media would cool it with this story, I’m tiring of it.

and

[quote]This case is so boring. Stop trying to make it more interesting.

I get it: YOU are not interested in this case. But others are. Just ignore or scroll past. Why are you trying to bully other people into not being interested in it? It won't work anyway.

I keep watching the news updates on this story and everyone and his grandma wants it to be a twisted complicated tale. It’s not. It’s peculiar but it’s not anymore that what you’ve seen and isn’t gonna be.

R217 It's very twisted and unusual. A lawyer killing people to steal insurance pay outs from clients and then progresses it to his own family. That's unusual for sure. Again, seriously, why even open this thread. Just scroll past. I scroll past threads I'm not interested in.

R212: According to rumors/leaks from insiders police have the shotgun used on Paul, it was found at the crime scene, but they aren't saying if they have recovered the weapon used on Maggie. When Alex attempted to pin the murders on Cousin by making it look as if Cousin tried to kill Alex and poor ole Red had no choice except to blow cousins head off like poor Maggie and Paul were done, it was with the AR used on Maggie. Of course Cousin Eddie, not being the trusting type, took the gun from Alex and shot him, grazing his head. It is thought that when Eddie was locked up this last time, dope sick and unable to make bond, he told them exactly where they could find the assault rifle used on Maggie. Paul Murdaugh was reportedly missing half of his head. Maggie was shot in the back and once face down on the ground shot twice in the head. She was basically decapitated as well.

AM summoned his wife to the property that night. How the son's death figures into this is less clear.

[quote]it was with the AR

He used an AR on his wife?!?! Whoa, talk about overkill and stupidity. Of course, there was blood spatter on him. A non-automatic smaller caliber weapon would have sufficed for a killing, they're easier to conceal, throw away, etc.

[quote]When Alex attempted to pin the murders on Cousin by making it look as if Cousin tried to kill Alex and poor ole Red had no choice except to blow cousins head off like poor Maggie and Paul were done, it was with the AR used on Maggie.

You wanna try this again?

R220- You are right, it isn't known if AM knew Paul was there, but I find it very difficult to believe that he wasn't aware of Paul's presence that night. Paul was videotaping a sick dog at the kennel and was close enough to Alex and Maggie to inadvertently record the two talking by the kennels. Anything is possible though.

R222: Alex claimed he paid his cousin Eddie to shoot him to death because he ( Alex) wanted to die but he wanted Buster to receive the life insurance benefit from AM's policy.

When did Ann-Margret figure in the story?

R223, I agree that it’s likely that Alex knew Paul was there from the beginning. The bodies of Paul and his mother were found close to each other. That means that if Alex cared so much about Paul, all he had to do was hold off on his plans to kill his wife. But I guess Alex did not have much impulse control.

He wanted Maggie dead before Peepaw Murdaugh croaked.

R227 Why though?

I hope to hell if I’m murdered and they can’t find the assailant you amateur sleuths will try every and any hare brained theory until they find the perp.

The original story story was that Maggie and Paul were living at Moselle, the hunting lodge. But I read recently that they weren't and Alex asked Maggie to meet him there to discuss the problems they were having. She took Paul along because she didn't didn't feel safe alone with Alex. She even texted a friend that night saying something was "fishy."

Also, Alex repeatedly told LE that he hadn't seen Maggie that day. But there was a video of a dog in the kennels on Paul's phone made that night and in the background you can clearly hear Alex and Maggie arguing. They don't appear on camera but are heard fighting. Also, Alex's clothes were covered with blood splatter. Not big spots as if from holding or trying to revive a body, but classic splatter patterns as if made from a shotgun shooting someone.

R227, unless his father’s will was unusual, everything would have gone to Alex and his brother. The Mrs. wouldn’t have inherited independently and she wouldn’t have been legally entitled to a part of the inheritance.

they weren't divorced yet.

R228- A bigger chunk of Daddy's inheritance. But I believe he killed Paul because of the upcoming court case from the fatal boating accident. It was not only going to cost Alex money, it would have revealed his financial crimes. The same for Maggie filing for divorce and having a forensic audit done.

Alex didn't know Paul would be there. Maggie brought him with her because she was afraid to be alone with Alex.

How the hell was sniveling brat Paul supposed to protect her? If she really thought Ellick was a danger, she should have Kept Pail away / protected him.

Mother of the year.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

SLED (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division) and the AG released all kinds of new and updated info when Alex was charged the double murders. There's been all kinds of news articles about it and 48 Hours included a lot of it when they ran an updated episode about the cases last Saturday night.

Maggie did not want to go to Moselle. She sent texts to three of her friends that evening stating that she didn't trust Alex and that he was up to something. She should have followed her instinct. She reportedly did not like to be at Moselle because of how isolated it is. It gets very black dark at night in the low country and Moselle is surrounded by swampland and very few neighbors. Cell phone reception is difficult to get as well. I find it very creepy, myself.

^Sounds like you’re familiar with SC. Why didn’t dumbo Alex get in good with the state’s political elite when he had the chance? He could be sunning on the beach in Hilton Head today if he had.

This is just one of his defense attorneys.

I group Pa wanted to kill Paul who became a liability and make it look as if the killed girl’s family was behind it. And Ma came in between and she had to go.

R241- I think you are right. I believe he wanted to kill Maggie and make it look like Paul was the target and Ma was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I also believe that is why two different weapons were used. But I think he really wanted to be rid of both of them. Paul was a sociopathic alcoholic who was not going to stop causing trouble. Maggie was leaving him. Maybe he was a family annihilator, idk.

That is the most hideous looking family I have ever seen.

Again, he lured Maggie to the hunting lodge but he didn't know she was bringing Paul with her. He didn't know Paul would be there.

John Marvin knew Paul would be there. ( AM's brother). In fact , he asked Paul to go to Moselle to be with Maggie. 🤷‍♀️. I believe he knew. He wanted everyone to think the murders were the result of revenge on Paul for the death of Mallory Beach from the boating accident.

You think John Marvin was in on the murders?

That would be shocking.

[quote]A non-automatic smaller caliber weapon would have sufficed for a killing, they're easier to conceal, throw away, etc.

Yes, but they don't give the same thrilling sense of machismo and power as one slides one's hand up and down the barrel rhythmically.

This story exemplifies why people hate the south. The Murdaughs probably sneered at poors.

Mofo, you’re cooking meth and murdering maids.

R248, he reminds me of the head honcho in Stephen King's "Under the Dome" only less believable.

"Why didn’t dumbo Alex get in good with the state’s political elite when he had the chance? "

Alex was too small-time to be of interest to the state's political elite, he was nothing but a small-time crooked lawyer, whose influence ended at the county line. And he didn't have the brains, guts, charisma, or money to interest anyone outside his petty spere of influence. No, all he ever did was piss away the influence he inherited.

I watched that 48 Hours special. Those family photos they kept showing did what they were supposed to do...UNTIL the boat crash. Then you remember what a spoiled piece of shit that kid was. I wonder if the mother was a piece of work OR did she pop oxys all day.

One thing I remember about Maggie was that the florist in town said she was very particular and she loved pink flowers. That was the nicest thing anyone said about her in the interview.

I think the florist said Maggie hated pink flowers?

Missus Maggie!

Just to be clear about the Stephen Smith case. He was a gay nurse with a much older, wealthy boyfriend. Stephen was also using his position as a nurse to deal drugs. He died from blows to the head that were not consistent with being struck by a car. Is this correct?

R242 makes a LOT of sense. Since I am confident Paw is going to end this process with a guilty plea (unless he is sensibly able to figure out a way to kill himself in jail), I hope the Judge in his murder case(s) will force him to make a complete confession as to just exactly how and why he committed these murders. Certainly Mrs. Murdaugh's family is entitled to know at least that much.

This is the first I’m hearing about Stephen Smith dealing drugs. I haven’t followed that part of the story too closely— it is too sad.

R242, Paw himself was a sociopathic drug-addicted asshole, so Paul being the same should have not been a worry, overall.

R253, You’re right! I got that wrong. Sorry, Miss Maggie. Hope they didn’t put any pink flowers on your casket.

R257, I don’t think I’d heard that about Stephen Smith, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I know he was only in nursing school, but I personally know two nurses who lost their licenses because they were stealing drugs for personal use or sale (or both). This was back when they didn’t have as many controls, of course, but.

That's the first I have heard of Stephen dealing drugs. I did hear that he was a sex worker.

He went out to Hilton Head to hook up with an older man just before he died. The man told the police "no money changed hands." Seemed an odd thing to volunteer and immediately made me think that money had indeed changed hands.

[quote]He didn't know Paul would be there.

I'm unsure if he knew Paul would be there before Alex arrived. But he knew Paul was there BEFORE the murders. Apparently, the police have a video of Alex and Maggie taken by Paul just before the murders.

So if Alex didn't want to kill Paul, too, he would have just chosen another time to kill Maggie.

R257, the coroner said that the death was a hit and run, but the police officers who first saw the body thought that his head had been hit repeatedly by a blunt instrument. I’ve never read that he dealt drugs; maybe it was something that came up in the police interviews.

[quote]the police have a video of Alex and Maggie taken by Paul just before the murders.

There's audio but no video. Paul took phone video of a dog in the kennels and they can be heard arguing in the background. The phone was on Paul's body. It's important because Alex repeatedly told LE that he never saw Maggie that day before he found the bodies.

R263, a lot about the case is murky. Was the older man his boyfriend or a client? Was he selling drugs? Did he do drugs? Why did he pluck is eyebrows like a drag queen?

I am so utterly fascinated by this case. My parents recently moved to Beaufort, SC and I am proposing a “Murdaugh Murder Tour” at Christmas this year.

DL is better than established cold case units. We were right about almost every element of the Soft Butch Sous Chef case. I believe someone who posted here directly contributed to solving the case (their friend had fucked the murdered lawyer years before his murder and he provided the victim’s Craigslist email to the police).

You’re correct, r266.

If Stephen Smith was indeed dealing drugs, then he would have had a reason to meet Paul Murdaugh, but believe me a student nurse doesn't get a chance to grab enough drugs to steal. I went to nursing school and started working 20-odd years ago, and every single narcotic was controlled and counted.

The only nurses I know who lost his license for stealing drugs didn't steal enough to deal, he just stole a few half-pills or drops of morphine here and there, because he had chronic back pain due to an on-the-job injury. And that's why I got the fuck out and got a desk job when I could.

Weird that people are attacking Stephen Smith by spreading unverified rumors about him, instead of focusing on the Murdaughs....

Agreed, R269. Is Buster here?

PawPaw pings.

Was Pa sexing Stephen Smith?

R269, I was not attacking anyone. As I wrote, the Stephen Smith case is murky. *A lot* of unanswered questions, including what was his connection to the Murdaughs. Just seeking clarity.

My guess is that Paw asked Maw to come out to the the hunting lodge.

Maw does, with Paul.

Paw grits his teeth and tries to play nicey-nice.

Maw has had it with him and calls his bluff in front of Paul - or tells Paw that she'll tell the kids exactly what their old man is up to.

Paw realizes that there's no way to keep Paul in the dark anymore and so kills both of them.

Nah. He intended to kill both.

Paul Murdaugh was a psychopath like his murderous Daddy. Right after the boat crash while Mallory was missing Paul was laughing and smirking about it to her distraught boyfriend. Maggie was a pretentious bitch who looked down her nose at anyone not in their income bracket. Her housekeeper/nanny who helped raise her son's was homeless more than once and that heartless bitch did nothing.

[quote]who helped raise her son's

Oh, dear!

Maggie was a rich Karen.

^^^I haven't followed this case that closely. The maid was homeless while being employed by the Murdaughs? I had assumed their maid was a live in. Wow. What trash these people are.

R279- Yes and they paid her next to nothing. They never visited her once when she was in the hospital after falling on the stairs or their house. Then AM swindled her sons out of the insurance payment from the fall. Many think AM murdered her as well. Steven Smith had a 7 inch wound to his head. At first it was thought that he was shot. No debris from another vehicle was found near him. This is the first time I have ever heard anything about Steven dealing drugs.

This thread is EVERYTHING. Are ya'll getting this additional information online somewhere or watching some documentary?

R280, the dealing drugs angle was mentioned in a previous thread. It would make sense as it makes a connection to the Murdaughs. Drugs are a thread throughout this mess. I can't remember if that was based on any facts though. AM/Pa/Paw/ Alex does not seem a likely suspect in Stephen's murder. It seems more like something Paul would have done in an alcoholic rage. Yet another mess Paul made that his father had to clean up. At least initially, Paul was also assumed to be behind the death of the housekeeper. Paul was known to be a very violent drunk and to flip out over the littlest thing when drunk. The question that still begs an answer is, "What was Stephen's connection with the Murdaughs ?"

Interesting that everyone jumps on the drug comment but seems to be fine with the speculation that he was a sex worker.

Minor side point but the maid was homeless? Where were her sons? The ones that just received the huge settlement?

Maybe they were ALL homeless.

She wasn't homeless.

Homelessness can mean couch surfing. Although I don't know whether she was or not.

According to newspaper articles, their maid was indeed homeless during her employment.

Several people told police that the Murdaugh boys were behind Sephen Smith's death. And others said that they heard that Buster was in a relationship with him.

Stephen Smith was not a nurse, he was a nursing student, and that could describe anything from an RN to the bedpan engineer. He had no access to drugs that an average person wouldn't have had, and there is no mention, besides on a few threads here, that there is any suspicion that he was dealing drugs.

Buster was fucking Stephen on the downlow.

It's a love story: Buster and Stephen! (I'm a little skeptical but it is possible of course,)

Alex was just denied bond.

His attorney said he wants a speedy trial so he can find the real killers. Just like OJ.

Alex shaved his hair off. Someone worried about a drug test?

[quote] they heard that Buster was in a relationship with him.

Buster? The porker?

Oh, poor Stephen.

R291 That is why I'm skeptical. Surely Stephen could do better than Buster. Unless the Murdaugh money and status was enough of a draw.

Maybe Buster has a thick cock. Or maybe it was the fire bush.

Buster and Stephen were both show queens.

Pa Murdaugh looked like FUCKING HELL today in court. He's lost a ton of weight.

Is jail food that bad, or is he going for the Jodi Arias "too skinny to kill anyone" look?

Facing the death penalty for bumping off half your family - and possibly the maid as well - plays havoc with one's appetite.

Just to dispel so much speculation and nattering, here's a link to another recap of Alex's plight after today's proceedings.

Link is about Alex, not Paul the housekeeper, the dead, boating crash girl or the nurse-in-training who was either turning tricks for cash with older me or dealing drugs.

[quote]was either turning tricks for cash with older me

Do tell!

The fact that the defense stipulated to no bond so that the State would not have to release any evidence--AND asked for a gag order--proves that they know the evidence against their client is damning.

Is there any benefit to his pleading not guilty in the face of what sounds like a guillotine blade of a case against him?

Can't remember exactly where I heard it - probably on the Mandy Matney "Murdaugh Murders" podcast, where I've gotten most of my information about this case...

But apparently Maggie was very materialistic too and very competitive with her older sister, who married into a wealthier family and lived a life that seemed more glamorous than Maggie's rural, small-town SC life.

Maggie was also an overly-indulgent mother - who laughed when her children did bad things, like beat-up other children. Paul and Buster were reportedly well-known for using the phrase "mother fucker" from the time they were toddlers, which Maggie thought was hilarious.

I have the same question as r300. I also wonder how much money he has to mount a defense.

Have they checked the areas for owls?

[quote]Link is about Alex, not Paul the housekeeper,

The housekeeper’s name was Paul too? What a coincidence!

[quote]Is there any benefit to his pleading not guilty in the face of what sounds like a guillotine blade of a case against him?

I imagine he wanted to say that in open court as theater for the sake of his family, particularly son.

I think Alex paid his attorneys a large retainer from the money he stole from his housekeeper's estate.

That money must be running out. But I suspect that Alex has hidden money squirreled away.

Some of the jail house calls with his son sounded as if they were talking in code. He asked if his attorney "knew how to facilitate a dove hunt at Moselle." He also asked if Buster needed to hunt at Moselle. I think he may have buried (or otherwise hidden) money at Moselle and "hunting" there is code for getting some of it.

Mallory Beach seems like an unfortunate name for her.

[quote]I think he may have buried (or otherwise hidden) money at Moselle and "hunting" there is code for getting some of it.

There’s always money in the banana stand.

R306 They should have checked the cabins on the shore.

[quote]Mallory Beach seems like an unfortunate name for her.

Especially since her middle name was Washedupona

There’s something wrong with you.

And me, for pissing myself over that.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

When did PA turn into Rick "Batboy" Scott?

Washita Oona Beach.

Buster is still charged with giving Paul his license which he used to buy alcohol at a bar in Beaufort before driving the boat into bridge pylons. And I will think Alex is still being legally pursued as the owner of the boat. Will these cases be heard in court before the murder or embezzlement charges since they were filed first? Or maybe Mallory's family won't pursue knowing the Murdaugh coffers are empty and they don't want to rack up more legal expenses? Buster is knee deep somehow, but he probably doesn't have a pot to piss in now.

From the Daily Mail: “Rumors that Murdaugh was having an affair with a fellow attorney have been widely circulated both locally and online.”

I don’t believe I’ve heard that before. Maybe I just missed it. And Paul does indeed look a lot thinner in the photos.

^would think, not will

Alex, not Paul. Need edit button!

Male or female attorney.

They go by ze and zir, R317.

His attorneys MUST be representing him for free, just for the tv coverage/publicitiy. Paw hasn't got a pot to piss in at this point, nothing with his name on it actually belongs to him. He's functionally destitute.

Did everyone in the Courtroom, including the Judge, let out a loud collective >>HISS<< when Paw entered the room?

For a case as serious as this, they plead "not guilty" in order to have time and space to wrangle a guilty plea that is most favorable to them, if they are convinced that fighting conviction is a waste of time. (There is also the question of how much of their precious time is worth wasting "defending" Paw, since it would certainly seem that he's got NOTHING to pay them with, nothing that couldn't be clawed back from him by other outraged creditors). If the evidence is as strong as it seems to be, I imagine Murdaugh will face the death penalty in SC, and so he's likely to get an offer: 1) Plead guilty and get life without parole (conditioned on providing FULL cooperation in clearing up ALL the other fucked up criminality he's associated with at this point), or 2) Go to a jury trial and face the death sentence. Offer no. 1 MIGHT be conditioned on getting Maggie's family's permission, but prosecutors can usually wrangle that if the defendant is willing to accept that kind of a deal.

^And Paw's general behavior reflects VERY badly on the legal profession and so the prosecutors and the Court system have a kind of "side" incentive to get him to go away as swiftly and quietly and permanently as possible.

Man, I've been drinking, and I'm fantasizing about a Senatrice/Buster angle. That would be so delicious. Unfortunately, Miz Linz is known to like BBC.

Based on much earlier photos, Fatty Low-Country Paw Dad looks like he’s shedded sixty pounds or more. Is he trying to starve himself or cause some health complications?

I hope they keep him on a close suicide watch. Cheating everyone out of a trial and conviction could be his parting fuck you on the world.

Is it possible he was stupid enough to wear an Apple Watch the night of the murders?

[quote]His attorneys MUST be representing him for free, just for the tv coverage/publicitiy. Paw hasn't got a pot to piss in at this point, nothing with his name on it actually belongs to him. He's functionally destitute.

They were his son's attorney in the boat crash case--before Alex's world collapsed.

He gave them a lot of the money he stole from his housekeeper's estate.

And Alex has money squirreled away, either buried at Moselle of transferred overseas. He's only pretending to be poor to avoid judgments and the receivers.

His ginger locks have turned white!

R327- His head was shaved. Nasty outbreak of lice in his pod?

^Facing the electric chair can probably do that for you in no time.

Buster and his hunting buddies. This is about 10 years old and as far as I know it isn't shopped.

The Lifetime movie:

How is it possible that an attorney was not aware of high velocity blood splatter? Even if he’s not a criminal defense attorney you’d think he would understand the basic concept. Did he not even bother to change his shirt?

R332 - why would he bother? Hey, it worked for Jackie Kennedy.

R331 - lol!!!

South Carolina banking scion Russell Laffitte indicted for helping Alex Murdaugh steal from clients

That photo of Buster and his hunting buddies is amazing. It’s like the cover of a nasty VHS tape found in the back room of a convenience store.

R335, “Château Laffitte”

Don't trust your soul to no backwoods Southern lawyer

Russel LUCIUS Lafitte

He should be indicted for that name alone.

Is there a relationship with the wine company

Certainly NOT.

R339, Lucius is a very common name until about fifty years ago in the upper classes in the south. One of those Greek or Latin names that got used often.

R342, AND?

I am ninth generation SW Georgia, I assure you I understand the south and more specifically the “plantation” mentality.

They why R343, if you’re so familiar with the South, do you consider a name plucked from antiquity an indictable offense? One would think with that vast amount of experience (nine generations!) that you’d not react so strongly to a random Homer, Lucius, Josephus, Hadrian, or Ovid.

If you reject classical names on principal it would be hard to find defense for so much as a parking ticket south of Richmond, not to mention first-degree murder.

As you know, there are few people old-school southerners detest more than EYE-talians (which is how they would think of any Latin name.)

The name “Lucius” hasn’t been popular since the late 19th century.

Exactly how old are you, bitch?

R345, you can’t swing a cat in a Southern country club without hitting thirds, fourths, or fifths.

Perhaps we run in different social circles.

Nope. You’ve read about the south, but never been there.

My brother’s initials are WWWIII.

The hyper- literalism gives you away. Nothing anyone says in the south is to be taken literally in any way.

And they don’t capitalize “South.”

I don't understand why white people have to keep committing these gragedies.

R347, my first Woodard ancestor came to Jamestown in 1620 and we’ve been here ever since. Public record, look it up.

That is non-responsive. And Virginia has been considered a (culturally) mid-Atlantic state during your considerable lifetime.

So it’s still not clear why you are attempting to hold forth about culture in the derp south— or, at least the very specific culture that’s integral to the Murdaugh case.

If you were truly southern, another thing you would know is the cultures are hyper-local. Atlanta is very different from Savannah is very different from Charleston is very different from Columbia… etc

Derp south is a typo but I love it so it stays

R304, I wrote, "Link is about Alex, not Paul the housekeeper, the dead, boating crash girl or the nurse-in-training who was either turning tricks for cash with older me or dealing drugs." My apologies for the poor proofing before clicking 'post'.

Try again: Link is about Alex, not Paul, or the housekeeper, or the dead, boating crash girl or the nurse-in-training who was either turning tricks for cash with older me or dealing drugs.

BTW - this case has so many side cases, it's so incestuously intertwined - the story of the fired bank president is particularly juicy. I want pics of his family and hopefully news stories of how badly behaved he, his wife (if there is one) and his spawn (he's got to have procreated) have been over the years. Wouldn't it lovely if South Carolina residents started a run on the bank, closing accounts?!

Not sure if it's the drugs or what BUT what in the entire FUCKING galaxy would make this guy think that HE would be the one person to actually get away with it. That's some raging narcissism.

maybe because he's got away with so many things already. People tend to get overconfident and therefore sloppy.

Back in the day if Tennessee Williams had written this it would have been laughed out of the theater as too dramatic.

Flannery O'Connor with her outsider Catholic sensibility is the one I think truly understood the degenerate South. Only an absolutely act of grace from something totally outside these people's ken can redeem them. Something entirely other, there is nothing within their system that is more than merely potentially good and most of it is evil.

It goes back to murdering Natives and building a culture based on the enslavement of Blacks.

Because Northerners didn't do that either, r355.

[Quote] Derp south is a typo but I love it so it stays

As if you have a choice.

R355, I wonder if the playwright Horton Foote could have made a trilogy of plays out if this sordid tale? Quite possibly, but the drug abuse and dead gay guy seem a bit far afield from his writing.

I wonder if Tracy Letts is keeping copious notes for a future production and I bet Neil LaBute is pondering how to take the story and make it Mormon.

I think a musical ala Fun Home by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori would be your best bet, and I would totally read an Alison Bechdel graphic novel version of the story.

R356, the North did not have a culture built on slavery, the South and had to reinforce it daily in a million ways. Including lynching well into the 20th century.

The Native thing, well that's a bigger issue. Complicated but it plays in. Wasn't that Faulkner's insight.

R350, you can nit-pick and move goalposts all you’d like but I know quite a lot about these people and their culture because it’s my own. The cultures of rural South Carolina and rural North Carolina are not that far removed, beliefs on barbecue sauce notwithstanding. I grew up in the bird hunting, saltwater fishing set and my grandfather bred hunting dogs as a hobby. You’ve probably never even had a beaten biscuit or had to spit lead shot out.

I would also point out that your original claim that names based historical figures from antiquity aren’t common in the South any longer falls flat considering this thread is about a man named Alexander.

Why would someone named Alex be known as Alec? Big Baldwin supporter?

It’s common in my area, I’ve known a couple of Alexes pronounced with the “k” sound but never one that spelled it with a “c”.

Curious New Englander here.

Is the Murdaugh surname being pronounced with a “k” sound a Southern or Irish thing? I’ve never heard of anyone’s full name with those consonant anomalies in the region I grew up in. Irish names, first and last, are extremely common here.

[353]...The mind reels. Tracy Letts is an INSPIRED choice. And the murder of Ma Murdaugh early in the saga means Carrie Coon (Mrs. T Letts) can knock her scenes out in a couple of days and get back to filming The Gilded Age. I'll have a deal memo on your desk by the close of business. I'm thinking John Lithgow for the disgraced bank manager....no, you're right. Waste of a talent for such a small role.

John Lithgow took a very small role in “Terms of Endearment” and turned it into his second consecutive Oscar nomination.

[quote]my first Woodard ancestor came to Jamestown in 1620 and we’ve been here ever since.

Were the convicts or just religious nuts? Most of the trash that washed up on this country's shores back then were one or the other.

I don't get why some people think it is anything to be proud of.

I don’t get why you’re suggesting that it’s something to be ashamed of, R367.

My American ancestors go way back, too. Maybe they were indentured servants, or former criminals, or some other type of “trash”. Who knows, I’ve never done the research to find out.

But, so what, if that would be the case. They survived, toiled hard and made new and better lives for themselves and for their descendants countless generations later. I’d be proud of that heritage.

You type insufferable and full of yourself.

My family is from South Georgia, and had several sets of twins. Two of them I recall being named:

Lily Mae and Lily Maud

Lucia and Lucius

I've sadly lost track, but I believe Lucia is still alive. My point being, it's quite common for southerners to cling to family names, even still.

But, the characters in this sad chronicle are shameful, at the very least.

This complete idiot actually wore his Apple watch with Fitbit during the murders, allowed himself to be videotaped at the crime scene with his victims minutes before he blasted their heads off by the son he was about to kill, and he did not even bother to change his clothing before calling 911 even though he was 100 yards from his house. He should be given the firing squad for stupidity if nothing else.

Born and bred Southerner,and proud of it too. Not all of us are ignorant white trash. In my life the only men I ever met named Lucius were black. One thing about southerners,we knoiw trash when we see it. You can be from a fine old family,but if you are trash,everyone knows it . These fucks may have been big fish in a small pond,but only nouveau riche trash thought they were anything other than trash.

R370, people like Murdaugh think they don't have to be smart, they think their position in the local oligarchy or Old Boy's Network is so incredibly secure that nothing can touch them. They're quite sure that no rules or laws apply to them, because they know the right people and know what those people want to keep quiet, so they sail through life thinking nothing will ever touch them.

It's entirely possible that Murdaugh, or the Murdaugh family, would have gotten away with murder, under normal circumstances. Normally, a corrupt chief of police and DA would pin the crime on someone on their shit list or let it wither away as a cold case, however the corrupt processes work there. But this case made the national news, and maybe Alex was becoming more of a liability than an asset to the network of corruption he lived in, and this time... the case wasn't buried. This time.

Is Lavarius Slaughter southern?

[Quote] Alex was becoming more of a liability than an asset to the network of corruption he lived in, and this time... the case wasn't buried.

But does that mean that Alex will be "suicided" so he doesn't take anyone powerful down with him?

The fact that Alex botched it so badly makes me think he’s killed before and gotten away with it.

R371, Preach. That's just how southern people think and operate. Love you.

"But does that mean that Alex will be "suicided" so he doesn't take anyone powerful down with him?"

Distinctly possible!

And I said above that Alex is a good bet to off himself anyway. A toxic narcissist can live with the fact that he killed his own son, but not with everyone *knowing* that he killed his son, or with the reality of facing punishment for killing his own son. As for killing his inconvenient wife, I expect that's business as usual among his crowd, he'd never have gone down for killing an estranged wife who was about to spill the beans. But killing your own child may have been too much, even for his corrupt allies...

R370- Absolutely and tbh, if the media hadn't covered this case i have no doubt he would have gotten away with killing them.

Busta gots his own People Magazine article!

Stephen Smith doesn’t even warrant a mention in the above article.

[Quote] He’s grown a beard!

What's her name?

R380 They listened to you and gave him his own article. I hope the Piggly Wiggly in BumFuck South Carolina ordered extra copies cause everyone’s going to want to read about it all.

It's got to be pretty traumatic to have your entire immediate family die or be jailed for murdering some of the deceased (I believe his grandfather also died recently, though of natural causes?), so retreating from the public is pretty understandable.

Ironically, with all that family dysfunction forcibly removed from his life, he might have a chance at rebuilding a healthy one.

The grandfather died of cancer a few days after the double murders but he'd been sick a long time and his death was expected.

What became of Alec’s dementia ridden mother?

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

“Bro?” What major international newspaper uses “Bro” for a dead murdered person?

R387, if you click on the link, the headline actually spells out "brother." It seems to be truncated for the preview version.

Despite the risk of being murdaughed , I’ve always been curious about the low country area and have wanted to visit as a tourist. Any southerners or people who have been there can offer advice if this is worth it?

R389, no.

The low country is hideous even by the standards of the South.

Stick to the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina, which are beautiful areas and offer a richer, more diverse, folk-driven and less toxic culture.

R389, I went to Aiken and really enjoyed it

What’s fascinating about Alex is that he just couldn’t stop himself. As ridiculous as his schemes were, he just kept on going.

What a fucking idiot.

It never ceases to amaze me how smart people fuck up their lives to the point that they commit multiple homicides and end up in these situations.

R392- That is what happens when someone has never had to answer for their behavior. But it seems his privilege and protection died along with his father. His life went straight to hell almost immediately.

Oxycontin makes you have terrible judgement. At some point, it becomes a biological imperative to have it. You'll do anything to keep a steady supply coming.

R394- People who know them say his drugs of choice were alcohol and cocaine. They believe that he claimed to be addicted to oxy because it be more acceptable and people would be more sympathetic to a prescription medication than a street drug like coke. Paul's former girlfriend publicly released several videos of Paul and his parents drinking. They acted like drinking buddies instead of parents and enabled Paul's alcoholism from a shockingly young age. Alex is shown partying with Paul and his young friends and it is so inappropriate and disturbing.

Wow. Paul wasn’t even a legal adult, yet he was a full blown alcoholic.

How shallow a dating pool does the low country of S Carolina have that Morgan Doughty would be Paul's "longtime girlfriend"? Christ, Paul wasn't very good looking, had the body of the Pillsbury Doughboy and was a drunk.

Was he seen as being a BMOC because of the Murdaugh name so she hitched a ride for the fun?

Women, I really do not understand them and this case and the people within it's cesspool of actions, activities and proclivities just becomes more and more foul.

R397, she was quite young. Please give her some leeway.

Also, she went on record and truthfully gave an account of Paul’s drinking habits, his behaviors while drinking, including illegally driving multiple vehicles, recounted that his parents illegally provided him and other minors with alcohol, and verified that Paul used false identifications to purchase alcohol many times, with the full knowledge and consent of his parents.

And yes. The dating pool there is tiny. She grew up around these vipers as did her now deceased former boyfriend, Paul. No one knew any better because any better wasn’t there.

White trash. Mules in horse harnesses.

For anyone truly interested in this case, the Mandy Matney podcast The Murdaugh Murders, is beyond excellent.

Mandy did such a fantastic job. She represents what good, honest and relentless journalism is all about, something we’re sorely missing in today’s “news”.

I give her an A +.

Vocal fry?

Yep, R401.

Miss Vocal Fry runs circles around most seasoned journos out there.

She’s top notch, no doubt about it.

Yes, you have to wonder if law enforcement would have acted if the case had not been given so much attention. I feel they would probably have just let it go because of the Murdaugh 'standing' in the community otherwise.

Might she receive some sort of vocal training to take her to the next level?

R398

I don't buy it. Give her a break?

{quote]Also, she went on record and truthfully gave an account of Paul’s drinking habits, his behaviors while drinking, including illegally driving multiple vehicles, recounted that his parents illegally provided him and other minors with alcohol, and verified that Paul used false identifications to purchase alcohol many times, with the full knowledge and consent of his parents.

Yet she still decided to be his boyfriend? Really? She's not a child. An woman has agency. He (and his parents) sound like real assholes. A woman with half a brain would have run far away.

All it says is that she was as bad as they were, or found it all exciting. Either way, young doesn't explain it.

Oh, and, her testifying? You don't get gold stars for doing the right thing.

^^^ Sorry I screwed up the quoted second paragraph.

Oh, please. "As bad as they were." The girlfriend didn't kill anyone.

Someone's just jealous that she got all that tasty Paul dick.

Actually, R405, she was a child. She was only 16 or 17 when the boating accident happened, and allegedly she had started dating Paul when she was 14 or 15, IIRC.

Also, from what I understand, Paul was already hitting and abusing her by the time the boating accident happened, just like he learned from his father, who had been abusing his mom - which from what I understand is a huge reason she refused to live with Alex under the same roof, wanted a divorce, and why she was afraid to be alone with him on the night she was murdered.

I do wish Matney’s podcast delved deeper into how violent these Murdaugh men were/are.

She’s delved into it somewhat, but she hasn’t really touched upon the alleged domestic violence that ran through that household, itself.

[quote]The low country is hideous even by the standards of the South.

You are an absolute idiot. The low country is my favorite place in the south. Beaufort is gorgeous and Charleston is one of the most beautiful cities in America.

Just the drive from Savannah to Charleston is amazing. Through Spanish moss, palm trees, and over water. It's lovely.

R409- Paul learned that abusive behavior from someone, didn't he? That is not meant to defend him at all. Paul most likely had brain damage from years of abuse begining at such a young age and being fully enabled by his parents and the Murdaugh name.

But the other brother, Buster, is not a raging alcoholic.

Of course, that story may change if it turns out he killed Stephen Smith.

Buster smokes, though.

Yes, R411. I mentioned that in my post.

Also, people here are saying the Pa Murdaugh wasn’t a pill head, that he was a huge boozer and addicted to blow. Now that may be the case, but from the research I’ve done, including listening to Matney’s podcast, it is alleged that that Pa Murdaugh was ALSO a pill popper, and that whenever he’d pop his pain pills, he’d become verbally abusive, aggressive and even violent.

Matney’s podcast does touch upon this, and she researched his time in college and law school, where he had multiple violent outbursts while out socializing with his then, classmates & had multiple run ins with law enforcement, as a result.

His father always got him out of these nasty situations, and he never faced any legal consequences, as a result.

He grew up to do the same for his son, Paul, who was a chip off the old block, and ended up killing to Beech girl in the boating accident.

Matney’s podcast even has an episode which features jailhouse phone calls that Alex had with his family members, and his hubris is STUNNING, to put it mildly.

*killing the Beech girl

R414- It truly was stunning, especially when he kept encouraging Buster to go back to Moselle ,where his mother and brother were brutally murdered ,to go hunting. Surreal. It sounds as if AM is speaking in code at times but the biggest take away for me is that AM really believes he will get out of jail one day soon.

Beaufort is a jumped-up bait store R410.

Charleston is a peeling postage stamp.

The drive from Savannah to Charleston takes you past 200,000 hideous gated community golf courses full of rich white trash.

You can fucking keep that glorified spatter of swamp rot.

Moselle is a beautiful property, imo. But it is creepy and isolated. Maggie reportedly did not like staying there and I can totally understand why. Of course it seems downright haunted now. Not by ghosts or the paranormal, but the horrible memory of what happened there.

Personally, I find Savannah and Charleston to be absolutely gorgeous.

Savannah has its crime ridden areas, for sure, but downtown Savannah’s historic district and riverfront are picturesque.

A shame both towns are riddled with trashy folk. But both towns are riddled with some very interesting people, as well.

It’s a mixed bag down there. You take the good with the bad.

R419- All towns have trashy people. I think Savannah and Charleston are gorgeous, especially in the fall. I am a southern girl myself and have lived in Georgia all of my life. I absolutely hate heat and humidity but I love to travel to there in the cooler months. There is nothing in a big city that compares, imo.

R420, I agree, and if I were a white conservative, I’d have stayed in GA, Savannah, specifically.

R405, the entire community enabled these assholes for years. They repeatedly looked the other way or participated in their crimes. The cops were preparing to cover up for Paul after the accident. Why single out the girlfriend?

R421- I am a life long democrat, lol. Family obligations were why I moved back and now poverty is why I am stuck. The weather is what has become intolerable for me because I have MS and we do not do well in the heat .

R422- Yes, idk what a young teenager was expected to do when the Murdaughs were the law in there for decades.

Idk if this has been posted, but it is a good article about the murders and has a bit of new information that I wasn't aware of, such as Paul's phone was found under his body and that AM was lying in wait for Maggie.

No, Alex would have gotten away with the murders if the larger world hadn't taken an interest in this case. Everyone in that county would have known he did it, and his behavior would only have gotten worse, but the corrupt justice system would have failed to find any evidence against him.

Alex would have kept up his petty reign of terror until he OD's, wrapped his fancy car around a tree, or someone did what we assumed the Beach family had done at first. And if the alleged killer was as well connected as the Murdaughs, the police wouldn't have found any evidence against them, either...

Matney has made a lot of enemies with her FB, Twitter, and Reddit bullying. She is strangely possessive of this story and will milk it for all she can. Some of her followers are downright nuts. Is she posting here now?

Matney has made bank off of this story.

The ad revenues for her podcast are paying FAR more than he job at some no-name on-line publication.

I tried to listen to her podcasts the other day. She is a horrible speaker. I know someone mentioned vocal fry, but it’s also accompanied by a bizarre mechanical tone like the auto phone attendants when you call a company. “Press one for technical support, press 2 for customer service, press three for billing enquiries….”

I also found I was skipping ahead past all her “woe-is-me we needed a vacation from the stress of following this story” stuff. ‘Boo hoo it’s so hard ‘ Maybe she broke news in some of her episodes - I don’t know - but I found each episode I listened to was actually pretty weak on content that was also lost between her self pity, and self congratulating. It’s that typical thing that sucks when journalists try to become part of the story instead of just reporting on it. She’s a bore and if she is breaking any news I will just wait for other outlets to pick it up.

Mandy blows a lot of smoke up her own ass. I find the constant self-promotion irritating.

I stopped listening to her, does she do check-ins about wedding planning in the episodes?

R431- I have never been able to tolerate her. She thinks she is the story and she's not. Then there is her voice. Just no.

I called out the vocal fry and sent her multiple links to working with speech therapists to correct it and she blocked me.

R433- What a rude, ungrateful bitch! 😂

R433 I don't blame her.

But Mandy does violate an important rule of journalism: Don't make yourself the story. It's as if she can't NOT do that.

She has actually improved with the vocal fry.

R433 sounds like a cunt. What if she made fun of you for having gay voice?

she's probably a cheap cunt starting new threads before the old ones fill up!

Tilda Swinton IS Buster!

Where are the lynching when you need them?

Richard Kind as Buster?

I wonder if the rest of Alex's local network of corruption are going to have him Epsteined?

R442- I wonder just how much Cousin Eddie knows and how much he will tell.

I don't think Cousin Eddie will tell.

Partly because an (alleged) drug dealer isn't in a position to make enemies in the corrupt local legal system, and partly because to be a success in the (alleged) drug-dealing business, a person needs to maintain a reputation for being serious about client confidentiality.

R444- I would love to know the true story of what happened that day on the highway.

You would know.

Who would know?

The Shadow do.

R448- If only those poor hunting dogs could talk.

Updates?

^When you get indicted for murder, it is almost unbelievable how long it takes for ANYTHING to happen in the court system. Unlessen Paw pleads guilty in the next 6 months, Datalounge is gonna be sittin on this one for a couple of years, probably. Although, as I said up above, Paw's lifestyle up to this point reflects VERY badly on the judicial system, which is highly disagreeable to the whole industry, and so the Courts and the Bar may try to pull strings behind the scenes to get Paw "out of here" more swiftly than they would for an ordinary, drug-addled killer.

Last I heard both sides wanted to put a gag order on the proceedings. Is that why there is nothing lately in the news?

I believe the gag order was denied.

^It's hard to imagine such a thing being granted in a case with so much public interest (and intense suspicion about the people involved and the other unsolved crimes).

R453, indeed it was denied.

Well that’s a relief.

They are all so plug ugly, inside and out. Something off about those kind of redheads. Reminds me of that red headed kid killer with the weird ears.

It troubling that both sides wanted the gag order. I suppose that they might have been concerned with limiting the information potential jurors could learn about, but it seems more likely that there’s just going to be a lot of dirt coming about a lot of people.

The corruption continues

R458- Both sides have much to hide, I have no doubt.

Nobody on either side wants the truth about how corrupt the local legal system is getting out. So, everyone is in favor of the gag order!

In fact, if the gag order really is denied, the only other way to keep all that quiet is to Epstein PA Murdaugh....

It's *easy* to see why Paw would have wanted to quash info coming out, purely to avoid increasing embarrassment to himself and his family (his bros are lawyers in the area, too). The prosecutors might have supported the motion because they have other crimes to investigate involving this turkey, and so it might help them in those efforts if information weren't floating around so freely in public. The Judge must have decided that the public's right to know about these crimes and their prosecution wins out over any of those prudential considerations, and the Murdaughs' apparent interest in keeping things hush-hush is, legally, just laughable.

[quote]They are all so plug ugly, inside and out. Something off about those kind of redheads. Reminds me of that red headed kid killer with the weird ears.

Pippi Longstocking?

Shirley MacLaine!

Prince Harry and the Whores

The subreddit has an unofficial gag order. I was BANNED by the psycho moderator of one of the Murdaugh subreddits for pointing out something that was publicly available information.

It was shocking how mad they got that I put two and two together and mentioned it. No sleuthing, doxxing, spilling secrets. It was like Rumplestiltskin stamping his foot when his name was guessed.

It was the oddest thing. There are so many crazy people in and around this case, I had to back away. I’ll check in from time to time, but it’s bad mojo.

Be specific. What did you write about?

[quote] The subreddit has an unofficial gag order. I was BANNED by the psycho moderator of one of the Murdaugh subreddits for pointing out something that was publicly available information

Which subreddit? There are at least two I know of about the Murdaugh case and probably more. Plus the case is regularly discussed on r/unresolvedmysteries, one of Reddit's best and best moderated subs.

If you want to complain, give us more detail. And I don't doubt at all you had to deal with a "psycho moderator." Most people who have tried to post there have. The few groups that have sane and informed moderators there are great. When Rreddit is good, it's great. It's just usually not very good.

"Sane and informed" moderators at Reddit are a rare breed. I admire the ones who hang on. Most of them give up early on.

I was banned for three days over absolutely nothing by that psycho bitch sleuthbee. Another sub was made because of that mentally unstable mod.

R470, that woman is truly nuts. Why she’s a moderator, and has stayed as a moderator . . . I mean, an entire sub was created and filled out by redditors banned by her psycho behavior.

I hate when threads devolve into complaining about nobodies on other sites.

R472, that happens all the time on the Theatre Gossip threads.

I really don't care about Reddit subs because I prefer to post here. I only read them when something major happens. It will probably be a long time until his trial. He may be Epsteined, there is a very good chance of that happening in my opinion. Especially when reality really hits the dull witted ginger that he isn't going to be given a reprieve or some under the table deal . He will start throwing everyone he can under the bus, imo. He is far too entitled and stupid to keep his mouth shut.

Drew Carey IS Paw Murdaugh!

They should just use most of the cast from Outer Banks as the slutty teens.

Update from CNN - not Alex, but the guy who was supposed to shoot him in the head...

I like this paragraph, According to the indictment, over the course of eight years, Murdaugh gave Smith “hundreds of checks with common understanding that Smith would convert the checks into cash,” with the proceeds going to Murdaugh’s “benefit with the intent of carrying on and concealing myriad unlawful activities.”

Thanks, R477. It's like looking under a rock - all of the creepy crawlies scuttle around trying to hide from the light. This case is as murky as ever. Hopefully Curtis Smith will reveal all that he knows at some point.

I think Alex would have killed him ("in self defense") and then accused Smith of attempted murder, in a ploy to cast Smith as the likely killer of Maggie and Sonny Boy. He *was* looking for a patsy, one that couldn't talk back.

R479 The heat was on Alex that weekend. He had just been fired for embezzling. And he was the sole person of interest in his wife/kid's murders.

I, too, think he was setting Smith up as the killer. He wanted Smith to superficially shoot him first and then Alex was going to kill Smith and claim, "Smith obviously wanted to finish my family off!"

But Smith didn't cooperate and fled.

R479 and R480, this seems logical, at least by the standards of Paw's behavior. The idea that Paw was trying to commit suicide and leave Busted a heap o' insurance money is laughable.

^^^Buster and not Busted.

Although...

I have to give Paw a little credit for coming up with the scheme re killing "cousin" Steve in order to shift the blame for the murders of Maggie and Sonny onto his corpse. It's very wily and could have conceivably worked. Maybe. Unfortunately, he wasn't smart enough to lay the scene where there wouldn't be a church security cam directly across the (largely abandoned) highway, which picked up everything that transpired there. Dumb-dum that he apparently is. -R479

R483 His bigger problem was wearing his Apple watch and taking his Apple phone and his own car (with GPS) to a murder.

That left trails of breadcrumbs that blow his alibi out of the water.

^It would've worked on me too. I never would have noticed something like that, although I *would* have had the sense to leave my cell phone in a nice "alibi" location the whole time. "The Killer(s)" of Maggie and Sonny-boy also took Sonny's phone from the scene and chucked it out the window near Moselle, without even bothering to lob it into any of the omnipresent swampy places that the area is full of. It is just incomprehensible. "The Killer" obviously expected that phone to be found, and as a lawyer, Paw would CERTAINLY have known that it would be transmitting away like mad, the entire time, UNLESS it was thrown in the water. It just doesn't make sense. He's must've been totally wasted, to have had the courage to kill his own family members the way he did, that's the only explanation for all of that I can come up with: he was out of his mind the entire time. High on drugs and probably alcohol too.

R484- "But it's not fair!! I never had to have a reasonable alibi before! " Pa, furiously squeezing the remaining ketchup from discarded packets.

[quote][R483] His bigger problem was wearing his Apple watch and taking his Apple phone and his own car (with GPS) to a murder.

This guy is a lawyer?

Yeah but he usually gets away with it. This time somehow the case got tons of media attention so that's the real reason why he can't get away with it anymore.

There’s a huge article in this weekend’s Wall Street Journal about the lawsuit brought by Mallory Beach’s family against the convenience store chain that sold Paul Murdaugh liquor on the night of the boating accident. It discusses the Murdaugh killings, of course, and the corrupt Murdaugh dynasty.

Very interesting that the WSJ would take this up. Thanks for pointing this out and getting an accessible copy of it.

R490, you’re welcome! The Murdaughs are a gift to journalism.

But not to Vocal Fry recovery.

Man South Carolina is a small-town world and its incestuous relationships (meaning business, social and legislative) can be traced all the way to the federal governments' foreign service!

That was quite the read, thanks for knowing how to get a WSJ piece from behind a paywall.

I side with Parker (and feel for the clerk who sold the booze to the now dead Paul), but like everyone else in Murdaugh's orbit, what a nasty, nasty man.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Dick Harpootlian is pure scum and he is nothing more than a court jester. Any cases that he won were fixed for him ahead of time because of corruption. Let's see if he is capable of winning a case that isn't fixed for him by a corrupt judge. I really dislike him.

Paw is going to plead guilty. They are just holding out to see the evidence, so they can determine how bad the case is against him. If he had micro stains of blood on his clothes from the victims, he ought to be facing a death sentence in SC. Killing your wife and son for money? Capital punishment. He'll plead guilty, without any chance of parole, is my guess, to avoid a trial.

Paw's attorney yelling and being an ass in Court:

There are articles out there stating that on the videotape that they found on Paul's phone everyone was getting along just great! No problems! But that only proves AM was lying about where he was when they were killed, it puts him with them at the time of death. ( I think someone in the Murdaugh family leaked that story to help AM.). It doesn't help him. Vocal fry is reportedly leaving Fitsnews.

Lol, is Mandy finally having a nervous breakdown from all her intensive journalist integrity and shutting down the naysayer comments on her podcast? Maybe she’ll join Only Murders in the Building and be the podcaster murdered because of her vocal fry

R499- I think she is that paranoid loon mod on the Murdaugh Family murders subreddit, lol. The slightest criticism of her on that sub will get one banned immediately. She can't separate herself from the story. It isn't about her, no one gaf about her and her drama.

I think Mandy was making too much money from her podcast to bother writing for FitsNews.

I'm sure that created some tension.

I can't listen to the podcast anymore because she makes it half about herself.

They are trying to sell a subscription podcast now so you don't have to listen to ads. I've never listened to any of her ads.

Someone should pull her aside and tell her to keep her fiance behind the scenes. He reads letters/testimony and has the cheesiest community theater-level bad speaking voice. It is very irritating and makes her sound like Meryl.

Wake up DL! It's Sunday morning and the NY Post has got new dish... do you believe Pa Murdaugh is a drug kingpin or just a white guy with a habit?

Oh, and how whack is it that someone (not Pa) would have the letters C-O-W tatted our across their neck? Christ, talk about trailer trash cracker shit.

I'm surprised Alex had enough time to stop slapping hookers to run a drug gang.

[quote]In June, Murdaugh and Smith [the cousin connected to the car shooting/suicide attempt] were indicted on conspiracy and drug charges that allege Smith received at least 437 checks totaling $2,413,754.79 from Murdaugh, between 2013 and 2021. It’s alleged that Smith converted them into cash in a scheme to benefit Murdaugh as part of “myriad unlawful activities.”

The sums of money involved are what puzzle me more than anything. Obviously Pa Murdaugh had some sort of income and/or partnership interest in his family law firm. On top of which, he stole a small fortune from the insurance settlement on his dead housekeeper, and from settlement accounts in his own firm. But for all of that he seems never to have been flush. It doesn't take require enormous money to "live big" in the back country of South Carolina. and yet somehow he got so deeply in debt that no amount of thievery would set him right with his creditors - never mind the people he robbed who had not yet discovered the fact.

That and the fact that he was "given" the very large parcel of land containing the hunting estate suggest he may have had something going on more than his own "addiction."

Alex was "given" that very large parcel of land by a notorious drug dealer. The parcel had a landing strip and buildings to store things.

I find it odd that Alex used $300,000 of stolen money to pay his father. Was that to hide the money from creditors behind daddy's trust -- or was it daddy's cut in the crimes?

I find it hard to believe that Alex was a major drug dealer, he doesn't seem to be competent enough! A corrupt lawyer may be able to get away with robbing clients and making deals in bad faith, but drug dealers actually have to pay their debts and deliver products or they wind up in the local Mob dumping ground.

What's the Carolina equivalent of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, or the Angeles National Forest?

A boating party with Pa Murdaugh's kid?

R506 I suspect it was a family business. Alex's father was much more competent. I think Alex's father and Rusell Laffitte's daddy started the money laundering and passed it down to their less competent son. Or sons. I think Alex's brothers are in on it too.

Plenty of swampland in SC to dump bodies in.

Some of it on Murdaugh’s land.

Hmm.

The murder of his wife and son was so brazen and sloppy.

It makes me think he’s gotten away with murder before.

[quote] What's the Carolina equivalent of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, or the Angeles National Forest?

SOUTH CAROLINA.

I suspect wily old Maggie the Cat knew too much about Paw's "business" dealings, and, contemplating a divorce, must have indicated in some mild yet significant way that she had the goods on Paw if he didn't come forth with the kind of settlement Maggie thought certain he could afford. So Paw had to kill her to keep her from fucking everything up. And Sonny-boy got in the way or tried to defend her, or something. Paw seems like he's probably a sociopath, to me. Paw is the only one left who could explain what happened and he'll never talk, regardless of how his cases come out.

From that NYPost article above:

"Murdaugh now faces a total of *90* charges of financial wrongdoing, including recent allegations that he was involved in drug distribution and money laundering across several counties here."

I wonder where Buster goes from here.

Kicked out of law school.

Mom and brother murdered.

He’d still a party to the Beach lawsuit, I believe.

Then there’s Daddy…

R514: A Buster update from late July

Somehow this whole story has managed to become as boring as the sound of Mandy what’s her name’s voice.

Mandy will fry. But will Pa?

It’s going to be boring until the trial begins, probably.

No trial, at least not for the murders of Maw and Sonny. Guilty Plea, life in prison without parole. Otherwise, he's likely to receive the death penalty. What's going on now with this case is just legalism, formalities of the system. Especially if the death penalty is on the table, there are rigorous legal requirements to all aspects of the proceedings.

Might he be suicided?

I could never understand those who choose life in prison over dying. Being locked up in a place and not allowed to leave is so much worse than not existing any more.

R520: There is always that. The thing is, he's a glaring example of "BAD lawyering" and the folks in the (generally pretty corrupt) SC legal system have powerful incentives to make Paw disappear as quickly and as completely as possible. Paw himself, despite his earlier little roadside shenanigans, does not seem at all like the "suicide type" to me. He's reptilian-looking. A LOT like one of our recent former Presidents.

Not if you believe in hell.

R523 people really believe in that crap? So funny. No wonder Trump got elected.

People Magazine declares Buster's not doing well. Yet he looked like a happy little chipmunk at that outdoor tailgate party at the footbaw game last Fall, greedily eyeing all the liquor arrayed on the bar, just months after his mother and bro had been SLAUGHTERED...He's not right in the head, any more than the rest of his fam, apparently.

[quote]I wonder where Buster goes from here.

To the nearest glory hole

[quote]Not if you believe in hell.

Alex is a MURDERER, not an idiot.

Yes, Paw is certainly not the churchy type. LOL.

[Quote] Alex is a MURDERER, not an idiot.

He is quite the idiot. He is an exemplary idiot.

He's stupid enough to be caught criming, but he's not stupid enough to believe in Heaven/Hell.

It seems as if Mandy and her wannabe actor husband have decided they can make careers out of this case.

But I think fatigue is setting in on it, especially as nothing much is happening.

Also, they struck gold with this case. It is a once-in-a-lifetime case. What are they going to do when it is over?

[quote]Also, they struck gold with this case. It is a once-in-a-lifetime case. What are they going to do when it is over?

Looking to the future, it might be a very long time before so rich a case unfolds anew.

But looking to the past...South Carolina is very rich soil for mining cold case files and historical cases that make the Murdaughs seem like lightweight amateurs.

I just listened to Mandy's latest podcast. It was about the Stephen Smith case.

I didn't detect any information that I didn't already know.

So it was, basically, an hour of her lamenting that there was no new information. Not exactly riveting.

And it got so strident after a while. It was like listening to a Judge Jeanine podcast. Every sentence had its outrage set to a 10. It just gets to be a bit much.

R532, I wonder, though, if it might serve the interests of many people to make Murdaugh the fall guy for every evil scheme in the county.

R532 Georgia is too. When Facebook first came out a lot of people were using it to blow the whistle on things going on out in GA counties and it was absolutely Wild West bonkers stuff. Didn’t seem to get picked up by the midea much.

Is he still a murderer?

All I want to know is why, if his name is spelled "Alex", everyone pronounces it as "Alec" WTF.

R537, why not ask the passersby on these Charleston streets: Legare, Huger, Horry, Gaillard, Prioleau, Vanderhorst, Manigault, or Lesesne?

Is this thread dormant? Are other DL Murdaugh threads active? There's a trial and man do the murders of Maw and Paul sound horrific.

Link below. if you like real details, there's also a FOX news piece.

R539 , thanks for posting that. I don't know of any other threads at the moment.

Incredible what he did to his own kid. Paul's brain was detached from his body from the upper body shot. Talk about no mercy.

" "Krönlein shot" is a high velocity gunshot wound to the head which has caused evisceration of brain." This is what that man did to his own child.

Also, remember reading about this earlier in the case and everyone was speculating on what PM said about his father that pissed AM off?

Alex Murdaugh's Son Sent Snapchat to Friends Before He Was Killed, Video Is 'Critical to the Case'

Man, that Alex seems to be KING of the, "I told you I was hardcore" fraternity.

What is Buster's life like these days? Is he still holed up with the gf on Hilton Head?

And what about the corrupt/convicted banks? He's tryin' for a new trial!

Buster is in hiding. Right now , to me, he is the most interesting Murdaugh. What did he know? What did he hear? What happened between him and poor Steven Smith? Was he involved in any way in SS's murder? What did Steven know/ find out about the Murdaugh family? Was one of the Murdaugh brothers involved with Steven? So, so many questions.

So, here's a list of potential witnesses at Alex - Pa - Murdaugh's murder trial... list includes: Curtis Edward Smith, Rusell Laffitte, several Laffitte family members, employees at PMPED, Buster Murdaugh, Randolph Randy Murdaugh IV, Alex's mother's caregiver, Michelle "Shelley" Smith, Murdaugh family housekeeper Barbara Ann Mixon, Murdaugh family friends Nathan Tuten, Nolan Tuten, and Rogan Gibson, Gloria Satterfield family members Eric Harriott and Scott Harriott (her brothers), Alex and Maggie's friend and the HC Fire Chief Greg Cook, Eric Bland, Bamber attorney Chris Wilson, PMPED attorneys John E. Parker, Ronnie Crosby, Mark Ball, and Daniel Henderson, Hampton accountant Alice Hazel.

AND MORE POTENTIAL WITNESSES - get out the popcorn!

I was watching a show or listening to a podcast about this case—can’t remember which or I’d link. The show had jailhouse recordings of him talking to the son who wasn’t killed. It was so clear the guy is a psychopath.

The kid was telling him he’d been in Vegas with friends who took him there to help give him a boost from all that was happening. But it was miserable because he kept getting stopped by people who recognized him from the murder drama.

His asshole father responded: well, it’s still nice to be noticed, right?

The son paused for a moment and said: No, dad, not for this it isn’t.

The conversation carried on like that— the kid describing how terrible things have been for him and the dad making light of it.

Does Buster really have a girlfriend?

R545- Did you hear that hideous looking psychopath actually encourage Buster to go hunting at the very place his mother and brother were shot to pieces? Wtah.

I haven't finished reading it yet, but the linked piece from The New Yorker is well-written, I think I finally understand all of the different players and machinations.

Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s injuries detailed in court filing, possible murder weapon disclosed BY BRISTOW MARCHANT - The State - 1/23/23

Editor’s note: The following story contains graphic details of murder that may be inappropriate for some readers.

A new motion in the double murder case against Alex Murdaugh gives graphic details of the injuries that killed his wife and son in June 2021, and suggests prosecutors may have identified a murder weapon from the guns seized at Murdaugh’s rural family home the day of the murders.

Testing at a State Law Enforcement Division facility, a SLED agent concluded “some of the .300 cartridges retrieved from the firing range and near the residence were fired and/or loaded into, extracted, and ejected by the .300 Blackout rifle taken from the property,” according to a motion filed as jury selection got underway Monday at the courthouse in Walterboro.

The same analysis did not, however, conclusively identify that the shells found near Maggie Murdaugh’s body were fired from the gun recovered by investigators.

The defense team of Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin has asked Judge Clifton Newman to exclude that evidence from the trial because it’s based on an “inherently subjective” analysis.

Maggie’s injuries were caused by a bullet from a .300 cartridge, mostly commonly fired from an AR-15 assault rifle, according to separate analysis that details the victims’ injuries. That report was submitted by a blood splatter expert who is being challenged by Murdaugh’s defense team.

Oklahoma-based expert Tom Bevel compiled the report based on autopsy information, photos of the victims and evidence collected by the crime scene investigators.

That evidence details fatal injuries to both mother and son.

Maggie, 52, had five distinct gunshot wounds, the report says. A gunshot wound to the left side of her torso and head include injuries to her left breast, lower jaw, ear, skull and brain. Other injuries were identified to Maggie’s left wrist, left thigh, her upper abdomen through the lower back, and a downward-trajectory shot to the right back of Maggie’s head, injuring the skull, brainstem, cerebellum and the right side of her upper back.

CONTINUED

Murdaugh’s youngest son, Paul, 22, had two distinct gunshot wounds to his chest and shoulder and head. The latter included an entrance wound to the left shoulder and side of the neck, proceeding upward from front to back until the gunshot exited at the right side of the apex of Paul’s head. This injury produced “aspiration of blood” into Paul’s upper airway.

The second shot produced a “cookie cutter pattern” in the left side of Paul’s chest, and then continuing through his left arm.

Analysis also identified blood stains and body tissue from Paul on the entry door, threshold, frame, and wall and ceiling above the door. Splatter was also identified on items on the floor and shelf to the right of the doorway, including a sack of dog food.

Other evidence identified at the scene include hair found on the top of the door and wall, skull fragments on the floor, brain tissue on the outside walkway and footwear patterns in the blood on the floor. Paul was found resting face down just outside the doorway, with his right foot and shoe inside the threshold.

The analysis indicates Paul was shot in the chest first, then shot in the upper left shoulder and face as he was moving toward the door.

The report concludes Maggie was shot four times, with one shot injuring both her wrist and upper body. Six fired cartridge cases were found in a “walking cane handle shaped pattern,” indicating that both Maggie and the shooter were moving as each shot was fired.

Bevel’s report concludes that an evaluation of the T-shirt Murdaugh was wearing at the time found that “six (6) recognized Bloodstain Pattern experts all agreeing the best explanation for the stains on the shirt are spatter from approximately the bottom third up to the top of the shirt,” while blood on the bottom third could be transferred to the shirt from contact with the bodies after they were shot. “All agree they cannot identify some other mechanism to create the distribution and sizes of the questioned stain spatter,” the report says.

The defense is challenging Bevel’s analysis as flawed.

They argue the blood was transferred from the bodies to Murdaugh’s shirt by contact after Paul and Maggie were shot, and that Bevel changed his analysis after meeting with SLED agents. They also say that they were unable to run their own tests on the T-shirt because it was destroyed by Bevel’s analysis.

Do defense lawyers normally run their own tests on murder evidence rather than interpreting the results of forensic experts brought in by the police investigating the crime?

R550

Good God.

Come of guys, let's keep up... at Thursday's trial, Harpootlian got some good "reasonable doubt" points by demonstrating that the deputies on the scene the night of the murders were inept.

AND - how is it. how much is he getting paid? Buster is in the courtroom! Man, he's attending? Does this show support for Pa? And one of Alex's brothers is there too! Really? After Alex's actions destroyed the generations old law firm? W-H-A-C-K.

When this story was playing out in real time, I practically couldn’t believe every new story/twist - it’s such a baroque, southern gothic tale that unfolded like a slow, very long movie.

And he’s guilty - I just can’t fathom anyone else doing this and he had motive, means, and opportunity.

He has to have done it, along with a bunch of other things…

In the meantime, that young prosecutor is adorable.

I can’t wait until the inevitable limited series about this. Who would play Maggie Murdaugh?

Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons?

^^I would watch that!

"This is what that man did [gunshot description] to his own child. Also, remember reading about this earlier in the case and everyone was speculating on what PM said about his father that pissed AM off?"

My theory is that Murdaugh was in the process of murdering his wife to avoid the expense of a divorce, and that little shit Paul tried to protect his mother. And Murdaugh blasted a bullet through his own son's skull, rather than stop the first murder.

If I'm right, then that little shithead Paul actually tried to do the right thing, once in his life.

Kim Catrall (in a fat suit) IS Maw Murdaugh!

Without subscribing to one of the Carolina newspapers, it's difficult to read about the day-to-day proceedings. Harpootlian is earning every cent he's charging though, definitely sowing doubt in the jurors minds.

The video placing Alex at the kennels directly before the murders.

OMG, what rednecks!

Guilty as sin too.

The whole family is despicable, even the ones he murdered.

I know, Twitter is a Hellscape, etc. But this SC journalist has excellent trial coverage.

So did Paul and Maggie eat dinner with AM at Moselle that evening? Has this been confirmed? How cold blooded can one person be to sit and have a meal with the family you know you are about to murder in cold blood.

Married couples have dinner together while wanting to murder each other all the time, R566! It's part of married life!

And I really don't think AM planned to kill Paul, I think Paul wandered into the murder of his mother.

R567- I believe he very much planned to kill Paul in order to blame the murders on revenge for the boating accident.

R566 According to the autopsies "similar stomach contents" were found in Maggie and Paul. So they at least ate together. Alex, who the hell knows? I wouldn't put it past him.

R569- Thanks. I first read that Paul had dinner with John Marvin and just a few weeks ago it was being said that Maggie and Paul had dinner with Alex at Moselle, so who knows at this point. One thing that I see happening, and it sickens and infuriates me, is that AM is pulling the same shit that Simpson did at his trial - testifying without taking the stand . Why is this allowed? Dramatically shaking his no in disagreement with witness testimony, how is this not influencing the jury?

R570^ shaking his head no.

R570 I have a sinking feeling that Alex's defense is kicking up enough of a cloud of obfuscation and bullshit that it will create "reasonable doubt" in the mind of the jury. Then Alex and Buster can go on a crusade to find the Real Killers.

Paul's kennel video really should have been the end of it.

AM, WAS at the hunting lodge with PM and MM. He said after dinner he took a nap on the couch for maybe half an hour. The guns used haven't been recovered. However the bullet casings from guns previously fired around the property match the casings from the weapons used on the Mother and Son. Also, during the time AM said he was asleep, there were 230 footsteps taken during that time that his own phone captured. He also said during their times of death, he was at his Mothers house to check on her, because she has advanced dementia. Even though he said he was at his Mothers, his cell phone shows he was there. Because of the amount of footsteps his phone recorded and that his phone showed he was there, its reasonable that he killed them. Paul and Maggie's phones went locked forever at about the same time, not even a minute apart. Other things too. In the police car interview, AM clothes are spotless, even though he said he checked their pulses and had contact with their bodies. He had to know they were dead since Paul's entire back of head and brains were near his feet, and Maggie had been shot multiple times and also execution style. He's a monster. He killed his family and has very little remorse, if any.

I thought the footsteps captured were from Maggie's phone (pre and post-mortem)?

And let's not forget that gunshot residue.

"[R567]- I believe he very much planned to kill Paul in order to blame the murders on revenge for the boating accident."

I don't see what AM would have gained by killing Paul. and AM seems to be a man completely motivated by personal gain. Obviously he wanted to kill his wife to save himself the expense of an ugly divorce, but I don't see what killing Paul would have gained this utterly selfish monster of a man. He could have staged a fake revenge murder without killing Paul, anything to get the wife out of the way, maybe even take a few potshots in Paul's direction to scare the little shit into telling the police the right side of the story. But AM didn't *need* to kill Paul that I can see, not unless Paul tried to save his mother.

What kind of killer would leave witnesses who could implicate him?

Also, Paul was a source of ongoing problems due to the boat crash. This would remove him from the calculus.

He’s clearly amoral and not above killing and hurting people he was close to and who cared about him. I felt so sorry for his best friend who testified yesterday…he was tearful and acknowledged that he still loved Alex. And this was after Alex lied to and stole from him repeatedly and involved him in his illegal activities.

Who was killed first, the son or the mom? Have the police released that information?

"Paul was a source of ongoing problems due to the boat crash. This would remove him from the calculus. He’s clearly amoral and not above killing and hurting people he was close to and who cared about him. "

Well, the reason I doubt that AM planned to kill Paul was that he wouldn't care that Paul was amoral and not above killing people, in AM's eyes that'd make him a chip off the old block! . The other reason is that killing Paul wouldn't necessarily make the issues from the boat killing go away. I don't think Paul was in danger of arrest, not with the local legal system being as corrupt as it was, and any lawsuits of feuds would probably continue even if the little shit were eliminated.

Oh, I meant Alex is amoral, but Paul was too. 😂

Jada IS Pa Murdaugh!

I can see Ryan Murphy salivating at the prospect of "American Crime Story : Low country"

Feud: Alex Murdaugh vs Everybody

I’ve watched a bit of the trial. It does seem like the sheriff and deputies didn’t handle the crime scene well.

I don't feel bad for the wife and shit head son at all. They were all demons. What they did to their housekeeper and her family is cruel and heartless. The trial is very entertaining though. High class Southern drama is a fun vibe.

On that HBO show on his phone call with his son, Buster said his girlfriend was sleeping off a hangover. Lock Buster up too! He is still living the high life after killing Stephen Smith.

Buster has a girlfriend? Or is it a gurrrrlfriend?

Those ginger looking ne'er do well sons were/are capital U ugly!

This clip from the trial is priceless. Alex eventually left his life-long "friend," attorney Chris Wilson, holding the bag for about $192,000 of attorneys' fees that Alex was cheating his own law firm out of, in connection with a case they had been working together. Murdaugh induced Wilson to pay the total of PMPED's fees over to himself personally (Wilson could safely rely on Alex to have the legal authority to do that, since Alex was a partner in the firm). Then, when the scam was beginning to be exposed, Murdaugh couldn't replace the last $192K, so as a favor to him (and without being told what was really going on), Wilson put up that amount FOR Alex. Wilson confronted Alex about it on the Saturday morning before Memorial Day in 2021, only to hear on the news about Murdaugh's attempted roadside "suicide" later that very same afternoon (and Alex has been in jail ever since that day). It's unstated, but of course Wilson never got his money back.

The kicker is that it sounds *very likely* to me that Wilson was actually IN LOVE with this fucking creepy psychopath. The prosecuting atty carefully walks Wilson through the whole sequence of events. Alex, sitting at the defense table, looks like a hungry lizard. It's enthralling.

^And coincidentally, the very morning that Alex was first confronted by his own law firm about the whereabouts of this total missing $792,000 in attorneys' fees, just also happened to be the very day that someone later executed Alex's wife and older son Paul, down at Moselle. The very same day.

What was Alex doing with all the stolen money?

You’ll notice there’s been little discussion of his “drug habit” during the trial. Maybe it’s irrelevant at this point, or maybe it doesn’t exist.

Alex really was a maniac.

I haven’t been following this case in court. Is there any chance Paw Murdaugh is going to walk free after this trial?

He does, in fact, seem to be a demon and I believe he should be in jail.

I think he had a gambling addiction, too. That’s the answer when the question is “where’s all the money?”

Still waiting to hear why “Gibson” was in the police reports as a person on the scene. Did he get his butt over to Moselle when Paul stopped answering his phone? I only care about this because discussion about it was censored on Reddit. It stunk of coverup. If his name is unredacted on a publicly available police report, it’s fair game for discussion, eh?

Wilson testified, up above, that Alex told him on the Saturday morning that Wilson confronted him about the $192K, that he, Alex, had been a drug addict for over 20 years. They had a good cry about it, teehee.-R590

Why is Alex’s head bobbing and he is so fidgety does he have ADHD?

^He's fidgety because he's guilty as Sin.

In other news, Judge has ruled to allow the evidence of A's financial crimes to come in, in support of the theory that this supplied the motive to kill Maggie and Paul. It's in Daily Mail, so linked below:

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Those are some rough looking 50 year olds

Looks like Judge Newman is unlikely to be a member of South Carolina's Good Ole Boy network; Murdaugh's chances of having things swept under the rug in his court would appear to be slim.

R584 *giggles*