177. The Murdaugh Murders Part 2

We begin our look at the timeline in this case, which may be the key to understanding exactly what happened.
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[@judyholiday1794]

I live in Charleston,SC and this case has taken on a life of it's on..I work with someone that grew up in Walterboro and he has always talked about how crooked the Murdaugh's were even before all of this horrible stuff happened..The train tracks was just across the street from Almeda ..I heard he was coming home late one night and his car stalled on the tracks .But if you look at the location I don't understand why he couldn't have got out of the car before the train hit him..Just crazy situations are attached to this family..Enjoyed the video and content

[@Brandon-a-writer]

i'm in the piedmont upstate, i was covering this dude's crimes before maggie and paul got shot and for a while people where like, he didn't commit ,,, all the crimes did he? i think he did

[@barbh1]

Dr. John Mathias of Hidden True Crime has a theory that he committed suicide due to financial losses. I wondered if he just thought the train could stop.

[@Brandon-a-writer]

living in SC and doing research to report on this family, I found something you might enjoy Brett: Alec's maternal great-great grandmother was 1st cousins with ... JEFFERSON DAVIS, PRESIDENT OF THE CONFERATE STATES OF AMERICA. They've ran in powerful circles long before the first law office, or were at least in circles of power prior to the 19th century before falling after the... civil war

[@phasis]

I’ve been dying for someone to look into their antebellum, confederate and Jim Crow roots! Alex made accusations in September “interview” with Harpootlian- the “black guy” in Walterboro (cousin Eddie’s supplier), Barbara Mixon (black housemaid of around 50 years) still working full time at 71 years old and has no teeth. The tone gave a casual racism you would expect of someone in their 80s.

[@treesab]

Great find!!

[@cjfengshui1]

I was just wondering how Alice is doing and then I saw this next podcast. Thank you both for your excellent work!

[@ninguno141]

His brother was cleaning the crime scene next morning!!?? What??? Something is very wrong here!!

[@nmikloiche]

Well SLED released it, so there is nothing criminal about this. But a wealthy family who doesn’t even clean their own house, launder their own clothes, or cook their own meals, I find it suspicious that they decided to do the clean up versus hiring a professional crime scene clean up company to do the job properly and spare them them from the horrific task . To me it seems like the small circle wanted to limit access to the scene until they were able to get down their in a days light and make sure everything was as they wanted it.

[@treesab]

​@@nmikloicheRight? Alex thinks twice and puts Paul's phone down, later telling cop he was somehow mindful enough to disturb the scene as little as possible yet he called as many people over as possible to drive onto the property and eventually gather inside the house. How would Alex know the killer/s weren't hiding inside his own house waiting to ambush him, or hadnt entered the house at all while he was gone? I would've thought the house would've been taped off immediately until it was cleared by law enforcement. Not Alex, he didn't have a care in the world about who mightve entered the house before or after his family was brutally murdered. Let's be honest, when a crime is committed on someone's property, whether it's a burglary or violent crime, the victim feels violated. I remember when a radio was stolen from my SUV, I felt creeped out. I wasnt worried about the radio, it was the realization that someone went out of their way to enter my personal space to take something without my knowledge. It's a very creepy feeling. Yet Alex never even expressed any sense of danger or concern regarding the house when LE arrived. It's simply beggars belief. You hit the nail on the head regarding the clean up and keeping outsiders out.

[@nmikloiche]

@@treesab Your assessment of the unease he should have been feeling is also spot on. I’ve said this many times - when/if you roll up onto a crime scene, while you may be horrified at what you are seeing, you basic instincts kick in and you feel the fight or flight instinct and since there was nobody there in his immediate location to fight off, he would have went into “flight” mode. He would not be comfortable waiting in a dark pasture with 2 murdered souls and vigilante killers in the area. I too have a personal story. I remember so much detail from that day and it was 20 years ago. My home burglarized in 2003. I came home after work and after picking up my 2 kids. I parked and we started to walk inside. I noticed the door was ajar. I told my older child to take herself and her little brother and get back in the van. I went up to the porch, sort of half-in half-out of the door - I’m looked inside, listening, and I could see some things were disturbed and out of place. I walked into the front room, looked at where the kids had their game systems and they were gone and all the video game disks. I immediately walked out, back to my van, drove 1/8 of a mile to be in public view, and called 911. I didn’t explore. I didn’t stand on the porch. I didn’t even think. I just knew - get you and the kids out of here and then call police.

[@treesab]

The family had a monopoly on all things law. They had the power of charging or not charging people with crimes. They also had the power of the badge to gain access to crime and various types of accident scenes, which put them front and center for personal injury cases. All of this access enabled the family to form a connection to people in law enforcement, judges, clerks, and anyone else in key positions that could be exploited to their benefit. The power of the solicitor office also allowed them to leverage criminals in quid pro quos. They formed relationships with criminals that could be used to carry out misdeeds and/or engage in illegal black market activity, such as bootlegging moonshine. In fact, AM's grandfather Randolph aka Buster, was known to lockup competing bootleggers that threatened to cut in on the market. He was one of several who was eventually indicted on charges related to bootlegging, but was the only one who was found not guilty. He was called out for jury tampering and I seem to recall there was some sort of accountability but I cant remember what it was or if it stuck. I almost fell over hearing Alex and his brother, John Marvin talk about their close relationship to people like Greg Alexander and Duffie Stone! Those two names are synonymous with public police corruption. I was even more shocked when he disclosed that Greg Alexander, chief of police gave him a ride to the June 7th double homicide crime scene at Moselle property. Yes, $125k/year is extremely wealthy for that area. That area truly defined the have's and have nots. There isnt a middle class.

[@barbh1]

Prosecution put one of the former sheriffs, TC Smalls, on the stand to testify that he never gave Alec any permission to put blue lights on his personal car, which Alec had falsely claimed on the stand.

[@Cecil-hotel]

Very good👍🏻. I always questioned why Maggie’s phone was taken.

[@Laura-ef1mb]

Why did he take Maggie's phone? And I was hoping y'all would do another live on Alex's cross, the first one was great.

[@bettyboop-xg6jo]

Maybe he took her phone to put some evidence outside of the property.

[@jessvickery7686]

I agree. He wanted to put something off the property. But notice where it was. Not far, not in thick woods. He also wanted it to be found. He also didn't take it so far it would ping on a different tower when he called it. He didn't want a clear time of death.

[@beccacollard7197]

I work for the railway just not in the U.S. I don't the speed limit where you live but freight trains can go swiftly. Additionally trains take a long distance to stop. Working with trains has taught me that they creep up on you. I don't even notice them going by at times. Many cases of self harm happen annually so I would be more inclined to look to that.

[@polkadots716]

I was going to point out the same about the speed of trains. While they do slow down in more populated areas, as you stated it takes them a long time to come to a complete stop. Getting hit by thousands of tons of steel going even 1 mph can be incredibly damaging. Both of my grandfathers and many other relatives worked on the railroad here in the U.S. My maternal grandparents lived about 100 yards from a railroad track. So, I grew up with a healthy respect for trains, unlike many people. Once in a town I lived in years ago, I was riding in a bus when the lights at a railroad crossing started flashing and the train could be heard in the distance. After a driver in front of the bus ignored the signal, the bus driver decided to do the same. The bus was on the tracks as the train came around a bend behind some buildings and the bus barely had enough time to clear the tracks. Passengers on the bus were very shaken up by the close call and were not at all happy with the driver.

[@beccacollard7197]

@@polkadots716 That story about the bus on the tracks chills my blood. How irresponisble of the driver to risk everyone's lives.

[@AintSchabusiness]

I think even Alex's father knew he couldn't be trusted in that position. Didn't want Alex embarrassing the family... And only Connor and Paul went into Luther's and had shots. None of the others had fake IDs so they waited outside. This was confirmed by Morgan.

[@judyholiday1794]

I was just getting ready to correct that fact..The other kids were begging to go home because it was late and cold out..BUT Timmy was in full swing by then..

[@jamiekloer6534]

You guys are so good at putting things in perspective. I agree with Brett that the motive for the murder was more broad than the prosecution laid out. Think Alex was upset about losing the family prestige. The media and his colleges where poking into his life and he had a lot of skeletons. He had to change the narrative make his family the victim not the bad guys. I think Paul going boating that weekend and leaving a cooler full of beer at scene played a role in the murders. Not sure why they didn’t mention that more. He knew people where following Paul around documenting what he did. There was a hearing coming up and I think there was a chance Paul would be convicted. Alex couldn’t allow that. Still not sure if he killed Maggie to eliminate her or because he wanted it to look like suicide and it didn’t work. Hey Maggie had to be asking questions. Alex always tried to play dumb like he wasn’t really paying attention when he was. I often wonder if he was on drugs or was trying to set up some scenario right where he was going to claim some drug dealer was for I g him to steal money then killed his family. I hate unanswered questions. Love this podcast thank you so much for taking time out of your day to do this

[@teenmomAT14toRN]

Thank you.

[@bfree6521]

I love you guys!!

[@-SarahElizabeth-]

Yay! Part two! 🤍

[@-SarahElizabeth-]

I love that this was recorded before Alex took the stand (Brett was right), and before he testified that he had been lying to everyone up until that point. What a wild case.

[@proudanya]

The judge was very kind to the juror who was dismissed. The eggs were brought in for everyone by another juror.

[@patriciagazey4693]

Ty for this - i believe he is guilty - likely to be found not guilty due to sloppy investigation

[@barbh1]

SLED was able to do enough to prove guilt. One commentator said that if they'd done better there would have been more evidence against Alec.

[@laurieclarkson9180]

Isn't there another son named "Buster" ?? Why was he spared? Maybe crazy Dad didn't get a chance to get to him.

[@jamiekloer6534]

Thinks hat I thought Alex did with the cell phone. He told the 911 lady he had already touched the bodies. He felt then he could go look at Paul’s phone it shows this. He sees Paul got a face time. He doesn’t know how they work so he calls Rohan and face times him freaking out. Then his own phone and starts thinking who was that guy that did phone stuff for me. Was it Wally so he looks it up and it is a restaurant. Then he thinks white and calls Brian white trying to get info from him. This was the biggest tell to me. If he would have said yes I picked up Paul’s phone I tried to so who he was talking to wondering if someone he knew called him and came here. I would have understood. But he says no I didn’t know anything. Totally ridiculous. There was prove he was looking at the phone and only lied because he was guilty.

[@janetinca4702]

Why was one of their dogs named Maggie

[@patriciagazey4693]

Chocolate lab ...

[@laurenperkins9196]

What’s going on with Alison’s voice 😳

[@Aspiresum1]

We can focus also on Gods grace. His hand in it. I’m this fallen world and this community love and community abounds despite the evil.