Alex Murdaugh trial: Detective explains key crime scene mystery after killer begins appeal
Murdaugh was convicted last week for murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul in June 2021
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A lead investigator in the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh has offered an explanation for a key mystery from the trial after Alex Murdaugh took the first official step toward an appeal of his conviction.
Detective Laura Rutland, one of the first officers at the Moselle estate crime scene in South Carolina, was asked during trial testimony about hairs found in Maggie’s hand after she was killed. While she was unable to offer much of an explanation on the stand - she now has one.
Ms Rutland explained to Fox News a bullet that struck Maggie’s skull had ripped out much of her scalp, leaving hair not only in her hand but also scattered around her body.
The revelation came hours after Murdaugh’s attorney Dick Harpootlian announced that his defence had filed a notice of appeal.
Meanwhile, Murdaugh has been separated from other inmates and is under round-the-clock surveillance for his own safety at the Kirkland Correctional Institution, where he is awaiting permanent placement in a high-security prison.
South Carolina’s Department of Corrections released his new mugshot on Wednesday, capturing the 54-year-old smiling softly.
South Carolina police vow to get ‘justice’ for ALL of Murdaugh’s victims
South Carolina officials have vowed to get “justice” for all of Alex Murdaugh’s other alleged victims after he was sentenced to life in prison for the brutal murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul.
SLED Chief Mark Keel gave a brief press conference outside Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, moments after Murdaugh was handed the highest possible sentence over the 7 June 2021 slayings.
“Today is not the end. It’s the next step in a long road to justice for every person who has been victimised by Alex Murdaugh,” he said.
“Alex Murdaugh has rightfully been found guilty of murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul. He was found guilty because he was guilty and as one of the witnesses said ‘Paul was a little detective’.”
Chief Keel issued a warning that anyone who has assisted Murdaugh in his crimes should now know “that justice will be sought”.
His comments about “a long road to justice” pointed to the slew of other crimes for which Murdaugh is awaiting trial as state prosecutors and investigators believe the murders are only a fraction of the disgraced legal scion’s sprawling crime wave.
Beyond the murders, he is charged with 99 counts on more than a dozen indictments in a vast multi-million-dollar fraud scheme going back at least a decade.
Through the schemes, he allegedly stole at least $8.7m from settlements from dozens of legal clients he represented through his law firm PMPED.
BTK killer’s daughter defends Alex Murdaugh’s surviving son Buster
The daughter of the infamous BTK serial killer has called for people to leave Alex Murdaugh’s surviving son Buster alone.
Kerri Rawson told NewsNation that the 26-year-old son of Maggie and Alex Murdaugh is also “a victim” in the brutal murders of his mother and brother Paul and needs to be given space to “process and grieve”.
“He needs to be respected right now. He needs time to process and grieve and when he’s ready to talk, he will,” she said.
“We have to respect that he is a victim. He lost his mother and his brother in a violent and horrific crime and then sat in court for weeks and had to listen to details down to what happened to his brother’s brains.
“And then be on the stand and watch his father go on the stand and now his father has been sentenced to two life sentences.”
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:
BTK killer’s daughter defends Alex Murdaugh’s surviving son Buster
Buster Murdaugh stood by his father during his trial and took the stand in his defence
Maggie Murdaugh’s nail technician claims she was seeking a divorce
Maggie Murdaugh’s nail technician has spoken out to reveal she was seeking a divorce from Alex before the murders.
The technician told CourtTV when she first heard Maggie had been killed she immediately suspected Alex, because Maggie had told her of plans to get a divorce.
She said that she spoke to investigators about that topic before the trial.
However, she said she believes prosecutors didn’t call her to testify at trial because there was no way to prove what she claims Maggie told her.
Watch the interview:
Alex Murdaugh’s attorney Dick Harpootlian reveals hate mail
Alex Murdaugh’s defence attorney has claimed that his critics don’t understand the criminal justice system as he said that members of the public who camped outside to get into the infamous murder trial need to “get some help”.
Dick Harpootlian, who is also a Democratic state senator, spoke about the case on the South Carolina Senate floor on Tuesday – four days after his client was sentenced to life in prison for the brutal murders of his wife and adult son.
Mr Harpootlian claimed that he had received hate mail from people calling him a “piece of scum” or wishing him death by “rectal cancer”.
“Not all of them wished rectal cancer on me, but most were fairly critical,” he told his fellow state lawmakers.
Read the full story:
Alex Murdaugh attorney attacks critics sending him hate mail
Dick Harpootlian claims he has received hate mail from people calling him a ‘piece of scum’ or wishing him a death from ‘rectal cancer’
Murdaugh faces charges over botched hitman plot
Alex Murdaugh is still facing charges over a bizarre September 2021 botched hitman plot.
On 4 September 2021 – three months on from the murders and one day after he was ousted from his law firm for stealing funds – Murdaugh was shot on the side of a road in Hampton County.
He survived and called 911, claiming he was ambushed in a drive-by shooting while changing a tire on his vehicle.
He was treated at a hospital for what police called a “superficial gunshot wound to the head,” but his story quickly unravelled.
Mr Murdaugh’s version of events rapidly fell apart and he confessed to asking Curtis Eddie Smith to shoot and kill him in an assisted suicide plot so that his surviving son Buster could get a $12m life insurance windfall.
Mr Smith, 62, is Mr Murdaugh’s alleged drug dealer, distant cousin and former law firm client.
Both men were arrested and charged over the incident and are currently awaiting trial on the charges.
They were both later hit with fresh charges of narcotics and criminal conspiracy over an alleged drug and $2.4m money laundering ring.
Infamous ‘egg juror’ in Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial asks to be left alone
The juror who earned the infamous nickname of the “egg juror” in Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial has asked to be left alone.
The woman, identified as juror 785 in South Carolina’s so-called “trial of the century”, said that it is “not her desire” to speak publicly about the case and is requesting that the public and the media refrain from trying to contact her.
“While other jurors have chosen to comment, which is their prerogative, that is not her desire at this time,” her attorney Joe McCulloch said in a statement.
Read more here:
Infamous ‘egg juror’ in Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial asks to be left alone
Female juror hit headlines when she was dismissed from the panel just hours before deliberations began and the jury reached a unanimous verdict of guilty in the high-profile trial
WATCH: Paul and Alex Murdaugh together on night of murders
Alex Murdaugh to appeal his convictions
Attorneys for Alex Murdaugh filed a notice to appeal his convictions for the murder of his wife and son along with his life sentence.
“Today Jim Griffin and I filed our notice of appeal for Alex Murdaugh,” Dick Harpootlian, one of Murdaugh’s attorneys, tweeted.
“This is the next step in the legal process to fight for Alex’s constitutional right to a fair trial.”
Murdaugh conviction catapults Stephen Smith case into spotlight
Alex Murdaugh’s murder conviction has cast a spotlight on the mysterious death of his surviving son Buster’s classmate.
Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old openly gay teenager, was found dead in the middle of a road in Hampton County back in 2015 – not far from the Murdaugh family’s Moselle estate where Maggie and Paul were murdered six years later.
He had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and his car was found around three miles away down the road.
His death was officially ruled a hit-and-run but the victim’s family – and investigators who worked on the initial case – have long doubted this version of events.
Police reports revealed that the scene, and some of Smith’s injuries, were inconsistent with being struck by a car.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has more:
Alex Murdaugh conviction shines light on death of Buster’s classmate Stephen Smith
Maggie and Paul’s murders led SLED to reopen an investigation into the death of the 19-year-old
ICYMI: Jurors reveal why they weren’t fooled by Murdaugh’s tears
Jurors in Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial have revealed that they weren’t fooled by his ability to turn the tears “on and off” on the witness stand.
James McDowell, Gwen Generette and Amie Williams broke their silence about what went down in the jury room at the disgraced attorney’s trial where the panel returned a unanimous guilty verdict in the double murder of his wife Maggie and son Paul.
Rather than convince the jury of his innocence, the three jurors told NBC’s TODAY show on Monday that the killer’s decision to testify in his own defence was one of the key things that actually helped to prove his guilt.
The panel saw right through his manufactured tears when he broke down and sobbed on the stand speaking about his wife and son, said Ms Generette – with the trio all agreeing it was a mistake for Murdaugh to testify.
“No, I didn’t think he was crying. He turned it on and off,” she said. “No, it wasn’t genuine.”
Read the full story:
Alex Murdaugh jurors reveal they weren’t fooled by ‘on and off’ tears on the stand
Rather than convince the jury of his innocence, jurors said the killer’s decision to testify in his own defence helped to prove his guilt
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