20/20 - True Crime Vault: Murdaugh Family Murders

Episode Date: January 15, 2025

News and analysis of the Murdaugh family murders of Paul and Maggie and the 2023 trial of Alex Murdaugh. Originally aired: 03/03/23 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TD Direct Investing offers live support. So whether you're a newbie or a seasoned pro, you can make your investing steps count. And if you're like me and think a TFSA stands for Total Fund Savings Adventure, maybe reach out to TD Direct Investing. Hi everybody, it's Deborah Roberts, co-anchor of 2020. We're bringing you more 2020 each week with the 2020 True Crime Vault.

That's right, you're going to hear a story pulled from our archives, shows that we just can't seem to get out of our heads, and we think you're going to be drawn in too. Thanks for listening. Yes, sir. They've already checked them. They did check them. Yes, sir. That's official that they're dead. Yes, sir. That's what it looks like. A husband and father facing decades behind bars. Pow, pow. Two shots. My boy's laying face down. You can see his brain laying on the sidewalk. I didn't know what to do. And today, a verdict. Did you feel like he was a liar?

I did. A good liar. But not good enough. One of the most notorious murders that we've ever had in South Carolina. Two members of a prominent and powerful legal family found dead on a sprawling estate. Alec murdered Maggie and Paul. That he was the storm. That the storm was coming for them. This story becomes an international murder mystery. Things get weirder and weirder. There are all these deaths connected to the Murdoch family. Alec himself is even shot. Things get weirder and weirder. There are all these deaths connected to the Murdoch family.

Alec himself is even shot. These are the actions of a desperate man. Everything is turned into the lens of, wait a minute, this is a guy who loves his family. How could he possibly kill them this brutally? I was on the phone with 911. I was trying to tend a ball ball. I was trying to attend a maggot. Is he sad that they're gone? Is he sad that he's sitting there? Is he acting? This is a long story. On June 7, 2021, at 10.06 me. My wife and child have been stuck badly.

On June 7th, 2021, at 10.06 p.m., Alec Murdoch calls 911, and he is frantic. Are they breathing? No, ma'am. They're on the ground out at my kennel. The scene that Alec Murdoch is looking at is his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, and his 22-year-old son, Paul. He gave the one up, he's moving. They were both shot to death outside their property, a place they call Moselle.

This is a massive property. It's a 1,700-acre hunting property. I'm going back to my house just to get a gun just in case. He's scared. He says he doesn't know who did this and he wants to make sure that he's armed if something else happens. Please hurry. We're getting somebody out there too. Collidan County Sheriff's Office Deputy Daniel Green was the first to arrive on the scene at Moselle.

He drove up through one of Moselle's two driveways, the one that was closest to the dog kennels and to the crime scene. The crime scene essentially is an old airplane hanger used as a shed by the family. Right next to it is dog kennels. It is very dark, but he's able to see the two bodies that are laying on the ground. Got a whiskey fox, whiskey mike, both gunshot wounds to the head. Maggie and Paul are clearly dead. He sees Ellic Murdoch standing there as well in a t-shirt and shorts. Sorry, I want to let you know because of the scene, I did go get a gun and bring it down here.

It's in your vehicle? Do you have any guns on you at all? No sir, it's leaning up against the side of my car. You're fine man, you're fine. Turn around for me. I don't have anything. Okay, yes sir, I see that. Okay. This is your wife and son. I'm fine. Okay.

Alec Murdoch is extremely upset. He is beside himself. It's bad, check the pulse. Yes sir. He seems anxious, he seems distraught. He was pacing quite a bit. He was also asking Green whether they were dead. Did you check them? We got medical guys that are, that's what they're gonna do, okay? What are they doing? Can they

hurry? They are, yes sir. Paul's body is found by the room in the kennels where the family stored dog food and just a little ways away, Maggie is found also face down near the old airplane hangar shed. How did you pull up from back there? I went to the house and they weren't home, which was odd. I tried to call. Okay.

And then I knew they had been down here before I left to go to my mom's. And then he begins to talk to Ellic Murdock about what's going on that night, where he'd been, how he came onto the scene. When was the last time you were here with them? Or talked to them or anything like that? It was earlier tonight.

I don't know the exact time, but I left. I was probably gone an hour and a half from my mom's and I saw them about 45 minutes before that. Okay. I rode around with Paul for two hours this afternoon in the pickup truck. That's your son, Paul? Okay. Is somebody going to check him? Yes, sir. They've already checked him.

They did check him? Yes, sir. It's official that they're dead? Yes, sir, they've already checked them. They did check them? Yes, sir. That's official that they're dead? Yes, sir, that's what it looks like. This is a scene of a crime involving very powerful people. What's your first name, sir? My name is Alex Richard Alexander Murdoch. When the sheriff's deputies realized

they're dealing with a Murdoch family, they decided to call in the state agency, the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division, known as SLED. We've got SLED on the way. They are asked to take the lead on this investigation because they are sort of the state's top police agency. You all familiar with this family? Yes. Everybody, for better or for worse, knew the Murdoch family.

This family has been there for over a century, powerful in the legal community. Ellic Murdoch is the fourth generation of this legal dynasty. And so there's already a sense that this is different, that this is not your everyday crime scene. In the meantime, the deputies are doing what they can to preserve the scene until Sled can get there and take over.

The weather is changing. The rain's coming down. There are sets of tire tracks and impressions in the wet grass. I see quite a few tire tracks in here. Were any of these you going in and out? No, I came in here and I left one time and I came back. Why are there so many shell casings? There's one there, there's blood over here. Evidence at the scene suggested that Paul was shot

with a shotgun and Maggie was shot with a rifle. Once sled arrives, agents start to process the scene. Meanwhile, the lead agent wants to talk to Alec Murdoch to find out what happened, and he agrees to be interviewed. Just start the talk, take your time. Like when I came back here, I mean I pulled up and I could see him, and I knew something was bad. I ran out. I knew it was really bad. My boy over there, I could see it was...

Alex starts sobbing when he describes the condition in which he found Paul's body. And then from the backseat, these two hands come out and they comfort Alex. One is a detective who's working on the case, and the other one is his colleague who's working as his attorney. Actually, I think I tried to turn Paul over first. Then I went to my wife and I, I mean, I could see.

Did you touch Maggie at all? to my wife and I mean I could see. Did you touch Maggie at all? I did. I touched them both. Alec explained to the investigators that he had been at his mother's. He told them that he hadn't seen Maggie and Paul right before he left and that he believed he'd even texted and called Maggie to let her know he was leaving, but that he hadn't gotten any response.

So that was odd, but it wasn't that big a deal. Investigators ask Alec, is there anyone who would want to kill his family in such a violent manner? Have y'all been having any problems out here? Trespassers, people breaking in? None that I know of. The only thing that what comes to my mind is my son Paul was in a boat wreck a couple years ago.

He says that Paul was receiving threats. Threats? Um, yes sir. I mean he gets them all the time. This is not the first time that Alec had suggested that Maggie and Paul were killed because of the boat accident. He starts telling officers, whoever will listen, that there was a boat crash. This is a long story. My son was in a boat wreck a few months back.

He says somebody's out to get retribution against my family. The young man who allegedly killed Mallory Veek has been shot and killed. Was this backwards justice? I know that's what it is. Alex, what are you going to say on the stand? The defendant, Richard Alexander Murdock, wishes to take the stand. The whole truth and to take the stand. The whole truth and nothing but the truth.

I'd like to play the 911 call that was in evidence as Defendant's exhibit number nine. My card has been sent for months and months and months. Oh, should have known. We just heard you say, I should have known. Come on. Aww. Good to know. We just heard you say, I should have known. What are you referring to? I said, Paw Paw. I should have known.

I was referring to Paw Paw got so many threats. You just tell him, Paw Paw, I should have known. The entire history of this newspaper, this is the biggest, most impactful story that we've ever covered. Even as it sprawls across the low country this is a story that engulfs Campy County people and Campy County families. For the most part it's just your average everyday hard-working American. You don't just know everyone you know like everyone's grandma and

their cousin. You do but it's also good if something happens it's just you're like one big family. Before these Murdoch cases started happening, if you knew where Hampton County was at all, you associated us with the watermelon festival. Started in 1939. It used to be a seed spitting contest. The mayor of every town would get together and see who could spit a watermelon seed that farthest. Welcome to life in the rural South, right? You know, most folks have roots here usually and have family here and we certainly did. Alec Murdoch lived a very comfortable life on this sprawling estate called Moselle with his wife Maggie and his two sons Paul and

Buster. When did Alec meet Maggie? When they were in college. He really liked her. He really thought she was special. They were college sweethearts. You know, they fell in love. They got married. He truly doted on her and wanted her to be happy at all times. After law school, he came back and worked with Randy and Daddy at the firm. The firm is the family business. It's been a staple in these parts for forever. In addition to a thriving law firm that had existed in Hampton for a century,

some of the Murdochs had also served as the top prosecutors in the area. As you can see from these pictures hanging on the walls of the Hampton County courthouse, three generations of Murdoch men have been the solicitor, the local prosecutor in this area, almost 100 years of history. Just look at the family tree. There was Alex's great grandfather,

Randolph Murdoch Sr., his grandfather, Randolph Buster Murdoch Jr., and then Alex's own father, Randolph Randy Murdoch III. They were the big fish in the small pond. The area of the Murdochs weren't above the law. They were the lot. The name still brings respect or even fear to some people. But no one would have imagined how all of that

would have come into play when Alex's son, Paul, and five of his friends headed out for an evening of fun. The plan was to spend the night out on the water. They were going on the Murdoch boat, which was a 17-footer, so pretty crowded for six people. These are kids who grew up together. They played together as kids, and they went out on boats all the time. Paul Murdoch was there with his girlfriend, Morgan Dowdy.

Anthony Cook was there with his girlfriend, Mallory Beach. And Anthony's first cousin, Connor Cook, was with his girlfriend, Miley Altman. The group makes a couple of stops that night. First, a party on the water where there's drinking, then to a local bar where Paul continues to drink before getting back on the boat to head home. There's video footage.

We can see them walking on the dock. Paul is swaying. I mean, he clearly is intoxicated. The following day, Miley Altman does an interview with law enforcement, and it's videotaped. Paul was just driving and doing donuts, and we're not going anywhere. We're just like, just doing circles and Morgan gets mad and yells at him and he's like, listen, you need to stop. I want to go home. When he gets drunk, you just don't mess with him. And they are telling him, let Connor drive. You can't drive. We were just like, anything is better than Paul right now because like who knows like what he would do. He was like riding it close to like

Sailgoats that were parked and just like being reckless. Testimony was Mallory asked to be let off but you know it comes a point where there's no place to get off and he wouldn't stop and wouldn't let anybody else drive. Eventually Paul, he's like, y'all want to go home? We're going home. So he puts the throttle down, cleans the boat out. There's no big bright search lights on this boat. One of the boys was holding a flashlight ahead of him while they were driving.

Mallory was in the back of the boat, seated on a cooler that's immediately behind the console. I saw the fridge open and I was just in shock. Then like at the last second I like screamed. The boat had a dolphin head which is three pilings that are sort of lashed together. The boat hits the piling. It throws Anthony and Malorie into the water and Mallory's nowhere to be found. There's a panic that starts. There's a feeling that this isn't just a little accident. This is really, really bad. Connor had his phone still on him, so I was like calling 911.

On that call, you can hear them screaming. They are calling out for Mallory. Mallory! Mallory! Mallory! Mallory! Mallory! Mallory!

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$10 million. In fact, they've already resolved over $1 billion in tax debt. Stop looking over your shoulder and take control. Call now at 1-800-958-1000 or visit tnusa.com slash 20. That's tnusa.com slash twenty. Were you living a wealthy lifestyle? I just don't know what you mean by wealthy. Is this a hard question Mr. Murdoch? Well it's hard for me to know exactly what you want. A key point at Alec Murdoch's trial was that the

motive for murder was money. Money he may have to pay out and a lot of it. And that motive is directly connected to the boating tragedy that night when Alec Paul, what bridge is this? Paul, what bridge is this? 911, where's your emergency? Hello? So when the boat hits, it's a bad crash. Everybody's kind of thrown around and Mallory Beach is thrown off the boat. We're in a boat crash on Arthur Street. Please send someone. No, I'm coming. We're coming. We're coming, okay?

How far? I'll be in around to the bell bridge. This scene is chaos from the start. You've got law enforcement from several different agencies responding. Police, paramedics, the fire department, they all arrive with one goal, to find Mallory. One of those agencies has dash cams recording, and although you can't see much, you can hear quite a bit. You hear Anthony Cook, Mallory's boyfriend. At one point, he's yelling at Paul.

Bro, you're f***ing smiling like you're f***ing funny. My f***ing girlfriend is gone, bro. You think you're f***ing funny? Anthony Cook is losing his mind. He's telling them that SOB killed my girlfriend. Oakley's rocked the f*** down. And part of what Anthony was so upset about that night was this idea that Paul wasn't going to get in trouble. He has a conversation with this officer to that point.

He does. He asked him, does he know who his father is? You all know Ellic Murdoch? Yeah, I know that name. That's his son. That's so driving me crazy. Good luck. So there are investigators there at the hospital and they're trying to figure out what happened.

That's their job to do. An officer says he's trying to talk to Paul when in walks his grandfather and father and the whole thing stops. You can clearly see that Alec is wearing his volunteer solicitor's badge on the outside of his pants. Alec and Randolph Murdock come in, alright,

it's not just a concerned parent and a concerned grandfather. You've got two attorneys walking in. Randolph was reported as saying, you're not talking to him anymore, you're talking to us. We're his attorneys, okay? We also know from court records that Alex went from room to room telling these young kids to be quiet, don't talk.

Law enforcement interviews with people at the hospital that night suggest that many of them thought that Paul's grandfather and father's main goal was to protect Paul. The family has always denied that they tried to influence this investigation in any way. I've never been involved in a fatality where the operator of a vehicle was under the influence that person didn't go to jail. Immediately. Immediately. Immediately.

You or I would have probably would have been wearing an orange jumpsuit before daylight. Authorities say the Murdoch name had no sway over their investigation. name had no sway over their investigation. So that night I'm worried about finding my child and they're worried about how they're gonna cover up Paul driving. The lead agency on the search is South Carolina Department of Natural Resources but this is very much a multi agency effort. The search for Mallory went on about a week. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people were spreading out over the marshes of the low country. It was pretty massive.

You had DNR searching, Coast Guard searching, volunteers, anybody with a boat. They were putting it in the water and they were looking for Mallory. 911, where's your emergency? We're on the search team rescue. We think we found her. Mallory's body was found a week later by two fishermen about five miles from the crash site. Paul is not charged. Even after she's found, a month goes by, he's not charged.

And people in the community, some thought, you know, maybe he's going to get away with it. He's a Murdoch. You began to see this wondering, is justice going to be served? There was talk of a whisper campaign to cover this thing up. The family of Mallory Beach hires an attorney, Mark Tinsley, and he files a wrongful death lawsuit against the Murdochs. Why did you get involved? To help the Beaches.

They believe that Ellic should have been held accountable for his part and contributed to the death of their daughter. He knew that he was entrusting his vehicle to someone who was habitually abusing alcohol. What motivated me was getting evidence of everything. I knew who we were up against and how things would probably disappear if we didn't act quickly. Her life meant something. For us, she was our baby. We had to defend her honor. In their reply to the Beach Family wrongful death lawsuit, Alec Murdoch's attorneys denied all wrongdoing, and even that Paul was driving the boat

at the time of the crash. ... As powerful as the Murdochs are, they could not prevent Paul being charged with boating under the influence three counts. I heard it described as a gentleman's treatment, if you will. He was not handcuffed in the courtroom.

When one of the deputies, after he's arraigned, went to cuff him, which is the procedure, described as a gentleman's treatment, if you will. He was not handcuffed in the courtroom. When one of the deputies, after he's arraigned, went to cuff him, which is the procedure, he was waved off by the prosecutor. No, no, no, it's not necessary. Not necessary, here. Paul Murdoch was released on his own recognizance, and for two years, this case just dragged on,

many people thinking he would never have a day in court. But that civil case is moving forward. Tinsley is determined that even if Paul is never put behind bars, that the family will still be held accountable for his actions. But the only way to do that is through a settlement for money or an award of money damages. State calls Mark Tinsley. Had you had any discussions about a number that you were seeking from the defendant? He was going to have to pay 10 million out of his pocket. And did the defense have any response to you? He was broke.

I didn't believe it at all. If you claim that you're broke, I want to see your bank accounts. That would have been what was next. He was always going to have to pay. I mean I think by most people's standards, if you have to write a check for $10 million, it's a level of accountability. And it's a, I mean, that's what the Beach family wanted. You felt like it had to be an amount that would hurt. It did.

They wanted a pound of flesh. Those were the words that I'd used. Paul Murdoch may have been criminally charged in the death of Mallory Beach in that boat crash, but Mallory's family is convinced the Murdoch name will still protect him. I see words like dynasty used and power and I don't know exactly how people use those words, but we're just regular people. Do you feel like they're a powerful family? I do. What makes them seem powerful?

Like above the law, like the law didn't pertain to them. Fearing that Paul might never actually face any time behind bars, Mallory's family is determined to hold Alex Murdoch, himself personally responsible for allowing his underage son to allegedly drive the boat while under the influence. They want him to pay out of his own pocket for this tragedy.

As part of the boat crash lawsuit, Mallory Beach's family had been pushing to get access to Alex's financial records. He had told their lawyers, even if they won a judgment against him him he didn't have money to pay and they didn't buy it. There was no possibility that he was broke and beyond the money that he was making he had property and so if you claim that you're broke I want to see your bank accounts because I don't trust what you're gonna say. And so they've been going back and forth for months, and finally they were going before a judge to find out whether he was going to have to give up access to his books.

Elick Murdoch was preparing to be at this June 10th hearing, and he was looking at what he might have to disclose. But then, just three days before that hearing... hearing. The murders change everything. In the aftermath of the slayings of Maggie and Paul, that June 10th hearing was delayed and it was never rescheduled. Instead of being in court on June 10th. I'm a defendant in a civil case involving my son I told you about the boat wreck. Alex is in this car with

his lawyer giving his second interview to law enforcement describing everything he did on the day of the murders starting with going to work. And there were some motions coming up in that on Thursday, and I was mostly just getting ready for those things. He says that around 5 o'clock, he went home, and he met up with Maggie and Paul. Maggie had gotten home, and, you know, we sat down. We ate supper.

I know that Maggie went to the kennels. I don't know exactly where Paul went, but he left the house too. Okay. What did you do once Maggie and Paul left? I stayed in the house. Okay. And I was watching TV, looking at my phone,

and I actually fell asleep on the couch. Okay. He says they weren't at home when he woke up around nine. And as he was leaving to go visit his mom. I'm gonna tell y'all this, even though I think it's kind of crazy. I was certain that I heard them pull up. I had the impression that a car pulled up.

Okay. You know? Could he actually have heard the murderer pulling up? But he says he leaves anyway. I drove to my mom's. I checked on my mom. She lives right out here. After visiting his mother, who has dementia, and had a caregiver with her, he says he made the roughly 20-minute drive back home.

I got to the house. I went inside. Nobody was there. I got in the car. I went inside. Nobody was there. I got in the car. I went back to the kennels. And you know, I saw Maggie and I saw Paul laying down. I knew, you know, I didn't know. You know, I knew it was bad. I went over there and, you know, I saw it. Could he tell you anything about what happened?

He had a difficult time talking. And he would try to talk and he would break down. It seems like overnight the news media was all over this story. This morning, a grieving family looking for answers. There were local TV crews and national media from everywhere, even the biggest papers in the country, like the New York Times and the Washington Post.

The family releasing a statement saying they are devastated by the deaths. In a double homicide, I think it's pretty clear that you look in the family first. Alec is reportedly a person of interest, but this seems routine. Law enforcement put out a statement that said, at this time there is no danger to the public. And that has raised questions from a lot of people, the public, the media. I was really scratching my head because generally when you say something like that, you have a good idea of who did it. They must believe that the Murdochs were targeted.

Remember Alec Murdoch himself told investigators the night of the murders he thought the killings had something to do with the boat crash. I don't know of any direct threats between any of the people on the boat, specifically, but I do think there's been a small amount of yip-yap between a couple of them, but not recently. All of the people who were on the boat that night were eventually cleared by law enforcement. We were thanking and praying for their family because we knew what it felt like. There are some people that look at what happened and they say, well, that's justice.

No, none. That's not justice. That's something that I never even dreamed about. It was harm going to Paul and especially his mom. There would soon be other questions about Alec. Do you remember looking Tony Satterfield in the eye and lying to him? I remember lying to Tony Satterfield,

and I remember looking him in the eye on many occasions. His deception, it runs deep, and it hurts, because we did think of him as family. To help the American Red Cross provide meals and shelter to these families, you can donate today to Wildfire Relief by going to redcross.org slash ABC or calling 1-800-RED-CROSS. Those kids that disappeared? It's happening again. My research broke out of the basement. It's unstable and fragile. Is that a scream? Inspired by the best-selling books. What? Goosebumps.

The Vanishing. Are you gonna be okay out here? I'm not sure. Why don't you go ahead and give me five stars now before anything happens? All episodes now available on Disney+, and Hulu on Disney+.Disney.com. For the TV 14 LV. All episodes now available on Disney Plus and Hulu on DisneyPlus.Disney.com. For the TV 14 LB. We are following a developing story out of Collin Kai.

Tonight's state police now investigating a double homicide. Two members of a prominent and powerful legal family found dead on a sprawling estate. So far there have been no arrests. No suspects have been named. So far there have been no arrests, no suspects have been named. I don't think anyone could have ever predicted the amount of attention that this case was going to foster. When the boat crash happened in 2019, that was local news. But after Maggie and Paul were murdered, that's when the Murdoch name was catapulted into the national spotlight. We start hearing about all these horrible deaths surrounding this family. Not only was there Mallory Beach, but there was also talk about their housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield.

Gloria Satterfield was in the fabric of the Murdoch family. Gloria Satterfield was in the fabric of the Murdoch family. She had helped raise the children, Paul and Buster, for more than 20 years. She had been part of their vacations. She cooked the meals. She was at Moselle when they moved out there. She was a hardworking woman, a people person. You know, everywhere she went she never met a stranger, always made a friend. When Gloria started working for them, she took pride in that and honor in that, and she treated them like her family.

911, where's your emergency? My housekeeper has fallen and her head is bleeding. I cannot get her up. In February of 2018, Maggie Murdock calls 911 and says that Gloria had tripped and fallen on their stairs. She fell going up the steps, up the brick steps. She's cracked her head and there's blood on the concrete. So at one point, Paul gets on the call, and you can hear him getting a little irritated

with the 911 operator. Can you ask the patient what kind of pain she's having? Ma'am, she can't talk. Do you know if she's ever had a stroke or anything before? Ma'am, can you stop asking her this question? I already have them on, but wait, me asking questions does not slow them down in any way. She was rushed to the hospital and then Alec Murdoch told them exactly what happened to the best of his knowledge, that it was the hunting dogs, they must have tripped up, gone

in between her legs, she fell down the stairs. She laid in the bed, and I took her hand and asked her, Mom, what happened? And she couldn't tell me nothing. There were ups and downs, you know, you thought things were gonna get better and of course they didn't. She lives for three weeks. She never regains full consciousness. Gloria Satterfield came from a very humble background, and she had two young men who needed support. According to the family, at her funeral, Alex Murdoch says it's my fault that she died at our house. She tripped over our dog, and so I'm going to get you a lawyer.

He can represent you, and he can bring a lawsuit against me. I will agree to it, and you will get money for it. We didn't have no reason not to trust him. We've known him all our lives. He always took care of Gloria, you know, and he knew how important her children were to her. Tony says that he called Alec and asked him, is it looking like we're gonna get any money?

And Alec would talk about how, well, we're still trying to get maybe 100,000 for you and 100,000 for your brother. There was already reports that there was something fishy with the whole Satterfield case. A local reporter named Mandy Matney does some digging and found a wrongful death settlement through Alex's insurance company to the Satterfield boys for about $500,000.

We've learned that her children never got the money they were supposed to get and that Alex is accused of taking it. According to the Laurier Satterfield's family, they learned about this settlement in the press. It was in the news that the settlement had been with Alex on his homeowner insurance for $500,000. At that point, we knew that the boys hadn't had got no money. It wasn't just $500,000 and $5,000, it was millions.

There was actually an additional settlement for the Satterfield Sons that they didn't even know about, and this one was for more than $4 million. There was no way that this was the first time that Alec had stolen client money. Your kid doesn't come in and just take the whole cookie jar. They come in and they take one cookie. Ooh, she doesn't notice. Now they're taking two or three cookies. And the next thing you know, the jar is almost empty.

It's been a couple of months since the murders of Maggie and Paul, and not a lot of information is coming out. People are asking questions. What's happening with the investigation? It was Labor Day weekend, and as I was just in the middle of my Saturday shopping, I remember looking down at my phone, and I had received a text. Alec Murdoch has been shot. The murder mystery in South Carolina taking a bizarre turn,

Alec Murdoch was shot in the head and wounded. It's like, what? Alec Murdoch got shot? I got a flat tire, and I stopped, and somebody stopped to help me. And when I turned my back, they tried to shoot me. It is a twist in the story that would see Alec Murdoch go from victim to accused criminal to a possible

murderer. Mr. Goodman, I didn't shoot my wife or my son anytime, ever. You continued lying after that night. Once I lied, I continued to lie. Yes, sir. Why? Oh, what a tangled web we weave. When you say you tried to turn him over, why were you trying to turn him over? I don't know why I tried to turn him over. Me and my boys laid face down. I didn't know what to do. What is this?

I can tell you for a fact that the person or people who did what I saw on June the 7th, they hated Paul Murdoch and they had anger in their heart. The fervor surrounding this trial is reaching a fever pitch. Did you take this gun and blow your son's brains out? I did not. This was a man that was under so much pressure, financially and otherwise. His whole world was crumbling. We found out that Ellic had spent the past decade lying, stealing, cheating, betraying almost anyone who had trusted him.

Oh what a tangled weep weep weep. But once I told a lie, I had to keep lying. A juror on those closed door deliberations. So it took basically 45 minutes for you guys to come to keep one. A juror on those closed door deliberations. So it took basically 45 minutes for you guys to come to a decision. Probably about 45, maybe an hour. That's really fast.

The evidence was clear. Now, the testimony that the jury didn't hear. Walk us through what happened on that day. This is 20 years of secrets. Central South 117 has seen his security. Both gunshot wounds to the head. It's been two months now since Maggie and Paul were brutally gunned down on their property in South Carolina's low country.

Alec Murdoch agrees to sit down with investigators for his third interview. He gives us the same timeline that he'd given in previous interviews with law enforcement. And after dinner Maggie and Paul went to the kennels? I stayed on the couch and I dozed off. He will learn in this interview that he is more of a suspect. Did you kill Maggie? No. Did I kill my wife? Yes.

No, David. Did you kill Paul? No, I did not kill Paul. So does that mean that I am a suspect? I don't have anything that points to anybody else at this time. There's no possible way he could have anything to do with this. I can assure you. A month after that interview on Labor Day weekend, there was a twist in this case that if you had written this,

no one would believe it. The mystery surrounding the double murder of a prominent South Carolina family intensifying. On September 4, 2021, a 911 call comes in from Alec Murdoch. I got a flat tire. And I stopped and somebody stopped to help me. And when I turned my back, they tried to shoot me. Alec Murdoch was shot in the head

and wounded on a rural country road. I'm bleeding a lot. What part of your body? I'm not sure, somewhere on my head. I was shocked. Oh, my gosh. Is there somebody out there going after the entire Murdoch family? But there's confusion every step of the way. Whatever happened on the side of the road that day in September

really depends on who you ask. There were so many details right off the bat that just didn't add up. When SLED sends out their first press release about what happened, they make it abundantly clear that this is a superficial head wound. ABC News has learned Alec Murdoch resigned from his family's law firm. Alec Murdoch putting out a statement,

I have made a lot of decisions that I truly regret. I'm resigning from my law firm and entering rehab after a long battle that has been exacerbated by these murders. So there's all this question, like, why would he suddenly leave? And if he's dealing with addiction, he's going to rehab, why is it that his law partners are not sort of closing ranks around him? And then a couple hours after that statement was put out the family law firm sends out their own press release being like that's not what happened

We asked him to leave a day before the shooting because we found evidence that he was misappropriating funds So not only has Alec stolen from the family of his longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, we now learn that he allegedly has been stealing from his own clients and his own law firm for years. He didn't steal from everybody. He's handled hundreds, if not thousands of cases. And he strategically handled hundreds, if not thousands, of cases. And he strategically picked clients. Majority of the clients that Alec stole from

were not well-to-do people, and they suffered really tragic things. These people who were really vulnerable and who trusted him, they may have gotten $15,000 or $50,000, but meanwhile, when the $1 million check comes in, he's stealing it for himself, and they never knew that money had come in. -♪

Ellick had the appearance of wealth, but under the surface, appears to have been just an enormous amount of debt. He had loans for the hunting estate, for the beach house, for several real estate deals. He also had these lines of credit to pay for just his lifestyle. And pretty much as soon as you see like a million dollars hit his bank account some years, it's gone. This was a man that was under so much pressure financially. His whole world was crumbling.

He loses his law license. He loses his privileges to be an assistant solicitor. And then Alex's story about what he first said happened at that roadside shooting completely falls apart. So while Alec Murdoch is in a detox center, he decides he's going to confess to what he says really happened that day on the side of the road. So he's in a room with his attorneys present, and they decide to call Sled. I told him that things would get ready to get really bad, and that I would be better off not here. And I asked him to shoot me. Alex said he asked his friend Curtis Eddie Smith to kill him so his son Buster could collect $10 million in life insurance.

What happened next? He shot me. He missed and hit me in the very back of the head. What was your intent? For him to kill me. Breaking overnight, a suspect is now in custody in connection with the mysterious shooting of Alex Murdoch. Curtis Eddie Smith, who was a former client of Alex Murdoch, is charged with assault and battery of a high aggravated nature, pointing and presenting a firearm, insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, and assisted suicide. Eddie Smith has not yet entered a plea. I spoke with him via video call from the

Lexington County Jail and he tells a different story. He said I needed you to kill me. I said yeah that ain't happen. And he tells a different story. I'm all right, so I don't get any shots, because I didn't shoot you. There was a wound, in my opinion, it's not a gunshot wound. It's very easily a wound that can be explained when someone falls to the ground on a gravel road and hits their head. He says there was never any mention of a plan

for Buster to collect any insurance money. I ain't done nothing about no high-fifth year, there's no nothing. If this story had chapters from September 4th to now, that chapter will be called the Unraveling. The judge in this case saying that he has to surrender his passport. Your Honor, he has fallen from raise.

He has followed the brazen. Breaking news overnight involving a murder mystery. Within days of that roadside shooting, it becomes clear that what Alec Murdoch had initially told investigators was a lie. Coming up the latest twists in that fast developing case of the South Carolina lawyer who police say tried to stage his own murder. Now we begin to see that these are the actions of a desperate man. A week later, Curtis Smith is arrested. Then a few days later, Alex Murdock is arrested. Alec Murdock was charged with insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, and

filing a false police report. All right. He's handcuffed. He's wearing shackles. He's wearing a Hampton County jumpsuit. Your Honor, he has fallen to grace. Alec Murdoch's attorney, Dick Harpullian, gets up, and he basically says,

this is the face of opioid addiction. If anyone wants to see the face of what opioid addiction does, you're looking at it. At that hearing, Alec Murdoch is released on a personal recognizance bond, meaning he doesn't have to pay anything, and he is sent back to rehab. The scrutiny on Alec Murdoch now is at an all-time high.

Sled is now looking at allegations that Murdoch had allegedly been stealing from his law firm and his clients for years. And then, one month later, he's arrested again. Murdoch is charged with crimes related to stealing that wrongful death settlement money from the Satterfield family. But this time, he's denied bond and goes to jail. Now there have been 99 separate state grand jury charges that allege every financial crime you can think of. Insurance fraud, money laundering, computer crimes, embezzlement. Alec Murdoch has not yet entered a plea on any of the pending charges against him.

While Alec was sitting in jail, some of his recorded calls with his surviving son Buster are released, and it is clear from those calls that life for all the Murdochs is forever changed. Yeah, someone took a picture of me and John Martin in the casino. You're kidding me. Uh-uh. Are you kidding me? No. How do they recognize you? No.

I'm a national figure, I think. I guess you're gonna have to wear a hat and ****. We are following breaking news from South Carolina where a disgraced attorney has just been indicted for the murders of his wife and son. We are following breaking news from South Carolina where a disgraced attorney has just been indicted for the murders of his wife and son. Tonight, the dramatic new turn in this case. Alex Murdoch is now charged with two counts of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

Coming 402 days after Maggie and Paul Murdoch were found brutally murdered with multiple gunshot wounds, this was an almost unbelievable twist. Alec Murdoch, the father, the husband, is indicted. When Alec Murdoch comes for his arraignment, he looks like a different person. He looked very thin, very gaunt. He's shackled. He's kind of hunched a little bit.

He has this appearance of being through incredible amount of pain and suffering. Are you guilty or not guilty of the felonies wherein you stand and die? Not guilty. How shall you be drugged? By God and my country. He didn't need to go to that next level of drama,

but he did. Shortly after Ellic was indicted, his defense attorneys pushed for a speedy trial. They said it was a very narrow investigation that only looked at Murdoch. He believed that the killer or killers are still at large. He's going to let us live with this behind him and go look for the real killers. You had two groups of thought, right? You had one group that was like,

oh, he absolutely did that. And then you had a second group that was like, eh, if it was only the wife, I could see him doing it. But his son too? How could a man do a son like that? Alec Murdoch is just hours away from getting his day in court. This highly anticipated trial is about to begin and everyone is wondering what kind of evidence the state is going to present to try and prove that Alec Murdoch murdered his wife and son.

This is the trial of the century. Alec Murdoch took a 12-stage shotgun and shot him in the shoulder, pow, pow. Two shots, abdomen in the leg, and took her down. There's no eyewitness. There's no camera. There's no fingerprints. None, none.

He didn't do it. Hey there, Ryan Reynolds here. It's a new year, and you know what that means. No, not the diet, resolutions. it. MintMobile.com slash switch. $45 up from payment required equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited. See MintMobile.com for details. Get me Will Trent.

ABC Tuesdays. I don't even know where he is. Will Trent is back. You thought she could hide forever? Time to come home. The series that's being called, one of the best network procedurals. We're going to solve this case.

Featuring new cast member Gina Rodriguez. I'm a prosecutor. We deal in truth and facts. Maybe everybody should try that, huh? We'll Tret, the two-part season premiere, Tuesdays on ABC and stream on Hulu. The Murdoch murder trial has been called South Carolina's trial of the century. Walterboro, like this small city an hour from pretty much anything, is about to be the center of the universe. We've moved straight into a 19th century Colleton County courthouse to try one of the most notorious murders that we've ever had in South Carolina.

Everybody knows Alec Murdoch in Walter Burl. It was very much like the circus is coming to town. It's bananas. Alec Murdoch getting his day in court with opening statements in his double murder trial. Until the trial, Alec Murdoch's family's thoughts about all this were unknown. We weren't sure, are they going to show up? But then once the jury was seated, you saw them file in. And there was his sister Lynn. There was his brothers, John Marvin and Randy.

And of course, his son Buster. That Murdoch name is everything. Now proceed to opening statements. I state. Judge Clifton Newman was selected by the Chief Justice of South Carolina's Supreme Court to preside over the trial. Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters got up and he actually produced some revelations.

On the evening of June 7th, Paul Murdock was standing in a small feet room in some kennels they have on the property. About 8.50 PM and the defendant over there, Alec Murdock took a 12 shade shotgun and shot him in the shoulder. After that, another shot went up under his head and did catastrophic damage to his brain and his head. Just moments later, he picked up a.300 Blackout rifle and opened fire on his wife, Maggie.

He was very dramatic, and he captivated the jury's attention. Pow, pow. Two shots, abdomen in the leg, and took her down. And after that, two shots to the head that killed her instantly. You're gonna hear some of what was going on in Alex Murdoch's life leading up to that day. A perfect storm that was gathering much like the storms that are coming outside today. The way the prosecution set this up, there is so much pressure on this man.

He has to do something. He's got to do it fast. The evidence is going to be such that you're going to reach the inescapable conclusion that Alec murdered Maggie and Paul, that he was the storm, that the storm was coming for them, and the storm arrived on June 7th, 2021, that they died as a result. For the defense. Please report, your honor. Yes, sir. Defense attorney Dick Harputlian

countered with an equally theatrical opening statement. Now stand up. This is Alan Murdoch, loving father of Paul and the loving husband of Maggie. Everything is turned into the lens of, wait a minute, this is a guy who loves his family. He'd do anything for his family. How could he possibly kill them this brutally? The night he comes home and finds his wife and son butchered, and when I say butchered,

you're going to see these photographs. When I see them, it still shocks me. Dick never backed down on the language. This was so horrible, there's no way a father did it. He didn't do it. He is presumed innocent. But once the testimony begins and the state's presenting its evidence, a really full picture of the day of the murders is emerging.

According to prosecutors, the evidence pointed only to one person, Alec Murdoch. Colleton County Detective Laura Rutland testified that she saw no blood on Alec that night, despite the fact that he told investigators that he had touched Maggie and Paul's bodies. How would you describe his hands? They were clean. How would you describe his t-shirt?

Clean. How would you describe his shoes? They were clean. An investigator testifies that during one of those interviews that Alec gave right after the murders, it sounds as if Alec might have confessed. It's just so bad. I did it so bad.

What did he say? It's just so bad. I did him so bad. I did him so bad. I did it so bad. What did he say? It's just so bad. I did him so bad. I did him so bad. Yes sir. Are you 100% confident that Alec said I did him so bad rather than they did him so bad? I'm 100% confident in what I heard and I interpreted him as saying. As part of the state's evidence, they introduced all three of Alec Murdoch's interviews to law enforcement. One thing Alec always maintained was that he never went down to the kennels that night.

I laid down, took a nap on the couch, probably, I don't know, 25, 30 minutes. That's when prosecutors present what they say is a smoking gun that obliterates Alec Murdoch's alibi. They start by calling the last person to speak with Paul on the phone at 8 40 p.m. that night, his friend Rogan Gibson. Rogan Gibson is a country boy. The jury could see how close he was with the Murdoch family. What did you call Alec? Mr. Alec, our big red.

Mr. Alec, our big red. On June 7th, Paul was taking care of Rogan's puppy, Cash. And there was some concern that there was something wrong with the puppy's tail. Get that. Get that. that there was something wrong with the puppy's tail. Get back, get back. Where was Paul when he called you?

He was at the dog kennel. And how do you know that? I could hear the dogs barking. Paul and Rogan tried to FaceTime each other, but it kept freezing up, so Paul promised to send Rogan a video of Cash and his tail. Was that the last time you ever talked to your friend? That was.

Rogan never received that video, but the day after the murders, he told investigators that he heard more than just Paul on that call. And who else did you hear? I thought it was Mr. Alec. Rogan said that he was 99% sure he heard Alex's voice. But when investigators asked Alex, he denied being at the kennels. Who was it you?

At nine o'clock? Yes, sir. No, sir. Not if my times were right. Did you take a group? I have no idea. More than a year later, after investigators finally unlocked Paul's phone,

they brought Rogan in and they played him the video Paul had taken that night of his puppy. Paul is pointing the phone at the dog during the entire video, but you can hear Maggie talking about the family dog Bubba having something in his mouth. Hey, he's got having something in his mouth. Hey, stop hurting his mouth. Bubba. What voices did you hear? Paul's, Miss Maggie, and Miss Taylor. How sure are you now?

Positive. According to prosecutors, Paul's video lasted about a minute, and it ended at 8.45 p.m. And then less than four minutes later, both Maggie and Paul's phones lock forever, never to answer another text or call. That's when prosecutors say Alec shot Paul first and then Maggie. If you're the jury, you sit back. So he was out there.

How will the defense explain Ale Alex's voice on that video? There's nobody more watched in a trial than a defendant. And certainly, Alex drew attention. Alex Demeanor has shifted throughout this trial. We have seen him cry a lot. Is he sad that they're gone? Is he sad that he's sitting there? Is he acting? It's very hard to tell. Alex is a trial lawyer. Alex knows how to put on a show. And whatever people want to see, they saw. Michelle Shelley Smith.

At this point, the trial has moved into its third week. And the state has called Shelley Smith to the stand. This is a woman who is central to Alec Murdoch's alibi because she was the overnight caretaker for his mom who has dementia and required round-the-clock care. How long did he stay in the room with y'all? About 15 to 20 minutes, 20 minutes. What happened after that?

He left. She is certain that Alec had only been at his mother's house for 20 minutes. She also tells us that Alec came up to her just a week after these murders and said to her, I was there for 30 or 40 minutes. Was he there 30 or 40 minutes at night? Not to my recall. Why are you crying?

Because he's a good family, and I love working here. And I'm sorry all this happened. He wasn't there in 30 or 40 minutes, was he? No. Shelley also testified that the day after that, Alec Murdoch offered to help pay for her upcoming wedding. It almost seemed like Alec was trying to pay her off

for changing her story about the timeline of what happened the night of the murders. The defense argued that Alec had not tried to influence Shelley in any way. Maggie Murdoch's family breaking their silence. Maggie's own sister took the stand today. Marian Proctor was someone that I was most eager to see on the stand.

Marian looks like Maggie. So it was almost like you were hearing from Maggie on the stand that day. Marian testified that she actually encouraged her sister to go to Moselle that night because Alex's father was in poor health and had gone to the hospital. I said go be with him if you need you. Is that the last time you talked to her? Yes.

On the stand, Marion shared that she thought that Alex's behavior or reactions to things about the murder seemed odd. He said that he did not know who it was, but he felt like whoever did it had thought about it for a really long time. So that's why he was odd. I just didn't know what that meant. I was scared for Alec and Alec didn't seem to be afraid. Even as prosecutors laid out evidence of what they said was Alex's bizarre behaviors before and after the murders, they knew they needed to explain to the jurors why a seemingly loving father and husband might commit such a heinous crime.

The prosecution argued that Alec Murdoch murdered Maggie and Paul to prevent the exposure of what they said was more than a decade of financial crimes. The motive piece became astronomically important to the prosecution. Over the defense's objections, the judge agreed to allow limited testimony of Alec's alleged financial crimes

as long as it was tied to motive. The state called several witnesses who testified how Alec had stolen from them, starting with the CFO of his law firm, Jeannie Secondger. She said on the stand that she suspected Alec had diverted money from a case that was owed to the law firm and that she confronted him on June 7th, just hours before the murders.

He looked at me with a pretty dirty look, one I'd not seen before, and said, what do you need now? According to Jeannie, Alec said that he hadn't received the money yet. But this conversation was cut short because Alec received a phone call that his father was being hospitalized.

Was anybody at all concerned about getting the proof for those missing fees after those murders happened? We weren't gonna go in there and harass him about money when his family had been killed. When the murders happened, everything else stopped. The law firm quit asking Alec about missing money. Even Mark Tinsley, the civil lawyer for Mallory Beach's family, who had been suing Alec, testified that he planned to remove Alec from the boat crash lawsuit after the murders.

If Alec is the victim of a vigilante, nobody's going to hold him accountable. It doesn't make any difference what he did or how clearly what he did contributed. The case would be over against Ellic. Ellic was in a much better position with regards to protecting himself after Maggie and Paul were murdered.

But the allegations of financial crimes did eventually come out. He was forced out of the law firm that his own family built, indicted for dozens and dozens of financial crimes. He was even disbarred. Did you really know Alec Murdoch? I don't think I ever really knew him. I don't think anybody knows. The state's final witness was a sled agent named Peter Rudolfsky. And all Rudolfsky really did was to take data and evidence that had been presented earlier in the case

and put them into one timeline. It was 43 pages. It's extremely powerful to see all the evidence together in that way. People who had been saying things like, oh, the state should be pretty worried the day before, completely turned around that day and oh, this is not looking good for Alec Murdoch.

And with that, after 17 days of testimony, the state rested and all eyes turned to the defense. Have you made a decision as to whether you're going to testify? Everyone's wondering, is Alec Murdoch going to get up and look those jurors in the eye and try to convince them, I did not kill my wife and my son. And what is your decision? By week four of the trial, it's a full-on circus. It has been described by everyone as the nonfiction fiction that even John Grisham couldn't write.

There are lines outside the courthouse. People have been arriving since 4.30 in the morning. Sit out here for about two and a half hours. I've been following this for as long as it's been going on. Very interested in the outcome. It's pretty wild. This is the kind of trial that people travel to go see live and in person. It really has been the trial of the century in South Carolina so far.

The defense has a lot of cards to play. They just have to have reasonable doubt, and it's just one juror. Family and friends are called to try to show a different side to Alec than what the prosecution has portrayed. The defense has called its first witness of the day, Murdoch's only surviving son, Buster. We have heard so much about Buster Murdoch, but we really haven't heard from him. Buster talked about the night of the murders and how he finally got to Mosel and how emotional his father was.

Yeah, his demeanor was, I mean, he was destroyed. He was heartbroken. I walked in the door and saw him and gave him a hug and just, just broke it down. Could you speak? Not really. Are you crying? Yes, sir.

The defense seemed to want to humanize Alec with Buster's testimony to try to illustrate that there was no major tension in the family. The big question everyone was talking about, would Alec Murdoch take the stand in his own defense? We were literally talking about it from week one. And it kept changing by the hour. Have you made a decision as to whether you're going to testify? Yes, sir. All right. And what is your decision? I am going to whether you're going to testify? Yes, sir. All right.

And what is your decision? I am going to testify. I want to testify. When Alex said in the courtroom that he wanted to testify, there was an audible gasp. We have breaking news. Alex Murdoch, the disgraced South Carolina attorney accused of killing his wife and son, is taking the witness stand in his own defense. It's really tricky for a defendant to take the stand, but if that person can explain

away the things that don't make sense to the jury, you can get an acquittal. I'm Alec Murdick, M-U-R-D-A-U-G-H. Good morning. Mr. Murdy, did you take this gun or any gun like it and blow your son's brains out on June 7th or any day or any time? No, I did not. Mr. Griffin, I didn't shoot my wife or my son any time. Ever. In the courtroom, you could have heard a pin drop. Next up, he's asked about the Kennel video, that piece of evidence that's central to the prosecution's case. Mr. Murdick, is that you?

On the Kennel video at 8 44 p.m. on June 7th, the night Maggie and at 8 44 p.m. on June 7th the night Maddie Maggie and Paul were murdered? It is. Did you lie to them by telling them that you were not down on the kennels on that night? Yes. Alec said that he lied about being at the kennels because it would have made police suspicious of him. You continued lying after that night, if you're not? Once I lied, I continued to lie, yes, sir. Why? You know, what a tangled web we weave.

But once I told a lie, then I told my family I... I had to keep learning. Alec then begins to make excuses for the lie. He begins to talk about his opioid addiction and how it gave him paranoid thoughts. Normally, when these paranoid thoughts would hit me, I could take a deep breath real quick, just think about it,

reason my way through it. On June the 7th, I wasn't thinking clearly. Ellick gives a version of the events that we've never heard before. Now, he says, after having dinner with Maggie and Paul, he did write down to the kennels in a golf cart, staying there briefly before heading back to the house alone in that golf cart and sat on the couch before heading out to check on his mother. He describes on the stand the moment he says he came home and found the

bodies. Paul was so bad. the bodies. I was trying to tend to Maggie. On the stand, he introduces some nicknames for Paul Maggie. Maggie is Mags. I saw Mags, talked to Mags. Paul is Paw Paw. He couldn't be any closer than Paw Paw. These are nicknames he uses over and over while on the stand. But when you listen to his interviews with law enforcement, he doesn't use them.

I think I tried to turn Paul over. You had to wonder whether he was doing this as a way to ingratiate himself with the jurors. When it's time for prosecutor Creighton Waters to cross-examine Alec, he questions him for hours about his alleged financial crimes, going case by case. And you would agree to admit with me that for years, you were stealing money from clients? Yes, sir, I agree with that. He's portraying Murdoch as this manipulator, this con man, that's telling the jury, you can't believe

a word this guy says. And then, after hours of testimony, the prosecutor puts Alec's new timeline under the microscope. He wanted more of a down-to-the-minute, down-to-the-second breakdown of what Elec was actually doing. It was a battery of questions designed to stress-test this by by Elec. Prosecutors wanted to know what he was doing back at the house from 902 to 906 when his phone becomes active for the first time in about an hour and tracks 283 steps faster than he'd been moving all day. So what were you so busy doing? Going to the bathroom?

No, I don't think that I went to the bathroom. No, I didn't get on a treadmill. Doing what? You've been so clear in your new story about everything. What were you doing during these four minutes? I was going to check on my mom. Specifically what I was doing, I don't know. These are points where Waters is looking at Murdoch's story,

looking over to the jury and saying, does that sound believable to you? And as I sit here today, that I believe that boat wreck is the reason why Paul and Maggie were killed. So what you're telling this jury is that it's a random vigilante that just happened to know that Paul and Maggie were both to be at the kennels alone on June the 7th,

that knew that you would not be there, but only between the times of 849 and 902. That's what you're trying to tell this jury. You got a lot of factors in there, Mr. Waters, all of which I do not agree with, but some of which I do. In total, Alex spent more than eight hours on the stand. And over the course of six days, the defense called 14 witnesses before resting. Now the case heads to the jury.

When you first got in the room, what was the vote? You have heard the testimony. It is your duty as jurors to deliberate in an effort to reach an agreement. So if all of you will now go to the jury room. Good evening. We're coming back on the air because the jury has reached a verdict in the high profile Alec Murdoch murder trial in South Carolina. I want to go to Eva Pilgrim who's been covering this case from the very start and Eva they began deliberating just hours ago. This was very fast.

Very fast, less than three hours. The defendant will rise. Madam Clerk, you may publish the verdict. The state versus Richard Alexander Murdoch defendant, indictment for murder, verdict guilty. Alec appeared stoic when that verdict was read. The defendant is remanded to the custody of the Collison County Sheriff's Department, and he may be taken away. I spoke exclusively to one of the jurors

who helped decide that verdict. When you first got in the room, you took a vote. What was the vote? It was two, not guilty, It was two, not guilty, one, not sure, and nine, guilty. And then where do you go from there? Well, then we started deliberating, going through the evidence, and about 45 minutes later we figured it out. What was the most compelling piece of evidence for you?

The video down in the bell kennels. You can hear his voice clearly. Everybody else could, too. For some people, it's so hard to understand how a husband, especially a father, would kill their own son. What made you so sure that he had? His responses, how quick he was with the defense, and his lies, steady lies.

Did you feel like he was a liar? I did. A good liar, but not good enough. Alex, anything to say? The sentencing will happen later this morning. This has been perhaps one of the most troubling cases, not just for me as a judge, but for all of the citizens in this community. Judge Newman sentenced to Alec Murdoch to spend the rest of his life in prison. A family was destroyed and so many people questioned whether or not justice would prevail

because they do believe that there are some people who are above the law. In South Carolina, no one is above the law. Maggie and Paul, we cannot forget in all of this case as long as it's gone on and as big as it's gotten, that that's what this is really about. And thankfully they had a voice when the jurors spoke. You've been listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault. Friday nights at 9 on ABC, you can also find all new broadcast episodes of 2020. Thanks for listening. Hello, it's Robin Roberts here. Hey guys, it's George Cephanopoulos here. Hey everybody, it's Michael Strahan here. Wake up with Good Morning America. Robin, George, Michael, GMA.

America's favorite number one morning show. The morning's first breaking news. Exclusive interviews. What everyone will be talking about that day. Put some good in your morning and start your day with GMA. Good morning America. Put the good in your morning. GMA 7A on ABC.