Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Car Data Tracks Murdaugh’s Moves, DESTROYS DEFENSE TIMELINE

Episode Date: February 17, 2023

After 61 witnesses, prosecutors in Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial have rested their case. Once the long holiday weekend is over, the defense will continue to call its witnesses. Murdaugh's attorneys called two witnesses after the lunch break. Attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin say they expect their case to take about a week.  Key testimony today before the prosecution rested included new phone data information, including the fact that Alex Murdaugh called 911 roughly 14 seconds after allegedly discovering his wife and son's bodies.    The data also showed Maggie Murdaugh's phone moving at the same time as her husband's vehicle. The data indicated that Murdaugh's vehicle sped up quickly, and away from the location where Maggie Murdaugh's phone was found.  Prosecutors can then put on a rebuttal case.  Joining Nancy Grace today: Dale Carson - High Profile Criminal Defense Attorney (Jacksonville), Former FBI Agent, Former Police Officer (Miami-Dade County), Author: "Arrest-Proof Yourself;" Twitter: @DaleCarsonLaw  Sheryl McCollum - Forensic Expert, Founder: Cold Case Investigative Research Institute in Atlanta, GA.; Twitter: @ColdCaseTips; Podcast Host: "Zone 7" Dr. William Morrone - Opioid Expert and Author: “American Narcan: Naloxone & Heroin-Fentanyl Associated Mortality” Dr. Michelle DuPre - Former Forensic Pathologist, Medical Examiner and Detective: Lexington County Sheriff's Department; Author: "Homicide Investigation Field Guide" & "Investigating Child Abuse Field Guide;" Forensic Consultant  Anne Emerson - Senior Investigative Reporter, WCIV ABC News 4 (Charleston, SC); Host of Award-Winning DAILY Podcast: "Unsolved South Carolina: The Murdaugh Murders, Money and Mystery;" Twitter: @AnneTEmerson See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Hello, everybody. We are live at the courthouse. The jury has just left for a lunch break, so let's pack it in as quickly as we can. I want to tell you everything that has gone on in the courtroom since we spoke yesterday. Number one, Alex Murdoch's own brother calls police to report suspicious behavior after the roadside shooting, as it is euphemistically called, and car data maps out Alex Murdoch's every movement in his vehicle the night his wife and his son were gunned down dead on the floor of the dog kennels. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.

Thanks for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. What a day in the courtroom. You know, just when you think you can't hear anything else, nothing else can surprise you, then you find out what's happening in the Alex Murdoch trial. First of all, you learn that the roadside shooting evidence is coming in. What we mean by that is allegations that the double murder defendant legal heir, Alex Murdoch, agreed with someone, cousin Eddie Curtis Edward's killer was now after Alex Murdoch. So he couldn't possibly be the killer. That's what it's all about in my mind. But I want you to hear, just as the jury heard it today, take a listen to our cut one. And when he pulled up, did you look at his face? I don't think so.

I stood close to his car. And? He shot me. He missed and hit me in the very back of the head. Okay. And as a result of being hit in the back of the head, did that have any physical effect on you? It did. What happened? I lost my vision for a little bit.

I'm not sure if it knocked me to the ground or not, but I was disoriented. So your intent was to have him kill you so he could collect your life insurance, right? So my son could. I mean, I knew I was about to lose everything. I figured he's better off that way than even with me. Oh, boo-hoo. Stop it. I heard some sniveling there at the end. Just save all the tears and all the snot.

And let's stick to the story. Hey, Christine, let me just throw another monkey wrench into this thing. Could you pull up the 911 call where Alex Murdoch calls from the side of the street after he has been shot by an unknown assailant who he goes on to say he's a pretty good looking guy and he calls 9-1-1 to say he's been shot in the head but his first thing is he says is I had a flat. Okay here oh oh you've got it ready already. Now I want you to compare this, now that he's caught red-handed, even his own brother calls detectives to say something is way wrong with this story.

This is the version he finally tells SLED, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, but this is what he told 911. Listen. Okay, what's going on? 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. Oh, okay. Were you shot? Yes, but I mean, I'm okay.

You shot where? Where were you shot at? Huh? Did they actually shoot you or they tried to shoot you? They shot me. Okay, he goes on to talk about how he had a flat tire and he was trying to fix the tire and along comes a guy out of nowhere and shoots him in the head. Listen to Alex Murdoch lie. Man, this guy can lie like a rug. Dale Carson, you're the high-profile defense attorney out of Jacksonville, former FBI agent at dalecarsonlaw.com. What about it?

What if you were this defense attorney? Your client is caught lying flat out. No way around it, Carson. Well, what you try to do is keep that evidence out of the jurors' views. Would you please stop pretending? The jury's already heard it. No wishing is not going to come in. It's in. Right. So it's devastating because it reflects his lack of candor. But of course,

anyone who's ever heard a shooting victim make a 911 call is nothing like this. So from the very outset, of course, he's suspect. You know, I want to go to a longtime friend and colleague, and this guy's a real hero, Dr. William Maroney joining me. He's here today to talk about opioid addiction because that is his specialty. But now that you just said that, Dale Carson, Dr. Maroney and Dr. Michelle Dupree with us, both pathologists, medical examiners. They've got a CV out the wazoo. Dr. Maroney, come on, you're shot in the head and the first thing you say to 911 is, hey, I had a flat

tire. Really? Well, I think there's a significant lack of dramatic energy and crisis in his voice. If people who are shot immediately go into flight or fight and he just doesn't have it now if he's really a substance use disorder uh individual he may be stoned on opiates when he's saying this uh we have to explore that later in the show but uh that would be the only explanation. Otherwise, there's just not enough crisis in his voice. You know, Maroney, I thought you were going to back me up totally, and there you go,

being a medical doctor. Again, dadgummit. Dr. Michelle Dupree, what Maroney just said brings to mind a real-life moment. I was tromping through the very, very congested inner city housing complex and looking for a witness in a triple homicide case. And it was hot and bright outside in Atlanta. And I was looking through a screen door into a dark apartment. And I couldn't really see in there. The first thing I saw was a shotgun barrel about less than a foot from my face pointed right at me. I remember that moment, that frozen moment. But then my investigator, Ernest, was with me and we both, he grabbed me, we both went

diving off the porch. So that moment that you see a gun pointing at you is something you never forget. So what do you make of him calling, hey, have a flat tire? Nancy, again, this was such a hoax. Anybody who is, like you said, had a gun pointed at them, or certainly anyone who has actually been shot, regardless of how minor it may be, I don't think it's going to act so calm, cool, and collected. You know, he should be upset, for one thing, and I don't think I's going to act so calm, cool, and collected. You know, he should be upset for one thing.

And I don't think I'd be talking about my flat tire. I'd be wanting to get some help out there and help right now. I've taken these calls before, I will just tell you. And it's clear that if you're shot, you're going to be worrying that you're going to die because no one knows what's around once it goes into you. And he didn't know if the guy was going to die. Because no one knows what's going to happen once it goes into you. And he didn't know if the guy was going to come back. Well, everybody

and their sister knows that this is the big fat lie, including Murdoch's own brother who called detectives. So, you know, the jig is up. Take a listen

to our cut four. I told him that things were getting ready to get really bad and that I would be better off not here. And I asked him to shoot me. I mean, I think at first he was a little surprised, but then he said, OK. And what kind of weapon did you give him?

A revolver pistol. What caliber? .38. He followed me into town to where I stopped by the Sunoco gas station. I told him to follow me out and that I would make a flat tire. And he would go past me and turn around and come back and do it. I stopped, made my tire flat. How did you make your tire flat?

With a knife. Um, make my car flat. I can make your car flat. Would it be nice? Now joining me, a former homicide detective has handled hundreds of homicide investigations. Now the star of the interview room on YouTube, the director of the Cold Case Foundation, Chris McDonough. Chris, thank you for being with us. His credibility is totally shot. Pardon the pun.

It's over. Because if he can lie like that to the 911 dispatch and now he's telling a different story about he bargained with Curtis Edward Smith to shoot him in the head, how can the jury believe anything he says or his lawyers?

What else will he say to save his own skin, Chris? Great observation, Nancy. I think the statement of the day is some of the best confessions I ever had come from through defense attorneys. And if you listen to that 911 call right away, the first thing that sticks out is he says, they shot me. Who's they? Now, all of a sudden, it's him. So, you know, his lying started right from the get-go on that call. But we all know, and we're hearing more and more evidence come to the plate, that it started long before this fake shooting.

And, you know, Dale Carson, you're intimately familiar with these facts because we've been going over and over them every day, every inch of the way in the development of the evidence. They, see, I didn't even catch that until McDonough pointed it out. That's why I believe he was still trying to fabricate a phantom killer, the same killer that killed Maggie and Paul, now after him.

Well, that's exactly what he's trying to do. He's trying to create that narrative and support it. I don't know whether he's addicted to opiates or not, but of course, that would affect adversely his ability to maintain a lie and a structure to his lying, which opens up the door for all of this investigative activity. And Chris is absolutely right. They to he. It's rather obvious from the very beginning. It's like his saying seen when he's talking to the investigators about his dead wife and son. Those are not words you would ordinarily use. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Guys, he is saying, quote, I was in a bad, bad way. This guy would do anything for money. I don't believe he's got an altruistic bone in his body. Talking about giving his surviving son, Buster, the life insurance benefits. I don't know that I even believe that. But I want you to hear our cut three where he admits to the arranged shooting. Did you tell us the truth? I just want to make sure Ryan understands. No, I did not tell anybody the truth until, was it yesterday?

Until yesterday afternoon. I've been really, really sick. It was really the first day where I had any coherent thought process. And I sincerely apologize again for lying to you all about everything that I did. Basically, the way I told you it happened is kind of how it happened, except it was arranged by me. Why weren't you truthful with us when this initially happened? I don't have a good reason. I was in opioid expert, author of American Narcan, Naloxone, and Heroin Fentanyl Associated Mortality. He's a medical examiner, a toxicologist, a pathologist, and he's been in a hundred courtrooms or more.

Dr. Maroney, just hold just a moment, just a moment. Did you hear everything he just said? I don't have time to dissect it on the blackboard like the English teacher, but listen, I sincerely apologize again for lying to y'all about everything I did. I mean, it's lie after lie after lie, and now he wants the jury to believe his cockamamie story and I didn't have a good reason for lying I was in a bad bad way hold wait for it wait for it dr. Maroney I want you to hear about his drug habit in our cut to I purchased pills from for years and some weeks you would give him how much money for pills? We had weeks where there would be $50,000, $60,000.

How would you pay him? In cash and mostly in checks, but in some cash too. Okay. And what accounts would those checks come from? The vast majority of them would come from the Bank of America account, but there would also be some funds that would come from the Palmetto State account. And whose accounts are those? Mine.

What's your name, sweetie? The Bank of America accounts are in my name, and then there's another account there that I created that's a DBA. That's my name, DBA Forge. Did you pay Curtis any money for this? No, sir. You didn't pay him anything, so you just asked of a favor, and he did it? Yes, sir.

Kill me. Okay. of a favor and he did it. He has to kill me. Okay, you know, Dr. Maroney, I read you his qualifications, but do you know this man, in addition to help raising his family, has created money for a traveling science lab

to help opioid addicted people all across the country. He's the expert. Okay, a $50,000 a week opioid habit. Everybody on social media says that's not possible. $50,000 a week for some pills? Here's the truth. In America, we do have social disparities, but one of those disparities is the drug addiction that you can see in the upper class and people of means they pay a lot of money to make sure that they don't get fake pills it ordinarily a thousand dollar a day habit we can go with that i can believe that

thousand two thousand dollars a day yeah we've've seen that. And the average person that has substance use disorder that has that kind of habit, they're going to be stealing, they're going to be selling their body. You just don't have that kind of money. get fake fentanyl pills to die and he is paying extra money now it is ridiculous but he can pay that because what was described in his habit was oxycodone 30 milligrams and we don't know how many he's taking but the average person on the street when they were addicted when these pills flooded the street 80 milligrams cost 80 to 100 dollars and you paid a dollar a milligram and i have seen in our addiction setting our clinic people people addicted to 10 to 15 pills a day, let's say 12 is a good average, at 80 milligrams,

that's 960 milligrams a day, and you pay a dollar a milligram to the drug dealer for these pills. Everybody on the street takes what they can get, but when you're a person of means, and you can shell out more money, you better make sure that you're not taking fentanyl. And fake fentanyl pills are everywhere. So is he actually getting $40,000, $50,000 a week for the actual drugs?

No, he's paying for the drugs and he's paying a ridiculous amount of insurance to make sure he doesn't end up with fake pills. That's the way I interpret this. And the other thing he has to worry about is he taking these and he's destroying his liver. If it's fake stuff, you don't know what's in it. Okay, wait, just let me stop you right there. Just right there, Maroney. I am not concerned today about Alex Murdoch's liver. I'm concerned about Maggie and Paul shot up on the floor of a dog kennel. I don't want to hear about his liver. But I can tell you this much. If this is somehow going to be used with the jury to make them feel sorry for Alex Murdoch and his $50,000 a week drug habit, it ain't working. That is not going to work. that when you are looking at a host of potential suspects, if you pick the nut or the drug addict,

you're going to find the right one. Because all of his so-called enemies are not going to take a 12 gauge and go gun down his wife and son. He is the one thinking out of his mind on opioids. He is the one whose world is crashing down around him. And typically, I would feel badly for someone like that and try to help them through their crisis, get back on their feet. But he murdered two people, according to the state. And when you're looking at choices

of candidates, he stands out, Chris McDonough. Yeah, absolutely, Nancy. And in fact, if we really think through this, right, if he does have the means, most of those types of individuals are going to docs, you know, who are writing bad scripts, right? And those scripts are multiplied, you know, times 100 for opioids. They're not going to drug dealers and asking, hey, do you take checks for my drug addiction? And you and I both know, and Dale and everybody else on this panel knows, that when these things go down like this, if it's a drug hit type of connection, it's certainly not going to be tied together with checks. And I think that was, again, another mistake. Guys, I'm hearing in my ear that we are just now being... If Magic Cheryl were here, she'd be asking this simple question.

Where's Alex Murdoch's withdrawal? Where is it? I don't see it at all. During the entire course of the investigation up to this point, I don't see him on medications to help him out of a massive withdrawal from that continued use of opioids. I mean, there's another big question in my mind as to whether or not he truly was addicted in that strict sense. Well, also, we know that he, after he arranged a shooting in the head incident, he did go briefly into a Savannah, I believe it was, hospital, and then an Atlanta rehab very, very briefly. And he's come out as fresh as a daisy. I'm hearing in my ear we are now being joined by Ann Emerson, senior investigative reporter, WCIV, and she's the host of an incredible podcast, Unsolved South Carolina, the Murdoch Murders, Money, and Mystery. And I believe one of the last things I heard before

the judge announced the lunch break was that Murdoch had arranged for a $600,000 line of credit for the farm. Nancy, this morning has just been unbelievable testimony coming in from SLED. Basically, we had SLED agents up on the stand with the prosecution sort of giving this condensed timeline of what happened. There's so much to unpack here because there are new details that we're just learning. But the one that you just said, they really came out swinging at the very end, right before the lunch break.

They came out to say there were some very, very specific messages that were going back and forth between Alec Murdoch, his son Paul, as well as Alec Murdoch and Russell Lafitte, where he reached out to his personal banker, Russell Lafitte, who's already gone up on charges of financial fraud and has already been in federal court on this. And he told Russell, what was it? Let me look.

I think it was like literally two days. Okay, so four days before before the murders, he reached out to him and said, I need to extend my farm credit. Six hundred thousand dollars. My dad will sign. How much how long will it take to turn this around is what the text message said. And yeah, that's pretty much what he went out on, along with a couple of pictures of Maggie with her sister and Maggie with the family. That is, of course, we now know that the father of Alec Murdoch, the father that he's talking about that would sign that loan with him

for $600,000, passed away and was on his deathbed on June 7th. Dr. William Maroney, opioid expert and author of American Narcan, what do opioids do to you? How was he still able to go into the law office and handle matters and arrange $600,000 line of credit increases and carry on seemingly normally in the beginning you become tolerant and once you become tolerant if you don't get the opioid you can't function you are sick so the euphoria the what we call the buzz or the getting high it's really not part of the long-term part of his disease he if his addiction is real he needs the opioids to function at a normal level because without him he'll be vomiting he'll be running to the bathroom. He can't breathe. He'll have panic attacks. He'll be draining from every hole in his body with some kind of fluid. And that is withdrawal. So you need to continue increasing the dose. And it was demonstrated that he was probably on Oxycontin 30s. Well, you start on one or two or three and you end up on 12 or 15 and maybe 20.

What you need to understand is if this is real and it's ongoing, he needed those opioids to function. And once he went to rehab, the top five rehabs in Savannah, three of the five use something called medication-assisted treatment. They continue a safe FDA-approved opioid called buprenorphine, and that allows you to continue functioning. So he needed higher doses to stay functioning. The euphoria is gone. It's just to keep from getting sick. But what he has and what we don't see happen when people get this tolerance is the clarity of thought still isn't there because now he has impaired functioning, impaired thinking that the opioid is part of the focus. And if I don't get get it i'm not going to be able to function so his higher level functions which could be morals which could be ethics which could

be uh time management higher thinking that begins to suffer so that's how he gets to such high doses and that's how that works he needed it to function if this is real substance use disorder he would have driven his tolerance up i'm just still having a hard time taking in a fifty thousand dollar a week drug addiction on pills well he's not that smart it seems fantastical to me what he's not that smart he overpaid for that or that's as big a lie as some of the other things fifty thousand dollars a week maybe two maybe four maybe three but not fifty if he did he's not that smart guys also today car data mapping out alex murdoch's every move in his vehicle the night that Maggie and Paul are murdered. And it seems, I hope you're not too surprised, to contradict his story.

But I want to finish about the rehab. Guys, take a listen now to our cut six. A lot of fireworks between lead attorney Hart Putlian and the agent, special agent Ryan Kelly, on the stand. Listen. We're having a difficult time here communicating this morning. Did you tell anyone in his family the reason you wanted to see him while he was in rehab was to show him a picture of a truck? The conversations about the picture of the truck, we obtained the picture of the truck on and around. Excuse me, if you would just answer yes or no, and then you can explain your answer.

Senior special agent kelly we knew the truck that mr smith i didn't ask you what else you knew i asked you the witness be allowed to complete his answer mr alpulli they didn't talk to me about his medical records and you didn't ask them did you there's he did you ask them the testing that was did you ask them we did not ask to discuss specific aspects of Mr. Murdoch's medical condition. Okay. That irritated me no end for the agent to be spoken to that way. Senior Special Agent Kelly. I mean, Ann Emerson, that had to irritate the jury. Or do I have it bass-ackwards?

I think they're starting to understand Attorney Harpootlian's way of handling witnesses. He's got a very gruff, he was barking, like you said. I mean, there was definitely moments. What he's trying to do is he's setting up that things were not done the way they should have been. This is what they've been using for their whole defense. Now, this is an example of what was going on with this competency. And he even said, and I don't know if y'all caught this, but they literally had to send the jury out at one point during this very heated exchange with Harpootlian and Agent Kelly because they were he was arguing so emphatically that if if this really if they really wanted to take it there he would call for a competency hearing to see have one of the doctors brought up from Savannah Memorial Hospital to say whether or not Alec Murdoch was

in any shape to be talking to anybody about anything. But, of course, Agent Kelly said, look, we thought he was a victim. We needed to get as much information at that moment. But that doesn't matter. So the jury was, I mean, this is first and foremost, Nancy, they were listening. Competency is a legal issue to be determined by the judge competency at the time. If it had been ruled Alex Murdoch was not competent to speak to SLED agents while he was in in rehab, that would have been hashed out between the lawyers, not arguing the evidence can't come in in front of the jury. That's completely backwards. Guys, listen to our cut five.

We represented on that call that he was in a detox facility before when we called you to set up the call in Atlanta. And he was now and I think we when we called you to set up the call in Atlanta, and he was now, and I think we've said on the recording, that the doctors indicate he's coherent, he's been through the detox, it was a pretty tough process, and he was willing to talk to you once he was competent to do so. Isn't that correct? That's the information you relate to me, yes. Okay.

Do you have any reason to doubt that? No, sir. Okay. And so while he, as doubt that? No, sir. Okay. And so as soon as he came out of the initial stages of detox, you don't know this, but we went down. We called you. It's Hart Pullian. You can't testify. Yeah.

Hart Pullian is testifying. It's not really a question. He's saying things that this witness couldn't possibly know about the defense team's movements at the time. And I've done a little research on Hart-Pootlian by contacting multiple members of multiple state bars that have done business with him. And guess what? They all like him. All the lawyers love Hart-Pootl, and he's like a good old guy. They love to go to a bar function and throw back a couple of drinks, swap stories. And you know, I've seen that conviviality work wonders with a jury. I don't know if that's working in this case. So, bottom line to you, Dr. Maroney, opioid expert, tell me about rehab. Because it seems like Murdoch was pretty coherent when he talked to SLED. The amount of detox you do in rehab that really punishes you is probably the first two to three days where we're trying to find the right medicine to see.

The big three or four things that happen in detox and rehab is you get hot and cold flashes. Your skin feels like it has snakes and ants crawling on it. We give you clonidine. The second thing is you get huge panic attacks and anxiety some places give you hydroxyzine non-narcotic other places give you ativan or valium it's schedule 4 and then you get the nausea you want to vomit you feel like you're on the edge of the flu or you got to run to the toilet. We give you Phenergan, Promethazine to reduce the nausea. And one of the final things is insomnia. Your body's hyper, it's driven because while you're on opioids, you're chilled, you're numbed that's what the opioids do even though you're not getting euphoria

they are depressants people that do opioids are very special people they they in addiction you go one or two ways you either like uppers or you like downers and if you're into opioids the opioids bring you down so you can't sleep. So when you're in withdrawal, you're on overdrive. So we can give you some trazodone or we can give you some Seroquel or maybe a little Ambien. Those are the four things. In two or three days, we probably have you back to where you can talk to people. You're not running to the bathroom. You don't have any accidents. You don't vomit your food. You're not having panic attacks. And after that, the medicine keeps you stable. So I've been setting you up all along, Maroney. This is where I'm going. Number one, you've already told me that even on a high amount of opioids, an addict, if you're used to it, you built up a tolerance

and you can function normally. In other words, go into your law office, have conversations, drive your car. You've just told me that if you're on opioids, you can also become numbed. So my theory, based on what you've told me, my conclusion is the night of the murders, he could function properly. He could lay out a plan and carry out the plan and then be numbed to what he was really doing, murdering his wife and son. He could have been taking the Oxycontin with a beer chaser to get into the mood, to relax, to get there. And that impaired thinking that comes with long-term opioid use doesn't mean you're slow. It means you may not be functioning higher powers. So morally and ethically, you may not be activating those parts of your brain which lead you to criminal activity. With me, Ann Emerson, senior investigative reporter, WCIV.

I'm very anxious for our listeners and viewers to hear about the car data that mapped out Alex Murdoch's movement the night of the double murders. Explain what happened. Well, we got new data last Friday. They received new data that basically was looking at what GM OnStar data didn't have before. Now, this data is all, I think it was 4,800 data points that they didn't have before. And the state was able to crunch those numbers, put it on the timeline that they were already working on. And what it did was it solidified some things they didn't know and brought a little bit clarity to us where Alec Murdoch was in his car.

One of the very important parts is when he gets to Almea the night of the murders 922 to 944 43 we now know Shelley Smith her assertion that he was there for 20 minutes is right on because that's how long his car was we also learned that he parked not in the parking lot of Alameda but he actually parked near the wood line or near the outbuildings just past that parking lot they were showing it to us on a map another very important data point that we got from gm in this new uh this this new load of information was that when he got back to moselle in the car we we know that he arrived at 10 0 5 57. We know that the 9 1 1 call was at 10 0 6 11. That's approximately anywhere.

You know, what is that? 14 to 20 seconds, 20 seconds, a little less than 20 seconds before he called. That's not enough time for him to go to the kennel and find their bodies. It sounds to me, Dale Carson, based on what Ann Emerson just told us, you know, 30, 20 seconds have passed by the time he got back to Moselle and called 911. He didn't have time to, and we were seeing that earlier, Dale Carson, when we were looking at the opening and the shutting of the car door and what was going on. There didn't seem to be any time for him to go and discover the bodies

and come back to the car based on the opening and the closing of the door so rapidly just before the 911 call. Remember that? And now what Ann Emerson is explaining, interpreting for us what was heard on the stand, was that he pulls into Moselle, the hunting lodge, and within just seconds, he's calling 911. He never got a chance to look at the bodies. Well, the most damaging testimony that's appeared so far is that Maggie's cell phone was traveling 45 miles an hour until the same track that was taken by Alex, it was thrown out and stopped moving exactly where they found the phone. Yes, that is damning. Guys, I want you to hear the way the jury heard it.

In Hour Cut 7 about Murdoch's car leaving Moselle the night of the murders and what Dale Carson is describing, traveling along with Maggie's cell phone. Listen. So the orange dot, that's going to represent approximately where Maggie Murdaugh's phone was located the following day on June 8th, 2021. All right. And do we have a time reference for the Suburban at this time? We do.

It's going to be 9.0836 seconds. And it's showing a speed of 42 miles an hour. Moving on to the next one. Tell the jury what this is. In the grayish white looking box you can still see the little circle where it says Maggie Murdaugh's phone location and right under it is where the pin point is going to be. It's going to be 90836, 42 miles an hour. Next slide, 25. The upper halfway portion of that box you're going to see the circle again, the orange circle. That's going to be Maggie Murdaugh's phone. And at 908-42,

we have the Suburban traveling approximately 45 miles an hour. After passing that location, does the defendant's vehicle start to accelerate? It does. You know, a while back, Chris McDonough, star of the interview room on YouTube we were talking right here on a lunch break and either you or I said wow I wish we had the ping data and the phone data that could match and put their phones together traveling when her phone was discarded.

And lo and behold, it happened, Chris. Yeah, exactly, Nancy. And I think collectively we were thinking this. And so, again, as an investigative process, it comes down to these minutiae details here. These are situations where that GM data comes back. They put it through the, you know, the cast programs. Remember, we talked about Gladiator as well, you know, a couple of weeks ago. These are the kind of programs, welcome to the 21st century, where you can try to hide your digital footprint as much as possible.

You can even be a trial lawyer like Murdoch was. And then all of a sudden, out of nowhere comes this type of information that says, hey, you forgot this because you didn't see it. And this is where, you know, I think he realized again, and his team realized today, you know, this is a real problem. I'm curious if SLED's not going to move now that this data's just come in to start looking for the weapons in and around that area as well, now that they know his direct path. You would hope that they've already done that. I mean, we used to walk rural roadways looking for that sort of thing for years. This exact map, though, Dale, they've just gotten the evidence in the past couple of

days. Remember, all of this evidence, as it lines up with the car tracking, has just come in. Hey, to Dr. Michelle Dupree, forensic pathologist, medical examiner, former detective and author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide, even at the level of opioid addiction that he was at, as you heard described by Dr. Maroney, could he have been able to aim and fire the way he did? Absolutely, Nancy. I think that a functioning drug addict or alcoholic, I mean, that's what it means. It means that they can still function relatively normally when things like this are going on. I wanted to say something about this car data, though. It's not only that. Remember that there were 73 or 74 erasures on his phone that still showed up and that's something that we have

in investigation we call pertinent negatives. Who is going to take the time to erase 74 calls or texts from something? What is he trying to hide? And I think that's very telling as well as all of this other data. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. To you, Dr. Maroney, if he was high on opiate, it was to the tune of $50,000 a week, which I still reject, but let's just go with it. Would he have been able to form the thought pattern to take Maggie's phone and throw it out? Remember, he's a trial lawyer. He knows all about evidence. And we've got the phone traveling the same way as his vehicle is suburban so would he

be able to have the coherent thought process to discard her phone i think it might not have been something that he could pre-think about level this is going to be a problem i need to do some because you you follow that and then you oh my god my god, no, I didn't do this. There's obviously many things he forgot to do and he tried to catch up on. But eventually, the higher level functioning, because he's educated and he's a person of means, keeps him going. The function that's disturbing in substance use disorder and that we say is the impaired thinking is the moral and the ethical component that would lead to the criminal behavior. So that's an excuse, right? That's an excuse.

Well, I think what you just said is yes. Why they're going to use it. Yes, that's why they're going to use it. Yes, that's why they're going to use it. But wouldn't you create that excuse for yourself if you're a defense attorney and you're trying to create the view that he was so out of whack on drugs? And the way you do that is you have him spending $50,000 a week on drugs. The person who knows the answer to this question is Smith. Curtis? Even though these look like lies... Yes.

I think Maroney said yes in answer to that question. Guys, I want to hear it one more time. Christine, do you mind playing seven? Now that we've hashed through it, I want to hear it again with a deeper appreciation for the evidentiary value of it. Our cut's seven. So the orange dot, that's going to represent approximately where Maggie Murdaugh's phone

was located the following day on June 8th, 2021. All right. And do we have a time reference for the Suburban at this time? We do. It's going to be 9.0836 seconds, and it's showing a speed of 42 miles an hour. Moving on to the next one. Tell the jury what this is. In the grayish white looking box, you can still see the little circle where it says

Maggie Murdaugh's phone location and right under it's where the pin point's going to be. It's going to be 90836, 42 miles an hour. Next slide, 25. The upper halfway portion of that box you're going to see the circle again, the orange circle. That's going to be Maggie Murdaugh's phone. And at 908-42, we have the Suburban traveling approximately 45 miles an hour. After passing that location,

does the defendant's vehicle start to accelerate? It does. So after he throws the phone out of the car, he speeds up, heading for his alibi, Moselle. To Ann Emerson, what was the jury doing? Was it dawning on them that Maggie's cell phone is leaving Moselle at the time, is leaving the hunting lodge at the same time he's headed to Moselle? Absolutely. I mean, these are connecting the dots. This is exactly what the state,

this is where they wanted to rest their case later today. They want to be able to show the jury very clearly and went back to make sure they heard it, that truly this is happening. This is how it went down. And when the jury hears this, you can see them leaning in. They were all paying

rapt attention they're trying to understand these these these dots that have to be connected and once again i have to say like the jury doesn't get to take notes like i do you know so i'm sitting here writing down every single thing so what the state prosecutor really has to do is stop tape stop whatever's happening with his timeline and say, did you hear that? Did you hear what I just said? And that's that's really what he did. He took those major points and he said, did you hear what this agent just told you? Yeah. Yeah. It must have just descended on them that Maggie's phone is traveling along the same route at the same time at the same speed as Murdoch's Suburban leaving the hunting lodge at Moselle for Mom's house at Almeida.

It's traveling in his Suburban. There's only one conclusion to make. And that's not all. Take a listen to our cut eight. So this is going to be from his drive back from Almeida to Moselle Road. The max speed that was obtained during that drive was at 951. 43 seconds was 80 miles an hour. You're traveling as fast as you possibly can and still be reasonably safe.

Is that correct? That is correct. And have you had call prior to this road being paved to run code down that road? That's correct. All right. Would you at night or did you ever at night on the roads as they existed at the time of June 7th, 2021, run in code with your lights on, run 80 miles an hour down that road? I would not know due to the

time of night the heavy deer population out there as everyone could probably see i mean deer will run out all the time and also the road conditions the road was you know was very a lot of potholes postal speed limit is 55 man you can say that again to chris mcdonough who has traveled those roads uh and looking at the side of the roadside shooting. The first time I went to the Colleton County Courthouse, I wanted to have supper with my children before I left on a Sunday night. So I left late and I drove through the night to get there. And it was just the way this witness is describing.

No street lights. It's a two-way. It's really, really dark. I know I passed, I had to pass 40 deer, possums coming out in front of you right as you come up on them. It would be very, very difficult to speed under those conditions. Yeah, and it's pitch black, right, Nancy? I mean, and as well as not only do you have the animals coming out, but you, you know, if you're running on opioids, you know, let's hypothesize there for a moment.

You know, remember, that's a depression. And so he's also, you know, under the influence. And that could impair his driving, not necessarily his thought process based upon his tolerance level that the doctor's talking about. I mean, you and I both know and others that there are functioning addicts out there, you know, day to day and have been for many many years but for him i think what we've got going on here is the adrenaline of everything going on he's not uh you know he's got to get back there uh and he's going to go as the defense attorney dead running code himself uh not the officer but you know murdoch he dead running code himself, not the officer, but Murdoch. He's running code himself internally to get back to that house, to get his play back in motion.

Well, and it's also true that the iPhone— Running code is trying to answer a call. That's what that means. Go ahead, Dale. The iPhones themselves now are capable of showing not only steps, but frequency. So at the time of the purported murders, the actual murders, you can see that he's running 70 steps a minute, which is running. So there's a lot of activity going on at the original site of the shootings that is memorialized in those phones. It's pretty incredible. So, guys, we've got him going 80 mph on those back roads in the middle of the night. No streetlights, deer, possums, animals coming out in front of you.

Why? Why was he in such a hurry to get back to the hunting lodge at Moselle? Then he arrives. Take a listen to our cut nine. This is going to be a time stamp of 10.05.06 p.m. And this is showing Alex Murdoch leaving for the kennels. And then slide 52. This is showing the suburban arriving at the kennels, 10.05, 57 p.m.

And to your recollection, during the 911 call, did the defendant say he was returning back to the residence during that 911 call? He did. All right. And so we're on slide 53. What does this reflect? This would be him heading back to the house around 10.11, 54. Again, highly significant. Ann Emerson, WCIV, explained the significance of those times. 10.05.06, 10.05.57, and then the 10.06.911 call. Well, that's right. So what we were able to learn from these new data points is that he arrived at Moselle immediately. Moselle being

the main hunting lodge. He went up that main driveway, right? He goes to the house, turns straight down into the kennels. He arrives at the kennels at 0557, 100557. He makes his call to 911 at 100611, which only gives him 20 seconds or so, right? To, uh, check the bodies because that's what the, what we understood from him when he was talking to when he was, this is what I'm asking is because that's what, that's what he said. He said he checked pulses that he went to the bodies. How do you do that in 14 to 20 seconds? That's's that's very difficult to understand for the jury according to my count it's not even 20 seconds 57 to 11 would be for 14 seconds to go in 14 see your wife and your son murdered and take their pulse and put the phone back on Paul's body and get the wherewithal to go call 911.

All of that in 14 seconds. It would take me 14 seconds to get out of the car and walk to the kennel. At least. This is a timeline issue that is going to be hard. He was flat out lying. He was lying. And, you know, that's the thing about opioid addicts. To you, Dr. Maroney, they just lie. Drug addicts lie. They lie to get drugs. They lie to cover up drugs. They lie to keep a normal life going. Everything is a lie. It's

impaired thinking because the drugs rewire the brain and that's going to be their defense. The truth is we don't know if he was really addicted. We don't know if he had a substance use disorder problem. He will have to give the source of drugs that he bought and what dealer is going to put their hand on a bible and say yep i sold him everything nobody he doesn't have anybody to back that up what about it dale carson curtis smith is his supplier according to him and so you just ask curtis smith with a deal because he's gonna get charged and ask him where did you get the drugs that you gave to Alex? That's the clear answer to the problem.

Yes. You know, I'm hearing in my ear from my producer when she, Kelly and I, were driving that road. She says, white knuckles, white knuckles, because we were holding on so tight to see. And he's going 80 mph, you know, slides in. And in 14 seconds, once he arrives, he has, correct me if I'm wrong, Ann, he has turned off the car, gotten out of the car, walked to the kennels, gone in the kennels, probably saying, hey guys, where are you? How did he know to even go to the kennels?

Did he stop by the house first? How did he know they were in the kennels? Go in there, have the shock of seeing their bodies. He said he took their pulse, tried to turn Paul over, put the phone back on his body, and then go call 911 all in 14 seconds. That's the theory. That is a lie, Ann. Well, and not only that, now we also have a problem with who he was calling based on these Verizon records. Because, of course, they put that in the timeline as well, even though they were deleted off of his phone, some of these calls.

The calls end up on the Verizon call records. And we now see that if we tie back that kennel video, that last 8.44 p.m., when the last time we heard, according to all of these witnesses that that's Alex's voice on the the kennel video we now learned today that he had tried to call Rogan multiple times before that first cop arrived why guys I also want you to hear what was happening in the courtroom just before the lunch break, an hour cut 12. Guy at the bottom of the page, what time is the 911 call? 10-06-14. How many seconds is that from the time the suburban arrives at the kennels and he calls 911?

Roughly 20 seconds. Do you recall the defendant's statements to law enforcement shortly after the crime, that he went over and checked the bodies and that sort of thing? I do. What, if anything, in his statements to law enforcement did the defendant say about what he did when he arrived at the scene? The defendant stated that he went and checked on Paul and Maggie, checked the bodies. From the moment the suburban arrived at the kennels, how long did it take for that 911 call to be made? Less than 20

seconds you know all of our discussion wouldn't the first thing you go ahead go ahead to be to flee you're right up you see people killed the first thing you're going to think is where's the killer i'd better get out of here the first thing i don're going to do is not be comfortable. I think I would rush to my son's body and my husband's body. I think that would be the first thing I would do and then it might dawn on me. But all of our discussion, I mean, does it ever dawn on any of you? I'm sure it does as we're talking about time stamps and MPH and the distance traveled and the logistics.

We are talking about Maroney. You've got a beautiful son and daughter. This is his son. This is his wife, gunned down on the floor of a dog kennel. And the jury is trying the husband, father, of the victims. These were real people with lives in front of them, a loving mother, a son. And we're talking about MPH and data and the distance between Moselle and Almeda. And somehow I feel that Maggie and Paul are just getting lost in the sauce.

Yeah. Nancy, can I say something to that? Sure, Chris. You are a thousand percent on target again. I mean, the emotional side of this story for these two victims is getting lost 100%. And if we really think even a little bit deeper in relationship to that 911 call, we can think about why doesn't he run to the bodies, you know, have an emotional breakdown, have an emotional response. You know what we hear? The first thing the officer, when they get on scene,

is about a boat accident. And it's almost as if, you know, what is going on here comes to the surface. In his head. And I want to go back to you, Maroney, because I know your children and your family. This is his family we're talking about. And you know what, Christine, if I could put their pictures up again. When you're addicted to drugs, are you so out of your mind that your family, your child, means nothing to you anymore?

I'll tell you that the first thing you do when you're really addicted to the OxyContin with substance use disorder, the first thing you do in the morning before you see your wife, the kids, you make your coffee, you call your dealer. Because you don't want to be sick that day. You call your drug source. That's the first thing you do. And I've seen it in pregnant patients struggling with heroin.

Instead of doing what the hospital needs them to do, instead of getting in on time, they're chasing cocaine. So I guess your answer is yes. instead of getting in on time, they're chasing cocaine. The drugs. So I guess your answer is yes. Rewire. You're rewired. You're going for the dealer. You know, as I say, your wife or husband, your son or your daughter, all I can think about is my husband and my son and my daughter

and the thought of finding them that way. It's just very overwhelming. I don't want to lose sight of what this is all about. And let me remind everyone on our panel that voluntary use of drugs or alcohol is not a defense. No matter how much Hart-Pootlian wants this jury to feel sorry for Alex Murdoch. We're going back in the courtroom. Goodbye, friend.

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