Murdaugh Murders Podcast - Incoming Call From Alex Murdaugh: The Jailhouse Tapes (S01E33)

Episode Date: February 23, 2022

Get a rare inside look into the Murdaugh family dynamic and Alex Murdaugh’s manipulations from behind bars. In this episode, Mandy Matney and Liz Farrell share recordings of Alex Murdaugh’s jailhouse phone calls to his son Buster, brothers John Marvin and Randy, sister Lynn and sister-in-law Liz. These gripping calls reveal a supportive family that seems to be held captive by an utter narcissist who is really good at getting people to do what he wants. Listen in as John Marvin informs Alex about the fallout from Alex’s alleged crimes. Hear Buster’s take on getting recognized while gambling in Las Vegas and his warning to Alex, “I’m not saying you are, but I really hope you’re not doing anything you shouldn’t be doing in there.”  And witness Alex’s desperate attempts to get his sister-in-law to put money on another inmate’s account. See more videos on the Murdaugh Murders here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPC7aLBzSFHqIz_jDachzQA And a special thank you to our sponsors: Cerebral, Hunt-A-Killer, Bannon Law Group, Nature's Highway CBD, Embark Vet, VOURI, Hello Fresh and others. The Murdaugh Murders Podcast is created by Mandy Matney and produced by Luna Shark Productions. Our Executive Writer is Liz Farrell. Advertising is curated by the talented team at AdLarge Media. Find us on social media: https://www.facebook.com/MurdaughPod/ https://www.instagram.com/murdaughmurderspod/ For current and accurate updates: Twitter.com/mandymatney Support Our Podcast at: https://murdaughmurderspodcast.com/support-the-show Please consider sharing your support by leaving a review on Apple at the following link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/murdaugh-murders-podcast/id1573560247 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, this is an Amtel operator calling from Albin S Grand Detention Center, with a prepaid collect call from... Alex. To accept this prepaid collect call, press 1. All phone calls are subject to monitoring and recording. Thank you for using Amtel. I don't know what we expected Ellic Murdoch's jailhouse phone calls to be like, but after listening to them, we are more certain than ever of Ellic's extraordinary ability to

manipulate and control those around him, even his own family. My name is Mandy Matney. I've been investigating the Murdoch family for three years now. This is the Murdoch Murders podcast with David Moses and Liz Farrell. This week marks the third anniversary of Mallory Beach's death. Our hearts are with the Beach family, as well as Mallory's friends and everyone who loves and misses her. We are thinking of Morgan, Miley, Connor, and Anthony, who have to relive the worst nights

of their lives in the national spotlight over and over again, through no fault of their own. It's important to recognize that none of the victims or their family ask to be in this international news story. We wish all of the victims and their families peace this week, and ask anyone who would like to honor Mallory to do so by donating to her charity, mousepalsatmousepals.com. That's M-A-L-S-P-A-L-Z.com. All funds go directly to building a new shelter in Hampton County and support local shelters

because Mallory loved animals. This week, David, Liz, and I spent hours listening to recordings of some of the phone calls Ellick Murdoch has made to family members since his arrest in October. In January, we filed a Freedom of Information Act request for a number of phone calls that Ellick had made from the Richland County Detention Center. Between his arrest last fall and December 9th, Ellick made almost 100 phone calls, most of them to his son Buster, his brothers Randy and John Marvin, his sister Lynn, and his sister-in-law Liz.

These phone calls have given us a lot of insight into the Murdoch family dynamic and a closer look at Ellick's sociopathy, which is beyond anything we could have imagined. The calls were mostly short because inmates at the Richland County Jail are limited to 15 minutes per call. The first phone call is from October 24th, 2021, which is 10 days after Sled arrested Ellick while he was in Orlando, Florida, on charges related to the Gloria Satterfield Settlement. Remember, he was arrested after allegedly completing more than 30 days of rehab following

his so-called Suicide for Hire incident on September 4th. In this call, Ellick is speaking to his 25-year-old son Buster, who was on Hilton Head Island with his girlfriend Brooklyn just after he got home from a trip to Las Vegas with his uncle John Marvin. You probably remember this trip because a photo of Buster gambling was circulated online, which Buster references in this phone call. It's that photo that led victims' attorneys to file an emergency request with the court to freeze Ellick and Buster's assets and assign a receiver to comb through their finances.

Yeah, can I speak to her? Yeah, you can speak to her. Hello. Hey, darling. Hi. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. Are you excited to find out?

Yes, sir. I was. When y'all were in the mountains, I wasn't trying to bother y'all up there because I knew you didn't have service. That was last Friday to the October 15th. Did you know you were going to find out then? Yes, I did. So you knew you were going to know when you were going up to the mountains?

Yeah, they told us on Wednesday, I believe, that the scores were getting released on that Friday at 4. So, yeah, I knew whenever we were going up there. You weren't really worried, were you? Oh, I was a nervous wreck. I can remember, I remember so clearly. Well, I'm so proud of you. Well, thank you.

I know y'all are tired, I know you haven't seen Buster, so I'm not going to keep y'all but a second. I just wanted to make sure he made it home, okay? Oh, yeah, and here, you can talk to him. No, I miss you. I miss you, too, and I love you. Love you. Brooklyn, who has dated Buster since 2019, just passed the bar exam, and Elik is congratulating

her. You'll notice throughout these phone calls that being a lawyer is something Elik Murdoch absolutely values and identifies with. And later, you'll see that he seems fixated on Buster getting back into law school. According to our sources, Buster was asked to leave USC School of Law after a cheating scandal. It is clear from this phone call that Elik considers himself to be close with Brooklyn, who offered an unsolicited I Love You before quickly hopping off the phone and handing

it back to Buster. Tell her. Tell her. Hey. All right. What time do y'all get back? Um, back to where? Boom.

Uh, like 5 o'clock this morning? How'd y'all get back at 5 o'clock this morning if y'all left at 10.53 out there? Time change. Yeah, I know, but it's 10.53 out there y'all left, right? No. We left at 9.30. At 9.30 out there? We left at 9.30.

It's a four-hour flight, so you really land at, you know, around 1, and then you travel through three comms ends, which adds three hours. So we landed at about 4.30. Simple. Dang y'all. I have to be tired. Um, yeah, I am tired. I am.

Well, it was easier for me because they dropped me off at my car, which was in Columbia, and I just went to my apartment and slept for several hours. You dropped me off at Columbia. Where did y'all fly into? Charlotte. Why'd y'all do that? Um, you know, it's just, that was where the cheapest flight was. What y'all fly on?

Uh, spear airlines. How was that? It was better than I expected it to be. What does that mean? Well, I mean, I thought, I don't know, I just, you know, it was, it was better than, you know, I just thought it was a real cheap airline, but I mean, it was nicer than I thought it was going to be. Did y'all have room in your seat?

Um, you know, the seats were high, they, but, you know, it was, you know, it's a totally, it's just a different, like the seats don't recline because they can sit more if they don't recline. It's just, you know, it's just different. So you went four hours with no recline? I'm sure you guys noticed Alex knowing little laugh at Buster's economy airlines experience. Others have always told us that the Murdochs weren't extravagant people, but we do know that they tended to fly private.

Alec obviously thinks it's adorable that his heinous crimes have led to his adult son having to slum it. But yeah, I mean, they're all, everyone's fine. Everyone was fine. So was it a good trip or, you know, just sort of okay? No, it was a good trip. It was, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's different going to Vegas with, with young children.

Um, but, you know, everything was still fine and then going to Sedona wasn't a good time. Did you get to gambling any? Yeah. Yeah. So I did go gambling and then the next day there was a article created about how I'm misusing funds. About gambling? Yeah.

Someone took a picture of me and John Marvin in the casino. You're kidding me. Uh-uh. What a fucking, you, are you kidding me? No. How do they recognize you? No. Man, I guess that, I mean, I'm a national figure, I think.

I guess you're going to have to wear a hat and shit when you go places. So four days before this call, our founding editor Will Folkes of Fitznews published an exclusive report about Buster and John Marvin's trip to Las Vegas. Last in a day after Elix Bond hearing in Richland County when Judge Clifton Newman denied Elix Bond, John Marvin and Buster were spotted at a blackjack table at the Venetian. It was relevant because at the time Buster had just been granted power of attorney over his father's assets. Also notice, Elix never apologizes to a son who is obviously under national media scrutiny

because of him. He just tells him to wear a hat while he's in public, which isn't very helpful. Now, I want you to pay attention to the next part. In all of these calls, we notice a pattern with Elix. After he warms up the person he's talking to, he'll start to end the call but strategically uses the wind down moment to ask his family members to do things for him, right before it's hang up time. The other day, a man who knew the Murdoch family for decades told me that Elix had a

real talent for getting people to do things for him, which explains how he was able to get away with what he did for so many years. Anyway, this part coming up, I want you to listen carefully. Um, where are you going to be tomorrow? Um, here. Be here. Hey, please stay on John Marvin's ass to see about that stuff from Mark Ball and any of those other funds to put on that thing.

Be taking care of it in the morning. So Mark's going to do it? Yep. They're writing the check in the morning. The check will be ready at 8.30, Johnson is someone to pick it up and then simultaneously running an over-department estate to apply it. And I'm driving to Charleston in the morning to pick up the check to the boat. They're going to apply that too?

Correct. I mean, I don't see how they bust when everything's being applied to the bank. Yeah. I mean. 10-4. So all that'll be done. All that'll be done by lunch tomorrow. That makes me feel better.

That'll be $3.50. How much has been put on it so far? Um, Dad, I don't have an exact figure. Um, you know, a couple tens of thousands maybe. You know, just selling pieces of equipment. All right. So I love you and, um... Well, this call turned out to be a real who's who of Alex's money-moving shenanigans.

First, you remember our friend Mark Ball, right? He was directly involved in the old jellyfish gambit. And he was also Alex's colleague at PMPED. Seems like just a few days after attorneys called for Alex's finances to be frozen and handed over to a receivership that Mark Ball was cutting Alec a check. This check was so critical to Alec that Buster is told to stay on John Marvin about it. But he doesn't have to do that because John Marvin has already arranged for somebody to go get the check and run it over to Palmetto State Bank to apply it to something.

You don't know what it is, but anyone who knows simple math is aware that Mark Ball plus Palmetto State Bank plus a quickly cut check divided by Alec equals, I hope, sled is listening to this. Anyway, Buster asks his dad about his court proceedings. Before they end the phone call, Alec and Buster chat about sports scores. And we get why that's so important to him in a later phone call. We'll be right back. Now November was another really bad month for Alec Murdoch. As a reminder, on November 2, Judge Daniel Hall froze Alec and Buster Murdoch's assets.

On November 10, Judge Clifton Newman denied Alec Murdoch's bond for the second time. On November 19, Alec was indicted on 27 counts of financial crimes including fraud and money laundering. The next call happened on November 30, the week after Thanksgiving. Alec Murdoch called Buster, who just got back from a fishing trip somewhere off the coast of South Carolina. The two start with a little routine father-son talk. How's she doing? She's good. Did she have a good Thanksgiving?

Yeah. Well, good. Tell me about the fishing trip. It was good. How many do I catch? I caught a cell fish and a couple tuna. Black fin? Yeah.

No wahoo? No, no wahoo. But I mean, when you're fishing on a boat like that, I mean, even if you ain't catching nothing, you're doing pretty good, ain't you? They go back and forth about the fishing trip for a few. Buster seems a little short with his father and starts to sound annoyed as Alec turns the conversation to Buster making arrangements to re-enroll in law school in January. Hey, Puff, not trying to bug you, babe, but you gotta get that thing reset with law school. I sent an email to Hover this morning. Okay.

All right. Well, good deal. Everything else okay? Yeah. What have you been doing? I haven't talked to you since Thursday. No, you talked to me Friday. I didn't?

Yeah. I thought you did when you got back. No, no, no. That's right. Because it's Thursday afternoon. We were on lockdown Friday. Alec then starts asking Buster about his financial situation. This call is one that later gets referenced by prosecutor Creighton Waters during Alec's bond reconsideration hearing,

as evidence that Alec hasn't stopped his financial shuffling behind bars. I told John to give you money until I get everything sorted out where I'm paying back. 24. Happy? Yeah, but I mean, I haven't really needed any money. Yeah, but you gotta pay rent now. Well, the one time, one time I paid rent. I paid him already, so I can ask him for money.

Say that again. Say that again. One time he paid rent and what? One time I paid rent, it was out of my account, but I have to pay it again. So I can ask him for money to buy it. Do you feel uncomfortable asking him? No, it's not uncomfortable. It's just, I mean, it's not very fair to him.

But I mean, I've got him keeping up with all of it, so I can pay him back. I understand. You don't worry about that. I mean, I've even asked him if he wanted me to do other things, because there's other options. And he's absolutely, I mean, he's absolutely said, I mean, I talked to him at length about this. So he said he's glad to do it. So don't be bashful. Now here, Alec is telling his son Buster to go to John Marvin, Alec's brother and Buster's uncle to ask for money.

I'm telling you, Buster is 25 years old with a full-time job at Wild Wing Cafe Corporate Offices as a recruiter. Notice that Alec is not acting like he is impecunious, as his attorneys have said, but rather he insists that there is money there and he has quote unquote options, whatever those were. Okay. And Buster, you need to get ready for this law school now, okay? I understand. I mean, you've got to really buckle down. I mean, you've got to treat it like a job.

You're going to have to read these cases two and three times if you don't fully understand them. I mean, you're going to have to treat it like a job. I understand. You promise? Yes. Because you know there's not going to be another chance. I know. I mean, no way.

No way, shape or form is there going to be another chance. I understand. You do truly understand that? Yes. All right. All right. So you're going to be on the road this afternoon? Yes.

Hopefully I'm going to be able to call again. I got to hopefully Jim's supposed to come by me with him. I'm trying to get the finances straight with him and I got to talk to John and see whether we're going to do a loan and then I'm going to pay it back out of an account later or we're going to have a letter from an opinion from a lawyer who does retirement accounts that's rolling it over. Because I mean, if you pay interest on something for, let's see, six years and you could end up being more than the penalty. But we got to make sure the penalty doesn't open it up to creditors. I mean, you're going to need that money. If there ever truly was a question about whether or not Dick and Jim were getting paid for representing Alec in this mess, there is your answer.

And then at the end of the conversation, Alec again asked Buster to do something for him. All right. Well, please tell Brooklyn hello. Okay. Did you by chance talk to grandma or property? I did mention it to them and I told them that I never really got a private moment whether I didn't want to keep talking about it in front of people. But I did mention it to them and they said that they were, that they would like to do it, but they were concerned that they wouldn't be able to figure it out via the phone. Well, if you think they really would rather wait until I get out, it ain't going to hurt my feelings.

I understand. Okay. What's your opinion? I don't have an opinion. I tried to talk to him about it all the time around our family and I didn't really just. You tried what now? So I tried to talk to him about it, but we were never, were never not around the entire group of the family. So I didn't really feel like talking about it in front of everybody.

I understand. So we're not entirely sure what this is about, but it seems sketchy. It seems like Alec is asking Buster whether he has spoken with Grandma and Papa T who we're told are Bangie's parents. Buster seems uncomfortable. Clearly, whatever Alec wanted him to ask them about is something Buster doesn't want to bring up in front of other family members. Since Alec's entire world seems to be about money, it would not be a stretch to think that he might be instructing Buster to talk to his other grandparents about finances. The next day, on Wednesday, December 1st, Alec called Buster again. Alec starts by bragging about winning jail bets on NFL games.

Hey. What you doing? I'm dumping them in the bed in Charlotte. Am I waking you up? No, it's not. It's only noon clock. What, it's 9 o'clock? Yeah.

Hey, I hit 9 out of 11 games on Sunday on the pro games. Well, I missed the Eagles and I missed the Steelers. The Eagles were three and a half point favorites over the Giants and they lost. And the Steelers were four and a half point underdogs to the Bengals and they lost by 20. But I had 9 out of 11. That's pretty damn hard. Yeah. I won like 6 suits, 4 B sticks, a bunch of crackers, a bunch of canteen chips.

Well, that's good. It was like 13. I was playing. Everybody put in something, you know? Right. I won 13 things. Anyway, how you doing? Obviously, Alec appears to be hustling in jail.

Maybe he's bored. Maybe his real addiction is just breaking the rules. Whatever it is, he sure was proud about those beef sticks. Alec then asked Buster if he's talked to his attorney, Jim Griffin, about his habeas corpus petition that was filed on November 10th after Judge Newman denied Alec Bond for a second time. Note that Alec sounds like he's just learned a new fun fact about the law. Jim, have you talked to Jim lately?

I haven't. John Marvin talked to Jim today. Did he tell you about them expediting this thing? Expediting what? This appeal. It's called habeas corpus. Then it deals with a constitutional issue. You have a constitutional right to bail for any non-capital offense.

So when he denied Bond, they filed a habeas corpus petition. The Supreme Court first said they weren't going to expedite it. Then they wrote back and gave Attorney General 10 days to respond. You would assume, at least the lawyers assumed that if they weren't going to do something, they would just let it sit. But I mean, I don't get my hopes up, you know, but they seem to have their hopes up. I hear you. It would seem that Dick and Jim did get Alec's hopes up over nothing.

Spoiler alert. The Supreme Court denied the writ of habeas corpus in January after Judge Lee set Alec's bond at $7 million. It is interesting to note that Dick and Jim thought they had a shot with the Supreme Court, and it makes you wonder why they had that assurance. Anyways, on a phone call, Buster then tells Alec that John Marvin is trying to get his guns back from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, also known as SLED. What else did he tell John?

Well, John said that he was going to talk to me about something, but he said he'd rather talk to me about it in person. That's probably what it was. No, that wouldn't make sense. Why do you want to talk to you about that in person? But mostly, I've had John calling David Owens every day to try to get my guns back, and prior to Thanksgiving, David Owens said that we could have him back, and then today he said we couldn't have him back.

So that's what John was calling me. And then he called and told Jim what David Owens said about not being able to get him. John said that he used the language out of an abundance of caution, and then John said, well, have you not run the ballistic column? Apparently he was like, no, we have. And he was like, well, were these guns used in the crowd? And they were like, no. And I was like, and he was like, well, why can't we have them back?

So I don't know. I've just been trying to get some of our stuff back. From this conversation, it sounds like Alec is trying to sell off expensive tools and machinery so that the victims can't claim them as assets. In October, Alec's brother, Randy, filed a lawsuit claiming that Alec owed him $90,000 and wrote in the suit that he had been paid back in part by equipment that Buster had signed over to him. Hey, John Marvin needs to go.

You know that vacuum packer that John Marvin lent us to send the skins he had? You know that huge one? Yeah. He needs to go pick that up. Okay. Before they take it like, think it's mine. Yeah. All the bar, there's a bunch of John Marvin's tools in the shop.

I told him he needs to get out. All those Milwaukee tools, all those jacks, all that stuff. And I borrowed a lot of it too. Yeah, we're going to go. We're going to be down in Greenfield this weekend. He talked about going over the green or going over the green. Going over the Moselle and getting some of that stuff. Then Alec starts asking questions about Blanca.

According to sources, Blanca was Maggie's housekeeper at the Edisto Beach House where Maggie was staying by herself before the murders. Next time you're on the phone. I'll have a pen and paper. But she's got a specific address. No, I still haven't called Blanca. I keep forgetting to call Blanca. Okay.

Do you want me to get somebody else to do it? No, man, I'm fine to do it. It's just, I don't know, for some reason I keep forgetting. Okay. Well, are you going to remember for me? Because I'd like to call her soon. I don't mind getting somebody else to do it. I know you got a lot going on.

No. I mean, do you have Blanca's number? No. That's what I say. I told you I got to get her number and I wanted you to let her know. I'm going to be calling and make sure that she's good with that number one. And then number two, kind of tell her what she's got to do. Simple.

Okay. Well, yeah, I'll, um, I'll recall that in the morning. Would you please do that in the morning? Yes. And would you please tell her that I'd asked you to do it before Thanksgiving and you just had a lot going on and forgot? Yep. You promise?

I promise I'm going to try that. All right. I just... I know you had said you didn't really want to. I mean, she had irritated you. And if you don't want to call her, I promise you I'll get Lizzie or Grandma or somebody else. So we don't know what's going on here, but Elick seems really determined to get a hold of Blanca.

From our sources, we know that Elick seeks to control the narrative and he puts himself square in the face of people he's trying to persuade or even just monitor. Before he was in jail, Elick was known for having sit-down talks with people who might have a reason to be upset with him or his family. These sit-downs, according to my sources, were a classic manipulation tactic that Elick frequently used. Elick then changes the subjects to apparently one of his favorite topics,

Buster's future in law school. Did you get back from the date? No. I was checking my email all day today. I emailed him beginning of this week and I haven't heard back. I emailed him and I... Hold on, you did what? I emailed him and I CC'd the associate dean and I haven't heard back yet.

Okay, if you don't hear today, this is Monday. He did it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, tomorrow, he might just shoot a follow-up. Yeah, I mean, if I don't hear from him, I'm definitely shooting a follow-up this week. Tomorrow? And if I don't hear from him, I might get in touch with Butch if you can call him and say that I've been trying to get in touch with him. All right. Is Butch paid all the money that he was owed?

Yes. Up front and he... It was up front and it was 30 grand up front and 30... I mean, was there any contingency on if it was successful or not? Sure, I don't want to call him if I have the shit he has. He's straight there. Nah, he knows he's totally paid. I mean, would he be willing to do something like that, you think?

Absolutely. But I would do it yourself first. I would just say, hey, just follow it up. You know, at the holiday... No, I will. But if he got in by the back end of this week and we get into the middle of next week and something's got to be done for me to reach... That's what I'm saying.

When do classes start? January the 5th. 5th? Yeah, that's why... Really, you need to send it tomorrow. And if you haven't heard from him by Friday... And I'd say something real nice. Just like, hey, just follow it up on my email.

I know this is a busy time of year, but we're hoping we could meet soon. Just like that. We could get a meeting set soon. Or reset soon is what I'd say. And then say thank you for your attention. Something real nice like that. But you ought to send it tomorrow to give him a chance to respond to you Friday. This conversation reveals something disturbing that we are looking into.

Week in Buster referred to Butch, who we've been told is Butch Bowers, a highly influential Columbia attorney from Hampton County. Butch has represented our state's governors, including Henry McMaster, and state Senator Lindsey Graham recommended him to be a member of President Trump's impeachment team. He is incredibly connected to the University of South Carolina. Another fun fact about Butch, his father, and namesake, Carl S. Bowers Sr. was an ex-con. He was federally indicted in 1980 on 15 counts related to the fraudulent sale of homes in Hampton County.

He was found guilty of tax evasion and served time in prison. Then the good old boy is named a bridge after him, not just a bridge, but one of the bridges to one of the state's most important sources of tourist revenue, Hilton Head Island. Butch's father was also awarded the Order of the Palmetto, which is supposed to be the state's most prestigious award. Remember that Alec's father was also awarded the Order of the Palmetto. If you haven't noticed it by now, good old boys really like to give trophies to other good old boys.

Anyway, it seems like Alec has paid Butch Bowers $60,000 to do something in connection with Buster's readmittance to law school. But it's not clear what. Alec encourages Buster to write an email to Dean Hubbard, who is William Hubbard. William Hubbard is a former colleague of Bowers at the politically powerful Nelson Mullins Riley Scarborough Law Firm. This is the only time in these calls that we got that Alec says that he's proud of Buster. And it appears to be while they're talking about some shady money shuffling in order

to get him back into law school. We'll be right back. On the same day, December 1st, Alec called his brother John Marvin. John Marvin reminds Alec that he is cautious about talking over the phone with Buster, and indicates to us that he's wary of his phone being tapped for some reason. Then Alec gets a little cryptic. He mentions a financial situation involving Jim and Dick, his attorneys, as well as a mysterious letter.

I've got to get this financial stuff straight with Jim and Dick. I put some thought into it, and I want you to have, will you have that letter with you tomorrow when I call you? No, but I'll see if I can get it out. That letter really was nothing more than saying that they had received a request to look into it. I'll try to find that letter. Find that and try to read it to me, and I'm going to talk to you about this other stuff,

and let's figure out. I mean, I think about figuring it out, but let's figure out what to do. I'm not going to be able to talk but about another minute. After getting off the phone with John Marvin on December 1st, Alec called their older brother Randy Murdoch. Now, remember, Randy, who is also an attorney at the firm, is currently suing Alec for $90,000 of alleged unpaid debt. We say alleged because this lawsuit was seen as a scheme to help Alec retain his assets

and keep them away from victims. On this phone call, the two brothers do not act like one of them just sued the other for unpaid money. They are downright chummy with each other. Also, Alec talks about another of his favorite jail phone topics, his workouts. This is pretty dang hard. I mean, I was almost two hours and 40 minutes today just because we were shut in the room this morning, but I've been an hour and 15 or 20 minutes a day.

Hey, but that's good. That's very good. This is the start of my... I started on Friday the 12th. I mean, I can tell a distinct difference already. You know, when I had an exercise in 25 years. I can't bother. Hey, Mo, me either, actually.

I mean, and both laying around in rehab and then really from the... So, for 38 days, I did very little. The last... Right. The last about seven, I was up a lot more, but I still wasn't doing anything strenuous. So that's a month and a week. And then when I came in here, I obviously thought I was getting out on the 19th. So I didn't do anything.

And then I thought I was getting out shortly after that with Donna Maddox, you know. So I didn't do anything for about two and a half weeks in here. Right. It really is longer than that. And then I started doing a few push-ups. But for some reason it made my hand hurt after about a few days. But now it's not doing it. I guess I've got...

You told me that. I've gotten in better shape. Alec tells Randy he's been hearing a high-pitched ringing noise in his ears and wonders whether it's a side effect of his alleged drug addiction. I would think it's more to do with your hereditary and your shooting, you know. Alec is clearly optimistic about getting out of jail soon. Here he sounds very hopeful about Dick and Jim's habeas corpus motion. But also, quite appallingly, he makes it a point to say that he didn't know what a habeas corpus was before now.

Apparently neither did Randy. Both of these men have been attorneys for decades. But okay, you're never too old to learn something new. Hey, maybe we're teaching them about the Freedom of Information Act today. Hey, but have you talked to Jim and Dick or whomever else about filing bankruptcy both? Um, yeah, I mean, we've discussed it, but there's some time and... I mean, it's almost like you're stuck in bankruptcy right now, but you got all the bad from it, but none of the good from it.

You know what I'm saying? So they're talking about... I'm not really familiar with this, but apparently there's a civil... I've heard it a rid of mandamus, but I don't really know what it is, but it must be something that gives you quick turnaround. Right. When you've got immediate harm. It's something that breaks your Supreme Court.

Yeah. So, I mean, that's what they're going to do if you know he's going to deny it and he's going to do it. But they at least told me Dick came to see me yesterday and told me that the Supreme Court... You know, they filed a... I've heard of this too, but I didn't know what it is. You know what a habeas corpus... A rid of habeas corpus is? I know it's something directly to Supreme Court about other than that.

No, I don't know. So apparently there's nobody with this kind of stuff that has never not gotten a bond. It might be a huge bond, but they get a bond, and you're constitutionally entitled to a bond for non-capital offenses, is what they tell me. Right. They're constitutionally entitled. And because it's a constitutional violation, you can file a rid of habeas corpus.

Same thing like a rid of mandamus for a civil charge, habeas corpus is for a criminal charge. I think they're the same thing, just one's criminal and one's civil. And anyway, they initially said they weren't going to expedite it, but then they said they are going to expedite it, and they gave the Attorney General 10 days to respond. I don't get my hopes up about anything, because I don't think normal rules apply to me right now,

but they seem to think that if the Supreme Court wasn't going to do something, that they would have done that. So they're at least optimistic they're going to do something. The Attorney General only asked for $200,000 bond. They could give me $20 million bond and comply with the constitution, but I'm being facetious. I think it's got to be reasonable, but they could say 5 million. You wouldn't think the judge would say more than what the Attorney General asked for.

Well, he said no bond. I thought he said $200,000. That's what the Attorney General asked for, but the Newman wouldn't give me a bond. Yeah, I know, but that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. You wouldn't think he would require more bond and solicit or ask for it. Yeah, so anyway, they're trying to take it out of, I don't know.

They seem very optimistic. Two days after this conversation, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court effectively removed Judge Newman from making any more decisions about Elix Bond. In the days that followed that decision, Fitznews kept asking our sources whether Judge Newman's no bond ruling would still be in effect. We were assured again and again that it would. Later, we found out that the two charges were basically replaced by the state grand jury indictments

and that Judge Lee, who is famously known for her lenient bond setting, was now on the case. So yeah, Dick and Jim were optimistic on December 1st. So we'll see. It would be nice to get out for a little while and then go deal with this stuff, but... Yeah, yeah. Well, Bob, I know... I look at that as every day I'm in here now is one less day I'm in here in the long run, you know? You know what? That's the fact.

I mean, the fact is, every time there's a new case that comes up, a new revelation of something you took, those same people very, very quickly are being subpoenaed to the state grand jury. So, I mean, it's just, you know, it's gonna be more to come. Obviously, you know that. Right. And so, you know, you're right about that. Just, I mean... But the quicker that it all can come to a head, the better, obviously, I think.

I think so too, sir. We have to ask, how does Randy Murdock know who has been subpoenaed to testify in front of the super secretive state grand jury? Seems like a real breach of trust and potentially dangerous for witnesses who are just trying to speak their truth. The next call Elik made that night was to his sister, Lynn. She is the oldest Murdock sibling and doesn't seem nearly as involved in the family affairs as her brothers. Lynn asked about Elik's day-to-day life in jail. And of course, he talks about working out a lot. I'm with a small group for the most part. You know, 75% of the time, I'm with the same five guys.

And then there's another guy that's on our thing, but he doesn't even come out when he's just kind of weird. He doesn't come out. But anyway, you know, we play chess and play cards and we have... Well, at least you got somebody to interact with a little bit now. I was worried about you being completely by yourself. And I tell you this, I've been really exercising hard. Once I made it, once I... I didn't do crap while I thought I was getting out quickly. And then, you know, I mean, that can really tell the difference. Like, today, we didn't get out. They had people working in here, so they wouldn't let us out early.

I mean, I exercised for two hours and 40 minutes. I can tell the difference, too. He says that Lynn and his sister-in-law, Lizzie, wrote him more than anyone else. I'm trying to make this out of it. I'm really trying to exercise hard. And, you know, I quit. It's probably shit out of me to start with, but I started looking at it as, you know what it... Every day I do now is one less day.

One less you have to do on the tail end of it. You're absolutely right. You've got to keep that attitude, but I know it's tough. I can't imagine. I can't imagine. And we'll be right back. Next up are calls from January 4th. These calls were also brought up by prosecutor Creighton Waters during LX bond reconsideration hearing on January 10th. In that hearing, Creighton was making it clear that even from behind bars, Elick was exploiting the rules for his own benefit. First up, Elick asked Buster about his money situation.

Buster, how are you doing on finances? Pretty slim, but it'll be getting better. Well, listen here. Do you want me to tell Uncle John to give you, you know, several thousand dollars and then I'll pay you back? No, I just had expenses like considering I had to change my medical insurance. Buster keeps telling his dad that he is financially fine, but his dad keeps on insisting that he should let John Marvin give him money. We should also note that just a month and a half earlier, Elick's lawyers were claiming that Buster, who again has a full-time job, could not afford groceries. You'll notice in this next part that Buster seems reluctant to borrow money from his relatives and actually has plenty of money of his own.

And when Elick tells him he'll reimburse John Marvin for storage, if you listen really carefully, you can hear Buster start to say, well, I don't understand how you would. Well, we need to get John to pay for the storage facility and then let me pay him back. Well, I don't understand how you would... But anyway, I mean, do you want me to get him to give you just, I don't know, four or five thousand dollars, so you just have and you don't have to worry about expenses? No, because I've got that money. And I've got it, you know, I've got it.

I mean, right now my bank account, I've got ten thousand dollars, a little bit more when I... When you go play golf, you can, if you want to, get a shirt and have a drink and have drinks or whatever at the bar and just that and the other. Yeah, I mean, I've got stuff that can settle all that. All right. Well, you just got to keep me posted because, you know, I can get him to give you money and then pay him back. Okay, well, just you got to keep me posted and let me know, okay? All right. Everything else going okay?

Um, yeah, everything's fine. Next, we find out that the Mercedes with the run flat tires that gave away Alex Lai about being shot is still at sled. Here, Bester seems to have to give his dad a dose of reality. Do you want to take my clothes? No, I just, she's mine. I don't know where yours are, I think yours are still in the Mercedes, it's a... Shortly after they end the call, Elick calls Buster back. He apparently forgot to ask him to do one of those end of call favors we told you about.

Sorry to bug you again real quick. Hey, where's Libby? She's back at the house, which I just left. Okay, how about call her and tell her I'm trying to get her? Okay, what do you need from her? I need her to put some money on a canteen. All right. Actually, you know what?

I'll call her again. I called her twice. No, but... What? I couldn't see her, but I just kind of do it while I'm right here at the Exxon, because if I go any further, I'm not going to have any service. See, there's a guy who doesn't get canteen, and canteen is the commerce. I know what it is.

You know what I mean? It's the commerce, it's the trade, and it really helped me last week when she put it on that Lucas's account. I want her to do that one more time. Okay, it's just... Outside looking in looks a little weird. What do you mean? It just looks a little weird. Finally, someone points out the elephant in Alex's room.

Finally, one of his family members points out his narcissistic shadiness. For a second anyway. Narcissists are great at batting away reality. Just listen. I get what you're saying, but I mean, I may deal with somebody. I give them $15. See, I can only do $60 on my account. I understand.

I'm just saying, and I'm not saying you are. I just really hope you're not in there doing anything you shouldn't be doing. Oh, no, I'm not doing anything. I promise you, that's not the case. All right, well, let me call her real quick and tell her to be on the lookout. Do you have an idea of, like, time in there at all? Buster tells him to wait. The same day, Alex calls Lizzie, John Marvin's wife, a few minutes later.

Like the other calls, Alex starts a conversation with hurried pleasantries, but quickly diverts his intention, which is to get money put on another inmate's account for his own use. They're leaving. I'm not going to bother you. You have some quiet time, but I need y'all to put, I need one more time y'all to put Canteen on Lucas, on Justin Lucas's account. Okay.

What's going on? What? What, I mean, what's going on? It allows me to get stuff that I need. We can only do $60, and he doesn't get Canteen, so I give him some money in return for using his account. I gotcha. You see what I'm saying?

Yeah. All right. And keep track of it, okay? Okay. All right. I will. How soon will you be able to do it? Give me, I don't know, maybe 30 minutes or so.

Okay. All right. You sure you don't mind? Yeah. It's all good. Justin Lucas, by the way, is a 31-year-old inmate at Richland County, who is being held in lieu of $7,000 bond for a single assault and battery charge and a shoplifting charge.

Since March 2013, Justin has been arrested more than 40 times in Columbia and charged with 60 crimes, most of them petty crimes like trespassing, public drunkenness, walking in the roadway, public disorderly conduct, and something called aggressive begging. Liz Murdock allegedly forgets to put money on Justin's account, which, by the way, is against the jail's rules. Liz forgot, so Elec calls John Marvin that evening to get him to get Liz to complete this very crucial task.

Why Liz? Why can't John Marvin or even Buster put money on Justin's account? Great question. Hey, John, is Lizie nearby? She is. I talked to her earlier. She was going to put some money on that account for me and she didn't. Okay, I don't know, what is it?

This is where she knows what to do. The boy's name is Justin Lucas. Okay. And what is his name? It's putting money on, he doesn't get cantees, so I give him some of the money and he orders cantees. I have to order thermals and I'm having to order ibuprofen because I'm exercising and my knee and my shoulder and hell,

ibuprofen's $15 on there to get a weak supply. I got you. So it gives me extra cantees. Did he not get one? No, he doesn't get any, so she put it on his account. We just did it one time. We did it last week and I'm going to do it one more time. Okay.

But I need her to do it right now. What's the amount? $60. Okay. And she's supposed to be keeping the track of all this so I can make sure and pay you back. Simple. Well, I'll get her, she's putting the kids down right now,

putting the rundown down. How long do you think she'll be? Four or five minutes. Okay. Because we have like, I don't know, we have like 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Then they talk about Jim Griffin and Dick Harputlian working hard, but John Marvin seems to question their efforts

a little bit. All right. Well, Jim and Dick are working hard, so what are they working over? I mean, have all the choices been dealt with on it? See, that's what I don't know. I don't know that yet. I don't know.

I suspect that if they're doing like they've done everything else, they'll sit and wait till something else comes up and then do some more charges. Right. But I don't know. Okay. Have you talked to Randy since last week? Yeah, I talked to him yesterday.

And then John Marvin breaks some news to Elik. Apparently, Elik has not been reading Fitznews from jail. Yeah, you know about the law firm, don't you? No. Yeah, the law firm has dissolved and reformed under new name. I didn't know nothing about that. What is that? Yeah, what is that?

Yes, because all the negative publicity and all the stuff they're going through. What is the new name? They operate under the... What? The law firm. This could be operated under the Parker Law Group. The what?

Parker Law Group. And I think each one of them kind of opens up an LLC partnership in each partner's name and operates under the Parker Law Group headed. I hate me having to go through all that. Yeah, but they catch me going through all kinds of stuff. Is there anything I can help with? No, man. You know, I suspect when the time is right

and the thing is getting to college, I think opening up about it to the general public. But there's a lot of people that just make you kind of dump everything. On December 31st, FITS News was first to report that PMPED had dissolved and that the firm's partners had each created their own legal entities. All of them are practicing under the umbrella of Parker Law Group, which is the last name of Johnny Parker, one of the most prominent members of PMPED.

The other thing Alec apparently didn't know was that his friend and alleged co-conspirator, Cory Fleming, was no longer employed by his Buford law firm. When you're listening, note how Alec asks whether Cory's firing is real. Either he finds this truly unbelievable or he's rather accustomed to things being done just for the optics. You know, I mean, obviously Cory's been tired. I mean, you do about that, don't you?

Been what? Cory has been tired. Legitimately to real or just... I understand he's... they removed the name from the law firm, removed the name from the sign out front, and he's not working. I knew he had some issues with his license, but no, I didn't know that. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if that's a phone call or if it's a temporary deal

or I don't know, but I suspect he gets more permanent. John Marvin makes an attempt to appeal to Alec's moral sensibilities, which, best of luck to you, John Marvin. I just think that you talk to Jim and dig, and I think that you're talking about certain things and coming back and talking about it is going to make a difference. It's got to be. And that's the only thing that can make a difference.

What do you mean talking about what? I mean, if you've been charged with something that you did, acknowledging and accepting and making clear who didn't do anything, but obviously only if there's something... Oh, there's people saying that the law firm has done all kinds of stuff. There's people saying, Alec, this is amazing what's going on. They're saying that the law firm has done all kinds of stuff. Cooler and Chad, Carson, Chris, you name it, and everybody's implicated.

Did you notice how there is no presumption of innocence on John Marvin's part? Alec's guilt appears to be a foregone conclusion, even by his own family. Well, this didn't come with the law enforcement in my knowledge. This is different world straight. I mean, I said... There's been no talk whatsoever from anybody in an official capacity. He says, you know, I just think it'll make a difference. Well, when I talked to the court the other day, one of the things I said was, you know,

my partners didn't know anything. And I said, Chris and Corey, you know? Yeah. You know, I don't think that... No, I meant very little of that was said because they couldn't record it. John Marvin urges Alec to run the idea by Dick and Jim. There were some of it that was brought back out, but I don't know. It's what we're talking to Dick and Jim about.

You see, I don't even know if there's any way to give an official statement. I don't know. They got to figure all that out, Alec. But they don't have the same issues it ran in the firm and everybody else has. They don't what? They aren't having the same issues. There's no perception that anything is not at this point. Who isn't having the same issues?

Dick and Jim. You know, they're looking at it from a whole different perspective. You know, they're doing it from a way that they manage just what they do. They know how to manage what they're handling. I need to sit down with them and figure out what I can do is what I need to do. Well, it'd be worth a conversation with them to find out, because you are. And it may not matter. I don't know.

I feel like that's about the only thing left that, you know, I just don't know the manner to do it. And you only do it if there's something that you did or need to say. I mean, obviously, if there's something that you weren't involved with, you certainly say that. Sure. Sure. All right. Thank you for letting me know. Anyway, I'll get those right now.

Then, for the first time in all of these calls, someone says the names Maggie and Paul. John Marvin talks about how the family recently shared a somber moment. Ellick, ever the narcissist, asked if they were sad about him. Because of me or because of Maggie and Paul. Maggie and Paul. Maggie and Paul in particular. Because I know all about that. Ellick then quickly changes the subject.

It's now time for his end of call favor. All right. Will you call the Lizzie real quick real soon? Yeah. I'll be right back. The dude just told me we got like two minutes. So she's got to do it. I'll do it right now.

Can she do it right now? Yeah, I'll get her. Listen to this now, John Marvin. You gotta remember this name. Justin Lucas. We filed more Freedom of Information Act requests for phone calls. And we have several great episodes in store for you. Stay tuned.