Murdaugh Murders Podcast - MMP #33 - Incoming Call From Alex Murdaugh: The Jailhouse Tapes

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 Stay Tuned, Stay Pesky and Stay in the Sunlight...☀️ Please consider donating to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Justice For Stephen Go Fund Me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Members ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠also get access to ad-free listening, searchable case files, written articles with documents, case photos, episode videos and exclusive live experiences with our hosts on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lunasharkmedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ all in one place. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CLICK HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3BdUtOE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out our LUNASHARK Merch 👕⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ What We're Buying... ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/4cJ0eVn ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Advertising is curated by the talented team at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AdLarge Media⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. *** ALERT: If you ever notice audio errors in the pod, email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and we'll send fun merch to the first listener that finds something that needs to be adjusted! *** For current & accurate updates: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bsky.app/profile/mandy-matney.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bsky.app/profile/elizfarrell.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TrueSunlight.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/mandy_matney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/TrueSunlightPodcast/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram.com/TrueSunlightPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/elizfarrell⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/@LunaSharkMedia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tiktok.com/@lunasharkmedia⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Alec Murdoch. I need police and an ambulance immediately. Murdoch, Death in the Family Official Podcast, is here. I'm joining Patricia Arquette, Jason Clark, and the cast to uncover all things Murdoch. Family first. To unravel the story piece by piece was really surprising because you don't want to believe it. Murdoch, Death in the Family Official Podcast, Wednesdays. And stream Murdoch, Death in the Family on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers.

Terms apply. Hello, this is an Amtel operator calling from Albansk Glen Detention Center with a prepaid collect call from ELEC. 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 ELEC Murdoch's jailhouse phone calls to be like. But after listening to them,

we are more certain than ever of Ehrlich'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 Murdoch Murders podcast with David Moses and Liz Pharrell. This week marks the third anniversary of Mallory Beach's death. Our hearts are with the 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 has 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 Malpals at Malspals.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 Ehrlich 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

Ehrlich had made from the Richland County Detention Center. Between his arrest last fall and December 9th, Ehrlich made almost a hundred 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 murder family dynamic and a closer look at Elyke'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 24, 2021, which is 10 days after Sled arrested Ehrlich 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, Ehrlich 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 ELEC and Buster's assets and assign a receiver to comb through their finances.

I have no idea. Hello? Yeah. Hey. I have no idea. What? I was talking to Brooklyn. Hey, when did y'all get? Tell Brooklyn, D.J. Brooklyn, congratulations? Yeah, I did. 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 exactly did you find out? Buster said it was when y'all were in the mountains. I wasn't trying to bother y'all up there because I knew he didn't have service. That was last Friday, so October 15th. Did you know you? 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 rate. 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. All right, 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 Ehrlich is congratulating her. You'll notice throughout these phone. calls that being a lawyer is something Elyke 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 lead U.S.C. School of Law after a cheating scandal. It is clear from this phone call that Ehrlich 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.

Hello. Teller. Hey. All right. What time did y'all get back? Back to where? Home. 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. 9.30 out there. We left at 9. 30. It's a four-hour flight, so you really land at, you know, around one, and then you traveled through three time zones, which adds three hours. So we landed at about 4.30. 10-4.

Dang, y'all has to be tired. Yeah, I am tired. I am, well, it was easier for me because they dropped me off in my car, which was in Columbia, and I just went to my apartment and slept for several hours. Columbia, where did you all fly into? Charlotte. Why'd y'all do that? You know, it's just that was where the cheapest flight was. What'd y'all fly on? Speer 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 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 you have room in your seats? You know, the seats were all right.

But, 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 reclining? I'm sure you guys noticed Elex's knowing little laugh at Buster's Economy Airlines experience. Sources have always told us that the Murdox 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 different going to Vegas with, with young children. Um, but, you know, everything was still fun and then going to Sedona was a good time. Did you get to gamble any? Yeah, yeah, so I did go gambling, and then the next day there was an article created about how I'm misusing funds. By gambling? Yeah, someone took a picture of me and John Marvin in the casino. You're kidding me.

Uh-uh. What a fucking... Are you kidding me? No. How do they recognize? 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, less than a day after Ehrlich's bond hearing in Richland County when Judge Clifton Newman denied Ehrlich 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, Ehrlich 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 Ehrlich. 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 its hang-up time. The other day, a man who knew the Murdoch family for decades told me that Ehrlich 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. Where are you going to be tomorrow? Here, be here. Hey, please stay on John Wanda's ass to see about that stuff from Mark Ball and any of those other funds to put on that thing.

Being taken care of 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, and someone to pick it up and then simultaneously running an over Department of State to apply it. And I'm driving to Charleston in the morning to pick up the check to the bait. They're going to apply that too? Correct.

I mean, I don't see how they bustling everything's being applied to the bank. Yeah, I mean. 10-4. So all that'll be done by lunch tomorrow. That makes me feel better. So it'll be 350. 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. Well, 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 is after attorneys called for ELEC's finances to be frozen and handed over to a receivership that Mark Ball was cutting Ehrlich a check. This check was so critical to ELEC 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. We 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 Ehrlich equals, I hope Sled is listening to this. Anyway, Buster asks his dad about his court proceedings. Before they end the phone call, Ehrlich 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 Elyke Murdoch. As a reminder, on November 2nd, Judge Daniel Hall, froze Elyke and Buster Murdoch's assets. On November 10th, Judge Clifton Newman denied Ehrlich

Murdoch's bond for the second time. On November 19th, Ehrlich was indicted on 27 counts of financial crimes, including fraud and money laundering. The next call happened on November 30th, the week after Thanksgiving. Elyke Murdoch called Buster, who just got back from a fishing trip somewhere off the coast of South Carolina. The two starts, with a little routine father-son talk. Hey, boy. Hey. What are you doing?

Nothing. I'm in Brooklyn's condo. I get one in a minute. Oh, yeah? You stayed there last night? I did. Well, good. How's she doing?

He's good. Did she have a good Thanksgiving? Yeah. Well, good. Tell me about the fishing trip. It was good. How many of you catch? I caught a sailfish and a couple times.

Black fan? Yeah. No, Wahu? No, no Wahoo. But, I mean, when you're fishing on a boat like that, they don't, 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 Elyke turns the conversation to Buster making arrangements to re-enroll in law school in January. Hey, Puff, not trying to bug you, but you've got to get that thing reset with law school. I send the email to Hubbard this morning. Okay. All right.

Well, good deal. Everything else, okay? Yeah. What have you been doing? I told you some Thursday. No, no, you talked to me Friday. I did? Yeah, I thought you did when you got back before.

No, no, no, that's right, because it's Thursday afternoon. We were on lockdown Friday. Eleg then starts asking Buster about his financial situation. This call is one that later gets referenced by prosecutor Creighton Waters during Elyke's bond reconsideration hearing as evidence that Eleg hasn't stopped his financial shuffling behind bars. I told John to give you money until I get everything sorted out where I can pay him back. September. Happy? Yeah, but I mean I haven't really needed any money.

Yeah, but you got to pay rent now. Well, the one time I paid rent would be. He's paid him So I can ask him for money to pay that again Say that again One time you paid rent and what? Or, I mean One time I paid rent

It was out of my account But I have to pay it again tomorrow So I can ask him for money tomorrow Do you feel uncomfortable asking him? No, it's not uncomfortable It's just, I mean, it's not very fair to him Well, 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 ask 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, Ehrlich is telling his son Buster to go to John Marvin, Ehrlich's brother and Buster's uncle, to ask for money. Mind you, Buster is 25 years old with a full-time

job at Wild Wing Cafe corporate offices as a recruiter. Notice that Ehrlich 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 got to really buckle down, and you got to, 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, 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 them. And I've got to talk to John. see whether we're going to do a loan, and then I'm going to pay it back out of an account later, or are we going to have a letter from an opinion from a lawyer who does retirement accounts that 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've got to make sure the penalty doesn't open it up the 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 Ehrlich in this mess, there is your answer. And then, at the end of the conversation, Ehrlich 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 him, and I told him that I know. never really got a private moment whether I didn't want to keep talking around it in front of people, but I did mention it to them, and they said 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 soon about it. It was always around the entire family, and I didn't really just have. So I tried to talk to him about it, but we 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 Ehrlich is asking Buster whether he has spoken with Grandma and Papa T, who are Bange's parents.

Buster seems uncomfortable. Clearly, whatever Ehrlich wanted him to ask them about is something Buster. doesn't want to bring up in front of other family members. Since Elyke'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, Elyke called Buster again. Elick starts by bragging about winning jail bets on NFL games. Hey, what's he doing? Uh, that's when I'm in bed in Charlotte. Am I waking you up? No, it's probably no o'clock. It's 9 o'clock?

Yeah. Hey, I hit 9 out of 11 games on Sunday on the pro games. I missed the Eagles and I missed the Steelers. The Eagles were 3.5 point favorites over the Giants and they lost, and the Steelers were 4.5 point underdogs to the Bengals and they lost by 20. But I hit 9 out of 11. That's pretty damn hard. Yeah.

I won like six suits, four B sticks, a bunch of crackers, you know, a bunch of canteen chip. Well, that's good. It was like 13. I was playing. Everybody put in something, you know? Right. I won 13 things. So anyway, how you doing? Obviously, Elek 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.

Ehrlich 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 Ehrlich Bond for a second time. Note that Ehrlich 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 taught to Jim today. Did he tell you about them expediting this thing? expedite and 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. And so when he denied bond, they filed a habeas corpus petition. And the Supreme Court first said they weren't going to expedite it. Then they wrote back and gave the Attorney General 10 days to respond. You would assume, at least the lawyers assume, 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 Alex's hopes up over nothing. Spoiler alert. The Supreme Court denied the writ of habeas corpus in January after Judge Lee set Elex 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 to have. had that assurance. Anyways, on the phone call, Buster then tells Elic 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 said he'd rather talk to me about it in person. That's probably what it was. No, that wouldn't be it. That wouldn't make sense. Why don't 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 them back and then today he said he couldn't have them back so that's what John was calling to tell me and then he called and told Jim

what David Owens said about not being able to get him I wonder why John said that he used the language out of an abundance of caution and then John said well have you not run the ballistics on him and apparently he was like, no, we have. And he was like, well, were these guns used in the crime? 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, I've just been trying to get some of our stuff that. From this conversation, it sounds like Ehrlich is trying to sell off expensive tools and machinery so that the victims can't claim them as assets. In October, Elex's brother Randy filed a lawsuit claiming that Elic Odom $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 skin and shed? No, that huge one? Yeah, he needs to go pick that up. Okay. Before they, you know, take it like, think it's mine. Yeah. All the barred it. And 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 to Green.

Like that damn it, going over the Mosel and getting some of that stuff. Then Elyke starts asking questions about Blanca. According to sources, Blanca, 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 of paper.

Did you call Blanca for me? 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, I mean, 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 have to do it. a lot going on. No. I mean, do you have Blanca's number? No, that's what I said. 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 number two, kind of tell her what she's got to do.

Sent to work. Okay, well, yeah, I'll, um, I'll reach out of time. Will you please do that in the morning? Yes. And will you please tell her that I'd ask you to do it before Thanksgiving and you just had a lot going on and forgot? Yep. You promise? I promise.

I'll promise I'm gonna try, though. All right. I just... Yeah, I feel confident that I should remember to get over. 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 Eleg seems really determined to get a hold of Blanca. From our sources, we know that Elek 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, Elyke 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 Ehrlich frequently used. Ehrlich then changes the subjects to apparently one of his favorite topics, Buster's Future in Law School.

Did you get back from the day? Not, nope, I was checking my email all day to day. I emailed him at the beginning of this week, and I haven't heard back. I emailed him and I, and I... Hold on, you did what? I emailed him, and I CC the Associate Dean, and I haven't heard back yet. Okay, if you don't hear it today, this is Monday, you did it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, tomorrow you might just shoot a follow-up.

Yeah, I mean, if I don't hear it from, I'm definitely sure you to follow it later this week. Tomorrow? And if I don't hear, if I don't hear, if I don't hear it, I might get in touch with Bush if you can call him and say that I've been trying to get in touch with him. All right.

Is Bush paid all the money that he was age? Yes. Up front and it was up front and it was 30 grand up front and 30. I know.

With a contingency on if it was successful I'm just like sure I don't want to call him if you got to have the shit he has it was straight to have. 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'd just say, hey, just following up, you know, at a holiday.

No, I'm willing. I'm going to be. If he got answers back into this week and we get into the middle of the next week, and something's got to be done for me to reach them. That's what I'm saying. When do classes start? January the 5th? Fifth?

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 following up on my email, I know this is a busy time of year, but was hoping we could meet soon, just like that. We could get a meeting set soon. Yeah. Or reset soon, is what I'd say.

And then just 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. Buck and Buster refer 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. Bauer 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 boys 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. You might 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 Ehrlich has paid Butch Bowers $60,000 to do something in connection with Buster's readmittance to law school. But it's not clear what. Elick 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. I call him late Friday afternoon. Okay. That way he can be prepared to call him first thing Monday morning.

What's the Lord? Are you willing to do that? Yeah, no one that came up with the ideal. This telephone thought. Buster, there's so many things I got to tell you all when I get out of here. Lord, that mercy. This is helping out. But anyway, I love you.

All right, let me too. I hope you know how proud of you I am. Yes, sir. You hear me? Bye, dear. All right, old boy. Talk to you soon. All right, bye.

Love you more, bye. Bye. This is the only time in these calls that we got that Eleg 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, L.A. called his brother John Marvin. John Marvin reminds Elyke that he is cautious about talking over the phone with Buster,

which indicates to us that he's wary of his phone being tapped for some reason. No, no, everything's good. You know, I just, when we start talking about things over the phone, and it always bothered me. I don't know if he's just to go to those phones or not. Especially this phone, so remember that. Then Eleg 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 finance stuff straight with Jim and Dick. Okay. 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't dig it out. That letter really was nothing more than saying that they had received their request to, didn't to look into it. It didn't say that it was being moved. It didn't say anything along those lines.

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 I about figured it out, but let's figure out what to do. Because I'm not going to be able to talk but about another minute. After getting off the phone with John Marvin on December 1st, Ehrlich called their older brother Randy Murdoch.

Now remember, Randy, who is all seen. an attorney at the firm is currently suing ELEC for $90,000 of alleged unpaid debt. We say alleged because this lawsuit was seen as a scheme to help ELEC 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, ELEC talks about another of his favorite jail phone topics, his workouts. I'll tell you what I've started doing, you'd be proud of I really started exercising pretty dang hard.

I mean, I was like almost two hours and 40 minutes today just because we were shut in the room this morning. But, I mean, I've been like an hour and 15 or 20 minutes a day. And by that's good. That's very good. This is the start of my, I started on Friday, the 12th. And, I mean, I can tell a distinct difference already. You know, when I had an exercise in 25 years. Yeah, Bo.

Hey, me neither, actually. And, I mean, and Bo, laying around in rehab and then really, from the, so for 38 days, I did very little. The last about seven, I was up a lot more, but I still wasn't doing anything strenuous. So that was a month or 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. Really is longer than that. And then I started doing a few push-ups. But for some reason, it made my head hurt after about a few days. But now it's not doing that. I guess I've gotten in better shape. Eleg 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 you're shooting, you know. Eleg 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. Have you talked to Jim and Dick or whomever else about filing bankruptcy, though? Yeah, I mean, we've discussed it. But there's some time in... I mean, it's almost like you're stuck in bankruptcy right now, but you've 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 of the 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... Yeah. So, I mean, that's what they're going to do. 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 writ of habeas corpus is? I know it's something directly to the Supreme Court. I don't know. Apparently, apparently, you know, there's nobody with this kind of stuff that 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, constitutionally entitled. And because it's a constitutional violation, you can file a writ of habeas corpus. Same thing like a writ 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 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 off 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. Right. I mean, the Attorney General only asked for $200,000 bond, you know. I mean, they could give me, you know, a $20 million bond, but, and comply with the Constitution. But I'm being facetious. I think it's got to be, you know, reasonable, but they could say $5 million. You wouldn't think the judge would say more than what the Attorney General asked for, you know?

Well, he said no bond. I thought he said 200,000. That's what the Attorney General asked for. Clifton 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 than solicitor asked for it. Yeah.

So anyway, they're trying to take it out of, I don't know. They sing very optimistic. Two days after this conversation, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court effectively removed Judge Newman from making any more decisions about Alex Bond. In the days that followed that decision, we were 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 was 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. Yeah. Yeah. Well, boy, I know. I look at it 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, you know, a new case that comes up, a new, you know, revelation of, you know, something you took, both, those same people very, very quickly are going to the, being subpoenaed to the state grand jury. So, I mean, it's just, you know, it's going to be more to come. Obviously, you know that. Right. And so, you know, you're right about that. I just, I mean, but to quit there that all can come to a head, the better, obviously, I think. I think so, too. We have to ask, how does Randy Murdoch 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 Ehrlich made that night was to his sister Lynn. She is the oldest Murdoch sibling and doesn't seem nearly as involved in the family affairs as her brothers. Lynn asked about Alex'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, 70% of, 75% of 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 to. Well, at least you've got somebody to interact with a little bit now. I was worried about you completely by yourself. And I tell you this, I've been really exercising hard. Once I made it, once I didn't do crap while I thought I was getting out quickly.

And then, you know, I mean, I can really tell a 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 exercise for two hours and 40 minutes. I can tell a difference, too. He says that Lynn and his sister-in-law, Lizzie, wrote him more than anyone else. I'm trying to make the best out of it. I'm really trying to exercise hard.

I do it. It broke the shit out of me to start. with it, but I started looking at it and as, you know what? Every day I do now, it's one less day. One less you have to do on the tail end of it. You are absolutely right. And just 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 Greaten Waters during Elix Bond reconsideration hearing on January 10th. In that hearing, Creighton was making it clear that even from behind bars, Ehrlich was exploiting the rules for his own benefit. First up, Elic asked Buster about his money

situation. Boss, how are you doing on finances? Um, pretty slim, but it'll be getting better. Well, listen here, um, do you only tell Uncle John to give you, you know, several thousand dollars? and then I'll be in the back. No, it's just, I've 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, Elyx 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 ELEC 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 know 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.

I've got, you know, I've got, I mean, right now my bank account, I've got $10,000. A little bit more when I hear. Like,

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 this, that, and you know,

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've got to keep me posting and let me know, okay? All right. Everything else is going okay? Um, yeah, everything's fine.

Next, we find out that the Mercedes with a run flat tires that gave away Elex lie about being shot is still its lead. Here, Buster seems to have to give his dad a dose of reality. You want to take my clubs? No, I just use mine. I don't know where yours are. I think yours are still in the Mercedes. It's a stud. Shortly after they end the call,

Elyke 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 Learie? 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. What? I can shoot her a bug, but I just got to 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 commercial. I know what it is. You know, I mean, it's to commerce, it's to trade. And it really helped me last week when she put it on that Lucas's account, and 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 Elex 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 gay. All right, well, let me call her real quick and tell her to be on the lookout,

and I would, do you have an idea of like time in there at all? Buster tells him to wait. The same day, Elyke calls Lizzie, John Marvin's wife, a few minutes later. Like the other calls, Eleg starts the 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' account.

Okay. What's going on? What? I mean, what's going on with... It allows me to get stuff that I need. We can only get $60. And he doesn't get can't get a 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? Um, give me, I don't know, I'm 90 30 minutes for sure.

Okay, all right, you sure you don't mind? Yeah, no, 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, Jostin has been arrested more than 40 times in Colombia 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 Murdoch allegedly forgets to put money on Jostin's account, which, by the way, is against the jail's rolls.

Liz forgot, so Ehrlich 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 Lizzie nearby? She is? I talked to her earlier. She was going to put some money on that account from me, and she didn't. Okay. And what is it? This is where she knows what to do. The boy's name is Justin Lucas.

Okay. And what is it, though? It's putting money on, he doesn't get candy. so I give him some of the money and he orders canteen because I'm having to order thermals and all that 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 canteen I got you and he doesn't get one no he doesn't 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. All right, and 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.

10-4. When I'll get her, she's put your kids down right now, put Randolph down for the last place. How long 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 Harpoon

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 to me? Have all the choices been dealt for a while? See, that's what I don't know. I don't know that yet. I don't know. I suspect that if they do it right, 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. I don't know. Have you talked to Randy since last week? Yeah, I talked to him yesterday. And then John Marvin breaks some news to Ehrlich. Apparently Ehrlich has not been reading news from jail. Yeah, you know about the law firm, don't you? No.

Yeah, law firm has dissolved and they're reformed under new name. I didn't know nothing about that. 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? It's going to be operated under the Pocker Law Group. The what?

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

and the things that you acknowledge, I think, opening up about it to the general place. But there's a lot of people that just think that you kind of trust everything. On December 31st, PMPD had dissolved, and 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 Elyke apparently didn't know was that his friend, an alleged co-conspirator, Corey Fleming, was no longer employed by his Beaufort law firm. When you're listening, note how Ehrlich asks whether Corey'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, Corey's been fired. I mean, you knew about that, did you? Been what? Corey has been fired. legitimately to real or just

I understand he's they've 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 the license but no I didn't know that yeah I mean I don't know if that's a temporary deal or I'm not I don't know but I suspect it's more permanent John Marvin makes an attempt

to appeal to Alex's moral sensibility which, best of luck to you, John Marvin. I just think that they talk to Jim and dig, I think that you talking about certain things is going to come back and talking about it is going to make a difference. It's got to. And that's the only thing that can make a difference I think.

What do you mean talking about what? You know, if you've been charged with something that you did, acknowledging and accepting and accepting and making clear who didn't do anything. But obviously, only over if there's something Oh, there's people saying that the law firm has done all kinds of stuff. There's people

saying, Ella, this is amazing what's going on. They're saying that the law firm has done on kinds of stuff or saying that Corey, Chad, Russell, Chris, you name it, and everybody's implicated. Did you notice

how there is no present. of innocence on John Marvin's part, Elex Guild appears to be a foregone conclusion, even by his own family. Well, this didn't come from law enforcement, to my knowledge, this is just real strict. I mean, I said,

it has been, there's been no toll whatsoever from anybody in an official capacity, so, you know, I just think it'll make a difference. 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 think that. No, I'm not very little of that was said because they couldn't report it. John Marvin urges Eleg to run the idea by Dick and Jim. There was some of it that was brought back out. But I don't know. It's what we're talking to Dick and Jim about there.

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 of it. But they don't have the same issues. It ran in the firm and everybody else has. And on what? Beyond having the same issues. Who isn't?

There's more perception than anything 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 it. That's 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, for sure. And it may not matter. I don't know. I feel like that's about the only thing left that, you know, and 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. Anyway, I'll get a little 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. Ehrlich, ever the narcissist, asked if they were sad about him.

Because of me or because of Maggie and Paul. Maggie and Paul in particular. I know all about that. Ehrlich then quickly changes the subject. It's now time for his story. for his end of call favor. All right. Well, you called Lizzie real soon.

Yeah, I'll do that right now. The dude just told me we got like two minutes, so she's got to do it. All, I'll do it right now. Can she do it right now? Yeah, I'll get her. Listen to this now, John Marbley. You got to remember this name. Justin Lucas.

We filed more Freedom of Information Act request for phone calls, and we have several great episodes in store for you. Stay tuned. The Murdoch Murder's podcast is created by me, Mandy Matney, and my fiance, David Moses. Our executive editor is Liz Farrell. Produced by Luna Shark Productions.