Murdaugh Murders Podcast - MMP Remastered #48 - Means, Motive & Opportunity - Who Killed Maggie & Paul? Part Four
Episode Date: November 8, 2025Originally released in June 8, 2022, Means, Motive & Opportunity: Who Killed Maggie & Paul? Part Four marks the moment when journalists Liz Farrell and Mandy Matney pieced together the strongest... early case against Alex Murdaugh using credible inside sources and relentless investigation.This episode details the mounting forensic and circumstantial evidence — including video placing Alex at the crime scene, financial pressures closing in, and the unraveling power networks that long protected the Murdaugh family.With trademark precision, the journalists break down how opportunity, motive, and means collided on June 7, 2021, leading to two brutal murders that shook South Carolina.2025 Mandy and Liz also talk about the emotional toll of reporting under immense pressure, the public backlash they endured, and how truth-telling in a climate of corruption became both their calling and their survival. 🔗 Watch Murdaugh: Death in the Family — now streaming on Hulu and Disney+ 🔗 Watch the MDITF Official Companion Podcast featuring interviews with the cast, crew, and creators behind the series on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ or listen to extended audio episodes wherever you get your podcasts. hulumurdaughpod.com. LUNASHARK Premium Members are also getting access to a wealth of additional content matched to each Hulu series episode… We’re calling it LUNA VISION! Soak up The Sun Members get to explore the case documents, new case videos, ad-free video episodes, invitations to live events and so much more. Visit lunashark.supercast.com to learn more. Premium Members also get bonus episodes like our Premium Dives, Corruption Watchlist, Girl Talk, and Soundbites that help you Stay Pesky and Stay in the Sunlight. lunashark.supercast.com Here's a link to some of our favorite things: https://amzn.to/4cJ0eVn *** ALERT: If you ever notice audio errors in the pod, email info@lunasharkmedia.com and we'll send fun merch to the first listener that finds something that needs to be adjusted! *** For current & accurate updates: lunashark.supercast.com Instagram.com/mandy_matney | Instagram.com/elizfarrell bsky.app/profile/mandy-matney.com | bsky.app/profile/elizfarrell.com TrueSunlight.com facebook.com/TrueSunlightPodcast/ Instagram.com/TrueSunlightPod youtube.com/@LunaSharkMedia tiktok.com/@lunasharkmedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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and published on June 4th, my birthday of 2022,
called Means, Motive, and Opportunity
Who Killed Maggie and Paul Part 4?
Who, I remember this episode.
Yeah, I remember talking about the headline.
I don't know why that's sticking out to me.
So now we know about the kennel, wait,
do we know about the kennel video at this point?
Yeah, oh, this was way before trial, yeah.
That was before trial.
Off the record, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, one of my sources,
told us that there was a video placing Alex at the scene.
And yeah, I remember hearing it had something to do with a dog
and not actually seeing the video.
But anyways, I remember specifically June 4th,
we were thinking there's no way that they're going to let June 7th pass
without arresting this guy for murder.
Like, what do you need to charge somebody with murder?
and remember we discussed means, motive, and opportunities.
So we were like, let's lay it all out for SLED.
Here you go.
And it was a really interesting episode and memorable for me to do
in thinking of that mindset of like,
and it just felt so important at the time,
like keep reminding the public all of the information
that they have at this point and keep the pressure up.
And little did we know he wasn't going to be arrested for another month,
from that point.
It's getting really frustrating because it seemed like all of our sources who had something
to say about the case with authority.
We're telling us like, you know, every week that this is going to be the week.
And it was frustrating again because we were seeing that we knew what the evidence was, some
of it.
And to know that you have all that, it seemed crazy to me that you wouldn't charge him, especially
where he's already behind bars.
It just seemed like, why not just do it and, I mean, nothing.
as far as I know changed between when we first started hearing the arrest was coming and when he was
actually arrested. Right. But at the same time, I will give sled props on this. They did
anticipate Dick's classic move of wanting the trial immediately and demanding a speedy trial.
And I thought that that was insane at first because I was like I've never seen a murder trial go this
fast. There's no what, like, why are you doing this? But it was smart because they did have their
ducks in a row by the time that they charged. And then less than a year later, they were in trial.
Less than, or like, or like six months later, pretty much. It's crazy. Oh, yeah. Yeah, six
months. Absolutely. Like, literally, it must be a record. I've never heard of that in a million
And I also, it will always bug me how that gave a different perception of the justice system and what it's really like for most people to the world.
You know, like that followed the whole kind of like law and order justice where you see one scene, somebody's getting arrested, and then a couple days later in their trial.
And that's kind of what it felt like.
It was so fast.
Absolutely.
Yeah, and it just, it's hard because I think when you say like never in a million years, it's because in South Carolina, the backlogs are so egregious. And a lot of that is, especially when you have a private attorney, but you'll see murder cases languish for six years and upward, meaning that the victims have no answer. I mean, the best example is the Kaluchi case that we're covering now and trying to get justice for 10 years and no murder trials. Yeah, right, exactly. And that's how a lot of them are.
It's crazy how quickly this all went.
In this episode, too, we talked about vetting the information that we were getting.
And that's also very crazy to look back on.
And when we tell people now how stressful that time was, this was a huge part of it.
And deciding who to trust and how much to trust them and how much weight to give every source.
And we were also like still, a lot of our sources were fairly new at that point, too.
So I remember we would, I would hear something and then you would go to one of your sources and see if they've heard that.
And usually pretty much for everything, we needed a double confirmation.
I don't think we ever ran with any information from a source that was just information from one source and that's it.
I mean, we were very careful because also when we talk about how stressful everything was,
our credibility was always on the line. Like if we were not perfect with our reporting at that
point, everything would have fallen apart and we knew that.
We would not have been forgiven either. I think that there's certain publications.
No, we weren't forgiven for being like pretty as good as we were at our jobs.
Like we were still criticized very much so and people tried to cancel us for random things.
things. I like things that we didn't do. And yeah, I look back on that and I'm like, oh, yeah,
that's why I'm still kind of recovering from this entire situation because of how hard it was
to always feel like you were one mistake away from everything falling apart. Yeah, not only did
we have the case at stake because we truly did. I mean, people can think what they want about that,
but we truly did believe that without us asking the questions and putting together the information
creating, like connecting all those dots,
we really felt like the case was going to disappear into the night.
It might seem absurd right now,
but that is just what our experience in South Carolina was,
and we knew that we were working against forces
that could and would make that happen.
So, stress city, glad it's over.
I don't know when we will see martyr charges
filed in the double homicide of Maggie.
and Paul Murdoch. But one year later, there is a mountain of evidence, including audio and video,
stacked up against Ellic Murdoch in the case, and we are closer than ever to getting answers.
My name is Mandy Matney. I've been investigating the Murdoch family for more than three years now.
This is the Murdoch Murdoch Murders podcast with David Moses and Liz Farrell.
So once again, there was a lot of news in several Murdoch-related stories this week.
Elyke Murdoch signed the confession of judgment in the Satterfield case and a judge approved it,
meaning it's official now that he admitted to stealing $4.3 million from the Satterfield family.
Also, Slead released a statement confirming that the eight-year-old.
agency has requested permission from the Satterfield family to exhume Gloria Satterfield's body.
And we will get into all of that in a later podcast.
This week, a judge also ruled that Elyke Murdoch had violated a court order when he tried
to disclaim interest in Maggie's estate.
But because Ehrlich is in jail and does not have access to his money, the judge decided
against imposing sanctions on him.
Finally, a federal judge ruled against Ehrlich,
Murdox attorneys in the jailhouse phone call case. We will talk about that at the end of this podcast.
So Tuesday marked a one-year anniversary of Maggie and Paul Murdoch's double homicide. And
unfortunately, there are still no arrest in the crime that has evolved into the most notorious
murder investigation in recent South Carolina history. I was really hoping that today's
podcast would be different. I was hoping that this week would be the week where finally murder
charges would be filed and we could finally see the end of this crazy roller coaster we've been on.
It's been a really long year for a lot of people close to these cases and a painful year
for the loved ones, for the family and friends of victims who still need answers.
This story is messy and it's not one to be tied up in a need.
even when the double homicide charges happen. But the show must go on and we will
continue to shine sunlight on this case until every bad actor is exposed. Some
important news in the double homicide this week. Audio and video evidence
obtained by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division shows that Ehrlich Murdoch
was at Moselle in the moments before the murders. He not only saw his wife and son, he
He interacted with Maggie and Paul shortly before they were killed, according to multiple
sources with knowledge of the investigation.
Video found on Paul Murdoch's now unlocked phone shows Elyke and Maggie apparently talking
near the dog kennels on the evening of June 7, 2021, according to multiple sources.
This is an important piece of information because Ehrlich had told investigators he had not
gone near the kennels at or around the time law enforcement believes Maggie and Paul were murdered,
according to several sources. In fact, he had said that he had not seen Maggie and Paul before
leaving for Varnville that evening, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal that said,
quote, Elic was with his father at the hospital, according to a person close to the family.
He came back to Moselle, took a nap, and when he awoke, he left a check on his mother,
who suffers from dementia.
He did not see Maggie and Paul
before he left, according to the person, end quote.
Back in June 2021,
Murdoch's attorneys told similar information
that supports the Wall Street Journal's account.
We're told that the video was taken by happenstance,
that Alec and Maggie were in the background
as Paul was taking a video of something else for a friend.
This is the latest piece of information
in what sources with knowledge of the investigation have called a quote mountain of evidence against ELEC in the double homicide.
We want to be clear, though.
We are not saying ELEC did this.
We also want to make sure that you guys all understand how we report stories like this.
We have really good sources and a really good network of people to turn to with questions or when we need insight about information we have received.
This network has taken us years to build and goes way beyond the Murdox.
Every piece of information we've reported and that we are reporting today has been vetted.
In fact, most of our effort goes into vetting our information.
One sentence can require a dozen texts or phone calls before we feel good about it.
So just know, when we don't name sources, it does not mean we relied on what one person was telling us to be true.
Also, we always check with our sources to ensure that what we will,
are reporting does not impede the investigation. Now, whoever gets charged with killing Maggie and Paul,
a jury is going to have to consider whether that person had the means, motive, and opportunity
to commit these murders. So that's what we're going to look at today. But before we do,
we want to replay a part of the 911 call that Ehrlich made that night.
It's 41, 47. Mozel Road. I've been up to it now. It's bad. Okay.
Okay, and are they breathing?
No, ma'am.
Okay, and you said it's your wife and your son?
My wife and my son.
Are they in a vehicle?
No, ma'am, they're on the ground out at my kennel.
Okay.
Did you see anyone?
Okay, is he breathing at all?
No, no.
Is she?
Okay.
Okay, do you see anyone in the area?
No, ma'am.
What color is your house on the outside?
What color is your house on the outside?
It's white.
You can't see it from the road.
Okay, is it a house or a mobile home?
It's a house.
Okay, and what is your name?
My name is Alex, Murdoch.
So we'll start with the means,
which is basically the availability of tools to commit a particular crime.
As y'all know, the Murdox were avid hunters,
and Moselle was a 1,700-acre preserve where Paul spent a lot of time outdoors.
We're told he was happiest when he was in the woods.
The Murdox also did a lot of shooting on that property,
both for hunting and for fun.
According to multiple sources, the property had a lot of casings for multiple weapons
that they had collected on the ground over time.
Unsurprisingly, according to multiple sources close to the Murdoch family,
there were a lot of guns at Moselle.
I've seen a video of one of the family's gun racks at Moselle.
It showed a variety of easily accessible firearms
hanging like garden equipment for anyone to grab.
I've also been told that the Murdox usually had guns in their vehicles.
I say this because there is a lot of mystery
in the double homicide, particularly around the fact the two weapons were used in these crimes.
But this does not necessarily mean that there were two shooters.
It could just mean that Maggie and Paul were killed separately.
Maybe the killer ran out of bullets and maybe needed to grab another gun.
It also doesn't necessarily mean that trained assassins committed the crime, as so many have theorized.
Paul Murdoch was shot twice with a shotgun.
He was shot in the chest and in the head, once with a birdshot, and again with buckshot,
according to multiple sources with knowledge of the case.
We've also been told by a friend of the Murdox that the family was known for the way they loaded their shotguns,
which was to alternate birdshot and buckshot.
Maggie Murdoch was shot multiple times with a high-powered rifle,
which were told uses a fairly uncommon and expensive ammunition.
ammunition that the Murdox also owned.
I've also seen a chilling video of a younger Paul Murdoch holding and pointing what looks
like this particular weapon at Moselle.
Investigators believe Maggie Murdoch initially froze, then ran from the gunman before falling
to the ground.
She received a bullet wound in the back of her head at close range while lying face down
according to multiple sources.
According to multiple sources, both Maggie and Paul were killed execution style.
That initial report seems to have stemmed for the fact that both Maggie and Paul were shot in the head at close range.
Also, that at least one of the weapons used in the double homicide belonged to the Murdoch family.
We are not sure if law enforcement has recovered those weapons,
but sources say that shell casings trace Murdoch to the scene.
Close-ringed shootings like these can result in the presence of high-velocity-impacts batter on anything or anyone in proximity at the time the weapon was fired.
Physical evidence linked Elyke Murdoch to the murder scene at the time Maggie and Paul were killed.
In April, we learned more information about physical evidence, which we're told is high-velocity impacts batter that was found on Elyke-Murdock's clothes.
I want to emphasize this because it's been incorrectly reported more times than I can count.
Our sources has specifically said that high-velocity impact, not blood, spatter, was found on Elyke's clothes.
This was the first piece of evidence that we reported on placing Ehrlich at the scene of the murders
when at least one of the victims was killed.
Sources close to the investigation have told us there is no other way Ehrlich could have gotten this spatter on.
on him, noting that it could only come from one thing.
And we'll be right back.
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Let's take a look at the possible motives now.
Where to start?
As you guys know, things were not going great for Eleg at the time of the murders.
It was becoming a real pressure cooker of a situation for him.
Clearly, the boat crash case wasn't going away anytime soon.
It was a huge thorn in Elexide.
He desperately wanted to clear Paul's name.
And remember, the Murdoch name is everything to this family.
And obviously he was operating from a place of Paul didn't do this.
Or maybe it's more accurate to say he was operating from a place of Paul isn't getting in trouble for this.
At the time of the murders, Ellick was managing both the criminal side of the case and the civil side, which was getting gnarly.
So about the criminal side, the pandemic was good for Paul in the sense that it created an even bigger backlog of cases across the state.
And Dick and Jim were going to play that one out for as long as they could.
From what we understand, the state AG's office wasn't going to let the case go on for too long, but we were also hearing that the Murdoch camp was calling it a five-year case.
In the meantime, as we've told you before, we received a lot of tips during the two years before Paul's death that Paul's behavior was getting worse.
He was drinking more and boating as if the crash hadn't happened, and basically nothing had changed, for the better anyway.
Even though Ellick seemed to encourage Paul's drinking and the behavior that came with it, it had to have created some amount of tension in the family, no matter how in denial they allegedly were.
Paul had put the Murdoch family in a real public pickle, and every day was a new day for him
to make it worse. Related to the boat crash was a state grand jury investigation into
Ehrlich and his family and what interactions and transactions they might have had with law
enforcement in the aftermath of the crash. The investigation was looking into potential
obstruction of justice charges, and whether anyone in the Murdoch family or in law enforcement
had done something shady in service of protecting Paul.
The grand jury had subpoenaed for Ehrlich's financial records.
So, as we've said before, the heat was on.
That subpoena paired with the subpoena that was hanging over his head in the beach case,
the one that he was avoiding because it asked him for details about his finances,
meant Ehrlich was running out of time.
The alleged thefts he had kept hidden for so long were on the fast track to getting exposed.
So, motive.
Let's look at this from the brainstorming perspective.
Let's pretend we're Elyek Murdoch and that we have been coming up with ideas for how to get Mark Tinsley and sled away from us
and get everyone away from our dirty money and grossly overdrawn bank accounts.
Option one, we could confess.
We don't even know what that word means, so no.
Option two, we could leave the country forever.
But no one really knows us outside the 14th Circuit, and we can't take our solicitor's office privileges.
with us and we're probably not all that likable among people who don't know the Murdoch name and we're
probably going to have to change that name anyway and there's no way we're learning a new language
because this one has been hard enough so no got to stay here option three okay we don't need to get
into details about option three we all know what option three is but think of the ideal fallout from
option three because if option three happened people will feel bad for us perhaps so
bad that they just leave us alone.
Option three means the AG's office has no case.
No case, maybe means no obstruction of justice investigation.
Option three means we can be sad and withdrawn and spacey and erratic and no one will
ask any questions.
No one will challenge it.
Option three means a jury might look at us, now just a single dad in the big lonely world
and be like we can't.
He's simply been through too much.
Option three.
Now Opportunity, Elic Murdoch's favorite thing.
Let's talk about these murders and the potential opportunity that existed for someone to commit them.
We will start with Moselle.
Moselle is extremely secluded with the nearest neighbor living about a mile away.
Even if a neighbor heard gunshots that night, they wouldn't have thought anything was out
of the ordinary because Moselle is a hunting lodge in an area of
full of lifelong hunters.
Because Moselle is so secluded, GPS on cars and phones can be a lot trickier to pinpoint.
Several sources have told me that self-service cuts out often there.
And as far as cameras, we know Greg Parker's private investigator said she had put a camera
facing the driveway of the property, but we really haven't put too much stock into that.
It's possible that whatever was on her video was helpful in the investigation.
but we just haven't heard anything to that effect.
I've also heard from sources that there were gang cameras on the property.
However, I have not heard from any law enforcement sources
that they were of any help in the investigation.
In April, Maggie Murdoch was reportedly lured to Mozel that evening,
and I want to talk about that for a minute.
Multiple sources close to the investigation have confirmed
that prior to June 7th and at the time of her death,
Maggie Murdoch was living apart from her husband and alone at her Edisto Beach home.
She had recently finished renovating the beach home and was now turning her attention to making
Moselle more homie.
We have been unable to independently confirm reports that Maggie met with a divorce attorney
prior to the murders.
However, a meeting like this is consistent with what multiple sources have described as the
strained status of their relationship.
In part, because of a rumored affair, Ehrlich was reported.
having with another attorney.
On the evening of June 7, Maggie drove to Moselle, which is about an hour and 15 minutes
from their Edisto Beach House, because Ellic had asked her to meet him there, according
to sources close to the investigation.
In other words, Maggie, who otherwise did not have plans to go to Moselle that night,
was only going to what would become the site of her murder because she was asked to be there
that evening, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation.
These same sources say Maggie had expressed her hesitancy to meet with her estranged husband
to at least three other people in her life, but ultimately decided it was the right thing
to do.
Let's go back for a minute to the alibi.
There are different versions of this, but at some point before the murders, Ehrlich took
his father back to the hospital in Savannah.
Let's go back for a minute to the alibi.
There are different versions of this, but at some point before the murders, Ehrlich took
his father back to the hospital in Savannah.
But Maggie wasn't going to be at Moselle until that evening.
How exactly was she going to visit with Randolph, who was now in the hospital?
Were they going to drive together to go there that night?
Did plans change and no one updated Maggie?
Opportunity also needs to include Elyke's completely founded expectation
that everything was just going to shake out in his favor.
Could Elyke Murdoch rely on Colleton County Sheriff's Office,
the coroners, and Duffy Stone's team of investigators to fall in line,
take anything he said as fact and not ask too many.
questions? We'd argue yes. We'd also argue that maybe it was a little surprising that SLED
took over the case. Maybe there's some history there where a Murdoch says, keep it local,
and everyone says, yep, we'll keep it local. Speaking of Duffy's investigators in the 14th Circuit,
they were at the murder scene for days when several sources have told us that because of that,
they basically left prosecutors high and dry. Their field trip to Moselle not only complicated
the investigation. They did nothing to improve an already outrageous backlog of cases here.
By the way, when we say investigator, we're not talking about Harry Bosch. These guys aren't burning
the midnight oil feeling angsty about how to save the 14th Circuit. Their jobs are important,
but their jobs are to interview witnesses and shore up the facts of a case. They are there to
support prosecutors and help win cases. They are not there to run their own operations or
hangout. Now, Duffy Stone might beg to differ with that character.
but that's because he seems to like having what locals in the no call Duffy's Little Army or Duffy's Goon Squad.
Suffice to say, if Ehrlich was in a position where he had to make a bet on who would be at Moselle in the event of a tragedy like this one,
he'd be smart to put his money or the money he allegedly stole on those people being friendly to the cause.
And we'll be right back.
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check out episode 282 of the Jordan Harbinger Show.
Now for the question we all have, why aren't there any charges?
Neither sled nor the South Carolina Attorney General's office would comment on the latest revelation
that audio and video evidence contradicts Murdoch's early statements about his whereabouts on
June 7, 2021. But we are not at all surprised by this. However, we have heard the charges are still
coming in the near future. We've been hearing that specifically since January. But the thing that
really gets me, the thing that really concerns us most when we're thinking about this entire case,
is what we heard at the beginning about Duffy Stone's office.
Remember, his team of investigators, including Jojo Woodward,
who is currently running for sheriff of Beaufort County,
were collecting evidence at the murder scene,
despite the fact that a clear conflict of interest existed in the case.
And I point out Jojo Woodward,
because his involvement in this case concerns me personally
as someone who lives in Beaufort County.
I keep hearing Jojo Woodward supporters
saying things like he was just doing his job
and he was just following Duffy's orders.
And that is the problem.
A sheriff is supposed to be a leader
in a person of impeccable integrity.
This mass corruption has spread throughout our system
in South Carolina because of good people,
quote, just doing their jobs,
even though they knew they were doing the wrong
thing. As a former deputy, Jojo Woodward should have known that he should not have been on that
scene. And he should have walked away. If he wants to lead law enforcement in this county,
my county, then he should have stood up to Duffy Stone back then and said the solicitor's office
presence on that scene was troublesome. Think about it. If your co-worker's wife and son were
murdered, it would make your office look really bad if your co-worker was charged in that double
homicide. Should you be tasked with a very important job of collecting initial evidence that could
land your co-worker in jail and your office in hot water? And on top of that, that co-worker's
father, grandfather, and great-grandfather also happened to run your office for nearly a century. And their
legacy is obviously important to the integrity of your work. The answer is no, absolutely not.
You should not be there. And the fact that there were pictures of Duffy's investigators on scene
with John Marvin Murdoch apparently touching evidence in the case is baffling. And then,
we heard from multiple sources that Stone's office was running a shadow investigation and
attempted to steer investigators away from any theory that might implicate members of
the Murdoch family. Of course, when Duffy Stone finally recused himself after months of receiving
backlash due to his clear conflict of interest, those following the case took this as a clear
indication that all signs were pointing to Elic in the investigation. Stone also failed to offer
the public any sort of reasonable explanation for why it took him so long to duck out of the
investigation that his office clearly shouldn't have been anywhere near.
And in a joint statement with Sled Chief Mark Keel, Duffy Stone blamed the media for this bad
PR and called the claims about his office's inappropriate involvement unfounded.
That gaslighting statement claiming that there was no wrongdoing and essentially nothing to
see here did not sit well with the public.
But now, as there are still no choice.
charges in this investigation, we really have to wonder if Duffy Stone and his investigator's
involvement in the case impeded the investigation in any way. Considering there are no charges
one year later, and apparently lots of evidence stacked up against Elyke Murdoch, we have to
ask these questions, especially given the fact that people like Duffy Stone were involved
when they should not have been.
When you recuse yourself two months after the fact,
you should have recused yourself earlier,
it was knowable from the beginning.
The public deserves answers,
real answers backed by documents and charges,
showing what they're saying is true,
that the solicitor's office involvement
did not interfere with the investigation.
We have been told so many times
that officials are dotting their eyes
and crossing their teas
in the investigation to make sure everything is perfect,
considering the lawyers that the prosecution would be up against.
There are three things I want to say about that.
Number one, an investigation does not end when charges are filed.
We're likely years away from a trial anyways.
They have lots of time to make sure the case is airtight before it's presented to a jury.
Number two, Liz and I have both seen people charge with murder on a lot less
evidence. Why does it matter who the defense lawyers are? If probable cause exists, then it exists,
right? And if it is enough to arrest a man who can't afford a high-price state senator attorney,
then it should be enough to arrest the man who can afford the high-price state senator attorney.
And finally, number three, we have seen Dick and Jim's lawyering skills in the past year. If the state is
afraid of going up against them, we have much bigger problems to worry about here in South Carolina.
We understand that this investigation takes time and it seems like everything is backed up right
now. But we have to realize that the longer they wait to charge someone, the longer it will
take for the case to go to trial. And delays are almost always better for the defense.
In the meantime, we're not going to stop shining the light on this case until we can.
good answers. That is the whole point of this podcast. And unlike so many true crime TV shows and
podcast, we are not here for your entertainment, although Liz does have some pretty good jokes.
We are here to keep systems in check. We are here to hold people accountable. We are here to remind
public officials that we are watching them because we all know what happens when the lights go
out. Last week, attorneys Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter sat down to talk about the Murdoch case. I highly
recommend y'all listening to this one hour interview and we'll post the link in the description.
I want to play one part of the interview because I think it's important. All of us on the right
side of this case, the attorneys included, have realized how important public pressure is when
corruption is involved. I think if there wasn't sunlight on this case, like
Ronnie said it would have played out. It would have been quietly handled. I think Dick would have
done his dizzle and his dance and gotten a great result because he's one of the state's best
lawyers. I think he would have gotten it in front of the right judge. But because it blew up so
quickly and that I challenged SLED early on that they weren't doing their job, that I get it
that they're focused on the murder cases. But here's black and white. Alex stealing three
$4 million of the $4.3 million settlement. Here's the checks coming in. Here it's gone to forge.
Here they're in the Alex's account. What more do you need? And I challenged Chief Keel to the point
that he called me on the phone and asked me please stop, you know, your tirade against us and
sled in the press. It's not helping. But that's following Sunday. It was the 27th of September.
He actually spoke in the state paper and said, we're opening a criminal investigation and the money
that was stolen from Gloria Satterfield
and another separate criminal investigation
for the circumstances surrounding her death.
And that's basically only the only statements
that Kiel was made.
And up until that point in time,
there was very little reporting
that you guys could do
that would be factual,
it would be opinion-based,
but nobody was releasing anything to you guys.
And I think that's what turned it
when SLED finally said,
we're starting these investigations.
But Sled followed the,
sunlight. That is true. Yeah. And that's not a criticism of sled. Don't know what would have
happened otherwise. We only know the way it actually transpired. Now we want to share some good
news. Last week, a federal judge ruled against Elyke Murdoch and his bulldog attorneys in the
jailhouse phone call case. Specifically, the judge wrote a scathing order denying Dick Harputlian
and Jim Griffin's request for a preliminary injunction to stop the release of the jailhouse
phone calls. And that is a big deal. The good news is that Judge Curry said what we have been
saying all along in this podcast. The Dick and Jim failed to prove that releasing the calls would be a
violation of the federal wiretapping act. In really, the jailhouse call case exposed Dick and Jim
in a way that the public hadn't seen before.
When you peel back the layers of power, privilege, and media praise,
propping Dick and Jim up on a pedestal,
their lawyering work on this case was at best sloppy,
and at worst, just a colossal waste of the court's time.
They are not wowing us in the courtroom.
Remember, they sued the wrong person in this case.
They spelled that person's name wrong.
They subpoenaed the wrong company.
They failed to follow jail protocol to have their calls protected from monitoring under attorney-client privilege.
And ultimately, they failed to get what they wanted all along, an injunction from the federal court to block the release of Ehrlich Murdoch's phone calls.
I wish that meant we opened our mailbox today to find dozens of CDs.
Yes, they come in CD form of jailhouse phone calls, but unfortunately,
Unfortunately, like everything in this case, it's not that simple.
The order essentially gives Richland County officials the green light to do the right thing here and release the tapes.
In the order, Judge Curry did mention that the calls might be exempt from release under state law,
which in part allows for the non-disclosure of law enforcement information that could deny a person their right to a fair trial.
But remember, Alex's lawyers have admitted to their client's guilt in both the financials,
crimes and the roadside shooting.
Elek has already admitted to stealing $4.3 million from the Satterfield family.
The release of the jailhouse tapes should not sway public opinion any more than his own
lawyers admitting on national television that he stole millions from clients.
At the heart of this case is the need for public transparency.
We believe that the release of these phone calls is essential.
for holding the state's justice system to account.
Here is Will Folk's founding editor of Fitznews who has spent his career exposing corruption in South Carolina.
Accountability cannot happen without transparency, and public trust cannot be achieved unless we have both.
This is a critical early test of our state's commitment to transparency and the people are watching.
Richland County needs to do the right thing and they need to do it now.
And the thing about these phone calls is that they are about so much more than just the cases themselves.
It's about exposing public officials for their lies and holding them to account.
Remember, Dick Harputlian is a state senator and Elyke Murdoch was a badge-carrying member of Duffy Stone's office up until his arrest last fall.
The jailhouse phone calls are absolutely newsworthy and absolutely the business of the police.
public. This is a case of public corruption where the public has a right to keep its system in check.
And that means we as the press, as agents of public interest, are entitled by statute, by case law,
and by duty to hold agencies accountable for the public good. We believe now more than ever
that sunlight is essential for getting justice for the victims in this case, and we will keep
shining that sunlight until the systems change for the better.
Thank you for listening to the Murdoch Murders podcast, and stay tuned.
to basically stop the release of Ellick's jailhouse phone calls, which, I mean, when we talk about actual monumental reporting that we did in 2022, the jailhouse phone calls was a huge, huge moment for us and for exposing the truth on this story.
Because remember, like, nobody really knew how Elick worked behind the scenes before that, and we just learned so much.
Well, we knew it was just we didn't have the evidence of it.
Right, we knew.
And we could tell people.
We had all the stories.
Right.
And we could tell people, but it's totally different to say, like, sources say he would
sit, he would be like, let's have a sit-down talk and talk about this.
And manipulate people in that way versus hearing him on the phone.
Goes through basically a pattern and a checklist.
Yeah, right.
Manipulating his family members, starting off with a compliment, starting off with a
pretending to care about what's going on with their lives and then ending with an ask.
An ask.
And the ask.
Yeah, it was always, that was the wildest thing.
And it's interesting because the Post and Courier even did a story on us at the time about just sort of like the innovation of thinking, like knowing that we, if we ask for it, they should give it to us because it was responsive to FOIA.
And I don't think that newspaper reporters really knew that in South Carolina.
And that was the one thing.
And then just, like you said, it was a turning point, I think, for people in terms of understanding ELEC as a schemer and as somebody who's unfazed.
And I remember asking a friend of theirs, like, why, and we've talked about this before, but why they have, why do they act like nothing's going on?
Why?
Why in those phone calls are they acting like this is just normal to talk to your brother, father, you know, in prison about some of these things?
And it's just because they don't have a rear view mirror and they don't have side view mirrors on their head.
They don't look back.
They just look ahead.
And it made so much sense.
Yeah.
Ignore everything that's actually going on and talk about something completely stupid like beef sticks and winning your little football league.
Yeah.
And that's also how we found out about the law school scheme that was going on there.
Yeah.
There was a lot that came out.
So, I mean, and in the end, it was so funny how hard that they fought and how offended Dick and Jim were by the fact that we discovered those phone calls.
And it's like, bro, at the very beginning of those phone calls, it says, like, you realize that you're being recorded.
And you're on a public line, like, shape up.
Yeah.
And just to warn you, like, your secrets could be revealed because this is a public, this is a.
public at phone line. Yeah, it was just all very funny. Very much so. And the fact that Dick and Jim
lost their federal case. Well, I loved that too. And again, like, there is a lot of journalistic
relevance in the jailhouse phone calls, and we were very particular about covering them in that
light and not any. Of course, like, we had to include some things about his burpees and his overall
of his up downs.
But for the most part, I mean, there was so much to be gained from the public.
And I'm really glad that South Carolina allowed us to have eventually the federal court held it up that, yeah, those calls aren't public.
Sorry, Alec.
And also, we just really want to thank the audience for listening to us for all of these years.
We really appreciate y'all.
We couldn't do it without you.
The Murdoch Murders podcast is created by me, Mandy Matney, and my fiancé, David Moses.
Our executive editor is Liz Farrell.
Produced by Luna Shark Productions.
This is Alec Murdoch, Death in the Family, official podcast, is, Alec Murdoch.
Murdoch, Death in the Family, official podcast, is.
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.
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