Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #139 - New ‘Becky Files’ Reveal Shocking Media Misconduct in Murdaugh Trial

Episode Date: March 5, 2026

Investigative Journalists Mandy Matney and Liz Farrell finally have the full SLED investigation file on former Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill — and it's worse than anyone imagined. Becky quietly pleaded guilty in December to misconduct, obstruction, and perjury in exchange for community service and probation.  Now, Mandy and Liz comb over 113-pages of newly FOIA'd "Becky Files" that expose a pattern of shameless self-dealing— all while Becky allegedly declared, "I'm the Damn Clerk of Court, I do what I want." SLED's investigation files show how Becky allegedly hosted an after-hours “sealed evidence jamboree” inside the courthouse during the Murdaugh trial and allowed fitsnews’ Will Folks, to photograph sealed crime scene exhibits in what Folks described as a virtual assembly line. These photos were later distributed by fits’ employee Jenn Wood and published to Twitter. Actions have consequences… and apparently someone forgot to tell South Carolina. Let's Dive in… 🥽 🦈 Episode References Tell Your Friends How To Support Independent Journalism with a Premium LUNASHARK Membership 💖 MOTION DENIED - Alex Murdaugh New Trial Hearing With Justice Jean Toal - Jan 29, 2024 🎞️ South Carolina’s Shield Law - SC Press Association ⚖️We’ve got a lot more on Becky Hill - Join Premium as a Soak Up The Sun member to access the Members Lounge and dig into the full case documents. ☀️ Referenced Episodes:  COJ 170 Stay Tuned, Stay Pesky and Stay in the Sunlight...☀️ Learn more about LUNASHARK Premium Membership at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lunashark.supercast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get bonus episodes like our Premium Dives, Wherever It Leads..., Girl Talk, and Soundbites that help you Stay Pesky and Stay in the Sunlight. Plus BTS content from ⁠Murdaugh: Death in the Family⁠ AND Mandy's book Blood On Their Hands. Support Our Show, Sponsors and Mission: https://lunasharkmedia.com/support/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hungry Root⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bombas⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/4cJ0eVn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** 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: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠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

I don't know why we apparently were the only media outlet who bothered to FOIA for the full Becky Hill investigation file. But whoa, y'all, I am glad we did. This file contains answers of questions that have lingered over us since the Murdoch trial. And once again, we're asking the question, why weren't more people charged? My name is Mandy Matney. This is True Sunlight, a podcast exposing crime and corruption previously known as the Murdoch Murders podcast. True Sunlight is a Luna Shark production written with journalist Liz Farrell. So, I would love to never mention the name Becky Hill ever again on this podcast.

But after the former Colleton County Clerk of Court got his sweetheart deal in December, when she pleaded guilty to two charges of misconduct in office, one charge of obstruction of justice, and one charge of perjury, and was sentenced to just a hundred hours of community service, three years of probation, and $11,000 in restitution, well, we had to do our jobs,

and we had to ask more questions. We had to file a FOIA request for the entire SLED investigation file to see how exactly SLED went about investigating the claim, against Becky that were brought up conveniently around the same time Elek Murdoch's attorneys were looking for any and all evidence of misconduct in the Murdoch murders trial that could possibly get him a new trial and let's be real here Becky did the entire state of South Carolina dirty with her misconduct before during and after the Murdoch trial misconduct we still don't believe

affected the jury to vote the way that they did but misconduct when added up, looks really, really bad, and certainly helped Teen Murdoch in every way in their claim that the trial wasn't fair because of Becky's bad acts. Becky deserves to be dragged into the sunlight, which is what we are going to do today since the state of South Carolina obviously does not care about making sure that Becky, and all other public officials in South Carolina, really understand just how badly she screwed up. You know the famous line from Scooby-Doo? And I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids. Well, Becky would have gotten away with it all if it wasn't for

her big book ambitions. And that is, according to this investigation file from SLED, which we are going to call the Becky files. So, some of the things I am going to tell you about what Becky Hill did while an office might shock you if you live someplace besides South Carolina where public officials actually take their job seriously and corruption isn't entirely everywhere. But this is the low country of South Carolina, the mecca of corruption. What's really sad about what's in this report is that it's not really unique to Becky. Public officials throughout the state misuse our tax dollars every single day. Very few of them actually get caught, and even fewer of them are held to account, which Becky absolutely was not. That said, Becky's book was her biggest mistake because it put the Murdoch target on her back.

Elyke Murdoch's attorney saw Becky's book as a golden ticket to his appeal. It was beyond atypical for a clerk of court to write a book about her role as a public servant during the quote-unquote trial of of the century. The book made Becky look suspicious. It made the trial look suspicious. It gave Dick and Jim the inch that they needed to pick away at the integrity of Becky's courtroom, which led them to their jury tampering accusations, which have ultimately given Elyke Murdoch his best possible chance at getting a new trial. Dick and Jim September 2023 press conference essentially forced Sled to investigate Becky for not only tampering with the jury, but using her position as clerk of court during Ehrlich Murdoch's trial for personal gain. Now, Dick Harputlian and Jim Griffin

were right about one thing. Becky absolutely saw the Murdoch case for dollar signs. They were just wrong in their theory that she needed a guilty verdict to cash in. There is absolutely no evidence of that. That said, this 113-page investigative report from SLED that Lunashark Premium members can read at the link in the description. It outlines Becky's many actions of misconduct in office, from misusing her office to promote her book, to misusing government funds, to misbehaving with the media. But let's start with her biggest problem, her book. In October 2023, Becky Hill's co-author Neil Gordon interviewed with Sled and told all. He said that Becky contacted him in March 2023 about writing a book about the trial and

said that Becky wanted to write a book about her experience as clerk of court during the Murdoch trial. Gordon told investigators that Becky's ambitions were clear. She wanted to make a profit. The two of them moved quickly and finalized an agreement for the book in April 2003, then released the book by July 21st, 2023, which is insanely fast, by the way. So, according to Neal, Becky got 65% of the profit and the Gordons got 35%. Neil estimated that the book sold about $14,500 copies and made about $100,000 in total, with Becky getting around $65,000. And as you all know,

Soon after Becky and Neal started racking up sales for the book, you know, when Dick and Jim's International Press Conference alleging jury tampering, push the small-town clerk's tell-all into a top 100 book on Amazon, well, it all fell apart. Neil realized through an email that Becky plagiarized the entire intro of their book. Literally, stole it word for word from a BBC reporter who accidentally emailed her story to Becky during the trial. Becky didn't even do a Google search to decide whose story to steal her intro from. She literally just copy and pasted an email and called it her own. They took the book off Amazon soon after this plagiarism conundrum came up. And speaking of Becky's emails, there are many in this

document that we haven't seen before that show evidence of her misusing her public position to promote her personal book for profit. Countless times, Becky was using her government email on government time to promote a book. A few highlights from those emails. Well, on the same day that Becky and Neal decided to write a book, Becky immediately started using her press contacts and her clerk email for book matters. Literally the same day Becky and Neal met for the first time, Becky emailed Hampton County Guardian editor Michael DeWitt

and asked him about his Murdoch book. The next day, she told him that she was writing a book about what went on behind the scenes at the trial, and then she asked if his publisher would be interested in speaking with her. In May 2023, Becky emailed Michael DeWitt again about his book. The report says, quote, It appeared Clerk Hill was going to print something out related to DeWitt's book so that it could be passed out to people,

and that she was going to advertise it on the clerk of court's Facebook page, there was also a mention of raffle tickets, end quote. Uh, what? Raffle tickets? Which are illegal to sell in South Carolina, if not for charity, which this definitely probably was not. What would think that Michael DeWitt would have thought something was wrong there, but I guess not? We'll talk more about Becky's media accomplices in a moment.

In another email with Michael, Becky sent the Hampton County Guardian editor a quote about her book for an article they were writing about promoting the book. The quote that she insisted on them including, quote, Becky's insight and day-to-day involvement with every single thing going on behind the scenes was just too much good stuff not to share with anyone interested. In April 2023, Hill received an email from the producer working on the 4th of the 4th,000, fall of the House of Murdoch documentary, which we call the Buster Tell-all, about Becky being interviewed for the series. They sent Becky an appearance and location agreement, which was forwarded

to Neil, and I'll have David read this part. Neil Gordon responded that Clerk Hill should add an addendum to the agreement, that in exchange for use of the location and Clerk Hill's time, they should be able to promote their book on the show. Neil Gordon and Clerk Hill felt the agreement was, quote, one-sided. Melissa Gordon wrote that she felt it would be, quote, safe to have something in writing that the series would give Wind River Media a five-second video shot of the book cover with audio to let the, quote, Netflix audience know a book is being published, end quote. Melissa Gordon advised against saying this was in exchange for something in order to protect

clerk Hill. Uh, the agreement has to be one-sided because her side is the government. You can't negotiate or leverage on behalf of the government when you're an elected official, Becky. Ugh. In another email, old messy Becky used her work email to reach out to a producer from the Nancy Grace show and asked for an interview to promote her book. I'll have David read this part of the report. Clerk Hill provided the book title and release date. Clerk Hill advised they have been setting up interviews, tours, and book signings.

From other emails, it appeared, Clerk Hill met Nancy Grace during the Murdoch trial and possibly went to dinner together. On February 16, 23, Clerk Hill emailed Nancy Grace, quote, Off the record, we have a wonderful jury. and quote. Becky, girl, you don't write emails to Nancy Grace from your public employee email that you want to keep off the record, and you don't go to dinner with Nancy Grace as a clerk of court so she can help you promote a book later. Also, it's important to remind you.

Becky reached out to both the South Carolina Ethics Commission and media attorney Jay Bender, who had worked as the media liaison during the trial. And from the emails, he was basically like Becky's personal attorney for book stuff. I would love to know if he got paid for all the advice that she did not listen to. As you all know, the South Carolina Ethics Commission, which is an oxymoron, really, gave Becky guidelines for her book, like not using her work time to work on it, not using her email to work on the book, not letting the book interfere with her work, and not revealing anything in the book that was confidential. Becky saw those guidelines and was like, nah, I'm going to keep doing this Becky Boo's way.

Not to get too in her emails, but the way she joked about her book getting her in trouble before it even came out was hilarious and astonishing. In June, she emailed a small town mayor who apparently had written a book and claimed she got approval from, quote, my chief justice of South Carolina. She thinks the justice system is for her. She wrote in that same email, I want to be sure I won't get indicted and tried in criminal court. Oopsie. That same day, she wrote another email to a former sled agent who had also written a book asking if she knew of other public officials who had written books.

Again, Becky has a real problem with Google, apparently. In that email, she said, quote, I want to make sure I don't get indicted and go to jail. L-O-L. Guys, if this were a TV show, we would flash to Becky's mugshot two years later. But the thing is, it wouldn't matter what any of those people told Becky. She was determined to become big-time Becky with the book that summer. And even when she was given good advice, like when Jay Bender said, Becky, you should take your title as clerk of court off the cover of your book.

She was like, nah. Before Becky's book even came out, she was ignoring virtually every rule the Ethics Commission gave her. She also filmed a promotional video with the Colleton County Chamber at her work desk, which again, the South Carolina Ethics Commission told her specifically not to do that. Weirdly, that specific filming got her one of just two misconduct in office charges, when, in our opinions, there should have been way more. Okay, so y'all get it. The book was a big old problem for Becky.

But the book led SLED to look into how she was spending money as the clerk of court in Colleton County. And this part is where it gets really wild and really makes me wonder why she didn't face more charges. It's clear from this report that Becky's book pissed off her staff. Laura Hayes, the deputy clerk who ultimately turned Becky in for ethics violations in the summer of 2023, right before Laura quit, alerted authorities that Becky had been using Department of Social Social Social, services money to give bonuses to courtroom staff and lied when asked if any of their jobs had to do with child support. That accusation of misusing at least $10,000 ultimately led to the other of Becky's misconduct charges. But Laura Hayes alerted slid to other misconduct that Becky was never charged for.

Like the fact that Becky hired bailiffs to clean her house and her daughter's house. And it appears she paid them to do this with county money. By the way, Becky's pull up. political beliefs are allegedly pro-small government and pro-ending government waste. But again, this all started because of book beef. I want to have David read this part of the report. Hayes was told Clerk Hill claimed sole credit in her book for work done during the Murdoch trial by courthouse staff. This irritated Hayes.

Hayes decided she was going to also write a book titled, quote, behind the doors of the clerk of court, end quote. Hayes began writing this book but lost interest and did not complete it. Hayes provided a draft of her book along with her prepared statement. Laura Hayes, girl, if you're listening, send us the draft of your book, please. Becky used college and county's money like a trust fund teenager, according to this report that premium members can read in the link. Here are a few of our favorite examples.

Becky spent $1,800 on Christmas decorations for the office, including personal Christmas sign-making classes for Becky and her staff at $30 a pop. Very necessary for court duties. She spent over $650 on just birthday cakes for staff members in a very short period of time. Becky seemed to love her staff birthday parties and the county checkbook shows it. She also loved birthday lunches, including $1,220 birthday lunch with Judge Carmen Mullen that taxpayers footed the bill for. Becky was reimbursed for straight-up writing $100 checks for family members of employees celebrating graduation. She bought $650 worth of cryotherapy and med spa gift certificates

with county money. Again, this is the egregious part. We're talking about Colleton County, where the average income is around $28,000 a year, and more than 18% of people live below the poverty line. Before Becky resigned from office in March 2024, she gave out Becky bonuses to her staff. She said the purpose of these checks that totaled $14,500 that were given to different staff members was for gifts, which she is not allowed to do,

just because she could. And Slead didn't charge her for this. In fact, she wrote herself and her buddy, deputy clerk of court, Gary Hale, who took over for her, a gift check for $2,000 a piece, just two weeks before she resigned. And it appears she never had to pay that back. Egregious, right? And speaking of egregiousness, Becky, likely with her book ambitions in mind, use county money to spend a whopping $1,200 in catering from Shorty's smoke and butt. on her media wooing party at the end of the Murdoch trial. At that same event, Becky's old buddy, Joe McCullough, paid for the alcohol, according

to this report. Months later, Joe would go on to represent the infamous Egg Lady juror in Dick's anti-Becke crusade. Huh. And speaking of Becky being inappropriate while wooing the media, we need to talk about this part of the Becky files. In May 2020, Becky and her big book ambitions were setting up for filming with Cinemart, aka the company that we don't like that did that one Murdoch Netflix documentary.

Cinemart sent Becky a location agreement in May 2023, to which Becky forwarded to Jay Bender, again, who was the media advisor during the trial but was apparently personally giving Becky legal guidance about her book debacles after the trial was. was over. According to this report, Jay saw this agreement and was like, whoa, Becky. First of all, you don't own the Colleton County Courthouse and you can't take money for like renting out the Colleton County Courthouse. Guys, that had to be said to her. Like, what? And even after Becky was specifically told that the courthouse was not her little promo playground, she insisted on coordinating tours. According to the Becky files, after the Murdoch trial, Becky turned

the Colleton County Courthouse into a murder museum of sorts. One deputy estimated that there were up to five to twelve tours per day in the months after the trial, and that bailiffs made over $500 in tips. Tips! Another deputy noted that the sheriff's office had to specifically tell Becky to stop being involved in the tours. Again, they basically had to be like, this isn't the Becky tour and this isn't the Becky Courthouse. And y'all, the Becky files actually got worse after this. More on that after a quick break, and we'll be right back. Now let's talk about Becky's obstruction of justice and perjury charges. I need to warn you, though, it's about to get super awkward, but stick a pin in that. We both have a lot to say about this, but first we need to

To rewind a bit, in late January 2024, Becky Hill took the stand in an evidentiary hearing to determine whether Ehrlich Murdoch was denied a fair trial when he was convicted of murdering Maggie and Paul a year earlier. And it's this part of her testimony to the court, the court being former South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toll, that Becky got into some real criminal trouble. Were any press people at... allowed to view the exhibits, even the sealed exhibits that you had on file? No, ma'am. No, ma'am.

What was the methodology for allowing them to examine the exhibits? How'd you handle that? I wasn't there a whole lot with when we did this every night, but it's my understanding that the people that were involved with the exhibits and especially the court reporters, and there was a certain time frame that they were allowed to take their pictures and everything was all of all of the pictures were looked at by the fort reporters that were there in the later from court administration along with someone from my office and mr j vendor to make sure that everything was done correctly what i'm asking is how you handled having them the press view these exhibits

If I remember correctly, the press, we had certain designated photographers and then someone, I think, from the state of the posting career, and they were responsible for putting it out on a stream for the rest of the media to access. Would they do that by photographing the exhibits as they were in your possession after court was over that day? That is correct. All right. And how did you handle the sealed exhibit? in terms of their availability when these press people are their photographing exhibits. They stayed sealed. And so you think that you're aware of the fact that some of these on the scene photographs of the two decedents found their way into the public press.

You're aware of that, are you not? Yes, yes. And you contend that they photographed them in the courtroom? That is what I heard. heard. All right? So it turns out all of that was a lie. And now we know for sure what really happened, at least according to the SLED investigation. Keep holding onto that pin. I am getting there. We just need to do a little rundown on how all this worked during the trial. At the beginning, a few things happened that are relevant. First, Judge Newman ordered, ordered, as in issued a judge's

order, that any photos depicting Maggie Murdox or Paul Murdox did, bodies, including photos from the crime scene and autopsy photos taken later, were to be sealed, meaning he made it a potential crime for someone to make those photos public. Second, to minimize distraction in the courtroom, Judge Newman designated photographers from the state and the post and courier newspapers to act as pool photographers. Their jobs were to take photos in the courtroom and then, at the end of the night, share those photos with the rest of the credentialed media, which obviously included us. As part of that, the pool photogs also took photos of the exhibits each night, which was a tedious

job, but we were super grateful to them for doing that. In her testimony, Becky was using this pool system to mask the true answer to the question that Justice Toll was asking her. But did you notice how when I was talking about the pool photographers, I didn't use the word sealed there? I didn't say the pool photogs took pictures of sealed exhibits, which, duh, right? No freaking duh. Of course the pool photographers weren't going to take pictures of sealed exhibits. Why? Because they were not allowed to. They obeyed the judge's order. It's pretty simple for some people. Which brings us to December 2020. And this is where some things are going to click into place for those of you who have listened to us from the beginning. Over the years, we have shared with you some insight into how toxic the Murdoch case has been

for both of us and how it's affected both of us in terms of our physical, emotional, spiritual, mental, and even professional health. We weren't just talking about the actual stress that comes with covering such a violent and sickening crimes with a trail of victims. Nor were we even talking about the amount of work we put into making sure South Carolina didn't go down the same old path

of looking the other way with a good old boy like Ehrlich. Those things come with the territory of being investigative journalists. We can handle that. What was new for us was the trolling, which might sound whiny to some of y'all, but it was intense and it had us questioning everything. Because these weren't just the regular trolls

who randomly comment mean things or send bizarre messages. A certain segment of the trolling against us felt very coordinated and incredibly personal. Specifically on Reddit, where someone had set up a page for the sole purpose of making our lives help. This wasn't just people calling us dumb or ugly,

though they did do that. It was a collection of lies, very ill-informed, pitiful, and incorrect presumptions, and malicious commentary that seemed designed to harm our reputations and our credibility as journalists, as well as silence us. Not only that, there seemed to be coordinated efforts to go after our advertisers, i.e. our ability to do our jobs. And as much as we work to ignore it all, it never mattered. Their posts would end up making their way into our inboxes and our lives, and even affected the lives of our loved ones and people we care about.

Anyway, let's just leave that there, because it was trash times, y'all. But also, it's unfortunately very relevant to what we're about to tell you, and because hashtag sunlight, we want the light on us as we're telling you about this investigation. Okay, so in December 2020, fans of ours on social media began posting that they had put together who was behind this very bizarre Reddit page, at least in part. The person they named was Jen Wood, a woman we had both worked with at Fitznews, which was weird because we had left Fitznews a year and a half earlier. Fitznews was in our rearview mirror. Apparently, we were not in theirs. And it was a gut punch. To this day,

we are still freaked out by the whole thing and by several other things that occurred as a result of an apparent mission to harm us. That said, Jen immediately denied any involvement with the page. However, after she was named publicly by these social media users, the page was taken down and the incessant online harassment stopped dead in its tracks. After Jen denied involvement in the page, though, another social media user, someone who appeared to have been friends with Jen at some point, began posting screenshots of conversations she had had with Jen that contradicted things Jen had been saying publicly or even behind the scenes. And believe me, I can hear myself talking right now, and I know how petty and stupid this sounds. But I promise this is necessary. Because long story short, this social media user also posted text messages on Twitter that seemed to show that Jen Wood had sent her a photo.

of Paul Murdoch's dead body. This Twitter post got reported to Sled and an investigation was opened because that photo appeared to have been taken from the sealed exhibits in Elek Murdoch's murder trial, which raised the question how. How was it that Jen Wood seemed to be in possession of a sealed exhibit from the trial?

And why did it end up in the hands of this person who was now posting it? Now for the really awkward thing, which is this. We really, really don't want to talk about Jen Wood Wood or Fitznews founding editor Willfolks. At all. Like, at all. But there are two things happening right now that have made this impossible.

One is what I just told you. Again, hold onto your pin. We're so close to getting there. And two is that for the past several months, we, as you all know, have been getting legally bullied by billionaire Greg Parker and his attorneys. For more on that, listen to this week's Cup of Justice because it's too much to go into here. But again, hashtag sunlight.

We want y'all to know the full spectrum of our biases here. Right now, we are dealing with Fallout that is, again, related to Jen Wood and Fitznews. For some unjournalistic reason, years' worth of work-related text messages were uploaded from a work device or from the cloud. This included text messages from the nine months that Mandy and I worked at Fitznews together. The content of those texts are largely protected by the South Carolina reporter Shield Law, in our opinion. But somehow, the text ended up in the hands of a woman named Callie Lyons, who had been fired from Fitznews in September, 20 and 25. Callie was not a party to any of the text messages involving Mandy and me because she did not work at Fitznews at the same time that we did. And yet, Callie felt legally comfortable enough to put those

texts, which she appears to have gotten from a work device that she was allowed to keep, in the hands of Parker's attorneys Mark Moore and Debbie Barbier, meaning Mark and Debbie appear to have received thousands of potentially stolen and doctored text messages among professional journalists discussing their sourcing, their strategies, and their coverage plans. Those texts have been leaked to a felon who is using them to intentionally defame us while taking those texts out of context, misattributing text to Mandy and me that we did not write. And Fitznews, as of now anyway, doesn't appear to have done anything to stop this. As of now, no motions seem to have been filed to protect that information.

to get it sealed, to prevent Parker from using them, to authenticate them. So, so much for protecting their sources. So much for them protecting proprietary information. Why is nothing being done? That is a great question. And in our opinions, well, you know us and how we love connecting dots and recognizing patterns. It's really hard not to notice all the effort fits has seemed to put into, I don't know, tearing us down over the years as professional journalists and as human beings. Anyway, that is the awkward part.

We are now in a position where we have to report on the news that we don't want to hear about, think about, or talk about. People with supporters who will no doubt try to dismiss the facts by saying that we're being biased against Jen Will and Fitz News, which, I mean, yeah, we tend to hold unfavorable opinions about people who do unfavorable things. To do our jobs in an honest way, we need to be honest about. about that. So, you know our thoughts on Jen Wood and Will Folks officially. We don't like them. We do not respect them. We want nothing to do with them. And we do not forgive them for the things

that we believe that they have done to us and the people that we love and care about. But we are going to report on them the same way we would if they were any other news agency accused of doing this because this is important, especially as we get closer to the South Carolina Supreme Court's decision about whether to grant ELEC Murdoch a new trial. And we're going to share our opinions along the way, just like we would about any other news agency. So, get your pens out. It is time to talk about what happened with Becky Hill, Jen Wood, and Wolf Fulks at the

Ehrlich Murdoch murder trial in February, 2023, according to the Becky files that SLED provided. their November 14, 2024 investigative report regarding contempt of court dissemination of sealed court materials in which the state of South Carolina is listed as a victim. And Will Fulks and Becky Hill are listed as subjects. So this all started on January 14th, 2024. When an anonymous email titled Violation of Court Order, sealed evidence was sent to Judge Toll, South Carolina Attorney General's Office Chief Prosecutor Creighton Waters, BCE, and Attorney

Jay Bender, who served as the legal liaison between the court and the press during the ELEC Murdoch trial. Here is David with what the email to Justice Toll, Creighton Waters and Jay Bender said. Please be advised that Fitz News, Columbia, South Carolina, has gotten a hold of sealed crime scene photos from the Murdoch trial and have been distributing them. with their friends. Please see attached screenshots of text messages sent by Jennifer Wood of Fitznews. According to the report, the email included four screenshots,

quote of text messages from Jennifer, and showed photographs in the text messages of what appeared to be Maggie and Paul Murdoch's fatal injuries at the crime scene and their autopsies. The report notes that the photos are on top of Manila envelopes marked a defense exhibit with a number. Here is David with our favorite part about attachment one. The photographs appear to have been taken on a desk slash table in an unknown location,

and some of the photographs contained a pair of men's brown dress shoes that could be seen below the table, which appeared to be of the person taking the photographs, while standing on a distinctly red-patterned carpet. I mean, y'all, crop the clues. out of your potentially illegally obtained photos before you share them with your internet friends. The best part of this brown shoe and dignity is that Sled put a giant blue arrow pointing to the brown shoes of the presumed photographer, who is standing on a distinctly red-patterned carpet. Oh, and there's Jen Wood's words under the sealed exhibit photo, which say,

You never saw it, cry, laughy emoji. It's his whole goddamn brown. brain in one piece. So yeah, classy. Also, I want to know the actual photos are blurred in this report. So let's talk about attachment number two. Here is David as Jen and Grace as Kim in the receipts of Jen's text. Oh shit, we got the sealed picks. What sealed picks from the murder scene? All the body picks that only the jury could see. Oh shit, I can imagine they were horrific.

How do you blow your son's brain out? Want to see the one with Paul's brain by his feet? According to the report, the final part of Jen's message said, quote, Will was like, am I missing any? And then Jen said, yeah, I'm a need the one with the back of his head. Eesh. So I'm tempted to give Jen some grace here because she's recounting a gallows here. humory conversation between her and her editor.

But I don't see the humor here. It's not funny. It's not necessary. And this whole thing was born out of nothing more than greed and ego, to feel special and in the know, totally forgetting that the job is to inform the public. Their jobs were not to do anything they could to get ahead of Mandy and Liz.

Which is why we think they had these photos to begin with. Let's be real. More on the madness after a quick break, and we'll be right back. On February 7, 2024, SLED reached out to the anonymous email sender, who turns out is named Sarah. She's a listener of the show and one of the women who had exposed Jen Wood as being a significant part of the Reddit page trolling, which, again, Jen denies. Sarah told SLED that she had reached out to the social media user who posted the text conversations with Jen. The social media user, whose name turned out to be Kim, asked Sarah if she could share this information with Mandy. According to the report, Sarah, who has a relative in law enforcement, told Kim this should be reported directly to law enforcement and offered to do so.

On February 12, 2024, Sledd spoke with Kim, who said she got connected with Will Fulks in 2021, and after that maintained contact with Jen Wood, who lived in Louisiana at the time. According to the report, Jen sent the sealed photos to Kim in March 2023, right after the trial. Kim told Sledge she didn't report this information at the time because she didn't believe it was important now that the trial was over. Here's David with the report. Since then, Kim did not talk to Woodmuch, but when it appeared that Alex Murdoch might get a retrial, it came back to her mind. Kim had seen many things she considered lies or not whole truths come out of Fitznews and

decided to call Wood out on Twitter. According to the report, Kim shared all 10 photos that Jen had sent to her with the sled agent, who looked at the metadata and determined that the photos were taken with an iPhone 14 Pro Max on February 28, 23, between 747 p.m. and 9.16 p.m. at Colleton County Courthouse. Two days after speaking with Kim, two sled agents went to visit the courthouse, where they met with Deputy Clerk of Court, Gary Hale, who walked them through the process of evidence containment. After showing them the basement where evidence that hadn't been introduced in the case was stored during the trial, Gary Hill took the agents to the jury overflow room where agents noticed a familiar, distinctly red-patterned rug, sans the men's brown shoes. It's

like an Agatha Christie novel, right? So once the evidence in the basement was tagged as an exhibit, it fell under the custody of Becky Hill. Becky, according to the report, kept the exhibits in a closet outside of the door to the judge's chambers. After everything was accounted for each night, the manager of the court reporters would go to the storage closet with Becky Hill, and a Colleton County Sheriff's Office deputy. Now, there was no surveillance video available when SLED went to the county's IT office, but agents were able to look at the courthouse's key card swipe system,

which showed them that on the evening of February 28, 23, when the photos Jen Wood had sent to Kim were taken, the last key swipe in the courthouse was Becky Hill at the family court side entrance door at 8.34 p.m. Becky was also the last key swipe for the judge's entrance door at 8.20 p.m. Which is a curious timeline when the metadata on the photos showed that the photos were taken between 747 p.m. and 9.16 p.m. Did Becky retrieve the steward exhibits and leave them in the jury overflow room and then just took a walk? Is that why she told Justice Toll that she never allowed? of the media to photograph sealed exhibits?

On March 6, 2024, sled agents contacted Jen Wood. Here's David with what the report says about that. Jen provided the following information. She was the director of research for Fitznews, but lives in Louisiana and was currently at home. She only came to the hub of Fitznews in Columbia, South Carolina, a few times a year.

She was unsure at the onset. of the call about any investigation SLED may be conducting in which she may have some information. Jen had been in Walterboro, South Carolina, for the entirety of the Murdoch trial in 2023 while working at Fitznews. She only sat in the courtroom, approximately two to three days of the trial, but would view the live feed of the trial from an outside location the rest of the time. Jen confirmed to Sled that she had sent the messages to Kim. that they were acquaintances but had never met in person, and that Kim began to act differently in December 2023.

Jen also confirmed that the photos appeared to be in Manila folders marked as defense exhibits. The report then goes on to set, quote, Jen stated the graphic images were some of the worst I had ever seen. She said she sent the photos to Kim because they had talked about the crime scene for so long and to show her what it looked like. Here's David with the next part of the report. Special agent Fitzgerald asked if Jen knew the photos had been sealed by court order at the time she texted them to Kim in March 2023 after the trial had ended. Jen stated that, quote, became very clear, end quote, after Judge Newman held a hearing about evidence issues after the trial around May or June 2023.

It was after that hearing that Jen said she, quote, was like, oh, shit, like fricking delete, end quote. She said it was at that time she began to realize that the ceiling of the documents applied to all parties and not just court personnel or attorneys. So, Jen Wood has positioned herself as a journalist, except for when she's expected to act like a journalist. Ignorance is one thing, but, girl, come on, you're literally celebrating the fact that you had to be a journalist. photos from the sealed exhibits. You literally tell Kim that these are the images that only the jury could see. You knew. You knew. You knew. You knew. But here you're telling SLED that you only understood they were sealed when Judge Newman held a hearing months after sending these to Kim and telling her they were sealed. And then you switched to, I didn't know that sealed meant sealed to the public.

just court personnel and attorneys. How does that make any sense? It doesn't. Keep going, David. Jen believed that if Fitz News did not publish the photos, it was not in violation of the court order. She later indicated in the follow-up phone interview that she had not worked on a trial as a journalist until the Murdoch trial,

and though her background had been in criminal justice, she was not aware of all the court rules and procedures. Had she known what she knew now about sealed documents, she would have never distributed them. The trouble for Jen is that she did publish the photos. She, as a self-identified journalist, sent them to a member of the public for the purpose of showing that member of the public, in Jen's words, the crime scene. But again, like I said, Jen, and she's not alone in this new world of citizen journalists, wants the perks of being able to say she's a journalist. because the authority, the lore, the access. But doesn't want to take responsibility as a journalist.

It is your job as a journalist to know the so-called court rules and procedures. The risk of not knowing them is going to jail or worse. Anyway, SLED was not interested in Jen per se. They wanted to know how Jen got those photos. David? Jen was initially very hesitant to disclose whom she got the photos from. and said it was from a, quote, source of viz news. Eventually, after confirming the investigation was confidential,

Jen said, quote, I know we got them from Becky, end quote, indicating the photos were obtained through clerk of court, Hill. That was some amazing source protection there. Journalists will literally go to jail before revealing their sources, but here we have someone sending a member of the public, illegally obtained information while doing nothing to crop out the clues as to where that information came from, now telling law enforcement exactly where they came from. To be clear, we are not advocating for journalists to hide information from law enforcement, but this is quite the pickle,

right? Regardless of how ridiculous this situation is, it's notable that Becky appears to have done a favor for the in-crowd media, as she referred to them, and that in-crowd media, through her right under the bus for it. That said, David, where did Jen get the photos? Jen stated she herself was not present when the photos were taken, and she initially stated she did not know who took the photos. Special Agent Fitzgerald stated that it appeared to be a male shoe in the corner of some of the pictures, and Jen continued to say she was, quote, not sure, end quote. Who took the photos of the sealed exhibits in the Manila folder that indicated they were defense exhibits? Jen said she received the photos on a flash drive, which she now believed did not

exist anymore. She further stated, quote, once we realized they were sealed, I think it was clear like we can't have these. She later said, I don't believe any of us have them anymore. She did not know what happened to the flash drive at the time of the interview. Once we realized they were sealed, Jen literally refers to them as sealed in her March 2023 text message to Kim. Am I missing something here? Is she lying to investigators? Also, we're confused about the flash drive. The photos were taken on an iPhone. When did a flash drive enter the chat. David, continue. During the entirety of the initial phone interview, Jen maintained that she did not know who took the photos of the sealed exhibits and would not outrightly say

who she received the flash drive from, only indicating that she believed Will Folks also had access to the flash drive of photos. Later, during the follow-up phone interview when directly asked, Jen indicated that she received the flash drive with the photos while working at Fitz News from Will Folks who physically handed it to her. Jen then placed the photos on her MacBook and was able to text the photos from her laptop to her phone, which was how she sent the photos to Kim. Jen confirmed that only herself and Will would have had access to the photos because it was a very small, media company. According to the report, Jen continued to tell the agent that she couldn't say how she came to know that the photos originated from Becky Hill. Jen agreed that it seems like Becky allowed someone access to the exhibits, and that's how the photos were taken. Here's David

with the report. When asked directly if she knew if Will was there when the photos were taken or took the photos himself, Jen hesitated and said, quote, am I going to get my boss in trouble? End quote. She would not explicitly say Will was present when the photos were taken, but later agreed that based on how she received access to them, quote, my presumption was that Will was there when they were taken, end quote. According to the report, Jen told the agents that when Kim initially posted her text on Twitter about the sealed exhibit that she blocked Kim and others because she was, quote, concerned about the publicity that came with the sharing of the text message on Twitter and was not surprised that SLED was investigating this issue. Jen told the agents that she and

Will were often at the courthouse late, but typically not past 8 p.m. And that she and Will were together most the time during the trial. Oh, and here's another. another winner in this report, David. Jen said she initially did not believe the allegations that Clerk of Court Hill had tampered with the jury, but after the information came out that Clerk of Court Hill had plagiarized some of her book and knowing Clerk of Court Hill played a role in the photos getting released to her media company, she began to doubt Clerk of Court Hill's complete innocence. She began to believe that Becky Tamer,

with the jury because Becky had made it so that Jen could show off to her internet friend by texting photos of Paul's and Maggie's dead bodies. I know this report says that Jen studied criminal justice, but, uh, I don't know. Maybe she missed that part when they were teaching about how evidence of crime actually works. Because it's not, uh, I saw a rob a store once, and that's probably why she's guilty of mass murder. I mean, none of this is good. But what a thing, right? Over the past few years, Jen has offered up hours and hours of analysis

on whether or not Becky Hill actually tampered with Elyke Murdoch's jury. And this is how she processes information? Okay, David, more from the report, please. Before the call concluded, Jen indicated that she was being honest with the agents and she would be fully cooperative with SLED. agents note jen began getting audibly upset and crying at the end of the phone call jen did not intentionally go against the court order when she shared the photos with kim because she did not realize the court order applied to non-court staff until the hearing by judge newman in mayor june twenty twenty three jen had not told will folks about the call from agents and was not planning to at the time based on her own preferences So Jen got off easy there in our opinions, because again, in our opinions, the evidence shows pretty clearly.

When Jen sent the sealed exhibits to Kim, she knew that they were sealed and knew that these were not for anyone else's eyes outside of the jury members. Slead wanted Becky, so they needed to connect Becky to the acquisition of these photos. But like, Jen clearly violated a question. court order. And in our opinion, she lied to police officers in a criminal investigation. Why wasn't she charged? And what about her accomplice in this? More on that after a quick break. We'll be right back. On June 14, 24, slide served a search warrant on Will Folks' phone. A month later, Verizon confirmed that at the time the photos were taken, Will was using an iPhone 14 Pro Max, the same model of

the phone listed in the photos metadata. On August 15th, 2024, SLED served a search warrant on Apple, Inc. For ICloud information attached to Woolfulks' account, an email address, asking for photos, messages, and emails from January 1st, 2023 through July 1st, 2024. It is not clear what contact agents had with Will during this time, and I understand that these warrants were served in a criminal investigation, but holy cow, that is a broad

search warrant on a journalist's phone. I mean, all things being relative, it's not like Will was being accused of stealing state secrets here, so officially, we don't like this. This seems like government overreach, all to charge Becky Hill with two crimes that she's not even going to jail for. But SLED did what it did and got what it needed. On September 10th, 2024, and to their credit, I guess, had an attorney review the content first for things that might be considered a attorney. client privilege, no word on whether they considered what would be protected by the reporter's shield privilege. On Will's phone, which again, not cool that they did this, but also it's his employee that got him into this mess. SLED found the photos they were looking for. Now, rewind just a little

here. Back in April 2024, SLED reviewed a video of Will and Jen in which they were answering questions ahead of ELEC's January 29, 2024 hearing. The investigative report quotes Will as saying the following. Here's David. You know, I've taken a little grief with some folks in the last couple days over, you know, the hearing on Friday. People said we were revealing too much information. I think we have shown incredible discretion at every point. You know, there's crime scene photos worth millions of dollars, you know, to publish stuff. We don't do that. Little did he know that Jen had in fact published that stuff, but pause for a second.

Did he say those photos were worth millions of dollars? That is gross. It also underscores the problem with what Becky was doing here. Here's what Elsled notes about Will and Jen in that video. All we asked from the beginning of the trial was to see the exhibits, to look at what the jurors were looking at. Because again, they made their decisions, we believe, based on the evidence and the facts and the details.

testimony in the law. That's what I believe. But when you look at the evidence, it's clear that the state's case was far more compelling. To that, Jen says, oh yeah. Will continues. When you look at those pictures, but why were we, why did we have to obtain them surreptitiously? Why weren't we trusted by the court and the clerk? I guess the court. And the sled agent notes that Will tilts his head and looks directly at Jen. I guess it probably wasn't the clerk. The clerk probably would have been willing to help with that, to which Jen says, Mm-hmm. Will continues, but why weren't we trusted to look at those? I don't know, because that's our job. Our job is to look at the evidence and present the facts as best we know them, but I guess they didn't think the media could be trusted to keep that stuff under lock and

key, uh, hello, we've done that. Uh, hello. No, you didn't. Your director of research recklessly sent them with your shoes in the photos to a third party who published them on Twitter. You didn't keep that stuff under locking key, but what's more, there is a way for a journalist to access sealed court records, and the first step is to file a motion to get them on sealed. Journalists are the public. We are the stand in. If it's important that the documents are unsealed for the public, then we fight for that. But can anyone really honestly argue that it was important for the public to see Maggie's and Paul's bodies? Has it changed anything? Or help with understanding the case? Fitznoose published

another video about Alex hearing on February 23, 2024. In this video, according to the report, they showed a clip of Becky testifying that she contends the sealed photos were photographed in the courtroom. Here's David with what SLED wrote. Will comes back on screen and said, quote, we don't know exactly what the perjury investigation of Becky Hill entails, but we are told by sources close to the investigation that Sled agents have been to the Colleton County Courthouse within the last two weeks, and they have been taking pictures of rugs and carpets inside that building in the hopes of matching those with images they believe contain sealed exhibits. Will went on, quote, Now I want to point out something in regard to our media outlet.

We have obtained a number of these sealed exhibits. We obtained many of them before the trial even began. But our policy from the beginning was never to publish these sealed exhibits. Again, that would violate Judge Newman, Clifton Newman's orders. We took that responsibility very seriously. So that is supposed to be a flex-up. I guess, but you can't obtain sealed exhibits before they're sealed. You can be leaked evidence in an open case, which is a different thing altogether.

But it's interesting here how Will seems to be setting up a dishonest landing spot for himself, much like Becky did when she tried to answer Justice Toll's question about letting the media take pictures of sealed exhibits by talking about the pool of photographers. At this point, both Jen and presumably Will knew that Kim had posted texts from Jen showing a photo of a sealed exhibit with a distinctive red patterned rug in the background. According to the report, Will went on to say in the video that the reason Fitznews obtained this and other evidence was to, quote, assess the veracity of the testimony that was provided in that trial. Again, there's a way to do that, and it's filing a motion with the judge to have the records unsealed.

Okay, so I'm sure you're wondering by now, WeatherSled actually spoke with Willfolks. They did. In a memorandum of interview, SLED outlined what happened during their in-person meeting with Will Fulks on February 27, 2025. Will told agents that he had first contacted Becky Hill ahead of the trial to understand logistics, and it was from there that they became quote-unquote well-acquainted. He described his relationship with Becky to be very friendly throughout the trial and afterward. He said their relationship broke down when Fitz reported on her son's arrest. He said that Becky didn't like that Fitz was covering the case and she didn't like how they

portrayed her son. He said that they hadn't spoken since November 23. Here is David with the report. When asked if he felt like Becky sometimes gave him more information than she should have, Will responded, hmm, well, I mean my job is to get everything I can. unsolicited, Will immediately began stating, quote, Before we start, I want to be perfectly clear that Judge Newman issued an order regarding materials on the case, and so even before that issue was ordered, we received some materials which would later become sealed files,

and so we never published those. We kept those private. So again, Will appears to be trying to conflate the leaked evidence with the evidence in the sealed exhibits. But darn it, that pesky, distinctly red-pattered rug and brown men's dress shoes, am I right? David, what happened when agents showed Will the photos that were posted online? Will looked at the screenshots and acknowledged that he had been made aware by Jen around that time that she had entrusted this person. whom he did not know personally with some information about the photos they had seen of the crime scene. And that woman had betrayed Jen by posting their intimate text messages on Twitter. At the time, Will told Jen it happened sometimes, and as long as she herself did not betray anyone, she was fine.

Will stated that he did not believe Jen had shared any actual photos. with the female from Twitter based on their conversation. Well, that just got more awkward. Yikes. Will told the sled agents that when evidence was leaked to his office before the trial, he had direct conversations with his employees that the information should not be disseminated or discussed. As an example, he told the agents that they had the kennel video in their possession, but they kept it confidential until after it had been put on the record during trial, which how did they get that video, right? From SLED? From Allen Wilson's office? Or from Dick and Jim who might have been playing one of their fun little headline games?

Alas, Will did not reveal his source to Slet. He did, however, again, tell SLED that when the records were sealed, which Judge Newman did from the outset, Will decided officially not to publish any of the crime seed photos that had been been leaked to him, which is great, I guess. But that's not the crime seed photos Sled was interested in talking about. The agents told Will about the metadata on the photos, and here is what they say happened next. When Will asked for clarification if the metadata was alleging that photos were taken during the trial were shared by Jen to the person on Twitter, Will became concerned, shook his head and said, quote,

Let me just state this for the record. This is the first time I have ever seen anyone suggesting that anyone on my team has shared this material. End quote. Special Agent Fitzgerald reiterated that this was an investigation into any wrongdoing by clerk of court Hill, and there were no warrants for Will or his team at this time. Agents continued to show Will the photos that were sent by Jen to Kim. David. Will folks groaned aloud and confirmed they were definitely sealed exhibits.

Then agents began asking Will how it was that these exact photos were found during a warrant search of his Apple Eye Cloud, David. Will responded, yep. And later, yep. yeah, no, these are, yeah, no, that is accurate. That is accurate. They then showed Will's screenshots showing him where these photos, and more taken at the courthouse that evening were stored on his iCloud account. So much like Becky, Will, and Jen waited until they were cornered before admitting the truth about where these photos came from. The Agents told Will that they knew for a fact that Becky was in the building at the time that these photos were taken.

David? Special Agent Fitzgerald asked directly, quote, did Becky give you access to get these photos? And Will responded, quote, well, from the standpoint of the source relationship, I always err on the side of assuming source protection, end quote. He went on to say that he wished to protect the source. source of that information. Will confirmed that he had a reputation for protecting sources, and he wanted to continue that. Hmm, nice. I wish someone would remind Will Fulks about that now that his former employee appears to have given privileged text messages that she wasn't a party to, revealing source identities to Parker's attorneys. Privileged text messages that somehow ended up

in the hands of a felon who repeatedly publishes them without authentication. and while blatantly misattributing the parties represented in the text. Again, listen to this week's Cup of Justice for more of that. Special Agent Fitzgerald advised that at this point with the information known Will was in the courthouse, after hours with access to evidence. He stated, Well, you got me there. I was told I was on surveillance footage.

Oh, what an interesting way of saying, yes, I was there. The agent showed Will photos from his eye cloud that showed trial evidence in his hands. Will confirmed the hands were indeed his. And back to the report, David. Will stated there were actually a lot of people in there at the time he was looking through the evidence. Agents note, this was the first time that additional people viewing the sealed exhibits on February 28, 2023, had been alleged and no previous evidence or interviews. corroborates this claim. Because Will wouldn't tell agents how he was given access to these sealed exhibits.

The agents told him that without that information, they would have to assume that he broke into the courthouse after hours and obtain the key to where the evidence was stored. Here is David again with the report. Will laughed and denied that's how he came to have access to the evidence. He then said he was invited by another media outlet. after the birthday party for a clerk of Court Hill's daughter at the Wildlife Center. Will said four to five other media outlets were already at the courthouse when he arrived. Will confirmed this was on Feb 28, 2023 during the Murdoch trial. The party at the Wildlife Center was the evening of March 1st, 2023, so this would be incorrect. Will again told the agents that the reason he wanted to see these materials was to, quote,

make it clear to the public whether he agreed with the prosecution's case or not. So let me just get this straight. Will violated Judge Newman's order, putting the trial at risk for the brave, journalistic endeavor of seeing whether he agreed with the prosecution's case. Somebody called the Edward R. Murrow Award Committee. I mean, it doesn't get any more heroic than that. This great nation was being kept from learning whether the Will Folks agreed with the evidence against a man currently on trial for murdering his family.

And the Will Folks had no choice but to seize upon this opportunity to see if undisputed facts of the case were true. Judge's orders be damned. According to the report, Will then told investigators that, quote, my job is to get information in whatever way possible. Who wants to let him know that,

quote, whatever way possible, does not include ill. legally. Will wouldn't tell the agents which other news agencies were in the room because he didn't want to get them in trouble. Our guess, and this is pure speculation, is that if anyone actually was in that room with Will, they were not journalists. They were posers who were giddy over their special treatment from Becky Hill that they didn't stop to think what they were actually putting at risk. We'll confirm that Becky was in the courthouse at the time and sometimes in the room with them, but that no other court employees or law enforcement were in the room with the media and the evidence. Will told the agents that the other agencies had more digital equipment

with them and that they were doing this when he entered the room. He said that a virtual assembly line had been set up of media scanning evidence and taking photos of it. He said he took his photos and left. He said he had been told that this happened several times during the trial. So, yes, I did the thing I pretended not to have done, but I did it for righteous reasons, and other people did it too. Guys, I think there are literal criminal justice textbooks out there that predicted the evolution of this admission. Anyway, Will said he couldn't remember whether he had put the photos on a flash drive, but said that he still had the photos and would delete them if advised to do so, which is very interesting, because Jen had already told the agents that Fitz no longer had the photos. David. Will wanted to reiterate that he believed Fitz News had gone out of their way to protect the integrity of the Murdoch trial, such as not publishing the kennel video. Special Agent Fitzgerald asked if Will felt like it was okay for him to be able to handle the evidence in such a way during the trial, and he replied, quote, I was doing my job.

but later that it was, quote, surprising and irregular, that himself and other media were able to view the evidence as they did. And this is David as David. Do you know who was not at the birthday or the sealed evidence jamboree? Mandy Matney, Liz Farrell, or any other Luna Shark personnel. Not there? Never alleged to be there because we weren't because it's disgusting behavior by disgusting people. people. Back to the show. And that is the end of the report. No charges were filed against Jen Wood or Willfolks or any

other news media. Becky was charged with obstruction of justice for allowing this to happen and perjury for lying about it on the stand. So like we've said for the past three years, the Murdoch murder trial was a toxic event to cover and that's largely because of this group of media, which includes Fitz News, behaving like don't. dogs. And it's this pack mentality that we've sensed from the beginning of Dick and Jim's accusations about jury tampering, because it's the same group of media that seems to be the most excited at the thought of a second chance at what might have just been the best time of their lives when they were apparently sneaking in and out of the courthouse late in the

evening and manhandling sealed evidence. It's truly unbelievable. But how lucky was team Murdoch to have all this mess play right into their hands? And how lucky was the media to have a clerk of court who is only too willing to impress them with her power? If there's a second trial, let us hope that they bring in a clerk of court from another place in the country that actually values that profession. There were two things that Becky said that stood out to us in the Becky files. When she was questioned by an employee about inappropriately using family court funds, she said, quote, I'm the damn clerk of court, I do what I want.

In one of her emails attempting to impress a journalist, she wrote that she, quote, had lived among the Murdox, and she was the beat on the ground. These are two of the most honest things Becky Hill has ever said. At the end of the day, Becky is a product of the corrupt system that the Murdox created, where rules don't apply to those in charge, where the good old boys and the good old girls spend other people's hard-earned money as they please, where corruption is completely fine as long as it benefits the haves and not the have-nots. A lot of people have speculated if Becky was a Murdoch plant all along, put in place to cause disruption that would get Ehrlich a new trial. I think it's actually deeper than that.

Messy Becky was actually the perfect clerk of court to insert just enough chaos and corruption into this case and chip away at the integrity of the trial to get Team Murdoch where they are now, inches away from a new trial. If South Carolina wants to actually fix any of the messes that have been spilled in front of the world during the Murdoch case, they have got to start holding powerful people accountable for their actions. That includes every single public official who misuses state money, and that includes every single journalist who willfully violates court orders. A number of people could have been charged or at least faced repercussions related to the Becket. Hill investigation and they were not. Actions must have consequences, otherwise nothing changes.

Which is why we are still here, week after week, dragging every bad actor into the sunlight because apparently no one else will. So stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight. True Sunlight is a Luna Shark production created by me, Mandy Matney, co-hosted and reported by journalist Liz Farrell. Research support provided by Beth Braden. Audio production support provided by Jamie Hoffman and Grace Hills. Case file management provided by Kate Thomas. Learn more about our mission and membership at LunaSharkMedia.com. Interruptions provided by Luna and Joe Pesky.