Murdaugh Murders Podcast - Who Killed Maggie and Paul Murdaugh? Part Three (S01E42)

Episode Date: April 27, 2022

Multiple sources have told FITSNews that high-velocity impact spatter was present on the shirt Alex Murdaugh was wearing the night of the murders and that this evidence has been independently analyzed and confirmed by multiple forensic experts — including by at least one out-of-state laboratory.  In this special breaking episode of the Murdaugh Murders Podcast, Mandy , Liz, and Will dive into all of the details in the June 7, 2021 double homicide of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh — a murder investigation like no other.  You’ll also hear from Linda Rourke, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, speak about high velocity impact spatter for you to get a better understanding of the the science.  We also tell you about a big update in the Bowen Turner case.  Sign this petition to support Dallas Stoller: https://www.change.org/p/reopen-dallas-stoller-s-case And a special thank you to our sponsors: Microdose.com, Priceline, Embark Vet, VOURI, Babbel, Article, and others. Use promo code "MANDY" for a special offer! The Murdaugh Murders Podcast is created by Mandy Matney and produced by Luna Shark Productions. Our Executive Editor is Liz Farrell. Advertising is curated by the talented team at AdLarge Media. Find us on social media: https://www.facebook.com/MurdaughPod/ https://www.instagram.com/murdaughmurderspod/ For current and accurate updates: Twitter.com/mandymatney Support Our Podcast at: https://murdaughmurderspodcast.com/support-the-show Please consider sharing your support by leaving a review on Apple at the following link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/murdaugh-murders-podcast/id1573560247 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I don't know who killed Paul or Maggie Murdoch, but it looks like we're closer to getting answers. As we exclusively reported this week on fitsnews.com, high-velocity impact spatter directly links Ellick Murdoch to the homicides of his wife and son, according to our sources. And that is a big deal. My name is Mandy Matney. I've been investigating the Murdoch family for more than three years now. This is the Murdoch Murders podcast with David Moses and Liz Farrell.

So back in early January, in our first episode of 2022, we broke a big story in the double homicide investigation of Maggie and Paul Murdoch. In episode 26, we reported that there was direct physical evidence that placed Ellick Murdoch at Moselle at the time his wife and son were killed. Back in January, we couldn't tell you what that evidence was, but since then, multiple sources have told fitsnews that high-velocity impact spatter was present on the shirt Ellick Murdoch was wearing the night of the double homicides. And this evidence has been independently analyzed and confirmed by multiple forensic experts,

including at least one out-of-state laboratory. This evidence not only directly places Ellick Murdoch at the scene of the double homicide at the time of the killings, it puts him in proximity to one or both of his family members as they were shot. As a reminder, Ellick has maintained his innocence from the beginning. His attorneys say they accounted for every move of his that night, and at the time the coroners say Maggie and Paul were killed, they claimed Ellick was with his mother twenty minutes away watching a game show on television with her.

We're going to play a short clip when Jim Griffin was interviewed by Fox Carolina in October twenty twenty-one. I can assure you that we have Ellick's whereabouts accounted for completely during that period of time. That night, he is sitting on the bedside of his mother at her house when the coroner says these murders happen. What Jim Griffin is saying here directly conflicts with what sources are saying the evidence in the case points to.

It's important to note that according to our sources, this body fluid spatter is not the only piece of evidence placing Ellick at Moselle when he claims he was nowhere near there. But its analysis could in part explain why the investigation has continued for more than ten months without arrest. Sources have not disclosed details about whether this spatter was from blood, fluid or other biological matter. They have referred to the evidence as significant.

This evidence is separate from what we've already reported about the guns in this case. Multiple sources told Fitznews at least one of the weapons used in the double homicide belonged to the Murdoch family. It's been several months since we last talked in detail about the double homicide investigation. So in this episode, we'll tell you everything we know about the June 7th double homicide investigation, including a lot of new information about the Murdoch family. We will speak with an expert about what high impact spatter is and what it means. And most importantly, we will put all of this into context.

So we have talked at length about what happened at Moselle on June 7th, 2021, but we haven't told you much about what was going on with the Murdoch family around that time. This week, Fitznews founding editor Will Folkes reported one of many bombshells in the Murdoch saga that the state grand jury was investigating the Murdoch family's financial situation before the double homicide. This news outlet has learned, exclusively, that Murdoch's finances were the focus of a statewide grand jury. In fact, a judge in Columbia, South Carolina, Judge Robert Hood, was made aware, at the

very least, perhaps signed off on, but we know he was made aware, in April of 2021, of a subpoena by the grand jury to get out Murdoch's bank records. And obviously, given the relationship between Murdoch and these various banks in the Low Country, it's a fair assessment that if the banks were aware of this subpoena, they probably told Murdoch pretty quickly, given that the banks have been, by all appearances anyway, an integral part of the various financial scams that Murdoch ran against his former law firm clients. In fact, a subpoena was issued for investigators to comb through the Murdoch's finances

in April of 2021. That's less than six weeks before the murders. Keep in mind, Ellick Murdoch was still stealing money at this point, allegedly. According to the indictments, between March and July of 2021, Ellick is accused of manipulating a Bamberg County attorney named Chris Wilson, who is also one of Ellick's close longtime friends, into writing him three checks totaling $792,000 for his share of the legal fees. In a case these two were working on together, instead of writing that check to PMPED per protocol, according to the indictment, Murdoch told Wilson that he was going to structure

his fees himself because of his potential civil liability in the Mallory Beach boat crash, according to the indictment. He was apparently admitting that he was trying to hide money from the Beach family. He allegedly lied to Wilson and told him that PMPED was aware of this. Murdoch didn't structure the fees, he just took the money for himself, allegedly. In fact, on April 20th, 2021, Ellick allegedly stole one of those checks. The state grand jury subpoena would definitely throw a large wrench in Ellick Murdoch's poll stealing millions from client scam.

Why was the state grand jury investigating Ellick Murdoch's finances? Remember, in the spring of 2021, Paul Murdoch was out on bond for the fatal boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach. While that case wasn't close to trial, even though it had been more than two years since the crash, the grand jury was investigating something else. In the spring of 2021, Ellick and his family, as well as certain members of law enforcement that they counted as friends, unbeknownst to most people at the time, were being investigated for interfering in the 2019 boat crash investigation and obstructing justice.

Maybe they were trying to determine whether any of the Murdochs had paid South Carolina Department of Natural Resources officers, or others, to muck up the scene, destroy or lose evidence, or not offer Paul Murdoch a field sorority test that night. Those are just a few guesses. Anyway, pressure was most certainly building on Ellick Murdoch in the spring of 2021. Adding to the mountain of problems he was facing at the time, Ellick's father, the family patriarch, Randolph Murdoch III, was dying of cancer. Randolph was powerful.

He served as the solicitor over the 14th Circuit for two decades before he retired in 2006. Randolph was respected by powerful players across the Low Country, especially by law enforcement members. But that respect did not carry through to the next generation. That respect just wasn't there for Ellick and his brothers, like it was for Randolph. Randolph dying of cancer meant that the Murdoch family was losing their fixer, the man who always kept the Murdoch family together, and was always able to keep his boys, Ellick especially, from facing the consequences of their actions.

For Ellick, his family's power was dying too. The Murdoch name wasn't what it used to be, not since the bow crash. Ellick's family wasn't what they used to be either. As we've reported before, the Murdochs appear to be living separate lives in the spring of 2021. Maggie was living in Edisto, South Carolina at the family's beach house, where she moved in 2020. Buster was living in the Charlotte area where he was working.

And Paul, well, Paul was all over the place. Something we want to note here because it's important as we're talking about Ellick's situation leading up to the murders, Paul's reckless behavior didn't seem to change at all after the bow crash. In fact, he seemed to learn nothing from the whole experience and was becoming an even bigger liability for Ellick. The summer after the crash, we heard from people who had seen Paul out partying, drinking and boating around Edisto Beach.

And up until his murder, Liz and I both received regular reports of Paul's excessive partying and drunken outbursts in and around the Low Country and in Columbia. But something we haven't reported before, Paul's credit card was apparently denied at a bar in Charleston in the weeks leading up to the murders, according to a source close to the situation. Several sources told us that this was strange for Paul. He often used his mother's credit card. We mentioned this credit card thing because it's something a reliable source told me

last summer. But now that so many pieces of the puzzle are in place, it's coming into focus again. You might remember a while ago, we told you about a Daily Mail article that said that a source close to the family told reporters that Maggie had been worried about their financial situation in the months leading up to the murder. The source told the Daily Mail that Maggie was upset because a check she had written to a local charity had bounced a few months before the murders. Also, remember what the probate documents told us about the Murdoch's finances at

the time. According to the documents that John Marvin chose to disclose, Maggie had just $57 left in her Bank of America bank account, the only bank account solely in Maggie's name listed at the time of her death. Maggie apparently owed a lot of money. Over 2.1 million was owed in the mortgages on both of their properties. It looks to us like the Murdochs weren't paying their Palmetto State Bank mortgages at all.

And on top of all that, Maggie had over 10 grand in unpaid bills. It's safe to say that Ellic Murdoch's financial situation was stressful at the time around the murders. And again, there's the boat crash lawsuit. For more than two years, the Murdochs refused to settle the lawsuit that was filed by Mallory Beach's mother for Mallory's wrongful death. At that point last spring, two insurance companies had already refused to cover the crash. Only one of Ellic Murdoch's insurance policies, Progressive Insurance, agreed to cover the

Murdochs in the lawsuit. But the policy was only worth $500,000, and the claims from the lawsuit would likely be millions given the number of victims and the amount of damage. Ellic Murdoch was apparently going around town claiming to be poor. So Mark Tinsley, the Beach family attorney, decided to call his bluff and began formally demanding proof of Ellic's financial situation. In the fall of 2020, Murdoch's attorneys made it clear to the court and to Tinsley that Ellic had no intention of answering any of the questions he was being asked, calling

the questions irrelevant and immaterial. He wasn't going to share information about his checking and savings accounts, his retired retirement accounts, the properties he owned or had an interest in, his stock holdings, his life insurance policies, or his investments, and he certainly wasn't going to provide the name of the person who prepared their taxes for the last three years. As we now know, he apparently had a lot of reasons not to share that information. The pressure on Ellic Murdoch to open his books kept increasing though, and a hearing was scheduled for June 10th, 2021, when the judge would hear arguments in the Beach family's

motion to compel Murdoch to show them his money. Which brings us to June 7th, just three days before that scheduled hearing. On the day of his death, Paul worked at his uncle John Marvin's equipment rental store. Eight dinner with his uncle's family, and around six o'clock went to Moselle to check on his friend, Rogan Gibson's dog, who was boarded at the dog kennels at Moselle. This is important because it means that Paul's presence at Moselle that night was unexpected. Even if we didn't know this information though, Paul's pattern would have been difficult to predict.

Maggie, however, was expected to be at Moselle that night. In fact, multiple sources have told us at Fitznews that Ellic Murdoch lured Maggie to Moselle that night. According to our sources, Maggie told others that she was hesitant to go to Moselle that night, but ultimately she decided it was the right thing to do. It's not clear whether any of this information was found on Maggie's iPhone, which appears to have been tossed in the woods near Moselle. It was found the next morning by Ellic's co-workers at the 14th Circuit Solicitor's

office, with some help from Ellic's younger brother. We don't know exactly what happened after Maggie and Paul arrived at Moselle, but we're told there is another piece of evidence that places Ellic at the dog kennels on the property before they died, which is contradictory to what he told law enforcement from the get-go. In his 911 call that night, which he made at 10.07pm, there are a couple things that stick out to us now, knowing what we know. First, as you probably know, 911 calls start recording typically soon after you dial the number.

Here's what it sounded like when Ellic called. After the dial-in, you can hear dogs barking in the distance. Then a ring, then silence, then you hear Ellic Murdoch sobbing. During that call, it sounds like Ellic is moving around a lot, which could be for a number of reasons, including poor cell phone reception at the kennels. The next part is important because it's the first time that Ellic told authorities he was not at Moselle before this. When the dispatcher asked whether he saw anyone in the vicinity of the home when he arrived,

Ellic Murdoch said no. He was then asked whether he noticed anything out of place. At one point in the call, the dispatcher asked Ellic not to touch the bodies of his family members. But Ellic was quick to tell the dispatcher that he had already touched the bodies. This is important because it sounds like Ellic is attempting to establish a reason for having blood on his clothes. And one more thing to note about the 911 call.

When it was first released to the public, a lot of people noticed that Ellic seemed to be saying to himself, Paul, why do you have to get involved? Once you hear it, it's hard to hear anything but that. Maybe Paul wasn't supposed to be there. Maybe he wasn't the target? We'll be right back. According to police reports, deputies from the Colletin County Sheriff's Office arrived on scene at 10.25 p.m. and immediately began investigating the case as a double murder.

Sled was contacted 21 minutes after Ellic Murdoch called 911. The Colletin County Sheriff's Office asked Sled to take over the case due to the complexity of the investigation in the agency's multiple ties to the powerful Murdoch family. According to our sources, at least one of the weapons used in the double homicide belonged to the Murdoch family. But our sources have never said why they believe this to be the case or whether the other weapon also belonged to the Murdoch family. They also have never said whether either weapon was recovered.

Ultimately, the weapons will play a key role in the investigation, especially now that it appears that high velocity impacts batter places Ellic so physically close to the actual shootings. If the weapons weren't recovered though, the obvious question is going to be where did they go and when. Maybe even more importantly is how did they get to wherever they went. For instance, if the weapons weren't recovered, did anyone help dispose of the weapons and was that person compensated for their assistance?

More than two weeks after the murders, a public relations firm hired by the Murdoch family released a statement announcing a $100,000 reward to anyone providing tips that led to arrest by law enforcement. However, tips were required to have been submitted before September 30th, 2021 to qualify for that reward. When that deadline expired, a spokesperson who represented the Murdoch family released the following statement to multiple news stations. We are disappointed that no one has stepped forward with any leads to solve the murder

and claim the $100,000 reward. At this time, the family is evaluating what additional steps can be taken to solve the murders of Maggie and Paul. Patterns in blood stains and other bodily fluid can help investigators determine what occurred during a violent death, particularly as it relates to the positioning of the victim and the suspect. To learn more about high-velocity impacts pattern in the science involved in analyzing blood stain patterns or the patterns of other fluids and biological matters at a crime scene,

we spoke with Linda Rourke, who is a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Just a quick note about our conversation. We didn't ask Linda any questions specific to the details of the case, nor is she commenting on the Murdoch murders investigation in any way. A high-velocity impact typically that's associated when there is the use of a high-velocity weapon. So if a high-velocity or a high-energy rifle is used, for instance, and especially if it's used at close range, this is physics.

Basically, greater force means greater, you know, the force that impacts especially something like a human body. You're going to have a lot more damage occurring. And there are certain patterns that are more consistent with a high-velocity impact, and you may have seen this yourself in doing your research that you're more likely to get this combination of some larger blood stain pattern, so larger droplets of blood, and then in the background, it'll look like there's a mist, like a cloudy mist of blood in the background. And this is more likely to occur when you have a situation where there is a high-velocity

impact. You would not get that. You can't think of a situation where, let's say, someone got stabbed, and, you know, no one has the, quote, unquote, power or the energy to create the kind of damage that you would see that would result in this combined pattern of larger blood droplets along with the mist of blood that comes about because of the high-energy impact. In the case of the Murdochs, sources close to the investigation tell Fitznews that Maggie Murdoch was shot multiple times with a high-powered rifle.

One of the bullets reportedly went through her back, and the other allegedly went through the back of her head as she was lying on the ground, face down. This is the first time multiple sources have confirmed details about Maggie Murdoch's wounds. According to his death certificate, Paul Murdoch was killed by two shotgun wounds, one to the chest and the other to the head. The gunshot wounds to both Maggie's and Paul's heads could be a reason sources told Fitznews on June 8th, 2021, that the two were killed execution style.

Alec Murdoch's clothing that night was stained with blood, which is consistent with his account of touching the bodies. But it is the high-velocity impact spatter on his shirt that places him at the scene and in proximity to one or both of the victims at the time of their shooting deaths. To differentiate high-velocity impact spatter with a more passive transfer, let's say there's a scenario where you come home and there's a loved one on the ground, on the floor, and they seem to have been bleeding and you're trying to provide, let's say CPR, mouth-to-mouth. A bleeding person, there's going to be wet blood, especially if it's a recent situation.

You can consider the possibilities where you come back and it's been a week and the person has been there and things have dried up and you're not going to have transfer in the same way. Or a fairly fresh incident where there's wet blood on the victim, then touching the victim, leaning against them, the wet blood from their clothing can easily transfer to your own clothing or to your hands or wherever you happen to be touching, a bloodied area of that victim. That does not typically look the same as high-velocity impact spatter.

Now, if you were to ask me about possible scenarios, it would be really kind of stretching it if that victim on the ground happened to have some kind of high-velocity impact spatter on them because someone else got shot, for instance, and then you went to kneel against them and the similar pattern got transferred onto your clothing. That is just quite a convoluted scenario for that to happen. What exactly the high-velocity impact spatter on the victim is, is that they are likely, and especially if the victim has been shot or stabbed or bludgeoned and they're quite bloody, the blood that is coming out of their wounds would likely obscure any previous pattern

that was on their clothing. And so you're going to be getting transfer patterns that are an indication of where the exactly the high-velocity impact spatter might mean to the investigation will remain unclear until charges are filed against the person or persons determined to be responsible for killing Maggie and Paul Murdock. Stay tuned. As we were writing this episode, we got some big breaking news in the Bow and Turner case. On Tuesday night, Woolfolks of Fitznews.com reported something huge.

Outrage from the victims and their families, as well as from the public, many of whom are our listeners and our readers, prompted prosecutors to revisit one of the three rape cases. Specifically, solicitor Bill Weeks, David Miller's boss, is reportedly reconsidering his decision to dismiss the Dallas dollar case. And that is a big deal. And this takes me to my final points of this podcast. On the Bow and Turner case, Richland County's decision to withhold public records in our social media presence, corruption, incompetence, and dereliction of duty does not survive

under scrutiny. Public dollars are used to employ and pay for a number of public services, but the quality of those services suffer when left to operate in a vacuum. It's up to the public to either expose malfeasance on their own or the public can choose to support media agencies that can do that for them. That is our plight as journalists to uncover the rot so that citizens can take action. We believe that our show in Fitznews's reporting helped Pressure solicitor Bill Weeks to desperately try to correct his assistant solicitor's mistakes by cancelling the effort to drop

Bowen's rape charges. But that is not enough in our opinion. It should have been handled properly in the first place. It seems like it's very hard for those in power to do the right thing from the beginning. Moving forward and with your help, we want to make it hard for these same people to do the wrong thing. We know putting pressure on public agencies like the Richland County Obudsman's Office is the right course of action to expose whatever rot is waiting to be discovered in Ellick

Murdoch's phone calls. Assistant County Attorney Chris Ziegler's decision to withhold those calls even though no temporary injunction has been granted is doing a disservice to the citizens of Richland County and the state of South Carolina. We're calling it Ziegler's decision. By the way, because he's the one that signed the letter saying that we wouldn't be getting the recordings. Ziegler is a public employee.

He receives his paycheck from public tax dollars. He works for the public and we believe that is 100% in the public's best interest for the recordings of Ellick Murdoch's jailhouse phone calls to be released. There are many unnamed victims in this saga and now is not the time to be providing cover for anyone causing harm. Bill Weeks, David Miller, Brad Hutto, Dick Harputlian, the Attorney General, Sled, Chris Ziegler and up until his arrest, Ellick Murdoch are or were public officials who took a salary and power of some kind from the public and the people of South Carolina.

That privilege to work for the public to serve the public as politicians like to say when they're seeking votes opens them up to public scrutiny, whether it's from a podcast, Fitznews, the people of the state or even each other. That is how a representative republic works. This is what the Freedom of Information Act seeks to protect. I shouldn't have to say this but there are a few people out there who do not get the distinction or maybe they didn't learn this in school that I am not a public employee nor am I an elected official and this podcast is not paid for by any public funds.

When public money is in play that means accountability is not expected, it's mandated. There are checks and balances and the media is one of those checks. Chris Ziegler and all of the other public employees accepted their position knowing that they have a much different standard to live up to than those of us in the private sector. On a similar note, our social media channels are not meant to be an open forum for people on the wrong side of history to troll. We want our pages to be a place of positivity and truth.

Start your own channel if you want to troll people or post your negativity elsewhere. We are working hard to build a following of people who like us are sick and tired of government agencies and bad actors working against the interests of transparency, truth and justice. Again, corruption, incompetence and dereliction of duty cannot survive in the sunlight. We will continue to call out people and agencies who are on the wrong side of history and we hope that our listeners and followers will continue to heed our calls for action until those in the public sector who try to dodge accountability from their boss, the citizens, our run out of office, the town, the county or the state that they have failed to serve.

An informed public means a safer, healthier and better community. Thank you for listening and stay tuned to fitsnews.com and the Murdoch Murders podcast for the latest updates in this case. The Murdoch Murders podcast is created by me, Manny Matney and my fiance, David Moses. Our executive editor is Liz Farrell, produced by Luna Shark Productions.