Alex Murdaugh’s son approached his legal scion father about “bags of pills” a couple of month before he and his mother were shot dead on the family’s South Carolina estate, jurors heard in court Friday.
“I’m still in [Edisto Beach] because whenever you get here we’ve got to speak,” Paul Murdaugh said in a tense voicemail to his father on May 6, 2021, seemingly referring to the Edisto Beach home where his mother, Maggie, preferred to live.
“Mom found several bags of pills in your computer bag.”
One month later, on June 7, Paul, 22, and Maggie Murdaugh, 52, were found dead from gunshot wounds within the kennels on the family’s Islandton hunting lodge.
Alex Murdaugh, the scion of a storied southern legal dynasty, is now on trial for the murders.
The transcript of Paul’s transient message, which was shared on Twitter by the Post and Courier reporter Avery G. Wilks, was amongst several pieces of cellphone evidence presented by the state’s attorneys because the prosecution rested its case before the weekend.
Over 4 weeks of testimony, prosecutors have portrayed Murdaugh, 54, as an incompetent lawyer with an expensive opioid habit who allegedly killed his wife and son with a purpose to cover up his financial crimes.
Bombshells heard in court because the prosecution painted its case include allegations that the once outstanding lawyer spent as much as $50,000 per week on drugs, The Each day Beast reported.
The outlet also stated that Maggie Murdaugh’s sister, Marian Proctor, previously testified that Paul Murdaugh was dubbed the “‘little detective’” for keeping tabs on his father’s addiction.
“He was at all times seeking to make sure that his dad was behaving,” Proctor said.
While it shouldn’t be clear if Alex Murdaugh responded to his son’s May 6 message, defense attorney Peter Rudofski revealed on cross-examination that he did send an apology text to his wife the next day.
“I’m very sorry that I do that to all of you. I really like you,” Barber claimed the message read.
Maggie Murdaugh didn’t respond.
During his testimony, nonetheless, South Carolina Law Enforcement Divisoin (SLED) agent Peter Rudofski revealed that the Murdaugh matriarch researched various kinds of pills later within the month.
On May 26, Maggie Murdaugh looked up “white pill 20 on one side rp” and “green gel pill p30,” which were determined by investigators to be oxycodone and chlordiazepoxide, respectively.
The content of Paul Murdaugh’s voicemail also got here the day after jurors learned that Alex Murdaugh’s brother reported him for suspicious behavior after a failed roadside shooting.
About two months after Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were killed, Alex Murdaugh told first responders that he had been shot by a random man on a rural road. Though his wounds were minor, he was airlifted for treatment in Savannah, Georgia.
Two days later, Buzzfeed News reported, Randy Murdaugh told police his brother was acting strangely, prompting an investigation that unraveled the legal scion’s plan to have himself killed in order that his surviving son, Buster, could receive an insurance payout.
“I knew I used to be about to lose every part, and I figured he was higher off that way than coping with me,” Alex Murdaugh told investigators in a phone interview that was played in court this week.
“I used to be in a nasty, bad, bad place.”
Murdaugh’s defense team is ready to start their arguments next week.
In an announcement to The Post before proceedings began in January, one expert guessed that Murdaugh’s lawyers would call the person hired for the insurance scheme to the stand.
“Due to money conveyed to Eddie, he clearly has facts at his disposal that might prove very illuminating in court,” Joe McCulloch said of the alleged phony gunman, Curtis “Cousin Eddie” Smith.
“It’s likely the defense will call him to the stand [but] the prosecution will attempt to limit his involvement. Judge Newman goes to have his hands full with these horses.”
