Alex Murdaugh Trial: What’s Happened So Far

Wardrobe change

Murdaugh was wearing different clothes shortly before the murders than the white T-shirt, cargo shorts, and Nike running shoes he was wearing when police arrived at the crime scene. In fact, in a Snapchat video Paul filmed at 7:38 p.m., Alex can be seen in a short-sleeved shirt, khaki pants, and loafers. Notably, Murdaugh and his clothes were clean despite him saying that he’d rolled over the blood-drenched victims’ bodies and checked their pulses. “I think I tried to turn Paul over first. I tried to turn him over,” he told police, describing how his son’s cellphone had fallen out of his pocket when he did so. “I touched them both. I tried to do it as limited as possible, but I tried to take their pulse, both of them,” Murdaugh said. 

“I did him so bad”

Early in the trial, Jeff Croft, a senior special agent with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, testified that Murdaugh had made a Freudian slip when Croft brought up a “traumatic” photo Murdaugh had seen of his son’s and wife’s extensive wounds. “It’s just so bad. I did him so bad. He’s such a good boy, too,” Murdaugh said, according to Croft. But some people hear something else in the recording: “They did him so bad” — consistent with Murdaugh’s contention that two other people killed his family. 

Inconsistent timeline

Muschelle “Shelley” Smith, who had worked as a caregiver for Murdaugh’s mother, whom he visited the night of the murders, testified that it was unusual for him to come by so late. She said he only stayed about 20 minutes, but in a conversation with Murdaugh days later, she said, he had emphasized to her that he’d stayed there longer — 30 to 40 minutes — which made her “nervous” and disturbed her enough that she called her brother about it. In that same conversation, he offered to help pay for her wedding and to help her get a promotion at her second job, she said.

Maggie’s pajamas

Maggie’s pajamas had been laid out neatly on the floor in the laundry doorway, along with a clean pair of her underwear — something housekeeper Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson testified was odd: not just the unusual placement but also because Maggie wouldn’t typically wear underwear beneath her pajamas as she slept. 

Pots and pans

The pots containing the food Turrubiate-Simpson had cooked for the family’s dinner had been sealed and placed in the refrigerator, rather than left out for her to put away the next day as the family would usually do, she said.