WALTERBORO, S.C. –Two witnesses on Wednesday placed Alex Murdaugh at the crime scene minutes before his wife and son were gunned down in a major blow to the once-powerful attorney's alibi.
Paul Murdaugh's close friend and neighbor, Rogan Gibson, took the stand after the lunch break in the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina.
Alex is charged with fatally shooting his youngest son with a shotgun and his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, with a rifle near the dog kennels of the family's sprawling hunting estate known as Moselle at about 8:50 p.m. June 7, 2021.
Gibson described the Murdaughs as his "second family."
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Alex Murdaugh cries while watching a video clip on his son Paul’s phone in the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier/Pool)
He had left his black lab, Cash, at the Moselle dog kennels. Paul placed a four-minute call to Gibson at 8:40 and they discussed a possible issue with Cash's tail.
Paul told him he'd take a video of Cash's tail and send it to him as soon as the call disconnected – but it never arrived.
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"Was that the last time you ever talked to your friend?" asked Assistant Attorney General Creighton Waters.
"It was," he replied, his voice cracking slightly, as the rapt jury stared at intently at the witness.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters turns off lights on a speaker in the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier/Pool)
He texted Paul twice and tried to call him four more times. He also texted Maggie – but prosecutors say they were already dead.
Investigators interviewed Gibson the next day and he told them he heard Maggie's voice in the background and was 99% sure he also heard Alex.
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Months after the murders, investigators recovered a 50-second unsent video of Cash from Paul's cellphone, which was recorded at 8:44:49 p.m.
In November 2022, they asked Gibson to watch the video and identify the voices.
Paul Murdaugh recorded a video at his family's dog kennels just minutes before his murder in which witnesses say Alex Murdaugh's voice can be heard. (POOL and South Carolina Attorney General's Office/WTAT-TV/DT)
Prosecutors played the clip for jurors, and a woman and man can be heard bantering in the background.
"Did you recognize the voices of your second family?" asked Waters.
"Paul, Ms. Maggie and Mr. Alex," Gibson said, as Alex looked directly at him from the defense table.
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"How sure are you now?" Waters asked.
"Positive," he replied.
From left to right, Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh in an undated photo. (Facebook)
Gasps could be heard in the gallery. Waters asked Gibson to identify Alex.
Wearing a pained expression, Gibson pointed to the disgraced attorney and said "sitting right there in the gray jacket."
It was also revealed that Gibson had four missed calls from Alex between 10:21 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. the night of the double slaying, which he didn't see until he awoke next morning.
Alex repeatedly told investigators in videotaped interviews that he didn't visit the dog kennels that evening before allegedly making the grisly discovery.
A second witness, however — Paul's friend Will Loving — also testified that he could "100%" hear Alex Murdaugh's voice in the video as it was played for the third time in court on Wednesday. Loving pointed to Alex Murdaugh when asked to identify him in the courtroom.
Maggie Murdaugh's body was found near a single dog house on the property and Paul Murdaugh's body was found next to a row of dog kennels nearby, where he had recorded a video of a chocolate lab just minutes before his death, according to prosecutors. (Pool photo, 0130 exhibit 29)
He, Paul and Maggie had dinner then he took a 20-minute nap, he said. Paul left the house and Maggie went to the kennels to run the dogs.
At around 9 p.m. Alex said he awoke and called and texted Maggie, but she didn't answer.
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He went to visit his mother in nearby Almeda then returned to the main house but no one was home. At 10:07 p.m. he called 911 hysterical and sobbing to report that his wife and son had been "badly shot."
Prosecutors have argued that Alex committed the double murder to prevent his decades-long corruption schemes from coming to light.
Alex Murdaugh covers his face in the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, Wednesday, February 1, 2023. ( Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier/Pool)
Alex has pleaded not guilty.
Gibson said he'd known Paul all his life, but they became extremely close when they were about 11.
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They shared a love of the outdoors and liked to fish or hunt deer, hogs, turkeys and quail.
He said Paul's favored weapons were a .300 Blackout rifle and a 12-gauge super black eagle shotgun.
Rebecca Rosenberg is a veteran journalist and book author with a focus on crime and criminal justice. Email tips to [email protected] and @ReRosenberg.
