00:00:04
Day eight in the Alec Murdoch. >> Day nine of the double. Week three of the ALEC. 100 hours of testimony.
00:00:10
>> This is the 14th day of the >> double trial drags into week four. Now the defense called more witnesses.
00:00:16
>> Day 22 of the Alec Murdoch. >> Week six, day 25, and the double murder trial of Alec Murdoch continues in Col.
00:00:22
Alec Murdo is on trial for the double homicide of his wife Maggie and his son Paul near the dog kennels of their
00:00:29
family's hunting estate. Local media has called it the trial of the century in South Carolina. It has attracted media
00:00:36
from across the world. >> Alec Murdo used to be a really predominant lawyer in South Carolina and
00:00:43
is a member of this very powerful legal dynasty. On the evening of June 7th, 2021, his
00:00:51
son, Paul Murdoch, was standing in a small feat room in some kennels they had on the property. The defendant over
00:00:57
there, Alec Murdoch, took a 12 shaded shotgun and shot him in the chest in the shoulder. But after that, another shot
00:01:04
went up under his head and did catastrophic damage. >> The lead prosecutor for the state is
00:01:10
Kraton Waters. Just moments later, he picked up a 300 Blackout AR style rifle and opened fire on his wife Maggie. Pow!
00:01:21
Pow! And killed her instantly. >> Alex Murdoch's claim is that he ate dinner with his family, took a nap on
00:01:29
the couch. He goes to visit his mother, comes home just after 10:00 p.m. and finds his wife and child shot and
00:01:35
killed. >> This is Alex, my wife and child. >> Copy. from going on scene. >> His immediate reaction was to start
00:01:43
telling me about an incident that had happened with his son with a boating accident.
00:01:47
>> My son was in a boat wreck a few months back. He's been getting threats. I know
00:01:53
that's what it is. >> I'm Seth Stoton. I'm a law professor at the University of South Carolina. Paul
00:01:58
Murdoch was on a boat with some other individuals. There was drinking. The boat crash and one of the individuals on
00:02:05
the boat, Mallerie Beach, was killed. They told you that it was just random vigilantes from the boat case, of which
00:02:12
there is no evidence whatsoever. >> They were alleging that Alec wanted to murder his wife and son because he
00:02:19
wanted to hide the fact that he'd been stealing millions of dollars from his law firm and his clients for years.
00:02:24
>> This is a spreadsheet referencing each client and the amount that was stolen from each client. $225,7346.
00:02:34
$112,500 $338,56.14. >> And why did y'all have to pay all that money back? >> Because Alec had stolen it.
00:02:44
>> The facts are what matter here. The facts. >> Murdoch's got some heavy hitters on his
00:02:49
side. Dick Carutian is the Johnny Cochran of South Carolina. >> Did he murder his wife and son?
00:02:55
>> No. >> Does he have any idea who did? >> No. There's no eyewitness. There's no
00:03:00
fingerprints. There's no forensics tying him to the crime. None. >> The prosecution has had one major
00:03:06
smoking gun in its case, and it's Paul Murdo's video that he took at 8:44 p.m. >> Hey, he's got his mouth.
00:03:15
>> Come here, Mo. Come here, C. >> Come here, B. >> Did you recognize any voices on that
00:03:19
video? >> Paul Murdoch, Maggie Murdoch, and Alec Murdoch. >> Do you recognize Alex's voice?
00:03:25
>> Yes, sir. How will they explain that Alec was actually at the dog kennels 5 minutes before the murder when he claims
00:03:32
to have been sleeping? >> Were you in fact at the kennels at 8:44 p.m. on the night Maggie and Paul were
00:03:37
murdered? >> I was. >> You continued lying after that night, did you not? >> But once I lied, I continued to lie.
00:03:44
Yes, sir. >> Would you ever do anything to harm Maggie? >> I would never hurt Maggie. I did not kill Maggie. I
00:03:54
did not kill Paul. The state versus Richard Alexander Murdoch. Verdict guilty. >> It doesn't matter how prominent you are.
00:04:03
If you do wrong, if you break the law, if you murder, then justice will be done in South Carolina.
00:04:14
[Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. [Music] It was a field trip to a ghost town.
00:05:01
Off a country road, the procession turned slowly up the long driveway of the imposing property. This convoy held
00:05:09
the jury in the double murder trial of Alec Murdo. [Music] This is Mel, the hunting lodge of the
00:05:18
Murd family. Alec, his wife Maggie, and sons Paul and Buster. The jury was taken to the dog kennels
00:05:28
and the small feed room where Paul had been shot at close range with a shotgun. A few yards away, Maggie was shot
00:05:36
several times with a 300 blackout rifle. Neither weapon has ever been found. There was a time when this estate
00:05:45
reflected the vast power and prestige of the Murd legal dynasty. Now the withered ground seemed to echo
00:05:53
Alec Murdo's steep fall from grace. From a rich powerful lawyer to an admitted drug addict.
00:06:00
>> Oxycodone Oxycontton thief. >> I stole money that was not my money. >> And convicted murderer.
00:06:08
>> Verdict guilty. Alex, did you kill your wife and son? >> What do you think of the verdict, Alec?
00:06:13
Move against the side of my car. >> This is where Alec Myrtle's life unraveled on June 7th, 2021.
00:06:20
>> This is your wife and son. >> Okay. >> I knew it was really bad. Come on. >> That night, when Myrtle was interviewed
00:06:32
by investigators, he was quick to offer up an explanation for the murders of his
00:06:37
wife and son. My son Paul was in a boat wreck. There's been a lot of negative publicity about that and there's been a
00:06:45
lot of people online just really vile stuff. >> The crash that would kill 19-year-old
00:06:52
Mallalerie Beach happened about 2:20 a.m. on February 24th, 2019. >> 911. Where's your emergency?
00:07:01
We're in a boat crash on Arthur's Creek >> when a boat carrying six young friends
00:07:07
smashed into a bridge. Connor Cook made the frantic call to 911. >> There's six of us and one is missing.
00:07:15
>> Who's missing? >> Female Mallerie Beats is missing. >> She's in the water. She was just this
00:07:23
wonderful, fun-loving, happy girl >> and everybody loved her. >> Lynn Revvice and her niece Mallerie were
00:07:35
extremely close. >> You always got a hug, hello and a hug, goodbye. And the last thing she told me
00:07:41
was she loved me. In piecing together events, investigators learned earlier that
00:07:48
night, 19-year-old Paul Murd used his older brother Buster's ID to buy beer at this convenience store.
00:07:56
>> And if you look at the video footage, when Paul comes out of the store, he's holding the beer up. He's celebrating.
00:08:02
[Music] After staying at a party for several hours, the group took the Murdo family's
00:08:08
boat to this bar where Paul and Connor had more to drink around 1:00 a.m. >> When they went in, pounded a couple of
00:08:15
shots. >> Michael Dit is an author and editor of the Hampton County Guardian, part of the
00:08:20
Guanette USA Today network. >> Somewhere around 1:30, see the video footage of them leaving the boat dock.
00:08:26
It was kind of a sad, touching moment when you see Mallerie and her boyfriend. I think it's the last moment that
00:08:33
anybody captured an image of her alive. >> It was around 1:15 when they took off
00:08:39
again on the boat. >> Paul was just driving donuts and just >> passenger Miley Alman told investigators
00:08:46
tempers were running short. >> And so Connor starts driving for a little bit and then Paul like he like
00:08:52
stops Connor and he's like, "No, this is my boat. Like let me drive." I saw the bridge coming.
00:09:03
What bridge is Paul? What bridge is this? >> First responders dash cam video captured
00:09:11
the mayhem. >> All right. Where's everybody else at? >> At the bridge. At the bottom of the
00:09:16
bridge. >> Everybody was crying, scared, >> shocked, >> just worried about their friend.
00:09:23
>> Then Buford County Deputy Sheriff Steven Domino was one of the first on the scene.
00:09:32
After Domino's got Maller's distraught boyfriend, Anthony Cook, into his patrol car, Paul Murdoch, came into sight.
00:09:40
>> He was walking up from where the boat was. >> Get that right there away from me.
00:09:45
>> He actually tried to rush through me to get to Paul because I guess he saw him
00:09:50
smiling. >> Paul's smiling while Anony's girlfriend's missing in the water. >> Right.
00:09:55
>> Bro, you smiling like you're funny. Sit down. Sit down. >> My girlfriend's gone, folks.
00:10:02
>> That's when Anthony Cook definitively identified the person he said was driving the boat.
00:10:09
>> Y'all know Alec Murdoch. >> Yeah, I know that name. >> That's his son. >> That show driving the boat.
00:10:16
>> Good luck. >> That's when he indicated that he couldn't be touched. >> Mallerie's body was found a week later.
00:10:25
And in the weeks after that, we're just waiting. Is someone going to make an arrest? Is there going to be a a
00:10:31
admission of of guilt or responsibility? >> We're in a boat crash. >> I think that from day one, ground zero,
00:10:40
the effort was what can we do to get Paul out of this? Who do you think is responsible for
00:11:04
Mallalerie's death? >> I think Paul Murdoch was. A month after the fatal boat crash,
00:11:12
frustrated that there was no arrest, Mallerie Beach's family filed a wrongful death suit against members of the Murdo
00:11:20
family, which allowed them to depose the survivors about what happened that night.
00:11:25
>> Paul was allegedly acting rash and reckless. In his deposition, Paul's friend, Connor
00:11:32
Cook, said that the morning of the crash, he didn't tell investigators that Paul was driving the boat because he was
00:11:38
afraid. And while at the hospital, he says he was told by Alec Murd that he didn't
00:11:45
need to tell anyone who was driving. >> Alex reportedly went from room to room to try to communicate with the other
00:11:53
boat crash passengers and get them all on the same page. At the hospital several hours after the crash, Paul's
00:12:00
blood alcohol level was three times over the legal limit. >> He was getting belligerent with the the
00:12:08
nurses staff, according to court records, just being loud and troublesome. >> But that morning and for weeks to come,
00:12:15
many felt that Paul Murdo was not treated like a suspect in a crime. >> We didn't think he was going to be
00:12:22
charged. Why? because it was taking so long. We just didn't think we'd see that day.
00:12:32
>> Nearly two months after the boat crash, Paul was charged with causing the death
00:12:36
of Mallalerie Beach. He pleaded not guilty and remained free after posting bond and the Murd began to tarnish.
00:12:45
[Music] Two years passed and on June 7th, 2021, as Paul Murdo was awaiting trial in the
00:12:55
death of Mallalerie Beach, gunfire erupted on the Murdoch family estate. >> This is Alec Murdoch at 414 Moselle
00:13:06
Road. At 10:06 p.m., a panic sounding Alec Murdoch called 911 saying he had just
00:13:14
arrived home to find his wife of nearly 28 years, Maggie, and their son, Paul, shot.
00:13:21
>> Is he moving at all? Your son? I know you said that she was shot, but what about your son?
00:13:29
>> Nobody's They're not. Neither one of them's moving. Maggie's friend Caroline Price called
00:13:35
her godson Buster when she heard the terrible news. >> I said, "Please tell me this isn't
00:13:40
true." And he said, "Yes, ma'am, Miss Caroline, it is." And he immediately without prompt said it was premeditated
00:13:48
and revenge. They were trying to say that it was associated with the boat crash,
00:13:52
>> that someone was angry at Paul. Yeah. >> Right. Due to the Murdoch family's close
00:13:56
ties with local law enforcement, the South Carolina law enforcement division known as SLED, the state's top
00:14:04
investigative agency took over the case. >> It was amazing to me how quick this rumor mill started.
00:14:09
>> Maggie's friend, Shelley West, heard about the murders from a friend. >> I just said, "Do you think Ell did it?"
00:14:17
And he said, "No, there were two guns on the scene." >> But it actually crossed your mind that
00:14:21
he might have done it. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Yeah, I mean that was my first initial reaction. A lot of times the
00:14:26
husband's the first suspect. >> And Caroline says she had a strange conversation with him after Maggie and
00:14:32
Paul's funeral. >> He talked a lot about Paul, the fact that he wasn't going to get his day in
00:14:39
court. He wasn't going to get to clear his name. >> Murdo offered a $100,000 reward as
00:14:46
rumors and speculation swirled. Reports at the time raised questions about their
00:14:51
marriage and claimed that Maggie was consulting with a divorce attorney. >> Mary and her sister asked me, "Do do you
00:14:59
know anything about this?" And I said, "No." And she said, "She never said anything to me." And she tells me
00:15:04
everything. >> Maggie never mentioned there was any trouble in the marriage. >> At a hearing a few months later, I
00:15:11
questioned the Murd family attorney, Dick Harput, about the Murdo's relationship. Were there any problems in
00:15:18
Maggie and Alex's marriage? >> Absolutely none. None. And I I'm Trust me, I was with them for almost two
00:15:25
years. Always affectionate, always courteous. You just picture of a domestic voice.
00:15:32
>> And as for the theory that the murders were in retaliation for the boat crash,
00:15:37
Maggie's friends say she never mentioned any threats against their family. >> She talked about how unkind everybody
00:15:43
was and mean. um the looks and the snares >> and they didn't seem to feel unsafe. I
00:15:48
mean, they were still carrying on with their normal routine, day-to-day activities and things.
00:15:55
>> As investigators tried to figure out who would want Paul and Maggie Murdo dead
00:15:59
and why, a call came into 911 that another member of the family was under attack.
00:16:06
>> Somebody stopped to help me and they tried to shoot me. And it's almost been a case of episodic
00:16:13
television where tune in this week and we'll see what's next from Hampton County, home of the Murdoch.
00:16:25
[Music] 3 months after the shooting deaths of Maggie and Paul, Alec Myrtle again
00:16:38
called 911. this time claiming he'd been shot. >> Somebody stopped to help me and they
00:16:45
tried to shoot me. >> Alex Murdoch told investigators he was changing a flat tire right here on this
00:16:51
rural road when a person in a pickup truck passed by, asked Alex if he was having car trouble, and then shot him in
00:16:58
the head. >> Murdo's conversation on the way to the hospital was captured on police body
00:17:04
cam. Do >> you know what kind of gun it was? I I don't know what kind of gun it was, but
00:17:08
it sounded like a shotgun. >> On September 6th, 2021, 2 days after being shot, Alec Murd released this
00:17:16
statement. I have made a lot of decisions that I truly regret, he said, and announced he was leaving the law
00:17:23
firm. >> Alex Murdoch put out a statement saying he's going into rehab. >> Alec Murdoch said he had been addicted
00:17:30
to opioids for two decades. It wasn't only claims of drug abuse now staining Murdo's reputation. He was also accused
00:17:38
of stealing millions from his own law firm and was asked to resign the day before he was shot.
00:17:46
>> Friday, the law firm has a come to Jesus meeting with him. We know you're allegedly stealing money. You're out.
00:17:53
Saturday, the reported shooting. Monday, Alex releases a statement saying, "I'm going into rehab.
00:18:02
Then came the even more bizarre news that Myrtle had allegedly hired this man, his distant cousin Curtis Smith, to
00:18:10
shoot him. He wanted you to kill him. >> Yeah, he wanted me to kill him. >> Authorities say Murdall wanted his
00:18:16
killing to look like murder so his surviving son, Buster, could collect a $10 million life insurance payout. Smith
00:18:23
says he refused. >> Yeah, ain't happening. It's unclear exactly how Murdoch came to be shot. Why did you
00:18:33
leave the scene? >> I didn't know anything else do. >> Smith was charged in connection with the
00:18:38
shooting, but has not entered a plea. On September 16th, 2021, facing charges of
00:18:44
insurance fraud, conspiracy, and filing a false police report. Alec Murd turned himself in.
00:18:51
>> The fact that uh Murdoch sat in a chair in a jumpsuit with handcuffs is something I've never seen in my
00:18:57
lifetime. Alec Murdall was released on bond and allowed to go back to rehab. While
00:19:04
Murdall was there, investigators were looking into all of his business dealings and the suspicious death of this woman,
00:19:12
Gloria Satderfield. >> Gloria was the housekeeper for the Murd family for more than 20 years.
00:19:19
>> Ronnie Richter is an attorney for the Satderfield family. >> She literally helped raise Alec Murd's
00:19:26
sons, Paul and Buster. In 2018, the 57year-old died after a fall at the Myrtle estate.
00:19:34
>> What's been reported is that she was at the house that day on the front steps.
00:19:38
The dogs got a little rambunctious and gave her a push and she fell down the stairs.
00:19:42
>> Satderfield's death was ruled natural and no autopsy was ever performed. >> There's nothing natural about a
00:19:49
57year-old woman falling down a flight of steps and dying from head trauma. At Gloria's funeral, Mydall did
00:19:56
something very odd, says RTOR. He recommended Gloria's sons file a wrongful death lawsuit against him. My
00:20:05
doll even steered them toward an attorney, his friend Corey Fleming. >> A lot of trust was placed in both Alec
00:20:11
and in Corey, to do the right things, and it really went south from the outset. Court documents show a $4.3
00:20:20
million payout by Mydall's insurance company, but none of the money ever went to Gloria's family. Where did that money
00:20:28
go? >> Well, allegedly it went into Alex Murdo's pocket. >> Alex Murdo was charged with two felonies
00:20:36
for his role in the Gloria Satderfield insurance fraud. This time, a judge ordered him to be held without bond.
00:20:44
As Murdoch sat in jail, he was indicted on dozens more charges for defrauding clients out of millions of dollars.
00:20:52
And then in July of 2022, more than a year after the grizzly murders, disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex
00:21:00
Murdo was indicted today in the high-profile murders of his wife and son last year. Alec Murdo was charged with
00:21:07
killing his wife Maggie and son Paul. Maggie's friends were relieved that the case was moving forward.
00:21:14
>> I was kind of like now finally and maybe we're going to get some answers. [Music]
00:21:35
Why did you kill your wife and your son? >> On January 25th, 2023, 19 months after Maggie and Paul were
00:21:43
gunned down near the dog kennels at their family hunting estate, >> that the defendant, Alec Murdoch, over
00:21:49
there, told anyone who would listen that he was never at those kennels. >> Prosecutorraton Waters began laying out
00:21:58
the state's case against Alec Murd. But the evidence is also going to show from these things that every one of us, most
00:22:05
of us carry around in our pocket that he was there. He was at the murder scene with the two victims.
00:22:12
>> I could see Mr. Murdo down at the end of the driveway. Central 717 scene is secured. Both gunshot wounds to the
00:22:19
head. >> First responders described the harrowing scene captured by their body cams.
00:22:25
>> The male victim was close to a small shed in the dog kennel on the left. There was a large deal of blood that had
00:22:31
pulled around his body. >> Turn around for me. >> I don't have anything. >> Okay. Yes, sir. I see that. Okay. This
00:22:36
is your wife and son. >> That's official that they're dead. >> Yes, sir. That's what it looks like.
00:22:44
>> Investigators interviewed Myrtle in a patrol car. >> My my boy over there. I could see it
00:22:51
was. My doll said he spent time with Paul earlier in the evening riding around the
00:23:02
property. After Maggie got home, he dozed off on the couch and when he got up, there was nobody around.
00:23:09
>> I called Maggie, didn't get an answer. Maggie's a dog lover, and I knew she'd gone to the
00:23:17
kennel. I left to go to my mom's. My mom's a late stage Alzheimer's patient. >> His visit with his ill mother would
00:23:26
become his alibi. My doll told investigators when he returned around 10 p.m. there was still no one home, so he
00:23:33
drove down to the dog kennels. That's when he found Maggie and Paul. >> I tried to turn Paul over first. Then I
00:23:41
went to my wife and I mean I could see >> Mhm. I touched them both. Okay. >> I tried to take their pulse on both of
00:23:54
them. >> Mhm. >> When you first saw Paul, you said you tried to >> Detective Rutland interviewed Alec
00:24:00
Myrtle that night and told the jurors. She noted despite his claim of touching the blood soaked bodies of his wife and
00:24:06
son. He appeared clean. >> How would you describe the defendant's hands when you saw them?
00:24:13
>> They were clean. >> How would you describe his t-shirt? clean. >> Did those clothes appear to be fresh?
00:24:20
>> They did. >> Like they just come out of the laundry. >> They could be. >> Maggie and Paul died from multiple
00:24:27
gunshot wounds. Daily Beast senior national reporter Polar Melendez shared the investigator's findings. So Paul was
00:24:35
shot first and he was shot twice with a shotgun. Paul was found here next to the
00:24:40
feeding room very close by. Right here is where Maggie was found. Maggie was killed with a 300 blackout
00:24:47
rifle and suffered five gunshot wounds. A crime scene specialist described her final moments.
00:24:54
>> The shooter was right here. The second shot was not as close, but it still wasn't at long distance.
00:25:03
It was approximately here into the crown of the head. 3 days after the murders, building their
00:25:11
timeline, investigators talked to Alec Myrtle again. >> We sat down, we ate supper, and we hung
00:25:17
around the house for a little while. Uh, I know that Maggie went to the kennels.
00:25:22
Um, I don't know exactly where Paul went, but he left the house, too. I stayed in the house and I actually fell
00:25:28
asleep on the couch. >> The last time that you saw Paul and Maggie is when y'all were eating supper.
00:25:35
Yes, sir. >> The Murdals were avid hunters and had more than 25 weapons on the property.
00:25:48
>> I saw one over here. >> During a search, >> there's one to your right. >> Sled agents found spent shell casings.
00:25:55
>> You have 300 under >> and ammunition that matched the bullets that killed Maggie and Paul, but the
00:26:01
murder weapons were never found. Maggie's cell phone was also missing the day after the murders. Investigators
00:26:08
found it here on the side of the road half a mile from the property. Sled analyzed the data from Alex, Maggie, and
00:26:15
Paul's cell phones. At 7:56 p.m., Paul sent this Snapchat video of his dad to a friend. Paul is
00:26:24
heard laughing in the background. It's better than it was. >> So around 8:30, Paul's phone starts
00:26:32
moving towards the dog kennels. He also is calling and texting two friends. Then
00:26:37
responding to Snapchats until about 8:40 when he gets on a 4-minute phone call with his friend Rogan Gibson.
00:26:44
>> Rogan Gibson told investigators their phone call was about his dog who was staying at the kennels. Rogan thought he
00:26:51
heard Alec in the background. That immediately sets a red flag for law enforcement because that totally messes
00:26:58
up Alec's timeline. And how could he be at the dog at 8:40 when he claims he was
00:27:03
sleeping? >> Responding units to Moselle Road. >> Two months after the murders, agents
00:27:08
interviewed Alec Murd again, this time at a sled office. They asked him if he went down to the kennels that night. If
00:27:15
I've got information that you were heard in the background, was it you? >> No, sir. Not if my times were right.
00:27:24
>> Think anything could have been? >> I have no idea. >> In November of 2022, there was a
00:27:30
breakthrough in the investigation. >> Get back. Get back. >> Agents showed Rogan a video of his dog
00:27:35
Cash that they had found on Paul's phone. Paul had shot it at 8:44 p.m. minutes before he was killed. It's a
00:27:44
guinea. >> This is a chicken. >> Come here, bottle. >> Come here, kid. >> And what voices did you hear?
00:27:51
>> Paul's, Miss Maggie, Miss Ellen. >> And how sure are you now? >> Positive. >> 100%.
00:27:57
>> That's correct. >> The prosecutor says Alec is heard saying, "Come here, Bubba." Calling the
00:28:03
family dog. >> Come here, Bubba. >> Come here, kid. This is a huge piece of testimony because it places Ell in the
00:28:10
kennel roughly 5 minutes before prosecutors say Maggie and Paul were murdered. Authorities believed Maggie
00:28:17
and Paul were shot around 8:49 p.m. when their phone screens were locked and never opened again. The prosecutor asked
00:28:26
several other witnesses if they recognized Murd's voice >> on that video. >> And I recognize Ella.
00:28:34
>> Who do you recognize? Alec >> did you recognize >> on that video Alex Murd >> and every single witness has said with
00:28:42
100% certainty that that's Alec in the background of that video and it also completely shatters his alibi. Alec
00:28:50
Murdo's car and cell phone data showed he drove to his mom's house shortly after 900 p.m. Between then and until he
00:28:58
returned and dialed 911 at 10:06 p.m. he made 10 calls to family and friends, including 5 to Maggie. Prosecutors
00:29:07
basically alleged that after killing Paula Maggie, I took steps to cover up and show that he is talking to all these
00:29:14
people. So, how could he murder his his wife and son? As to the motive, the state had a theory
00:29:21
that a perfect storm was gathering for Alec Mydall. >> Alec was scared about information coming
00:29:29
out that he had been stealing money from his clients and his law firm for years.
00:29:35
>> On the day of the murders, Murd was confronted by his firm about missing legal fees of almost $800,000.
00:29:43
Also that week, he was due in court for a hearing on the boat crash civil case. Murdall was being sued for $10 million
00:29:51
by Mallalerie Beach's family. But the prosecution is alleging that in order to dissuade further questions about his
00:29:59
financial crimes and garner sympathy from the community and his law firm, he killed his wife and son. It's the
00:30:05
actions of a desperate man. >> The state would call Jeannie seconder. After the judge ruled Myrtle's alleged
00:30:13
financial schemes could be brought in, the state called the firm CFO Jeannie Secure.
00:30:18
>> Was anybody at all concerned about those missing fees after those murders have?
00:30:24
>> We weren't because we were concerned about LA. We weren't going to go in there and harass him about money when
00:30:31
his family had been killed. >> Mr. Tinsley. >> The Beach family's attorney, Mark
00:30:38
Tinsley, also testified and told the jurors in the wake of the murders, the civil case against Alec Murdo, would
00:30:46
have gone away. >> If Alec is the victim of a vigilante, nobody's going to hold him accountable.
00:30:53
The case would be over. >> As the state rested its case, Alec Murd made the risky decision to take the
00:31:01
stand. >> You lied to Maggie, didn't you? I did lie to Maggie. [Music] >> Have you made a decision as to whether
00:31:24
you're going to testify? >> I am going to testify. I want to testify. Against his attorney's advice, Alec Murd
00:31:33
decided to take the stand in his own defense. You swear or affirm that the testimony you give today will be the
00:31:39
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Under questioning by attorney Jim
00:31:44
Griffin, Murdall is hoping the jury will look past his lies and believe that now
00:31:50
he's telling them the truth. >> Did you kill Maggie? >> No, I did not kill Maggie. I did not
00:31:58
kill Paul. I would never hurt Maggie and I would never hurt Paul ever under any circumstances.
00:32:06
>> After all the testimony identifying him on that kennel video, >> Murdall is forced to admit he was with
00:32:15
his wife and son minutes before prosecutors say they were gunned down. >> Were you in fact at the kennels at 8:44
00:32:22
p.m. on the night Maggie and Paul were murdered? >> I was. Come here. Come here, Cash. Come
00:32:27
here, Bob. Cash. >> You continued lying after that night, did you not? >> But once I lied, I continued to lie.
00:32:34
Yes, sir. >> Why? >> Oh, what a tangled web we weave. But once I told the lie, I mean, I told my family. I
00:32:46
I had to keep lying. I went to >> Murdall claims he'd been compelled to lie because of an opioid addiction he
00:32:54
battled for 20 years, spending tens of thousands of dollars a week and taking up to 60 or more pills per day.
00:33:02
>> As my addiction evolved over time, I would get in these situations or circumstances where I would get paranoid
00:33:13
thinking. But he dismisses the prosecution's theory of mounting pressure from his addiction and alleged
00:33:20
financial crimes leading up to the murders. >> Mr. Murdock, on June the 7th, did you
00:33:26
believe that your financial house of cards was about to crumble? >> Absolutely not. Mr. Murdo, let's start
00:33:32
with a few things I think we can agree. >> During a 6-hour cross-examination over
00:33:36
two days, prosecutorraton Waters grills Murd. >> And you stole all of the money, didn't
00:33:41
you? about his long history of lying to his financial victims. >> And Mr. Waters, just to try to get
00:33:47
through this quicker, >> I admit >> I know you want to get through it quicker, but we're not. So, answer the
00:33:52
question, please. >> What what what I what I admit is that I misled them, I did wrong, and that I
00:33:59
stole their money. >> Waters contends it was only because he'd been caught in his lie about being at
00:34:05
the kennels that Murdo finally came clean. The reality is you, like you've done so many times over the course of
00:34:12
your life, had to back up and make a new story that kind of fit with the facts that can't be denied. Isn't that true,
00:34:18
sir? >> No, sir, that's not true. >> Waters then tries to box him into his new timeline on the night of the
00:34:24
murders, zeroing in on 4 minutes between 9:02 and 9:06 when his phone logged 283
00:34:33
steps right before he left to visit his mom. That's far more steps in a shorter time period than than any time prior as
00:34:40
you've seen from the testimony in this case. So what what were you so busy doing? Going to the bathroom?
00:34:45
>> No, I don't I don't think that I >> get on a treadmill to the bathroom. No, I didn't get on a treadmill.
00:34:50
>> Jog in place? >> No, I didn't jog in place. >> Jumping jacks? >> No, sir. I did not do jumping jacks.
00:34:56
>> Murdall reasserts his theory of the murders. >> That I believe that boat wreck
00:35:03
is the reason why Paul, Paula, and Maggie were killed. Because I can tell you for a fact that the person or people
00:35:11
who did what I saw on June the 7th, they hated Paul Murd and they had anger in their
00:35:23
heart. >> Throughout the trial, the defense makes the case that Alec Murd was a devoted
00:35:29
family man. His son, Buster, describes a dad who'd coached his little league teams and was now stricken with grief.
00:35:36
>> I mean, he was destroyed. He's heartbroken. I walked in the door and saw him and um gave him a hug and just
00:35:46
just broken down. >> Defense calls Tim Palbot to the stand, please. The defense calls a crime scene
00:35:52
analyst who based on blood spatter, position of shots fired, and the fact that two different guns were used, says
00:35:59
there was more than one shooter. >> My opinion is the totality of the evidence is more suggestive of a two
00:36:05
shooter scenario. >> The prosecution disagrees. >> Him, this is Alec, the prosecutor, the
00:36:10
lawyer, and he's thinking through this. He's thought through this. He's going to
00:36:13
use two guns because it's going to confuse people that perhaps there are two shooters. In his closing to the
00:36:19
jury, Waters argues that all the evidence points to Alec Murd from that first shot at close range shot
00:36:28
with no indication that he detected a threat from the person who fired that weapon. And why? Cuz it was him. Maggie
00:36:35
sees what happens and she comes running over there. She's running to her baby. She got mowed down
00:36:43
by the only person that we have conclusive proof was at that scene just minutes before
00:36:51
and who lied about that very fact. >> And he describes how Murdoch could have cleaned up at the kennels afterwards. It
00:36:59
wouldn't take long to strip down and wash yourself off, get in that cart, and head back
00:37:09
to the house. Here we are with a Mr. Clean theory. He takes a hose and washes himself off and gets in a golf cart,
00:37:18
butt naked, I guess, and drives to the house. >> Defense attorney Jim Griffin pushes back
00:37:24
on the prosecution's theory. He would have to be a magician to make all that evidence disappear. The shooter's
00:37:30
covered in blood. The shooter's gun is covered in blood. Common sense thing here is there were two shooters.
00:37:39
>> Instead, said Griffin, investigators zeroed in on Mydall to the exclusion of other suspects because he was an easy
00:37:46
target. >> Longtime drug problem, his financial issues, misconduct were exposed. Easy.
00:37:55
Easy, easy target for Sled. The evidence is crystal clear. He started fabricating
00:38:04
evidence against Alec. >> Griffin tells the jury sled also presented false evidence to the grand
00:38:10
jury when seeking an indictment against Myrtle. >> They came up with a report that says
00:38:16
Alex Tisher had high velocity blood spatter on there. The lead sled agent testified he had not received an email
00:38:24
update that further testing had shown there was no blood. >> I did not see that report. I was not
00:38:30
made aware of its existence. Sled failed miserably in investigating this case. And had they done a competent job that
00:38:41
Alec would have been excluded year ago. >> Then he addresses the single most problematic piece of evidence for the
00:38:49
defense. Really, we're back to the lie cuz that's all they have in this case. He lied because he had a closet full of
00:38:56
skeletons. But when he didn't lie, when he didn't lie for is because he was covering up the fact that he killed
00:39:02
Maggie and Paul. Alec would not have killed the people he loved the most in the world.
00:39:09
This defendant has fooled everyone. Everyone. And he fooled Maggie and Paul, too. and
00:39:18
they paid for it with their lives. Don't let him fool you, too. >> After hearing from 75 witnesses in more
00:39:31
than 5 weeks, the jury deliberates for just under 3 hours before returning with a verdict.
00:39:37
>> The state versus Richard Alexander Murdoch defend. >> Murdall is found guilty of murdering his
00:39:43
wife and son. >> Guilty. Verdict. We understand there is a verdict in the double murder trial.
00:39:49
>> At sentencing the next day, Judge Clifton Newman gives Murd one last chance to appeal to the court.
00:39:56
>> I respect this court, but I'm innocent. >> Unmoved, Judge Newman sentences him to
00:40:02
two consecutive life terms in prison. >> And I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the night times when
00:40:10
you're attempting to go to sleep. I'm sure they come and visit you. I can't stop thinking about the fact
00:40:17
that it is a video on Paul's own phone that really >> was critical in this case.
00:40:24
>> Well, I think it is ironic. In a murder case, the victims can't testify. Um, but in many ways they do.
00:40:32
Often times they leave something behind that lets you know what happened to him.
00:40:36
And in this case, it was Paul's video. Come here, C. It's >> Paul testifying from the grave.
00:40:50
[Music] 48 hours. To miss it would be a crime. >> Were you at all prepared for what
00:40:57
happened in this case? [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music]