SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #18

[Seattle1]

Secret life of Maggie Murdaugh, notorious murders’ forgotten victim

Insiders reveal the tumultuous real life of Maggie Murdaugh, the forgotten murdered matriarch of the scandalized South Carolina family.

nypost.com

11/6/21

[..]

The family member said he was always surprised by how “understated” Alex and Maggie’s home in Hampton, SC, was when he visited. The Murdaughs sold that house prior to the murders and split their time between Edisto Beach and the hunting lodge.

“I wouldn’t say it was a dump, it was nice enough but not what you’d expect from people who literally seemed to have millions of dollars to burn,” he said. “I mean, they never flew commercial that I can remember. They always chartered jets.”

Two sources familiar with the case said that, at best, Maggie and Alex had been growing apart and were living separate lives, with her at a cottage in Edisto Beach and him at the hunting lodge in Islandton.

[..]

But some, like Maggie’s friend Maria Cordero, are indignant over media stories alluding to problems in the Murdaugh marriage and Maggie’s alleged visit to a divorce attorney six weeks before her death.

“None of what they’re saying is true,” Cordero told The Post. “And it’s nobody’s business, neither.”

Another source close to the investigation claimed to have searched the state for any divorce attorney who had gotten a visit from Maggie Murdaugh but came up empty.

State Sen. Dick Harpootlian, one of Alex Murdaugh’s two lawyers, vehemently disputes reports that the Murdaugh marriage was on the rocks. He told The Post that, as Paul Murdaugh’s lawyer in the boat crash case, he saw both Alex and Maggie together on a regular basis over an 18-month period.

“I even saw them holding hands,” Harpootlian said. “[South Carolina Law Enforcement] SLED has Alex’s phone and Maggie’s phone. Don’t you think if they were splitting up and talking divorce there’d be more proof of it by now?”

 

[LetsSolvIt]

Unless I misunderstood, the defense is against this info coming out????

I don't know how the defense feels or if they leaked it. Listen to Charley Condon on the podcast -- the discussion is at the very start so you need not invest a lot of time. I'm curious to hear what others think.

 

[minusfour]

Catching up this morning. Gloria Satterfield would be so proud of her son in court if she were here to see it. He treated that family, like many others, as if they were worthless. I know that his testimony might not be included even if the other financial crimes can be, but I'm so pleased that Tony Satterfield got to tell this story.

DH looks like a walking heart attack, all red and puffy.

I wonder whether Chris Wilson was at the gathering at Moselle three days after the murders, and has spoken to the prosecution only recently about what he heard there?

 

[Katrinepa]

I'm fairly confident it will come in. The question is how much. It may be limited to wrongdoing close in time to the murders and thus not include the Satterfield and other later discovered, earlier cases. But should include the law firm theft, which itself is HUGE. Honestly, I don't think they need much more. I kind of wonder if the state was more sending a message by presenting the Satterfield son's testimony. Whatever the case, I'm glad that part of the story was told. Because this kind of theft, like the Girardi case, involves just the scummiest behavior for a lawyer. Breaching your fiduciary duty and stealing client funds. Those funds represent actual people who were victimized first by some accident and then by Alex Murdaugh who came to them as some attorney angel who truly cares about them. He would even sue himself. What a guy.

IMO under 404(b) I think at the very least the confrontation evidence will come in. Testimony from the CFO about her finding him out and the later confrontation on the day of the murder. That's a fairly extraordinary event and extremely close in time and, IMO, convincing evidence of AM's inner frantic, jig is up state.

Even using the states theory of the case, which seems to be more focused on the murder being an event designed to be a distraction and provide AM with sympathy as the was hitting the fan, this CFO testimony would be relevant as he greatly needed a distraction & some sympathy at that point and murder does attract attention & sympathy. But sympathy tends to be limited to the victims and AM's staging may not end up being as effective as it usually is/was.

Something I'm curious about is the part of that rule that differs from the federal one. In South Carolina the prosecution does NOT have to inform the defendant about what evidence they intend to introduce under it. Now I don't practice in SC so not sure how it works in practice as prosecutors have other ethical rules to follow in regard to evidence but that's really about exculpatory evidence NOT inculpatory evidence. Makes me wonder/hope the prosecution might even have some surprises to elicit from testimony. Maybe Cousin Eddie...might they have done some criming back in the day?

I'm pretty sure I heard the Defense asked for Discovery-those guys are Very well known lawyers apparently. I hope what they learn about their 'friend' opens their eyes, though I believe some were probably involved in some of his criminality as well... Waiting to see.

 

[pumpfe]

@Walela -- Boy, I think you have good instincts, and that's why I think some of Alec's sobbing is real. Yes, he is indignant and sorry for himself because he got caught, but he also has to be horrified by what he did to his son -- his own flesh and blood.

Putting together other ideas posted and what I heard in testimony, this is where I have landed on the guns:

I think Alec had left the Benelli shotgun he used down in the hangar/"shop" area at some point so it was ready for this event. (In the first interview with SLED in the car the night of June 7, AM mentioned that "someone" had left a shotgun down in the shop.)

It sounds like Paul usually carried his brown ArmaLite rifle (AR) with him at the farm. Out of habit, Paul probably brought it down to the kennels when they went to play with dogs, leaning it against the feed room wall or the fencing where he could grab it quickly if needed.

Alec shoots Paul with the Benelli in the manner @Walela suggests. Maggie, terrified, no doubt begins running away after the first shot. Alec shoots Paul again and then grabs Paul's AR to use on Maggie since she is moving and a further distance from him. The AR might have been an opportunity seized or Alec may have counted on Paul bringing his AR and had always planned to use it.

As far as the AR, Agent Greer said that the casings around Maggie had the same markings (my word not his) as the casings found around the side door up at the house and over at the gun range. The casings near the side door and at the gun range were more than likely from Paul and WL sighting Paul's brown camouflage AR a few weeks before when they bought the scope.

In other words without saying so specifically, Greer indicated that the shells from around Maggie, at the side door, and at the shooting range had all passed through the same gun, presumably the AR used to murder Maggie [Paul's brown AR, which is missing, right? -- and conveniently Alec can say how Paul misplaced stuff all the time including firearms].

(Do we know when Paul's brown AR was last seen?)

Further, my feeling is that the camouflaged Benelli shotgun that Alec had with him when LE arrived was probably used on Paul and quickly cleaned of incriminating evidence. (Gun owners, is a five-minute clean realistic?) He didn't go up to the house, that's just what he told LE.

OMO. MOO. MOO.

You can probably do a quick clean in 5 minutes, but if he would have cleaned a fired gun between the time of the murders and LE arrival it would probably be obvious to LE that the weapon had been recently cleaned.....you could certainly smell the cleaner on the firearm, and it would probably still have that "damp" appearance to it.

 

[Walela]

The jury knows about AM being sued in Paul's boat case. Is there any evidence before the jury about why Maggie's death would help AM?

I'm trying to remember if there's any and I don't think so.

I am wondering about the purported sympathy as a distraction theory and am curious if AM used similar sympathy as a distraction in any of his previous financial misdeeds. Was this a habit of his from his childhood? Did he play the sympathy card to extricate himself from trouble routinely throughout his life or did he just tell out-and-out lies.

moo

 

[Seattle1]

I read that the housekeeper's two sons both are special needs - is that true? I am so, so revolted at Alex stealing from such a clearly entirely trusting and entirely vulnerable young man. Another thing I noticed Alex did: As a part of tricking his 'best friend', that separate lawyer, Chris, Alex wrote on a lot of the money Alex laundered through Chris that Alex had steeply - 'oh, so generously' - discounted Alex's own lawyer fees, for example, for a big insurance payout of ~$400,000, Alex would have Chris think that Alex was only taking a measly $20,000 - Alex did that to have Chris thinking Alex 'is such a hero, so very generous, giving, only cares about other people not himself - oh what a hero and role model Alex is'.

To my knowledge, Gloria Satterfield's oldest son-- Brian "Little B" Harriott lived with Gloria in a mobile home financed by the bank. When the home was foreclosed on after Gloria's death, MSM was also reporting that Brian was disabled.

I don't know where the claims that Tony Satterfield is a "special needs" individual are coming from.

Tony testified in court on Friday and I've seen posts from his FB published in MSM (not WS approved) where he's on deployment with "Cru-Military." I believe it was Dateline that previously reported where Tony lived -- it was a town different than his mother and brother.

Relative to Brian having to move in with relatives when Gloria's trailer was foreclosed, I find it disgusting how Gloria's sons were being represented by some very high-priced attorneys during this time that made millions from representing the sons, yet none of them could work on something as simple as a bank foreclosure to keep a roof over their disabled clients head? Now that's rich. MOO

Death of housekeeper helped unravel Murdaugh’s secrets

Gloria Satterfield worked for the Murdaugh family for years before her death, which the family claims was an accident.

www.newsnationnow.com

“We got a confession of judgement from Alex Murdaugh for the entire $4.3 million. That confession of judgement has been a very valuable tool for a lot of different people for a lot of different reasons. Once we got that confession of judgement, Alex was disbarred the next day by the South Carolina bar,” Bland said.

 

[clearskies1]

I'm trying to remember if there's any and I don't think so.

I am wondering about the purported sympathy as a distraction theory and am curious if AM used similar sympathy as a distraction in any of his previous financial misdeeds. Was this a habit of his from his childhood? Did he play the sympathy card to extricate himself from trouble routinely throughout his life or did he just tell out-and-out lies.

moo

Regarding sympathy/distraction, the only thing I know about is the September 2021 road-side shooting of Alex involving his friend Curtis Eddie Smith. The State says that this is another example of a violent criminal episode to distract when the walls were closing in. JMO.

 

[passionflower]

If some 'mysterious person/s' had blown up Maggie and the son, the reaction of the father/Alex should be TERROR - a real father would go get his other son and have the sheriff whisk them away to a hiding place. What ACTUALLY unfolded was absolutely RIDICULOUS!

ANSOLUTELY!!! And Maggie was overkill. 5 shots close burning her! JMOO

 

[Boodles]

Interesting -- starting at 6:58, a discussion of Alex possibly testifying.

Thanks for sharing that clip. I’ve been thinking about Alex possibly testifying. He’s taking stacks of files to his cell every day. Is he studying every nuance so he can have plausible answers?

I think when it comes time, he probably won’t testify. But the State had better be deeply prepared for the possibility. And the defense may throw some bizarre wrench into the mix that the prosecution may not expect. I don’t think the defense has to share everything with the prosecution like the prosecution must share with the defense. (I could be wrong.)

I’ve seen a case where no one expected the defendant to testify, but he did. The prosecution was caught totally off guard and it was a pathetic failure on their part. Luckily, there was a mistrial and the prosecution had a 2nd chance in the next trial.

I hope the prosecution stands ready for defense antics. This isn’t Harpootlian’s first rodeo.

 

[MinnesotaMary]

My impression of Alex is that's he's a pretty stereotypical domestic abuser who murders; IMO Alex blames the son and his wife for 'causing' him to murder them. So that morning when Alex was confronted with just the tip of the iceberg of the millions he'd stolen, Alex' reaction was rage at the son and his wife, and the murder was entirely premeditated. But gheesh, IMO what a dum@stick not to know that our fones know every thing we're doing, and listening to every word - lol somebody put it, 'My cell phone knows what color my underpants are', and that's not at all a joke. Maybe what Alex did wrong was owning state of the art fones - Alex should have made his whole family use Walmart StraightTalk and the very first model flip fone, and this would all be different from what it is now.

 

[Boodles]

Regarding sympathy/distraction, the only thing I know about is the September 2021 road-side shooting of Alex involving his friend Curtis Eddie Smith. The State says that this is another example of a violent criminal episode to distract when the walls were closing in. JMO.

I sure hope that ploy is allowed into evidence! I haven’t heard any debate about its admissibility yet.

 

[HawthorneJuniper]

yes.

no, claimed he was taking a nap at the Moselle main house.

Snip-
Murdaugh told investigators Maggie joined them for dinner that evening and then went down to the dog kennels. Murdaugh said he fell asleep while watching TV, but that Paul must have joined his mother.

He told SLED he never went down to the kennels or saw the two of them again before leaving Moselle shortly after 9 p.m. to visit his ailing mother.

“I stayed in the house,” Murdaugh said.

Alex Murdaugh prosecutors reveal last texts before his son's phone went silent

As Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial progressed into a second week, the S.C. Attorney General’s Office continued to present new witnesses and evidence. Over the past four days, prosecutors have

www.postandcourier.com

Senior Murdaugh's home is in Varnville, Google maps states 11 mi., 16 minute drive from Moselle property.

Obituary for Randolph Murdaugh III at Parker-Rhoden Funeral Home

Mr. Randolph Murdaugh, III, 81, of Varnville, died peacefully Thursday afternoon, June 10, 2021, at his residence. Mr. Murdaugh was born October 25, 1939 in Savannah, Georgia, son of the late Randolph Buster Murdaugh, Jr. and Gladys Marvin Murdaugh. Randolph graduated from Wade Hampton in 1957...

www.parkerrhodenfuneralhome.com

And I just realized his attorney told that story on the series on HBO! If I were the prosecution, I'd call him!

There is a lot swirling around that has come into evidence.
This ballistic evidence is pretty damaging to AM. A killer bent on revenge, targeting someone, isn’t going to show up unarmed for the big moment.
But even with that and everything else, AM has to explain why his stated alibi is he was taking a nap, and there is a video with him and his wife and son, at the kennels, together, a handful of minutes before they were killed.

And his lawyer in an HBO video telling this story in detail. If I were the prosecution I'd call him. Kidding...

 

[MinnesotaMary]

delete please - duplicate - tyia

 

[Boodles]

In my opinion, MM had the best of both worlds: a separate residence and a spouse that seemingly paid all her bills for her. MM died with her real estate assets heavily leveraged and $56 to her name. And AM was in worse shape! Divorce in an equitable division state would not likely be kind to MM. MOO

But was Maggie aware of the state of their finances? Or did she just spend and assume the money was there? I’d bet he hid all the troubles from her and, to the extent he needed her involvement (signatures, etc.), he had excuses and/or forged her name. She may not have had a clue, until just before her murder, how dire their financial situation was. But JMO.

 

[MinnesotaMary]

someone please delete this - duplicate - tyia

 

[HawthorneJuniper]

I'm pretty sure I heard the Defense asked for Discovery-those guys are Very well known lawyers apparently. I hope what they learn about their 'friend' opens their eyes, though I believe some were probably involved in some of his criminality as well... Waiting to see.

Yeah, I was wondering too. I just went through the HBO series and pulled out everything his lawyers said. They're either dumb as dirt or they know exactly what kind of he is.

 

[MinnesotaMary]

Yeah, I was wondering too. I just went through the HBO series and pulled out everything his lawyers said. They're either dumb as dirt or they know exactly what kind of he is.

...I believe some were probably involved in some of his criminality as well...

IMO, it's not 'probably'...... IMO, no question in my mind whatsoever about the one on the left being complicit in every bit of it - Alex really thought he'd get away with it. Get real: Horrifying, horrific murder - entire brain and skull area blown up and off the son - Maggie, the 2 shots to the back of her head, plus 2 more shots, and they said the one shot to her chest happened as she was on her knees. Who in their right mind is going to get ANY lawyer over?? Alex had his fone ringing off the hook to get that lawyer there right away. Alex in the front seat of the police car is, 'Waaa waaa waaa -RINGA LING LING - do you mind if I take this call? - ok, bye - waaa waa waaa'.

 

[Edvis]

You can probably do a quick clean in 5 minutes, but if he would have cleaned a fired gun between the time of the murders and LE arrival it would probably be obvious to LE that the weapon had been recently cleaned.....you could certainly smell the cleaner on the firearm, and it would probably still have that "damp" appearance to itAlways be residue

There will always be residue left due to the nature of gunpowder the fresher the better for investigators. A quick barrel clean along with upper carrier group ect. won't help AM's situation. Other then taking the time to break the weapon down completely and going over the upper and lower receiver and parts would be a waste of time for AM and he didn't have that time. If he did then he has a squeaky clean weapon among the rest of his arsenal that is dirty, fishy in itself. Thinking those two weapons have turned into ghost or he had access to a forge lol where he could turn them into molting metal.

 

[MinnesotaMary]

IMO it was darn funny when that young detective/state police guy who found Maggie's fone was on the stand. The older lawyer of Alex talked on about how it would have been impossible to throw her fone from a car at the side of the road - what cracks me up is that, in his mind, that lawyer thinks he's strong and super-athletic and fit.