John Marvin Murdaugh, the youngest of Alex’s siblings, was on the stand for just over two hours as a defense witness during Alex’s trial. Among the things he testified about was the route he took to Moselle from his house in Okatie when he got the call about Paul and Maggie’s deaths. LUNASHARK Journalist and Researcher Beth Braden mapped out the route John Marvin testified he took against the suggested routes from Google maps. John Marvin’s route to Moselle was also discussed at length in True Sunlight Episode 32.

In late 2023, Beth filed a Freedom of Information Act request to SLED asking for records regarding interviews conducted as part of their investigation into the murders. We included a list of nine people we hoped to hear interviews for, and while SLED declined part of our request, they did give us an interview with Rogan Gibson on June 8 and interviews with Buster, Randy, and John Marvin on June 10, the same day that Alex’s father died. Take a listen to what the men had to say about the murders . . . and a few other topics as well.

Buster Murdaugh Interview – June 10, 2021

John Marvin Murdaugh Interview – June 10, 2021

Buster Murdaugh graduated from Wofford College in 2018 and followed in his father’s footsteps to attend law school at the University of South Carolina beginning that fall. During the spring 2021 semester, Buster was expelled from law school for plagiarism. Later, in 2021, while Alex was jailed on dozens of financial charges, he was still trying to get Buster readmitted to law school in time for the Spring 2022 semester. Buster and Alex discussed it at length during phone calls Alex made from jail on November 30 and December 1, 2021.

Ultimately, Buster did not return to law school. In a September 2022 Post and Courier article, Alex’s attorney Jim Griffin was quoted as saying, “He has put his desire to go to law school on hold for now.”

At 10:17 p.m., Alex Murdaugh ended his 911 call, telling dispatch he needed to “call some of my family,” according to the transcript. Yet SLED’s official timeline presented at trial reveals a different sequence of priorities. Buster Murdaugh, Alex’s only surviving son, wasn’t the first person he reached out to. He wasn’t even the second. He was the fifth.

In the minutes before calling Buster, Alex checked a group text from Michael Gunn and searched for a restaurant in Edisto after calling hit brothers, Randy Murdaugh, John Marvin Murdaugh, Paul’s friend Rogan Gibson, and his sister-in-law, Christy Murdaugh. 

27 minutes passed before Buster received the devastating call.

Dozens of crime scene photos were admitted into evidence during Alex Murdaugh’s trial, and testimony from officers, crime scene technicians, investigators, and the medical examiner put them into the sad context that explained what happened after Paul quit filming the video of the dog’s tail. The most graphic photos were sealed by the court, but a number of them became part of the public records. We’ve carefully selected a few of the publicly available crime scene photos that demonstrate a broad overview of the scene and what investigators were working with.

By 12:56 a.m., Alex was sitting in the front seat of SLED Agent David Owen’s car to give his statement. Owen sat in the driver’s seat, and his body worn camera (clipped to the visor) captured the half-hour interview. Colleton County Sheriff’s Office Detective Laura Rutland, and PMPED law partner Danny Henderon — who was acting as Alex’s attorney — sat in the backseat.

During the recorded interview, Alex walks Agents Owen and Rutland through what is now known to be a fabricated alibi — his claim that he was visiting his mother’s house at the time of the murders. He also repeated the narrative that whoever killed Paul and Maggie were connected to the 2019 boat crash that killed Mallory Beach. When Agent Owen asked whether Paul had been receiving any threats, Alex responded, “Oh yes, all the time.”

Later in the interview, Alex offers an unusual story about the family’s new groundskeeper, CB Rowe, telling investigators that Rowe once claimed he’d been recruited by the FBI in high school to go undercover against the Black Panthers. The implication is clear: Alex is floating yet another potential suspect.

The portions of missing audio in the recording are redactions made by SLED.

Mushelle “Shelley” Smith, the overnight caregiver for Libby Murdaugh, testified that Alex arrived at the house on the night of the murders acting anxious and restless. She recalled that he stayed only 15 to 20 minutes — far less than the 30 to 40 minutes Alex later claimed. Shelley said Alex asked her to tell authorities he had been there longer and even brought up her upcoming wedding, offering to help pay for it — a gesture that came across as an attempt to buy her silence.

Visibly nervous but resolute on the stand, Miss Shelley’s testimony struck a major blow to Alex’s alibi and credibility.

Two months after the murders, on August 11, 2021, Alex and one of his then-uncharged co-conspirators, Cory Fleming, met with SLED agents David Owen and Jeff Croft. Cory, who was also an attorney, acted as Alex’s attorney for the meeting. At this meeting, Owen tells Alex that he hasn’t been ruled out as the murderer and asks Alex — again — about his timeline for the night of the homicides. This interview was played for the jury during the trial in February 2023.

The law firm of Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick — now known as Parker Law Group — said they were “shocked” and “dismayed” to discover that Alex Murdaugh had stolen money from the firm. In a statement released in late September 2021 and featured on their homepage, the firm wrote:

“No member of PMPED was aware of Alex’s scheme. When we learned he betrayed our trust, we requested his resignation immediately. We have yet to speak to anyone who was aware of his addiction to opioids.”

The firm also assured clients that none would “suffer a financial loss as a result of Alex’s misconduct.” Since then, Parker Law Group has maintained that all victims of Alex’s financial crimes have been made whole — though some continue to dispute that claim.

In 2019, 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone immediately recused himself from the case after Paul Murdaugh crashed the boat that killed Mallory Beach because of Alex’s work as a volunteer solicitor with the office. In 2021, after Paul and Maggie were murdered, it took significantly longer for Duffie Stone to step away. In fact, footage obtained from SLED after a Freedom of Information Act shows Duffie on the scene with SLED agents in the days after the murder. It wasn’t until August 25, 2021, that Duffie recused himself from the case.

The Murdaugh murders were bad enough, but then came the September 3, 2021, so-called “roadside shooting” in which Alex Murdaugh called 911 and said he’d been shot in the head while changing a tire. There was just one problem: he had run-flat tires. At the same time Alex was calling for help, another driver called 911 and said the scene looked like a “set-up.” Later, we learned that it was a set-up. Alex had hatched a plan to have Curtis Eddie “Cousin Eddie” Smith shoot him, allegedly so Buster Murdaugh would get a large life insurance settlement. For his part, Eddie denied being involved in the scheme, though he still faces outstanding charges related to it.

Listen to the audio of part one of Alex’s 911 call, and then see the EMS report, the sketch of the “attacker” who didn’t exist, and photos of Alex’s injuries shown during the trial.

Have you ever heard of a reward offer with an expiration date? Us either, but on June 25, Alex Murdaugh and Buster Murdaugh released a statement saying they were offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of whoever killed Maggie and Paul on June 7. There was just one catch — the reward was only available through September 20, 2021.

Alex Murdaugh became a household name following the murders of Paul and Maggie, and the pressure on him was ratcheted up in the weeks leading to the September 2021 so-called roadside shooting incident. After his arrest for the roadside shooting and indictments relating to the financial crimes and eventually the murders, interest in the case expanded even further. For the time period between August 2021 and his murder indictments in July 2022, Alex’s name appeared in South Carolina newspapers at least 955 times — and that’s only newspapers that are available on newspapers.com. Nationwide, it was more than 2000 times. Here is a selection of the articles from that year.

Sometimes, FOIA Requests return some unexpected results. In late 2023, Beth Braden filed a FOIA for then-Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill’s emails after Alex Murdaugh’s defense team alleged she tampered with the jury during the trial. Among the hundreds of pages, we found some interesting attachments: the SLED Memorandum of Interview of Alex’s siblings when they were asked whose voice they heard yelling “BUBBA!” on the video that proved Alex had been at the kennels moments before Maggie and Paul were murdered.

Re-live the vibes with LUNASHARK’s Soundtrack Playlist, available on Spotify.