Alex Murdaugh trial: Detective explains key crime scene mystery after killer begins appeal

Powerful South Carolina legal scion Alex Murdaugh became the centre of the ‘trial of the century’ over the brutal double murder of his wife and son.

But this is far from the only twist in a bizarre and sprawling tale of unexplained deaths, hitman plots and multi-million-dollar fraud schemes.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp writes:

Alex Murdaugh’s associate Russell Laffitte has been denied a new trial on charges that he helped the convicted killer and financial fraudster steal millions from his law firm clients.

US District Judge Richard Gergel denied Laffitte’s request for a new trial on Monday – four days after Murdaugh was found guilty of killing his wife Maggie and son Paul in a brutal double murder which prosecutors said was motivated by the disgraced attorney’s efforts to cover up his string of financial crimes.

Laffitte, the former CEO of Palmetto State Bank, was convicted in November of financial fraud charges in connection to Murdaugh’s alleged white collar fraud schemes.

His conviction came on the basis that he was Murdaugh’s co-defendant in his sprawling multi-million-dollar – and decade-long – schemes.

Following his conviction, Laffitte fired his legal team and filed a motion for a new trial based on the chaotic end to his trial which saw two jurors replaced in the 11th hour.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:

In the months after the murders, Alex Murdaugh put Moselle on the market and it is currently under offer for a $3.9m bid from a mystery buyer.

The property was first listed in February 2022 – eight months after Maggie and Paul’s murders and five months before Murdaugh was charged with them – under a new name of Cross Swamp Farm.

It was later changed back to Moselle Farm.

According to the listing by the Crosby Land Co. of Colleton County, Moselle consists of 1,772 acres of “an unusually diverse habitat with varying forest types and age class distribution”.

“The landscape includes productive pine plantations, open fallow fields, and mature stands of mixed pine/hardwood, those upland regions give way to the flat bottomland of the Salkehatchie River Basin,” it reads.

A view from where Maggie Murdaugh was found at the Murdaugh Moselle property on Wednesday

The feed room where Paul Murdaugh’s body was found at the Murdaugh Moselle property on Wednesday

“The property boasts over 2.5 miles of river frontage, offering freshwater fishing, kayaking, and abundant deer, turkey, and waterfowl populations.”

The family home was built in 2011 and consists of four bedrooms and 3.5 baths, meaning it could “easily be converted into a weekend hunting lodge with the capability to sleep up to 15 people”, the listing reads.

“This is truly a top-tier property, complete with all the improvements and amenities one would expect from a high-end sporting property with little or no deferred maintenance cost,” it reads.

A buyer – said to be a local landowner – put in an offer in June 2022. But the sale was put on hold when Murdaugh was accused of trying to offload his assets to avoid paying up in a string of lawsuits he is facing, prompting a court to freeze his assets.

Alex Murdaugh has left himself with no escape from a lifetime behind bars after he admitted to a string of financial crimes under oath at his murder trial.

Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul at the family’s $4m Moselle estate in Islandton and has been sentenced to life in prison in South Carolina.

Despite his conviction, Murdaugh continues to profess his innocence – even when given a last-ditch chance to confess at his sentencing hearing.

His legal team of State Senator Dick Harpootlian and friend Jim Griffin have already vowed to fight the guilty verdict, by appealing the case all the way up to the US Supreme Court.

But, as prominent attorney Duncan Levin told The Independent’s Rachel Sharp this week, it won’t make any difference.

Read more from our exclusive interview:

“It’s hard to look back on the Murdaugh trial and not think of experts who have warned about the dangers of inviting television cameras into the courtroom. “Although defendants have a right to a public trial, the courts have yet to rule that they have a right to a televised trial,” Ruth Ann Strickland, a former professor of Government and Justice Studies at Appalachian State University, wrote in 2009 for the Middle Tennessee State University’s First Amendment Encyclopedia.

“Federal judges, she noted, ‘have generally rejected television and camera coverage of court proceedings, arguing that live television broadcasts, in particular, distract trial participants, prejudice trial outcomes, and thus deprive defendants of fair trials.’”

The Independent’s Clémence Michallon writes:

The jury spent less than three hours deliberating before returning a unanimous guilty verdict – a timeframe that has led to speculation from some on social media that the panel didn’t spend enough time looking at the evidence.

Prominent criminal defence attorney Duncan Levin told The Independent this week that he was surprised it took jurors as long as it did to convict him.

“I’m surprised it took three hours. I actually predicted one hour,” said Mr Levin.

“There’s no magic amount of time,” he said, defending how long the jurors took.

“The jurors paid close attention to the trial over the many weeks. They didn’t just have a few hours to consider the evidence – they’ve actually been thinking about it and deliberating and considering it for weeks and weeks.”

An investigation is still ongoing into the death of Gloria Satterfield, the Murdaugh family’s housekeeper of two decades who died in a mysterious trip and fall death at the Moselle estate.

Satterfield worked for the influential Murdaugh family for more than 20 years when she was found at the bottom of the steps leading up to the family’s home. She died weeks later from her injuries.

At the time, her death was regarded as an accidental fall – though her death certificate cited her manner of death as “natural” and no autopsy was performed.

After her death, Murdaugh reached an agreement to pay her family $4m in a wrongful death settlement – but then allegedly stole the money as part of his fraud scheme.

On 15 September 2021, days after Murdaugh’s crime schemes were exposed, SLED announced it was reopening an investigation into Satterfield’s death.

In early 2022, officials announced plans to exhume her body.

It is not clear what evidence may have led investigators to do so – or where the investigation may be headed.

Alex Murdaugh will now spend the rest of his years behind bars after being sentenced to life in prison for the heinous double murder of his wife Maggie and son Paul.

The disgraced attorney was handed two sentences of life without parole on Friday in a case that has rocked the community in Hampton County, South Carolina, and captivated America for the best part of two years.

Jurors took less than three hours to reach their unanimous verdict, deciding that – beyond any reasonable doubt – Murdaugh killed his wife and son that fateful night.

On 7 June 2021, Maggie and Paul were brutally gunned down by the dog kennels on the powerful family’s vast 1,700-acre Moselle estate.

Murdaugh shot his son, 22, twice with a 12-gauge shotgun while he stood in the feed room of the dog kennels – the second shot to his head blowing his brain almost entirely out of his skull.

After killing Paul, prosecutors said Murdaugh then grabbed a .300 Blackout semiautomatic rifle and opened fire on Maggie as she tried to flee. She was shot five times including twice in the head after she had fallen to her knees.

But why did he do it? Why did he slaughter his wife and son? What was his motive?

Dick Harpootlian

Dick Harpootlian, 74, was one of Murdaugh’s lead defence attorneys in his murder trial.

Prior to representing Murdaugh, he has had a long career as a prosecutor.

He has prosecuted several high-profile cases including the corruption trial of former University of South Carolina President Jim Holderman and the murder trial of serial killer Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins.

As well as being a prominent lawyer, Mr Harpootlian is also a state senator, representing South Carolina’s 20th district.

Jim Griffin

Jim Griffin, 60, was Murdaugh’s other lead defence attorneys in his murder trial.

Mr Griffin has also had a long career focused predominantly on working as defence attorney in white-collar crime cases.

Alex Murdaugh, Maggie Fox, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin talk while on a break during the trial

As well as the murder case, both Mr Harpootlian and Mr Griffin are representing Murdaugh in his slew of other charges including his financial fraud trial.

The duo – who like Murdaugh attended University of South Carolina School of Law – was also previously hired to represent Paul in the boat crash case.

Creighton Waters

Creighton Waters was the lead prosecutor in the murder case against Murdaugh.

As the chief prosecutor for the state’s grand jury, he has worked for the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office for more than 24 years.

His case against Mr Murdaugh was centred on the theory that the disgraced attorney killed his wife and son to distract from his string of alleged scandals and financial crimes that were on the brink of being exposed.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters questions witness Chris Wilson during the trial

Judge Clifton Newman

South Carolina Circuit Courts Judge Clifton Newman was the judge presiding over the high-profile murder trial.

He was first elected to the court by the South Carolina General Assembly in 2000 and was re-elected in 2021, with his term due to end in 2027.

Throughout the trial, the judge largely sided with the prosecution in a series of motions and objections – including allowing the state to bring evidence of Murdaugh’s financial crimes as a possible motive for the murders.

Judge Clifton Newman presides over Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial

However, he also awarded some big wins to the defence – including ruling that several witnesses cannot bring evidence about the roadside shooting incident and that Maggie’s sister could not testify about Mr Murdaugh’s alleged affair several years ago.

The judge then did a u-turn on the roadside shooting testimony on 15 February, after the defence brought the incident up – paving the way for the state to also enter evidence.