Watch live video from the courtroom aboveMurdaugh Murders TimelineVideo: Hear full testimony from the first deputy to respond to the Murdaugh murder sceneVideo: Hear full testimony from the first deputy to respond to the Murdaugh murder sceneUpdate 10:06 a.m.: The jury is hearing a recording of Alex Murdaugh’s interview with law enforcement following the murders.Update 9:40 a.m.: Detective Laura Rutland of the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office has taken the stand. She is testifying to the initial stages of the investigation and her responding to the crime scene that night.Initial report:For the first time Thursday, witnesses took the stand in the Alex Murdaugh murder trial.Below video: Recap of Thursday’s testimonyEach witness gave jurors a better picture of what first responders saw and heard the night Alex Murdaugh’s wife Maggie and son Paul were killed at their Colleton County property.Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to murder.Jurors heard from a total of six witnesses Thursday. They watched graphic body cam footage, heard unredacted 911 calls and heard first-person perspectives from the crime scene. Body camera video from the first law enforcement officer on scene proves that one of the first things Murdaugh told first responders was that he was certain Maggie and Paul’s deaths had to do with the boat crash that killed Mallory Beach.”This is a long story. My son was in a boat wreck a few months back, he’s been getting threats,” Murdaugh said in the body camera video.At one point, the prosecutor pointed out to the jury a specific moment captured by the body camera video where Alex seems to switch tone while giving personal information to a sergeant about his wife and son.Murdaugh, who was in hysterics, abruptly pauses in the video to address another first responder. He casually asks, “How ya doin’?” Below: Members of the Murdaugh family arrive to court Thursday In the body camera video, Murdaugh is also heard explaining to law enforcement where he was when Maggie and Paul were killed.”I left. I was probably gone an hour and a half for my mom’s and I probably saw them 45 minutes before that,” Murdaugh said. During cross examination, defense attorneys questioned the integrity of the crime scene.Several times, both attorneys and witnesses mentioned fresh tire tracks that were spotted at the scene. Murdaugh’s attorney Dick Harpootlian asked law enforcement why those marks were not preserved. Harpootlian asked a witness, “So if someone had come in and left, who committed the murders, whatever tire tracks left were obliterated by your men. Is that right?”The witness responded, “It’s possible.”Harpootlian also questioned witnesses about possible contamination of evidence. “If there were bloody footprints in the feed room, could they have been created by you and your men?,” Harpootlian asked a witness, who is a sergeant with the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office.”They could’ve been created by anyone walking in that area, sure,” the witness responded.Harpootlian also asked why law enforcement officers weren’t wearing more protective gear while on sceneCourt will resume Friday morning. Below video: WJCL Special Report: The Trial of Alex Murdaugh
Watch live video from the courtroom above
Update 10:06 a.m.: The jury is hearing a recording of Alex Murdaugh’s interview with law enforcement following the murders.
Update 9:40 a.m.: Detective Laura Rutland of the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office has taken the stand. She is testifying to the initial stages of the investigation and her responding to the crime scene that night.
Initial report:
For the first time Thursday, witnesses took the stand in the Alex Murdaugh murder trial.
Below video: Recap of Thursday’s testimony
Each witness gave jurors a better picture of what first responders saw and heard the night Alex Murdaugh’s wife Maggie and son Paul were killed at their Colleton County property.
Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to murder.
Jurors heard from a total of six witnesses Thursday. They watched graphic body cam footage, heard unredacted 911 calls and heard first-person perspectives from the crime scene.
Body camera video from the first law enforcement officer on scene proves that one of the first things Murdaugh told first responders was that he was certain Maggie and Paul’s deaths had to do with the boat crash that killed Mallory Beach.
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“This is a long story. My son was in a boat wreck a few months back, he’s been getting threats,” Murdaugh said in the body camera video.
At one point, the prosecutor pointed out to the jury a specific moment captured by the body camera video where Alex seems to switch tone while giving personal information to a sergeant about his wife and son.
This content is imported from Twitter.
You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Murdaugh, who was in hysterics, abruptly pauses in the video to address another first responder. He casually asks, “How ya doin’?”
Below: Members of the Murdaugh family arrive to court Thursday
In the body camera video, Murdaugh is also heard explaining to law enforcement where he was when Maggie and Paul were killed.
“I left. I was probably gone an hour and a half for my mom’s and I probably saw them 45 minutes before that,” Murdaugh said.
During cross examination, defense attorneys questioned the integrity of the crime scene.
Several times, both attorneys and witnesses mentioned fresh tire tracks that were spotted at the scene. Murdaugh’s attorney Dick Harpootlian asked law enforcement why those marks were not preserved.
Harpootlian asked a witness, “So if someone had come in and left, [someone] who committed the murders, whatever tire tracks left were obliterated by your men. Is that right?”
The witness responded, “It’s possible.”
Harpootlian also questioned witnesses about possible contamination of evidence.
“If there were bloody footprints in the feed room, could they have been created by you and your men?,” Harpootlian asked a witness, who is a sergeant with the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office.
“They could’ve been created by anyone walking in that area, sure,” the witness responded.
Harpootlian also asked why law enforcement officers weren’t wearing more protective gear while on scene
Court will resume Friday morning.
Below video: WJCL Special Report: The Trial of Alex Murdaugh