Alex Murdaugh's son, Paul, confronted him about his drug use one month before he and his mom were shot to death on the family's hunting estate in South Carolina, prosecutors revealed for the first time Friday.
Colleton County jurors were shown a text that Paul sent his father May 6, 2021.
"I am still in EB because when you get here we have to talk. Mom found several bags of pills in your computer bag," Paul allegedly wrote. "EB" likely refers to the family's Edisto Beach house.
Murdaugh is accused of executing Paul, 22, and his wife, Maggie, 52, June 7, 2021.
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Assistant Attorney General Creighton Waters called special agent Peter Rudofski, of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, as the state's final witness.
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The transcribed voicemail was introduced during his testimony. It was also revealed that Maggie had conducted several internet searches from May 6 to the 26th of 2021 to identify specific pills.
"White pill 30 on one side rp," she typed into a Safari search engine on May 6, describing a 30 milligram tablet of oxycodone.
The next day, Murdaugh texted his wife. "I am very sorry that I do this to all of you. I love you," he wrote. Maggie didn't respond, according to Rudolfski.
Maggie's older sister, Marian Proctor, testified Tuesday at the Colleton County Courthouse.
She said Maggie called Paul her "little detective" because if there were pills in the house that his dad shouldn't be taking, he was determined to find them.
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Three months after the slayings, Murdaugh admitted to investigators after a botched suicide attempt that he spent as much as $60,000 a week on pills.
He confessed that on Sept. 4, 2021, he had his drug dealer, Curtis "Cousin Eddie" Smith, shoot him in the head, so his living son, Buster, could collect a $10 million life insurance payout. But Smith only grazed his head.
State law enforcement division agents later found $2.4 million in checks Murdaugh wrote Smith.
The disbarred attorney told investigators that he'd misappropriated fees from his law firm and his clients to fuel his raging addiction.
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Murdaugh faces 99 counts of financial crimes spanning 19 indictments that allege he stole nearly $9 million through various schemes.
In another text from Murdaugh to former Palmetto State Bank CEO Russell Laffitte, he urgently requested a credit line of $600,000 on Moselle.
"My dad will sign also if needed. How much turn around will that take?" he asked in the June 3, 2021, message. Laffitte was later convicted of six federal crimes stemming from his dealings with Murdaugh.
At the end of Rudofski's testimony, Waters showed jurors two photos. In one, Maggie poses with Proctor, her only sister.
In the second, she is beaming in a blue dress, as Buster and Paul stand on either side of her.
Prosecutors have argued that Murdaugh killed his wife and son to prevent his financial misdeeds from being exposed.
