Alex Murdaugh took the stand Thursday in a surprising twist during his double murder trial and admitted he lied to investigators – but insisted he did not kill his wife and son.
After Murdaugh, 54, stepped into the witness box in the Colleton County courtroom in Walterboro, South Carolina, his lawyer Jim Griffin cut to the chase.
"Mr. Murdaugh, did you take this gun or any gun like it and blow your son's brains out on June 7th?" asked Griffin, clutching a weapon.
"No, I did not," replied Murdaugh, who angled his body toward the jurors
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The attorney then asked if Murdaugh shot a .300 Blackout into Maggie's head "causing her death?"
"Mr. Griffin. I didn't shoot my wife or my son any time, ever," Murdaugh replied confidently, as his glasses sat at the tip of his nose.
Murdaugh took the stand on the fifth week of his double murder trial, as his family watched from the gallery – including his older son Buster Murdaugh, 26, and his sister and brothers.
He is accused of gunning down his 22-year-old son, Paul, and executing his wife, Maggie, 52, in June 2021, near the dog kennels of the family's 1,700-acre hunting estate in Islandton, South Carolina.
During his testimony, Murdaugh admitted that he was at the dog kennels at 8:45 p.m. on June 7 – about four minutes before prosecutors allege Maggie and Paul were shot to death.
In three separate videotaped interviews with agents from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), Murdaugh claimed he was never there that night. He made this same claim to several friends and family members.
However, Murdaugh's voice was captured on a cellphone video that Paul recorded at 8:44 p.m. Investigators only discovered the video months later when they hacked into Paul's iPhone.
Griffin then asked Murdaugh if he lied to agents with SLED about his whereabouts that night.
"I did a lie to them," Murdaugh admitted. "As my addiction evolved, I would get in situations or circumstances where I would get paranoid thinking. And it could be anything that triggered it."
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He blamed the bizarre conduct on his addiction to the painkiller oxycodone.
"I wasn't thinking clearly, I don't think I was capable of reason," Murdaugh said, breaking into tears. "And I lied about being out there, and I'm so sorry that I did. I'm sorry."
Murdaugh said he continued to repeat the lie after that night. Griffin asked him why.
"Oh, what a tangled web we weave. But once I told a lie. I mean, I told my family and I had to keep lying," he said.
At the dog kennels, Murdaugh said he dislodged a chicken from the mouth of the family's yellow lab, Bubba, then went back up to the main residence.
A few minutes later, he went to visit his mom, Libby Murdaugh, in Almeda. When he returned to the house, Maggie and Paul were not there, so he drove down to the kennels in his Chevrolet Suburban a little after 10 p.m.
"I saw what you’ve all seen pictures of," he said, referring to the grisly crime scene photos. "It was so bad."
He started weeping, as his head bobbed up and down. He took off his glasses to wipe tears from his eyes with a white tissue.
After seeing their bodies, Murdaugh said he called 911 and checked on Maggie and Paul, who were about 30 feet apart, while on the phone.
Murdaugh said he tried to turn Paul over using the loop of his pants.
"I don’t know why," he said, his face contorted with emotion. "I mean my boys laying facedown, he’s done the way he’s done, his head was the way his head was, I could see his brain laying on the sidewalk. I didn’t know what to do."
