A man who took care of the dogs at Alex Murdaugh’s property has testified about strange details in crime scene photos at the disgraced legal scion’s murder trial.
Roger Dale Davis, who handled Mr Murdaughs’ dog kennels in the sprawling property of Moselle in Islandton, South Carolina, was called by the state to testify on Tuesday at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro.
Mr Davis detailed where he kept each dog in the kennel, how and where water would pool when he washed out the kennels, and how he made sure the water didn’t pool near the feed room because it was rotting the wood. Mr Davis was also in charge of feeding the family’s dogs, which he would do twice a day in the morning and the evening.
He said he spent some time in Moselle on 7 June 2021, hours before Mr Murdaugh made the 911 claiming to have found the bodies of his wife Maggie and son Paul, before leaving around 4.30pm. The dog caretaker said he remembers specifically rolling the hose up, as to prevent water pooling on the ground.
When shown a picture of the crime scene at the kennels, Mr Davis said he believed somebody had used the hose, because it was not placed the way he left it.
“Somebody used that hose after I did because it’s twisted,” Mr Davis told the court.
Prosecutors have hinted that the lack of items connecting Mr Murdaugh to the killings — such as weapons that haven’t been found and blood found only near the bodies and not on his clothes — indicate he cleaned up the crime scene before heading to visit his mother.
Mr Davis told the court that it was uncommon for water to pool around the kennels during the summer. And that even when it happened, it was right under the hose and not by the feed room or by the two kennels — as the crime scene pictures showed.
“There is too much water right there around the second and third pen,” Mr Davis told prosecutors.
When the state showed a Snapchat video recorded by Paul on the night of the murder, Mr Davis said he recognised Paul, Maggie and Alex’s voices in it.
But during cross-examination, the defence paused the Snapchat video, showing a frame in which the hose can be seen already undone on the ground.
Mr Murdaugh’s attorneys then argued that the water seen in the crime scene photos pooled there around the time the video was taken shortly before 9pm — while Maggie and Paul were still alive and hence not as a result of Mr Murdaugh cleaning himself.
The defence also argued that the water wouldn’t have dried up, as the sun had already set.
Elsewhere in his testimony, Mr Davis said that on the night of the murders, the dogs were not staying in the specific order that Maggie would have picked.
He also said that the Murdaughs would often leave weapons at the kennels, sheds and cars on the hunting lodge. On the day of the murders, however, Mr Davis said he saw no firearms in the kennels.
During cross-examination by the defence, Mr Davis recounted an incident in which one of the Murdaughs’ dogs was fatally injured.
To spare the dog a painful and slow death, it was decided that somebody would shoot it and put it out of its misery. Mr Davis said he was asked to take over the ghastly task after Mr Murduagh could not bring himself to shoot the dog.
Mr Davis said that although Mr Murdaugh was very particular about the way the kennels were handled, it was often difficult to reach the now-disbarred lawyer because he was busy with work.
Mr Davis also testified that Mr Murdaugh had never been violent in his presence and that he never saw him arguing with Maggie and Paul. Instead, Mr Davis said, Mr Murdaugh and his wife were “lovey-dovey,” while Mr Murdaugh and his son “drank beer together.”
“I’ve never seen that man even raise his voice at his wife,” Mr Davis told the court.
In the four weeks of trial so far, the prosecution has argued in court that Mr Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract from his mounting financial and legal scandals.
Mr Murdaugh has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty last June.
The double murder trial is far from Mr Murdaugh’s only legal problem. Besides the case, Mr Murdaugh is facing at least 100 other criminal charges over a string of financial fraud allegations.
