COLUMBIA, S.C. — Alex Murdaugh’s attorneys say he wasn’t home when his wife and son were shot and killed on the night of June 7, 2021.
The revelation comes from a notice of alibi defense filed Thursday in Colleton County, where the once-prominent South Carolina attorney is facing charges in the murders of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul.
Murdaugh is being tried in the killings, committed with two different guns, which took place on the family’s sprawling hunting estate, Moselle.
The disgraced ex-attorney claims that he was on the property from 8:30 p.m. to shortly after 9 p.m., but left to go visit his mother in nearby Varnville. It would be the last time he saw his wife and son alive, according to the filing.
While prosecutors have indicated that they think the murders took place around 9 p.m., the document establishes the groundwork for Murdaugh’s claim that he was gone from the property from 9 p.m. until shortly after 10 p.m.
The filing indicates that the defense believes that several witnesses would be able to attest to Murdaugh’s whereabouts during that time.
The document, submitted by Murdaugh’s attorney Jim Griffin, states that, while on the 20-minute drive to Varnville, Murdaugh had conversations on his cellphone with his son Buster, brother, John Marvin Murdaugh, sister-in-law, Liz Murdaugh, as well as his longtime lawyer and friend, Chris Wilson, and an individual named C.B. Rowe.
Murdaugh arrived at his mother’s home shortly after 9:20 p.m., according to the filing.
“He visited with his mother, Elizabeth “Libby” Murdaugh, and a nurses aid, Muschelle “Shelly” Smith,” the filing says. He stayed until approximately 9:45 p.m. before returning home.
On the return trip, Murdaugh spoke with Chris Wilson again by cellphone. The document says that Murdaugh arrived at Moselle around 10 p.m. and discovered the bodies of his wife and son approximately five minutes later.
The alibi presented in the document largely tracks with a narrative put forward by Griffin in the HBO docuseries “Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty.”
South Carolina law requires that if a defendant intends to argue that they have an alibi, they must provide a notice stating where they were at the time of the alleged crime and the names of all witnesses they intend to rely on to establish the alibi.
The son of a prominent legal dynasty, Murdaugh has been incarcerated in the Richland County Jail since October 2021, when he was charged with stealing the insurance settlement belonging to the family of his longtime housekeeper.
The powerful family was thrust into the spotlight two years before the murders following the death of Mallory Beach, 19, who was killed when a speedboat, allegedly driven by a drunk Paul Murdaugh, crashed into the Parris Island bridge in February 2019.
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