Prosecutors in Alex Murdaugh homicide trial play recording of his first interview after our bodies of his son and spouse had been discovered | CNN

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On the third day of the homicide trial of disgraced South Carolina legal professional Alex Murdaugh, prosecutors confirmed the court docket video of Murdaugh’s first interview with authorities after his spouse and son had been discovered killed.

Within the interview, which had not been launched publicly beforehand, Murdaugh described arriving on the scene the place he might see the 2 our bodies and advised investigator he might see issues had been “unhealthy” when he first pulled as much as the house.

Murdaugh has pleaded not responsible to 2 counts of homicide and two counts of possession of a weapon in the course of the fee of a violent crime associated to the deaths of his spouse, Margaret, and son, Paul, who was 22 on the time of the June 7, 2021 crime. Opening statements for Murdaugh’s homicide trial started earlier this week and is now in recess for the weekend, with the prosecution’s ninth witness nonetheless on the stand.

Within the interview performed in court docket on Friday, Murdaugh advised investigators he had left residence that evening to go verify on his mom, who’s a late-stage Alzheimer’s affected person.

Murdaugh stated that after arriving and seeing the our bodies, he tried to show his son’s physique over after which went over to his spouse. He advised investigators he touched each of them to attempt to take their pulse, including he “tried to do it as restricted as attainable,” in keeping with the video recording.

He stated there was blood round his son’s physique however that he didn’t see anything round aside from Paul’s cellphone. Murdaugh broke down a number of occasions in the course of the interview.

Murdaugh stated he known as 911 and later his brothers and an excellent good friend.

Colleton County, South Carolina, Sheriff’s Workplace Det. Laura Rutland, who was among the many officers who interviewed Murdaugh hours after the our bodies had been discovered, testified on Friday she didn’t see footprints or knee prints within the blood close to Paul’s physique.

She additionally testified that she had seen Murdaugh’s fingers and shirt that evening and he was “clear,” telling the court docket she didn’t see any blood on him.

Within the video recording performed in court docket, Murdaugh was requested by one other legislation enforcement officer if there had been any issues and Murdaugh responded,”Nothing that I do know of,” however added there had been detrimental publicity following a ship accident that Paul, his son, was concerned in.

On the time of his demise, Paul Murdaugh was dealing with expenses of cruising underneath the affect, inflicting nice bodily hurt and inflicting demise in connection to a 2019 boat crash that claimed the lifetime of 19-year-old Mallory Seashore, court docket data present.

Alex Murdaugh stated within the recording there had been some “vile stuff’ on-line directed at his son and that Paul had been “punched and hit and simply attacked rather a lot,” however acknowledge he had not witnessed these incidents.

Murdaugh then went on to allude a couple of man he not too long ago had employed who Murdaugh stated had allegedly shared a “freaky” story with Paul about getting drafted on an undercover workforce to “kill radical Black Panthers.”

“I actually don’t suppose that in all honesty that it’s him, however I believe you oughta test it out,” Murdaugh continued, in keeping with the recording.

Murdaugh additionally advised investigators he owned about 20 or 25 weapons.

Throughout cross examination, protection legal professional Jim Griffin questioned Rutland about how one other agent collected the clothes that Murdaugh was carrying that evening and requested her if she had adopted correct protocol, seeming to query the integrity of the investigation.

Griffin additionally requested Rutland about notes in her report that evening which stated Murdaugh’s spouse appeared to have strands of brown hair in her fingers and fingers and that Paul appeared to have scratches on his face. Rutland advised the court docket she famous what she noticed.

The prosecution additionally known as as their eighth witness one other agent, who testified she collected samples from the 2 our bodies and a ninth witness, additionally an agent, who is anticipated to renew testimony on Monday morning.