All the Damning Evidence
The prosecution’s case focused heavily on Alex’s forced narrative around the murders. He told investigators that Maggie and Paul had headed to the dog kennels after dinner the night of the murders while he took a nap. He later woke up and left the property to visit his ailing mother, returning after 10 p.m. to find Maggie and Paul dead by the kennels.
However, Alex can be heard in the background of a video Paul took at the kennels at 8:44 p.m., just minutes before the murders took place according to prosecutors. When presented with the video evidence on the witness stand, Alex admitted that he had in fact been at the kennels that night. “Oh, what a tangled web we weave,” Alex answered when asked why he had lied. He later suggested that paranoia caused by an opioid addiction played a role in his deception.
Testimony from Mushell “Shelly” Smith, caregiver to Alex’s mother, Libby, further untangled Alex’s story. Smith recalled that his visit that night lasted about 20 minutes, but that Alex later insisted to her that it lasted closer to 40 minutes. The interaction made her uneasy enough to immediately contact her brother, who works in law enforcement.
Equally powerful was testimony from Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson, the Murdaugh’s housekeeper and Maggie’s friend. She recalled fixing the collar of Alex’s blue polo shirt that morning, the same one he’s seen wearing in another video Paul had taken hours before the murders. That shirt has never been found, and Turrubiate-Simpson recounted Alex telling her he wore a different shirt the day of the murder. This was the morning after, when Alex asked her to come over the house to clean “the way Maggie liked.”
The unraveling of Alex’s web of lies was among many shocking revelations during the trial—his phone activity showed a burst of movement at 9:02 p.m., and the GPS in his car recorded him going 80 mph to and from his parents’ home, passing the spot where Maggie’s phone was later found on the side of the road.
Beyond the Court
The prosecution was also criticized due to the handling of the crime scene. First responders, family, and friends were seen walking in taped-off areas. Maggie and Paul’s bodies were covered with sheets rather than tarps in the misty June night, and the scene was released back to the family a mere 12 hours after the murders. Alex’s brother, John Marvin, quickly began cleaning up Paul’s blood and brain matter, saying he felt compelled.
More than two years after the verdict was announced in March 2023, the scandal remains ongoing. On May 24, 2024, former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill was charged with obstructing justice, misconduct and perjury in connection with the Murdaugh case for releasing photographic evidence to a third party, using her office to promote a book she co-authored on the case and giving false and misleading testimony at one of Alex’s appeal hearings.
And although Paul didn’t live for Beach’s family to have their day in court, they received a settlement from Alex in January 2024: the $500,000 insurance policy on the boat Paul crashed. The Beach family had already received $15 million from the convenience store that sold the underage group alcohol, as well as settlements from the family who hosted the oyster roast they attended that night, the bar that served Paul before the crash and Buster Murdaugh, Paul's older brother whose ID he had used.
Alex is appealing his case, alleging jury tampering on the part of Hill. As of August 8, 2025, the South Carolina State Supreme Court granted the state attorney general 120 more days to review the response to the appeal. The Murdaugh name may be shrouded in disgrace, but it hasn’t seen its last headline.
