Libby Murdaugh’s Warden Saw Alex Murder Night For ’20 Minutes’ But Said ’30 To 40′
The only person to see Alex Murdaugh the night his wife and son were murdered testified to his behavior that night and an incriminating piece of evidence he planted in his mother’s house afterwards .
Mushelle “Shelly” Smith, the homemaker for Murdaugh’s mother, testified Monday that Murdaugh unexpectedly showed up at the house on the evening of June 7, 2021, as Smith sat with his mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease.
Smith said she remembered it was after 9 p.m. on June 7, 2021 — unusually late, she thought, for Murdaugh to show up at home. She noted that he also made a point of calling the house phone to say he had arrived, even though he was right outside his parents’ house in Varnville.
Murdaugh was “agitated” as he sat with his mother, who was already in bed and likely unaware of her son’s presence, Smith said. After about 20 minutes, Murdaugh left. He told police he had returned home to find his wife Maggie and son Paul shot dead at their Colleton County home.
Smith also noted that Murdaugh was wearing shorts and a white t-shirt, the clothes he was wearing when he spoke to investigators later that night. A Snapchat video shot by Paul earlier today showed Murdaugh wearing other clothes.
5 key takeaways from the Murdaugh trial: hesitant alibi, lack of physical evidence, cell phone video
Murdaugh’s father, Randolph Murdaugh, died a few days later. On the day of the funeral, Smith recalls Murdaugh visiting his mother’s house again.
“And what did he tell you?” asked prosecutor John Meadors.
Smith took a brief pause and began to cry before responding.
“That he was home,” Smith finally said, referring to his mother’s house.
“And what did he tell you about being home the night of the murders?” Meadors continued.
“That he was there 30 or 40 minutes,” replied Smith, still emotional.
Three days after the funeral, Smith recalled Murdaugh returning home, this time around 6:30 a.m. carrying “a blue tarp something” bundled up in his arms. The prosecution alleges it is a raincoat they recovered from the house that investigators determined contained firearms residue.
“And it didn’t look like a shovel handle or a gun or anything?” asked Griffin. Smith said “no”.
Defense attorney Jim Griffin noted that Smith described the object carried by Murdaugh as a tarp “like a car would cover”, which she reiterated on the stand and did not say it it was a rain jacket.
Griffin also noted that Smith said it took him about five minutes to let Murdaugh into the house the night he came to visit, which may have added to the time he spent on the property.
Griffin also cited an interview Smith gave to an investigator on June 17, 2021, when Smith said it was not unusual for him to visit his mother in the evenings while on his shift.
This is a developing story. It will be updated
Yahoo
