May 25, 2025 • 34 mins
Two years after his father is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, Buster Murdaugh has begun a new chapter in his life. The surviving son married his longtime girlfriend Brooklynn White. Buster Murdaugh has maintained a low profile since his father's conviction, but during the trial, he said he didn't believe his father guilty.
Joining Nancy Grace Today:
- Troy Slaten - Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney, Slaten Lawyers, APC, Twitter @TroySlaten
- Dr. Shari Schwartz - Forensic Psychologist (specializing in Capital Mitigation and Victim Advocacy), www.panthermitigation.com, Twitter: https://twitter.com/TrialDoc, Author: "Criminal Behavior" and "Where Law and Psychology Intersect"
- Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet", Host: "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan"
- Dave Mack - Investigative Reporter, Crime Online
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace in the last days. Finally
some good news for the son of convicted killer former
lawyer Alex Murdogg. His son Buster, who attended his trial
faithfully every single day, marries his fiancee, Brooklyn White and
(00:22):
a South Carolina wedding four years after his mother and
brother were gunned down dead. I'm as he, Grace, this
is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. The
only living son of convicted killer Alex Murdog has married
his longtime fiancee and a private, yet luxurious wedding in
(00:42):
South Carolina. I recall distinctly sitting right behind Buster Murdog
as he sat through his dad's double murder trial in
the shooting deaths of wife Maggie and son Paul. Buster
thirty two and fiancee Brooklyn White tied the knot in
front of family and friends at a former hunting estate
(01:04):
in Beaufort, South Carolina. It's in a past riverside community
on Ladies Island. I wonder what mixed feelings he must
have had as he stood at the altar waiting for
Brooklyn to walk down the aisle without his father or
his brother standing in as best man and without seeing
(01:26):
his mother beaming on the front row. The wake of
pain left behind by Alex Murdock seemingly never ends what
happened that night at Murdog's hunting lodge.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Fitz News is reporting sources close to the investigation say
that physical forensic evidence directly ties Alex Murdad to the
double homicide. Fitz News sighting sources close to the investigation
claims Alex Murdaud is the only person identified as a
person of interest. On June seventh, twenty twenty one, Alex
Murdoch called nine one round ten oh seven pm to
(02:01):
report that he had found the bodies of his fifty
two year old wife, Maggie and twenty two year old
son Paul. Fitznews claims Maggie murdaught you was shot and
killed by a semi automatic rifle around the same time
as her son was killed.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
With us an all star panel to make sense of
what we know right now. High profile lawyer out of
LA Troy Slayton, forensic psychologist, author of Criminal Behavior and
Where Law on Psychology, intersect Doctor Sherry Schwartz, Professor Forensics,
Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on
Amazon and star of a U hit series Bodybags, with
(02:33):
Joseph Scott Morgan joining us, but straight out to Dave
Matt Crime Online dot Com investigative reporter, Dave, I mean,
I don't know that I need a forensics expert to
tell me there's gonna be evidence linking Alec Murdog to
the dead bodies of his wife and his son. And
I'll tell you why, Dave. We've talked about it several
(02:56):
times off air. You have him, Alec Murdog, then arranging
a hit on himself. Remember that when he's found bleeding
from the head out on a rural road. Nothing he
said made any sense about changing his tire, and then
he said some guys came along and took a shot
at him. Turns out his dope dealer was paid to
(03:18):
shoot him in the head. Now think about it. Think
about it, Dave Mack. This is just weeks after his
wife and son are shot in the head execution style. Wow,
I wonder who orchestrated that. So you're telling me, Dave Mack,
that there are reports not of just deduction such as
(03:39):
what I just did two and two eekals four, but
actual physical forensic evidence linking Alec Murdoch to the double murder.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Absolutely, Nancy.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Here's what we've got.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
At least one of the weapons used in the double
homicide of Maggie and Paul Murdach belonged to the Murdof family.
We've got deputies finding shell casings at the scene that
they're obviously matching to at least one of the guns,
but two different guns were supposedly used. One was a
(04:13):
semi automatic rifle. We've got agents on the scene that
are searching a river, the Salkahatchie River swampy area, approximately
two miles south of Mozelle, that are getting more evidence.
And we've got again this evidence that ties all of
this together. Maggie Murdaw's cell phone is found along the
(04:37):
rural South Carolina road just outside the family seventeen hundred
acre hunting lodge the day after the murder. All of
that put together is what we're dealing with in terms
of physical evidence.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
So you're saying that from those items and whatever they've
dredged up out of the Sakahatchie, you're saying that it's
your belief on those items is the physical evidence they're
talking about. And not only that, not only that way,
what about a potential gunshot residue test they may have
(05:13):
done on Alex Murdoch at the time he found his
dead wife and son. And did you mention that they
towed the company vehicle that night and processed it?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Did you say that, Dave mack I am now that
they actually did impound It was a twenty twenty one
Chevy Suburban that was registered to the Murdall Law firm.
And all of this is being reported through Fitz News.
That's where we're getting this information. Nancy law enforcement on
the scene that night, collected all of this evidence that
we know how this works out from a balistic standpoint
(05:47):
to the residue test. The police are playing this so
close to the vest, but we're getting enough information to
be able to tie it together to see these links
are all pointing back to Alex Murdau.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Guys, I want you to take a listen to Alex
Murdoch's nine to one one call our cut twenty five.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
One within their emergency tell me one forty seven, mosaille Road,
I think the police acade from my wife And okay,
you said forty one forty seven, Moti wrote analogin sir,
you said forty one forty seven mozel rode alogin yes, sir,
(06:35):
forty one forty three Road on the line.
Speaker 6 (06:39):
Yes Thursday, on the line with the okayticut communication.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
Colleton, I have an Alex Murdoch on the line. Call
it from forty one forty seven mos Roll.
Speaker 6 (06:49):
He's advising that his wife.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Aunt child was shot.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Okay in sorry, whatly forty one forty seven Moselle Road.
I've been up to it now it's.
Speaker 6 (07:01):
Bad, okay, okay, And are.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
No mam okay?
Speaker 6 (07:08):
Is that it's your wife and your son A wife
and my son.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
No ground out at my.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Kennel, Jackie. Do they have the death penalty in South Carolina?
I'm pretty sure that they do. Okay. Troy Slayton, high
profile lawyer joining me out of la Hey. We tried
to give Alex Murdog the benefit of the doubt. Well, okay,
you tried. But now that I know, as I suspected
(07:43):
long suspected. He is the one that finds the dead bodies.
He is the one that owns the residents where they're found.
He's the one uh looking at a big fat, juicy
divorce from a wife who is likely to cover during
her discovery process, her legal discovery process, that he has
(08:05):
been embezzling money from all of his clients and sniffing
it up his nose for years. It's all going to
come out in her divorce. And they are murdog guns.
We learned that on day one. A source told us
day one that at least one of the guns was
(08:27):
a murdog gun. All right, so what more do I
need to know for Pete's sake? Then he stages his
own suicide botched, I might add, and lies through his
teeth about it until we find out his doper friend
is the one that grazed his head. I mean, he's
lying about everything. Remember even his lawyer came out and
(08:49):
actually said he had brain damage. He showed up in
court the next week. He didn't even have on does
he have on a band aid? That's some brain injury.
Troy Slayton. I mean, what do you need to know?
This man is lied about everything, and he's the one
that faces a pecuniary Jane money Jane with the death
(09:10):
of his wife and son. And now we have Dave
Mack telling us that reports are Alex Murdoch is linked
forensically physical elevens. I'm talking about fingerprints DNA to the
double murders. And now when I listen to that nine
one one call, I mean I'm taking that with a
(09:30):
box assault Troy Layton.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Well, we're being told that the evidence is substantial, that
it's serious, but we don't know exactly what that physical
evidence connection is yet. To Alex Murdoch, what's interesting is
that a different gun was used in each one of
the murders at the time of that double homicide that
happened at the same time. Why would somebody, why would
(09:55):
one individual use two different guns on two people at
the same time. It doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Well, it may not make sense, but does it make
sense to murder your wife and son? Does that make
sense to you? Shroy Slaton. Criminals do all sorts of
crazy things. It's not up to a prosecutor to lurk
around inside a killer's mind and figure out why.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
But things have to make sense. And the problem that
the prosecutors have here is they could just confuse the jury.
They're charging him right now with fifty one counts. That
means fifty one separate crimes and fifty one sets of
elements that a jury would have to go through to
(10:38):
try and condict.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
Right.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Don't cut it yet, Troy Slaton. The current charges relate
to what the fifty one counts you're referring to, refer.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
To possible embezzlement and misappropriation of funds from his grandfather
and great grandfather and father's law firms that was set
up for one hundred years and clients.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
And clients who are now finding out that he apparently,
Dave Mac is there report he embezzle funds from a
client that was paraplegic and brain damaged.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Actually, he was a.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Young man who was death who was in a car
accident with his mother and another friend who he The
accident left him as a paraplegic and in a home,
and Murdau is alleged to have taken all of the
money over three hundred thousand dollars that was due for
the death paraplegic man's family, as well as the money
(11:34):
from his the man's mother and the other person in
the car, hundreds of thousands of dollars intended to go
to this family.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
That was a little TMI, but I'll take it. You
can never know enough facts, Dave Mac. But what you
told me actually just made me feel a little nauseous.
Crime stores with Nancy Grace, the only remaining son of
(12:04):
convicted killer Alex Murdogg, has happiness. Buster, who endured many
many false claims that he was somehow involved in the
death of a young man in his community. Stephen Smith
has married fiancee Brooklyn White, a lawyer in South Carolina,
four years after the family double murder. The wedding was
(12:28):
reportedly beautiful, with fifty people attending. It looks as if
Buster Murdog's wife has chosen to take his surname on
social media. The exact date of the wedding and any
and all details were kept secret until the two officially married,
and what has been reported in a beautiful ceremony. Some
(12:51):
of the items we've learned about on the wedding register
a Blackstone griddle, a Yetti Tundra hard cooler, and a
Dyson Robot vacuum. The public's not really sure when the
two started dating, but it's believed they met when they
were both law students at University South Carolina Law School. Reportedly,
Brooklyn White was actually with Buster Murdoch when his father
(13:14):
called to tell him. Maggie and Paul had been killed.
As you recall, Murdon got two life sentences without parole
last year in the shootings. What happened direct physical evidence?
Direct evidence is like an eyewitness DNA fingerprinted. Okay. Circumstantial
(13:35):
evidence is you were at the scene of the crime.
You're the one that reported the murders. You're the one
that has a motive. Your glove was found there on
the scene. That doesn't a murder make So that's what
we know right now. And with that as a backdrop,
(13:56):
Joe Scott Morgan and doctor Sherry Schwartz, I want you
to take to listen to more of Alex Murdog's nine
to one one call when he seemingly found his wife
and son Paul dead, shot dead behind his hunting lodge
with a Murdog gun. Take a listen to our cut
(14:18):
twenty six.
Speaker 6 (14:21):
Okay, is he bringing it all?
Speaker 7 (14:24):
No?
Speaker 5 (14:25):
No one?
Speaker 8 (14:27):
Okay, sell anyone in the area.
Speaker 9 (14:32):
No, ma'am, No, ma'am.
Speaker 8 (14:35):
That colors your house on the outside?
Speaker 6 (14:38):
What color is your house on the outside?
Speaker 5 (14:42):
What you can't see it from the road?
Speaker 6 (14:44):
Okay?
Speaker 8 (14:44):
Is it a house or mobile home?
Speaker 6 (14:47):
It's the house? Okay?
Speaker 8 (14:48):
What is your name?
Speaker 1 (14:50):
My name for Alex Murdoch.
Speaker 6 (14:55):
Okay, did you hear anything or did you come home
and find them?
Speaker 5 (15:00):
I've been gone.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
I just came back.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
No, ma'am.
Speaker 8 (15:18):
We're getting somebody out there to you.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Okay, when you listen to that, knowing what we now know?
What what I'd like to know? And I asked this
on day one to you, Joseph Scott, Morgan death investigator,
a forensics expert. How could they pluck what time? What's
my time window for the time of death? And that's
(15:44):
so important because Alex Murdock said that he was at
the hospital seeing his sick father, who passed away a
few days later. I need to know what time he
was there, the drive time between the hospital and the
hunting lodge, and the time of death. How do I
(16:05):
know Maggie and Paul weren't shot three hours before he
went to the hospital. How do I know they weren't
shot just before he called nine to one one, placing
him virtually at the scene of the crime at the
time the murders occurred. The time of death is crucial,
It's critical. What about it? Joe Scott?
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Yeah, we might you might not know. We might not know,
but slid does when they showed up at that scene, Nancy.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
One of the things that they did, Carolina Law Enforcement Division,
go ahead.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Yeah, they began to do a post mortem assessment of
the bodies. And simply what that means is they're going
to check for all those things we look for, Nancy,
the rigidity of the body, how stiff it is relative
to riger mortis, post mortem lividity, which is the settling
of blood. And also also they're going to check the
body temperature. Now, the reason those things are important is
(16:55):
that we can kind of theoretically tom stamp each one
of those events. So the further for instance, with algamortis
or the body temperature changes for the first hour after death,
our bodies generally lose one point five to two degrees
of our total core body temperature in that first hour.
(17:15):
After that it bleeds off one degree one degree for
twelve hours. All right, So if you think that the
body may have been down for I don't know, we're
looking maybe the body when they do the body core
temperature is maybe at ninety degrees. Then we could suppose
that perhaps these bodies had been down anywhere from seven
(17:36):
to eight hours at that point in time.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
And Joe Scott when the algorithm you're using vary based
on the ambiant temperature. The temperature it does, it does.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
And you know, the way I explained it is that
after that twelfth hour, Nancy, we become an inanimate object.
All of the energy we generated has burned off at
that point in time.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Riger mortars rigor mortars, which means stiffening of the limbs,
the libra mortise, which is the settling of the blood.
And what I mean by that is, if you die
on your back, your blood is no longer pumping through
your body and it will all settle down to the
lowest common denominator, like a glass of water, It all
(18:19):
goes to the bottom of the glass. Same thing. So
mortis mortis body temperature and what else.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Well, well, when we you know, obviously when they get
back to the more to do the autopsy, they're going
to look at stomach content too, and that's a measurable
that that moves at a measurable rate from our you know,
relative to our digestion. So if they ate at six
o'clock that night, and depended upon what they ate, you
can expect, you know, perhaps the stomach to have been full,
(18:49):
all right, because at that at that point in time,
parstolis is going to stop. The food's going to stop
moving through the body digestion. Yeah, and so it's gonna
be using medical terms. Nobody else on this panel is
a medical doctor. Please, regular people talk. Yeah, Well, if
we albody impressed.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Me, Okay, you don't have to keep trying to impress.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
What I do want to impress though, is this this
idea of the settling of the blood Nancy, Because if
somebody monkeyed around with those bodies and move the bodies
around during the night.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Oh, that well, I got to write that down, Troy Slayton.
I'm going to circle back to you with that. If
the scene was staged, if the bodies had been moved,
he's down the water, I'm telling you. Because a random
killer would not think to drag the bodies around or
pose them in a certain way. That has to be
a known killer. Okay, hold on, God, that was it?
(19:44):
Stage to go ahead, Sorry, just scot.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
That's all right. So you know, post mortem lividity actually
starts sooner than any alreadys appreciable, sooner than any of
these other things. So if it's say, for instance, the
young Mardall was laying face down. Okay, post mortem lividity
would have begun to be appreciable within twenty minutes of death, Nancy.
(20:07):
The question is is that after you get outside of
that four hour window and you've moved the body, it
no longer migrates at that time.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
About coagulation of blood, if the blood had already dried
or not dried on the wounds, what would that tell you,
Joe Scott Morgan.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Yeah, because that, again, that's going to be environmentally dependent,
bear metric, the relative humidity and all that sort of thing.
It's different being outdoors, so you would have to have
all of that information in order to computate that.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
So that's going to be less reliable. So you're thinking
that the physical evidence, what do you think the physical
evidence is? Could there be a fingerprint on the shell
casing on the guns?
Speaker 4 (20:53):
You know what I think it is. Here's my big
reveal on this. I think this might have something to
do with blood stains. And the reason I think that
is that remember what Dave said, the young one, he
took two shotgun wounds, Nancy. So if you've got an individual,
the perpetrator, who is in a dominant position with a
(21:14):
twelve gay shotgun. I don't know if that's the gauge
or not. And they're standing over this individual shot in
the chest and the head. Guess what happens. You get
a dynamic event with blood staining. The higher the velocity,
the tinier the blood stain. Okay, we're talking about very fine,
all right, And that's going to happen with a high
(21:36):
velocity gunshot wound. So just suppose, just suppose, for instance,
he's kneeling over the body and he clutches his dear
son to his chest. That's going to be transferred blood.
That's going to look different to the people from the
people which slid when they see him and they take
those pictures of him at the at the lock up
(21:56):
or wherever they took him afterwards, and they take his clothes,
which they did, you're gonna have that fine bloods thing.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Doctor Sherry Schwartz, forensic psychologist, How often have we seen
the killer state that I tried to resuscitate them. I
clutched them, I held them to my chest, I hugged them.
That's how I got the blood transfer.
Speaker 8 (22:18):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 9 (22:19):
That that would probably be the natural place for him
to go. Something else that he says, not once, but
twice on that nine to one one call. That's very
striking to me, is I've been up to it now
it's bad to me. That sounds like a confession.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Doctor Sherry Sports, let me ask you a question. I mean,
you're the forensic psychologist. You're the one that wrote Criminal
Behavior and where law and psychology intersect. What do you
make of a little noticed fact that Maggie Murdoch's phone
was taken from the scene and discarded out on the street.
(22:54):
It's a good ways I've been there from the home.
There's a really long driveway out to the road, and
you can't see the Murdog hunting Lodge as they call
it from the street. What do you make of the
fact that the killer took her phone number one and
then threw it away out on the street. I find
(23:17):
that to be very significant behaviorally speaking.
Speaker 9 (23:22):
I agree that is significant behaviorally speaking. Now, he may
try to say, or the defense may try to say, well,
that was somebody running away from the crime scene with
this particular evidence, but then why not take other things? Really,
what it suggests is possibly what Joe Scott Morgan is saying,
that it might be somewhat of a staged crime scene
(23:43):
or you know, happened hours earlier, and so somebody took
the time to try to discard some of this.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Evidence that was actually mean that said that. And I'm
wondering if to me it would make more sense if,
in fact, he murdered his wife and son he did
it before the hospital visit, because how could he orchestrate
them both being there unless he planned it? And what
would be the significance of taking Maggie's cell phone unless
(24:12):
he wanted to erase something off the cell phone? And
exactly because this guy, doctor Sherry Schwartz, is so messed
up on drugs. I mean he's now, as you heard
defense attorney Troy Slayton state, he's got fifty one embezzlement
type counts against him right now. He's being investigated regarding
(24:37):
the deaths of multiple people, including a young man that
lived nearby, Stephen Smith, a housekeeper Gloria Sadderfield. His son Paul,
was involved in the death of a young girl, Mallory
Beach on the family boat. Who knows if this guy
had the wherewithal to remove fingerprints. And when you're talking
(24:59):
about blo blood transfer, a blood transfer to be explained
away by the defendant, saying I held him, I hug them.
I tried to perform CPR, but as Joe Scott Morgan
was talking about blood evidence, blood spatter means you were
near the body at the time of the murder. Crime
(25:26):
stories with Nancy Grace in the last days. Finally happiness
for Buster Murdoch, who endured the murder of his mother
and brother, then sat every single day through the trial
of his father, disgraced attorney Alex Murdoch, remaining loyal to
(25:48):
the end to his dad. Finally, happiness for this young
man who was endured so much and he got the catch.
His wife, Brooklyn, a native of Rockkill, South Carolina, went
to college in Alabama, got her degree there in political science.
(26:08):
She graduated law school University of South Carolina sometime between
twenty eighteen and twenty twenty one. She then took a
position at a respected law firm in Hilton Head twenty
twenty one. Buster Murdock had been a law student at
USC as well. He left under a cloud, but after
(26:28):
the murders of his mom and brother, who knows if
he can ever bring himself to go back to law school.
He had stayed out of the public eye since his
dad was convicted for the two murders. I recalled during
the trial Brooklyn White comforting Buster as best she could
in the courtroom as the evidence poured from the witness stand.
(26:50):
What happened in that courtroom?
Speaker 8 (26:54):
Okay?
Speaker 6 (26:55):
What is her name?
Speaker 5 (26:57):
A college Maggie and Paul Maggie?
Speaker 6 (27:02):
Is her name?
Speaker 9 (27:05):
Jeff, ma'am?
Speaker 5 (27:06):
Okay, and please hurry.
Speaker 8 (27:09):
We're getting somebody out there to you, me asking you
these questions.
Speaker 6 (27:12):
Don't floating down? Okay?
Speaker 8 (27:17):
Are you sure they're not breathing?
Speaker 6 (27:23):
Is he moving? Now? Your son? I know you said
that she was shocked, but what about your son?
Speaker 5 (27:31):
Nobody? They're not even one?
Speaker 6 (27:33):
Always move? What is your telephone number?
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Cama?
Speaker 5 (27:52):
Not particularly really, no, ma'am.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Okay, okay. To Troy Slayton, we have to take into
account as we listen to this nine one one call. Now,
Alexi Murdog didn't He also called nine one one after
he was shot in the head and put up much
the same story that an unknown assailant had driven by
(28:19):
him and out of nowhere shot him in the head
and whoops, he lived? What about that? Is anybody making
that parallel?
Speaker 3 (28:26):
We're trying to say that this is an Academy Award
winning performance.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Nancy, I'm saying it's been it was rehearsed, okay, because
didn't he wait, didn't he call nine one one when
he was shot on the side of the road Joe.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
Scott, Yes, he did, Nancy, he sure did. And so
this to me, as an investigator, I'm looking at a
pattern developing. He got away with the first time, potentially,
and now he thinks he's going to get away with
it again when he's feigning this gunshot wound to the head.
That's some unknown perpetrator.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
I mean, Troy Slayton. Can't you just see a prosecutor
playing all these nine one one calls, especially the one
on the side of the road where the dope dealer
confesses reportedly that Murnod hired him to shoot him, and
here Murdod crying and carrying on on the phone just
like he's doing here.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
And as a defense attorney, we would say there is
no playbook for the horror that a.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Come up with something new. Oh, I want to beat
my head against the wall.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
You say that every time, would express once they find
some sort of horrific situation like his wife and child
being killed.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
But he sounds the same way in his own nimal
one call when he stays just shooting.
Speaker 7 (29:39):
On himself, same thing, all that breathing and the gulping
and the whining, same exact thing.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Let's go back to the staging of the scene.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
You're gonna lie, it's something you want to talk about.
Speaker 9 (29:55):
Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
I can't wait to hear this.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
So if there's physical evidence that bodies were moved from
the place where the murders happened so that way they
look like something else, then yes. And if somehow Alex
Murdoch is connected to that movement of the bodies, that
would be really damning evidence for him that big I
(30:18):
would be.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
A big whoopsie for you to explain the next time
we talk about this, wouldn't it. I'm less unless.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Moving the body in order to perform some sort of
life saving measure, moving the body in order to perform
CPR or to try and resuscitate them.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
See, that's why you make all that money, because you
just spun that out of thin air like rumpel Stilskin.
I mean, you just spun it into gold. Amazing, amazing
what you just did right there, Guys, with all the
knowledge we now are amassing. I'm really interested in these
nine to one one calls. Take a listen to Alex
(30:53):
Murdog in our cut twenty eight.
Speaker 8 (31:00):
Have you ever since you've got on the phone with me,
I have multiple people coming out there to you.
Speaker 6 (31:06):
Okay. I don't want you to touch them at all. Okay,
I don't. I don't know if you've already touched them,
and I don't.
Speaker 8 (31:11):
I don't want you to touch them just in case
they can get any kind of evidence.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Okay, I'm all in such and time to get to
see if they were breathing.
Speaker 8 (31:20):
Okay, Well, I just don't want you to move anything,
just in case they can get any kind of evidence.
Speaker 6 (31:28):
Okay, Oh.
Speaker 5 (31:41):
Yeah, man, I'm gonna call.
Speaker 6 (31:44):
I need to call some of my family. Okay, Well,
will there be a favor for me whenever you see
the officer or the Meddix, because.
Speaker 8 (31:53):
They're they're all coming to you.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
Absolutely, okay, but we have them come in. Turn on
the flashes on your vehicle so they can see you. Okay,
you got the flashes on for me?
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Wow? He sure calms down pretty quickly, did you hear that?
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (32:13):
I got them on. I'm calling my family. I call
my lawyer and calling my dope dealer. So okay, let
me go back to you. Dave Mack joining us Crime
online dot Com investigative reporter, tell me again the report
that there is direct physical evidence linking him Alex Murdog
to the double murders.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
At least one of the weapons used in the double
homicide belonged to the murdav family. We know that law
enforcement impounded a twenty twenty one Chevy Suburban registered to
the Murdad law firm from the scene. We know that
deputies found shellcasing at the scene. This is a report
from fitz News. SLED agents requested the Sheriff's deputy search
(32:55):
the area near the crime seemper video surveillance systems on
the morning after the murged. Don't know what they found there.
On June sixteenth, SLED agents, we're collecting evidence in a
swampy area near the Skahatchie River, about two miles south
of Mozelle and Maggie. Murdaw's cell phone was found along
a rural South Carolina road just outside the family seventeen
(33:16):
hundred acre hunting lodge the day after the murder.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Straight out to Donna Sherry Schwartz, forensic psychologist, joining us
not to Sherry, how do you analyze what you heard
on the NAIM one call?
Speaker 9 (33:28):
Well, I mean, there's so many things, right, I mean,
he's he starts off, he's very emotional, he's crying, he's
gasping for air, and then, as you pointed out at
the end, it's very calm. A matter of fact, it's
very striking to me that in the midst of this
horror and waiting for first responders, he needs to get
(33:50):
off the phone to contact family. I mean, you know,
have you given up totally?
Speaker 6 (33:57):
You know, who are you calling?
Speaker 9 (33:59):
What family do you need to contact?
Speaker 6 (34:01):
And why at this moment?
Speaker 9 (34:02):
You know, how are you gathering your.
Speaker 6 (34:04):
Thoughts in that way?
Speaker 9 (34:07):
And he also says, you know that he did touch
them to see if they were breathing, but he doesn't
mention anything about trying to render aid.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Well wishers including crime stories wish Alex Murdoch's son Buster
Murdoch and his new wife happiness as they try to
forge a new life. His father, Alex Murdoch, behind bars
for two life without parole sentences, and the murders of
wife Maggie and son Paul. Alex Murdoch now appealing those convictions.
(34:39):
We wait as justice unfolds.
Speaker 7 (34:43):
Goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace in the last days. Finally
some good news for the son of convicted killer former
lawyer Alex Murdogg. His son Buster, who attended his trial
faithfully every single day, marries his fiancee, Brooklyn White and
(00:22):
a South Carolina wedding four years after his mother and
brother were gunned down dead. I'm as he, Grace, this
is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. The
only living son of convicted killer Alex Murdog has married
his longtime fiancee and a private, yet luxurious wedding in
(00:42):
South Carolina. I recall distinctly sitting right behind Buster Murdog
as he sat through his dad's double murder trial in
the shooting deaths of wife Maggie and son Paul. Buster
thirty two and fiancee Brooklyn White tied the knot in
front of family and friends at a former hunting estate
(01:04):
in Beaufort, South Carolina. It's in a past riverside community
on Ladies Island. I wonder what mixed feelings he must
have had as he stood at the altar waiting for
Brooklyn to walk down the aisle without his father or
his brother standing in as best man and without seeing
(01:26):
his mother beaming on the front row. The wake of
pain left behind by Alex Murdock seemingly never ends what
happened that night at Murdog's hunting lodge.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Fitz News is reporting sources close to the investigation say
that physical forensic evidence directly ties Alex Murdad to the
double homicide. Fitz News sighting sources close to the investigation
claims Alex Murdaud is the only person identified as a
person of interest. On June seventh, twenty twenty one, Alex
Murdoch called nine one round ten oh seven pm to
(02:01):
report that he had found the bodies of his fifty
two year old wife, Maggie and twenty two year old
son Paul. Fitznews claims Maggie murdaught you was shot and
killed by a semi automatic rifle around the same time
as her son was killed.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
With us an all star panel to make sense of
what we know right now. High profile lawyer out of
LA Troy Slayton, forensic psychologist, author of Criminal Behavior and
Where Law on Psychology, intersect Doctor Sherry Schwartz, Professor Forensics,
Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on
Amazon and star of a U hit series Bodybags, with
(02:33):
Joseph Scott Morgan joining us, but straight out to Dave
Matt Crime Online dot Com investigative reporter, Dave, I mean,
I don't know that I need a forensics expert to
tell me there's gonna be evidence linking Alec Murdog to
the dead bodies of his wife and his son. And
I'll tell you why, Dave. We've talked about it several
(02:56):
times off air. You have him, Alec Murdog, then arranging
a hit on himself. Remember that when he's found bleeding
from the head out on a rural road. Nothing he
said made any sense about changing his tire, and then
he said some guys came along and took a shot
at him. Turns out his dope dealer was paid to
(03:18):
shoot him in the head. Now think about it. Think
about it, Dave Mack. This is just weeks after his
wife and son are shot in the head execution style. Wow,
I wonder who orchestrated that. So you're telling me, Dave Mack,
that there are reports not of just deduction such as
(03:39):
what I just did two and two eekals four, but
actual physical forensic evidence linking Alec Murdoch to the double murder.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Absolutely, Nancy.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Here's what we've got.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
At least one of the weapons used in the double
homicide of Maggie and Paul Murdach belonged to the Murdof family.
We've got deputies finding shell casings at the scene that
they're obviously matching to at least one of the guns,
but two different guns were supposedly used. One was a
(04:13):
semi automatic rifle. We've got agents on the scene that
are searching a river, the Salkahatchie River swampy area, approximately
two miles south of Mozelle, that are getting more evidence.
And we've got again this evidence that ties all of
this together. Maggie Murdaw's cell phone is found along the
(04:37):
rural South Carolina road just outside the family seventeen hundred
acre hunting lodge the day after the murder. All of
that put together is what we're dealing with in terms
of physical evidence.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
So you're saying that from those items and whatever they've
dredged up out of the Sakahatchie, you're saying that it's
your belief on those items is the physical evidence they're
talking about. And not only that, not only that way,
what about a potential gunshot residue test they may have
(05:13):
done on Alex Murdoch at the time he found his
dead wife and son. And did you mention that they
towed the company vehicle that night and processed it?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Did you say that, Dave mack I am now that
they actually did impound It was a twenty twenty one
Chevy Suburban that was registered to the Murdall Law firm.
And all of this is being reported through Fitz News.
That's where we're getting this information. Nancy law enforcement on
the scene that night, collected all of this evidence that
we know how this works out from a balistic standpoint
(05:47):
to the residue test. The police are playing this so
close to the vest, but we're getting enough information to
be able to tie it together to see these links
are all pointing back to Alex Murdau.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Guys, I want you to take a listen to Alex
Murdoch's nine to one one call our cut twenty five.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
One within their emergency tell me one forty seven, mosaille Road,
I think the police acade from my wife And okay,
you said forty one forty seven, Moti wrote analogin sir,
you said forty one forty seven mozel rode alogin yes, sir,
(06:35):
forty one forty three Road on the line.
Speaker 6 (06:39):
Yes Thursday, on the line with the okayticut communication.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
Colleton, I have an Alex Murdoch on the line. Call
it from forty one forty seven mos Roll.
Speaker 6 (06:49):
He's advising that his wife.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Aunt child was shot.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Okay in sorry, whatly forty one forty seven Moselle Road.
I've been up to it now it's.
Speaker 6 (07:01):
Bad, okay, okay, And are.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
No mam okay?
Speaker 6 (07:08):
Is that it's your wife and your son A wife
and my son.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
No ground out at my.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Kennel, Jackie. Do they have the death penalty in South Carolina?
I'm pretty sure that they do. Okay. Troy Slayton, high
profile lawyer joining me out of la Hey. We tried
to give Alex Murdog the benefit of the doubt. Well, okay,
you tried. But now that I know, as I suspected
(07:43):
long suspected. He is the one that finds the dead bodies.
He is the one that owns the residents where they're found.
He's the one uh looking at a big fat, juicy
divorce from a wife who is likely to cover during
her discovery process, her legal discovery process, that he has
(08:05):
been embezzling money from all of his clients and sniffing
it up his nose for years. It's all going to
come out in her divorce. And they are murdog guns.
We learned that on day one. A source told us
day one that at least one of the guns was
(08:27):
a murdog gun. All right, so what more do I
need to know for Pete's sake? Then he stages his
own suicide botched, I might add, and lies through his
teeth about it until we find out his doper friend
is the one that grazed his head. I mean, he's
lying about everything. Remember even his lawyer came out and
(08:49):
actually said he had brain damage. He showed up in
court the next week. He didn't even have on does
he have on a band aid? That's some brain injury.
Troy Slayton. I mean, what do you need to know?
This man is lied about everything, and he's the one
that faces a pecuniary Jane money Jane with the death
(09:10):
of his wife and son. And now we have Dave
Mack telling us that reports are Alex Murdoch is linked
forensically physical elevens. I'm talking about fingerprints DNA to the
double murders. And now when I listen to that nine
one one call, I mean I'm taking that with a
(09:30):
box assault Troy Layton.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Well, we're being told that the evidence is substantial, that
it's serious, but we don't know exactly what that physical
evidence connection is yet. To Alex Murdoch, what's interesting is
that a different gun was used in each one of
the murders at the time of that double homicide that
happened at the same time. Why would somebody, why would
(09:55):
one individual use two different guns on two people at
the same time. It doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Well, it may not make sense, but does it make
sense to murder your wife and son? Does that make
sense to you? Shroy Slaton. Criminals do all sorts of
crazy things. It's not up to a prosecutor to lurk
around inside a killer's mind and figure out why.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
But things have to make sense. And the problem that
the prosecutors have here is they could just confuse the jury.
They're charging him right now with fifty one counts. That
means fifty one separate crimes and fifty one sets of
elements that a jury would have to go through to
(10:38):
try and condict.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
Right.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Don't cut it yet, Troy Slaton. The current charges relate
to what the fifty one counts you're referring to, refer.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
To possible embezzlement and misappropriation of funds from his grandfather
and great grandfather and father's law firms that was set
up for one hundred years and clients.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
And clients who are now finding out that he apparently,
Dave Mac is there report he embezzle funds from a
client that was paraplegic and brain damaged.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Actually, he was a.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Young man who was death who was in a car
accident with his mother and another friend who he The
accident left him as a paraplegic and in a home,
and Murdau is alleged to have taken all of the
money over three hundred thousand dollars that was due for
the death paraplegic man's family, as well as the money
(11:34):
from his the man's mother and the other person in
the car, hundreds of thousands of dollars intended to go
to this family.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
That was a little TMI, but I'll take it. You
can never know enough facts, Dave Mac. But what you
told me actually just made me feel a little nauseous.
Crime stores with Nancy Grace, the only remaining son of
(12:04):
convicted killer Alex Murdogg, has happiness. Buster, who endured many
many false claims that he was somehow involved in the
death of a young man in his community. Stephen Smith
has married fiancee Brooklyn White, a lawyer in South Carolina,
four years after the family double murder. The wedding was
(12:28):
reportedly beautiful, with fifty people attending. It looks as if
Buster Murdog's wife has chosen to take his surname on
social media. The exact date of the wedding and any
and all details were kept secret until the two officially married,
and what has been reported in a beautiful ceremony. Some
(12:51):
of the items we've learned about on the wedding register
a Blackstone griddle, a Yetti Tundra hard cooler, and a
Dyson Robot vacuum. The public's not really sure when the
two started dating, but it's believed they met when they
were both law students at University South Carolina Law School. Reportedly,
Brooklyn White was actually with Buster Murdoch when his father
(13:14):
called to tell him. Maggie and Paul had been killed.
As you recall, Murdon got two life sentences without parole
last year in the shootings. What happened direct physical evidence?
Direct evidence is like an eyewitness DNA fingerprinted. Okay. Circumstantial
(13:35):
evidence is you were at the scene of the crime.
You're the one that reported the murders. You're the one
that has a motive. Your glove was found there on
the scene. That doesn't a murder make So that's what
we know right now. And with that as a backdrop,
(13:56):
Joe Scott Morgan and doctor Sherry Schwartz, I want you
to take to listen to more of Alex Murdog's nine
to one one call when he seemingly found his wife
and son Paul dead, shot dead behind his hunting lodge
with a Murdog gun. Take a listen to our cut
(14:18):
twenty six.
Speaker 6 (14:21):
Okay, is he bringing it all?
Speaker 7 (14:24):
No?
Speaker 5 (14:25):
No one?
Speaker 8 (14:27):
Okay, sell anyone in the area.
Speaker 9 (14:32):
No, ma'am, No, ma'am.
Speaker 8 (14:35):
That colors your house on the outside?
Speaker 6 (14:38):
What color is your house on the outside?
Speaker 5 (14:42):
What you can't see it from the road?
Speaker 6 (14:44):
Okay?
Speaker 8 (14:44):
Is it a house or mobile home?
Speaker 6 (14:47):
It's the house? Okay?
Speaker 8 (14:48):
What is your name?
Speaker 1 (14:50):
My name for Alex Murdoch.
Speaker 6 (14:55):
Okay, did you hear anything or did you come home
and find them?
Speaker 5 (15:00):
I've been gone.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
I just came back.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
No, ma'am.
Speaker 8 (15:18):
We're getting somebody out there to you.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Okay, when you listen to that, knowing what we now know?
What what I'd like to know? And I asked this
on day one to you, Joseph Scott, Morgan death investigator,
a forensics expert. How could they pluck what time? What's
my time window for the time of death? And that's
(15:44):
so important because Alex Murdock said that he was at
the hospital seeing his sick father, who passed away a
few days later. I need to know what time he
was there, the drive time between the hospital and the
hunting lodge, and the time of death. How do I
(16:05):
know Maggie and Paul weren't shot three hours before he
went to the hospital. How do I know they weren't
shot just before he called nine to one one, placing
him virtually at the scene of the crime at the
time the murders occurred. The time of death is crucial,
It's critical. What about it? Joe Scott?
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Yeah, we might you might not know. We might not know,
but slid does when they showed up at that scene, Nancy.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
One of the things that they did, Carolina Law Enforcement Division,
go ahead.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Yeah, they began to do a post mortem assessment of
the bodies. And simply what that means is they're going
to check for all those things we look for, Nancy,
the rigidity of the body, how stiff it is relative
to riger mortis, post mortem lividity, which is the settling
of blood. And also also they're going to check the
body temperature. Now, the reason those things are important is
(16:55):
that we can kind of theoretically tom stamp each one
of those events. So the further for instance, with algamortis
or the body temperature changes for the first hour after death,
our bodies generally lose one point five to two degrees
of our total core body temperature in that first hour.
(17:15):
After that it bleeds off one degree one degree for
twelve hours. All right, So if you think that the
body may have been down for I don't know, we're
looking maybe the body when they do the body core
temperature is maybe at ninety degrees. Then we could suppose
that perhaps these bodies had been down anywhere from seven
(17:36):
to eight hours at that point in time.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
And Joe Scott when the algorithm you're using vary based
on the ambiant temperature. The temperature it does, it does.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
And you know, the way I explained it is that
after that twelfth hour, Nancy, we become an inanimate object.
All of the energy we generated has burned off at
that point in time.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Riger mortars rigor mortars, which means stiffening of the limbs,
the libra mortise, which is the settling of the blood.
And what I mean by that is, if you die
on your back, your blood is no longer pumping through
your body and it will all settle down to the
lowest common denominator, like a glass of water, It all
(18:19):
goes to the bottom of the glass. Same thing. So
mortis mortis body temperature and what else.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Well, well, when we you know, obviously when they get
back to the more to do the autopsy, they're going
to look at stomach content too, and that's a measurable
that that moves at a measurable rate from our you know,
relative to our digestion. So if they ate at six
o'clock that night, and depended upon what they ate, you
can expect, you know, perhaps the stomach to have been full,
(18:49):
all right, because at that at that point in time,
parstolis is going to stop. The food's going to stop
moving through the body digestion. Yeah, and so it's gonna
be using medical terms. Nobody else on this panel is
a medical doctor. Please, regular people talk. Yeah, Well, if
we albody impressed.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Me, Okay, you don't have to keep trying to impress.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
What I do want to impress though, is this this
idea of the settling of the blood Nancy, Because if
somebody monkeyed around with those bodies and move the bodies
around during the night.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Oh, that well, I got to write that down, Troy Slayton.
I'm going to circle back to you with that. If
the scene was staged, if the bodies had been moved,
he's down the water, I'm telling you. Because a random
killer would not think to drag the bodies around or
pose them in a certain way. That has to be
a known killer. Okay, hold on, God, that was it?
(19:44):
Stage to go ahead, Sorry, just scot.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
That's all right. So you know, post mortem lividity actually
starts sooner than any alreadys appreciable, sooner than any of
these other things. So if it's say, for instance, the
young Mardall was laying face down. Okay, post mortem lividity
would have begun to be appreciable within twenty minutes of death, Nancy.
(20:07):
The question is is that after you get outside of
that four hour window and you've moved the body, it
no longer migrates at that time.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
About coagulation of blood, if the blood had already dried
or not dried on the wounds, what would that tell you,
Joe Scott Morgan.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Yeah, because that, again, that's going to be environmentally dependent,
bear metric, the relative humidity and all that sort of thing.
It's different being outdoors, so you would have to have
all of that information in order to computate that.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
So that's going to be less reliable. So you're thinking
that the physical evidence, what do you think the physical
evidence is? Could there be a fingerprint on the shell
casing on the guns?
Speaker 4 (20:53):
You know what I think it is. Here's my big
reveal on this. I think this might have something to
do with blood stains. And the reason I think that
is that remember what Dave said, the young one, he
took two shotgun wounds, Nancy. So if you've got an individual,
the perpetrator, who is in a dominant position with a
(21:14):
twelve gay shotgun. I don't know if that's the gauge
or not. And they're standing over this individual shot in
the chest and the head. Guess what happens. You get
a dynamic event with blood staining. The higher the velocity,
the tinier the blood stain. Okay, we're talking about very fine,
all right, And that's going to happen with a high
(21:36):
velocity gunshot wound. So just suppose, just suppose, for instance,
he's kneeling over the body and he clutches his dear
son to his chest. That's going to be transferred blood.
That's going to look different to the people from the
people which slid when they see him and they take
those pictures of him at the at the lock up
(21:56):
or wherever they took him afterwards, and they take his clothes,
which they did, you're gonna have that fine bloods thing.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Doctor Sherry Schwartz, forensic psychologist, How often have we seen
the killer state that I tried to resuscitate them. I
clutched them, I held them to my chest, I hugged them.
That's how I got the blood transfer.
Speaker 8 (22:18):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 9 (22:19):
That that would probably be the natural place for him
to go. Something else that he says, not once, but
twice on that nine to one one call. That's very
striking to me, is I've been up to it now
it's bad to me. That sounds like a confession.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Doctor Sherry Sports, let me ask you a question. I mean,
you're the forensic psychologist. You're the one that wrote Criminal
Behavior and where law and psychology intersect. What do you
make of a little noticed fact that Maggie Murdoch's phone
was taken from the scene and discarded out on the street.
(22:54):
It's a good ways I've been there from the home.
There's a really long driveway out to the road, and
you can't see the Murdog hunting Lodge as they call
it from the street. What do you make of the
fact that the killer took her phone number one and
then threw it away out on the street. I find
(23:17):
that to be very significant behaviorally speaking.
Speaker 9 (23:22):
I agree that is significant behaviorally speaking. Now, he may
try to say, or the defense may try to say, well,
that was somebody running away from the crime scene with
this particular evidence, but then why not take other things? Really,
what it suggests is possibly what Joe Scott Morgan is saying,
that it might be somewhat of a staged crime scene
(23:43):
or you know, happened hours earlier, and so somebody took
the time to try to discard some of this.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Evidence that was actually mean that said that. And I'm
wondering if to me it would make more sense if,
in fact, he murdered his wife and son he did
it before the hospital visit, because how could he orchestrate
them both being there unless he planned it? And what
would be the significance of taking Maggie's cell phone unless
(24:12):
he wanted to erase something off the cell phone? And
exactly because this guy, doctor Sherry Schwartz, is so messed
up on drugs. I mean he's now, as you heard
defense attorney Troy Slayton state, he's got fifty one embezzlement
type counts against him right now. He's being investigated regarding
(24:37):
the deaths of multiple people, including a young man that
lived nearby, Stephen Smith, a housekeeper Gloria Sadderfield. His son Paul,
was involved in the death of a young girl, Mallory
Beach on the family boat. Who knows if this guy
had the wherewithal to remove fingerprints. And when you're talking
(24:59):
about blo blood transfer, a blood transfer to be explained
away by the defendant, saying I held him, I hug them.
I tried to perform CPR, but as Joe Scott Morgan
was talking about blood evidence, blood spatter means you were
near the body at the time of the murder. Crime
(25:26):
stories with Nancy Grace in the last days. Finally happiness
for Buster Murdoch, who endured the murder of his mother
and brother, then sat every single day through the trial
of his father, disgraced attorney Alex Murdoch, remaining loyal to
(25:48):
the end to his dad. Finally, happiness for this young
man who was endured so much and he got the catch.
His wife, Brooklyn, a native of Rockkill, South Carolina, went
to college in Alabama, got her degree there in political science.
(26:08):
She graduated law school University of South Carolina sometime between
twenty eighteen and twenty twenty one. She then took a
position at a respected law firm in Hilton Head twenty
twenty one. Buster Murdock had been a law student at
USC as well. He left under a cloud, but after
(26:28):
the murders of his mom and brother, who knows if
he can ever bring himself to go back to law school.
He had stayed out of the public eye since his
dad was convicted for the two murders. I recalled during
the trial Brooklyn White comforting Buster as best she could
in the courtroom as the evidence poured from the witness stand.
(26:50):
What happened in that courtroom?
Speaker 8 (26:54):
Okay?
Speaker 6 (26:55):
What is her name?
Speaker 5 (26:57):
A college Maggie and Paul Maggie?
Speaker 6 (27:02):
Is her name?
Speaker 9 (27:05):
Jeff, ma'am?
Speaker 5 (27:06):
Okay, and please hurry.
Speaker 8 (27:09):
We're getting somebody out there to you, me asking you
these questions.
Speaker 6 (27:12):
Don't floating down? Okay?
Speaker 8 (27:17):
Are you sure they're not breathing?
Speaker 6 (27:23):
Is he moving? Now? Your son? I know you said
that she was shocked, but what about your son?
Speaker 5 (27:31):
Nobody? They're not even one?
Speaker 6 (27:33):
Always move? What is your telephone number?
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Cama?
Speaker 5 (27:52):
Not particularly really, no, ma'am.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Okay, okay. To Troy Slayton, we have to take into
account as we listen to this nine one one call. Now,
Alexi Murdog didn't He also called nine one one after
he was shot in the head and put up much
the same story that an unknown assailant had driven by
(28:19):
him and out of nowhere shot him in the head
and whoops, he lived? What about that? Is anybody making
that parallel?
Speaker 3 (28:26):
We're trying to say that this is an Academy Award
winning performance.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Nancy, I'm saying it's been it was rehearsed, okay, because
didn't he wait, didn't he call nine one one when
he was shot on the side of the road Joe.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
Scott, Yes, he did, Nancy, he sure did. And so
this to me, as an investigator, I'm looking at a
pattern developing. He got away with the first time, potentially,
and now he thinks he's going to get away with
it again when he's feigning this gunshot wound to the head.
That's some unknown perpetrator.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
I mean, Troy Slayton. Can't you just see a prosecutor
playing all these nine one one calls, especially the one
on the side of the road where the dope dealer
confesses reportedly that Murnod hired him to shoot him, and
here Murdod crying and carrying on on the phone just
like he's doing here.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
And as a defense attorney, we would say there is
no playbook for the horror that a.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Come up with something new. Oh, I want to beat
my head against the wall.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
You say that every time, would express once they find
some sort of horrific situation like his wife and child
being killed.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
But he sounds the same way in his own nimal
one call when he stays just shooting.
Speaker 7 (29:39):
On himself, same thing, all that breathing and the gulping
and the whining, same exact thing.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Let's go back to the staging of the scene.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
You're gonna lie, it's something you want to talk about.
Speaker 9 (29:55):
Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
I can't wait to hear this.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
So if there's physical evidence that bodies were moved from
the place where the murders happened so that way they
look like something else, then yes. And if somehow Alex
Murdoch is connected to that movement of the bodies, that
would be really damning evidence for him that big I
(30:18):
would be.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
A big whoopsie for you to explain the next time
we talk about this, wouldn't it. I'm less unless.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Moving the body in order to perform some sort of
life saving measure, moving the body in order to perform
CPR or to try and resuscitate them.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
See, that's why you make all that money, because you
just spun that out of thin air like rumpel Stilskin.
I mean, you just spun it into gold. Amazing, amazing
what you just did right there, Guys, with all the
knowledge we now are amassing. I'm really interested in these
nine to one one calls. Take a listen to Alex
(30:53):
Murdog in our cut twenty eight.
Speaker 8 (31:00):
Have you ever since you've got on the phone with me,
I have multiple people coming out there to you.
Speaker 6 (31:06):
Okay. I don't want you to touch them at all. Okay,
I don't. I don't know if you've already touched them,
and I don't.
Speaker 8 (31:11):
I don't want you to touch them just in case
they can get any kind of evidence.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Okay, I'm all in such and time to get to
see if they were breathing.
Speaker 8 (31:20):
Okay, Well, I just don't want you to move anything,
just in case they can get any kind of evidence.
Speaker 6 (31:28):
Okay, Oh.
Speaker 5 (31:41):
Yeah, man, I'm gonna call.
Speaker 6 (31:44):
I need to call some of my family. Okay, Well,
will there be a favor for me whenever you see
the officer or the Meddix, because.
Speaker 8 (31:53):
They're they're all coming to you.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
Absolutely, okay, but we have them come in. Turn on
the flashes on your vehicle so they can see you. Okay,
you got the flashes on for me?
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Wow? He sure calms down pretty quickly, did you hear that?
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (32:13):
I got them on. I'm calling my family. I call
my lawyer and calling my dope dealer. So okay, let
me go back to you. Dave Mack joining us Crime
online dot Com investigative reporter, tell me again the report
that there is direct physical evidence linking him Alex Murdog
to the double murders.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
At least one of the weapons used in the double
homicide belonged to the murdav family. We know that law
enforcement impounded a twenty twenty one Chevy Suburban registered to
the Murdad law firm from the scene. We know that
deputies found shellcasing at the scene. This is a report
from fitz News. SLED agents requested the Sheriff's deputy search
(32:55):
the area near the crime seemper video surveillance systems on
the morning after the murged. Don't know what they found there.
On June sixteenth, SLED agents, we're collecting evidence in a
swampy area near the Skahatchie River, about two miles south
of Mozelle and Maggie. Murdaw's cell phone was found along
a rural South Carolina road just outside the family seventeen
(33:16):
hundred acre hunting lodge the day after the murder.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Straight out to Donna Sherry Schwartz, forensic psychologist, joining us
not to Sherry, how do you analyze what you heard
on the NAIM one call?
Speaker 9 (33:28):
Well, I mean, there's so many things, right, I mean,
he's he starts off, he's very emotional, he's crying, he's
gasping for air, and then, as you pointed out at
the end, it's very calm. A matter of fact, it's
very striking to me that in the midst of this
horror and waiting for first responders, he needs to get
(33:50):
off the phone to contact family. I mean, you know,
have you given up totally?
Speaker 6 (33:57):
You know, who are you calling?
Speaker 9 (33:59):
What family do you need to contact?
Speaker 6 (34:01):
And why at this moment?
Speaker 9 (34:02):
You know, how are you gathering your.
Speaker 6 (34:04):
Thoughts in that way?
Speaker 9 (34:07):
And he also says, you know that he did touch
them to see if they were breathing, but he doesn't
mention anything about trying to render aid.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Well wishers including crime stories wish Alex Murdoch's son Buster
Murdoch and his new wife happiness as they try to
forge a new life. His father, Alex Murdoch, behind bars
for two life without parole sentences, and the murders of
wife Maggie and son Paul. Alex Murdoch now appealing those convictions.
(34:39):
We wait as justice unfolds.
Speaker 7 (34:43):
Goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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