Shocking police footage shows Alex Murdaugh breaking down in tears shortly after the murder of his wife and son

CHILLING Police footage shows Alex Murdaugh breaking down in tears shortly after his wife and son were killed execution-style.

The disfellowshipped attorney is currently on trial for the June 2021 murders he is accused of.

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A distraught Murdaugh was seen in a car, sitting next to an officer who asked him to describe the crime scene.

“Coming back here, I stopped and I could see her,” he said before being overcome with emotion. “I knew it was bad … it was really bad.”

Murdaugh broke down as he recounted seeing his 22-year-old son Paul, who was found with his mother Maggie, 52, near the dog kennels at the family’s hunting lodge in Islandton, South Carolina.

“My boy over there, I could see it. It was…” Murdaugh broke off as he began to sob and had to be comforted by people in the back seat.

While describing how he ran to his wife, Murdaugh paused before saying he first tried to turn Paul over and realizing his cell phone had come out.

“I started trying to do something with it, I thought, but then I put it down very quickly,” he said.

Throughout the video, his voice was gruff and he seemed to have a hard time getting the words out.

DAMAGED DYNASTY

Murdaugh was the eighth in a long line of prosecutors stretching back to the first elected officer over 100 years ago, but everything changed when he called 911 at 10:07 p.m. to report that his wife and son had been fatally shot were.

Authorities found bullet casings at the scene and said Maggie and Paul had been shot multiple times and initially found no gun.

According to a timeline of events, Murdaugh called the police dispatcher and told them he had come home to find the lifeless bodies of his son and wife.

“I was gone,” Murdaugh told a dispatcher, adding, “I just got back.”

A coroner determined that Maggie and Paul had probably died between 9pm and 9:30pm, but Murdaugh provided an alibi that he had spent the day with his mother, who has dementia, and her caretaker.

However, the case surrounding the murders began to unravel when Murdaugh was driving three months later when his vehicle had a flat tire.

He was reportedly stopping to change the tire when a passing man turned and shot Murdaugh.

He suffered a minor gunshot wound to the head, and information later revealed that Murdaugh had hired a man to kill him so his eldest son, Buster, would receive the $10 million sum insured.

The man, identified as 61-year-old Curtis Edward Smith, was arrested on charges of assisting suicide, assault and assault, display and production of a firearm, insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

Investigators delved into Murdaugh’s past, revealing that he engaged in fraudulent dealings and was arrested on November 19, 2021.

He was charged with 27 counts, including breach of trust with fraudulent intent, obtaining signatures or property by providing false information, money laundering, computer crime and forgery.

The attorney general’s office said, “In total, Murdaugh faces charges of nearly $4.9 million on alleged plots to deceive victims and then launder them.”

In January, he faced a further 23 charges, including embezzlement with fraudulent intent and computer crime.

The total is 71 counts of fraud and theft totaling approximately $8.5 million over an 11-year period.

MYSTERY

The investigation into the murders of Maggie and Paul gained momentum in July 2022 when authorities uncovered cellphone video allegedly connecting Murdaugh to the crime.

Murdaugh was arrested on July 14 for the murder of his wife and son on a double count of murder.

“Day in and day out for the past 13 months, SLED agents and our partners have worked to build a case against the person responsible for the murders of Maggie and Paul and exclude those who were not,” said Mark Keel , the chief of police The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, or SLED, told NBC News.

“At no point did the agents lose focus on this investigation. It was clear to me from the start that ensuring justice was a priority. Today is another step in a long process for justice for Maggie and Paul.”

Federal agents said the new video placed Murdaugh at the scene when the killings took place.

Murdaugh’s lawyers said in a statement at the time: “Alex wants his family, friends and everyone to know that he had nothing to do with the murders of Maggie and Paul. He loved her more than anything in the world.”

The statement continued, “It was very clear from day one that law enforcement and the Attorney General prematurely concluded that Alex was responsible for the murder of his wife and son.

“But we do know that Alex had no motive for murdering her.”

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