Alex Murdaugh trial live updates: Soothing text to wife after murder revealed as cousin testifies against him

Alex Murdaugh’s chilling final text to his wife moments after he allegedly killed her and their son was revealed in court during his murder trial on Tuesday.

Murdaugh, the powerful heir to a prominent South Carolina legal dynasty, is accused of shooting and killing Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, at the family’s Islandton property on June 7, 2021. He has pleaded not guilty.

In court on Tuesday, jurors were shown data from the mobile phones of Maggie, Paul and Mr Murdaugh on the night of the murders.

Prosecutors say Murdaugh shot Paul first at 8:50 p.m. and Maggie after.

Almost immediately after, cell phone records show Murdaugh made several calls to Maggie and other family members. His last text message to his wife came at 9.47pm and wrote: “Call me babe”.

Minutes later, he called 911 and claimed to have found their bodies.

He was a skilled lawyer who ran both his own law firm and worked in the local prosecutor’s office.

He was the son of a powerful legal dynasty that dominated the local South Carolina community for nearly a century.

And he was a family man who lived with his wife and two adult sons in their sprawling country home.

He was arrested in July 2022 and charged with two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

An investigator has admitted that “it is possible” that two shooters killed Alex Murdaugh’s wife and son, as lawyers for the legal breed tried to pick holes in the evidence gathered from the bloody crime scene.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Dick Harpootlian, Agent Morley was grilled about what she observed at the scene and what the direction and angle of the fatal bullets might suggest about how Maggie and Paul were shot and killed.

In Colleton County Court in Walterboro, South Carolina, on Monday, jurors heard how Paul, 22, called his friend Rogan Gibson on his cellphone at 8:44 p.m. on June 7, 2021.

Five minutes later, at 8:49 p.m., Gibson texted Paul: “See if you can get a good picture of it. Marion wants to send it to a girl we know who is a vet. Make him sit and stay. He shouldn’t move too much.”

The message – believed to be about a dog Paul looked after for him – went unanswered.

Murdaugh, 54, is accused of shooting Paul, 22, twice with a shotgun and Maggie, 52, five times with a rifle at the family’s sprawling hunting lodge in Islandton on June 7, 2021.

In the 19 months since the brutal double murders propelled the Murdaughs to national headlines, a number of other scandals, allegations and alleged crimes have also come to light.

Here is a timeline of the most important moments in the case:

Audio from Mr Murdaugh’s second interview with police was played at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, on Monday, revealing the disgraced heir to the legal dynasty’s shocking five-word statement for the first time.

“I hurt him so bad,” he appeared to say of his son.

Rachel Sharp catalogs the most defining moments so far in the high-profile trial unfolding in Colleton County, South Carolina.

A state agent insisted Tuesday that he heard a possible confession from Alex Murdaugh, even after defense attorneys for the disgraced South Carolina attorney muted the audio during Murdaugh’s double-murder trial.

At issue is whether Murdaugh said “I hurt him so bad” or “They hurt him so bad” as he sobbed and spoke to state agents during a taped interview three days after Murdaugh’s wife and son were killed.

State Law Enforcement Division Senior Special Agent Jeff Croft testified that he was “100% sure” Murdaugh said “I do.”