Alex Murdaugh takes the stand in double-murder trial

February 23, 2023

Alex Murdaugh broke down on the stand Thursday as he recounted seeing his slain wife and son with brains splatted over the horrific scene — but denied being the killer despite sensationally admitting to lying about the night of the murders.

The disgraced South Carolina legal scion sobbed and struggled to speak as he described discovering the slain bodies of his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, at kennels outside one of their homes on June 7, 2021.

“So bad,” he said of the bloodbath that followed his son getting “the most vile threats” over a deadly, drunken boat crash in 2019.

“It was bad — it was terrible,” he said, saying he saw his son’s “brain laying on the sidewalk.”

Murdaugh, who smiled when first called to the stand, started his evidence by swearing that he was not responsible for their murders.

“I didn’t shoot my wife or my son any time. Ever,” he said after one of his attorneys held up guns and asked if he’d “blown [his] son’s brains out.”

But he soon shocked the courtroom when he admitted lying to cops that he’d not been at the kennels the night of the murders — confirming he was the voice his son caught in a Snapchat video that investigators say was filmed just five minutes before the bloodbath.

“I did lie to them,” he admitted three times of his statements to cops at the scene and ever since then.

He blamed his “addiction” to pills making him “paranoid.”

“It could be anything that triggered it — it might be a look somebody gave me, it might be a reaction somebody had to something I did, it might be a policeman following me in a car,” he told the Colleton County court.

After finding Maggie and Paul, Murdaugh, 54, said his legal partners were “repeatedly telling me” not to talk to anybody without a lawyer.

Alex Murdaugh swearing in — Alex Murdaugh admitted to lying to cops about the night his wife and son were shot to death.

The police grilling “coupled with my distrust” for state cops “caused me to have paranoid thoughts,” he said.

“On June the 7th, I wasn’t thinking clearly,” he said, fighting back tears.

“I don’t think I was capable of reason. And I lied about being down there,” he said, saying his lies escalated in a “tangled web.”

“And I’m so sorry that I did,” he said, singling out surviving son Buster, 26, who testified two days earlier in his defense and watched in court as his dad confessed to lying to everyone.

Alex Murdaugh — Murdaugh announced his decision to testify after the judge warned him that he risked “exposing himself to cross-examination.”

“I’m sorry to both of our families. And most of all I’m sorry to Mags and Paul-Paul,” he continued, tearfully.

“I would never do anything intentionally to hurt either one of them. Ever. Ever.”

The Snapchat video that caught his voice was recorded at 8:45 p.m. — just five minutes before police believe Maggie and Paul were gunned down, according to a detailed timeline entered in evidence.

Alex Murdaugh dripping snot while testifying — I’m sorry to Mags and Paul-Paul,” Murdaugh said tearfully.

Murdaugh mentioned nothing unusual at the kennels beyond the “chaos” of the freed dogs chasing chickens.

“And then I left,” he said, saying he went “straight back” to the house and likely “dozed off for a minute” on the couch.

He then drove to visit his mom, who was a “shell of her old self” due to Alzheimer’s and was “agitated” that night, he said.

Prosecutors suggested that he parked by outbuildings near woodland away from the house to get rid of evidence. However, Murdaugh maintained it was “where I always park” when there.

Murdaugh testified that he lied about his whereabouts on the night his wife and son were killed.

The alleged murderer testified that he lied in part because his addiction made him "paranoid." — The alleged murderer testified that he lied in part because his addiction made him “paranoid.”

However, Murdaugh maintained it was “where I always park” — giving a firm “no” if he disposed of bloody clothes or murder weapons.

Once back at the home, he said he was not concerned, but went to the kennels after failing to get a response from either on the phone.

He shook his head and twitched his mouth for several seconds when asked about the horror scene he found, sobbing so hard his glasses fell down his face.

He said he was “trying to tend to them” while on the phone to 911 — during which he told the dispatcher that he “should have known.”

“I was referring to Paul-Paul got so many threats that I didn’t take serious,” he said, referring to anger over a 2019 boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach.

An OnStar GPS data is seen in an evidence photo shown during Alex Murdaugh's testimony during his trial. — An OnStar GPS data is seen in an evidence photo shown during Alex Murdaugh’s testimony during his trial.

Evidence photos are shown during Alex Murdaugh's testimony during his trial . — The brutal murders took place at one of the Murdaugh’s home in South Carolina.

“Paul got the most vile threats … you couldn’t believe it. It was so over-the-top, truthfully, we didn’t think anything about it,” he said.

As he awaited cops, he went to the house to grab a gun — defying the dispatcher’s orders — because he “didn’t know if somebody was still out there,” he said.

He denied Googling a family-favorite restaurant at the scene — saying any earlier search must have been registered as he used his phone. “I wasn’t doing any Google searches,” he said.

He said he told state cops “they could do anything, anywhere, anytime” that would help find the killer or killers — even as he knew from the off that he would be a prime suspect having found the bodies.

Murdaugh family photo — Alex is being tried for the murders of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul (second from right).

Murdaugh described his son as “an absolute delight.”

“You could not be around Paul Paul and not have a good time,” he said, breaking down again. “I loved doing anything with Paul Paul.”

Murdaugh’s decision to address the jury was only announced when the five-week trial resumed early Thursday.

“I am going to testify — I want to testify,” the disgraced legal scion told Judge Clifton Newman in a firm voice after putting his hand on a Bible and vowing to tell the truth.

The judge warned him that he risked “exposing himself to cross-examination” about the brutal murders as well as the roughly 100 other charges he faces, from stealing from clients to arranging his own shooting on the side of a highway.

Murdaugh faces 30 years to life if convicted of the murders, which he has always denied.

Even if he’s cleared, he is expected to spend decades in prison for those other crimes, some of which he has admitted.