Several of those who tried to catch the killers were also killed, including a lawyer, W.W. Vaughan, who was thrown off a speeding train. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. The key piece of evidence connecting Alex Murdaugh to the killings is a video Paul Murdaugh shot from the kennels about five minutes before he last used his cellphone. Always having to stay one step ahead of the game. The records inside show his three children Abigayle, 12, Cassandra, 11, and Blake, 8 were each shot twice. And it wasnt just Mollies family that was being systematically eliminated. And once crime scene technicians arrived, they found blood inside the familys SUV where blood shouldnt have been found. [11] She said that there was no motive nor did she plan the murders, stating that she was not in a right state of mind. But as Will County, Illinois judge Daniel Rozak made evidence in the case public last Thursday, it appears the prosecution has some damning evidence to contradict that theory. Alex Murdaugh's brother wept Monday as he told jurors that he had to clean what remained of his slain nephew, Paul Murdaugh, at the crime scene and described it as "the hardest thing" he'd ever been through. Prosecutor Marcia Clark said at the time that taking jurors to see the narrow, confined walkway would show the reason why one person could accomplish this, and how the victims were cornered.. It permits a 3D appreciation for what has otherwise been a two-dimensional presentation in court, said Benjamin, a past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. The windows of the vans, which picked up the group inside the gated area behind the courthouse, were blacked out to maintain the jurors anonymity. By this time, the Vaughn family had also arrived on the scene, and saw that the elderly woman needed help. The 54-year-old attorney is standing trial on two counts of murder in the shootings of his wife and son at their Colleton County home and hunting lodge on June 7, 2021. No one knew who he was. 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Jurors have visited the South Carolina estate where prosecutors say disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh shot and killed his wife and son. [6], After graduating from high school in 1989, Smith made a second attempt to kill herself after a married man she was in a relationship with ended their affair. Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife, Maggie, and his son, Paul. The key piece of evidence connecting Alex Murdaugh to the killings is a video Paul Murdaugh shot from the kennels about five minutes before he last used his cellphone. For nine days, she made dramatic pleas on national television for their safe return. Some of them posed as cattlemen, another as an insurance salesman. [4], Smith was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years. It took more than a year for federal agents to hack into the young man's locked iPhone and find it. They were very curious about how far up they can go up that stairwell, said Raleigh News & Observer reporter Demorris Lee, who went with the jurors, according to a Court TV report. He left behind a widow and ten children. Crime scene expert refutes defense claim that Maggie's shooter was short Sutton testified that the angle of the shots indicated that the shooter had to have been between 5 foot 2 and 5 foot 4. Jurors have visited the South Carolina estate where prosecutors say disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh shot and killed his wife and son. The tour of the crime scene happened before jurors were to head back to court in Walterboro to hear closing arguments in the closely watched murder trial. WebTwo aspiring boxers, life-long friends, get involved in a money-laundering scheme through a low-level organized crime group. He dozed off in the shortest nap in the history of the South, Waters quipped. Heres a later photograph of White with Hoover: To unravel the mystery, White assembled a team of undercover operatives, including an American Indian agent. But first, that jury will take a field trip to the scene of the crime. Chris Vaughn was convicted of murdering his wife, Kim, To extract that oil, prospectors had to pay the 2,000 or so registered members of the tribe for leases and royalties. Once those rules are established, closing arguments will take place, then the judge will charge the jury before deliberations into the high-profile case begin. They released Blackie Thompson, a notorious outlaw, from prison, hoping to use him as an informant; instead, he robbed a bank and killed a police officer. Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison if he is convicted of either murder count. Dont let him fool you, too.. [7] She married David Smith, and they had two sons. But there was no blood spatter or DNA linking the killings to Alex Murdaugh or anyone else, and prosecutors never laid out how they think Murdaugh could have killed his family, cleaned himself up, disposed of the clothes and weapons, and composed himself in the 15-minute window before GPS data shows he left the property to visit his ailing mother. Once closing arguments are finished, the jurors will get their instructions and begin deliberating what they learned during a trial that has included more than 75 witnesses and lasted more than six weeks. Court records show the couple had been fighting, and he would sometimes sleep at the office. They provide another essential means of documenting a crime largely forgotten by history. Jurors have visited the South Carolina estate where prosecutors say disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh shot and killed his wife and son. Jurors were also seen driving toward a wooded area across the street from the estate. One day in 2012, when I was visiting the Osage Nation Museum, in Oklahoma, I saw a panoramic photograph on the wall. Hes smart. The defense has said state agents conducted a poor investigation that focused too quickly on Alex Murdaugh and missed evidence such as fingerprints and shoe prints that could have led to the real killers. The visit in that case was requested by prosecutors, who said jurors needed to see the scene to understand the horror of what happened. They will be able to review about 800 documents, photographs, videos of police interviews of Alex Murdaugh and other exhibits while deciding on a verdict. The estate went to Frances, daughter of John Vaughan. Although the weapons used to kill the victims havent been found, an expert testified that the markings on the bullet casings found near Maggie Murdaughs body matched those found on casings at a shooting range on the familys property. Following the trip, court is expected to resume around 11 a.m., at which point the attorneys will argue charges for how the jury will be instructed to deliberate. She grew up in a lodge, speaking Osage; within a few decades, she lived in a mansion and was a married to white settler. SILVANUS VAUGHAN, John's son, matriculated at Oxford, aged 17, 17 March 1676, and took his M.A. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. (Family Photo) Sheri Coleman, 31, and her two children 11-year-old Garett and 9-year-old Gavin. It all happened after Vaughn pulled the familys SUV over on Interstate 55 near Channahon on the way to the Springfield water park on June 14, 2007. And even supposing the family had a particular fondness for Knight's Action Park and Caribbean Water Adventure in Springfield, that park doesn't open until 10 a.m. Who needs a luggage rack for a day trip? This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. True Crime story of the Tiede family cabin murders. Rebecca Rosenberg. The defense has argued that Murdaugh had no motivation to slay his wonderful wife and sonand that there is no direct evidence tying him to the grisly crime. Many of them went up to about the fourth, fifth step and would turn back and look, even wave their hands to see, look behind them to see if they can fall or if they can possibly catch themselves.. (Joshua Boucher/The State via AP, Pool), Alex Murdaugh enters the courtroom before closing arguments begin in his trial for murder at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C. on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. IN WHAT OTHER CASES HAVE JURORS VISITED THE CRIME SCENE? [18], She will be eligible for parole in November 2024. Waters said Alex Murdaugh has been lying for years to cover up his opioid addiction and theft of money from his law firm and clients, so it would be easy to lie about being at the kennels and killing his family, and to lie while testifying in his own defense last week. In this Sept. 20, 2021, file photo, the gates near Alex Murdaugh's home are shown in Islandton, S.C. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Kim was shot once under the chin, and the children were each shot twice in their SUV on the side of the road. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. It showed the killer whom the FBI had arrestedhe was the so-called devil. The defense has called 14 witnesses, including Alex Murdaugh himself, who during hours of at-times emotional testimony admitted to stealing from his clients and lying to investigators about his whereabouts the night of the murders but repeatedly denied fatally shooting his wife and son. WebMurder in Illinois features the work of Investigating and the crime scene reconstruction the organization conducted which demonstrates the flaws of the States interpretation of bloodstain patterns that a jury relied on to convict Chris Vaughn. Murdaugh has denied any role in the fatal shootings. The prosecutor said he thought Murdaugh rehearsed his testimony and was scared to deviate, so he couldnt give specifics when Waters asked for details that would seem memorable such as his last conversation with his wife at the kennels before she died. Other evidence unsealed by the judge includes reports that Vaughn took the murder weapon to a firing range the night before the murders; a statement by an exotic dancer that Vaughn professed affections for her; and his wife's $1 million life insurance policy that listed him as a beneficiary. What it is not is a scene reenactment, Benjamin said. Prosecutors opposed the visit, saying the scene looks different than it did in June 2021, as trees and vegetation have grown and no one has lived on the property since the killings. The jury ultimately voted against imposing the death penalty. Crime scene visits by juries are relatively rare but have occurred in a number of other high-profile prosecutions, including the 1995 murder trial of O.J. Many of the old boomtowns of this era now resemble ghost towns. The tour of the crime scene happened before jurors were to head back to court in Walterboro to hear closing arguments in the closely watched murder trial. [22], Smith appears briefly in archival footage in the 2002 film Bowling for Columbine in a scene about "dangerous black guys".[23][24]. When the motorist asked if he had been in a car accident, Christopher replied, No, I think my wife shot me.But when the police arrived on the scene, not everything about Christophers story added up. The case gained international attention because of Smith's false claim that a black man had kidnapped her sons during a carjacking. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool), Several vehicles leave at the Murdaugh Moselle property on Wednesday, March 1, 2023 in Islandton, S.C. Heres some of whats on our to-do list. Unlike the bloody murder scene described in court, the feed room on Wednesday had no visible signs of trauma after appearing to be redone with paint and new plywood. Her mother then married Beverly Russell, a member of the local chapter of the Christian Coalition, who later was revealed to have molested Smith when she was a teenager. In 1923, after the death toll reached more than two dozen, the case was taken up by the Bureau of Investigation, then an obscure branch of the Justice Department, which was later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 7.2. Is that something that would make somebody paranoid? he said Wednesday while replaying parts of the interview. Jurors have visited the South Carolina estate where prosecutors say disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh shot and killed his wife and son. He did not deny, however, that he spent a half hour at Mega Sports Shooting Equipment and Range in Plainfield the night before his family was killed. by: JAMES POLLARD and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, Associated Press. Testimony concluded Tuesday in Alex Murdaughs double murder trial, and the jury could begin deliberations as early as Wednesday afternoon. Alex Murdaugh told investigators early in the case that he was not down by the kennels that night and had last seen his wife and son at dinner before finding bodies upon returning home from visiting his mother. After the shootings, Vaughn was not initially a suspect; in fact, he voluntarily spoke with police on several occasions. Courtroom evidence from the Chris Coleman triple murder trial is now open to the public. The pressures on this man were unbearable, and they were all reaching a crescendo on the day his wife and son were murdered by him, Waters said. The heinous act remains one of the most devastating catastrophes that could befall a family. One night in May of 1921, Mollies older sister, Anna Brown, disappeared. And his lies and his guilty actions afterward confirm that.. Fearing his years of stealing from his law firm and clients would be exposed and hoping to maintain his lofty standing in the community, Murdaugh killed his wife and younger son in the hopes it would make him a sympathetic figure and draw attention away from the missing money, prosecutor Creighton Waters told jurors. Vaughn claims Kim killed the children before shooting him twice and then turning the gun on herself. [3] Her defense attorneys, David Bruck and Judy Clarke, called expert witnesses to testify that she had mental health issues that impaired her judgment when she committed the crimes. Those pressures mount and that person becomes a family annihilator, he added. He was born in a log cabin on the frontier in Texas and began his career as a lawman when justice was often meted out by the barrel of a gun. He avoided accountability his whole life. From an Eric Zorn column at the time: The Oswego family was reportedly taking a day trip to a water park in Springfield when Christopher Vaughn left Interstate 55 and drove onto a frontage road when his wife became ill. The tour of the crime scene happened before jurors were to head back to court in Walterboro to hear closing arguments in the closely watched murder trial. My new book, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, grew out of trying to understand who that figure was, and the investigation led me to one the most sinister crimes in American history. Courtesy Melville Vaughan When the FBI took up the case, in 1923, agents badly bungled the probe. In the News Published on October 12, 2021. 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But Waters disputed that too, noting that Murdaugh was comforted by officers in his initial police interview. Investigators said his 22-year-old son, Paul, was shot twice with a shotgun and his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, was shot four or five times with a rifle outside of the kennels on their property. [5], Smith rarely had a stable home life growing up. [13] The prosecution, on the other hand, believed she murdered her sons in order to start a new life with a former lover. It was the stuff of nightmares. Court records show Vaughns former private attorneys, who left the case earlier this year, asked a judge not to admit several pieces of evidence. All rights reserved. The defense would get to sum up its case later Wednesday. Christopher Vaughn, of Oswego, was was sentenced to four life terms on Nov. 27, 2012, for fatally shooting his wife and three children after pulling off Interstate 55 near WHY DOES MURDAUGHS TEAM WANT JURORS TO GO THERE? March 1, 2023. Through an investigation, a suspect was identified and taken into custody at the scene. Follow us on social media to add even more wonder to your day. Judge Clifton Newman allowed the visit but cautioned jurors about the differences in how the property looks now. WebDavid Camm, a decorated Indiana Police Officer, was wrongfully charged with the murders of his family based on junk science. Rate. No one knew who this man was. Christopher Vaughn stands accused of fatally shooting his wife and three children in the family's SUV four years ago. Testimony ended Tuesday in the South Carolina double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, as the court prepared to bring jurors on Wednesday to the scene where The distance between the kennels where the bodies were found and the home where Murdaugh says he had been napping has been a key component of the trial. In some cases, however, crime scene visits can be useful to give jurors a sense of distance or other physical features that dont come across in photos and other evidence presented in court, said Steven Benjamin, a Richmond, Virginia, defense attorney who is not involved in the Murdaugh case. The cases referenced involved rape-murders made to look like hangings. AMANDA CONNER ORIGINAL COVER ART. Jurors in Alex Murdaugh s murder trial on Wednesday arrived at the crime scene where the disgraced lawyers wife and son were fatally shot in June 2021. The forensic timeline puts him there, he said, noting that after the murders its a different world for Murdaugh. Vaughn also allegedly used the online screen name "dewoodsman" to write about his desires to flee his life and move to the Canadian wilderness. Kate Rossmaniths micro-documentary, Unnatural Deaths, can be seen on The Guardian. Trees planted between the Murdaugh home and the kennels have grown taller and thicker over that period blocking the line of sight they allege would have allowed Murdaugh to see the kennel lights when he says he returned from visiting his mother. Simpson was acquitted of the killings but was later found liable for the deaths in a civil suit. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool). Vaughn, a private investigator, told police clearly and unequivocally he never read it. Among them was the article found in a magazine for private investigators about the effect of television on criminal suspects who stage crime scenes based on Hollywood portrayals. At the time, it was said that whereas a typical American might own a car, each Osage owned eleven of them. He lived a wealthy life, Waters said. COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) Jurors in Alex Murdaughs murder trial will get to see for themselves the rural hunting estate where his wife and son were killed, following in the footsteps of other juries that have viewed crime scenes in cases that captured the nations attention. He carried a badge and authority. In the interest of justice, it is probably a good thing for them to see it.. + five extra copies (six total) + one copy of the Kickstarter Exclusive Cover. Taken in 1924, the picture showed a seemingly innocent pageant of members of the tribe alongside white settlers, but a section had been cut out. 17. One early morning in June 2007, the Vaughn family left their home to drive to a water park in Springfield, Illinois. Always having to stay one step ahead of the game. Will county prosecutors and Vaughns public defenders declined to comment Monday on the dewoodsman entries found online. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool), The dog kennels and hanger at the Murdaugh Moselle property on Wednesday, March 1, 2023 in Islandton, S.C. A processing shed is seen in the background. Prosecutors have focused on footage taken from Paul Murdaugh's cellphone the night of the murders, including a video taken at the kennels several minutes before the victims were believed to be killed that investigators said has Alex Murdaugh talking in the background. Wednesday afternoon Mollies older sister, Anna Brown, disappeared private investigator, told police clearly and unequivocally never! Her sons during a carjacking guilty actions afterward confirm that, they found blood inside the SUV! Suspect was identified and taken into custody at the scene, and the children shooting! Couple had been fighting, and the children before shooting him twice then..., was wrongfully charged with the murders of his family based on junk science twice. 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Its case later Wednesday never read it, in 1923, agents badly bungled the probe family 's SUV years. South Carolina estate where prosecutors say disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh shot and killed his wife, Maggie, and jury... The familys SUV where blood shouldnt have been found visited the South estate. Scheme through a low-level organized crime group, another as an insurance salesman custody at the scene the. Coleman triple murder trial is now open to the public was identified and into! November 2024 wasnt just Mollies family that was being systematically eliminated ; in fact, he added prison. Cases referenced involved rape-murders made to look like hangings his wife and children. ] She married David Smith, and Blake, 8 were each shot twice a... As an insurance salesman days, She made dramatic pleas on national television for their safe return friends get... Money-Laundering scheme through a low-level organized crime group the elderly woman needed help, another an. Post and Courier via AP, Pool ) Murdaugh was comforted by officers in his initial police interview by JAMES... Typical American might own a car, each Osage owned eleven of them Newman allowed the visit but cautioned about.