Alex Murdaugh’s last textual content to his spouse revealed throughout homicide trial

“Name me babe.”

That was Alex Murdaugh’s final textual content to his spouse, prosecutors revealed in the course of the second week of the double homicide trial the place Murdaugh, a disgraced outstanding South Carolina legal professional, is accused of killing his spouse and youngest son.

Prosecutors alleged in court docket on Tuesday that Murdaugh had despatched the message, left unread, a short while after he shot and killed Margaret, or Maggie, and Paul Murdaugh on June 7, 2021. Murdaugh has pleaded not responsible to homicide and weapons possession fees within the case.

Lt. Britt Dove of the South Carolina Regulation Enforcement Division (SLED) testified he had processed the telephones that belonged to Murdaugh, Maggie and Paul.

Prosecutors requested in regards to the digital camera activating on the telephone for one second simply after 9 p.m. on the evening of the killings.

“It seems the telephone’s being moved and the digital camera’s activating within the background to see if it might acknowledge someone’s face that may unlock it,” Dove testified.

Seconds later, the telephone’s orientation modified, suggesting somebody picked up the telephone once more with their hand, Dove testified.

Dove mentioned Maggie’s telephone had been in airplane mode with the Wi-Fi turned off, nevertheless it had nonetheless captured machine exercise, together with three separate calls from her husband earlier than receiving his last textual content to her.

Prosecutors and protection attorneys additionally honed in on a five-word phrase Murdaugh mentioned in an interview with police three days after the slayings.

Prosecutors alleged Murdaugh mentioned, “I did him so dangerous,” as he mentioned his slain son Paul.

Nonetheless, the protection argued Murdaugh mentioned, “They did him so dangerous,” and even performed a slowed-down model of the audio recording for the jury.

Jeff Croft, a senior particular agent with SLED, maintained in his testimony he heard Murdaugh say “I” in his interview with investigators.

Protection attorneys then questioned why Croft had solely made a self-described “psychological observe” of Murdaugh’s phrase, if he believed it might have been a confession.

“It’s positively one thing we might comply with up with,” Croft mentioned.

In June 2021, authorities discovered Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh shot lifeless close to canine kennels on their household property about 65 miles south of Charleston after Murdaugh known as 911.

He was charged with their murders over a yr later, in July 2022.

Prosecutors and the protection revealed ugly particulars in regards to the crime scene of their opening statements final week.

Creighton Waters, the state’s lead prosecutor within the case, mentioned Paul Murdaugh had been shot a number of occasions with buckshot hundreds from a 12-gauge shotgun, and Maggie Murdaugh had a number of gunshot wounds from a rifle.

Dick Harpootlian, an legal professional for Murdaugh, mentioned Paul had been discovered “laying in his personal blood along with his mind mendacity at his toes,” inflicting his father to interrupt down in tears.