Amy Jacobson 
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Prosecution Presents Video of Interrogation of Alex Murdaugh
WALTERBORO, SC – SLED agent and lead case agent on the Murdaugh case, David Owen, took the stand on Wednesday, February 15, 2023. Agent Owen conducted the 3rd interrogation of Alex Murdaugh. The court is shown the video of the interrogation.
The video of the interrogation shows Alex Murdaugh, friend of Alex and fellow attorney Cory Fleming, SLED Agent David Owen, and a second SLED agent. Agent Owen conducts the interview. Alex went into the station voluntarily; under the impression he would be getting updates on the case involving the murders of his wife and son. It soon became clear that wasn’t the case.
You can hear Cory Fleming asking, “Are you not asking him these questions as a suspect?” To which Agent Owen responded, “Any homicide investigation you start with the closest person and/or the person who found the deceased. In this case, that’s Alex.” At this time it is obvious that Alex is a suspect in the case.
The interrogation begins with a creation of the timeline of events for the day. They discuss the morning, and we learn Maggie and Alex were at the Moselle property alone, Paul having spent the night elsewhere. This stood out to me because there has been so much talk about Maggie moving out and so it would be as if Alex pushed her to be there that evening or she wouldn’t have been. This piece of information about Maggie having stayed the night there with Alex, alone, points to the contrary. Maggie had been staying at their other property because of work that was being done. According to Alex, “she was worried about [him] and [him being] worried about [his] dad so she came home” that evening.
Wardrobe Change
As the interrogation continues, the next part of the conversation that stood out to me is when Owen brings up the video of Alex with the tree, showing him in the khaki pants and seafoam collared shirt. The video is paused, and we go back to the courtroom where Prosecutor Creighton Waters asks Owen if he had questioned Alex about the tree video before that interview. Owen responds, “No sir, I had not” and we go back to the video and the conversation between Owen and Alex about the clothing.
“What point in the evening did you change your clothes?” – Detective Owen
“What time of day was that? I would have thought I’d already changed.” – Alex Murdaugh, referencing the tree video.
“Looks to me about dusk. 7:30 to 8:00.”
“I guess I would have changed when I got back to the house.”
This was disappointing to me. Up until this point, I was trying to give the benefit of the doubt that, if the defense is sticking with the napping narrative (Alex claims to have napped before leaving to check on his mother) then it was quite possible that he took off the day’s clothes before lying down and put on the t-shirt and shorts after waking up. This seemed plausible since it’s a common thing to do.
Was He, Or Wasn’t He, At The Kennels
We have now reached the point where Owen questions Alex about going to the kennels. Alex has maintained that he was not at the kennels before going to his mother’s house. The conversation went like this:
“You didn’t go back down [to the kennels] after dinner until you returned from visiting your mother?” – Owen
“Yes, sir.” – Alex
“I’ve got information that Paul’s (inaudible) and Maggie was heard in the background, and you were heard in the background and that was prior to 9pm” – Owen
“I heard Rogan Gibson ask me if I was up there. He said he thought it was me.” – Alex
“Was it you?” – Owen
“At 9 o’clock?” – Alex
“Yes, sir.” – Owen
“No, sir. Not if my times are right.” – Alex
“Do you think it could have been?” – Owen
“I have no idea.” – Alex
He has no idea. This is not the answer I was expecting. I am not going to go into opinions, speculations, etc. so I will leave this for you to ponder and make of it what you will.
Just A Few Things to Clear Up
They go on to discuss Alex’s shotguns and what he loads them with. We learn that, according to Alex, he loads his guns with “all kinds [of shot]. [He’s] loaded bird shot, buck shot, slugs,” but not normally at the same time. The shells recovered at the scene were bird shot and buck shot. The gun Alex had on him that night was loaded with bird shot and buck shot.*
Had Paul ever gotten physical (violent) with either Maggie or Alex? According to Alex, never with his mother but once with him. Alex clarifies that he (Paul) was drunk at the time. There is an attempt to clarify the time Alex left work the evening of the murders. There’s not too much discrepancy between what the agent says, Alex claims, and information they got from Alex’s brother, Randy. Alex was at work when Randy left at 6p.m. Alex replies that if he was it wasn’t long after that he left. According to the OnStar timeline given in later testimony by another witness, Alex pulls out of work at 6:24p.m.
The interview finishes with Owen asking Alex if he killed Maggie and Paul. To which Alex responds that no, he did not kill them. It’s clear from Owen’s next statement that he does not believe him, “I have to go where the evidence and the facts take and I don’t have anything that points to anybody else at this time.”
One Final Thought
We’ve reached the end of the interview. Detective Owen leaves us with a last thought saying that they have “nobody else’s DNA” at the crime scene. According to the DNA witness, unknown DNA profile found under Maggie’s fingernails.
*The information given in the interview video concerning the loads in the guns found at the hose was shown to be false.
The Third Interrogation, Part II – Truth and Deliberation: The Third Interrogation
