Police Interview: Alex Murdaugh Breaks Down on Night His Wife, Son Were Murdered — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:33all right sir um
2. 0:36I'll do my I left the house without my
3. 0:39watch
4. 0:45[Music]
5. 0:52all right
6. 0:54um just take your full name for me
7. 0:56please
8. 0:57Richard Alexander murdick
9. 1:03and it's been your last name so I get it
10. 1:05correct
11. 1:09m-u-r-d-a-u-g-h all right
12. 1:12and you go by Alec
13. 1:14yes sir
14. 1:17and date of birth Mr murder
15. 1:20May 27th
16. 1:221968.
17. 1:24and a good phone number for you eight
18. 1:27zero three
19. 1:29nine four two
20. 1:30one two two seven
21. 1:33all right so
22. 1:38and Sir what was your name
23. 1:41yeah Danny Henderson okay
24. 1:45foreign
25. 1:52as I stated I'm David Owen and Laura
26. 1:55Rutland with Collington County and I'm a
27. 1:57sled
28. 2:00I hate to have to do this I understand I
29. 2:02totally understand so you don't you
30. 2:04don't
31. 2:06have any problem with it so um
32. 2:11just start the top take your time
33. 2:15um like when I came back here I mean I
34. 2:18pulled up and I could see him and you
35. 2:20know I knew something was bad I ran out
36. 2:23I knew it was really bad
37. 2:26my my boy over there I could see
38. 2:30it was
39. 2:48so sorry and I could see his brain on
40. 2:59laughs
41. 3:05and I ran over to Maggie and
42. 3:09actually I think I tried to turn Paul
43. 3:12over first
44. 3:14um
45. 3:15uh
46. 3:17you know I tried to turn him over and uh
47. 3:20I don't know I figured it out
48. 3:22um
49. 3:23his cell phone popped out of his pocket
50. 3:26that's
51. 3:27started to try to do something with it
52. 3:29thinking maybe but then I put it back
53. 3:32down really quickly
54. 3:34um then I went to my wife and I
55. 3:38I mean I could see
56. 3:47did you touch Maggie at all I did I
57. 3:49touched them both I tried to take I mean
58. 3:52I tried to do it as limited as possible
59. 3:54but I try to take their pulse on both of
60. 3:59them
61. 4:01um
62. 4:02and um you know I called 9-1-1
63. 4:06pretty much right away
64. 4:09and
65. 4:11she was very good
66. 4:13um
67. 4:18I talked to her
68. 4:20um I told her I was going to get off the
69. 4:22phone to call some family members
70. 4:25I did that
71. 4:27um
72. 4:28and um
73. 4:33what family members did you call him I
74. 4:35called my brother Randy
75. 4:37and I called my brother John
76. 4:44and I tried to call the little boy real
77. 4:47good friend that's right around the
78. 4:48corner from here but I didn't get him
79. 4:50okay
80. 4:57what all was around
81. 4:59um Paul when he walked up blood
82. 5:03any any other anything else
83. 5:06I mean there was some body things yes
84. 5:08sir I mean like any other evidence I
85. 5:11know you said the phone fell out the
86. 5:12pocket
87. 5:13um but did you see anything else
88. 5:15that didn't belong or shouldn't belong
89. 5:18or
90. 5:19that wasn't part of Paul
91. 5:22no sir not no not
92. 5:27no sir how about Maggie no sir you
93. 5:31didn't see anything around them
94. 5:35what made you come out here at night
95. 5:39um I went to my mom's late stage
96. 5:41Alzheimer's patient my dad's in the
97. 5:43hospital
98. 5:45um my mom gets anxious when she does I
99. 5:49went to check on them and Maggie
100. 5:52Maggie's a dog lover she fools with the
101. 5:55dogs
102. 5:55and I knew she'd gone to the kennel I
103. 5:59was at the house
104. 6:00I left the house and went to my mom's
105. 6:03ah
106. 6:05for just a little while
107. 6:07tried to call her when I left texted her
108. 6:10no response
109. 6:13um
110. 6:19when I got back to the house the house
111. 6:21was obviously nobody was in there so I
112. 6:24figured they're still up here fooling
113. 6:26around Paul was
114. 6:27going to be getting set up to plant our
115. 6:30sunflowers seeds got sprayed and died
116. 6:33and he was refiguring to do to plant the
117. 6:37sunflower seeds so I came back up here
118. 6:41and I drove up and saw
119. 6:47and called
120. 6:54had Maggie and Paul been arguing over
121. 6:57anything no
122. 6:58what was their relationship like
123. 7:00wonderful wonderful
124. 7:02how about yours and Maggie's wonderful
125. 7:05I mean I'm sure we had little things
126. 7:07here and there but we had a wonderful
127. 7:09marriage wonderful relationship
128. 7:12Vineyards and Paul's relationship
129. 7:14as good as it could be
130. 7:18how old was Paul
131. 7:20[Music]
132. 7:2122 okay
133. 7:24you know his date of birth
134. 7:28I do April 11th 96 is his brother's
135. 7:31April 14th 99 is Falls
136. 7:36how about what's Maggie's full name
137. 7:38Margaret
138. 7:40branstadter
139. 7:45Murdock
140. 7:46and her date of birth sir
141. 7:50September 15 1968.
142. 7:57[Music]
143. 8:02have y'all been having any problems out
144. 8:04here
145. 8:05trespassers none but breaking in none
146. 8:08that I know of the only thing
147. 8:11that what comes to my mind is my son
148. 8:13Paul was in a boat wreck a couple years
149. 8:17ago and there's been a
150. 8:21you know he was charged with being
151. 8:23arrested for being a driver there's been
152. 8:26a lot of negative publicity about that
153. 8:28and there's been a lot of people online
154. 8:30just really vile stuff but when Paul's
155. 8:35out and about I mean people routinely I
156. 8:38don't think I know the full story
157. 8:41um because I don't think they give it
158. 8:43to me but I mean he's been punched and
159. 8:46hit and just attacked a lot so
160. 8:50you know but I mean nothing like this
161. 8:53yeah any any one person in particular or
162. 8:57group of people
163. 9:00I don't know that you could think of
164. 9:04not that I know no sir
165. 9:06has he other than being assaulted has he
166. 9:09received any direct threats related to
167. 9:12the boat accident oh yes
168. 9:14all the time he gets recently
169. 9:18um yes I mean he gets them all the time
170. 9:21okay he gets them all the time
171. 9:25what kind of I mean
172. 9:27I'm gonna kick your ass you know
173. 9:33I've never been privy firsthand you know
174. 9:37um
175. 9:38is that through social media or no ma'am
176. 9:40it's mostly like if if he goes out
177. 9:43places is what
178. 9:45you know what he goes out like somewhere
179. 9:48he's in college so if he goes out
180. 9:51is what I understand and I can find out
181. 9:54better details from some of his younger
182. 9:56friends on that
183. 9:58who's his best friend
184. 10:00um
185. 10:02his best friend in Colombia is is um
186. 10:08Wills
187. 10:10Chapman will loving
188. 10:14um
189. 10:15Bobby Boyle Bobby bull will Chapman and
190. 10:20Paul were getting ready to move into a
191. 10:22house together
192. 10:24in Colombia
193. 10:28um you said will Chapman and will loving
194. 10:30Wills Wills with a nest Chapman and will
195. 10:34with an L loving okay
196. 10:39um
197. 10:42um around here
198. 10:44his best friends are
199. 10:47clearly
200. 10:48Nolan Tuten and Rogan Gibson
201. 10:56tooting Nolan tooting yes sir
202. 11:00and what was the other one I'm sorry
203. 11:01Rogan Gibson
204. 11:08have you talked with any of these guys
205. 11:10tonight talk with Nolan yes sir is he
206. 11:12out here yes sir okay
207. 11:15I tried to call Rogan was one of the
208. 11:17people that he's the boy that I told you
209. 11:19lives around the corner that's very you
210. 11:21know he's just a good helpful young man
211. 11:26you mind if I open the door really
212. 11:27quickly
213. 11:29do what you need to do
214. 11:35so is there anybody
215. 11:37that you can think of that we need to
216. 11:39talk to tonight
217. 11:41is there a name that comes to mind
218. 11:44I mean I can't tell you anybody that I'm
219. 11:47overly suspicious of
220. 11:50off the top of my head okay you know
221. 11:54um I mean this is such a stupid thing
222. 11:56I'm even embarrassed to say it
223. 11:59but it just didn't
224. 12:02make any sense I just hired a guy out
225. 12:04here and
226. 12:08he really he wasn't cutting the mustard
227. 12:10but I hadn't told him this yet Paul's
228. 12:12been working with him a lot he killed
229. 12:15the sunflower seeds in our dove field
230. 12:17just recently which is why Paul was here
231. 12:19doing this he told Paul the story the
232. 12:21other day about how when he was in high
233. 12:24school
234. 12:25he got in a fight with some black guys
235. 12:28and FBI undercover team observed him
236. 12:32fighting those guys and put him on an
237. 12:36undercover team with three Navy Seals
238. 12:39and their job was to kill radical Black
239. 12:42Panthers and they did that from Myrtle
240. 12:45Beach to Savannah
241. 12:47now I really don't think this guy
242. 12:51you know
243. 12:53is probably the person but
244. 12:57that's just so freaking yeah that's kind
245. 13:01of far-fetched but he was off today okay
246. 13:04he took his daddy to the doctor
247. 13:07what's his name C.B Rowe
248. 13:10r-o-w-e yeah and I sent him a message to
249. 13:13text me earlier today
250. 13:16about the sunflowers and he called me
251. 13:18back when I was on the way to my mom's
252. 13:21house
253. 13:23did you talk to him at that time briefly
254. 13:26I was on the phone with a lawyer friend
255. 13:28of mine named Chris Wilson from Bamberg
256. 13:30so I told him I'd call him back tomorrow
257. 13:32see him in the morning
258. 13:34when you briefly talk to
259. 13:36um Mr Rowe what was his demeanor or
260. 13:39attitude or
261. 13:45about the sunflowers and so
262. 13:48you know I mean
263. 13:51I'm sure he's a little bit
264. 13:54where does he live I don't exactly know
265. 13:57somewhere in Bluff I mean in Bronson
266. 13:59okay
267. 14:01do you have his phone number I do
268. 14:05you got it with your voice sir I do
269. 14:09foreign
270. 14:10you know but I do think him and Paul got
271. 14:12along pretty well
272. 14:15um
273. 14:17that's just really
274. 14:20really weird
275. 14:22all right
276. 14:24um
277. 14:27CB
278. 14:34right there
279. 14:39yeah I know he called me so I'll go to
280. 14:41that
281. 14:43foreign
282. 15:10thank you
283. 15:13foreign
284. 15:14[Music]
285. 15:18did he tell that story to Paul
286. 15:22sometime last week okay
287. 15:29sometime last week
288. 15:32um
289. 15:34my son Paul actually
290. 15:40I mean I really do not
291. 15:44think on all honesty that it's him but I
292. 15:47know y'all gotta check it out but
293. 15:50Paul
294. 15:56was so taken aback bite
295. 16:02that he sent I'll find it I got it on my
296. 16:05phone
297. 16:06he recorded him saying bits and pieces
298. 16:09of it
299. 16:23but for all his weirdness I mean I do
300. 16:27think they like
301. 16:29I mean I got along okay pretty good how
302. 16:33long have they been working here I guess
303. 16:35about
304. 16:36um
305. 16:37three or four pay periods so
306. 16:41um
307. 16:43eight weeks a couple months okay
308. 16:52going back to the boat incident
309. 16:55um
310. 16:56anybody on that boat
311. 17:00uh
312. 17:04really have a hard on for Paul
313. 17:07that you would think would come after
314. 17:08him or know of any direct threats from
315. 17:11people on the boat
316. 17:13I don't know of any
317. 17:15direct threats between any of the people
318. 17:18on the boat okay specifically but I do
319. 17:21think there's been a
320. 17:22small amount of Yip Yap between a couple
321. 17:25of them but not recently okay
322. 17:30stuff from people that Paul didn't
323. 17:32really know okay
324. 17:35it was some people that he knew
325. 17:37distantly but
326. 17:39more times than not when I learned about
327. 17:41it
328. 17:42it was somebody that he didn't know
329. 17:48um it's like for example he went out in
330. 17:50Charleston a couple months ago came back
331. 17:52you know he got a black eye and you know
332. 17:55he can't defend himself right now
333. 17:57because he has these charges so you know
334. 18:00he would pause a real tough
335. 18:02man's man you know he would just
336. 18:08he would defend himself but he hadn't
337. 18:10been that's right but how is he handling
338. 18:17as far as what how was he handling it
339. 18:19I've never been prouder of him than the
340. 18:22way he has handled the pressures and the
341. 18:25adversity
342. 18:27in that situation I think I've told
343. 18:30Danny that before
344. 18:30[Music]
345. 18:38I mean Paul is a wonderful wonderful
346. 18:41wonderful kid
347. 18:43you can do almost anything gets along
348. 18:46with almost anybody
349. 18:49[Music]
350. 18:51do y'all store any weapons out here
351. 18:54um we don't store them but they're
352. 18:58they're you know they're frequently out
353. 19:00here I need to find out if there were
354. 19:02any out here because
355. 19:03I know there was a shotgun there was a
356. 19:0512 gauge shotgun out here
357. 19:08uh
358. 19:10I'll have to find out exactly when that
359. 19:13was
360. 19:15think it got put up
361. 19:17but I'm not positive what is that
362. 19:19shotgun look like
363. 19:21uh it was a
364. 19:23camouflage
365. 19:26no
366. 19:29I want to say it was a Benelli or maybe
367. 19:31a Beretta I can't remember which brand
368. 19:34it is
369. 19:41but I don't think it was out here okay
370. 19:44recently
371. 19:48but I'm not positive and the shotgun
372. 19:51that you had when deputies pulled up
373. 19:53where did that come come from I went to
374. 19:55the house and I got a gun
375. 19:58probably overreacting but
376. 20:01and was that when you pulled up and saw
377. 20:03them no I mean I came out and me and I
378. 20:07called 9-1-1 first
379. 20:10talked to them for a little while then I
380. 20:12told her
381. 20:15I told her that I was
382. 20:17that I was going to go to the house okay
383. 20:19and then I would let authorities know
384. 20:21when they got here that I had a gun okay
385. 20:27do you happen to have a list of all your
386. 20:29guns I can make one I don't have one but
387. 20:32I can make one okay well I'm just saying
388. 20:34you know so we could compare if that
389. 20:36shotgun was out here and now it's
390. 20:37missing absolutely um try to figure that
391. 20:41out no absolutely and I know living out
392. 20:43here in the country you probably have
393. 20:44more than one or two we do we probably
394. 20:46have
395. 20:4720 25
396. 20:51pistols
397. 20:54any rifles yes sir what kind of rifles
398. 20:57all kinds yeah
399. 21:00okay I mean you name it across the board
400. 21:03we have them okay
401. 21:05and I mean they're
402. 21:06all of them we have are
403. 21:09you know in a hunting room
404. 21:11in our house
405. 21:22thank you
406. 21:25what was their schedule today when did
407. 21:28they get home my son works for my
408. 21:30brother and he was coming home to deal
409. 21:33with the sunflowers
410. 21:36um he got
411. 21:40here
412. 21:42he got here pretty early because he and
413. 21:44I rode around looking at everything for
414. 21:46a good little while probably
415. 21:5045 minutes to an hour
416. 21:52uh Maggie had things she did in
417. 21:55Charleston and
418. 21:59um she had a doctor's appointment in
419. 22:01Charleston and she got back here it was
420. 22:05fairly late
421. 22:08was it dark yet when Paul got home no
422. 22:12Paul got home early early okay so before
423. 22:14our dinner time
424. 22:16oh yes ma'am lunch time
425. 22:22what brother what um brother does Paul
426. 22:25work for John Marvin
427. 22:27and what does Paul do for him everything
428. 22:30just handyman yes sir
429. 22:43was it unusual for Maggie to feed the
430. 22:46dogs this time of night or check on them
431. 22:48oh no I mean she played with those dogs
432. 22:50every
433. 22:51all the time and especially common for
434. 22:54her to you know she's been gone for a
435. 22:58while to come and let
436. 23:00especially two of them out to run
437. 23:03okay so she pretty regularly comes out
438. 23:06here in the evenings
439. 23:08very regularly okay she comes out here a
440. 23:10lot
441. 23:17you have any cameras on your property I
442. 23:20have deer cameras but none
443. 23:22you know
444. 23:24around up here
445. 23:28where are they at on on different deer
446. 23:30stands okay so deep in the woods well
447. 23:33not necessarily deep in the woods some
448. 23:36of them are in fields and okay
449. 23:38um but I don't there's none that
450. 23:41you know are near here okay
451. 23:47um what doctor's appointment
452. 23:49my daughter's magazine today
453. 23:54um I forget the guy's name Maggie's been
454. 23:56having trouble with her
455. 23:58she's been having trouble with her
456. 24:00stomach and her tooth I'm not positive
457. 24:02it was sort of a routine
458. 24:06visit and I can't remember
459. 24:09she told me the name of him and I can't
460. 24:12I want to say Gordon
461. 24:14gordine Gordon okay
462. 24:16is um who I think she saw
463. 24:24so was she back home around supper time
464. 24:27or
465. 24:28um or six o'clock seven o'clock
466. 24:33I don't think she got back quite that
467. 24:36early I think she got back a little bit
468. 24:37later than that okay
469. 24:41um
470. 24:48what did you do today were you at the
471. 24:50office or no I was home I came home Paul
472. 24:53and I messed around I
473. 24:55I uh I was up at the house I laid down
474. 24:59took a nap on the couch probably
475. 25:02I don't know 25 30 minutes I got up I
476. 25:07called Maggie
477. 25:09didn't get an answer
478. 25:11and
479. 25:13I left to go to my mom's and she had
480. 25:16said she might ride with me but she
481. 25:18normally doesn't when I go over there
482. 25:22um
483. 25:23and
484. 25:26I think I texted her
485. 25:30and she's very good about answering the
486. 25:32phone so that was odd or calling me back
487. 25:35so that was odd but it wasn't that big a
488. 25:37deal
489. 25:39I don't know what time was that
490. 25:42what time was what that you sent her a
491. 25:45text message
492. 26:00all right
493. 26:01um I checked texted her at 908 going to
494. 26:04check on M be right back and then I
495. 26:06texted her at 9 47 that must be when I
496. 26:10started to come back I think I called
497. 26:12her before that
498. 26:14but let me make sure
499. 26:20pretty sure that I called her
500. 26:239 45
501. 26:26and then I tried Paul
502. 26:32and then
503. 26:36no I think that was riding
504. 26:39and I think that might have been
505. 26:43riding over there
506. 26:48foreign
507. 26:53I mean my calls are right here yeah so
508. 26:56um
509. 26:59obviously this is when this is when I at
510. 27:041006
511. 27:05.
512. 27:18foreign
513. 27:35yes sir
514. 27:37thank you
515. 27:43anybody else wants to go
516. 27:47I'm not having water to eat any
517. 27:50I thought I don't need it
518. 27:52if you behind Danny's head there's a
519. 27:56case of water it's not a big deal yeah I
520. 27:59got some right here oh thank you
521. 28:03thank you ma'am
522. 28:21I'm sure we're going to have much more
523. 28:23questions unavailable at you know you
524. 28:26let me know
525. 28:28what um
526. 28:34what's another number in case I can't
527. 28:36get you on yourself
528. 28:38I don't have a house phone okay
529. 28:40um
530. 28:42office number
531. 28:45I can give you my brother's cell phones
532. 28:50that's Randy's
533. 28:51okay Randy's is eight zero three
534. 28:54nine four three eight eight eight eight
535. 28:57one
536. 29:01John's John Marvin's eight four three
537. 29:05two one five five zero eight
538. 29:16and you said your dad's in hospital yes
539. 29:18sir uh which which hospital Charleston
540. 29:21or Savannah and Saint Joseph is he doing
541. 29:24okay or what's uh he's having a really
542. 29:28really hard time he's got a lot lot
543. 29:31going on
544. 29:36he's
545. 29:39he's doing okay giving everything but
546. 29:41he's got a lot going on
547. 29:47about Maggie's family where are they
548. 29:50Somerville
549. 29:53have you been in touch with him and I
550. 29:55contacted yes I had my brother call Bart
551. 29:58um the wife of his sister and I mean the
552. 30:02husband of Maggie's sister
553. 30:05so that they could go and tell Maggie's
554. 30:08parents I felt like they needed to hear
555. 30:10it in person and they're going there and
556. 30:14calling me
557. 30:15so they must not be there yet
558. 30:18Maggie's parents in Somerville yes and
559. 30:21she her mom just had a knee replacement
560. 30:23surgery and her dad really
561. 30:26has trouble getting around nowadays
562. 30:32you have any other children I do I have
563. 30:35a 24 year old that's right he said
564. 30:36what's his name Buster well Richard
565. 30:38Alexander Jr okay
566. 30:42he goes my Buster he goes by Buster
567. 30:46is he here tonight he's on his way okay
568. 30:57Laura you got anything
569. 31:00um this one's hard but when you first
570. 31:03saw Paul you said you tried to flip him
571. 31:06over was he laying on his back or on his
572. 31:09stomach just like he he just like he is
573. 31:12you were able to move him okay no ma'am
574. 31:14okay
575. 31:19and did he help Maggie a lot out here
576. 31:21with the animals he helped everybody
577. 31:23with everything okay so it was kind of
578. 31:26routine for him to be out here as well
579. 31:28this place is his absolute passion okay
580. 31:46I tried to turn him and then I tried and
581. 31:49then I checked him and I I mean I
582. 31:52I think I already knew but I checked
583. 31:54them
584. 32:00first pulled into the property did you
585. 32:02come from this direction where all our
586. 32:03police cars are or which way did you
587. 32:05come in I went to the house okay and
588. 32:08then I came from the house this way
589. 32:10straight here yes ma'am okay
590. 32:12I mean where my vehicle was parked it's
591. 32:15probably is where it was okay well no
592. 32:18maybe not exactly but it was pretty
593. 32:21close because I came back the same route
594. 32:23that's right because you went back to
595. 32:24get your shotgun when I came back
596. 32:28foreign
597. 32:41I can't think of anything else right now
598. 32:44but you know we'll certainly be in touch
599. 32:47um
600. 32:49thank y'all for everything y'all are
601. 32:51doing so you know just to kind of let
602. 32:53you know what's going to go on we're
603. 32:55going to be out here for quite some time
604. 32:58um in the corner we'll take
605. 33:00custody of Paul and Maggie
606. 33:05can I answer that good
607. 33:08yeah
608. 33:10what
609. 33:16no let me we're finished let me come out
610. 33:19well I'll be here when he gets here
611. 33:25no don't let him come up here
612. 33:33okay yeah I think we're about done
613. 33:39it's all right thank you so I'm sorry
614. 33:41Buster getting here
615. 33:44um I dropped my card
616. 33:53there you go thank you
617. 33:56um
618. 33:57you know so the corner will come over
619. 33:58and talk to you
620. 34:00um you know they'll do the autopsy and
621. 34:01everything and
622. 34:03then go from there
623. 34:06thank you but we'll come to you before
624. 34:08we leave
625. 34:09thank you very much
626. 34:13thank you Mr Rutland yes sir thank you
627. 34:15very much
628. 34:20here you want this water oh yes please
629. 34:22thank you
630. 34:29[Music]