The Trial Of Alex Murdaugh

Alex Murdaugh's retrial has opened a new battle over evidence that never made it into the first trial. His defense is demanding records tied to allegations that local law-enforcement officers may have handled the missing guns used to kill Maggie and Paul Murdaugh. The State has not adopted those allegations, and the officer most prominently named in the reporting denies them. The September 30 motion asks for grand-jury material, witness interviews and investigative files concerning the alleged movement or concealment of weapons and clothing. It focuses in part on Yemassee Police Chief Greg Alexander, a Murdaugh family friend who was at Moselle the night of the killings. No murder weapon has ever been recovered. At the same time, prosecutors are rejecting the defense's claim that it lacks crucial cellphone evidence. The State says it already produced the cellphone material in its possession during discovery before the 2023 trial. The defense says it needs the underlying extraction files so its own experts can independently test the timeline rather than rely on the State's summaries. There are also established forensic disputes that do not depend on any new allegation. Defense appellate filings say Maggie's phone lost location data after it was recovered. Trial testimony showed confirmatory testing found no human blood on the tested stains from Alex's white T-shirt. Analysts identified a small amount of male DNA under Maggie's fingernails that excluded Alex and Paul, and a judge has now allowed additional testing. Murdaugh's original murder convictions were overturned in May 2026. His new trial is set for April 5, 2027, in Sumter County. Before that jury hears a word, the court must decide which evidence disputes are real discovery failures, which are newly testable facts, and which remain allegations. Listen Anywhere You Get Podcasts: https://pod.link/1655749292 Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod?sub_confirmation=1 Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #AlexMurdaugh #MurdaughRetrial #MurdaughMurders #MaggieMurdaugh #PaulMurdaugh #GregAlexander #SLED #AlexMurdaughTrial #SouthCarolina #TrueCrime

On October 6, 2026, the State filed its response to the defense's motion to compel cell phone discovery — and attached the defense's own correspondence as exhibits. Exhibit H is Jim Griffin's January 19, 2023 email to Creighton Waters calling the State "very accommodating and cooperative" on cell phone production and acknowledging the timing problem was the defense's own making. The defense's September 28 motion claims the data arrived January 30. Griffin's email is dated January 19. Harpootlian's email acknowledging a prior delivery to Maggie Fox is dated January 20. The motion builds its argument on a timeline the defense's own paper trail contradicts by ten days. But the cell phone fight isn't what matters for the retrial. The investigation underneath it is. SLED never used a Faraday bag on Maggie's phone — the GPS data from June 7 is gone. David Owen told the grand jury blood was on the white T-shirt; SLED's confirmatory testing came back negative. Sarah Zapata found male DNA under Maggie's fingernails — three foreign alleles, no Y-STR testing performed, no CODIS upload, no identification attempt for five years until Judge McCaslin ordered Othram testing in August 2026. Harpootlian's polygraph claim fell apart in five days. The Allendale ballistic link didn't exist. The two-shooter theory produced no evidence. The defense has real problems with this investigation. They keep making it impossible to see them. Listen Anywhere You Get Podcasts: https://pod.link/1655749292 Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod?sub_confirmation=1 Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #AlexMurdaugh #MaggieMurdaugh #MurdaughRetrial #SLED #MurdaughTrial #MurderInvestigation #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #PaulMurdaugh #MurdaughCase

At Alex Murdaugh's trial, prosecutors said he hid both murder weapons at his parents' home in Almeda and moved them in a blue raincoat. Police searched three months after the killings. The guns weren't there. A grand jury is investigating whether the weapons went to a different location entirely — into the possession of Police Chief Greg Alexander, a Murdaugh family friend who was at the Moselle crime scene the night of the murders. Alexander was acquitted of misconduct charges with the Murdaugh family's backing. Alex paid him $5,000 by check after the killings. Alexander gave conflicting accounts of when the check was written. He denies everything. On September 30, the defense filed a Brady motion alleging the state hid a witness statement about Alexander since 2023 — and asking whether prosecutors plan to change their theory before the April 5 retrial. Listen Anywhere You Get Podcasts: https://pod.link/1655749292 Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod?sub_confirmation=1 Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #AlexMurdaugh #MurdaughMurders #MurdaughTrial #GregAlexander #CrimeSceneCoverup #MurdaughRetrial #MissingWeapons #GrandJury #SouthCarolina #TrueCrime

Alex Murdaugh’s retrial has a new home and a new evidence fight forming around it. Judge Debra McCaslin ordered the murder case moved to Sumter County after concluding that the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit could not provide the kind of impartial jury the Constitution requires. During the original 2023 selection process, fewer than one in seven prospective jurors qualified. McCaslin said that figure likely understates the problem now because the first convictions were overturned, Becky Hill was criminally convicted, and the case generated another wave of national attention. The defense wanted Charleston badly enough to offer a permanent waiver of venue appeals. Prosecutors objected to Charleston but did not dictate another county. McCaslin chose Sumter for its larger jury pool, separate judicial circuit, courtroom infrastructure, and security. The retrial begins April 5, 2027. Then there is the issue the first jury could never resolve because the guns were never found. Recent reporting says SLED and statewide grand-jury prosecutors are investigating allegations that Yemassee Police Chief Greg Alexander and another officer handled the missing murder weapons and bloody clothing after the June 7, 2021 killings. Alexander has not been charged, and his attorney strongly disputes the claims. Alexander’s longstanding connection to the Murdaugh family is documented, including a $5,000 check Alex Murdaugh wrote him weeks after the murders. Alexander said years ago that the money was connected to a loan for his parents. That history does not prove the new allegations, but it explains why investigators and defense attorneys would want clear answers before another jury hears the case. Tony Brueski puts the court order and the weapons inquiry side by side: what is settled, what is alleged, and what still has to be proven before Sumter County jurors hear the Murdaugh murder case again. Listen Anywhere You Get Podcasts: https://pod.link/1655749292 Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod?sub_confirmation=1 Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #AlexMurdaugh #MurdaughRetrial #AlexMurdaughTrial #SumterCounty #GregAlexander #MaggieMurdaugh #PaulMurdaugh #MurderWeapons #SLED #SouthCarolina

On June 7, 2021, somebody used a 12-gauge shotgun and a .300 Blackout rifle to kill Maggie and Paul Murdaugh at the family’s Moselle hunting estate in Colleton County. Both weapons disappeared that night. Alex Murdaugh was convicted of both murders in March 2023 without either gun in evidence. He was granted a retrial, now scheduled for April 2027. FITSNews reported on September 25, 2026, that the missing weapons are now at the center of a statewide grand jury investigation. SLED investigators and prosecutors are looking into allegations that Greg Alexander — the police chief of Yemassee, South Carolina, and a close friend of Alex Murdaugh — helped dispose of the firearms. Witnesses have allegedly testified before the grand jury that they saw the weapons in Alexander’s possession in the immediate aftermath of the killings. The Post and Courier reported that a second Yemassee town policeman is also under investigation. Both officers are accused of transporting weapons and bloody clothing into the Yemassee police department the morning after the murders. Alexander’s attorney acknowledged his client was at the Moselle crime scene that night — a property outside his jurisdiction. About one month after the killings, Alex wrote Alexander a check for $5,000. Alexander told FITSNews the money was a loan for his parents. He didn’t say whether it was repaid. When Alexander ran for Hampton County sheriff, Murdaugh family members contributed $5,500 to his campaign. At Alex’s first trial, Nathan Tuten testified that Alexander was present in Alex’s office when Tuten delivered envelopes of cash. In 2012, Alexander was indicted for stealing nearly $11,000 in seizure money. He was acquitted in Hampton County with the Murdaugh family’s support and eventually made chief of police. Alexander has not been charged with any crime. His attorney, Joe McCulloch, calls the allegations absurd. Neither SLED nor the attorney general’s office has confirmed the investigation. Listen Anywhere You Get Podcasts: https://pod.link/1655749292Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel.https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod?sub_confirmation=1Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!:https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitterhttps://x.com/tonybpod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #AlexMurdaugh #GregAlexander #HiddenKillers #MurdaughMurderWeapons #MaggieMurdaugh #PaulMurdaugh #SLED #MurdaughRetrial #GrandJury #SouthCarolina

The defense wanted Charleston so badly that Harpootlian offered to permanently waive all venue appeals if McCaslin agreed. She didn't agree. Instead, McCaslin's eight-page order landed on Sumter County, a location roughly eighty-six miles from Walterboro with three times the population of Colleton County. Nobody on either side had suggested it. The order traces the problem back nearly a century. The Murdaugh family held the prosecutor's seat across five counties from 1920 to 2006. McCaslin found that the dynasty left the entire 14th Circuit incapable of producing an impartial jury. Hill's criminal convictions for tampering with the original jury made the courthouse itself inseparable from the legal violations that overturned the verdict. When the first trial was held in 2023, fewer than one in seven summoned jurors qualified to sit. McCaslin described that figure as a starting point, not a final tally. Sumter sits in a separate judicial circuit and is home to Shaw Air Force Base. The prosecution had opposed Charleston on logistical grounds but left the ultimate decision to the judge. The retrial is scheduled for April 5, 2027, with McCaslin running jury selection directly. The venue waiver the defense dangled is now worthless, and Murdaugh's appellate options remain intact. Listen Anywhere You Get Podcasts: https://pod.link/1655749292 Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod?sub_confirmation=1 Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #AlexMurdaugh #MurdaughRetrial #SumterCounty #JudgeMcCaslin #MaggieMurdaugh #PaulMurdaugh #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #SouthCarolina #BeckyHill

Alex Murdaugh's lawyers have accused a SLED agent of fabricating evidence used to charge him with murder in the first place. That motion is now sitting in front of Judge Debra McCaslin, one of several bombshells to come out of an August 14 pretrial hearing. Tony Brueski and retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer cover the full hearing, start to finish. McCaslin pulled the retrial entirely outside the 14th Judicial Circuit, ruling that a county where Murdaugh's family ran the prosecutor's office for three generations can't seat an unbiased jury. She ordered independent lab testing on unidentified male DNA recovered from under Maggie Murdaugh's fingernails, agreeing with the defense that SLED's own retesting process could destroy the sample. She ruled the state can replay Murdaugh's 2023 sworn testimony for the new jury, including his admission that he lied about being at the kennels the night his wife and son were killed. And in the hearing's final stretch, the defense told the court that weapons tied to a recent Allendale County homicide may be ballistically linked to the Moselle murder weapons — a claim prosecutor Creighton Waters says caught him completely off guard despite talking to SLED every day. McCaslin is now personally overseeing jury selection after questions surfaced about Becky Hill's interference in the original trial. Next court date: November 14. Retrial: April 5, 2027.  Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/  Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/  Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/  Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod  X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod  This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.  #AlexMurdaugh #MaggieMurdaugh #JenniferCoffindaffer #MurdaughTrial #MurdaughRetrial #SLED #TrueCrime #SouthCarolina #CreightonWaters #CriminalJustice 

Alex Murdaugh's defense raised something in the Lexington County courtroom on August 14 that Creighton Waters did not see coming. The defense told Judge Debra McCaslin that weapons from a recent Allendale County murder may connect to the Murdaugh murder weapons. Waters told the court he had never heard a word about it, despite daily communication with SLED. Jennifer Coffindaffer, a retired FBI Special Agent, joins Tony Brueski to cover the August 14 hearing and what it tells an investigator about how SLED managed the evidence in this case. McCaslin ordered SLED to release fingernail DNA from Maggie Murdaugh to the defense for outside testing. The standard SLED analysis detected unknown male DNA under her fingernails but could not identify whose it was. The defense argued SLED's retesting protocol would destroy the remaining sample. The venue was moved entirely out of the Colleton County circuit. McCaslin said she will personally oversee how jurors are selected. The first trial conviction was reversed after the clerk of court was found to have improperly influenced the jury. The court ruled Murdaugh's 2023 testimony will be played in the retrial. That includes his admission he lied about being at the kennels. The Supreme Court previously excluded roughly twelve and a half hours of financial crimes evidence it said went too far, and the prosecution will not have that material in the second trial. The defense has separately alleged that SLED's lead case agent testified about blood on a T-shirt that the agent himself acknowledged was not there, and that SLED's forensic division stopped testing the shirt after the first result came back negative for human blood. Alex Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty. He is presumed innocent. Tony Brueski and retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer. Listen Anywhere You Get Podcasts: https://pod.link/1655749292 Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #AlexMurdaugh #MaggieMurdaugh #CreightonWaters #JenniferCoffindaffer #MurdaughRetrial #SLED #TrueCrime #SouthCarolina #CriminalJustice #MaggieMurdaugh

A motion filed on August 10 asks Judge Debra McCaslin to dismiss Alex Murdaugh's murder indictments entirely. The defense alleges SLED's lead case agent gave false testimony and presented fabricated blood evidence on a T-shirt to the Colleton County grand jury that charged Murdaugh in 2022. No prosecution response has been filed and McCaslin has not ruled.That pending motion was the backdrop for an August 14 hearing where the defense gained ground on every other contested issue. McCaslin granted a change of venue out of the 14th Judicial Circuit, citing the high rate of jurors disqualified in the original trial and the Murdaugh family's generations-long role in the local legal establishment.She ordered the release of unknown male DNA recovered from Maggie Murdaugh's fingernails for independent defense testing. She ruled Murdaugh's 2023 testimony conditionally admissible, limited to statements about the deaths of Maggie and Paul, rejecting the defense argument that his decision to testify was compelled by improperly admitted financial crimes evidence.McCaslin took personal control of jury selection, responding to Dick Harpootlian's concerns about when former clerk Becky Hill began shaping the original pool. The hearing ended with the defense raising a potential ballistics link between the murder weapons and a recent Allendale County homicide. Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters told the court he had never heard of the connection despite daily contact with SLED. Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty. The retrial remains set for April 5, 2027. Links: Listen Anywhere You Get Podcasts: https://pod.link/1655749292Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod?sub_confirmation=1Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Disclaimer: This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. Hashtags: #AlexMurdaugh #SLED #CreightonWaters #MurdaughRetrial #MurdaughTrial #MaggieMurdaugh #PaulMurdaugh #TrueCrime #SouthCarolina #DickHarpootlian

Alex Murdaugh's defense wants independent DNA testing ahead of his retrial. Prosecutors are fighting that request. Tony Brueski and retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke dig into why the state doesn't want a second lab involved, and what it's asking for instead.  Prosecutors are also seeking a fresh review of digital evidence and moving to admit Murdaugh's own 2023 testimony at the retrial, including his admission that he lied to investigators for about eighteen months about being at the kennels the night Maggie and Paul were killed, and his denial of the killings themselves. The state is renewing two pretrial wins: keeping third-party guilt evidence from the jury, and barring any reference to a polygraph, after Murdaugh's own attorneys once told a court that Curtis Eddie Smith failed one when asked about the murders.  Murdaugh's defense has filed its own countermove, a supplemental Brady and Giglio motion demanding prosecutors search again for favorable evidence generated since the first trial and certify in writing, within thirty days, that nothing was missed. Ten categories are listed, from plea deals to lab proficiency testing, and the motion names no specific witness or document. A sanctions motion from the first trial is still outstanding, and prosecutors haven't responded.  Judge Debra McCaslin has tentatively set the retrial for April 5, 2027. Alex Murdaugh's murder convictions were overturned by the South Carolina Supreme Court over the clerk of court's conduct with the jury. He is presumed innocent and remains imprisoned on unrelated financial crimes.  Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/  Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/  Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/  Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod  X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod  This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.  #AlexMurdaugh #MaggieMurdaugh #HiddenKillers #MurdaughRetrial #TrueCrime #SouthCarolina #MurdaughMurders #BradyMotion #DebraMcCaslin #DickHarpootlian 

Alex Murdaugh's defense wants a South Carolina judge to order something rare: a full search of every file, agency, and personnel record connected to his case, across ten categories, with prosecutors swearing in writing that nothing favorable to Murdaugh remains hidden. Judge Debra McCaslin hears arguments on that motion August 14, 2026. Tony Brueski breaks down what's actually being asked for, and why.  The motion leans on the record of lead investigator David Owen, who led the Murdaugh case and, years earlier, a separate 2015 murder investigation a judge later quashed after ruling the state withheld favorable evidence for nearly a decade, including a mother's account Owen denied under oath. It also notes agent Ryan Kelly, who told Murdaugh's jury nothing tied alternate suspect Eddie Smith to the murders before being fired from an unrelated Charleston County job in June 2026.  Retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer joins to weigh whether the demand is a fishing expedition or something this investigation has genuinely earned, and covers the fight over the white shirt Murdaugh wore the night Maggie and Paul were killed, tested negative for human blood, then rendered permanently untestable by a chemical used in SLED's own analysis.  All of this comes days after a federal judge dismissed Murdaugh's $600,000 lawsuit against former clerk Becky Hill, whose jury tampering overturned his original convictions. Hill has pleaded guilty to obstruction, perjury, and misconduct and received no prison time. Murdaugh is presumed innocent heading into his April 2027 retrial, and this motion may decide what the jury does or doesn't get to see.  Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/  Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/  Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/  Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod  X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod  This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.  #AlexMurdaugh #BeckyHill #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #MurdaughRetrial #DavidOwen #SLED #SouthCarolina #MurdaughMurders #JusticeForMaggieAndPaul

Alex Murdaugh's lawyers want a signature from the prosecution, and the reason sits in a case most people have never heard of. Tony Brueski takes the listener mail with retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke. The defense filed a supplemental motion under Brady and Giglio. It asks the court to order prosecutors to search again for favorable and impeachment material generated since the 2023 trial, then certify in writing that the search was diligent and current. Thirty days. Now the case that gets a fraction of the coverage. Last spring a circuit court judge quashed the murder indictment in the Michael Colucci prosecution after concluding potentially exculpatory evidence had not been properly disclosed. Former SLED special agent David Owen, the lead investigator in the Moselle murders, faced renewed credibility scrutiny in connection with that matter. Owen retired in June 2024 after twenty-eight years of service. At Murdaugh's first trial, Owen acknowledged under cross-examination that SLED waited roughly three months to search the family's Almeda property, even though investigators later theorized Murdaugh may have taken weapons or evidence there. Asked whether that was an opportunity missed, he answered that it probably was. The current motion names neither Owen nor anyone else. It asks the state to repeat the entire discovery process against everything that has happened since. Prosecutors have not yet filed a response. Judge Debra McCaslin has tentatively set the retrial for April 5, 2027, with pretrial proceedings in Lexington County. Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh were killed at the family's Colleton County hunting property on June 7, 2021. Murdaugh's convictions were overturned by the South Carolina Supreme Court, he awaits retrial, and he is presumed innocent. He has denied the killings of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh throughout. END LINKS Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod DISCLAIMER This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. HASHTAGS #AlexMurdaugh #MurdaughRetrial #HiddenKillers #SLED #BradyMotion #MaggieMurdaugh #DickHarpootlian #TrueCrime #MurdaughMurders #SouthCarolina

Alex Murdaugh is getting a second trial because of a court clerk. That is the whole reason any of these new filings exist, and it is worth keeping in front of you. Tony Brueski takes listener questions with retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke. The South Carolina Supreme Court vacated Murdaugh's 2023 murder convictions after jurors said Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill told them to watch his body language and not be fooled by his testimony. The justices ruled that amounted to a suggestion he was guilty. Hill later pleaded guilty to perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office, and was sentenced to probation. Now prosecutors have moved to put the very testimony Hill commented on in front of a new jury. Their filing asks Judge Debra McCaslin to admit Murdaugh's 2023 trial testimony at the retrial, including his admission that he lied to investigators for roughly eighteen months about being at the kennels the night Maggie and Paul were killed. The same filings renew the state's motions to exclude polygraph evidence and third-party guilt, seek a fresh review of digital evidence, and oppose the defense's request for independent DNA testing. The listener question landing hardest is the circular one. The verdict fell because of what a clerk said about him testifying. The state's answer is to make sure the next jury hears him testify anyway. McCaslin has tentatively set the retrial for April 5, 2027. Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters told the court the state could have been ready before the end of 2026. Dick Harpootlian said the defense has eight new expert witnesses and that DNA work alone could take six months. Murdaugh's convictions were overturned, he awaits retrial, and he is presumed innocent. He has denied the killings since 2021 and remains in prison on financial crime convictions. END LINKS Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod DISCLAIMER This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. HASHTAGS #AlexMurdaugh #MurdaughRetrial #HiddenKillers #MaggieMurdaugh #PaulMurdaugh #DebraMcCaslin #SouthCarolina #TrueCrime #MurdaughMurders #CreightonWaters

The Brady motion filed August 5, 2026, is the widest evidence demand of the Alex Murdaugh retrial so far, and this breakdown goes category by category. The filing renews the defense's July 2022 discovery request and stacks ten new categories on top: new or modified witness deals, statements that contradict old ones, updated disciplinary and internal affairs files, DNA and forensic developments down to analyst proficiency tests and software, fresh search warrants, and post-trial material touching the verdict's integrity. It reaches SLED's Eddie Smith roadside-shooting file and the narcotics investigation. And it asks Judge Debra McCaslin to make prosecutors certify in writing — within thirty days — that a diligent, current search found nothing else favorable to the defense. Tony Brueski lays out why that certification matters more than it sounds. If the state signs it and favorable evidence surfaces at trial, the defense holds the evidence and the state's own paper saying it didn't exist. The Colucci case shows the stakes: a June 2025 quash order, a decade of undisclosed evidence, and David Owen — Moselle's lead investigator — testifying he was never told what a witness swore she gave him in 2015. Ryan Kelly's June 2026 firing from a Charleston County internal affairs post gets the same careful treatment: records don't describe the conduct, and nothing links it to SLED or to this case. Attorney General Alan Wilson's office hasn't responded; the first hearing on the motion is set for August 14, 2026, in Lexington County. McCaslin can grant it, narrow it, or deny it. Murdaugh is presumed innocent, with retrial set for April 2027. If you're following the retrial gavel to gavel, this is the filing that shapes everything after it. END_LINKS Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod Disclaimer This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. Hashtags #AlexMurdaugh #DavidOwen #TrueCrime #MurdaughRetrial #BradyMotion #SLED #MurdaughMurders #TrueCrimePodcast #SouthCarolina #JusticeForMaggieAndPaul

South Carolina taxpayers are about to fund a second Alex Murdaugh murder trial because Becky Hill talked to a jury while selling a book about the case. That means a new prosecution, courthouse security, and months of court time. On August 5, a federal judge ruled Hill owes Murdaugh nothing for the first one. His $600,000 lawsuit against the former clerk is dismissed, on the logic that he'd have paid his defense lawyers whether she tampered or not. She pleaded guilty in December to obstruction, perjury, and misconduct: charges about a book photo, bonuses, and sealed exhibits, not the tampering. She received no prison time. She keeps whatever the book made. Everyone is paying for what happened in that courtroom except the person who caused it. Retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer joins Tony Brueski to work through that math, and through the second filing that landed a day later. Murdaugh's defense is demanding prosecutors search every file, every witness deal, and every disciplinary record, then certify in writing that nothing favorable to him remains hidden. The motion names no specific missing evidence. It doesn't have to — the state's record does the arguing. Lead investigator David Owen is connected to a separate murder case dismissed over undisclosed evidence. Agent Ryan Kelly, who cleared Eddie Smith on the stand, was fired this June from an internal affairs job for unrelated and undisclosed reasons. And the white shirt at the center of the forensic case tested negative for human blood before a testing chemical destroyed any chance of a second opinion. Coffindaffer answers the questions this channel's audience has been asking all week: why Hill isn't in prison, who searches SLED besides SLED, and whether the shirt was ruined by accident. Murdaugh is presumed innocent. April will test the case. This episode tests the casework. LINKS Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod DISCLAIMER This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. HASHTAGS #AlexMurdaugh #BeckyHill #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #MurdaughRetrial #SouthCarolina #SLED #MurdaughMurders #JenniferCoffindaffer #JusticeSystem

The unidentified male DNA found under Maggie Murdaugh's fingernails has been sitting untouched for eight years, and Alex Murdaugh's prosecutors are fighting to keep an independent lab from finishing the job SLED never did. One test, one conclusion that it wasn't family, and then nothing. No effort to find out who it actually belonged to. The defense wants a forensic genealogy lab, the same kind of lab that identified Bryan Kohberger in Idaho, to test what's left before it degrades. The state wants first access, running the same process that already fell short, in a procedure the defense says risks destroying the remaining sample before an outsider ever examines it.  Think about what that means. If prosecutors are confident this DNA is nothing, an independent test proves them right at zero cost. Fighting it only makes sense if the answer might not be what they're hoping for.  The defense has also laid out a broader pattern in this case: a white T-shirt that tested negative for blood, a blood spatter expert who allegedly reversed his conclusions after the lead investigator paid him a visit, and a SLED captain accused of ordering subordinates to bury results that helped the defense.  And on August 5th, a federal judge dismissed Alex Murdaugh's lawsuit against former clerk of court Becky Hill, wiping out the subpoenas and depositions that could have forced her records and sworn testimony into the case before the April 2027 retrial, records that might explain how a juror got removed from deliberations the first time around.  Two fights lost by the defense. One retrial, five months away, with the death penalty back on the table. The judge overseeing the retrial has already asked prosecutors how long independent testing would actually take, a question that puts pressure on the state to explain what they're really afraid of.  Links & Legal Footer  Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/  Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/  Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/  Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod  X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod  This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.  Hashtags  #AlexMurdaugh #MaggieMurdaugh #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #MurdaughRetrial #SLED #BeckyHill #JuryTampering #SouthCarolina #ColdCaseDNA 

Becky Hill's text messages and emails from the weeks she managed Alex Murdaugh's jury have never been examined by anyone outside the state's closed investigation. Murdaugh's lawyers wanted them, and the federal lawsuit they filed in May 2026 was the only legal instrument that could get them. A civil defendant can be subpoenaed and deposed. A private citizen who took a plea deal cannot be touched by a criminal defendant's discovery at all. Judge Gergel's dismissal on August 5 cut off the records, the deposition, the trace on the anonymous email that removed a juror mid-deliberations, and the chance to put the tampering investigators under oath about why their conclusion and the Supreme Court's landed in different places. The ruling is defensible on the law. Hill didn't indict Murdaugh, and the cost of his defense traces to the murder charges rather than to her conduct. The episode maps each lost tool onto the April 2027 retrial, including how a connection between the tampering and anyone on the state's side could have supported a motion to dismiss the charges outright, and why the SLED depositions would have fed directly into the defense's existing fight over the untested DNA under Maggie's fingernails. The appeal is already at the Fourth Circuit. Hosted by Tony Brueski Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #AlexMurdaugh #BeckyHill #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #MurdaughRetrial #MurdaughLawsuit #JuryTampering #SouthCarolina #TrueCrimePodcast #MurdaughMurders

Alex Murdaugh's defense team filed a memorandum on July 30th, 2026, demanding that Judge Debra McCaslin allow an independent forensic lab to test DNA evidence recovered from Maggie Murdaugh's fingernails — before SLED can run tests that the defense says could consume or degrade the remaining sample. SLED identified the DNA years ago as belonging to an unknown male with no relation to the Murdaugh family. The defense says no further analysis was ever attempted. The lab they want involved is Othram, Inc. — the same forensic genetic genealogy operation whose technology helped put a name to Bryan Kohberger in the Idaho student murders, cracked the Lady of the Dunes cold case after nearly fifty years, and has been used in some of the highest-profile DNA identifications in the country. The prosecution opposed the motion, characterizing the defense's request as aimed at public consumption and arguing that trace DNA under fingernails can result from casual contact. The defense says the state's own method has already failed on this sample and that there is no scientific justification for letting SLED go first. The filing goes further — accusing SLED of acting in bad faith with biological evidence in this investigation, citing the alleged suppression of exculpatory T-shirt test results and the destruction of the shirt itself. The retrial is scheduled for April 5th, 2027. The August 14th pretrial hearing is where the DNA testing question is expected to land. END_LINKS: Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod Disclaimer: This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #AlexMurdaugh #MaggieMurdaugh #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #MurdaughRetrial #SLED #Othram #SouthCarolina #ColdOpen #JusticeForMaggie

Alex Murdaugh's retrial finally has a date, April 5, 2027, and a stack of defense motions that go straight at the evidence that convicted him the first time. Start with the shirt. Blood-spatter analyst Tom Bevel's original report reportedly described the marks on Murdaugh's white T-shirt as transfer stains, not gunshot spatter, before that finding changed following what defense filings describe as color adjustments made in Photoshop. The state never called Bevel to testify. Then there's the DNA. Investigators recovered an unknown male's genetic material from under Maggie Murdaugh's fingernails the night she and Paul were killed, and that sample was cataloged but never run through a genealogy database. The defense wants it sent to Othram, the same lab whose work helped identify Bryan Kohberger, and attorney Jim Griffin told the court the technology to trace it simply wasn't available when SLED first collected it. On top of that, attorney Dick Harpootlian says first-responder statements from the night of the killings contradict one another, and that tips forwarded to SLED may never have been followed up on. Judge Debra McCaslin, newly assigned to the case, has already made clear continuances won't be granted, while Attorney General Alan Wilson is keeping the death penalty in play against a man already serving multiple life sentences. This episode lays out all three motions side by side, weighs them against the David Camm wrongful-conviction case the defense cites as precedent, and gives the honest counterargument prosecutors are likely to raise. Two people are still dead at those kennels, and pieces of evidence tied directly to their deaths sat untested for years. The next hearing lands August 14. Both sides know how much rides on the next few hearings. Here is everything filed so far, in order.  SOCIAL LINKS & LEGAL FOOTER  Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/  Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/  Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/  Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod  X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod  This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.  HASHTAGS  #MurdaughRetrial #AlexMurdaugh #HiddenKillers #MurdaughTrial #MaggieMurdaugh #PaulMurdaugh #Othram #TomBevel #SouthCarolina #TrueCrime 

The first retrial hearing in the Murdaugh case produced a moment that deserves more attention than it received. Dick Harpootlian presented the court with transcripts from interviews conducted with the first people to arrive at the Moselle property after Maggie and Paul were found dead. He told Judge McCaslin the accounts contain conflicting information about who was present at the property that night — and that the defense has received tips from people claiming to have case information that were forwarded to SLED with no confirmation they were ever investigated. That revelation came alongside a barrage of defense moves at the June 29 hearing. The team has eight new expert witnesses who need six months to prepare. They want Othram — the forensic genetic genealogy lab that worked the Kohberger case — to analyze the unknown male DNA recovered from under Maggie’s left-hand fingernails, designated as Item No. 70. Jim Griffin told the judge the DNA was catalogued by SLED and never further analyzed. He cited the David Camm case from Indiana, where untested crime scene DNA ultimately identified the actual killer and led to the defendant’s acquittal at a third trial. Judge McCaslin set the retrial for April 5, 2027. She denied Murdaugh a laptop in prison but arranged a conference room compromise. She deferred the DNA ruling to the next hearing on August 14 after ordering both sides’ experts to confer. The venue motion is unresolved. And the death penalty — never sought in the first trial — is now allegedly on the table. Everything about this retrial is different from the first. End Links: Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod Disclaimer: This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. Hashtags: #AlexMurdaugh #MaggieMurdaugh #MurdaughRetrial #Moselle #MurdaughHearing #ItemNo70 #OthramDNA #DavidCamm #DickHarpootlian #TrueCrime