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by JENN WOOD and WILL FOLKS
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As the ‘Retrial of the Century’ in South Carolina – the second double homicide trial of accused murderer Alex Murdaugh – draws nigh, both prosecutors and defense attorneys are conducting parallel investigations into what happened on a fateful late spring evening in Islandton, S.C. more than five years ago.
Shortly before 9:00 p.m. EDT on the evening of June 7, 2021, 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh and her younger son, 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh, were brutally executed on their family’s Moselle hunting property. Maggie Murdaugh was dispatched with six shots from an automatic rifle equipped with .300 Blackout ammunition, while Paul Murdaugh was murdered by a pair of shotgun blasts – one that ripped through his torso and another that literally blew his brain out of his body.
The guns used to to commit these savage slayings are believed to have belonged to members of the Murdaugh family – a conclusion which figured prominently in prosecutors’ theory that Alex Murdaugh was the lone gunman.
Neither murder weapon has ever been found, however – and many believe at least one of the guns, the .300 Blackout (or another Murdaugh-related rifle), has been used in subsequent shootings.
In the face of renewed scrutiny related to the ballistics evidence in this case, these parallel investigations are not just focused on the murders themselves – but how the scene of the crime may have been manipulated prior to the arrival of law enforcement.
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First and most importantly, FITSNews has learned that prosecutors in the office of attorney general Alan Wilson – who secured murder convictions against Alex Murdaugh in February 2023 (only to see them thrown out this spring by the state supreme court due to jury tampering and alleged jury rigging) – are currently investigating an alleged crime scene coverup of the double homicide involving multiple potential co-conspirators.
Specifically, investigators with the S.C. Law Enforcement Division (SLED) have conducted multiple interviews with individuals believed to have knowledge of the alleged coverup. In tandem with those inquiries, the S.C. statewide grand jury – run by lead Murdaugh prosecutor Creighton Waters – has reportedly issued subpoenas and conducted interviews with multiple subjects in connection with those inquires.
Among those subpoenaed to provide testimony before grand jurors? Yemassee, S.C. police chief Greg Alexander, one of Alex Murdaugh’s self-professed “Tombstone Buddies.”
No stranger to grand jury scrutiny, Alexander’s proximity to the Murdaugh family – and his potential ties to the Moselle scene – became the focus of extensive speculation before, during and after the first ‘Trial of the Century.’
Early on in the saga, Alexander addressed the speculation publicly on social media – denying his involvement in any coverup.
“I’m not a cat,” Alexander famously said during a since-deleted Facebook video dated March 11, 2022, nine months after the murders. “I don’t cover up no doo-doo.”
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Nonetheless, Alexander now finds himself staring down seismic allegations tied to the alleged disposal of the weapons used to murder Maggie and Paul Murdaugh – allegations which are reportedly now part of a grand jury record.
Multiple sources familiar with the status of the SLED inquiry – and the grand jury probe – have confirmed to FITSNews that witnesses have testified to seeing the Murdaugh murder weapons in Alexander’s possession in the immediate aftermath of the double homicide. These witnesses have further testified to Alexander allegedly describing his role in the crime scene coverup – and implicating at least one other Lowcountry law enforcement leader as having participated in the alleged conspiracy.
“If that’s true, it would raise questions that need to be addressed before the court,” Murdaugh lead attorney Dick Harpootlian told FITSNews when informed of these developments.
Using cell phone data, investigators believe Maggie and Paul Murduagh were gunned down at approximately 8:49 p.m. EDT on June 7, 2021. Less than four minutes earlier, Murdaugh’s voice was captured at the crime scene on a video belatedly retrieved by law enforcement from Paul Murdaugh’s cell phone – a revelation which shredded his alibi.
Vehicular data reveals Murdaugh left the Moselle property approximately seventeen minutes after the murders – at 9:06 p.m. EDT – and arrived at his parents’ home in nearby Almeda, S.C. at 9:22 p.m. EDT, thirty-three minutes after the murders.
Police did not search the Almeda property until September 16, 2021 – more than three months after the murders.
Following a brief visit to Almeda, Murdaugh returned to Moselle at 10:00 p.m. EDT. Five minutes later, he made his way back to the crime scene and ostensibly “discovered” his murdered family members. At 10:06 p.m. EDT, Murdaugh made his infamous 911 call reporting the murders – and nineteen minutes later, at 10:25 p.m. EDT, the first responding officer, Colleton County sergeant Daniel Greene, arrived on the scene.
According to the prosecution’s timeline, the elapsed time between the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh and Greene’s arrival at the crime scene was 96 minutes.
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What happened in the interim? That’s what investigators and prosecutors are now focused on…
Just over a month after his wife and son were murdered, Alex Murdaugh wrote a $5,000 check to Alexander – which FITSNews first reported on in March of 2022, nearly ten months after the murders. Alexander told our media outlet the money was intended as a loan for his parents and that he was just a “pass-through.” He declined to say whether the money had been repaid.
During that conversation, Alexander referred to Alex Murdaugh as a “longtime friend” who had helped his family in the past. Alexander also received $5,500 in contributions from Murdaugh family and friends in his failed bid for sheriff of Hampton County in 2022.
Alexander was further tied to Murdaugh’s dubious finances when prosecution witness Nathan Tuten testified during the first trial that Alexander was present in the disgraced attorney’s office when Tuten delivered envelopes of cash to Murdaugh.
Alexander figured prominently in defense testimony provided during the first trial by Murdaugh’s younger brother, John Marvin Murdaugh – who claimed “our good friend” the police chief accompanied him to the scene of the graphic double homicide.
An attorney for Alexander was not immediately available to provide comment when reached by FITSNews on Friday morning (September 25, 2026). Similarly, neither SLED nor the attorney general’s office was immediately able to provide comment on the status of their inquiries into Alexander and the alleged cover-up.
While the state probes the alleged coverup of the Murdaugh crime scene, Murdaugh’s attorneys have reportedly made significant progress in their inquiries related to alternative theories about who may have murdered Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.
Murdaugh attorneys have conducted multiple interviews in and around Walterboro, S.C. with individuals tied to the Cowboys, a Colleton County-based gang which has multiple connections to the Murdaugh saga. Details regarding the nature and substance of those inquires were not immediately clear, and Murdaugh’s attorneys declined to shed any light on the situation.
Stay tuned for an extended follow-up report on the status of both of these new lines of inquiry… which are unfolding amid a heated battle over evidence and testimony ahead of Murdaugh’s second trial, tentatively scheduled for April 2027.
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