tv CNN Special Report CNN January 28, 2023 9:00pm-10:00pm PST
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things. it matters. >> i think we'll make everybody on the crew take it. i already know who on the crew is going to have a strong preference for black people. what's up, dwayne? >> this week in milwaukee has featured a bunch of great black people meetings and one people of color meeting. and hopefully gives you white people out there a sense of what we're going through and what people of color talk about regularly. and even though the show's coming to an end, this week, we all have a homework assignment. go and take the implicit bias test, because whether you think you're biased or not, racism is a part of your life with or without you knowing it. but if we measure it, hopefully we can dismantle it. and white folks, if you don't think about your own bias, then there's a chance you're going to end up in one of those videos harassing people who don't deserve it. or even worse, getting someone killed. because we ain't all jared steven leone. >> announcer: the following is a cnn special report.
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>> i could see his brain all -- and i ran over to maggie and -- actually, i think i tried to turn paul over first. >> alex mourmurdaugh. >> double murder mystery. >> the evidence will show he was there. >> he would be covered in blood. >> there was no blood. >> for the first time, those closely tied to this shocking st story sit down together. >> every lawyer at this table is on trial. >> it's a good feeling to be connected to the power. >> until it comes back to bite you. >> powerful family. series of unsolved killing. >> how many families do you know that have five dead bodies in their orbit? >> murdaugh's housekeeper died in 2018 in a slip and fall at murdaugh's home.
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>> he used gloria's death to enrich himself. >> 19-year-old stephen smith was found dead on the side of a road. >> i want justice. good evening. i'm randi kaye. tonight, for the first time, alex murdaugh's victims and alleged victims, their lawyers, and local reporters who for years have been covering every detail of this case, come together to talk about the man who changed their lives forever and the mystery that has shaken this community. you're all brought together by really one man. but some of you, you do know each other, right? from -- >> yes. >> our families worked together or went to school together. there's always a connection. >> always a connection some way. yes. >> my father owned a grocery store for 54 years, which everyone came to that grocery
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store. that's what put me in the middle to be able to know everyone. >> we call him jj. >> jordan jinks, ginger harriott, and sandy smith grew up in the rural county of hampton, south carolina. less than 3,000 people live in the town of hampton. >> one thing about hampton also, i mean, genuine people live there. >> all your friends' children come to your house and they call you mom. >> right. >> hampton is also the hometown of alex murdaugh. what was alex murdaugh like as a young boy? >> kind of rough. but a typical friend. i mean, we were both interested in hunting and fishing and stuff like that. >> we were kids. i mean, we went all through school together. so i just thought he was alex. he was loud and he was just alex. >> alex, he just seemed arrogant and conceited and like i'm better than you.
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>> you stayed friendly or in touch with him over the years? >> absolutely. i got wedding gifts from him. i gave him gifts. i went out of town and stuff he liked, i knew it, i brought it back. i mean, we were friends. i trusted him. >> alex murdaugh wasn't just a resident of hampton. alex's great-grandfather, grandfather, and father, randolph murdaugh iii, had all been the county's district attorneys or what they call solicitors. >> being a solicitor in south carolina is one of the most powerful positions in our legal system. >> mandy matney, john munk, and liz farrell are all local journalists. >> people do have trouble finding lawyers here because of the way the legal system works. you have to be careful about who you hire sometimes, because of who they might be associated with. >> over a century ago, alex's great-grandfather, a solicitor, also started a local law firm, formally called peters,
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murdaugh, parker, eltzroth, & detrick, or pmped for short. >> the firm is a plaintiffs' law firm. which means it specializes in wrongful deaths, medical malpractice, suing big corporations on behalf of victims. >> monk has been reporting in south carolina for nearly 50 years. >> because the murdaughs know pretty much everybody in that county, they could count on getting juries that had the reputation of siding with them in a big way. >> something that people don't understand about pmped and their control over hampton county, most names i've looked up in the hampton county public index, so many of them have lawsuits connected to pmped. everybody has a cousin who has gotten a lot of money from calling pmped and them handling a car accident, for instance. i've heard that a million times. >> it created a loyalty. >> yeah, it creates a loyalty and it creates a culture of
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silence, basically. >> for sure. >> alex murdaugh, a lawyer himself, worked at his family's law firm, pmped, since he graduated law school back in 1994. mike hemlepp, justin bamburg, joe mccullough, and eric bland are all local litigators. all four of you graduated from the university of south carolina school of law, correct? >> yes. >> because alex murdaugh also graduated from the same school. >> randy and i graduated together. >> his brother. >> yes, his brother. >> growing up, the murdaughs even over in bamberg county, people knew who they were. >> randi, i have stories i'll tell you. i was talking to a lawyer here in town who said his old law partner, who was a big political figure here in town, got a call one day from old buster. >> buster is the nickname of alex murdaugh's grandfather, a solicitor who served for 46 years.
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>> buster said, counselor, i know you can help me out here, my boy's gotten into some trouble and needs to be gotten out of it and i know you can handle it. so the lawyer jumped right on it and within an hour, he'd made the calls like we could do in the good old days and make problems go away. and he called buster back and he said, solicitor, i've got it taken care of, it's all gone. he said, what do i owe you? he said, solicitor, i don't need to be paid, you know, this is a favor. and he said buster then said to him, "well, you know, counselor, if you ever need to kill a man, you bring him to hampton county." and whether that was true or false, maybe a joke, that was the reputation and that is what that community has dealt with for decades. >> that law firm did a great deal for hampton county residents.
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but it doesn't give that law firm the right to have so much power to suppress law enforcement. you know -- >> and that's what you think is going on here? >> yeah. if the murdaugh family did something wrong, they're guilty. murdaughs or not. we ain't playing on a level playing field when it comes to hampton county and the murdaugh family. >> exactly. >> your status in an environment, a town, should not exclude you from the law. >> right. >> you should -- if you do wrong, you should be punished like anyone else. >> you know, yeah, i like being connected to the power for 50 years. i could pick up the phone if somebody is bothering me. >> until it comes back to bite you? >> exactly. >> pmped, now named parker law, did not respond to cnn's request for comment. the state grand jury has
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indicted murdaugh on about 90 charges or so. in terms of schemes to defraud victims totaling nearly $8.8 million. or so. he's also been indicted, as you know, on the two counts of murder in connection with the deaths of his wife and son. as lawyers practicing for quite some time in this state, what do you make of that? >> proud. proud of our legal system. proud of our attorney general. proud of our judges. >> i want to add something. >> yeah. >> i am not proud. i am angry. i'm very angry. you asked how we feel about this? alex threw all of us under the bus. the entire world is looking at south carolina, and every lawyer at this table is on trial because of greed and avarice. i represent the family of a 19-year-old kid who was poor, who was brutally murdered and left on the side of the road. who gave a crap about that in
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2015? when we return -- >> they beat him to death. >> now we know, there's missing evidence. >> a look inside the five mysterious deaths. >> paul recorded a video. the evidence will show that he was there. >> all circling alex's orbit. >> there ain't no allegedly. this is what happened. young lady who was, you know, mid 30s, couple of kids, recently went through a divorce. she had a lot of questions when she came in. i watched my mother go through being a single mom.
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maggie and alex murdaugh married in august of 1993. around that time, they had two kids, buster and their youngest son paul. that's when they met gloria satterfield. >> we grew up close. >> ginger is gloria's younger sister. how close was gloria to the -- >> very much. she baby-sat for them before she started doing housekeeping.
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paul was about 13 months old. he was just starting to walk. she would wear skirts all the time and he would walk around and hold her skirt while she was doing the housework and stuff. >> she pretty much raised him, him and buster. she thought the world of maggie. >> double murder mystery. this morning, investigators trying to find who killed two members of one of south carolina's most prominent legal families. >> what about the murder of maggie and paul? what is it that has surprised you the most? what still shocks you? >> liz was one of the first people that called me that morning. speechless, absolutely. >> unbelievable. >> unbelievable. i started making calls because i was worried that right from that moment that already this is being covered up. >> the coroner's office tells us preliminary results show both died from gunshot wounds. >> there were many thoughts that filled my mind. >> the phone has kept me up at night what is with maggie's phone. how does that puzzle piece fit
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into all of this? >> john, you had the first story that revealed that maggie's cell phone had been found in the woods? >> right, about a half a mile away from the moselle estate. >> moselle is what they call the 1700-acre hunting property where the murdaughs had a home. >> it added to the strangeness. why should somebody -- a killer apparently -- take the cell phone and drop it a half a mile away or a mile away? by the side of the road. >> the feeling in the community, whoever killed the murdaughs didn't end up here by accident or randomly. >> crimes like this that don't involve robbery statistically come back to a family member. >> passionate crime. >> they were killed in a hail of bullets, each of them. so that does suggest the passion that you mentioned. >> 911. what's your emergency? >> this is alex murdaugh. >> he says he showed up at their
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property in moselle and called 911 and found his wife and son bleeding. he reported them outside the dog kennels. >> the number one thing that stood out to me was the first time hearing the 911 call. the moment you call 911 and hit send on your phone, even though no one has answered and it's just ringing, it's recording on the dispatch end. and the phone is dead silent. and you can hear the dogs barking in the background. and as soon as dispatch answers, it's this panicked alex. >> hampton county 911. what is your emergency? >> this is alex murdaugh. >> i never knew panic could get cut on and off. >> let the blubbering begin. >> i need the police immediately. my wife and child have been shot badly. >> that was so weird to me. >> you are saying he would have been panicked before that, before it started -- before anybody picked up the line.
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>> really perceptive. >> i hadn't picked up on that. >> he would be hyperventilating. >> we had a wonderful marriage, wonderful relationship. >> and yours and paul's relationship? >> as good as it could be. >> this is alex murdaugh being interviews hours after his wife and son were murdered. >> i mean, i pulled up and i could see them. i could see it was -- and i could see his brain all -- and i ran over to maggie and -- actually, i think i tried to turn paul over first. i tried to take their pulse on both of them. >> uh-huh.
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>> and, you know, i called 911 pretty much right away. >> we hear him explain how he says he tried to reach his wife and son with no luck. >> i got up, i called maggie, didn't get an answer. and i think i texted her. i checked -- texted her at 9:08. then i texted her at 9:47, that must have been when i started to come back. i think i called her before that. but let me make sure. pretty sure that i called her, 9:45. and then i tried paul. >> the unsolved double killings, just one of the many twists and turns deepening questions surrounding this powerful family.
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>> one of the things that people outside south carolina don't understand about this entire story is somebody may read about it and they may watch, you know, cnn and learn about it and feel like this happened quickly. it did not. this was a slow burn. it -- it was like there was no bottom to the hole that was being dug. >> alex, he embodies the old saying, if you're going through hell, just keep on going. >> it's the onion that you keep peeling, and you never get do the core. >> right. >> mike is the attorney for sandy smith. sandy's son, stephen, was found lying in the middle of a hampton county road in july 2019. he suffered from blunt force trauma to the head. his death was deemed as a hit and run. stephen's case was cold for
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quite some time and now they're taking another look at it, because of what they say was something that was discovered after the double murder of maggie and paul murdaugh, which is really interesting. >> yeah, because it was like mind-blowing. and i'd been begging, you know, nobody ever returned my call. >> coming up -- >> you're talking about a young man who's homosexual. you're talking about a small southern town. it's taboo. somebody didn't like it. >> and later -- >> 911. what is your emergency? >> my housekeeper has fallen and her head is bleeding. i cannot get her up. >> longtime housekeeper for the murdaugh family died after suffering some type of fall at the murdaugh home. >> to learn that he used gloria's death to enrich himself is horrible. that performance was legendary. they just piled it on. roast beef, ham, oven roasted turkey. all on the subway club. three peat - that's great. three meat - that's epic. the subway series. the greatest menu of all time.
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room and say something, and it was like, your mood is gone because you couldn't stop laughing or smiling. >> he would light up a room. >> he had plans and dreams. >> yes. he started at a tech school to become a nurse. >> did you know the murdaugh family? >> stephen played little league one year and randolph and alex were his coach. you know, and that's how i met them. and stephen went to school with buster. >> buster is alex murdaugh's eldest son. the stephen smith case was reopened by s.l.e.d. as a result of something that was found at the double murder scene for maggie and paul murdaugh. >> so stephen died. and he was found july 7th of 2015. rumors were everywhere. everywhere. this is a small county. it's impossible that people didn't know what happened. people talk. >> what the talk has always been
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was that stephen had some sort of a relationship with a murdaugh. and that was going to get out. >> so they took him out? >> think how courageous stephen was. you're talking about a young man who is homosexual, who isn't hiding it, is very proud of who he is. you're talking about a small southern town. >> it's taboo. >> it's taboo. and he's wearing it proud. and somebody didn't like it. it clearly had to have been related to his sexuality. don't you believe, mike? >> 100%. 100%. south carolina and wyoming are the only two states that have no hate crimes law. >> we have no hate crimes law? >> no. we can't get one passed. and we have been trying and begging and fighting. >> you're kidding me. >> no. >> what happened to stephen smith? >> there's so much we don't know.
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we know some bare bones facts. >> hampton county 911. where is your emergency? >> we know he was found at 4:00 in the morning on sandy run road in hampton. he was about a mile from his car. he had died of horrific blunt force trauma to his head. his skull was fractured. his wallet was in his car. he had his cell phone. and he was not that far from his father's house, where he lived. his twin sister stefanie was also at home. i was a prosecutor for a long time. i have prosecuted cases of people having been hit by cars. this is not the scene of a hit and run. there was no debris. >> there was no debris. lower extremities, nothing was broken. and his loosely tied sneakers were on his feet? >> yes. >> they would have been blown off. >> yes.
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>> if it was a hit and run case. >> every hit and run case i have ever seen, shoes blow off. >> they did not have their shoes on. >> a hit and run is extraordinarily violent. extraordinarily violent. he had some abrasions but not significant. >> what do you remember about that night and when you learned what had happened to your son? >> i was on my way to work. and i heard on the big dog radio that they had found a body in the road on sandy run and joe miley. and i was like oh gosh, my kids live on joe miley. so i called joel's house. >> joel was stephen's father. >> stefanie answered. i said, are y'all okay? i heard something happened down the road. they found a body. and she said, "mom, did stephen spend the night at your house last night?" i said no. and then i knew. i knew it was him. >> is that a mother's instinct? >> oh, yes. yes. because stephen was my baby.
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so we were always close. >> i know that soon after, randy murdaugh had called. randy is alex murdaugh's brother. >> when i was on the phone with joel, he said, let me put you on hold because randy murdaugh is calling. he said, randy wants to take be stephen's case pro bono. and i said, what case? because they said it was a hit and run. >> did you think that call from randy murdaugh was strange? >> yes. it made no sense to me. >> yeah. >> really, there was no case yet. >> yeah, you didn't know it was a case yet. >> his law office has said he didn't call -- he didn't know stephen had died until after the funeral. >> excuse me, but alex murdaugh and randy murdaugh were standing at the crime scene. >> oh, wow. >> they were at the crime scene after stephen's body was moved, randy murdaugh called and asked,
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was that you that just passed by? i said, yeah. he said, i wish you would have stopped so i could have met you. >> wow. >> at the crime scene. >> yeah. >> at the crime scene. >> his office says that he never offered to represent the family in any way. >> well, if you can believe anything a murdaugh says. >> s.l.e.d. has released some of the interrogations and interviews regarding stephen's case to the media. >> i don't feel like it's a hit and run. i've looked at the body itself. >> a lot of people seem a little nervous to say the name murdaugh. >> the lead investigator at the time even voiced his doubts about this being a hit and run. >> typically, you don't see the highway patrol working a murder. and that's what this is. >> wow. >> that was the lead investigator at the time. yet, you still don't have answers and you still don't know who did this. >> right. >> this is either an extreme amount of corruption from very
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powerful people who were able to pull all of these strings, or everybody involved in this did not do their job, and that is very scary for the justice system, too. both sides, it's scary. >> what do you believe happened to your son stephen? >> i feel like they beat him to death, because the only damage was to his head. and he did have some defense wounds. he had a dislocated shoulder. it had to be somebody he knew to put his body like he was walking home. >> i mean, my heart goes out to her. it's just hard to believe. >> it's been seven years and stephen's case is still unsolved. his mother's attorney has yet to bring a case against the murdaugh family. >> there's no fact that i can point to other than talk,
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rumors, speculation, and the connection of s.l.e.d. reopening the case at moselle. there's nothing connected to the murdaughs. and i'll tell you the other thing. there are people right now in hampton who know what happened. and they need to come forward. >> sandy lost her son, but she is also lost her own community. because people were just turning their backs saying, we can't say anything. >> i want justice for my son. >> you deserve it. >> you deserve it. you do. >> that's all i want. >> yes. >> you'll get it. >> oh, yeah. one step closer. >> mr. murdaugh -- when we return -- >> i didn't think they were in our money. >> he forged my name. >> we review some of the 90 financial fraud charges alex murdaugh is facing. >> to learn that he used gloria's death to enrich himself is horrible. >> 911. where is your emergency?
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and later -- >> we were in a boat crash -- >> the tragic death of 19-year-old mallory beach. >> there was an effort by the murdaugh family to influence law enforcement. and now we know there's missing evidence. helping them achieve financial freedom. we're proud to serve people everywhere, in investing for the retirement they envision. from the plains to the coasts, we help americans invest for their future. and help communities thrive. relapsing ms isn't the only thing i have going on. that's why my doctor and i chose kesimpta. kesimpta is different. it's the only b-cell treatment for rms i can take at home once a month. kesimpta was proven superior at reducing the rate of relapses, active lesions
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i screwed up. mhm. i got us t-mobile home internet. now cell phone users have priority over us. and your marriage survived that? you can almost feel the drag when people walk by with their phones. oh i can't hear you... you're froze-- ladies, please! you put it on airplane mode when you pass our house. i was trying to work.
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tell me about gloria. >> gloria was special. everyone referred to her as the murdaughs' housekeeper. she was more than that. she was a sister. she was a mother. she was loved by all of us. >> 911. where is your emergency? >> my housekeeper has fallen and her head is bleeding. i cannot get her up. >> according to alex murdaugh, in february of 2018, gloria was picking up a check at his home when the murdaughs' four dogs tripped her and she fell down their front porch steps. >> i believe she maybe hit her head and maybe has a concussion or something. >> do you know what her name is? >> gloria satterfield. >> she died three weeks later. >> maggie called alex first. >> eric bland represents gloria satterfield's estate. >> and he said that he booked it home from work.
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gloria was bleeding. and she told him the dogs tripped me. so he said she blacked out after that. >> we all went to the hospital. alex didn't come to the hospital. nobody else came the entire time she was there the three weeks. >> you don't believe your sister was killed? >> was murdered. no. no. we still think it was an accident. >> ginger doesn't believe alex murdaugh killed her sister, but he is liable for another nefarious act in connection with her death. you discovered this insurance document related to the gloria satterfield case. at some point. >> i remember turning to liz and being like, a curse word or two. my god, whoa. >> and there was a settlement. >> alex murdaugh along with another attorney had devised a scheme to sue his insurance company for the death of gloria
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satterfield, promising to give the money to gloria's two surviving sons. the sons never saw what totaled to be $4.3 million. >> my name is tony, one of gloria's younger sons. >> so when you think about your sister gloria's loyalty to the murdaugh family and to alex murdaugh and now you know he defrauded her sons of $4.3 million -- >> yes. because they never got a dime. >> what do you make of that? >> to learn that he used gloria's death to enrich himself is horrible. >> it's a heartbreaking story. >> ruthless. >> ruthless. >> ruthless is a word for it. >> people wonder, how did they go and ms. gloria died and they steal all the money? well, they had practice. >> what did happen to hakeem
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pinkney and why is his story so central to this saga? >> a, his story is so tragic. august 2009, there's this bad wreck. everybody is tremendously injured. hakim, he already struggled because he was deaf. and now he's a quadriplegic. they didn't know about alex or the murdaughs like that. they get referred there. >> alex murdaugh represented members of the pinkney family and sued the makers of the tires over the crash. but according to the pinkney family lawyer, when the settlement money came in, greed took over. he had a settlement and then he just chose to not pay it to hakim's family. >> so it -- >> allegedly. >> well, there ain't no allegedly. this is what happened. some of the money went where it was supposed to go. and a large portion of it didn't. approximately a million dollars.
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>> alex murdaugh's alleged accomplice was russell laffitte, the former ceo of palmetto state bank. murdaugh allegedly convinced the pinckney family to hire lafitte at their conservator and then funneled the money through the bank back to himself. a scheme they allegedly also concocted with alaynia spohn. >> we were on i-95 coming through hampton county. and a firestone bridgestone tire blew out, and which caused our collision. >> mother dies instantly. brother dies instantly. >> eric bland is alaynia's attorney. >> alaynia is pinned in the back of the car. you're talking 2009, the case is settled for $9 million. a huge settlement. and so, they have to have somebody help them manage their money. >> russell lafitte was the conservator for alaynia and her younger sister. >> over the course of them being
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11 and 18 years old, as a conservator, he loaned money to himself and to alex murdaugh from a conservatorship account. he loaned himself over $600,000. he loaned over $800,000 to alex murdaugh. and these girls would get nsf checks come back to them -- >> not sufficient funds. >> -- because he had spent all the money. >> alex, i remember him telling me, these people took your mom and your brother because of their mistakes and we're going to make it right and you're not going to have to work another day in your life. and knowing that i'm over here pinching pennies -- >> because he was limiting your funds. >> definitely. >> it's horrible. it's a horrible thought. you've got kids that are in need and scared to even ask to get money to buy something they need, and here they are, they're just spending it like it's nothing.
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>> i would even say that's heartless for you to have whatever you need and you can't get to it, because of somebody's making the decision for you. >> jordan jinks is alex's childhood friend. >> i had a car accident. i was rear-ended by a pool company out of hilton head. so i called alex. that was the first person i called. >> and alex murdaugh got a settlement for you. >> absolutely. >> and that money came right to you? >> not all of it. >> alex murdaugh allegedly defrauded jordan jinks of $150,000. he was a friend. >> and he convinced you that he's working for you and doing everything above and beyond for you. >> i trusted alex like a brother. alex and i ate off the same plate. >> if he's willing to do that to a childhood friend, he'll do it to anyone. >> russell lafitte was convicted
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in november of 2022. all of the charges were related to helping murdaugh steal from their mutual clients. each one holds a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison. their lawyers did not respond to a request for comment about these financial fraud charges. >> why did you kill your wife? when we return -- >> this trial will probably be one of the most watched since o.j. >> what happens next? >> all he has to do is flip one juror who is going to say he is not guilty.
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what bridge is this? [ phone ringing ] >> 911. where is your emergency? >> we're in a boat crash. on arthur's creek. we have someone missing. >> in february of 2019, 19-year-old mallory beach was killed while boating with five other friends, including alex murdaugh's youngest son, paul. paul was allegedly driving the boat intoxicated and crashed. mallory's body was found eight
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days later. >> we knew that the accused driver from what everybody in hampton was saying was paul murdaugh, and who also happens to have all these influences around local cops. >> hey, buddy. you been checked out by an ambulance? >> i'm fine. >> you sure? let's get you checked out. all right? >> i'm fine. >> what's your last name? >> murdaugh. >> we kept asking for the initial police report. the incident report from dnr. and i didn't get that until 2021. and that is so odd to me. usually you can always get an incident report. >> so you were suspicious? >> very suspicious. everything was suspicious. >> we had good sources in law enforcement. and they told us, you know, the fix is in already. >> in the incident report, law enforcement did not specify who was driving the boat. joe mccullough represents connor cook, one of the surviving passengers.
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>> as a prosecutor, i have seen done in every dui case, every felony dui and boating under the influence cases, it's law enforcement 101, police academy 101, you accept rate the people, you figure out who we driving, you stand them up, do the field sobriety exercises. >> they didn't do any of that? >> up in of that occurred in this case, and now we know there's mussing evidence. >> directly after the boat crash, the passengers were transported to the hospital, and according to the hospital staff, alex murdaugh and his father went from room to room, attempting to speak to the remaining survivors. cook later testified that alex murdaugh told him to, quote, keep his mouth shut, and inform law enforcement he did not know who was driving. what happened at the hospital? >> there was an effort by the murdaugh family to influence those young people. their parents, to influence law
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enforcement. >> how does alex get to go to the accident scene with his father and start to direct people around like that? it doesn't happen -- >> it was the hubris an d the privilege. >> paul murdaugh was indicted and charged with boating under the influence resulting in death. but paul would never face trial. he and his mother, maggie murdaugh, were killed nearly 2 1/2 years after the boating accident. three months after the double homicide -- >> 911, where is your emergency? >> alex murdaugh claimed someone tried to kill him, too. >> i got a flat tire and i stopped and somebody stopped to help me and when i turned my back, they tried to shoot me. >> oh, okay. were you shot? >> yes. but i mean, i'm okay. >> his lawyers later admitted in
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court it was a fake suicide attempt. >> he admits that he was just trying to do this to get this $10 million in life insurance for his now only surviving son, buster. so, do you buy that, that the motive was to -- he was looking out for his -- >> no, he was just trying to divert the attention away from him. >> it was -- from the get-go, it was a ploy to say, the ninja war re warriors are after me.
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to pokes holes in the idea that alex murdaugh would have washed his clothes after allegedly killing his wife and son. >> let me ask you in your mind's eye that night june 7 did he look like somebody he don't just blown his son head off spatter everybody. >> i can't say for sure. >> alex murdaugh's lawyers declined to participate in the interview prior to the trial but release a statement saying to cnn we are confident that he will be acquitted. alex continues to hope that everyone responsible for maggie and paul's death will eventually's brought to justice, this trial will probably be one of the most watched since oj murdaugh's trial in connection to mallory beach's wrongful death lawsuit yet to be scheduled. sled did open a new investigation into glory satterfield's death, the murdaugh's housekeeper and plan to he can say assume her body, alex murdaugh admitted in court to stealing the insurance fund that belonged to glory's estate,
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as for steven smith, his casey has been reopened. >> what are your thoughts on the public perception of this county now that the murdaugh name is out there, and the case is getting national attention? what do you think people think of this county and this place where you grew up >> a lot of people ask me, they can't believe that it's such a small community. people didn't know what was going on in the county, of course they didn't they were hiding there was one group of people working together. ? to us, it's still home, you know,? i believe this bad thing will be
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