which are ♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, the murdaugh trial. after a jury visit to the family estate-turned-crime scene, closing arguments in the gripping double murder case. >> there is only one person who had the motive, who had the opportunity, and that person is the defendant. >> the true crime saug de that's become an obsession from netflix. >> he wanted to make sure that lips were sealed. >> spectators lining up. >> i've been watching this, and it's just fascinating. >> it has been just like the circus coming to town. >> with testimony from alex murdaugh himself. >> mr. murdaugh, are you a family annihilator? >> a family annihilator?

do you mean, did i shoot my wife and my son? >> yes. >> what will the jury decide? leaping into history. the young women from fisk university who are leaving their mark on the mat. the first-ever at a historically black college. >> i've always wanted to go to an hsbu and make my mark. >> i know these girts are part of fisk university, they are strong, they are empowering. and the dark side of the moon. ♪ taking away the moments that make up a dull day ♪ >> the time has come for pink floyd's dark side to turn 50. we love our new home. there's so much space. we have a guestroom now. but, we have aunts. you're slouching again, ted. expired. expired. expired. thanks, aunt bonnie. it's a lot of house. i hope you can keep it clean.

at least geico makes bundling our home and car insurance easy. which helps us save a lot of money. oh, teddy. did you get my friend request? oh. i'll have to check. aunt joani's here. for bundling made easy, go to geico.com. hello?!

♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. the murder trial of alex murdaugh took a major step toward a verdict today. first, a field trip to the sprawling family estate so jurors could see where maggie and paul murdaugh were then the prosecutor's closing argument with the defense up tomorrow. whatever the jury decides, one thing is clear -- true crime fans can't look away from the spectacle. abc's eva pilgrim is in south carolina. >> reporter: before the sun

rises, people lined up for hours hoping to get into this once-sleepy south carolina courthouse that's now at the center of a true crime obsession. >> the trial of the once-prominent attorney, alex murdaugh. >> the defense officially resting its case. >> the jury in the alex murdaugh trial are on the move. >> i'm here because i am a true crime lover. i've been watching this, and it's just fascinating. so i want to see inside. >> you don't get an opportunity like this often, to see something like this up close. >> it has been just like the circus coming to town. >> reporter: alex murdaugh's fall from grace captivating many both inside and outside of this courthouse. a man whose last name was once synonymous with a southern legal dynasty full of wealth and influence. now the 54-year-old former lawyer stands accused of the grisly murders of his own wife, maggie, and their son, paul. >> people are endlessly fascinating about the alex murdaugh murder trial. we haven't seen people this interested in a case since maybe

o.j., the johnny depp civil case, where you see celebrities and big names. >> reporter: those not in the palmetto state are streaming the trial online. the crime network drawing about 100,000 live viewers at any point. one woman going viral for knitting dolls of key players in the case while she watches. gavel to gavel coverage gilling the airwaves, from podcasts -- >> this is a special of "the murdaugh murders" podcast. >> reporter: to the three-part series "murdaugh murders." >> he wanted to make sure lips were sealed. >> reporter: ranking in the top three shows all before the trial is over. >> oftentimes people forget the center of this case, the reason the jury is here, is because there are two grisry murders. maggie and paul murdaugh. >> reporter: closing arguments beginning today in the more than month-long trial. >> there's only one person who had the motive, who had the

opportunity, and that person is the defendant. >> reporter: shocking many with its twists and turns, from surprising evidence to surprise witnesses. >> mr. murdaugh, did you take this gun or any gun like and it blow your son's brains out on june 7th or any day, or any time? >> no, i did not. >> reporter: leaving many to wonder just what verdict the jury will reach. >> the defense is basically doing anything they can to try to create a reasonable doubt in at least one juror's mind. >> reporter: one of those defense tactics, taking the jury on a field trip to the murdaugh family prop toy. the estate seemed to be frozen in time. family mementos present. bullet holes still visible. >> mozelle is a hunting estate, primarily. it's a place where murdaughs and their friends would go fishing, would go hunting, would ride around shooting feral hogs. >> reporter: the sprawling estate turned into a crime scene on a fateful night in june 2021.

murdaugh calling 911. >> what is your emergency? >> this is alex i need the police immediately. >> reporter: murdaugh claims he went to his mother's house after having dinner with his wife and son at home. he says he returned and found the family dead near the dog kennels on their property. video on that night shows him concerned in a clean white shirt. >> it's bad. it's bad. i checked their pulses. >> reporter: prosecutors say it was all an act. the 2021 shooting came on the heels of a series of other tragic and bizarre incidents with alleged ties to the murdaughs. in 2019, his then 19-year-old son, paul, was charged with drunkenly crashing the family boat, the accident killing 19-year-old mallory beach. paul was supposed to stand trial for her death.

the visit to mozell not the first time a jury has toured a crime scene. the jurors in the o.j. simpson trial visited the condo where nicole brown simpson lived. >> it's not uncommon for jurors to leave the courthouse and view the scene of a crime, but it's also not common. for jurors to see the crime scene, to understand it better, it makes sense. >> i am going to testify, i want to testify. >> reporter: late last week, murdaugh taking the ultimate step to assert his innocence, testifying in his own defense. >> mr. murdaugh, are you a family annihilator? >> a family annihilator? you mean like, did i shoot my wife and my son? >> yes. >> no. >> i think you could hear a pin drop in the courtroom when purchase murdaugh took the stand. >> reporter: in a bombshell admission, murdaugh confessing that he previously lied to investigators about his whereabouts the night of the murders.

>> were you, in fact, at the kennels at 8:44 p.m. on the night maggie and paul were murdered? >> i was. >> did you lie to them by telling them that you were not down at the kaennels on that night? >> yes. >> alex murdaugh had to take the stand because witness after witness explained it's his voice in the snapchat video in that dog kennel just moments before paul and maggie were murdered. he had to explain why he was there and why he lied to law enforcement. and he's the only one who can do that. >> hey, he's got a bird in his mouth. >> bubba. hey, bubba. >> reporter: paul had filmed a video from the family's dog kennels minutes before he was shot to death. murdaugh blaming the lie on his opioid addiction and his distrust of state investigators. >> he claims he's had a pill addiction for 20 years. what does he say about that? he says it makes him paranoid. he says it makes him agitated. >> reporter: prosecutors

painting a picture of a desperate man, arguing murdaugh killed his wife and son to gain sympathy and distract authorities from his alleged financial crimes totalling in the millions of dollars, for which he separately faces 99 charges. >> i could say i did wrong. i stole money that wasn't mine. and i shouldn't have done it. >> reporter: the defense team offer an alternative theory for how the murders were done. >> my opinion is the totality of the evidence is more suggestive of a two-shooter scenario. >> reporter: prosecutors poking holes in that theory of multiple shooters. >> what does the shooter do? he shoots paul in the back of the head after he passes him. >> i think the theory is preposterous, in my opinion. >> reporter: the murder weapons used in the crime have never been recovered. murdaugh's own family playing a pivotal role in the trial as well. the defense calling on murdaugh's surviving son, buster, to vouch for his father. >> he was destroydestroyed,

heartbroken. i walked in the door, saw him. gave him a hug. just -- just broken down. >> the fact that the prosecution didn't call him as a witness but the defense did sort of tells you that buster and the rest of the immediate family, at least, seem -- they seem to believe that murdaugh is not the killer. >> reporter: murdaugh's brother, john marvin, called as the final witness for the defense. >> i have a hard time talking about paul. because we have a very special rlationship. but i knew him very well. >> reporter: i talked to john marvin in 2021. then just as adamant of his brother's innocence as now. >> i can tell you, he was willing and still is willing to do anything that's asked of him. he wants this solved. >> reporter: the prosecutor call is on maggie's family to help make their case. maggie murdaugh's sister, marian proctor, describing the days after her sister's death. >> he said that his number one

goal was clearing paul's name. and i thought that was so strange. because my number one goal was to find out who killed my sister and paul. >> reporter: prosecutors concluding their closing arguments. >> maggi for it with their lives. don't let him fool you too. i ask you to return a verdict of guilty against the defendant, richard alexander murdaugh. >> this is a case based on circumstantial evidence because there is no murder weapon, there's no blood on who they believe to be the murderer, there is no eyewitness. this is difficult. this is not a slam dunk in any way. >> reporter: those obsessed with the true crime saga ready for tomorrow. >> there are many people who are still on the fence about whether

he did it, how he did it, and why he did it. there's still a lot more to come out in this case. >> our thanks to eva. up next, how a team of gymnasts in a historically black university is flipping the script on the sport they love and the olympic star in their corner. aah, it's a good day to cough. oh, no! bye, bye cough. later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! hmmm, ok. not coughing at yoga? antiquing not coughing? not coughing at the movies?! hashtag still not coughing?! aaah. oww! mucinex dm gives you 12 hours of relief from chest congestion and any type of cough, day or night. it's not cough season. it's always comeback season. find your beat it's not cough season. your moment of calm find your potential then own it support your immune system

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♪ it is the sport they love. but the world of competitive gymnastics has not always loved them back. that hasn't stopped the athletes you're about to meet from blazing a trail.

here's abc's linsey davis. >> reporter: these fisk university ladies are leaping into history. turning the world of gymnastics on its head as the first-ever gymnastics team repping a historically black college and university to compete at the ncaa level. >> i have always wanted to go to an hbcu and do the sport that i love. >> reporter: freshman morgan price, a five-star recruit, initially committed to powerhouse arkansas. she changes plans after learning fisk was launching a team. >> when fisk came out with the first ncaa gymnastics team, i knew i wanted to be part of it. to have 15 other girls who look like me to share connections with me is cool. >> reporter: zaia coleman was considering skipping college when fisk announced it was starting its gymnastics team, led by head coach kareem tarver. >> i was like, i wish an hsbc

school had gymnastics. literally two months later, fisk came out on instagram. i was like what? so then i emailed coach tarver, i'm like, this is what i wanted. >> reporter: this university situated in nashville, tennessee, was founded after the civil war and for generations has been a place that celebrates black excellence. the head coach of the gymnastics team, kareem tarver, is well aware of what it takes to break barriers. >> one of the big guns for georgia, kareem wright -- >> reporter: 34 years ago, she became the first black gymnast to win the ncaa all-around title. >> beautifully executed. >> i didn't know that i'd be the first black gymnast. i found out later, obviously -- probably in an interview session after the fact. i was like, oak, really? i assumed it happened before. why wouldn't it happen before? >> reporter: tarver uses her own experiences to guide her trailblazing team. >> we're the first, we're the blueprint. there's times i'm up at night panicking a little bit, oh my gosh, we've got to make this

work, it has to happen. >> i can't wait to give cor a big hug. >> reporter: dominique dawes, a member of the magnificent seven, that legendary 1996 olympic squad that captured team gold in atlanta. dawes was the first black gymnast to win an individual olympic medal. >> earlier this past year, serena williams did mention that she had watched me, and i was an inspiration for her. again, that's humbling that i could inspire people. >> reporter: these days dawes runs her own gymnastics academy. she's quick to point out her predecessors, like lucy collins, seen here competing in 1982, who became the first black female gymnast to make an olympic team. and diane durham, who in 1983 became the first black gymnast to win the u.s. national championship. dawes says the sport has historically put black gymnasts at a disadvantage. >> i know when i stepped into the gymnastics gym that i was perceived as a deduction because

of my flat feet or bow legs or having a bit of a body, a butt, having more of a muscular athletic physique. it chokes me up just because the culture and the sport of gymnastics made young african american girls like me feel as if we were not enough. and that it was not a sport for us. >> reporter: but she says times are changing. >> today it's a little different with the scoring system changing. i love the fact that you have the likes of simone biles that's dominated, gabby douglas has been an inspiration. the sport is now embracing all different body types and i think that makes the sport something that i think it will open doors for more young girls of color. >> reporter: black gymnasts are now excelling in the sport in unprecedented ways. just last august, black women placed in the top three, sweeping the podium at the u.s. national all-around championships. social media is also playing a role in spotlighting gymnasts determined to showcase their culture with routines breaking

the internet. in 2021, ucla gymnast m frasier went viral with floor exercise margzea joins jet's "rhythm naon nia throwing up a fist to kendrick. >> i think the sport of gymnastics needs to be more inclusive. i think there's much more work that needs to be done. >> reporter: dawes hopes the sport continues to evolve. >> these young women are part of fisk university. they know they're more than enough. they are strong. they are empowering. >> reporter: dawes herself posted a video on instagram of her attending fisk's latest competition this past weekend. for the fisk gymnasts, there's also another goal they're working to reach. >> right now we're working out in another facility, in someone else's facility. we want to build a gym on campus. >> reporter: but for these athletes and their coach, it's ultimately about more than just the sport. it's about sisterhood. >> i'd never met these girls a day in my life, and it was like, we were laughing and joking around as if we've known each

other our whole lives. >> this is very exciting. we're making history. this is in the books. we have something to prove, and we can do it, we can show up to show up. >> our thanks to linsey. up next, a counterculture milestone. the pink floyd cover art that remains right on the money. ♪ ♪ type 2 diabetes? discover the ozempic® tri-zone. in my ozempic® tri-zone, i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease.

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finally tonight, the "dark side" at 50. with brooding hits like "money" and "us and them" -- ♪ god only knows we would choose ♪ >> pink floyd released what many call their masterpiece 50 years ago today. you may not know every lyric, but you know "the dark side of the moon" cover art, a design that has helped define a of counterculture, seen on t-shirts and dorm room walls. you can argue the message of the music has also endured. that's "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night.