Snapchat Video Allegedly Places Alex Murdaugh At Scene

Testimony about the video came after nearly a full day of evidence from Dove, the SLED lieutenant, about the extensive data recovered from Paul, Maggie and Alex’s phones. The information included calls and texts, as well as when the communication was made and whether it was ever opened or answered.

But it also included deeper technical evidence on whether the phones were recording steps of a person holding them, whether their cameras were activated intentionally by people using apps or trying to unlock the phone, and whether the orientation changed from up-to-down changed landscape format.

Evidence showed that at 8:48:59 a.m. Paul had read a final text on his phone from a friend about which films she should watch that night. A text Gibson received 36 seconds later was never read.

Data from Maggie’s phone showed she read a text less than 30 seconds later. But the data also showed their phone’s camera was activated for a single second for about five minutes, which Dove says can happen when an iPhone is trying to recognize a face of someone trying to unlock a phone. The device did not unlock, but then recorded steps and changes in orientation.

Maggie’s text messages revealed that earlier in the day she had been communicating with family members and friends about the health of Alex’s father, who was critically ill in a hospital. That night, instead of returning to the family’s beach house, where she usually preferred to stay, she returned to the rural hunting lodge. “Alex wants me to come home,” she wrote to a loved one that afternoon.

Data from Alex’s phone showed it was idle and not moving between 8:10 p.m. and 9:02 p.m. He then tried unsuccessfully to call his wife, then texted her to say he was going to his mother’s.

His defense team used some of the data to suggest that Alex and Maggie’s phones weren’t together the last time theirs changed orientation because the two devices weren’t recording steps at the same time.

The data showed that Maggie’s phone recorded a final change in orientation almost at the same time Alex attempted to call her at around 9:06 p.m., when he was also starting his own vehicle to drive to his mother’s.

Defense attorney Phillip Barber suggested to Dove that this indicated someone had thrown the phone out of a car window in surprise, but the SLED agent said he could not say what angle the phone might have been thrown or landed from. Maggie’s phone was found half a mile from the property the next day.

Dove also testified that when he checked Alex’s phone, he found that much of the call log from the night of the murders had been manually erased.

At the end of Wednesday’s trial, prosecutors also opened the door to evidence they plan to present about the troubled finances of Alex, who has since been charged with dozens of felonies for allegedly stealing funds from clients and the law firm where he worked lawyer worked .

Waters asked Loving if he knew anything about Alex’s finances, the debts he owed, or the risk of a civil discovery Alex faced in connection with a lawsuit filed against the family in connection with a fatal boating accident for which Paul is accused had been charged with manslaughter. Loving he did not testify.

Waters then asked if Loving knew that Alex had been confronted with $792,000 in missing funds by law firm associates on the morning of the murders. After the judge overruled the defense team’s appeal, Loving said he was unaware.

The judge is expected to rule on Thursday whether Alex’s alleged financial thefts can be admitted to court.

Prosecutors said this was key to his alleged motive for murder, claiming he killed his wife and son to distract from his financial misdeeds and gain sympathy.

To divert attention to other suspects, they allege he immediately began pointing to Paul’s boat wreck as a possible motive for someone seeking revenge on the family and told 911 operators, first responders and investigators about the threats Paul was making supposedly received.

But on Wednesday, Gibson said he never felt his friend Paul posed serious threats to his life. “He mentioned that people would comment on it, but nothing that I thought was really serious,” Gibson said.

Gibson also told the court it was difficult for him to take the stand to testify against Alex.

“We had a good relationship,” Gibson said. “He treated me like one of his own.”