Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s injuries detailed in court filing, possible murder weapon disclosed BY BRISTOW MARCHANT - The State - 1/23/23

Editor’s note: The following story contains graphic details of murder that may be inappropriate for some readers.

A new motion in the double murder case against Alex Murdaugh gives graphic details of the injuries that killed his wife and son in June 2021, and suggests prosecutors may have identified a murder weapon from the guns seized at Murdaugh’s rural family home the day of the murders.

Testing at a State Law Enforcement Division facility, a SLED agent concluded “some of the .300 cartridges retrieved from the firing range and near the residence were fired and/or loaded into, extracted, and ejected by the .300 Blackout rifle taken from the property,” according to a motion filed as jury selection got underway Monday at the courthouse in Walterboro.

The same analysis did not, however, conclusively identify that the shells found near Maggie Murdaugh’s body were fired from the gun recovered by investigators.

The defense team of Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin has asked Judge Clifton Newman to exclude that evidence from the trial because it’s based on an “inherently subjective” analysis.

Maggie’s injuries were caused by a bullet from a .300 cartridge, mostly commonly fired from an AR-15 assault rifle, according to separate analysis that details the victims’ injuries. That report was submitted by a blood splatter expert who is being challenged by Murdaugh’s defense team.

Oklahoma-based expert Tom Bevel compiled the report based on autopsy information, photos of the victims and evidence collected by the crime scene investigators.

That evidence details fatal injuries to both mother and son.

Maggie, 52, had five distinct gunshot wounds, the report says. A gunshot wound to the left side of her torso and head include injuries to her left breast, lower jaw, ear, skull and brain. Other injuries were identified to Maggie’s left wrist, left thigh, her upper abdomen through the lower back, and a downward-trajectory shot to the right back of Maggie’s head, injuring the skull, brainstem, cerebellum and the right side of her upper back.