For over a decade because the Murdaugh household’s housekeeper, Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson stated she by no means knew Alex and Margaret Murdaugh to argue, solely “some minor disagreements.”
However within the months earlier than June 2021, when Alex Murdaugh would call 911 to say he discovered Margaret and the couple’s youngest son, Paul, fatally shot on the grounds of their sprawling South Carolina property, Simpson stated the household matriarch made espresso, pulled her right into a room and shut the door.
“She was frightened a few lawsuit and acknowledged they wished $30 million and was crying, stating, ‘We do not have that form of cash. If I might give them all the things that I acquired and make this go away, I might do it in a heartbeat. I will begin over. We’ll begin over. I simply need it gone,'” Simpson testified that Margaret informed her.
The lawsuit was in connection to a lethal boat crash case through which Paul was going through trial for three felony counts of boating under the influence on the time of his dying.
Simpson’s testimony, at moments tearful as she recalled her friendship with Margaret, gave a glimpse into her obvious frame of mind previous to the slayings, and supplied the jury additional perception into Margaret’s practically three-decade marriage with Murdaugh, a once-powerful lawyer who’s standing trial in the murders of his spouse and son.
The prosecution’s line of questioning about whether or not Margaret was involved about cash points had led protection lawyer Richard “Dick” Harpootlian to name for a mistrial, and he argued that it amounted to rumour and so shouldn’t be heard by the jury. However Circuit Courtroom Decide Clifton Newman disagreed.
Simpson in her testimony earlier than the jury stated that Margaret confided in her that her husband “does not inform me all the things.”
“She felt that Alex was not being truthful to her with regard to what was occurring with that lawsuit,” Simpson stated.
On cross-examination, Simpson informed the protection the pair had small tiffs, like over the paint coloration of their seashore home rework, and that Margaret complained that she simply wished her husband to sit down nonetheless for 10 minutes so they might speak.
However finally, Simpson agreed that Murdaugh had made his spouse “his all.”
“He adored her,” Simpson added. “He cherished her.”
However Simpson testified to different presumably odd occasions and conduct within the days and weeks after the murders.
Initially, Simpson stated Margaret had texted her on June 7, 2021 — the day of the murders — to ask her to come back to their Colleton County property to prepare dinner dinner for the household. Margaret and Paul had been on the household’s seashore house that day, however Simpson testified that Margaret “stated ‘Alex desires me to come back house,'” and that she sounded “upset” to have to depart the seashore home.
Simpson stated she went to the house to arrange cubed steak with white rice, inexperienced beans and gravy, then left it on the range and texted Margaret earlier than going house.
The subsequent morning, Simpson stated Murdaugh referred to as her, telling her “‘B, they’re gone. They’re gone.'”
Confused by what he meant, he informed her, “‘No, B, they’re lifeless.'”
Simpson stated Murdaugh requested her to assist clear up the house, and she or he testified about discovering pots of leftovers within the fridge when usually the household left them out for her to wash up. She stated Margaret’s pajamas had been additionally folded neatly in a doorway, which was uncommon. She picked up a humid towel close to a small puddle of water by the bathe and a pair of khaki pants and washed them.
Earlier witnesses testified that state brokers had despatched Murdaugh and a number of other lawyer buddies, members of the family and others who gathered after the killings to the house so they would not be in crime scene images close to the property’s canine kennels, the place the our bodies of Margaret and Paul had been discovered. The protection estimated there have been 12 to fifteen individuals inside within the first hours after the our bodies had been found.
Throughout his questioning Friday, prosecutor John Meadors honed in on the garments Murdaugh was wearing in a Snapchat video his son took just a few hours earlier than the killings — khaki pants, loafers and a seafoam-colored shirt.
Simpson stated within the months after the murders, Murdaugh requested her if she recalled what he was carrying and stated, “‘I acquired a nasty feeling.” She stated he requested her if she remembered the shirt he was carrying and that it was the model “Vinny Vines.”
However she stated she solely remembered a blue-colored polo shirt.
“In my thoughts, I used to be saying I do not bear in mind a Vines shirt. It was the polo shirt,” Simpson stated. “I did not say something, however I used to be form of thrown again as a result of I do not bear in mind him carrying that shirt that day.”
“Have you ever ever, ever, ever seen that shirt once more?” Meadors later requested.
“To not my data,” Simpson stated.
Below cross-examination, Simpson testified that she by no means noticed blood on the khaki pants she had cleaned.
The prosecution’s case is predicted to final by subsequent week earlier than the protection calls its witnesses.
If discovered responsible, Murdaugh faces 30 to years life in jail with out parole.
