Alex Murdaugh Height, Age, and Trial Faq: Everything Explained

Uncover expert summaries related to Alex Murdaugh Height, Age, and Trial Faq: Everything Explained in this special report.

The killings of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh occurred near the dog kennels and utility shed of the family's 1,770-acre hunting estate, known as Moselle, located in Islandton, South Carolina. Paul was killed with a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with buckshot and steel shot, while Maggie was shot multiple times with an AR-15-style rifle chambered in .300 Blackout. The physical layout of the crime scene was confined, unpaved, and dark, lit primarily by overhead barn lights and muzzle flashes.

Defense attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin built their ballistics cross-examination around the steep, downward trajectory of the rifle rounds that struck Maggie Murdaugh. One shot entered her abdomen and traveled downward into her lower back; another struck her head at a descending angle. Harpootlian argued repeatedly to the jury that the physical angles mathematically excluded a man of Murdaugh's physical stature.

The defense trajectory reconstruction relied heavily on the testimony of forensic engineer Mike Sutton. Sutton presented 3D digital crime scene models showing that the shooter would have had to hold the assault rifle below hip level, or assume an awkward, unnatural squat, for someone 6 feet 4 inches tall to match the bullet trajectories. According to Sutton’s calculations, the biological geometry pointed toward a shooter between 5 feet 2 inches and 5 feet 4 inches tall, supporting the defense theory of two unknown, shorter assailants.