Alex Murdaugh Admits on Stand to Lying to Police After Murders of Wife, Son: 'What a Tangled Web We Weave'

On Thursday, disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh took the stand in his own defense during his ongoing murder trial in the 2021 deaths of his wife and son.

During the weeks-long trial, prosecutors revealed evidence that seemingly proved Murdaugh repeatedly lied about his whereabouts on the day his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, were killed.

When his own defense attorneys began questioning Murdaugh on the stand, they asked him directly if he lied to law enforcement about his whereabouts on the night of the murders — and Murdaugh answered that he had.

For nearly two years, Murdaugh has maintained that he hadn't been with Paul and Maggie at the family's dog kennels, where the pair was found slain, on the night they were killed. But on the stand, he admitted that he had been the kennels.

"I lied about being down there, and I'm so sorry that I did," Murdaugh said.

However, Murdaugh still denies killing Maggie and Paul, whom he frequently calls "Mags" and "Pau Pau" or "Paul Paul" during his testimony. He said the reason he lied was because of the paranoia he claims he was experiencing due to his drug addiction at the time.

"As my addiction evolved over time I would get in these situations or circumstances where I would get paranoid," Murdaugh said. "I'm sorry I lied."

Murdaugh also apologized to his surviving son Buster and additional family members for lying about the last time he saw Maggie and Paul.

"What a tangled web we weave," Murdaugh said on the stand. "Once I told a lie — then I told my family — I had to keep lying."

On June 7, 2021, Maggie and Paul were shot to death at their residence in Islandton, S.C., near the dog kennels on their property.

Murdaugh had initially denied being near the dog kennels that night, but early on in the trial, prosecutor Creighton Waters revealed that Paul took a cell phone video near the dog kennels on the ranch at 8:44 p.m. on the night of June 7. The video features the voices of Paul, Maggie and Alex.

Sometime after that video was taken, Paul was shot in the chest and head with a shotgun at close range. Maggie was shot multiple times, including one shot in the back and additional shots while she was lying on the ground. She had been shot with 300 Blackout ammo from an AR-style rifle. Both of them were pronounced dead at the scene.

"I could never intentionally do anything to hurt either one of them," Murdaugh testified. "Not ever."

Murdaugh, 54, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two related weapons charges. He has pleaded not guilty.

He is expected to testify for most of Thursday.