True Sunlight: MMP #84: The Latest on Stephen Smith, SLED’s Investigation into the Murders and Russell Lafitte’s Future

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Don't let timezones get in the way of your team working well together.

Mein Name ist Mandy Matney.

Ich habe die Murdoch-Familie für mehr als vier Jahre verheiratet.

Das ist der Murdoch Murders Podcast.

MMP ist produziert von meinem Husband David Moses

und wird von Journalist Liz Farrell geschrieben.

Hallo wieder und danke dir für deine Patienten,

als dieses Video später verheiratet wurde.

Wie gesagt, unsere Team ist jetzt in Anleitung.

Nach dem Adrenalin und dem Chaos der Anleitung,

sind wir alle noch versucht zu resenieren oder zu fokussieren.

Ich habe in dieser 4-Jährige viel gelernt.

Und eine der Dinge, die ich dir erzähle,

ist, dass du dein mentales Energie prioritierst,

wenn du nicht in dem richtigen Raum bist.

Ich konnte einfach nicht mit einem 9- bis 5-Jahr arbeiten.

Ich arbeite sehr lange und brauche viel Zeit.

Ich arbeite für mich selbst.

Ich habe die Möglichkeit zu sagen,

dass das für mich heute zu viel ist.

Oder ich bin noch nicht bereit, das zu machen.

Das ist etwas, was ich jemals gelernt habe.

Diese Geschichte hat mich geändert.

Ich bin einfach nicht der gleiche,

der ich war, als ich die Bo-Craft gefunden habe.

Ich hatte keine Idee, dass dieser Level der Evil in der Welt existiert.

Und ich hatte keine Idee, dass es so viele Menschen gibt,

die sich either protectieren oder ignorieren wollen.

Es macht mich depresiv und angreif,

wenn man auf Social Media spielt.

Man hört immer, dass die Veränderung des Systemes schwierig ist.

Ich habe das erste Mal gelernt.

Aber es ist möglich.

Und du, unsereListener,

macht es möglich.

Und du, unsereListener,

macht es möglich.

Bitte bleiben, Pesky.

Wir brauchen dich.

Ich sage das, weil es viel zu tun ist.

Und das ist das Gefühl, was ich jetzt mitbekommen bin.

Während der Verdacht wurde,

war es nicht konklusiv,

wie ich es wollte, zu fühlen.

Es war ein enormer Moment,

aber nicht all die Panalle.

Wir brauchen noch Justice für Steven Smith.

Wir brauchen noch Konklusen

für Alex's Co-Konspirators.

Wir brauchen noch Justice für die Beach Family.

Wir brauchen noch Antworten

über die öffentlichen Offizien,

mit den Berbern,

wie die Mardak,

wie die Police Chief Greg Alexander,

Judge Carmen Mullen

und Solicitor Duffy Stone.

Wie ihr das seht,

die ersten zwei und ein halben Monate des 2023

waren eine wilde Reise hier in der Low-Country.

Die Welt muss endlich die Mardak-Familie treffen

und sich für sie,

die jemanden wie Elik Mardak

mit so viel Schmerzen für so lange wegkommen.

Und das hat für so viele Leute hier,

auch uns,

verwendet worden.

Diese Woche wollen wir ein bisschen

auf die Welt der Elik Mardak-Familie

einigen,

und starten wir mit einer großen Geschichte,

die über die Woche ging.

Zuerst möchte ich euch über eine wichtige Faktion erinnern.

Elik Mardak

murdert seine Frau Maggie

und sein Sohn Paul.

Er war ein Jurier von seinen Vereinen

und eine Stadt, die die Mardak-Familie

für Generationen antworten.

Und nochmals, er war verletzt.

Etwas, was wir uns nicht erwähnt haben,

obwohl die Wahrscheinlichkeit klar war.

Warum hat er die Mardak-Familie getötet?

Wir werden nicht vollständig

die Antwort auf diese Frage verstehen.

Aber wir müssen es nicht verstehen.

Wie könnte er das tun?

Wie könnte er die Dinge,

die er zu tun hat,

die er zu tun hat?

Ja,

Mörder und Stehling sind zwei verschiedene Dinge,

aber sie können auch hand in hand gehen,

besonders wenn der Latterkrim

so prolifisch,

inexpansiv,

und im Moment der Mörder

nur eine Sapina

von der Erfindung ist.

Die Weise, wie wir es sehen, ist das.

Ein Mann, der überreichtet sein Mordkampus,

um den Weg der Elik Mardak-Familie

zu operieren,

für die meisten seiner Eltern

und die ganzen Dinge,

als er mit einem Szenario

mit dem er oder sie war.

Elik war in einer vollen

exzessinen Krise

am 7. Juni 2021,

und er hat sich selbst entschieden.

Er hat die beiden größten

finanziellen Bedenken erlaubt,

um die Gesellschaft zu reinandersetzen,

als ein Bördenfreie Witteauer

und ein Griechenvater

mit Bester Bayerseid.

Das Ding ist,

dass der Mordkampus

unabhängig ist,

dass der Elik Mardak

ein Elik Mardak war.

Er hat sich selbst als unabhängig

als der Mordkampus

unabhängig war.

Er war sein Vater,

sein Grandfather,

sein great-grandfather.

Aber mit den finanziellen Bedenken

hat er gegen das Law Firm

den ganzen Bedenken

von seiner Familie,

als er zu weit ging.

Er und sein Partner,

Danny Henderson,

haben seine Bankrecords getroffen.

Der Elik Mardak

hat sicherlich ein Bedenken

gegeben.

Und sogar seine Anleger

bei dem Firm

hat er schwer verspürt,

um ihn zu protecten.

Es waren zu viele Bedenken.

Und das Problem

ist, dass er zu groß war.

Um Elik zu protecten,

hat er die einzige Bedeutung

von seinem Leben,

die nicht unenttäuschbar war,

wenn er ausgeführt wurde.

Sondern jetzt, dass sein Vater sterb.

Und dann,

das ist es.

Elik Mardak war nicht nur der Sonnen,

Grandson, und der Grandson

der vierten,

die stärkeren Männern.

Er war selbst ein unabhängigem

Prosecutor.

Und dieser Unabhängige

Mann in diesem Office.

Er nahm das Bedeutung überall.

Lass mich mal repetieren,

ein Plaintiffs-Attorney,

der exakt einen Fall

von seinem eigenen,

in mehr als 15 Jahren,

und der, der eine Hälfte

von anderen Bedenken handelte,

hat eine Bedeutung

und Blüle,

als ob er ein Polizist war.

Was er nicht war.

Im Spiegel von Swarn,

war er ein Oath

für das Privileg

für das Bedeutung.

Nein, er war nur allowed

zu haben.

Und der Fall ist,

der Person, der ihm all

dieser unerwartete Power

der Solicitor Duffy Stone hat,

ist noch ein Publikum.

Wird jeder,

mit der Authority, investigieren?

Oder sind wir alle,

dass das große Problem

ist, es ist wirklich schwer,

zu verstehen, was es genau ist,

was die Leute nicht haben,

was das Bedeutung bedeutet

und wie das Bedeutung alleine

hat, den Auskommen

von jedem Enttängelmann,

Elik, in dem er sich gefunden hat.

Elik's Lineage,

das Bedeutung und seine Position

im PMPD,

machte für den Trifecta von Teflon.

Und jeder, um ihn herum,

war trainiert, sie wussten,

wie viele times

eine single question

von den Leuten um ihn,

sogar eine single one word

question of why,

would have stopped his crimes

in their tracks.

But no one asked any questions.

No one challenged him on his answers

until

June 7th, 2021.

So we want you to keep

all of that in mind,

and tell you about this post and courier story.

On Saturday,

the post and courier published a piece

calling out Sled's investigation

into the murders of Maggie and Paul.

I'll have David read a key paragraph

from the story written by

Reporters Thadmore, Avery Wilkes

and Jocelyn Greschik.

The defense attorneys accused Sled's lead investigator

of twice giving incorrect information

to the grand jury.

That indicted Murdoch on murder charges.

Sled Chief Mark Heal

commented to the paper that this criticism

was being lodged without much needed context.

Now, as you all know,

we are all about context

here at the Murdoch Murders Podcast.

It is at the core of what we believe

good journalism should be.

This story lacked key information

and instead presented itself

as if Dick and Jim

had ordered it off of the post and courier

lunch menu.

It was cooked perfectly to their liking.

So the context.

Well, this story is exactly

what we have been talking about for years.

It is why the podcast was created.

Because this story was too complicated

and too much to consume

in basically any other medium.

It is what we worried about

from day one in the Boat Crash case.

It is why we believe

that Stephen Smith's case

remains unsolved.

It is why no one knows

exactly what happened to Gloria Satterfield.

It is the absolute why

of everything.

Law enforcement treated the Murdochs

differently from the rest of us.

This cannot be denied.

It is the thing that needs to change.

I'll have David read this part

of the post and courier story

where they say it themselves.

The scion

of a family that ran the local solicitors office

for more than eight decades

Murdoch had a cozy relationship

with local law enforcement.

And yet, it's like we are in

crazy town.

And we're nothing we know to be true

about Ellick Murdoch. Along with everything

that came out in the trial, including

his colossal lies, gets

completely reset to zero

in favor of criticizing those

who have worked hard to bring

those lies to light

despite the odds.

Now, before we get further here,

we think it was absolutely

fair game to write a story

examining the sled investigation.

The journalists who reported this story

are all respectable reporters.

All three reported on every

step of the trial.

But gosh, it is frustrating

that a legitimate story like this

gets presented as if sled's missteps

were the result of incompetence

without accounting for the Murdoch's influence

over the investigation.

And quite frankly, it is dangerous

for the media to push this pro-defense

narrative in a time when the tides

are changing in South Carolina.

And it's clear that the press favoring

the good old boys played a huge

role in emboldening the Murdoch's

unchecked power.

I need to say that we think that sled

worked hard on this case.

And that by and large, their agents

gave a great showing on the witness stand.

The post and couriers position

seems to be that

Ellick Murdoch was found guilty in spite of sled.

But let's look

at the paper's main criticisms of sled.

Starting with the GPS data

that got overwritten on Maggie's phone.

Remember the reason

14th Circuit solicitor Duffy Stone

said his investigators were on the scene

on the night of the murders

in the days following them?

His office had an investigator

who specialized in the extraction

of data from cellphones.

They were there to help,

Duffy said, despite

it being highly unorthodox

for the prosecutor's investigators team

to be there on the scene of the murder.

These were Ellick's

coworkers and this

wasn't remotely their job.

Duffy refused

to recuse himself for two whole months

during which critical

information was lost from Maggie's phone.

The post and couriers story

does not mention this.

But that doesn't surprise us.

After Duffy was initially

criticized for his involvement in the case

and refusal to recuse himself,

the post and courier ran a story

that publicly exonerated

or attempted to Duffy Stone

of his bizarre and dubious decision.

A decision that Duffy himself

as the national director

of the Association of District Attorneys

had recently warned

prosecutors against making.

In fact, I have to point this out.

In a 2021

story breaking the news of Duffy's

recusal, the post and courier

defended his position

by quoting, checks

notes, University of South

Carolina Law Dean

Robert Wilcox, who

we still have questions about

considering the whole Buster

readmission scandal and everything

that we learned on the jailhouse phone calls.

He was quoted in the piece.

I want David to read this part now

because it's so crazy

given what the post and courier

is saying now about the evidence

in the murder case.

So anything involving Maggie's

phone and questions about

the data extraction needs to mention

who put himself in charge

of that aspect of the investigation.

Duffy, who recused

himself on the same day

Elick had his third and final

interview with Sled

when it was clear that he was a suspect.

I have to wonder

if someone called Duffy's office

after that interview.

The story also criticized

Sled for allowing Murdoch's

friends and family to hang out

on the scene and clean up the family's

house before agents got to search it.

But not mentioned in the story

is how the scenario blatantly

contradicts the defense's

assertion that Sled

targeted Elick from the beginning.

Do we think Sled should have kicked

every Murdoch and every PMPD

attorney off of the property

that night? Of course we do.

But again, this is what

this entire podcast has been about.

The deference that gets

paid to Elick Murdoch and

his family by law enforcement.

A Sled agent even offered

to take her badge off

to make Elick's family and friends

more comfortable as she searched

the house. Which, what is that?

Does she do that for everyone?

We hope every law

enforcement officer in the state is

looking at this and reminding themselves

to treat everyone that they

encounter at crime scenes with the

same amount of respect.

Another criticism of the story

is that Sled didn't

immediately search Almeida.

Were Elick said that he had gone that night?

Do we think they should have searched Almeida?

Again, of course we do.

Elick murdered his family

and likely stored the weapons and closed

their temporarily. And that is the place

where he told Police

he was when the murders happened.

That would have been super helpful to the case

if they did that at the time.

But again, Elick was not

a suspect that night. Sled

did not treat him as a suspect

and they did not have probable

cause at that point to believe

they needed to search Almeida.

And does anyone really think

that Randolph Murdoch,

the long admired Chief Prosecutor

of the 14th Circuit who was lying

in a hospital bed with pneumonia

and lung cancer, was going

to allow Sled to search the house?

Who would have signed that search warrant?

Let's say

a Sled agent actually had the nerve

that night to push the issue

and ask for that permission. Or who

somehow was able to articulate

why Elick was a suspect

beyond he found them.

And why Almeida needed to be

searched immediately. And who

somehow was able to find

a judge in Murdoch Country

willing to sign that search warrant?

Does anyone think

that that guy's chain of command

would have supported that? Does anyone

think that agent would still

have their job today? Does anyone

think that Sled Chief Mark Keel

wouldn't have had an onslaught

of good ol boys screaming

into his phone and threatening his

job? This is how this stuff

happens.

It is the reality of life in the

low country that so

many reporting on this story

still do not understand

and it is the context that helps us

understand why Sled

didn't search the house that night.

Again, this

is what we've been talking about.

We'll be right back.

Now, there are two other

aspects of the story that we want

to cover quickly because we've

talked about them before at length, both here

and on Cop of Justice.

One is the grand jury testimony

of Agent David Owen.

The defense and their online

supporters, whether real or

robotic, claimed for a while that

Sled had lied to the grand jury

and that's not quite what happened.

There were two issues here. The first

is that Sled incorrectly told

the state grand jury that the Murdoch

family's guns were all loaded with

the same two types of ammo

that were in the shotgun that was used

until Paul.

That's a pretty big deal and certainly

a very significant clue

and God how we wish Sled had gotten this right

so that we wouldn't have to have this conversation

now. But the explanation for this was

that Owen had simply misstated

the situation. The family's guns

were loaded with two different brands

of the same ammo. Now, that might

not be a great explanation,

but this is a case with more than

700 pieces of evidence

that got entered onto the court record

and from what we understand, Owen

wasn't alone in believing that the

family loaded their guns in that very

specific way. The second issue

is the high velocity impacts

batter on the shirt. The state elected

not to introduce that evidence

as an exhibit in this trial. Why?

Because it was too complicated

to explain and it opened way

too many doors for the defense to easily

mislead the jury. Here's

the Cliff's Notes version from our reporting.

There were two tests for blood

done on the shirt. The first test

for presumptive blood came back positive.

Photos from that staining were sent

to Thomas Bevel, a bloodstain expert

in Oklahoma. Those photos though

were not at high enough resolution

for Bevel to see the misting

that sled believes came from when Alex

stood atop Maggie and shot her in the head.

Bevel asked for the raw

files of the photos and once

he had those, he could see the pattern

at the top of the shirt, which

could have, quote, only come

from one thing. Unfortunately for

the state, Bevel's draft report

accurately reflected what he saw

in that first set of photos, which was

nothing. His final report included

his findings after looking at

the higher resolution photos.

This is very explainable

but could lead to confusion

and there's another problem. The second

test, a test called hematrace, that

test for human blood, was also

done for some unknown reason.

I say unknown reason because

Investigators we've spoken to

have told us that this test was not

necessary in this instance.

After that first test

the stains were tested for DNA

and they came back belonging

to Maggie and that should have been

the end of the testing there because

the DNA test alone

showed that those were blood stains.

But the hematrace was applied

to the shirt nonetheless. Now because

those stains were such a fine mist,

sled had doused this shirt in the

chemicals from that first blood test

for presumptive blood. That dousing

seemed to cause a false negative

in the hematrace test, meaning

now the shirt tested negative for

human blood on the record.

That was problematic because

even though it's explainable, it's

confusing. Beyond that, Owen

Beville and the Attorney General's

office didn't know about this

hematrace test and it's not clear

why. The defense maintains that

Owen had lied to the grand jury about

the presence of blood on the shirt, but

he wasn't lying. He was stating

the facts as he knew them to be

at the time of the testimony, which

we think is important to note. Also

important to note is that the shirt had

Maggie's DNA on it

in the areas where that misting

was. The results of this

mysterious hematrace test, by the way,

were found by the defense.

No one seemed to know about it

until Dick Harputley and brought it to

Sled's attention. And that discovery

ended the high-velocity impact

spatter evidence.

In Episode 20 of

Cup of Justice, Eric Bland told us

that he wouldn't be surprised if

state legislators used the Murdoch

trial as a reason to open an

investigation into Sled. That seemed

over the top to us, even knowing

what we know about how the state works.

But then this story came out and

it seemed like a bit of a precursor.

A step one to the

potential of a bigger plan, if you will.

Like we said, we totally

support the paper's decision to take a look

at how the state's law enforcement division

handled one of, if not the

most expensive cases in its

history. But we believe the

scaffolding here should have been

the lie Eric told

about his alibi and the

influence of his family name and

how that played out at the crime scene.

That is the underlying

problem with this case.

Eric did not cooperate with

the investigation. He met with Sled

three times because he wanted to

look innocent and he wanted to spy

on the enemy. He wanted to

know what they had on him so he could

adjust and head it off at the pass.

By all accounts, Eric did

not make a meaningful effort to find

the quote real killers.

And instead lied about

almost every aspect of that

night. Right up until he needed

to reverse course and take

the stand. Eric was

found guilty.

For all the obstacles Sled had

with this case, they came through.

The kennel video was obviously

the most important evidence in

this case and Eric's decision

to testify definitely helped

swagers toward their guilty votes.

But we cannot ignore the fact that

Eric took that stand because

Sled's investigation

had painted him into that corner.

Just about every assertion

made by the defense and the lead up to

and during the trial has proven

to be false. At what point does

that matter? We just have one last

thing to say about that story and again

we are not criticizing these reporters

but rather pointing out that we can't

lose sight of the bigger issue

for law enforcement to do their jobs.

The people at the very top

of South Carolina's various power structures

whether it's legislators, agency

leaders or good old boys in far

flung counties need to respect

the rule of law and when they don't

they need to be held accountable for that.

When it comes to the good old boys

no law enforcement officer should feel like

they're going to lose their job as a result

of doing their job.

Speaking of people doing their jobs

Alex Attorney Jim Griffin appears to still

be working overtime defending his

client with the intensity of a

scorned woman who punches the mistress

instead of the terrible husband.

But we'll get to that.

First, last Thursday

Dick Harputley infiled notice of

Alex's intent to appeal his conviction.

This is the first step in what will likely

be a years long process, possibly

up to 8 years according to some

sources. Dick and Jim have already

indicated their intention

to take this to the US Supreme Court.

In a press conference after

Alex sentencing, after making a point

to tell the media that they weren't

going to make a statement, Dick and Jim

said they believed the strongest grounds

for Alex's appeal was the judge's

decision to have allowed in testimony

about Alex's financial crimes, because

they think that testimony did more harm

to Alex's character than it did

to provide explanation of the motive,

which they said was ludicrous and illogical.

Here's Dick

on whether they would have done anything differently.

No. No.

I mean look, once the judge

first of all, we believe

if the judge is going to let that stuff in, it should

have been limited to the Ferris case, which is what

they were asking him about on Monday

on the feed. Number two, Tinsley

the person that made the motion

to be compelled to be heard on Thursday.

Dawes Cook, Alex's lawyer

both agreed there wasn't going to be

any storm or Armageddon or anything

that was going to happen that Thursday.

The judge might have issued an order, which

once down the line might have posed a problem.

So once they got that

character,

character information is, he's a thief,

he's a liar, then

dictated

this jury had to think he was a

despicable human being

and not to be believed.

So it was about character, it wasn't about

motives.

So as a result, our options were

limited. Should he take the stand?

Well, you know, we debated

that, he always wanted to take the stand.

But once that information

was in, I mean

he had to take the stand to explain

the kennel

video, the lie, if you will.

He had to, but he had no

credibility, he had been stripped away

by the

financial

mysteries.

Here's Jim on the family's continued support

of ELEC and why Buster didn't speak

on his father's behalf during sentencing.

We could have had

Mother Teresa

up there speaking on behalf of

Alec at sentencing.

He was getting a double life

sentence.

That was expected.

He was a very

stringent

Punisher

when it comes to crimes and

sentences.

That was never in dispute.

So Buster to get up

and speak on his dad's behalf

would not have made a difference.

Why do you want to put that kid

through more trauma than

anybody we can imagine

has ever been through?

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Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.