CNN
—
The group of jurors who will determine Alex Murdaugh’s destiny have heard from all of the witnesses in his homicide trial and on Wednesday morning will head to the sprawling Islandton, South Carolina, property the place the defendant’s spouse and son have been discovered fatally shot in the summertime of 2021.
The huge property, often called Moselle, has been on the coronary heart of the trial – and performed an enormous function within the Murdaugh household’s life earlier than the grisly killings.
The 1700-something acre property consists of the home the household lived in for a number of years, in addition to canine kennels, a cabin, and stretches of swamp lands, plotted fields and forests through which Murdaugh would go attempting to find deer and different sport together with his two sons.
Murdaugh, who has pleaded not responsible to 2 counts of homicide, maintains he discovered his spouse, Maggie, and youthful son, Paul, fatally shot when he returned to Moselle from a go to to his sick mom on the night time of June 7, 2021. Their our bodies have been discovered close to the property’s kennels, the place the Murdaughs stored their searching canine.
The decide agreed this week to let jurors view the property, regardless of opposition from prosecutors who stated it has modified for the reason that killings, together with that bushes have grown taller and thicker than what they have been in the summertime of 2021.
Forward of the jury’s go to, right here’s what we all know concerning the Moselle property.
The Murdaughs bought the Moselle property round 2012, Buster Murdaugh, the defendant’s surviving son, testified in February.
The household had been dwelling in Hampton, South Carolina – a roughly 20-minute drive from Islandton – however after that home sustained injury throughout a hurricane, they relocated to the Moselle residence, Buster Murdaugh advised the court docket.
A lot of the Moselle property was “actually not even accessible,” the 26-year-old testified, as some areas are swamps and plenty of components don’t have street methods to navigate the land on.
“It’s an enormous property,” he stated, crammed with dove fields, duck ponds and deer stands throughout. The Murdaugh males ceaselessly went attempting to find deer, duck, quail, doves and hogs on the land and would usually invite pals to affix them.
The property had an enormous inhabitants of hogs, Buster Murdaugh testified, which might usually smash the household’s dove fields, so the Murdaughs would often hunt the animals to “attempt to minimize the numbers down a little bit bit.”
The property went up on the market final 12 months, a number of months after the killings, based on CNN affiliate WJCL.
The itemizing cited by the affiliate says the Moselle Farm, listed for $3.9 million, is underneath contract.
The land “boasts over 2.5 miles of river frontage, providing freshwater fishing, kayaking, and ample deer, turkey, and waterfowl populations,” based on the itemizing. “To enhance the pure facilities there are two man-made waterfowl impoundments able to being planted with corn and flooded to draw wintering waterfowl. As well as, there’s a 20-acre dove discipline full with a useless wire and parameter fencing to reduce crop injury.”
On the finish of a protracted street sits a 5,275-square-foot residence, in-built 2011, based on the itemizing – shortly earlier than Buster Murdaugh estimates his household purchased the property.
There’s additionally a cottage on the property, which Buster Murdaugh referred to in his testimony as a “cabin,” saying he had stayed there for a while with two pals.
Nathan Tuten, a longtime good friend of Paul Murdaugh, additionally testified in court docket he had stayed on the cabin with Paul for a while.
The property additionally features a “rifle taking pictures vary,” based on the itemizing.
“The placement, ecosystem, and water options make this a super candidate for a conservation easement. The subsequent proprietor stands out as the beneficiary of appreciable tax benefits which may be obtainable by way of the donation of an easement,” it notes.
(A conservation easement is, typically, part of a property that’s preserved and never developed. Making a donation permits the donor to take a tax deduction based mostly on the appraised worth of the property.)
There was one other deadly incident tied to the household’s Moselle property.
Gloria Satterfield, a longtime housekeeper for the Murdaughs, died in a hospital in February 2018, three weeks after what was described as a “journey and fall accident” on the Murdaugh residence, an legal professional representing her property beforehand stated.
“Actually there have been questions by my shoppers as a result of after she sadly fell, she was airlifted to a hospital and he or she had a traumatic mind damage, she by no means was in a position to talk with them for the subsequent three weeks till she died,” legal professional Eric Bland beforehand advised CNN.
In a February 2, 2018, recording of a 911 name posted on-line by CNN affiliate WHNS, a caller who seems to be Maggie Murdaugh stories Satterfield fell and provides the Moselle residence’s deal with.
“My housekeeper has fallen and her head is bleeding, I can’t get her up,” the caller says, including Satterfield fell whereas going up the house’s out of doors, brick steps.
In 2021, greater than three years after her loss of life, the South Carolina Legislation Enforcement Division introduced it was opening a legal investigation into Satterfield’s loss of life after a request from the Hampton County coroner that highlighted inconsistencies within the ruling of her method of loss of life.
“The decedent’s loss of life was not reported to the Coroner on the time, nor was an post-mortem carried out. On the loss of life certificates the way of loss of life was dominated ‘Pure,’ which is inconsistent with accidents sustained in a visit and fall accident,” the coroner’s request to SLED stated.