On Thursday, suspect Alex Murdaugh testified about finding his wife and son’s bodies on their family property in 2021.

Alex said he was not able to turn Paul over, but his phone fell out of his pocket as he tried to tend to him. Alex claimed he eventually put the phone “back on” him, and denied accessing his phone.

Alex said he believed he checked Maggie at the waist. The defense then played the 911 call placed by Alex on the night of the murders — in which Alex is heard saying that Maggie and Paul were shot and are not breathing.

“There’s no way they shot themselves,” Alex testified, referring to questions the 911 dispatcher asked him after he reported the slayings.

Alex said he tried to find a flashlight and a gun but he denied trying to clean up or modify the crime scene.

Disgraced attorney #AlexMurdaugh testified that he never got rid of any murder weapons or bloody clothes the night of the murders. Murdaugh testified he did not kill his wife or son. pic.twitter.com/vy4AzbTsOp

— Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) February 23, 2023

Watch Alex Murdaugh’s testimony, happening now:

Prosecutors said cell phone data and forensic evidence tie Alex to Maggie and Paul’s slayings. Meanwhile, Alex’s attorney, Dick Harpootlian, said the cell phone records were incomplete and asserted that Alex would be covered in blood if he killed his wife and son at close range. Harpootlian said no blood was found on Alex’s clothing.

In September 2021, months after Paul and Maggie’s slayings, Alex suffered superficial head wounds when he allegedly had former client Curtis Smith, 61, shoot him in the head so his surviving son, Buster, would receive a $10 million insurance payout.

A day before the shooting, Alex was forced out of his family law firm amid allegations he misappropriated funds.

Two days after the apparent botched suicide, Alex announced he was entering rehabilitation for drugs. Shortly thereafter, he was charged with insurance fraud in connection with the September 2021 suicide-for-hire plot and released on bail.

However, in October 2021, Alex was rearrested upon leaving a rehabilitation center in Florida for allegedly stealing $4.3 million from late housekeeper Gloria Satterfield’s estate. In that case, he was accused of stealing insurance payouts that were intended for Satterfield’s family. Authorities plan to exhume her body amid an ongoing investigation regarding her death.

In addition to the murder charges, Alex faces more than 100 criminal counts related to fraud.

[Featured image: Twitter video screengrab]