Murdaugh’s surviving son Buster set to testify for defense TODAY at his father’s double murder trial

Alex Murdaugh‘s sole surviving son is set to take the stand today in his father’s trial for the murders of his mother and younger brother.

Buster, 26, who has attended the courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, every day since the trial began last month, has not yet spoken publicly about the killings.

He was staying with his girlfriend near Charlotte the night that Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, were brutally murdered at the family’s hunting estate at Moselle on June 7, 2021. 

He is expected to kick off the defense’s case this morning as Murdaugh’s attorneys attempt to portray Alex as a ‘loving’ family man. The alleged killer’s brothers Randy and John Marvin, and sister Lynn, are also listed as defense witnesses.

Buster was earlier in the trial booted to the back of court after allegedly throwing his middle finger up at a prosecution witness. He has been accompanied most days by his girlfriend Brooklynn White.

An emotional Buster Murdaugh visited his late mother Maggie and brother Paul’s gravesites at Hampton Cemetery in South Carolina on Sunday, February 12

Buster Murdaugh, left, hugs his aunt Marian Proctor after she testified in his father Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse on February 14

Buster, Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh in an undated social media post

His alleged obscene gesture may have even been caught on camera, with the legal heir seen biting on his middle finger while Mark Tinsley, the attorney for Mallory Beach’s family, was giving evidence on Monday. 

At the time of Paul and Maggie’s deaths, Alex was facing a $30million lawsuit over his younger son’s drunken boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory. 

Paul was driving his father’s boat and Buster had lent him his ID to buy alcohol.

Ahead of the trial, Buster and several other unnamed defendants reached a ‘significant’ settlement with Beach’s family and three other surviving passengers.

Prosecutors in Alex’s murder trial rested their case Friday after weeks of complicated evidence from more than 60 witnesses.

The defense case is expected to last at least a week before the jury are sent out to reach their verdict.

An emotional Buster was seen paying tribute at his mother and brother’s graves in Hampton, South Carolina, earlier in the trial on February 12.

He was supported by his girlfriend Brooklynn, also 26, at the Hampton Cemetery where Buster took a moment to kneel down and plant a kiss on the their graves.

At one point, Buster picked up a small statue of a dog that had been left at their burial sites and placed it above his mother’s tomb.

The dog appears to resemble the Murdaugh family dog, Bubba, who has become somewhat of a key player in the case against Alex who faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted for the murders of his wife and son.

As jurors had heard earlier in the trial, the yellow Labrador was at the family’s dog kennels on the night Maggie and Paul were gunned down at their Moselle hunting estate – and his presence could prove damning for Alex who, according to witnesses, was heard speaking to the dog in a video recorded at the kennels.

See also  Lachlan Murdoch and wife Sarah enjoy lunch on their $30million yacht

Buster Murdaugh, 26, and girlfriend Brooklynn White, 26, visit the graves of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh at the Hampton Cemetery in South Carolina on February 13

Buster’s alleged obscene gesture may have even been caught on camera, with the legal heir seen biting on his middle finger while Mark Tinsley, the attorney for Mallory Beach’s family, was giving evidence on Monday

Prosecutors have focused on a cellphone video recorded by Paul just minutes before his death in which voices can be heard in the background ordering Bubba, who had a habit of bothering chickens and birds, to leave the animals alone.  

State witness Rogan Gibson, a close friend of the Murdaughs, testified last week that he was ‘100% positive’ that he heard Alex’s voice in the video – putting him at the scene of the crime where he claimed he hadn’t been. 

Buster’s name has also cropped up in connection with the mysterious death of Stephen Smith, 19.  

Smith was found dead in the middle of a country road 15 miles from the Murdaugh family’s Islandton hunting lodge on July 8, 2015.

Smith’s death was ruled a hit-and-run, but his mother Sandy has always maintained that her son, who was gay, was the victim of a hate crime and the murder was covered up.

In June 2021, initial investigators found no evidence of any vehicle accident, were convinced that the victim had a gunshot wound above his right eye, and received tips questioning whether Smith had a relationship with Paul’s older brother, Richard ‘Buster’ Murdaugh.