Caretaker, 71, says double murder suspect Alex Murdaugh ‘didn’t do it’

Alex Murdaugh’s mother’s caretaker, who has worked for her family for 42 years, said the double-murder suspect “did not” shoot his wife and son to death.

Barbara Ann Mixson, 72, said she could “say nothing bad about Murdaugh” as she stated that the suspect is “normal” and a “good” person who would always offer a helping hand to the community.

The caretaker, who cares for Mardaugh’s mother, Libby, testified at his double murder trial yesterday, telling the court that the 54-year-old had agreed to visit his mother after Mixson told him she was “agitated” and “crying” for her. the health of her husband.

The disgraced legal scion claims he was at his mother’s house when his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, were murdered and came home to find them dead in the kennels of their 1,800-square-meter hunting estate. acres in Moselle, South Carolina, in June. 7, 2021.

After his testimony, Mixson said court television that it was difficult to stand within feet of Murdaugh when he took the stand because he “missed” her hugs with him.

Alex Murdaugh is pictured center with his defense team during his murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, on Wednesday.

Pictured left to right: Buster Murdaugh, Paul Murdaugh, Maggie Murdaugh, Alex Murdaugh

It comes as Murdaugh can testify in his own defense today if he chooses to, his attorney Jim Griffin said.

Meanwhile, Mixson said during an interview outside of court that he couldn’t “say anything bad” about Murdaugh.

She told Court TV: “Alex is just a normal person and a good person…he’s always helping out.” He is just a good person. I can’t say anything bad about him.

Speaking about taking the stand as Murdaugh sat near her, Mixson said: “It’s hard because I miss my hugs.”

In response to the interviewer saying ‘He’s a big guy, right? He would be taller than you,’ the family housekeeper said, ‘Yes, but he knows I’m the boss.

‘I look at his face and in my mind and in my ear, I can’t vouch for anyone but myself, but he didn’t. That’s all I have to say.

During his testimony, Mixson told the court that he had called Murdaugh the morning of the murders to tell him that he should visit his mother.

She said: ‘I called Alex. I said Alex, your mom is very agitated. She is crying, I have given her medicine and I want you to come see her later in the day. And he said, “She’s okay, I’ll do it.”

Murdaugh has claimed that he was at his mother’s house when his wife and son were murdered. Maggie was knocked down by four or five rifle shots, and Paul was killed by two shotgun blasts. Murdaugh faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted.

During Murdaugh’s double murder trial, the state dealt heavy blows to his case, alleging that a video locates him at the scene of the crime, his financial crimes led him to kill, he lied about his alibi, he changed clothes that night and lured Paul and Maggie to the estate.

The defense team also lashed out at the police officers who first arrived at the property for failing to preserve the crime scene, allowing other first responders and family members to walk the property.

Murdaugh’s former law firm partner Mark Ball testified yesterday criticizing ‘disrespectful’ crime scene police officers who left a ‘baseball sized piece of Paul’s skull’.

Ball, who has known Murdaugh for 34 years, said more than a dozen people walked to the scene of the murders before law enforcement arrived.

Murdaugh’s former law firm partner Mark Ball (pictured) testified yesterday criticizing “disrespectful” crime scene police officers who left behind a “baseball-sized piece of Paul’s skull.”

Maggie’s blood-soaked body lies under a sheet at a crime scene on the night of June 7, 2021. She was shot five times with an assault rifle, while Paul was shot twice with a shotgun a few feet away. away in the kennels of the farm.

But during cross-examination, he also called the disbarred attorney “a very cunning liar” as he was questioned about nearly $9 million Alex stole from his family’s firm, Peters Murdaugh Parker Eltzroth and Detrick (PMPED).

Ball told the court that after a failed suicide life insurance scam Alex pulled off three months after the murders, “I didn’t know that guy… I didn’t know who that guy was, that’s not the Alec I knew.” and that I liked it.’

Ball and Mixson’s comments came on the same day that Netflix premiered their new series “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal,” which delves into the suspicious deaths linked to the once prominent South Carolina legal scion and his family.

In it, the long-time girlfriend of Paul Murdaugh breaks her silence to accuse the murdered 22-year-old of physical abuse, alleging that he slapped, kicked and punched her.

Describing the crime scene, Ball said it was raining on the bloody bodies of Maggie and Paul. “She just screwed me over,” she told the jury. It’s a crime scene. You don’t want water dripping everywhere. But more importantly, I thought it was pretty disrespectful.

While the defense had Ball highlight what it saw as problems at the crime scene and Murdaugh’s devotion to family, prosecutors in cross-examination used Ball to analyze Murdaugh’s apparent lies to police.

Those allegedly include where he was just before the murders, his lack of concern for his or his surviving son’s safety after the shootings, and the theft of millions of dollars from the family’s law firm.

Paul, Maggie, Alex and Buster Murdaugh attend a dinner at the Carolina Yacht Club. The legal scion is accused of shooting Maggie and Paul to death on June 7, 2021

Murdaugh could testify today if he chooses.

Defense attorney Jim Griffin asked the judge Wednesday if he would allow Murdaugh to assert his Fifth Amendment right against incriminating himself on the 100 or more charges he faces, including customer theft, money laundering, tax evasion and insurance fraud.

But Judge Clifton Newman said prosecutors generally have wide latitude in cross-examination.

The judge agreed with prosecutors to allow evidence from other alleged crimes to show Murdaugh killed his family to gain sympathy and buy time to hide his financial misdeeds.

Prosecutors also want to prove that Murdaugh lied to police about his own shooting months later. He initially said he was shot by a stranger, but later said he asked a friend to shoot him so Murdaugh’s surviving son could collect $12 million in life insurance.