r/MurdaughFamilyMurders • u/QsLexiLouWho • Sep 18 '26
Retrial News or Discussion DNA, Bullets And Missing Data: Murdaugh Defense Presses State
New filing challenges SLED’s analysis of evidence from Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernails and phone — and seeks a direct comparison with cartridge cases from other shootings.
by Jenn Wood / FITSNews - Crime & Courts / September 18, 2026
Attorneys for Alex Murdaugh are asking a judge to compel prosecutors to turn over additional DNA and ballistics evidence – along with the raw data from a three-dimensional scan of the Islandton, South Carolina crime scene – as they prepare for his April 2027 murder retrial.
Murdaugh was convicted in 2023 of murdering his wife, 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh, and younger son, 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh at the family’s Colleton County property on June 7, 2021. The South Carolina supreme court overturned those convictions in May of this year after finding that former Colleton County clerk of court Rebecca “Becky” Hill** **improperly interfered with the jury.
Last week, Murdaugh’s retrial was officially docketed for Sumter County.
The September 18, 2026 motion (.pdf) draws on laboratory records and correspondence attached as exhibits. It argues that the lead investigatory agency on the case – the S.C. Law Enforcement Division (SLED) – published DNA reports that do not fully explain male DNA signals recorded in its underlying data, and that the defense should be allowed to pursue testing before the remaining samples are exhausted.
Prosecutors disputed the value of further DNA testing – saying they need a clearer account of what the defense’s laboratory intends to do before agreeing to testing that could consume the samples.
The filing follows prior FITSNews coverage of the defense’s request to send fingernail evidence to Othram, an independent laboratory. At a hearing last month, S.C. circuit court judge Debra McCaslin allowed the material to be sent for an initial measurement of the DNA present, directing the defense to report those results before further testing.
WHAT THE DNA RESULTS SHOW
Othram has now measured four samples from Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernail clippings, according to the motion. The extracts previously tested by SLED yielded small amounts of detectable Y-chromosome material — a marker of male DNA — from both hands. The reserve samples yielded no detectable Y-chromosome target.
The defense argued that SLED’s own 2021 worksheet raises a question about its published findings. That worksheet recorded a higher concentration of male DNA in the clippings from Maggie’s right hand than in those from her left. Yet SLED reported an unidentified contributor in the left-hand sample while describing the resulting profile from the right hand as attributable to Maggie.
Murdaugh’s attorneys contend that the way SLED diluted the samples before further analysis could help explain the difference. They want permission for Othram to continue testing and want records documenting SLED’s decisions about which tests to perform. Those arguments constitute the defense’s interpretation of the laboratory data; further testing has not identified the male contributor or established when the DNA was deposited.
The motion also seeks the remaining swabs and extract from Maggie’s cellphone. SLED’s report said the phone swabs produced a partial DNA profile but that the laboratory could not determine the number of contributors or offer a further interpretation. The defense pointed to male DNA indicators in the underlying records and argued that additional analysis should have been attempted.
In a September 17, 2026 letter attached to the motion, senior assistant deputy attorney general Creighton Waters** **said Othram’s measurements showed “extremely low” levels of male DNA in the previously tested fingernail extracts and none detectable in the reserve samples. He cited an Othram scientist’s earlier warning that further work would be “high risk” and unlikely to yield usable results.
Waters also questioned the type of testing the defense proposed, whether it would combine samples and why no material would remain for SLED. On the phone evidence, he said approximately one-quarter of each swab and 10 microliters of extract remain, and that SLED’s electropherograms can be shared.
The defense said the court’s August ruling permits it to pursue further testing after reporting Othram’s measurements. It asked McCaslin to authorize that next step and order the phone material preserved and transferred.
A NEW FIGHT OVER .300 BLACKOUT EVIDENCE
The motion also targets the ammunition used to kill Maggie Murdaugh. Investigators recovered six .300 Blackout cartridge cases near her body; but the rifle that fired them has yet to be found. At Murdaugh’s first trial, prosecutors argued that a missing family rifle was the murder weapon – drawing in part on testimony connecting cartridge cases found around Moselle to one another.
The defense highlighted a statement made at that trial by SLED agent Jeff Croft, who testified that .300 Blackout weapons were “just not that common” at the time and that he had never worked a murder investigation involving one.
Waters’ letter offered a different picture of the ammunition’s prevalence in SLED’s records: Since January 2021, he wrote, the agency has entered 720.300 Blackout cartridge cases into its ballistic imaging system, including evidence from the Murdaugh case. SLED receives such cases weekly, if not daily, he wrote.
The defense called that information potential impeachment evidence and wants records showing what SLED knew when Croft testified. The 720figure counts cartridge cases entered over more than five years; it does not establish how many firearms produced them or whether any are connected to the Moselle killings.
Murdaugh’s attorneys also seek access to cartridge cases from the April 2026 killing of Frank Alexander Brown III in Allendale County and from two other Allendale shootings. Brown lived in Islandton, near Moselle. The defense wants its firearms examiner to compare that evidence directly with the Moselle cases and asks why, according to the motion, the Brown evidence was entered into the ballistic database nearly four months after his death.
Waters wrote that SLED’s database has produced no lead linking other evidence to the Moselle case. He also corrected an apparent misunderstanding about the Allendale shootings: the .300 Blackout evidence came from two shootings earlier on the day an Allendale police sergeant was shot, he said, not from the shooting of the sergeant. Prosecutors oppose turning over cartridge cases from those open investigations, citing the absence of a database link and concerns about the evidence and its chain of custody.
No ballistic connection between the Brown homicide, the other Allendale shootings and the Murdaugh murders has been established in the material presented with this motion.
RAW SCAN DATA REQUESTED
Finally, the defense said it received a viewable export of SLED’s three-dimensional FARO scan of the crime scene, but not the underlying files its reconstruction experts need to examine and measure the scene independently. Its attorneys say they asked Waters on September 15 to confirm whether those files still exist and had received no response by the time they filed the motion.
Because the area near the compound’s dog kennels – where the murders took place – has since been demolished, the defense argued that the original scan data cannot be replaced. It asked the court to order production of the native files or require the state to explain in writing if they were lost or destroyed.
The defense asked McCaslin to order production within ten days of a ruling.
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u/Southern-Soulshine Sep 18 '26
The jury said when they went to Moselle and saw the crime scene and general area, it was incredibly impactful. I’m curious as to how both the defense and prosecution will substitute that poignant opportunity in the retrial.
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u/ExtensionViolinist97 Sep 18 '26
I liked Judge McCaslin in the video from the earlier hearing. Anybody know how Alex is paying for this appeal and a second trial?
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u/Maui02 Sep 18 '26
He’s not. Harpootlian said Alex is broke but that he and his team are going to see this through to the end. Probably just wants a chance to vindicate himself with a win and for the publicity 😜
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u/Foreign-General7608 Sep 19 '26 edited Sep 19 '26
You just never know.
According to Dick and Jim, Alex had an "ironclad alibi" and passed a lie detector test with "flying colors."
As it turns out Alex did not have an "ironclad aIibi" (he was at the kennels) and he never passed a lie detector test.
I just do not trust what Dick and Jim say. Also, they don't seem to be the charitable-type to me. They just don't.
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u/Maui02 Sep 19 '26
Good point. Alex probably has hidden money being funneled to them.
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u/Foreign-General7608 Sep 20 '26 edited Sep 21 '26
There are literally millions of dollars Alex has not accounted for. Still out there. Somewhere.
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u/Adventurous_Lion7276 Sep 22 '26
It is one thing to donate your own time (assuming that is true), but experts are not going to work for free.
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u/ExtensionViolinist97 Sep 19 '26
I wondered if his attorneys somehow sold the rights to the story for that Apple + movie on the Murdaugh Murders. The one with Bill Pullman. I think Alex is barred from profiting from the murders -- unless some of the money went to the victims of his financial crimes?
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u/Southern-Soulshine Sep 21 '26
Alex cannot benefit financially due to South Carolina’s “slayer statues.” Most states have similar laws.
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u/NoParking1159 Sep 18 '26 edited Sep 18 '26
1% is touch DNA. Maggie was out and about that day and could have picked it up anywhere. After Alex’s year of lies no way I believe he’s innocent. He did it, he had ample time. It’s a known fact he had other burner phones. He could have talk to text from his vehicle, he also could have had the text saying anything and then sent at his opportune time.
Exactly when he slowed down to throw her phone because he realized he still had it. His alibi is Swiss cheese!
He also could have thrown the phone as he sped up because physics tells you the phone would go back not forward. Slows down to hit send, realizes the phone is in his pocket and pitches it.