Phone records and the kennel video placed Paul, Maggie, and a third voice at the kennels shortly before Paul's phone ceased showing active use. Rogan Gibson and Will Loving identified the third voice as Alex, while cross-examination emphasized limits in the movement, location, camera, gunshot-residue, and firearms evidence.
Full day summary
SLED Lieutenant Britt Dove presented forensic records from Maggie, Alex, and Paul Murdaugh's phones. He testified that several June 7 calls appearing on Maggie's phone were absent from Alex's retained call log, indicating apparent removal, but he could not determine when or how they disappeared. Paul's records showed an answered FaceTime call ending around 8:44:45 p.m., messages marked read at 8:48:59 p.m., and no apparent active human use afterward. Dove authenticated the kennel video as recorded from 8:44:49 to 8:45:47 p.m. and said it contained three distinct voices he could not personally identify.
Cross-examination focused on the limits of the device evidence. Dove said Maggie and Alex's phones appeared not to have been moved together by the same person because their recorded step periods did not overlap, but he repeatedly declined to equate Maggie's final orientation change with the moment her phone was discarded. He also acknowledged that delayed access to Maggie's locked phone could have allowed cached GPS data to be overwritten. Redirect and recross further established that step counts, distance estimates, orientation events, and a one-second camera-application entry could not establish precise movement or deliberate camera use.
Investigator Brian Varnadoe described collecting gunshot-residue samples from Alex's hands at 11:15 p.m. He recorded no blood or debris and recalled the hands as clean, while explaining on cross-examination that he sampled only the hands, did not collect clothing or perform laboratory testing, and considered residue transfer from a gun possible.
Rogan Gibson testified that Paul called him around 8:40 p.m. about Gibson's dog Cash, that he heard Maggie and a male voice he initially thought was Alex, and that later calls and messages to Paul went unanswered. After viewing the kennel video, Gibson identified the voices as Paul, Maggie, and Alex; that identification remained unchanged on cross-examination. The defense also elicited testimony about close family relationships, accessible firearms and outbuildings, spotty cellular coverage, and Alex's distraught demeanor after the killings.
Will Loving described two family .300 Blackout rifles, including a tan rifle he helped sight in during spring 2021 and did not recall seeing afterward. He authenticated a Snapchat received from Paul's phone around 7:00 p.m. and, after the kennel video was played, identified the voices of Paul, Maggie, and Alex. Outside the jury's presence, the parties disputed whether defense questioning permitted evidence of alleged financial pressures. The court deferred an advance ruling, later stating that it would address the Rule 404(b) issue the next morning and expected the State to establish the relevant facts by clear and convincing evidence.
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