Full interview: Valerie Bauerlein, author of 'The Devil At His Elbow'

kennel video was it Alex stepping on stand that really sunk himself you know and I wrote a story about this for the journal um that you know is there was the the trial lasted six weeks but two days ma mattered most his being his taking the stand um was critical but the reason he took the stand was the kennel video and jurors will tell you ABS in that kennel video they would not have know have have convicted him more than that law enforcement would not have been able to charge him it proved so much it proved that he had been lying about where he was 2 and a half 3 minutes before his wife and son were killed for a almost a year so yeah those two things the the his testimony and then also the kennel video which was the reason he went on the stand talking to uh Jim Griffin dick Harpley and you talked to everybody afterwards too what what was the sense did they really do they still have this strong belief that Alec is not guilty and that they did everything they could during that Tri and it just came down to that one video you know I had the chance um both dick harutan and Jim Griffin and and kraton Waters as well were at um went to Crime con last year the in Orlando huge True Crime convention and were featured speakers and I got to spend time with all three of them there and I went to hear them speak you know and dick has said he just Alec Murdoch deserves a vigorous defense he got booed at one time at cat called by the audience and um which was a very very friend victim friendly audience that attends these and he and he said you know I'm doing my job you know you I suggest you read the Constitution about who deserves a fair trial so I do think that um they intend to stick based on my reporting they intend to stick with this case and mount a vigorous defense and and they continue to show us that I mean they they they filed recently to ask the Supreme Court to take another look at Justice tol's decision around the jury tampering allegation so they're they're fighting on multiple fronts and I expect they'll continue to for many years to come you were in that courtroom with me for those six weeks out there that we we went through it all is there any way to explain call it a circus or what would you call it when it comes to the people that there the lawyers the and the testimony everything that was surrounding this in this very small area of Walterboro too yeah it's a very small area um and it's a very small courtroom it's it's got these soaring ceilings but it's from the it was designed in the 1820s and you can tell I mean everything's really tight I can remember at one point after proceedings sitting in the jury box and you can almost Reach Out And Touch the witness stand is right there and there and you could from the prosecution table you could touch the jury Rail and pass you know tissues back and forth and things of that nature it's tight quarters what it reminded me of every day sitting there so that the front half of the room were the hundred people that were there every day um Buster Murdoch and and the Murdoch family the defense um the lawyers the the the law enforcement the media the media who was credential to be in there the court staff so there was 100 people that are roughly the same every day for six weeks so they become like the people that you see every day and then the back half of the room was uh The Galley where the gallery where people would line up I mean at 4:00 or 5 in the morning to come in and witness this historic pring and what it felt like to me more than anything was like watching a a drama play out in front of you every day you've got your jury over here sort of like the Greek chorus you've got you know the the the prosecution and the defense like making these huge soles arguments you know the witnesses the characters that are that are part of the story The Judge passing judgment on everything but it's a it's a play where the the stakes were life and death and it really was a a you know a fight with the highest of of stakes and consequences so you know that's what it felt like more than anything to me sort of that American Tragedy allinone when you're talking about those things so when we go through it I guess so yeah it's absolutely it's absolutely American Tragedy and I think for me um I I I we didn't have as you remember we didn't have computers or phones in the courtroom so I have like these um I have a huge plastic bin of notebooks and um and I was looking for something in one of them the other day you know got them labeled where different testimony is and I opened up and I looked in the margins of one page and it said is this really happening you know it's just like there's so many moments where we were just sitting I remember at at one point um there was a we were waiting on I think ell was testifying we're waiting on something and somebody kicked over a bottle of water and we all just jumped you really were waiting on the edge of your seat because it is an epic American Saga and what I tried to do I wrote 42 some pages I I had another hundred but what I tried to do was tell it as big as I could and put it into context and and do honor to a truly epic story Family itself what's your sense of them during the trial that you got and then afterwards as well um the immediate family you mean yes I was I was I tried to observe every day um who came and how and and the the family members had made an unusual request to write about this in the book they had asked the the court staff if they could sit in the middle in the aisle because they're simultaneously the people that were closest to Maggie and Paul the victims and and closest to the defendant elec and the courthouse staff said no a it's a fire hazard but B that's not you have to pick a side and they ended up sitting behind Alec and that had the effect that there was no one there sitting for Maggie every day there's no visible presence from her family or friends representing Maggie and Paul on on a daily basis but the family was very cordial they we we ran into them in the hallways and exchanged pleasantries and small talk and um you know took turns at the water fountain like everybody else um but we also knew and they knew highly aware that the cameras were on their face at all time so it was a very much a Highwire act I think for the family as well I do you know Alex's sister his older sister Lynn was there every day his younger brother John Marvin was there every day his son Buster was there with his fiance every day his brother was not there every day his his other brother Randy Randy Murdoch who is um a partner in the law firm but Randy was there on the days that other members of the law firm testified so jeie seconder the CFO or Mark ball or or um other partners in the law firm so he was there I took that as a signal that he was there in support of the the family firm um less less so than his brother who he understands is um has committed a lot of crimes a lot of felonies and and destroyed the family name a great point to that he was there for the law firm people at that time I was wondering the same thing when Randy would show and you made that that point to it my understanding is the family is somewhat Randy maybe somewhat disassociated from the family now you know that's that's my understanding too I think and he has said publicly that he um he doesn't think that ell well the Trigg trigger but he knows more than he's saying and uh and and the other members of the family have stood by ell including his son Buster who said you know in in a in a Fox Nation documentary that he that he spoke to to really the only interview he's given he said I know my father has many um many horrible qualities but I just can't imagine he would kill my mother and brother three years of of research and beyond for this and sitting in the trial and doing everything else do you think in way we've just scratched the surface on what really happened that night that there's still so much out there that we don't know you know it was it was a it was a hard thing as a as a quarter more than anything we you you and I we were're wired to figure stuff out we're W wired to find stuff out and to want to say where are the guns I mean there's a lot of missing money the FED say as much as $6 million that's he stole from poor people the poorest of the poor um that's still missing where is it is it is it buried in PBC pipes at Mosel some of it is and is it offshore I believe some of it is but we can't say for sure so it was hard for me I I answered as many questions as I possibly could for the reader I tried to um pull together pieces of evidence that we heard in court that might not have been like why are we hearing about the the GSR on the inside of the raincoat what are the implications well the implications are that he he wrapped the guns up in the raincoat and you know and hid them somewhere for someone else to come remove potentially um I tried to really make as many connections as I could for the reader but there are things we'll never know just and having those unanswered questions is hard but we do know one answer which is that a jury of el Murdoch's peers um held him accountable for killing his wife and son and then more than that a few months later in Buford um I was there when he plad guilty to all the financial crimes all the dozens of people that the state said he robbed so that ensures a couple things he'll stay in prison the rest of his life whatever happens with the the the appeal and the homicides it also means he plag guilty to the motive the reason that kraton Waters and the other prosecut said he killed his wife and son was to cover up the decade of robbing and criming that he'd been doing so he essentially play guilty to the motive and he'll be in prison the rest of his life and he's held accountable for the murders of his wife and son so we do have an ending of sorts with this story well for you to to do a book like this and I'm sorry somebody just just they somebody fired up a generator outside jeez okay well apparently stuff's going on over there so no it's it's some it's a long guy trying to um this was so popular for everybody people watched it they stuck within the entire time from your perspective as an author how difficult was that to open those doors and say I have a different feeling and to give you a sense of walking in the room and so much more on a basis that they didn't get just by watching the regular trial every day yeah I you know I um I try I tried to to write this book with two people in mind and and it wouldn't surprise you there two people I know but but one is the person that followed every minute of testimony who could name all of the Murdoch dogs just like you know like like Roger Dale Davis who was just like okay there's Tabby toes there's doia there you know that person I wanted them to find something they didn't know or surprise them every couple of pages and and and so that was at the top of my mind also wanted to write it for people that were familiar with it or familiar with the case knew the name but didn't really follow it maybe they watched one of the documentaries but not every turn of the screw I just wanted to tell the story you know beginning middle and end and I hope that now that we're 18 months out from this huge trial this cultural phenomenon that it gives readers a chance to take a step back and figure out why they were captivated by it and what it all adds up to what does it mean in terms of of the Epic American story there why was this so popular why did this draw the attention of the entire nation the world we get people coming from France and Beyond why this something that Drew everyone's attention so much you know I gave that a lot of thought because it and I asked you we we walk in the court every morning and there were people that were lined up from all over the world in the in the we hours I was like why are you here what is it and you got a lot of different answers but but but but it was um but the core question is I just don't understand how a man can kill his wife and son that's the core question but the other elements layer on to that which is you know all really all I looked it up like what are all seven of the deadly sins Yep this case had it all it had all of them it took place in a a a part of the world the South that has this it's it's a um it's if it coners an image in your mind it's a very it's it's an evocative place it's a place we're interested in and it had that Duality where you have the family that on one level looks like they have it all and then on the other level it's completely different there's something horribly arai and just unraveling that and figuring it out I think was um captivating to people