"Devil at his Elbow" offer information on Murdaugh trial, history

>> Out, Murdoch has become a household name not just in the low country, but nationwide there. So many aspects history to this local family and the crimes that have been committed. The woman I sat to next throughout the entire Murdoch murder trial. Valerie Burton line, a Wall Street Journal reporter now the author of a new book Devil at his elbow about the case and this family got a chance to talk to her today about what she found and that 3 years of research. >> I've been to Hampton County when it was announced many years ago. I did a story from there and I cover it up a bit later. And I knew how power works in rural areas in South Carolina is different from other places. And you have this long tradition of a rural Barron in a place like Hampton or, you know, Orangeburg, Bamberg, Barnwell, some like that, who really has an outsized amount of power is like, you know, this is a story that that is, is it? Is a wild stranger than fiction story already. But it does make it offered the chance to tell a story that I've been witnessing my whole career, which is how power works in the rural South. What they had to take the portrait of his grandfather down off the back wall were eloquent when he took the stand. He was looking straight at the back where there's a Cindy rectangle. His grandfather's portrait hung. You look at the end of the dedication that portrayed in and talked there. He had tried a case in that courtroom not long before the homicides. One of the 3rd deputy with the win their 3rd deputy on scene for deputy on scene was one of his expert witnesses. You know, so it it was his birthright to be in that courtroom. His great grandfather. They called him Mr. Fire and Brimstone. He just wasn't on spying presence. There. So I do think when, you know, every juror for as long as they did his father, actually, I've found affidavit signed by his father saying that he knew every juror and the counties of his circuit. Every single one. >> And so, yes, I think La knew who his family was and what they stood for. Lee is absolutely American tragedy and think for me. I I I we didn't have to is you remember we didn't have computers or phones in the quarter. And so I have like these at that huge plastic bin of notebooks. And I was looking for something in one of them the other day. And you've got away. But with a different testimony is and I opened up and it looked in the margins of one page and it said it this really happening. But the family was very cordial. They we we ran into them in the hallways and exchanged pleasantries in small talk and and, you know, to turn to the waterfront like everybody else. But that we also knew and they knew highly aware that the cameras are on their face at all times. It was a very much a high wire act. I think for the family as well. I do think Yelich's sisters, older sister Lynn was there every day. Your brother John Martin was there every day. Son Buster was there with his fiancee every day. >> His brother was not there. Every day is as other brother Randy Moss, Randy Murdoch, who is a partner in the law firm. But Randy was there on the days that other members of the law firm testified. So Jeanne secondary, the CFO or a mark Ball are on the other partners in the law firm. So he was there. I took that as a signal that he was there in support of the family firm. Let's that his brother shooters, he understands is as committed a lot crimes. A lot of families in and destroyed the family. >> Do you think in a 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, as I was it was a hard thing as a as a reporter, more than anything. And we you know, we are wired to figure stuff out. Where was wired to find stuff out and to want to say. >> Where the guns. I mean, there's a lot of missing money. The feds say as much as 6 million dollars that's he stole from poor people. The poor is the poor that's still missing. Where is it is? It is a very dim piece. I see pipes and some of it is. And is it offshore? I believe some of that is that we can't say for sure. So its hard for me, I answered as many questions as I possibly could for the reader, tried to really. May cause many connections as I could for the reader. But there are things we'll never know. Just and having this unanswered questions. It's hard, but we do know one answer, which is that a jury of Murdoch's peers held him accountable for killing his wife and son. I tried to to write this book. The 2 people in mind and it winds regular to people. I know. But but one is the person that followed every minute of testimony who could name all of them are not dogs just like, you know, like like Roger Dale Davis. He was just like, okay, there's tabby to is their story under unit. That person. I wanted them to find something they didn't know are surprised them. Every couple pages. And and and so that was at the top of my mind, also wanted to write it for people that. >> We're familiar with the mayor. The case knew the name but didn't really follow it. Maybe they watch one of the documentaries but not every turn of the screw. >> I just wanted to tell the story beginning middle and end. I hope that now the or 18 months out from this huge trial, does culture phenomenon that gives readers a chance to step back and figure out why they are captivated by it and what it all adds up to. What does it mean in terms of of the epic American story? It's a story that continues even today. I've got much more with Valerie. You can watch the full interview, including a lot more about the history of the Murdoch family that she learned Wsav dot com slash Murdoch. >> As for Alec Murdock, he was a hearing in federal court trying to reduce his federal sentence at an October and the South Carolina Supreme Court has agreed to hear his appeal