Alex Murdaugh Allegedly Told Sister-in-Law that Wife, Son Didn't Suffer During Killings, But Denied Murder

The prosecution called Murdaugh's sister-in-law, Marian Proctor, to the stand on Tuesday

Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh.

Alex Murdaugh allegedly reassured his sister-in-law that his wife and son did not suffer when they were killed, reports say.

Weeks into the trial of the once powerful and prominent South Carolina attorney, the prosecution called Murdaugh's sister-in-law, Marian Proctor, to the stand Tuesday, where she testified that she asked Murdaugh if her sister "had suffered" when she was shot to death.

"He assured me that she had not," Proctor said, The State reports. "Now, I don't know that I think that was true."

Murdaugh is on trial for murder in connection with the deaths of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, on June 7, 2021.

Prosecutors accuse Muradaugh of murdering his family members at their sprawling, 1700-acre hunting estate in Islandton, S.C., in an effort to conceal a series of financial crimes.

Paul was shot in the chest and head with a shotgun at close range. Maggie was shot multiple times, including one shot in the back and additional shots while she was on the ground, with an AR-style rifle, prosecutors say.

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Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and two weapons-related charges.

According to The New York Times, in the days following the slayings, Proctor alleged that Murdaugh did not seem concerned with catching the killer.

"We never talked about finding the person who could have done it," Proctor said, per The Times. "It was just odd."

Instead, Proctor said Murdaugh speculated that although "he did not know who it was, he felt like whoever did it had thought about it for a long time."

"I just didn't know what that meant," she said, the outlet reports.

Per the Associated Press, Proctor said that in the months that followed, Murdaugh also seemed preoccupied with exonerating Paul in a deadly 2019 boat crash, where he was charged with boating under the influence in a crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach.

"He said that his number one goal was clearing Paul's name," Proctor told the court, according to the AP. "And I thought that was so strange, because my number one goal was to find out who killed my sister and Paul."

The prosecution is expected to rest their case Wednesday, with the trial continuing through the week.

If convicted, Murdaugh faces up to life in prison, but if acquitted, he still faces additional legal woes, including dozens of charges for alleged financial crimes.

A trial for those charges will be at a later date.