All language subtitles for CrimeFeed S01 E09_track3_[eng]

[narrator] This week
onCrimefeed,
the Alex Murdaugh saga.

The convicted killer pleads
guilty to more crimes.

New clues in a cold case.

And could a new arrest
lead to a new trial?

And the murder case
of Harvard-trained lawyer
Dan Markel.

The mom of his convicted
killer arrested

with a one-way ticket to Asia.

And questions remain about
what his wife knew.

This week onCrimefeed
with Nancy Grace,

private investigator
Derrick Levasseur,

and investigative journalist
Mara S. Campo.

Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace.

This is Crimefeed,
and I want to thank you
for being with us.

Those stories coming up,
but first, two breaking
stories tonight.

World-renowned Olympic runner,

convicted killer
Oscar Pistorius,

known as the Blade Runner,
gets hard jail time

for gunning down
his gorgeous model girlfriend,

Reva Steenkamp,
Valentine's Day.

But tonight, he walks free.

And victims cheer
when high-profile,

wealthy, and famous men hit
with sex assault claims

just as the New York statute
giving victims

a one-year window
to sue expires.

3,000 named defendants,
including some you'll know,

Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses,
New York ex-governor Cuomo,

P. Diddy Combs, Jamie Foxx,
Russell Brand,

heavyweight champ Mike Tyson,
former mayor Rudy Giuliani,

and of course,
Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby,

and so many more.

Okay, first of all, guys,

I can't believe
Oscar Pistorius
is walking free.

You do know he chased
Reva Steenkamp through
their home.

She barricaded herself
in the bathroom,

nothing in there
but a commode.

He shoots multiple times
through the door,

hitting her multiple times.

Yeah, and, you know,
her mother spoke at

the hearing announcing
his imminent release.

And she has concerns about
what he's going to do

when he gets out.

She says that, quote,
"He has huge anger issues

and she is concerned for
the safety of any woman

who is going to come into
contact with him."

But he has served
the required time.

He's being released on parole.

Yeah, but he wasn't
a model prisoner.

I know they say for the most
part he was good in there,

but he had some,
he had some
altercations inside.

-You're right.
-And yet you're going
to let him back out.

Listen, he was convicted
of murder.

He should serve
his entire time.

And you know, when you say
he did his time, Mara,

I guess beauty is in
the eye of the beholder

because he got 13.5 years.

-Yep,
-He's only done about
six years on that sentence.

-Yeah.
-And I don't know why
he's getting out this early.

And the mother is very upset.

She said her husband,
Reeva's dad, who, by the way,

was a law grad,
not just a beautiful face,

she said her husband...

fought and fought until
he died to make Pistorius

tell the truth, and Pistorius
would never tell the truth.

Yeah, and they were actually
trying to let him out
even earlier,

but they realized that
he wasn't quite yet eligible,

-so great question as to what
the rush was to get him out.
-Yeah.

So, you know, bottom line,

gunned down a defenseless
woman hiding in the bathroom.

And because
he's a famous Paralympian,
he walks free.

That ain't justice.
That's rich man's justice
right there.

And I don't believe in
a two-tier justice system.

I don't.

-But there's so many cases...
-[Derrick] Yes.

...I've got to go to
the new cases.

New developments.

Listen to this.

A mother-in-law busted

trying to flee the country
over a murder-for-hire plot

of her own daughter's husband
after a bitter custody battle.

This is just one week after
her dentist son

is found guilty of hiring
the hitman who did the deed.

Mother-in-law Donna Adelson
reportedly hated

son-in-law Dan Markel after
he splits from her daughter

and blocked her grandma
from seeing the grandsons.

She's nabbed with a one-way
ticket to Vietnam, which,

by the way, guys,
has no extradition treaty

with the U.S.

Wow, talk about
a mother-in-law not liking
the son-in-law.

-[whistles]
-And a whole family affair.

You know, Dan Markel was
a successful law professor

with degrees from Harvard
and Cambridge who worked at

the Florida State University
College of Law.

In 2013, he and his wife,
Wendi Adelson,

got a divorce,
leading to a bitter dispute

over where their
two young sons,

ages four and five,
would live.

Soon after that,
things took a deadly turn.

Let's take a look.

[Nancy] After Dan Markel's
murder from a shot to the head

in his garage in July 2014,
the police search kicked off

with a tip from a neighbor
who had seen a green hybrid

backing out of the driveway.

A scan of surveillance footage
in the area turned up such

a vehicle, which had been
rented by Sigfredo Garcia

and Luis Rivera.

Garcia and Rivera
were convicted of killing
Dan Markel.

Dan's ex-wife's brother,
Charlie Adelson,

and his girlfriend,
Katherine Magbanua,

were also charged
with murder after paying

the killers for the job.

Just last month,
Donna Adelson,

Markel's ex-mother-in-law,
was arrested at

Miami International Airport,
attempting to flee to Vietnam,

where there is no extradition
treaty with the U.S.

She is now facing first-degree
murder charges as well.

Now, the prevailing thought on
this murder for hire plot

is that members of
Wendi's family had Dan killed

because she wanted to move
the children to South Florida

to be closer to her parents
and her brother.

And Dan, the ex-husband,
wanted them to stay
in Tallahassee.

But the question on
everyone's mind remains,

was Wendi really unaware
that her family plotted

this entire murder for hire?

Guys, did you read
the PC affidavit?

I mean, the thing
is really long.

Probable cause to make arrest.

The son, who, by the way,
he's a periodontist,

but apparently thought
he's more like James Bond,

refers to himself
as "The Maestro."

Okay, right there I got
a problem with him.

But the son was dating
the woman

they believe orchestrated
the whole thing.

That woman, McDonough,
got $56,000 cash

put in her account.

Ouch.

And their phone records,
the whole shebang points
to them.

[Derrick] Yeah, so what
they did here,

the FBI did a really
great job.

-They did what's called
a bump, and we can actually...
-[Nancy] Ooh, they did.

...pull that up right now.
I want to show this video.

Basically, the FBI wanted
to see if they could kick over

a rock and see what
they found.

And they had suspicions about
Donna and Katie and Charles,

but they didn't have
enough yet.

-So they actually
set up an FBI agent to go...
-Now, wait a minute.

-Donna is the mother-in-law
who wants her grandchildren...
-Donna is the mother, Adelson.

-...to be with her
in South Florida.
-Yeah. That's right.

Markel, the dead professor,
refuses to let them move
down there.

-That's right.
-So she's angry.

She's the mother-in-law,
Katie, as you call her

-is the girlfriend.
-[Derrick] Yeah.
Yeah, Katherine.

Then you've got her common law
husband and his friend.

She had... where Katherine
had worked at the dentistry.

All this stuff.
So they go up to Donna.

They think,
"Hey, if we're going
to get somewhere,

that's the way to go.
So they go up to pretending
to be one of

the hitman's brother trying
to extort her for money

to see what she does
after the fact.

Let's play that clip
and then we can talk about it.

Now, what's interesting is
immediately after this...

-[chuckles] Yeah.
-...Donna calls Charles
and says,

"Listen, I just
had something."

-"We gotta get together."
-I just had something hand
delivered to me.

And he says, was it for me?
Was it for you?

She said, I think it was
for both of us.

She whispered it,
"Probably for both of us."

-Yeah.
-And he goes, "What?"

And she goes,
"Probably for both of us."

-Mm-hmm.
-And then listen to this,
Mara. You're right.

So he goes, "I don't want
to talk on the phone."

Now, since when do either
of you say,

"Hey, I can't talk about it
on the phone"?

They get together
and they go to the pool,

the Icon condominium pool,
the public pool,

and they go, the mother-in-law
and her son Charles,

the periodontist,
go hide in the corner
at the pool.

After this, I mean,
if somebody comes up to me,

some thug on the street
and demands money,

-I'm going to call the cops.
-Right.

And what's interesting here
is the chain of phone calls.

-[Derrick] Oh, yeah.
-So the guy comes up to her
in the street.

He says, you know,
"I know something."

She calls her son, Charles.

He immediately calls Katie,
says, "What's going on here?

Is this guy for real?"

She then gets in touch with
one of the hit men,

who is her common-law husband,
who she shares
two children with.

Says, "Hey,
do you know this guy?
You have to call him."

He says,
"I'm not calling him."

They get into a big fight.

But the chain of calls
is always the same.

It's the mother to Charles,
Charles to the mother,

and Charles also to Katie,
and Katie always
to the hitman.

So the theory
that investigators
had in the beginning

was that Katie and Charlie
were the intermediaries.

And they have been able
to prove that out.

We're talking about
five people involved at
this point.

-The two hit men.
-[Nancy] Charlie's dating
Katie too.

-I know she's got this
common law husband
-Yeah.

who arranged the hit,
but she's also

romantically linked to
the brother-in-law,

-the periodontist, "Maestro,"
Charles Adelson.
-[Derrick] Yep.

So there's the two hit men
who are childhood friends.

-Yeah.
-Who the one has
a relationship with Katie.

Katie is dating Charlie,
and Charlie

and his mother allegedly
hatched this plot

because the mother, Donna,
is so furious.

And before this plot
was hatched,

she tried to convince Wendi
to offer her ex-husband

a million dollars to give
full custody of the children.

Wendi said, "No,
I'm not going to do that."

She also said we should
threaten to baptize them

-as Christians...
-[Nancy] As Catholic.

...as Catholics, not because
it was their faith,

but just out of spite because
they knew how important

it was to Dan to raise
his children in
the Jewish faith.

-Mmm.
-And then she moves forward
with this plan.

I have a question for you
as a prosecutor

because we talked about
a lot of people there,

but one person
we didn't mention in
that chain of calls.

-Wendi.
-Wendi, so what do you think
about that as a prosecutor?

Because some would say
public opinion,

there's no way she didn't know
about this.

-There's no way
she didn't bless this.
-[Nancy] Well,

as a matter of fact,
when I was reading
the probable cause affidavit,

at first, Wendi Adelson
was cooperative.

And she... very, very close
to the Adelson family,

her family.

You should have seen
the accounts of their wedding

when she married Dan Markel.

It was in The New York Times.

Huge Boca Raton wedding,
200 people, the whole shebang.

Long story short, she says at
the beginning,

right after her husband,
soon to be ex-husband,

is murdered, she said,
"well, maybe somebody thought

they were 'helping me'
and had him killed."

Many argue that goes
to guilty conscience,

but she has not been charged.

I don't think she's involved
at all.

I don't think she knew
this was happening.

I think her family was trying
to insulate her from this

and protect her from this.

And the reason I think that
is because she's never in

any of these calls.
She's not in the chain at all.

Or even the phone chain

with the rest of the Adelsons,
not at all.

So it would appear
that she was excluded
from this,

and I thought the fact that
she made that mention

in the very beginning
actually proves that

she wasn't involved either,
because if she was,

why would she even introduce
that thought that

someone perhaps could have
had him killed?

That's a good thought.

Guys, coming up, the victim,

Florida law professor
Dan Markel,

was gunned down in the garage
of his own home.

All the attention has been on
his wife's family.

But what, if anything,
did she know?

And believe it or not,
more bombshells in

the Alex Murdaugh
double murder case.

Murdaugh convicted
in the close range
shooting deaths

of wife Maggie and son Paul.

But now it's Alex Murdaugh
inching toward a new trial

in his bid for freedom.

The breaking news
in the murder of Dan Markel,

his ex-wife's mother,
Donna Adelson,

the matriarch of
a Florida family,

has just been busted at
the Miami-Dade Airport,

headed for Vietnam, just days
after her dentist son

convicted of hiring
a hitman to murder

his own brother-in-law,
Dan Markel.

Joining us now, Tim Jansen,
Tallahassee criminal
defense lawyer,

former federal prosecutor
and legal analyst

for the Tallahassee
Democrat newspaper.

Whoa!

I mean, this is amazing.

What do you believe was
the strongest evidence

against the brother-in-law?

Well, the brother-in-law,
after the bump,

the recordings were
very powerful.

The ex-girlfriend testified
that the money was stapled,

so they couldn't get
around that.

And then the relationship
with Donna Adelson,

who was being paid
by the Adelson Clinic
for not working.

$56,000 plus.

What do you mean
the money was stapled?

He had a way he would
staple money.

He loved money so much
he would staple it.

So the state brought in
a girlfriend who said, yeah,

he would staple money.

Luis Rivera said,
"Yeah, I got paid with
this stapled money.

What is this?"

Clearly tied right to him.

[Nancy] Nobody else staples
that kind of money together.

And he's known
as the Maestro...

-Right.
-...driving around town
in his Ferrari.

This guy, so arrogant.

I'm talking about
Wendi's brother.

Charlie Adelson,
and he has just been
convicted of murder.

But tell me about
the mother-in-law

getting busted,

one-way ticket to Vietnam
via what, Abu Dhabi?

-Dubai.
-Yes.

Well, the mother apparently,
and Charlie,

if you saw at the end
of his verdict,

he put his head down.

He actually thought
he was gonna win this case.

He couldn't believe it.

The mother must have thought
he was gonna win because

she didn't book her ticket
till like a couple days later,

and then she called
the neighbor

who she doesn't really know,
and the Adelson's,

the guy says it was weird.

I haven't talked to her in,
like, 20 years, five minutes,

wanna know about restaurants
and hotels in the Philippines.

So he called
the state attorney.

The state attorney also got
phone calls from the jail.

And at the jail,
they're talking about
one-way ticket,

suicide, and trust funds
for their kids.

FBI immediately put
24-hour surveillance on them.

[Nancy] And in fact, that's in
the arrest affidavit.

So I have a pull quote
from that where,

quote, "Donna discusses plans
for a suicide,

but also discusses plans
to flee to
a non-extradition country."

Why do you think
she waited so long to try

and flee the country
and now that
she's been arrested,

what do you think
the strongest evidence
against her is?

Well, it's puzzling.

She bought a one-way ticket.
That's a red flag for anybody.

Um, she bought it after
he was convicted.

The state attorney was waiting
to see how strong

their case
was against Charlie.

If they'd have lost Charlie,

they would have never
charged Donna.

And it was so strong,
and they played tapes

that clearly implicate
Donna and Charlie.

So when he was convicted,
she realized the gig is up,

I've got to get out of here,
and she made mistakes.

[Derrick] Well, and there's
two things we didn't mention.

So we talked
about Dubai, right?

But where they were
really trying to end up,
the final destination

was Vietnam, because there's
no extradition treaty there.

-Right.
-So if they can get there,
they might be okay.

Someone we haven't mentioned
that I wanted to get

your opinion on, we talked
a lot about Donna,

but there was also another
person with her,
Harvey, right?

-Harvey Adelson.
-Right, Harvey.

I know it's not
what you know, it's what
you can prove, but...

How do we sit up here and say
there's no way that this guy

had no idea what was going on

or why he was going
to Vietnam?

I mean, nobody's really
talking about it.

[Nancy] It's a one-way ticket.

[Derrick] It's a one-way
ticket with his wife,

but he has no clue why.

All the recordings
don't implicate Harvey.

In fact, they exculpate him
because they say

we can't talk in front
of Harvey.

[Derrick] Okay.

There was no warrant
for her arrest at the moment

they were fleeing.

So we can't get him
for helping a fugitive flee.

I think they kept Harvey
out of it because

I don't think he could talk
in code.

He wouldn't be able
to keep the secret.

They only had one recording.

Wait, you mean where
they called the police,
"pot belly pigs"?

That's some code there.

Well, that's true.

Most families don't talk
in code.

I didn't hear anything
about go get milk.

Or they don't say things like
"We can't talk on the phone,

I'll meet you at the pool."

No.

Yeah, it was clear.

If my husband said
"I can't talk about it
on the phone,"

I'd say, "Since when?

When can you not talk on
the phone?"

But the 35-plus hours,
Charlie Adelson

talks to his mother from jail.

Hello, don't they know
those calls are recorded?

Are they that arrogant?

There's a big sign that says
your calls are being recorded.

-You've talked to
people in jail.
-Yep.

About every 45 seconds,
"It says you are taking a call

from a correctional facility."
I mean...

Did they not know that?

Well... They didn't know

they were being recorded
a lot.

There's another clip
with Charles and Katherine.

I think it's the day after
the bump where he goes to

an establishment
and he's having a conversation

with her as far as
whether he thinks that

they're on to him or not.

-Can we pull up that clip
and then we can discuss it?
-[Nancy] Yeah.

It's a great clip.

-That's La Dolce Vita
restaurant.
-[Derrick] Yep.

-Yeah.
-So what you don't see
is there's an FBI

dressed with really long hair
sitting there

with a bag facing them.

And this is a clip
that they enhanced

that they decided to charge
Charlie with.

So do you think that
it's plausible that

Wendi really knew nothing
about this?

The question is most people
want her arrested.

And I tell people
all the time.

Georgia would arrest
her tomorrow.

Jack would arrest her tomorrow
if they had the evidence.

They've also given her
derivative use immunity
three times.

-And they have exculpatory.
-[Nancy] Can you explain that?

[Timothy] Well,
you get subpoenaed.

You're never allowed
to be forced to testify.

But when you're subpoenaed,
you get immunity.

And we're basically
forcing you to testify.

So we're doing that.

We shouldn't be able
to use it against you.

So you can't use what she said
and you can't make

-derivative use.
-Hey, can we boil that down?

You're a lawyer, right?

-Right.
-They're screwed.

That's what that means.

They've given her limited
use immunity

so she can't get on the stand
and say, "I take the fifth."

-She has to testify.
-That's right.

And now to use
that against her,

that would go straight up
to the U.S. Supreme Court.

It's a problem, but it doesn't
protect her from perjury.

And perjury in a capital case
is a 15-year prison sentence.

Yeah, it's interesting.

I mean, even during
the interrogation video,

there's a point
where she's first
talking about Charles

and she's saying, yeah,
he just bought me a TV

for her birthday.

He said to her, you know,
I looked into getting
a hit man,

but this was cheaper.

So the things like that where
you think you would know.

Oh, it was also
the ex-boyfriend.

An ex-boyfriend
of Wendi's stated

that all the way back
to the summer previous,

she said her husband
was looking for a hitman.

I mean, her brother
was looking for a hitman

and wanted to spend $15,000.

-But what a lot of--
-So how could they claim
she knows nothing?

Well, it was a really
key piece.

You know what hearsay means.

So Wendi tells
the new boyfriend,

who looks just like Dan,
weird, my brother looked into

hiring a hitman.
That's a hearsay statement.

It's not admissible.

-Right.
-However, they called Wendi
to the stand.

She denied it.

Now you can introduce
the hearsay

-for impeachment purposes,
and it was able to--
-[Nancy] That's right.

That's one of the reasons
they called Wendi
to the stand.

A lot of people have pointed
to the video of the moment

that she was informed that
Dan had been shot

and that he wasn't going
to survive.

And they say that
there seemed to be

some real genuine grief there.

At least that's what appeared
to be taking place.

We do have that video.

-Yeah.
-Let's take a look.

Because that's what
a lot of people think proved

that she had nothing to do
with this.

You know, another thing,
this mother, Donna,

the mother-in-law,
spent her whole life

raising the three children.

Her whole life going to camp,
including acting.

Um, the best schools,
the best weddings,

the this, the that.

And this is a devastation
to her.

They're now actually claiming
she's too old to be in jail.
Isn't she 73?

That's not too old.

No.

She was on a hunger strike
as soon as she got arrested.

Uh, that, they don't--
We're not sure she's going
to make it through a trial,

health reasons.

Well, a hunger strike's
not going to help anything.

Tim Jansen, as always,
thank you.

Guys, coming up, the heir
to a legal dynasty

that goes back nearly
100 years,

Alex Murdaugh,
guilty in the murders

of wife Maggie and son Paul,
now also guilty of

stealing millions
of his clients' money.

But in the last weeks,
a teen's body exhumed

to determine COD,
cause of death.

Is that death linked in
any way to the Murdaughs?

While at the same time,
trouble brewing.

Murdaugh claims jury tampering
in his murder case.

Is Alex Murdaugh getting
a new trial?

Welcome back to Crimefeed,
South Carolina millionaire

and lawyer Alex Murdaugh back
in the headlines.

Murdaugh lost power,
privilege, multiple homes

and a boatload of money
when he was convicted

of double murder.

Tonight, will Murdaugh get
a new trial in his bid

for freedom after he claims
the court clerk

tampered with the jury.

Making matters worse,
authorities just arrest

the court clerk's son
on wiretapping.

The 55-year-old patriarch
of the once powerful

legal dynasty serving
two life sentences

for the cold-blooded murders
of wife Maggie and son Paul.

But now he wants
a brand new trial.

His defense team accusing
the court clerk
of jury tampering.

Mara, what else is happening?

A lot of new
developments here.

Alex recently pleaded guilty
to nearly two dozen

financial crimes,
including embezzlement,

tax evasion,
and money laundering.

He now has to serve
nearly 23 years
of a 27-year sentence.

So new trial or not,
he will likely spend

the rest of his life
behind bars, given his age.

In one of his schemes,
Alex plotted to stage

his own death so that
his surviving son,

Buster, could benefit
from a $10 million
life insurance policy.

He cheated a childhood friend
out of $150,000

owed to him after a car crash.

Now let's take a listen
to Jordan Jinks giving

his victim's impact statement
at Alex's recent sentencing.

Judge, I need you to know
I'm not crying

'cause of what he stole
from me.

I'm crying for what he did
to everybody in this suit.

These kids,
these people dying.

I didn't want to come up here
and bash you,

but I got to ask you,
what kind of animal are you?

Murdaugh also admitted
to defrauding the estate

of longtime housekeeper
Gloria Satterfield,

who mysteriously died on
their property in 2018.

He instructed the family
to file a wrongful death claim

with his insurance company
and then had over $3 million

of the settlement money
deposited into
his bank accounts.

Let's listen to Gloria's son,
Tony, address Alex in court.

I'm sorry that you feel like
you had to betray us,

steal from us,
cheat us, and lie to us.

Um...

I'm sorry that your family
has to now...

go through what they're going
to have to go through
the rest of their life

because of your actions,
of what you did.

Um... I want you to know
that I forgive you.

Wow.

You've got so many
dead bodies connected

to the Murdaugh family.

You've got the housekeeper,
Gloria Satterfield,

that fell down the stairs
and died.

You've got Mallory Beach,
a teen girl

that died after being
thrown off the Murdaugh boat

when one son
was boating drunk.

Now you've got Stephen Smith.

They're trying to make
connections to
the Murdaugh family.

Don't know if that's going
to work.

And it goes on and on and on.

I sat in that courtroom
and I thought,

when I heard that guilty
verdict, that that was it.

Murdaugh will be gone
away forever.

I even walked to the jail
to make sure

they transported him there.
And they did.

And now he's got
a bid for freedom.
I can't believe it.

And this case, you know,
the cases against him

could be mounting.
So you mentioned
this teen that

was found dead
several years ago.

And at the time,
it was classified
as a hit and run.

But Stephen Smith's mother
said then and has been saying

for years
this was no accident.

And in fact,
now they've opened up

a homicide investigation.

And here's some
of the evidence that

they have found that suggests
this was no accident.

They say that this was
supposed to be a hit and run,

but now they have since found
they exhumed the body,

conducted a brand new autopsy,
found that Stephen Smith

actually died from blunt force
trauma to the head.

There was no vehicle debris,
no skid marks,

no injuries consistent
with being hit by a vehicle,

and only minor road rash.

So there have been rumors
for a while that Buster,

the surviving son, was somehow
connected to this.

He only just recently
provided an alibi

for the night
Stephen Smith died after
Alec Murdaugh's conviction

and said, "Oh, I was with
my mother and my brother
that night."

His mother and his brother
who are now dead

and could not possibly
corroborate that alibi.

I will say this,
not a huge fan

of the Murdaugh
family personally,

but there is another wrinkle
to that hit and run

looking into that, and it's
Shawn Connelly, right?

He's someone who told
his friend Patrick Wilson

that that night in question,
he hit something.

He didn't know what it was.
He was drunk.

He hit something,
went back the next day.

And when he did,
law enforcement
was already there.

And, you know, they did exhume
his body and they found that

single blunt force trauma
to the head.

But also you had
Dr. Kenny Kinsey,

who's a crime scene
investigator.

He went out there,
conducted a complete
analysis of the scene.

And he does say that
it does appear that

it could be a situation

where Stephen was on the side
of the road and was struck by

something that was attached to
a vehicle, possibly a mirror,

which is what
Sean Conley originally said

happened that night.

You know, I talked in depth
to Dr. Kinsey

and to Dr. Dupre,
Michelle Dupre.

She oversaw the exhumation
of Stephen's body.

And can you believe it?

Stephen's mother had to raise
money on a GoFundMe

to get her own son exhumed
to find out

the true cause of death.

I mean, it's taken her years
to do that.

Long story short, Dr. Dupre
says she believes that

Stephen died
of a horrible blow
to the head,

a seven and a half inch
skull fracture

that he got when he hit
the road that is consistent

with being hit by one
of those wide side mirrors

that people attach
to their trucks

or some type of a trailer
hitch that knocked him down

with such force
that it killed him.

But this is what raises
questions in my mind.

When you look back at Paul
and how he was treated

after the boating accident
where his blood alcohol

was not taken on the scene,
he wasn't interrogated,

he wasn't taken to jail,
he wasn't handcuffed,

where clearly
he was being protected
from the beginning.

You have to wonder how many
of the investigative details

we can trust if in fact
Buster was involved.

And that's not all.

There are new leads
in another death.

It may be linked
to the Murdaughs.

Victim's lawyer, Eric Bland,
leads the charge

for the exhumation
of Stephen Smith.

And he is with us next.

I did terrible things.

Each of you placed
your trust in me.

It is so important to me
that you know how bothered

that I am by the things
that I did.

That was convicted killer
and fraudster

Alex Murdaugh crying
and whining

at sentencing for stealing
millions from his own clients.

And that's on top of
being convicted for murdering

his own wife and son,

which he still maintains
his innocence about

and is demanding a new trial.

It never ends with this guy.

With us right now,
Attorney Eric Bland.

Eric represents
multiple victims
and alleged victims' families,

including
the Murdaugh housekeeper,

Gloria Satterfield, teen girl
Mallory Beach's family,

Stephen Smith's family.
I could go on.

Eric Bland,
veteran trial lawyer.

Eric, what is happening with
the claim of jury tampering?

Like, I'm going to believe
a juror

that was thrown off the jury

versus Becky Hill,
the court clerk?

I also represent four jurors
who sat on

the Murdaugh murder case
and without revealing

attorney client privilege,
I'm confident depending on

what procedures the judge
puts in place

and how they give
their testimony,

whether it's in camera, which
means outside the presence

of the public or in public
on the witness stand

or in a deposition,
I'm confident that
these jurors

are going to deny
the allegations of Murdaugh,

team Murdaugh,
that there was jury tampering

that had any effect on
the verdict,

or that Ms. Becky Hill did
anything inappropriate.

Now, one of the things
you raised was,

is Alex Murdaugh going
to sniff freedom?

Are these double
murder convictions
going to be reversed

and there's going to be
a new trial?

You know,
as a former prosecutor,

that murder convictions
are very difficult to reverse.

However, in this case,
if there is...

If there is evidence
that shows jury tampering

to the point that it altered

the jurors free agency
of their decisions,

there could be a new trial.

Now that new trial won't be
before Judge Newman,

Clifton Newman, because
he has recused himself.

So I think the evidence
is overwhelming on murder,

even if the trial has
to be retried.

The evidence of the kennels,
the evidence
of the Snapchat video,

his lack of blood on his body
when he supposedly hugged...

-[Nancy] Yeah.
-...his wife and son

-after 10 o'clock,
all the lies that he told.
-[Nancy] Eric...

I got to tell you something.

I sat through his testimony.

The only thing I think
that will change
in the second trial,

if there is one,
and I met Becky Hill,

and I find it very hard
to believe that

she would tamper with a jury

if she said something
unwittingly or in jest, maybe.

But I just don't see it.

That said, I bet Alex Murdaugh
won't take the stand again.

He was terrible.
He was obviously lying.

He tried in the sentencing
last week

where I argued on behalf
of the victims.

He gave a one-hour infomercial
that I've never seen

in plea of mitigation,
trying to change

his public image.

You know, it went way beyond
the financial crimes.

He blamed the media
and the podcasters like me,

-and said--
-Oh, I hope he blamed me.

He blamed media
and, you know, everybody
for sensationalizing it

and focusing on
the financial crimes.

So I just want to lay
one thing at rest.

He's going to do 23 years.
He's 55 years old.

There's no chance of parole.

There's a federal court
sentence that comes in

two months in front
of Judge Richard Gergel

because he pled guilty
to 22 federal financial crimes

-on September 20th.
-[whistles]

They're going to load him up
for that.

There's still the roadside
shooting charges, Nancy.

-So there's not going
to be a breath of--
-[Nancy] You mean when

he had himself shot
in the head,
so his family could get

millions of dollars
of insurance?

There's not going to be
a breath of fresh air for him.

But the question will be
if he can live to be 77

and he walks
out of state prison,

he's going to go
to federal prison,

assuming that the two
murder charges don't stick.

Yeah. Well, but in terms
of potential new trials,

you know, we've talked about
other bodies that are tied

to the Murdaugh family.

Eric, I'm wondering
if you think there's
any possibility

that we would see charges
at some point

in an eventual future related
to Stephen Smith's death

and or Gloria Satterfield.

Um, I'm not sure on
Gloria Satterfield.

The state originally
asked me whether
we would give permission

for her body to be exhumed,
and we did.

We wouldn't fight it
because they would ultimately
get the permission.

I don't think they're going
to go there.

We've recovered over
$7.5 million in connection

with Gloria's death
and the fraud that took place.

However, with Stephen Smith,
we did have

an impaneled grand jury
that is no longer

sitting throughout the summer.

I spoke with our chief
of the state
law enforcement division,

Chief Keel, who told me
that the active,
the investigation

is very much active
and there's a lot of issues

that they're going to address
with five or six people.

I do believe that ultimately
there will be some charges

in connection with
Stephen's death,

whether it's an intentional
killing because

they targeted him
in connection with
his lifestyle.

He was a gay young man
or leaving the scene

of an accident.

There will be some charges.

Sandy Smith isn't looking
to pin this on anybody.

She just wants answers.
However, the Murdaughs

are all over the investigative
file of the 105 pages

of investigative file
that was released in 2021

by the Highway Department
who was originally
investigating it

as a traffic accident.

The Murdaugh name appears
over 40 times.

There's allegations
that Randy, Alex's brother,

was at the accident scene
with Alex.

The day after Stephen
was found killed
in the middle

of the road, Sandy Smith says
she saw both of them.

Randy says I was only
there with an investigator

at the request of Sandy's
ex-husband, Joel,

and Alex wasn't there.

That's gonna have to be
figured out the one question.

that Buster has never
answered is,

"Do I have any knowledge about
what happened to Steven"?

He says, "I wasn't there,
I was with two people

that are no longer with us,
Maggie and Paul."

He said he didn't have
a relationship with Steven,

but what the question
that has never been asked

of him is, "Do you have
any information

in connection
with Steven's death,"

and we believe that he does.

Wow.

Eric Bland, all over
this case.

Thank you for being
with us, Eric.

Guys, coming up,
a loving dad takes his family

on a vacation and he ends up
face down in a canal

near the fancy Airbnb
he rents.

But why is his own family
under a microscope tonight?

A beach vacation turns deadly.

Dad, husband, David Rainey
takes his family on a vacation

that hot July night
after he steps outside,

he's never seen alive again.

His family calls 911
to report him missing.

Soon after,
police find him floating in

a nearby canal, dead.

At first, it's believed
he drowned in the night

after stumbling in.

But upon closer inspection
of the body at the morgue,

it's discovered David Rainey
was stabbed dead.

And then a twist.

Seemingly loving wife Cindy
and the apples
of David Rainey's eye,

his two sons Bailey and Jack,

all three charged with
tampering with evidence.

What evidence?

The dead body.

Mara, Derrick.

They're tampering with
the dead body,

according to police.

So if they're tampering with
the dead body,

-why no murder charges?
-Right, see,

I don't even think that's
the only evidence, though.

And obviously that's strong.

But I think the bigger
question here

or the bigger incriminating
evidence towards Cindy

and the sons is the fact
that Cindy calls police

and says, "hey, listen,
David left.

We got an argument.
He left and went on his way."

How... and when we know
eventually he's found with

these stab wounds
to the chest.

But when they go into
the house,

the housekeeper finds
a bunch of blood inside
the house.

Then investigators go in there
and find evidence

that they cleaned up blood
inside the house,

which suggests that David
was stabbed inside the home.

So there's no way there's
those three.

There's Jack, Bailey
and Cindy.

There's also
the girlfriend, Eleanor,

and then also Jeffrey.

There's no way
if that happened

inside the house,
they didn't have

some involvement with
the disposal of David's body.

which is, I think,
where they're getting

the tampering with evidence,
and I think they're going

to try to flip over some rocks
and see who's willing

-to say something.
-I think they're going
to flip,

all right, but not rocks.

I think they're going
to get the girlfriend...

-Oh, yeah, and Jeffrey.
-...or someone else to turn
state's evidence...

-Yes.
-...or else they can go down
with the ship.

Well, as we've noted,
you know,

-nobody's been charged
with murder yet.
-Right.

They've been charged
with this tampering
of evidence of the body.

Investigators found the body
in a canal.

They found these stab wounds.

They found no water
in his lungs,

-which means he did not drown.
-That's right.

So he died from the stabbing
and they don't believe that

he was killed at the canal.

They believe he was killed
somewhere else

and then transported
to the canal.

You pair that with
the charges of tampering

with evidence of the body,
it suggests they had something

to do with moving the body.

So it does raise a lot more
questions and provide answers

at this point,
meaning was it just the mom?

Were the sons helping her
to protect her?

Was it all three of them?

If they know who did it
and it wasn't them,

why haven't they spoken out?

The blood pattern
is going to be critical.

Because if there is throwback,
in other words,

there were multiple
stab wounds,

and I spoke to
a medical examiner
that said that at first,

of course, they believed
it had been drowning.

But as you correctly
pointed out,
no water in the lungs.

If there is blood,
for instance,

on the wall or on the ceiling,

which is very common
with multiple stabs,

you stab,
and when you pull
the knife out...

Blood goes up on the ceiling
or the wall.

That will indicate the murder
happened there,

not just dragging the body.

But I mean, common sense,
two and two is four.

If those three are dragging
around the dead body

of their husband slash father,
why didn't they
report him dead?

Why didn't they call 911?

They're going to argue
because they did it.

And I don't want people
to get confused that

David was transported
to another location.

According to the affidavit
right here,

it says that investigators
were walking along

-the back wall
of that residence.
-Yeah.

And during that time,
while they're on that seawall,

they look over and see
David's body face down.

So it wasn't a far trek.

So whatever happened,
more than likely happened

inside the home,
altercation, whatever it was,

they realize what's transpired
and they bring David out back

and hope that he's going
to get washed away.

But also, stabbing is such
an intimate,

violent way to kill someone.

You have to get really close
to them to stab them.

It's not like shooting
someone where there's
a little more distance,

a little bit more detached.

So if the wife and the sons
were involved in this death,

you really have to ask
what happened that preceded

the stabbing and then them
dumping his body.

Well, I don't think the wife
could have done it

on her own, because
he's stabbed in the chest.

He, David Rainey,
is big enough to overpower
his wife.

Therefore, her stabbing him
that many times in the chest

and not in the back,
that doesn't make sense to me.

That would suggest
one of the sons is involved.

[Derrick] Yeah, and I mean,
here's the thing.
You guys just said it, right?

There's a stabbing.
It's intimate.

It maybe wasn't one person,
but not all five of them

stabbed him.

So there's people in
this scenario here that

have more to lose
and had less involvement.

So those are the people
that investigators
are trying to get to.

And we can't forget,
there's also a civil suit
right now.

All five individuals
are being sued.

-That's how it all came
to light.
-Exactly.

Because the dead guy,
David Rainey's mother,

sued the whole
kit and caboodle,

-the wife and the two sons.
-And the girlfriend.

And the girlfriend
for wrongful death,

arguing that she should get
insurance money,

as maybe she should
if they had anything
to do with it.

But if it hadn't been for
his mother filing a lawsuit,

this would have possibly
laid dormant.

So, Nancy, a question for you.

What charges could
the others in the house

potentially face if they had
nothing to do with

what took place,
but they were aware of it?

If they're all in the house
when a guy is stabbed

and blood is everywhere,
they had to see either

the stabbing or the cleanup,

heard screams,
heard an argument,

and they did nothing,
they're all in
the house together,

they're going to be charged
with murder.

Now, if they want
to turn state's evidence

-for a lesser charge,
have at it.
-Yeah.

I think that's probably what
we're going to see.

That's how they're going
to get a lot more information.

Eleanor and Jeffrey,
they're going to be talking.

Yep, singing.

Guys, every week,
Crimefeedbrings you

crime stories from across
our great nation.

Some ripped from
the headlines.

Some you may never
have heard of.

For Mara, Derrick, and myself,
we'll see you next week.

And good night, friend.

[inaudible conversation]