Paul Murdaugh Snapchat Video: Clothing, Kennels, and Trial Testimony

The Paul Murdaugh Snapchat video is a short clip Paul sent to a friend at 7:56 p.m. on June 7, 2021, roughly two hours before he and his mother were shot to death at the family’s Colleton County estate. The footage showed his father, Alex Murdaugh, on the property watching a small tree fall, with Paul laughing behind the camera. What made the clip central to the murder trial was not its content but Alex’s clothing in it: a blue button-down shirt, trousers, and loafers that he was no longer wearing when police arrived at the scene later that night.¹²

What the Video Showed and When It Was Sent

Paul sent the clip to his friend Will Loving. Snapchat’s own metadata confirmed the video was uploaded at 7:39 p.m. and sent at 7:56 p.m.³ The scene itself was ordinary: Alex was on the grounds of Moselle, the family’s rural hunting estate, watching a tree limply fall while Paul filmed and laughed.¹

About two and a half hours later, at 10:07 p.m., Alex called 911 to report finding his wife, Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, shot to death near the property’s dog kennels. Paul had been killed at close range with a shotgun. Maggie had been shot multiple times with a .300 Blackout rifle. Neither weapon was recovered.⁴⁵

Why the Clothing Mattered

When police arrived at the scene after 10 p.m., Alex Murdaugh was wearing a white short-sleeved t-shirt and shorts, not the blue button-down and trousers seen in the 7:56 p.m. Snapchat.² Detective Laura Rutland testified that he appeared “clean from head to toe” despite his claim that he had checked both victims for pulses and tried to turn Paul’s body over. Both victims were found in pools of blood. The clothing shown in the Snapchat was never located or seized.¹

Prosecutors argued that after the killings, Alex changed clothes before driving to visit his ailing mother, a trip he used to establish an alibi.² The Snapchat did not prove that theory on its own, but it fixed the outfit he was wearing shortly before the murders and made the change of clothing an unexplained fact.

The Second Video From the Kennels

The Snapchat is often discussed alongside a second recording from Paul’s phone, and the two work together. At 8:44 p.m., Paul filmed roughly 50 seconds of footage at the dog kennels after his friend Rogan Gibson called and asked him to record the injured tail of Gibson’s chocolate Labrador, Cash, which was being kept at Moselle. The video was never sent because of poor cell coverage on the property, and it sat on Paul’s phone as a local file.⁶⁷

Three voices could be heard on the kennel recording: Paul, Maggie, and Alex. The family was interacting with their dogs, and at one point Alex took a chicken away from one of them.⁶ The last apparent human activity on Paul’s phone occurred at 8:49 p.m., five minutes after the recording. The phone stayed powered on until its battery died at 10:34 p.m., but no further user interaction was logged, and text messages from Gibson at 8:49 p.m. and 9:58 p.m. went unread.⁸ Prosecutors argued 8:49 p.m. was the approximate moment of Paul’s death.

The recording directly contradicted what Alex had told investigators. He had repeatedly said he was napping at the main house that evening and had not been at the kennels.⁹ The kennel video did not surface immediately. Paul’s iPhone was locked, and forensic analysts abandoned an initial brute-force approach that risked wiping the device. Investigators eventually opened the phone by entering “041499,” Paul’s date of birth, and retrieved the video by late March 2022, more than nine months after the murders.⁶

How the Videos Reached the Jury

On February 1, 2023, the eighth day of trial, prosecutors played the kennel video for the jury. Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters had told jurors in his opening: “You’ll see that video and you’ll hear from witnesses that identify Paul’s voice, Maggie’s voice and Alex’s voice.” He argued it would be up to them to decide whether Alex had tried to manufacture an alibi.¹⁰

SLED Lt. Britt Dove testified about extracting the roughly one-minute video and confirmed three voices were audible, though he did not identify them himself.¹⁰ Two of Paul’s close friends did. Rogan Gibson said he was “100 percent” certain he heard Alex’s voice both during his 8:40 p.m. call with Paul and on the kennel recording.¹¹ Will Loving said he was “100 percent sure” the third voice was Alex’s, and confirmed he had received the 7:56 p.m. Snapchat from Paul.¹²

For the Snapchat itself, prosecutors called Heidi Galore, custodian of records at Snap Inc., to authenticate the account data and the video. Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman had subpoenaed her to certify that the evidence reflected a “true and accurate record” kept in the normal course of business, a prerequisite for admitting the digital file.¹³¹⁴

When the kennel video played, Alex Murdaugh reportedly teared up and hung his head.¹² Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian later called the video “the lie,” acknowledging that Alex had no explanation for it.⁶

Alex Murdaugh’s Answer From the Stand

On February 23, 2023, Murdaugh testified in his own defense and admitted he had lied about being at the kennels. “I lied about being down there, and I’m so sorry that I did,” he told the jury. “Once I lied, I continued to lie.” He quoted the line, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave.”¹⁵

He blamed the deception on paranoia caused by a long-term opioid addiction and distrust of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. He acknowledged he was the voice on the kennel video, said he had been at the kennels around 8:49 p.m., and described taking a chicken from the dog Bubba’s mouth before leaving on a golf cart.¹⁶

Where the Case Stands Now

In March 2023, a jury convicted Murdaugh on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime, and he was sentenced to two consecutive life terms.¹⁷

On May 13, 2026, the South Carolina Supreme Court unanimously overturned those murder convictions and vacated the life sentences, finding that Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca “Becky” Hill had improperly influenced the jury. The justices wrote that Hill had “placed her fingers on the scales of justice.”¹⁸ Hill had pleaded guilty in December 2025 to perjury, obstruction of justice, and misconduct related to her actions during the trial.¹⁹

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has said his office intends to retry Murdaugh on the murder charges.²⁰ The Supreme Court did not formally rule on evidentiary issues, but noted that the original trial had gone “far too long and far too deep” into Murdaugh’s financial crimes, some of which the court said had “zero probative value” and “high potential for unfair prejudice.”¹⁸ The Snapchat and kennel videos themselves were not the subject of that criticism, and both remain part of the state’s evidence heading into a possible second trial. Murdaugh remains incarcerated on separate federal and state financial crime sentences regardless of the outcome.¹⁷

1
The Independent. Alex Murdaugh Snapchat Video Trial
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People. Alex Murdaugh Seen in Videos Wearing Two Different Shirts Night of Killings
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WTOC. Snapchat Video of Paul Murdaugh Presented as Evidence at Murdaugh Murder Trial
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CBS News. Alex Murdaugh Trial: Paul Murdaugh Testified From Grave to Help Convict Father
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WJCL. Paul Murdaugh Snapchat Video Presented as Evidence at Murdaugh Murder Trial
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NBC News. Alex Murdaugh Paul Phone Video Recording Code
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Courthouse News. Alex Murdaugh’s Voice Heard in Cellphone Video Recorded Moments Before Wife and Son’s Slayings
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ABC News 4. Murdaugh Murder Trial Day 8
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NPR. Murdaugh Testifies at Murder Trial
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ABC 7 Chicago. Alex Murdaugh Trial Update: Paul Snapchat Video
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WIS TV. Watch: Murdaugh Trial Enters Day 8
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WSAV. Cell Phone Evidence to Play Key Role in Day 8 of Alex Murdaugh Double Murder Trial
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Court TV. Snapchat Employee Details Paul Murdaugh’s Activity
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The State. Murdaugh Trial: Snapchat Evidence
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Live 5 News. Murdaugh Admits He Was at Kennels Before Murders
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WLTX. Alex Murdaugh Trial Updates February 23
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NBC News. Alex Murdaugh Murder Conviction Overturned by State Supreme Court
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CNN. Alex Murdaugh Murder Appeal
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CBS News. Alex Murdaugh Murder Convictions Overturned, South Carolina New Trial
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BBC News. Alex Murdaugh Murder Conviction Overturned