The Skeleton Key Chronicles

Alex Murdaugh is getting a new trial after South Carolina’s Supreme Court overturned his convictions this morning in the cases involving the 2021 deaths of his wife Maggie and son Paul.

The ruling centers around former Colleton County clerk Becky Hill improperly influencing jurors during the original 2023 proceedings, she even wrote a book about the trial. The court also said the trial judge went too far in allowing in evidence related to Murdaugh’s financial dealings, concluding that the combination of those issues prevented him from receiving a fair trial.

The original trial drew enormous public attention, especially after the video recorded by Paul at the kennels which placed Murdaugh with Maggie and Paul shortly before their deaths. The case also pulled in renewed attention toward the Murdaugh family itself, including the growing number of allegations and investigations surrounding the once-prominent South Carolina legal dynasty.

In the meantime, Murdaugh remains in prison on separate financial cases as prosecutors prepare to move forward with the case again. No word yet on when that will happen.

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Two cases out of Washington state were solved after detectives posed as workers for a chewing gum company promoting different flavors, convincing a man named Mitchell Gaff to take part in a taste test, unknowingly giving investigators the DNA sample they had reportedly been trying to obtain for years.

Gaff, now 68, later admitted to being responsible for the deaths of both Judy Weaver and Susan Vesey. Vesey was found inside her Everett home on July 12, 1980, just one day after her 21st birthday. Four years later, on June 2, 1984, Judy Weaver was also found deceased in Everett. At the time, the two cases were treated as unrelated before investigators eventually connected the evidence through modern DNA testing.

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