- Libby Murdaugh was in hospice care Tuesday when she died
Alex Murdaugh’s elderly mother, Elizabeth “Libby” Murdaugh, has died aged 85 – three years after the disgraced lawyer tried to use her as an alibi in the murders of his wife and son son.
Libby was in hospice care Tuesday when she died, according to Peeples-Rhoden Funeral Home in Hampton County. She is survived by her sons Alex, Randy and John Marvin, as well as her daughter Lynn.
The former librarian and teacher had been in poor health for years and suffered from dementia. His state of health did not allow him to testify at his son’s trial last year.
Alex had just visited her in June 2021 when he returned home about 11 miles away and called 911 claiming to have found Maggie and Paul shot outside.
A jury decided last year that he went to his mother’s home after murdering his wife and son to get an alibi.
Elizabeth “Libby” Murdaugh, the elderly mother of Alex Murdaugh, has died at the age of 85.
The disgraced lawyer attempted to use his late mother Libby as an alibi for the murders of his wife and son. He is pictured with his wife Maggie and their two sons Paul (left) and Buster
Shelly Smith, Libby’s caretaker, told jurors that Alex did not spend as much time at his mother’s house as he claimed on the night of the murders.
His cell phone data showed that Alex was telling the truth about where he had gone, even though he seemed to overestimate the time he had spent there.
But video – taken by Paul just minutes before he and his mother were shot – showed Alex was with them.
She was married to former attorney Randolph Murdaugh III for 60 years.
The elected prosecutor, along with his father and grandfather, oversaw criminal cases in and around Hampton County for nearly nine decades.
The night of the murders, Randolph Murdaugh III was in the hospital. He died three days later.
Alex is serving two life sentences after being convicted of two counts of murder after prosecutors convinced a jury he had enough time to kill Maggie and Paul, clean up the evidence and go to his mother and to come back.
Shelley Smith, who spent four years caring for the older Murdaughs in their home, testified during the murder trail that they were great people and loved her own family.
Alex is serving two life sentences after being convicted of two counts of murder.
Murdaugh’s fall from his role as a lawyer running his small county to a sentence of life in prison without parole has been covered extensively.
However, she testified that Alex did not spend as much time at his mother’s house as he claimed on the night of the murders. Additionally, according to the caregiver, he was “agitated” during the short visit and periodically checked his phone.
Shelley cried on the stand as she described how he showed up at his parents’ house three days later and told her clearly that he had been with his mother for 30 to 40 minutes the night of the murders.
She said it made her “nervous” because she remembered he had only been there for 15 or 20 minutes. She was so concerned about this contradiction that she later told her police officer brother about the conversation.
In January, Alex was denied a new trial after his defense team accused a court clerk of jury tampering.
Judge Jean Toal said she wasn’t sure Colleton County Clerk Becky Hill was telling the truth, saying she never told jurors about the case, saying she was “drawn by the siren call of celebrity.”
But Toal said the 12 jurors who testified all said the comments did not directly influence their decision to find Murdaugh guilty.
Murdaugh’s fall from his role as a lawyer running his small county to a sentence of life in prison without parole has been covered exhaustively by true crime shows, podcasts and bloggers.
