Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh had an awkward jailhouse phone conversation with his surviving son, Buster, who rushed off the call after his father said he loved him, according to a newly released audio recording of the call.
Murdaugh phoned his 26-year-old son — whose younger brother and mother Murdaugh is convicted of killing — from a maximum-security prison on May 16.
Buster publicly supported his father throughout the trial, but in their call, it appeared as though he couldn’t get off the phone fast enough.
Murdaugh, 54, opened the brief chat by greeting Buster with a “Hey, buddy,” according to the audio obtained by the local outlet FITSNews under a Freedom of Information Act request.
“Hey, I don’t have a whole lot of time,” Buster responded quickly. “I just boarded a ferry to get back to the Hilton Head Island from Daufuskie [Island].”
“Yeah, I know, I — I been trying to call. I was supposed to call you while you were with Jim, um, about this meeting,” Murdaugh said, apparently referring to his attorney Jim Griffin. “But anyway. How about [you] text him and let him know I’m trying to call him?”
“Hey buddy,” Alex Murdaugh said in the call to his surviving son, Buster. AP“Mm-kay,” Buster replied.
“Did he talk to you about that? About the thing, about [inaudible],” Murdaugh said as the line crackled.
“No, I can’t really understand you either,” Buster answered.
“All right, all right. I’m gonna, um, I’m going to leave word with Jim and he’ll be in touch with you,” Murdaugh told his son. “Love you.”
“All right. Love you too,” Buster said flatly and quickly after a poignant pause.
“So proud of you,” Murdaugh added.
“Thanks,” Buster said before disconnecting the call.
The total conversation between father and son took just 42 seconds.
The tense exchange may have taken place around the time Buster was filming a rare interview for FOX Nation’s upcoming documentary on the Murdaugh family saga, sources familiar with the call told FITSNews.
The three-episode series was produced on Daufuskie, indicating that Buster was possibly returning from the shoot when he spoke to his dad.
Murdaugh was convicted in March of gunning down his wife, Maggie, and and younger son, Paul, in the kennels at the family’s sprawling Moselle estate in June 2021.
Buster Murdaugh told his father he didn’t have time to speak and gave short, blunt answers. APHe is now serving two consecutive life sentences at McCormick Correctional Institution while awaiting additional proceedings for a slew of alleged financial crimes.
At the bombshell trial earlier this year, prosecutors claimed that Murdaugh killed his wife and son in order to cover up the family’s money troubles.
To date, he has been charged with several dozen financial misdeeds – including multiple counts of tax evasion – across at least 19 indictments.
The former high-flying attorney’s college roommate, Cory Fleming, admitted in May that he helped the Low Country native steal over $4 million from a wrongful death settlement intended for the estate of the Murdaugh family housekeeper, who died on the job in 2018.
Murdaugh was sentenced to two consecutive life terms for the killings. via REUTERSMurdaugh pleaded not guilty to 22 fraud crimes, including the settlement scam, in late May.
Murdaugh – who reportedly “gets along” with his fellow inmates – is also set to be questioned in the wrongful death suit from the family of Mallory Beach, who was killed in Paul Murdaugh’s booze-fueled boat accident in 2019.
Buster Murdaugh stood by his father during the trial, and allegedly started “crying uncontrollably” after the guilty verdict was read.
The former law student now lives on Hilton Head with his girlfriend, attorney Brooklynn White.
The young couple is believed to have met at University of South Carolina Law School, before Buster was allegedly expelled over a plagiarism incident.
But while Murdaugh’s flame-haired eldest son keeps a low profile in White’s $180,000 condo, he may be facing legal troubles of his own regarding the mysterious 2015 death of his former classmate, Stephen Smith.
Smith, 19, was found dead on Sandy Run Road in Hampton County, just a few miles from Moselle, on July 8, 2015.
While his death was initially ruled an accidental hit-and-run, loved ones and other locals maintained that the nursing student was murdered – and implicated Buster as a potential suspect.
Alex Murdaugh was convicted of the June 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul. FacebookJust a few weeks after his father’s murder convictions, Buster vehemently denied the “vicious rumors” about his links to Smith.
“These baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his death are false,” he wrote.
“I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death, and my heart goes out to the Smith family.”
Earlier this year, a bombshell Netflix special implied that Smith, who was openly gay, had a secret romantic relationship with Buster.
Last month, attorneys for Smith’s family said the renewed investigation into his death was making “substantial progress.”
