Murdaugh trial live: Alex arrives at court for day five of double murder trial ... trends now

Alex Murdaugh has arrived at court for day five of his double-murder trial looking somber following yesterday's harrowing evidence of the gruesome crime scene.

The disgraced attorney, 54, is accused of shooting his wife, Maggie, 52, and younger son Paul, 22, at their sprawling hunting lodge to gain sympathy and distract attention away from his damning financial crimes.

Murdaugh wept yesterday as jurors were played horrific body cam footage of his wife and son lying in pools of blood, with brain matter and shell casings strewn across the property on the night of June 7, 2021.

The prosecution is expected to call new first responders to the witness stand today to describe Murdaugh's demeanor and the evidence uncovered in the initial investigation.

Redacted body-worn camera footage is due to be released to the public and new images have shown Murdaugh talking to cops wearing a pristine white T-shirt, as well as drone footage of the crime scene.

The T-shirt is expected to form a central part of the case and yesterday jurors heard from first responders how the legal scion did not appear to have any blood on him. 

Fire chief Barry McRoy told the court that when he arrived Paul's 'brains were down by his ankles' and that he checked neither victim because 'both had injuries that were incompatible with life.'

Police officer Capt. Jason Chapman said he found Paul lying facedown, his hands under his body and a smartphone propped on his back. His clothes were saturated in blood and water - Chapman said it was not clear where the water came from. It hadn't rained yet.

Murdaugh earlier told 911 he had checked his wife and son's pulses - but Chapman noted there was no blood on his shirt or hands. He described Murdaugh as upset but said he was not crying, corroborating earlier deputies' testimony.

Chapman told jurors that Murdaugh appeared to fixate more on Paul's body than Maggie's while he was observing him at the scene. 

The police captain was asked by the prosecutor about whether there was anything in Murdaugh's 911 call that stood out. The officer said 'it struck me as odd' when the defendant hung up and told the dispatcher he needed to call his family.

Murdaugh's attorney Dick Harpootlian grilled McRoy about tire tracks the fire chief said he spotted nearby. McRoy said he mentioned the tracks to one of the deputies but it did not appear they were taped off despite other vehicles arriving.

Harpootlian earlier ripped Sgt. Daniel Greene for not taking photos of tire tracks or footprints, and not putting anything on his feet to preserve blood and brains spattered on the ground.

The defense theory is that somebody else killed Murdaugh's wife and son in revenge for a boat crash during which Paul had been driving under the influence, killing a 19-year-old woman, in February 2019.

Murdaugh claimed that he had been visiting his mother who suffers from Alzheimer's and arrived home to find Maggie and Paul dead near the estate's dog kennels. But prosecutors say cell phone pings will show Murdaugh was at the property when the pair were killed. 

In a horrifying 911 call, Murdaugh told the dispatcher through sobs: 'I can tell [Paul's] shot in the head and he's shot really bad ... He's got blood everywhere. I can see his brains.'

He went on to describe how his wife was lying down nearby, telling the dispatcher 'she's got a hole in her head.' 

Murdaugh told the dispatcher his son 'has been being threatened for months and months and months'.

Earlier the first police officer on the scene, Greene, told jurors he could not see any blood on Murdaugh and although he appeared upset, he did not see any tears either. 

Murdaugh sounded lucid as the officer questioned him and is even heard casually greeting an officer arriving on the scene, saying: 'How ya doin?' 

Greene, who said he saw multiple tire tracks incompatible with the number of vehicles at the hunting lodge, admitted that he did not photograph the tracks or footprints at the scene. He said he did not inform SLED (state law enforcement) about the evidence because it was 'not part of my job description'. 

The officer earlier showed jurors a shotgun Murdaugh was holding when he arrived - he secured the weapon in his patrol car because the defendant appeared 'upset and anxious'. 

Greene said that as he approached Murdaugh his 'immediate reaction was to start telling me about his son - about a boating accident'. At the time of his death, Paul was facing trial for the drunken boat crash which killed Mallory Beach. 

During cross examination, Harpootlian attempted to skewer Greene about why he did not make a record or notify investigators of footprints and tire tracks in the wet grass. 

'If you are standing in the spot and there was evidence there and tire tracks that evidence could help incriminate somebody or exculpate somebody. That is why you do not do these things, correct?' Harpootlian asked.

Greene replied: 'That's why you do not contaminate the evidence, correct.'

'He [Murdaugh] talked about the tire tracks coming and going, and he told you those weren't his tire tracks correct,' Harpootlian said.

Greene confirmed the defendant did say that.

The officer said the extent of his job was to put up yellow tape to ensure no outsiders disturbed the scene. Despite his failure to preserve evidence, Greene told the attorney he was 'not aware' of any evidence being destroyed or contaminated. 

Cpl. Chad McDowell, of the Colleton County Sheriff's Office, was the second witness to the stand.

Prosecutors shared his body camera footage, showing that he was the person whom Murdaugh greeted when he arrived on the scene. But McDowell said he had never met Murdaugh before.