Alex Murdaugh admits lying about key detail of wife and son’s deaths

South Carolina lawyer contradicts his previous claims and says he did visit the kennels where his wife and son were later found dead

I would never intentionally do anything to hurt them. Ever. Ever," Alex Murdaugh said on Thursday, choking with emotion, as he took the stand to defend against charges that he murdered his wife and son in what prosecutors call a scheme to conceal his financial and addiction problems.

In a startling reversal, however, the once-powerful South Carolina lawyer admitted to lying for 20 months about a key detail in his account of the night that Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were killed on the family's hunting estate. Contradicting his previous claims, Murdaugh said that he did, in fact, visit the kennels where they were later found dead of gunshot wounds.