Alex Murdaugh trial – live: Best friend sobs on stand as he reveals how murder suspect stole law firm money

Alex Murdaugh’s former best friend of 40 years broke down in tears in court as he described the moment that he learned the disgraced attorney had stolen millions of dollars from his law firm clients – and $192,000 from himself.

‘I was so mad. I had loved the guy for so long, and I probably still loved him a little bit, but I was so mad, and I don’t remember how it ended,’ Chris Wilson said, choking with emotion

Mr Greer also identifies 24 birdshot pellets from a shotgun shell found inside the feed room outside of which Paul was murdered.

A fired bullet found in dog bedding at the scene is also shown, as well as bullet jacket fragments, a small piece of lead found at the scene, and another retrieved from Maggie’s body.

A further 48 birdshot pellets recovered from Paul’s head and shoulder are also introduced into evidence, alongside plastic shotshell fragments from his shoulder and chest.

Mr Greer was given a number of pieces of evidence to analyse connected to the Murdaugh murders.

He reviews a number of .300BLK cartridges from the crime scene near Maggie’s body and shotgun shells from around Paul’s body.

Mr Greer then examines a semi-automatic 12-gauge shotgun with a camo finish that Alex Murdaugh had at the scene on the night of the murders. It was found with 12 gauge buckshot and 16 gauge shot for small game.

Mr Greer gave pretrial testimony and will talk about “tool marks” the specific markings left on fired ammunition to determine which specific gun it was fired from.

As the murder weapons have never been found, it is likely that Mr Greer is going to match the cartridges found at the scene with those found elsewhere on the property. As we have already heard in previous testimony, fired ammunition was found elsewhere.

Paul’s friend Will Loving testified earlier in the week that they had been fitting a red-dot optic to a .300BLK AR-15-style rife just over two months before the murders outside the gunroom and had tested it. Cartridges were found by the steps to the gun room.

The next witness is Paul Greer, a forensic firearms specialist at SLED.

His testimony is important to the prosecution case that Maggie was killed with a firearm owned by the family — specifically one of the .300 Blackout rifles that had been fired on the property before.

No, really, it’s another DNA swab witness.

Agent Jomar Albayalde of SLED collected swabs from Randy Murdaugh (Alex Murdaugh’s older brother), and two people called H Torres and son A Gonzalez.

It is not clear who they are.

There are no further questions and the court takes a brief break before the next witness appears for what Attorney Creighton Waters promises is lengthy testimony.

The next witness is Lawrence Wiggins formerly of SLED who also collected DNA swabs.

He collected swabs from Roger Davis and Anthony Cook which are submitted into evidence before he is also allowed to step down.