On Friday, March 3, Alex Murdaugh was convicted of killing his son Paul Murdaugh and wife Maggie Murdaugh on June 7, 2021. With limited evidence, the prosecution used a phone video and vehicle navigation data to prove Alex’s guilt.
During the trial, Alex claimed he was visiting his mother during the time the murders took place. However, General Motors OnStar data accessed by investigators from his Chevrolet Suburban contradicted the alibi, putting Alex at the scene of the crime during the time of the murders.
In addition to the navigation data, in a phone video taken by Paul on the night of the murders near the Murdaugh’s dog kennels at their Moselle property, Alex’s voice could be heard in the background. That video also placed Alex at the scene around the time Paul and Maggie were shot and killed.
After deliberating for less than three hours, the jury found Alex guilty of the double murders. The judge then sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Since the trial began, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has reopened several investigations connected to the Murdaugh family. This includes the case of Stephen Smith who was found dead on the side of the road in 2015 allegedly from a hit-and-run.
Alex Murdaugh (Image: Pool reporter photo from trial)
Cellphone and vehicle location data is at center stage as former South Carolina attorney, Alex Murdaugh, takes the stand in the trial for the murder of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and son, Paul Murdaugh. Troves of data including call logs, text messages, steps recorded, app information, coordinates determined by GPS and more from Alex, Paul and Maggie, are being retrieved for the ongoing trial.
Records retrieved from Murdaugh’s cellphone show that after the murders occurred, he proceeded to Google an area restaurant, check group messages, and made other calls that night, which he testified were accidental, according to CNN reports. Vehicle location data was also pulled and presented at trial to identify a timeline of events for the court, according to reports from AP.
Location data retrieved from Murdaugh’s cellphone on the night of the double murders is not the only time this type of data comes into play for the Murdaugh family.
In February 2019, Paul Murdaugh and his friends were involved in a boating accident, which killed one of the boaters, Mallory Beach. In the new Netflix documentary regarding the Murdaugh family, Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, a relative of one of the boaters mentions in Episode 2 that Beach always wore an Apple Watch, and asked why investigators failed to look into location data to find her sooner.
RealSense 3D camera is fully integrated to capture real-time detailed images
DT301X rugged tablet. (Photo: DT Research)
DT Research has released the DT301X rugged tablet, a lightweight military-grade tablet that is purpose-built to enhance the precision of crime and crash scene reconstruction, bridge and other construction inspections, and 3D surveying.
DT Research made the announcement at Intergeo, being held Oct. 16-18 in Frankfurt, Germany.
The DT301X rugged tablet has MIL spec and IP ratings, yet is lightweight — offering the versatility to be used in the field, office and vehicles, the company said. A high brightness 10.1-inch touchscreen offers flexible viewing in a wide range of lighting, and an Intel eighth-generation Core i5 or i7 processor offers high-performance while still being energy-efficient.
With high-capacity 60- or 90-watt hot-swappable batteries, the DT301X keeps working continuously, complemented with a variety of battery chargers so fully-charged batteries are always available.
The DT301X integrates the Intel RealSense depth camera, which provides real-time 3D imaging to shorten the workflow and create extremely accurate measurements for CAD, engineering, design, utility management and crime-scene forensics.
Scientific grade data, which is important for court evidence as well as building plans, just got easier and is now available to a wider group of workers. With this 3D camera technology, depth perception is integrated to add the most accurate image to make projects stay factual and consistent, DT Research said.
Optional data capture offered on the DT301X besides the 3D camera are a 2D barcode scanner for equipment/location tags, a dual-frequency GNSS module for real-time mapping and positioning, long-range Bluetooth for 1000-foot range, and 4G LTE mobile broadband for the latest in high speed communications.
The rugged tablet gives detailed accuracy combined with the latest 3D camera technology all in one device that is rugged and easy to use in the field.
“DT Research’s high-performance rugged tablet equipped with the RealSense depth camera combined with DotProduct’s Dot3D Scan software allows speedy and efficient field-to-office 3D workflows for a wide range of applications from construction verification to asset management to crime scene mapping,” said Tom Greaves, chief marketing officer at DotProduct.
The DT301X is built to operate in real-world situations, with an IP65 rating for water and dust, MIL-STD-810G for shock and vibration protection, and MIL-STD-461F for EMI and EMC tolerance. The tablet can be paired with a detachable keyboard for ease of use, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for smooth networking and constant communications.
The DT301X rugged tablet is compatible with existing applications with Microsoft Windows 10 IoT Enterprise operating systems for flexible integration, and it brings together the advanced workflow for data capture, accurate positioning and data transmitting.
Whether at the electrical substation, at the crash scene, or at the construction site, the DT301X is ideal for accurate measurements as well as other needed tasks, able to travel to wherever the work is.
The DT301X rugged tablet will be available in November 2018 from DT Research’s authorized resellers and partners.
