It was a collection of Murdaugh memorabilia.
On Thursday, hundreds of interested onlookers gathered at a warehouse in Georgia for an auction of goods belonging to the famed Murdaugh family, including one guy who walked away with the iconic “alibi couch.”
The Liberty Auctions in Pembroke sale on Thursday afternoon included hundreds of artifacts from the 1,700-acre Moselle farm in Colleton County, SC, where disgraced legal scion Alex Murdaugh killed down his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, in June 2021.
Murdaugh, 54, was sentenced to two consecutive life terms for the murders earlier this month. He is also facing a plethora of financial charges.
The brown leather sofa set, called the “alibi couch” because witnesses assume it is the family room sectional Murdaugh claimed on the stand to have been sleeping on when his loved ones were slaughtered, was one of the big ticket items at the auction.
According to CourtTV, Phillip Jennings III spent $36,000 for the sofa.
“I bought it because I needed it,” Jennings said Thursday night at the outlet.
The delighted purchaser described the sofa as “absolutely comfortable,” and predicted that many visitors would want to “take naps” on the well-known piece of furniture.
Jennings, who runs Broomsedge Rod & Gun Lodge west of Savannah, claimed he also purchased six beds as well as Murdaugh’s “tackle boxes” and “duck decoys.”
“The couches were definitely the highlight of the night,” he said.
Owning objects associated with the gruesome Murdaugh affair “didn’t feel strange at all,” according to Jennings, though he admits it was “a very sad story.”
Other Murdaugh pieces featured mounted long horns that sold for $10,000 and lamps ornamented with tortoise shells that sold for $800.
Bidders with keen eyes also noticed camouflage hunting gear, shotgun ammunition, and rifle sights related to the now-convicted murderer.
Eric Craig informed the Daily Mail that he spent over $3,000 on Murdaugh goods such as monogrammed glasses, one of Paul Murdaugh’s wallets, and Maggie Murdaugh’s bike.
He hopes to put the bike in a shop because “it will serve its purpose best where people can look at it rather than in somebody’s backyard,” he says.
In addition to a decorative skull, WYFF4 released photographs of a framed copy of the anonymous poem “The Man in the Glass,” which advises the reader to be honest in order to keep their pride.
It is unknown if the object was sold.
In the run-up to the event, Liberty Auction’s crew promised numerous sources that the high-profile goods would be handled like any other estate.
“This is just our job. “We clean up people’s estates,” Lori Mattingly, one of the company’s proprietors, told WTOC.
“We’ve been doing it for a long time. I’m attempting to maintain as much normalcy as possible. We’re treating their things as special as any other.”
Mattingly also dismissed some of the mystery surrounding the affluent family’s possessions.
“[The Murdaughs’] items are no better or nicer than anything else we pick up from other people’s homes,” she told CNN.
“We visit a number of extremely gorgeous and costly houses… And we’ve had far finer things than they have, yet they have wonderful things.”
Maggie Murdaugh owned the Moselle property at the time of her death. The home was sold this month for $3.9 million after being marketed last year, according to FOX Carolina.
According to the Daily Mail, the new owners, James Ayer, and Jeffrey Godley opted to empty the property after purchasing it.
The profits from the sale of the house and the auction, according to the source, will go to creditors with claims against the family, families of Mallory Beach and other passengers in Paul Murdaugh’s tragic 2019 boat disaster, Murdaugh’s legal bills, and surviving son Buster Murdaugh, among others.
Meanwhile, Alex Murdaugh has apparently been transferred to Kirkland Correctional Institution, where he is being detained under high security. He is contesting both of his murder convictions.
Murdaugh Auction Item Preview
Buster, 26, has moved into his girlfriend’s Hilton Head condominium.
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