Laura Rutland
Laura Rutland is a detective with the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office and was assigned to be the liaison with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Department (SLED) when they took over the handling of the investigation of the murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh. Rutland was also the officer who obtained a search warrant for the 1700-acre crime scene.
Detective Rutland was called to the stand by the State to testify on Thursday, January 26, 2023. During her testimony, footage of the first interview of Alex Murdaugh was played.
During the interview, Murdaugh was seen sobbing as he told them about finding Paul, saying he tried to turn him over when his cell phone “popped out” of his pocket. Murdaugh stated that he initially picked up the phone but decided to put it back down “real quick.” Rutland testified that despite Murdaugh claiming he had checked both Maggie and Paul for a pulse, she did not observe any blood on him during her interview.