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Alex Murdaugh trial jurors speak to Fox Nation, read full transcript

As the South Carolina Supreme Court prepares to hear appeals to determine if convicted double murderer Alex Murdaugh deserves a new trial after allegations of jury tampering, two people at the center of those allegations are finally speaking out publicly, identifying themselves and casting doubt on the legal process that sent Murdaugh to prison for two life terms.

Myra Crosby was formerly known only as the dismissed Juror 785 or “The Egg Lady” during the six-week murder trial in Walterboro, S.C. Mandy Pearce was formerly known only as Juror 630 during the 2021 murder trial or Juror Z during the January 2024 hearing that denied Murdaugh a retrial.

Both jurors, along with their attorney, Joe McCulloch, sat down with Fox Nation news anchor Martha MacCallum in New York to share their thoughts on the latest in the docuseries “Fall of the House of Murdaugh.” The newest episode, Fall of the House of Murdaugh: From Egg to Z, is streaming now on Fox Nation.

Here is the full transcript of their comments on the trial and the jury tampering allegations. You can read the full story and analysis here.

Full transcript as provided by Fox Nation

MACCALLUM:  Thank you all for being here this morning. We really appreciate you traveling from South Carolina to join us today.

So, let’s just — if you would each introduce yourselves to get started, that would be great.

MYRA CROSBY, ALEX MURDAUGH TRIAL JUROR:  My name is Myra Crosby. I was Juror 785, I guess publicly known as the Egg Juror.

MANDY PEARCE, ALEX MURDAUGH TRIAL JUROR:  My name is Mandy Pearce. I’m from Walterboro, South Carolina. I was Juror 630, also Juror Z.

JOE MCCULLOCH, ATTORNEY:  And I’m Joe McCulloch, a lawyer.

MACCALLUM:  Why did you decide you wanted to come forward, reveal your identity and talk about your experience on Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial?

PEARCE:  Well, whenever his lawyers had come to me and explained some things, it didn’t all click until they had talked to me and to let me know what Becky did was — wasn’t right, how she came into the juror room and was talking and interacting with all of us.

MACCALLUM:  So, would you have ever come forward if the lawyers hadn’t come to find you and tell you that Becky had done something wrong?

PEARCE:  Probably not.

MACCALLUM:  Myra, how about you?

CROSBY:  Mine was a little different. I didn’t know everything that I know now.

But my initial, I don’t know, afterthought after I found out a few things, I talked to Mr. McCulloch. And I just wanted people to leave me alone at the time. I was still discovering things and learning things, but I told him from day one what I knew and that I thought it was wrong.

I didn’t know the extent of what had went on, but I learned.

MACCALLUM:  So, what was it like when you got this jury summons? Did you know what this trial was when you got summoned to the jury, Mandy?

PEARCE:  I did because of the news, because it was such a popular — well, I won’t say popular, but it was a…

MACCALLUM:  Big story, right?

PEARCE:  Right, yes.

MACCALLUM:  Yes.

Did you have a feeling when you had been hearing that big story about whether or not Alex Murdaugh killed his family?

PEARCE:  In a way, yes, in a way, no. So, I just — I wanted to hear more evidence.

MACCALLUM:  Mm-hmm.

What about for you, Myra? What did you know about the case? Did you think Alex was guilty when you were reading about it in the papers and hearing about what happened?

CROSBY:  See, that was my difference. I wasn’t from the area. I married my husband and moved to this area. I never knew Alex Murdaugh.

I got the jury summons, and I took it to work to let them know that I had to be there for that. And if it wouldn’t have been for my H.R. person, I wouldn’t even know it was a murder trial. I just looked at her and said: “You’re crazy. It’s just jury duty.”

And, later on, I learned it was not just jury duty. It was a double murder, but I didn’t know anything about the case.

MACCALLUM:  Yes.

Joe, what do you say to those who look at this process and remember back to the moment when Dick Harpootlian said, we tried to get in touch with all these jurors after the guilty verdict and figure out if anything untoward had happened?

For those who say that you were sort of shaking the tree to find out if you some — if you could get some jurors to say something happened that was not right?

MCCULLOCH:  Well, to that, I would say there is a tree I have been shaking, and that’s the fair tree to make sure even Alex Murdaugh, who may be a murderer, got a fair trial.

I was not convinced he did after sitting through six weeks. And then being contacted by Myra first and then Mandy, it became clear to me there were problems. Now, those were problems I couldn’t reveal to the defense. They contacted me to say they had begun to reach out to jurors. “We understand that you represent one.”

And I said: “Well, actually two.”

And, at that time, I was speaking to other jurors. And I said, I will contact them and see if they will talk with you.

MACCALLUM:  So, Mandy, what were the most pivotal moments in the trial for you? What really stands out in terms of the evidence that you heard?

PEARCE:  To me, it didn’t seem like they found a murder weapon.

But then it was kind of like, when you heard the video at the kennel and with the dogs and everybody identifying Alex Murdaugh.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

PEARCE:  I was like, oh, my God, he was there.

But then, like, the timeline, it just didn’t match up. And it was like they didn’t do more investigation into different things.

MACCALLUM:  Mm-hmm.

What about for you, Myra?

CROSBY:  The kennel video was a big issue. Listening to the kennel video and watching it, I had a hard time, because it was a happy family. They were humble. They were enjoying themselves.

And a lot of — like she said, the timeline things didn’t add up. But I had a real hard time, because there — you know, there wasn’t more evidence saying, OK, you did it. There was a lot of what-ifs, possibly.

MACCALLUM:  So, the day that Alex Murdaugh took the stand, what did Becky Hill say about what was going to happen in there that day, what you should be ready for, Mandy?

PEARCE:  She said: “Do not be fooled by his actions.”

So, I was thinking, OK, he’s going to lie on the stand, and don’t believe what he’s saying.

MACCALLUM:  Specifically, what do you remember her saying, Myra?

CROSBY:  I remember her walking through the door, and we were all kind of lined up getting ready to go in.

And she had an enthusiasm about her. She came in and she said: “Today is going to be epic.”

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

CROSBY:  Yes.

PEARCE:  It’s coming back.

CROSBY:  Yes. She came in.

And she was — like I said, she was: “It’s going to be epic.” And she was lit up. And we’re all just kind of like, what’s going on?

And she said: “The defense has decided that they’re going to put Alex on the stand.”

And she said: “Now, I don’t want you to be fooled by what they say. Play close attention to his body language, his movements. You’re going to hear a lot of things.”

And then she went on to say how we were all going to be famous, and this is just the trial of the century. And I think a lot of — I can’t say what others jurors heard. I was just like, kind of like: “Did she really just say that?”

MACCALLUM:  Which thing bothered you? “Did she really just say that?”

CROSBY:  The fact that she told us, the way that she put it, to pay attention to the defense and don’t be fooled.

To me, you just told me they’re going to lie about everything they say.

MACCALLUM:  Mm-hmm.

Joe, the clerk is the closest person to the jurors, brings them in, brings them out. They do tend to develop a relationship with them, because it’s like, all right, just two more hours, then we’re going to get a lunch break, or whatever it is, and maybe kind of keep their spirits OK during a long trial like this.

Is there anything wrong with saying, he’s going to testify today, this is epic? Anything illegal about that?

MCCULLOCH:  Of necessity, there has to be some person who is the intermediary between the court and the process and the jury. And that’s typically the clerk of court.

But our rules since the beginning of this system is that that person has to be — and I think Becky Hill in her books described herself as being Switzerland, being neutral and detached and objective and noninterfering.

And that clearly is not what you’re hearing from these two jurors. And it’s not what you heard in the new trial proceeding from other jurors.

MACCALLUM:  So, when I sat down with Gwen and Amie, they said that they did not hear any of this.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

MACCALLUM:  You’re shaking your head. Why?

CROSBY:  I can’t say what they heard. I know where they were standing when it was said, but I can’t — I don’t know why they said that.

MACCALLUM:  You feel like they would have heard it?

CROSBY:  Yes, I do.

MACCALLUM:  What about you, Mandy?

PEARCE:  Yes, because one of them was in the same room as me and Myra.

MACCALLUM:  Is it possible that they just didn’t feel like it was manipulative and they weren’t — that they didn’t feel like it was a big deal, that they were just going to go in there and listen to what Alex has to say?

PEARCE:  Yes.

MACCALLUM:  Did you believe Alex when he said, “I didn’t kill them”?

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

CROSBY:  I listened to him and I watched his expressions and, as Becky put it, I watched his body language.

We were told by another juror member that Alex could turn it on and turn it off, and to notice that he was crying when the defense questioned him, but not when the prosecutors did.

And my take on that is, the prosecutors are talking about his financials. The defense is talking about how his family was murdered. If I walked up and found my family like that, I would probably get emotional too, whether he was there and he did it, whether he saw it get done, or what he knows.

But to see your family laying in the conditions that we saw in them pictures, I kind of paid attention to what he said and how he said it. And I kind of believed him.

MACCALLUM:  I’m sure it was hard to look at the crime scene photos.

What impact did that have on you? And did it affect your feeling about who did it?

PEARCE:  The crime scene photos were pretty gruesome.

But then it was real, but it wasn’t right there. To me, it just kind of seemed like a TV show, like a crime show. But I still had a lot of questions that it just didn’t seem like they got answered towards the end.

MACCALLUM:  What about for you, Myra?

CROSBY:  The crime scene photos were horrific. I’d be lying if I said that they didn’t bother me, because I could still close my eyes and draw some of them. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

MACCALLUM:  What were the circumstances surrounding the questions that were raised about whether or not you had been speaking to people outside of the jury about what was going on in the case?

Because that is why you were ultimately removed.

CROSBY:  Me and Ms. Becky went into, I don’t know whose office it was. It was an office outside. And we walked in, and she closed the door behind me. And she asked me if I had an ex-husband.

And I said: “Well, yes, I do.” I said: “I haven’t seen him in over 10 years.”

And she said there was a post on a Walterboro word of mouth social platform that I had been drinking with him and that I had offered an opinion. And I told her: “No, that I have not seen him. I haven’t talked to him. I sure as hell hasn’t been drinking with him. Can I see the post?”

She couldn’t find it. And she asked me: “Well, do you have an opinion Mr. Murdaugh’s guilt?”

And I told her, I said: “Well, I haven’t really heard anything. I’m kind of undecided. I’d like to see what happens.”

MACCALLUM:  But your ex-husband didn’t — didn’t post that ever?

CROSBY:  No. I didn’t know that at the time. And I didn’t know until, I want to say it was two weeks after the trial that he never posted anything.

MACCALLUM:  Who did? Did anyone really — did anyone post that? What’s your theory on that?

CROSBY:  To my knowledge, nobody has ever posted anything about me being on the jury. I don’t — I have not seen anything. I do know that there was an apology post that I didn’t know about until Becky Hill’s book came out, and didn’t know who that was.

But, apparently, they found somebody with a similar name to my ex-husband that had made an apology post.

MACCALLUM:  When the judge did remove you, he said it had nothing to do with any of this.

CROSBY:  From what I was told then, that there was an anonymous e-mail that came in.

MACCALLUM:  Saying what?

CROSBY:  Saying that I spoke to my tenants and told them that I had an opinion on the Murdaugh trial.

MACCALLUM:  And did that happen?

CROSBY:  That did not happen.

MACCALLUM:  So, what’s your theory on what was going on here?

CROSBY:  I feel like I was targeted. I don’t know why. Because Ms. Hill asked me on several occasions what my opinion was even up to the day that I was dismissed, and my constant answer was undecided.

MACCALLUM:  So she asked you how many times if you were decided on guilt or innocence?

CROSBY:  I know at least three.

MACCALLUM:  At least three times?

CROSBY:  At least three times.

MACCALLUM:  Joe, is that conduct that is allowed from a county clerk?

MCCULLOCH:  In no way, absolutely the most improper intervention a court official could make.

MACCALLUM:  Becky says that never happened.

Did anyone else hear Becky ask you if you were decided or not?

CROSBY:  No, because we were in a closed room. But I know what she asked me. And I also know what she said on the evidentiary stand and said that she just knows it wasn’t her.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

CROSBY:  I’m not stupid. I know who I talked to. I saw you every day for six weeks.

MACCALLUM:  So what about the visit to Moselle, to the property where the murders took place?

When you were at Moselle, Myra, you write in your book that you walked the distances that Maggie did before she was shot. And you said that something didn’t add up about the timeline. Explain that for us, if you would.

CROSBY:  If you walk from where she was shot from the house, there’s just no — I don’t know how to describe it. The timeline where they say she was shot, there’s not enough time to shoot here and shoot here at the same time. There’s just no possible way.

Well, the way that they said it happens, I mean, you get out — he got off of his, what do you call that, side-by-side golf cart, and he shoots Paul, and he shoots Paul again. And then he goes and he shoots Maggie.

When you walk that property, I guess even taking a golf cart down there, by the time you got off that golf cart and the time that it would take over here to shoot Paul, and then Paul, I guess, stumbles forward, and then you shoot him again, and then get to Maggie, there’s no way that it could happen in the time that they said.

I’m a small person. I think I can move pretty quick. Alex is not a small person. But to be in my health and my shape, I couldn’t do it in that quick of a time. So I don’t see how it’s possible that he could have.

MACCALLUM:  Because it was a long distance?

CROSBY:  It is a fairly good distance. I mean, the way that you see the pictures and the way they show it on TV, it looks like, OK, it’s from here to that chair. It’s not. It’s a lot further. It’s a lot more steps.

And you would have to, I don’t know, be like Rambo to just zoom, zoom, zoom, put this gun down, and get over here and grab this one. And there’s — I just don’t see how their timeline that they presented…

MACCALLUM:  So the day after the Moselle visit, Becky spoke to you?

CROSBY:  I spoke to her that morning. When we pulled up to get on the van for the ride from our vehicle to the court, my phone was ringing. And it was my ex-husband, which I haven’t talked to, which was a freak-out for me.

So I look at the phone and I went straight to one of the security officers. And I said: “Look, we have a problem. I need to talk to Becky now. She promised me that he wasn’t going to bother me.”

And so I was a little freaked out. And I explained to her what was going on, that he’s calling me. She asked me, which way was I leaning? And I told her I really am undecided. And that’s when she said: “Well, what makes you think he’s guilty?”

And I told her, I said: “Well, the kennel video.” I said: “He did lie about being there.”

And she said: “Well, what makes you think he’s not guilty?” And I told her: “There was no murder weapon, no guns.”

And she told me on the phone that day that I needed to get the guns out of my head. They would never be seen again.

MACCALLUM:  How did she know that?

CROSBY:  I’d like to know.

MACCALLUM:  So, Joe, again, if — Becky has denied this, that she had this conversation. If she did, what level of inappropriateness is that for the clerk to say, what makes you think he was guilty, what makes you think he was innocent?

MCCULLOCH:  It’s new trial serious. And it — what these jurors are describing and what others have confirmed has all the appearance of a campaign, an incursion into the privacy of the jury’s deliberations and an effort, a campaign to push, push buttons, to terrorize even.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

MACCALLUM:  How close was that to closing arguments when you were removed by the judge?

CROSBY:  It was the day of, the day they did deliberations.

Prior to me being dismissed, I was on the phone with her. And she asked me once again, had I decided. And I said: “I’d like to hear closing arguments.”

MACCALLUM:  Take us through what happened when he removed you from the jury and how you felt about it.

CROSBY:  He called me in 10 minutes after I hung up with Becky, not knowing — I mean, I had talked to him, I think, several times prior, but he called me in. And he had me go stand over there.

And I thought the way that he did it was very respectful. He told me he wasn’t saying — he even called after — what’s the word? He called me…

MCCULLOCH:  Diligent.

CROSBY:  Diligent, I paid attention, because I did. I watched everybody. I have heard rumors that they called me smiling because I smiled at everybody. And I did. I’m just — I try to be a positive person.

But when he told me that they had to do it for the integrity of the court, you got to remember, at this time, I’m thinking my ex-husband did this, and I didn’t know anything about the e-mail or any of that.

MACCALLUM:  The judge gave you a reason.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

MACCALLUM:  When Gwen and Amie said that you were chatty, that you were talking a lot to people, and that was their impression of why you were removed, because, if you were talking that much with people, and when you guys were in the vehicles, then you were probably, I guess, doing the same thing on the outside of the time on the jury?

CROSBY:  I’m not a chatty person. I don’t talk very much.

I listen, more than anything. Always have.

PEARCE:  Yes.

MACCALLUM:  Do you think the judge made a mistake removing you?

CROSBY:  In all honesty, I do.

MACCALLUM:  You had put a lot of your time and effort into that jury.

CROSBY:  I did. I did.

MACCALLUM:  Why do you think you were removed from the jury?

CROSBY:  Because they couldn’t read me.

MACCALLUM:  Joe, do you fault Judge Newman for not keeping the reins on Becky and making sure she understood what her job is?

MCCULLOCH:  Well, that’s a question that lawyers have to answer carefully.

The process that preceded Myra’s removal included several days in camera, backstage with the lawyers and Judge Newman on these matters. I think it could have been done differently. A more complete backstage investigation might have had a different result.

And at the point that Judge Newman became aware that there were communications between jurors, Myra at least at that point, known to him, that’s when maybe the entire jury should have been polled, in much the same way as ultimately occurred in the new trial proceeding.

MACCALLUM:  Was the defense aware of Becky’s conversations with the jurors? And why didn’t the defense step in at that point?

MCCULLOCH:  Well, the defense was involved backstage in those proceedings. But, ultimately, that’s a judicial decision. That’s a call only the judge can make.

And I can’t guess what the ultimate result would have been if a more intense review of the jury had been made at that point before the jury ever reached a decision, before they ever began deliberations.

MACCALLUM:  Judge Newman wasn’t happy when he learned that Becky Hill had talked to you about this Facebook post, which turned out to be completely bogus or posted by someone other than your ex-husband.

What was your understanding of his feelings on that?

CROSBY:  My understanding was that he was not too pleased with it.

Why did you get the nickname the Egg Lady, the Egg Juror? I have only ever heard about the Egg Juror and the Egg Lady, and walked in here today and met you.

(LAUGHTER)

MACCALLUM:  This person is a lot more than just someone who picked up a dozen eggs. So tell us about what happened there.

CROSBY:  All right.

Well, one of the other jurors, he had a friend that I guess lived next to him that had eggs, fresh — farm fresh eggs. He brought like 12 dozen in for the jurors, and he gave all of us a dozen eggs. They weren’t cooked, they weren’t boiled. They were just farm fresh eggs in a carton.

And when the judge asked me what did I want to take when I left, I wanted my bottle of water, my purse and my dozen eggs.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

CROSBY:  At the time, you have to remember, we were just coming to where groceries were ungodly, and a dozen eggs was eight dollars. I wanted my farm fresh eggs. I’m sorry. I’m a country girl. I like eggs.

(LAUGHTER)

MACCALLUM:  So, what you’re all suggesting, just to — is that Becky Hill was manipulating this jury to make sure that Alex Murdaugh was found guilty, correct? Do you believe that?

PEARCE:  Yes.

MACCALLUM:  Do you believe that?

CROSBY:  I do.

MACCALLUM:  Do you believe that, Joe?

MCCULLOCH:  I know Becky Hill only through this trial. I like her personally. I don’t know whether she had this grand scheme.

We know now that she was writing a book. Maybe she saw a guilty verdict as more profitable than a not guilty. But whether she is genuinely the Wizard behind the curtain in all of this…

CROSBY:  Yes.

MCCULLOCH:  … I don’t think anyone knows that.

MACCALLUM:  Mm-hmm.

Mandy, how did — how did you decide that Alex was guilty?

PEARCE:  Well, at first, I was undecided. And then we — then we discussed a little bit more.

And, to me, it just kind of seemed like everybody was just getting anxious, like, the smokers. And everybody was just ready to go home. So, I guess I was like, OK, then I guess we will just say he’s guilty, because obviously he was going to go to jail for the financial stuff. So I just agreed with everybody else.

MACCALLUM:  Well, it was a very quick verdict. I remember that night.

PEARCE:  Yes.

MACCALLUM:  When you first went back in after the closing arguments and the deliberations began, did they initially poll the jury, the foreperson say, guilty or innocent and go around the room?

PEARCE:  After we got our coffees, then yes.

We — they took a poll. We all wrote it on a piece of paper.

MACCALLUM:  And what did you write on that round?

PEARCE:  Well, I was undecided.

MACCALLUM:  Did you write undecided?

PEARCE:  Yes.

And then there was two no’s, and then everybody else was yes. So then we kind of all just kind of talked, pulled some evidence out. A lot of people that had more knowledge with guns, they have talked about the guns and they talked about the water hose and all the other little things that other people had questions about.

And then, towards the end, they asked if everybody was ready to take another poll. And we did. And it was unanimous. Everybody said yes.

MACCALLUM:  Do you believe he was guilty?

PEARCE:  I still had questions.

MACCALLUM:  What was your biggest hurdle in your doubt?

PEARCE:  They didn’t never find the murder weapons.

MACCALLUM:  But, in many murder trials, there’s not a weapon.

PEARCE:  Yes. To me, I felt like they — they had already, like, had in their minds that he was guilty. Like, they didn’t, like, try to look for anybody else.

MACCALLUM:  So, at the evidentiary hearing, 11 of the 12 said that they weren’t influenced by Becky Hill. And you testified that you were influenced by her.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

MACCALLUM:  How do you feel about that now?

PEARCE:  I still feel that way.

MACCALLUM:  Who do you think persuaded you to a guilty verdict?

PEARCE:  A little bit of what Becky said and then also some of the jurors.

MACCALLUM:  Would you put a percentage on that? How much of it was the jurors? How much of it was what Becky said?

PEARCE:  It was probably 50/50.

MACCALLUM:  Fifty/fifty?

PEARCE:  Yes.

MACCALLUM:  Yes.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

MACCALLUM:  So, Joe, in the end, Murdaugh was not granted a new trial based on Becky’s behavior.

And now the Supreme Court is reviewing this decision. What happens next?

MCCULLOCH:  Well, it’s significant that the Supreme Court — the appeals of both the murder conviction and this new trial denial both went to our intermediate Court of Appeals.

It is significant that the state Supreme Court, the highest appellate court we have, reached down took it away from the Court of Appeals and now is going to hear it in its original jurisdiction. They have combined and taken both appeals.

So the Supreme Court feels some urgency about this. And it’s going to be very interesting.

MACCALLUM:  And what comes next for Becky Hill?

MCCULLOCH:  Well, I hate it for her. She has good lawyers. She is in that unfortunate phase of being under investigation for a variety of things, which include this jury tampering allegation, some financial allegations of impropriety.

It has — cannot be a happy place.

MACCALLUM:  So, Myra, you decided to write a book about your experience. What do you hope to get from publishing your story?

CROSBY:  That the truth gets out that I never wanted to write a book. I think it’s something the court should have done. They should have got it out, the truth.

I have always said from day one it wasn’t about innocence. It wasn’t about guilt. It’s about a fair trial, a fair process, and everybody should have that.

MACCALLUM:  Do you think Alex Murdaugh is a murderer?

CROSBY:  I can’t say if he is. I can’t say if he isn’t.

I can say that I wasn’t convinced beyond a reasonable doubt.

MACCALLUM:  Do you think Alex Murdaugh murdered his family?

PEARCE:  It’s hard to say.

MACCALLUM:  But you put guilty on the paper.

PEARCE:  I did, yes.

MACCALLUM:  Why?

PEARCE:  Because it’s — a lot of other jurors kind of persuaded me, I guess, that there was no way that he didn’t do it.

MACCALLUM:  Thank you all very much. Great to have you with us today. Thanks for sharing your story.

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