Murdaugh family's lab Bubba is seen living his new life with their former housekeeper in SC

He was the unlikely 'star witness' on whose evidence the case turned. 

And now, the Murdaugh family's yellow Labrador, Bubba, spends his days rolling in the grass and playing with his chew toy like an oversized puppy, under the care of his new owner. 

Seen in these exclusive pictures obtained by DailyMail.com, the ten-year-old pooch is now living with Blanca Simpson, 56, herself a key witness for the prosecution in Alex Murdaugh's murder trial. 

Murdaugh family dog Bubba, became a key 'witness' in Alex Murdaugh's murder trial by helping destroy the disgraced legal scion's alibi and placing him at the scene of the crime

The boisterous yellow lab was taken in by the family as a puppy and was known to accompany them on hunting trips 

After the deaths of Maggie and Paul (pictured) Murdaugh had trouble finding a home for Bubba and couldn't keep him while he moved from house to house 

He lumbers around, tongue lolling, and leans in to be petted. 

A member of the Murdaugh family since puppyhood, it was the boisterous dog's habit of pestering birds that destroyed Alex Murdaugh's alibi and placed him at the scene of the crime just moments before his wife and son were shot.

Former housekeeper Blanca Simpson, herself a key witness in the trial, was asked to look after Bubba in the aftermath of Maggie and Paul's deaths

Murdaugh, 54, had consistently denied being anywhere near the kennels at the time of wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul's, 22, deaths in June 2021. 

But 58 seconds of cellphone video, recorded by Paul himself, saw the disgraced attorney caught in a lie.

The video was of a friend's dog, but Maggie can be heard in the background talking about Bubba.

'He's got a bird in his mouth,' she exclaims in the clip. 

Murdaugh, unaware that he is being recorded, calls Bubba by name and corrects Maggie when she says, 'He's got a guinea.'  

'It's a chicken,' Murdaugh says, before coaxing, 'C'mon Bubba,' to get the dog to relinquish the bird.

Simpson was the housekeeper at the Murdaughs' Moselle estate for more than a decade. 

Today, Bubba spends his days rolling in the grass and playing with his chew toy like an oversized puppy, under the care of his new owner

According to Simpson, Bubba has also grieved the loss of the life he once knew, his owners Maggie and Paul, but two years on he seems settled and happy in his new home

Now-convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh, 54, had consistently denied being anywhere near the family's dog kennels at the time of his wife and son's deaths on June 7, 2021 

Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, were found shot dead on the grounds of the family home on June 7. Maggie was killed with an assault rifle, whereas Paul had been killed with a shotgun. Both were shot multiple times

At Maggie's request she cooked the family the last meal they ate together on June 7, 2021 – country fried steak and macaroni cheese – and she counted the mother-of-two as a friend.

She told the court what Murdaugh was wearing when she saw him earlier that evening and noted that she never saw that shirt again, though she did the family's laundry and was familiar with their clothing.

She also said that Murdaugh had pressured her to tell cops that he was wearing a different shirt to the one he had been wearing earlier on the day of the murders. 

Simpson is still grieving the loss of her friend Maggie, trying to live with the horror of the murders, and struggling to reconcile Murdaugh the killer with the husband and father she thought she knew all those years.

It is, she told DailyMail.com, 'a process,' and it is one with which Bubba is helping. 

'Caring for Bubba, I feel the connection to Maggie,' Simpson explained.  

'We were friends, she could be herself with me and Bubba was really Maggie's dog. He went everywhere with her.'

Bubba slept in Paul's bed as a puppy, Simpson revealed. The younger Murdaugh brother can be seen holding the yellow lab as a child in an undated family photo 

The adorable dog would join the family on their quail hunting trips and had a habit of pestering the chickens and birds on the property. Paul can be seen removing a dead quail from Bubba's mouth in a photo shared by Maggie in 2018

While the family owned four dogs, Bubba was really Maggie's dog and 'went everywhere with her,' according to the former housekeeper 

General views of 4147 Moselle Road, the former Murdaugh family home and the location of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh's murders

At the trial, Simpson testified that Alex told her to go to the house and clean up the day after Maggie and Paul were killed at the kennels

When Bubba was a puppy he slept in Paul's bed. 

'Then when he got bigger, they sent him to school to be trained,' she said. 

Watching as Bubba barrels around the yard in front of her South Carolina home, Simpson adds: 'I'm not sure he learned much. He's a handful.'

It was Murdaugh who asked Simpson to look after Bubba in the aftermath of his wife and son's deaths. 

'The Sunday after Maggie and Paul were killed my husband and I moved into Moselle to look after the place,' she said. 

'We had the dogs, Bubba and Grady out there with us.'

Murdaugh's surviving son Buster, 26, ultimately took black Labrador Grady but Murdaugh was having difficulty finding a home for Bubba and couldn't keep him while he moved from house to house – never spending another night at Moselle.

Simpson says she is still grieving the loss of her friend Maggie (pictured left with their black lab Grady) and trying to reconcile Alex Murdaugh the murderer with the husband and father she thought she knew all those years

Surviving son Buster was seen visiting his mom and younger brother's graves last month and placing a mini statue of a dog resembling Bubba on Maggie's burial site 

The poignant dog statue is among the various trinkets and mementos adorning Maggie and Paul's burial sites at the Hampton Cemetery in South Carolina

 Simpson said: 'He asked if I could take Bubba for a while and of course I said yes.' 

But she could not have imagined how Murdaugh's reputation would unravel, first with revelations of stealing millions of dollars from both his clients and his firm, and ultimately with the allegation that, overwhelmed by the threat of imminent discovery, he slaughtered his wife and son. 

Alex Murdaugh has now had his head shaved and is in Kirkland Correctional Institution awaiting a permanent placement

Today, Murdaugh is still awaiting trial for close to 100 financial crimes – many to which he confessed when he testified at his murder trial.

He is inmate number 00390394 and nearly three weeks after he was sentenced he remains in Kirkland Correctional Facility northwest of Columbia, awaiting a permanent placement.

He is serving two life sentences for the murders and prosecutors have announced that they intend to seek a third at his pending trial meaning he would never be eligible for parole.

According to Simpson, Bubba has also grieved the loss of the life he once knew, his mistress and Paul, but two years on he seems settled and happy in his new home. 

'He looks like a different dog now than when we first had him. He's eating, he's put on weight,' she said. 

'I get a lot of people asking after Bubba, one lady even sent a chicken chew toy.

'He's doing well but I think he misses them for sure. I don't know how much he understands of what happened, but I know that.'

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