'They're gone, B. They're gone!' Alex Murdaugh's distinctive Southern drawl said on the phone.
His voice was almost child-like, trembling and cracking with emotion.
It took some time for Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson to realize what exactly her employer and longtime friend was telling her.
'I dropped the phone,' she told the Daily Mail. 'I didn't understand what was going on. I couldn't grasp it. I was in shock.'
A few hours earlier, on the night of June 7, 2021, 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh and her 22-year-old son Paul Murdaugh had been shot dead at the dog kennels on the powerful legal family's sprawling 17,000-acre Moselle estate in Islandton, South Carolina.
For more than a decade, Turrubiate-Simpson had been part of the Murdaugh family. She was their longtime housekeeper and had also done some work with Murdaugh at his law firm.
But she was also much more than that.
She was one of Maggie's best friends and confidantes. She had seen the couple’s sons Buster and Paul grow up. She had supported them when much of the community turned its back on the family after Paul was involved in a boat crash that killed his friend Mallory Beach. She was a constant at the home, witnessing their bonds as a family - and privy to all their highs and lows.
And so it was a role that placed her in a unique position to notice some glaring signs that just didn't add up about the tragic events of that day.
More than a year later - in March 2023 - Murdaugh was convicted of the murders in a high-profile trial, where prosecutors laid out a devastating story of how the legal dynasty heir killed his wife and son in a bid to salvage his crumbling finances and reputation.
Turrubiate-Simpson testified at the trial about Murdaugh's bizarre behavior following the murders.
But there were other clues she shared with investigators she feels were overlooked, information she believes tells a different story to what jurors heard.
Now, in her new book, 'Within the House of Murdaugh', Turrubiate-Simpson has revealed her explosive theory about what really happened at the remote hunting estate that dark summer night - and her bombshell belief that Murdaugh didn't act alone.
Instead, she believes Murdaugh summoned people she refers to as 'the cleaners' to the kennels that night.
These accomplices might not have known about his plot or what they were about to get caught up in, she said. But she believes they met him at the kennels after the murders and helped him clean and stage the scene.
Murdaugh had multiple phone numbers that Turrubiate-Simpson was aware of, suggesting he may have used a burner phone.
These accomplices likely entered Moselle undetected through one of two back entrances, made up of narrow roads and trails, she said. Few people knew about those hidden entrances to the sprawling property, she said. Most only knew of the main entrance off Moselle Road and the entrance by the kennels.
Turrubiate-Simpson told the Daily Mail she knows the identities of the people she suspects were involved but would not reveal them. She would confirm however that there was more than one person.
While the tale of Murdaugh's spectacular downfall continues to fuel speculation, Turrubiate-Simpson's beliefs are not based on rumor or local gossip.
Rather, they are based on observations of someone on the scene soon after the murders and with unique insight into the habits of the family she doted on.
On the morning after the murders, Turrubiate-Simpson went to Moselle and immediately noticed several things out of place.
'At Moselle, the Murdaughs parked their vehicles in an organized manner, indicating who was at the home at the time. Immediately, I noticed Maggie’s car was totally out of place. Facing the house, Maggie’s Mercedes SUV was parked to the right – she always parked on the left,' she writes.
To Turrubiate-Simpson, this departure from the family's long-running habits indicated it was not Maggie who had parked there.
Other intricate details - such as the contents of Maggie's car, the unlikelihood she would go to the kennels at night and the tight timeline during which Murdaugh committed the murders - all added to this red flag.
Inside Maggie's car was her suitcase, tote, makeup bags and purse as though she was planning to return to the family's beach house in Edisto that night rather than stay at Moselle.
Maggie's husband was of course familiar with the parking arrangements.
And, based on the timeline presented at trial using car and cell phone data, Turrubiate-Simpson believes it would not have been possible for Murdaugh to have driven her car to the house.
'To others, this detail seemed insignificant, but to me, it was a crucial, overlooked clue, suggesting he had assistance,' she writes.
At the trial, prosecutors said Murdaugh had driven to and from the kennels in a golf cart, before jumping in his SUV and speeding to his parents' home to create an alibi. He then sped home, where he then claimed to find the grisly scene.
This means that, in just 20 minutes, he would have had to have killed his family members, hosed down the scene, driven the golf cart to the house, walked back to the kennels, driven Maggie’s car back to the house, showered and changed and been in his own car on the way to his parents’ home.
There were other things that didn't make sense to her.
Inside the laundry room, Turrubiate-Simpson found Maggie's pajamas laid out on the floor with a pair of panties - something she said Maggie would never do.
Thinking back to the day before, Turrubiate-Simpson also recalled spotting a white truck down by the kennels. She then also saw someone driving the tractor.
At the time, she assumed it was Paul. But after his murder, it emerged he wasn’t at Moselle until later that night.
She thinks it could have been someone laying the preparations for the deadly plot.
The two guns used in the murders have never been found. Turrubiate-Simpson wonders if they are buried somewhere on the 17-acre property - in a hole dug that day with the tractor.
Her suspicions were then compounded further by the evidence presented at Murdaugh's trial.
Turrubiate-Simpson told the Daily Mail that when she heard the 911 call Murdaugh placed that night - claiming to have found his wife and son's bodies - there was something impossible to ignore.
'You can hear the dogs barking right away. There was a hound that was very sensitive to strangers and anytime anybody came on the property she didn’t know, she would let you know,' Turrubiate-Simpson said.
'Then the other ones would get started too. I believe the dogs told on him. He was not alone when he made that call.'
No one other than Murdaugh has ever been charged in connection to the murders.
For Turrubiate-Simpson, it took a long time for her to come to terms with the reality that Murdaugh had killed Maggie and Paul.
'I didn't want to believe Alex could have done something like this. It was really hard for me to accept that,' she said.
Even when she took the stand at his trial, she was very much 'on the fence.'
But there was one moment when the pieces of the puzzle came together and she realized he had to be the killer.
It came when police bodycam footage showed a towel on the front seat of Murdaugh’s car.
'Oh my God, he did it!' she recalled shouting to her husband.
Turrubiate-Simpson instantly recognized it as a beach towel from Edisto she had washed, folded, and placed on the shelf in the laundry room the day of the murders.
Murdaugh must have hosed the blood off himself down at the kennels then grabbed that towel to dry himself – changing into the freshly-laundered t-shirt he was wearing when officers arrived, she said.
Turrubiate-Simpson described this as her 'A-ha moment.'
While Murdaugh later confessed to a string of financial crimes, he continues to claim his innocence of the murders and is seeking a retrial.
Turrubiate-Simpson believes he will never come clean about that night.
For Turrubiate-Simpson, her focus is now on showing people who Maggie and Paul really were.
She hopes people will see Paul as more than the teen involved in the deadly boat crash.
Maggie she remembers as a happy person who loved life and to laugh.
'She loved taking care of her husband and her children,' she said. 'That was her main priority.'
Maggie also doted on her favorite dog Bubba, who was at the kennels that fateful night.
Following the murders, Bubba went to live with Turrubiate-Simpson and the duo often visit Maggie and Paul's graves.