- Collier Landry
The Murdaugh's: Lowest of the Low in HBO's “Low Country”. Bye-Bye Brady, Dr. Phil, RUST charges.
Lowest of the Low: Exposing the lowest of the low in HBO's “Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty”: I share my thoughts on the docuseries. Alex Murdaugh, who is currently on trial for the murder of his wife Maggie, and youngest son Paul, reminds me of my psychopathic father with all of the destruction his selfishness caused.
Rusted and Busted: This week, charges of involuntary manslaughter were brought in New Mexico against actor/producer Alec Baldwin and armorers Hannah Guitierrez Reid for the negligent and tragic death of cinematographer Halayna Hutchins on the set of the indie film RUST. What would a conviction look like and how would this impact the filmmaking world? I share my own story of how on-set negligence nearly cost me my head.
Bye Bye Brady: This week saw the surprise retirement of two living legends: 7 time Super Bowl Champion and GOAT quarterback Tom Brady said goodbye, again, after 23 NFL seasons, and daytime talk show icon Dr. Phil McGraw of “The Dr. Phil Show” says he will be retiring from the show after this current season ends.
Balloon?: A Chinese weather / “spy balloon” has been spotted over Billings, Montana in the United States, having many calling into question our National Security.
Wanna say thanks for a great episode? Buy me a coffee!
Join our Patreon: for exclusive content, member-only meet n' greets, support this podcast & more: https://www.collierlandry.com/support
Shop & Support: You can support this program by using our Amazon Affiliate link: https://www.collierlandry.com/amazon
Subscribe to my YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/collierlandry
I go live on Instagram TUESDAY'S 11 am PT/2 pm ET on @collierlandry
-Official Socials-
TikTok: @collierlandry
Instagram: @collierlandry
Twitter: @collierlandry
Facebook: /collierlandry
*This podcast episode touches on the themes of trauma, emotional well-being, and resilience in the face of tragedy. It is ideal for listeners interested in mental health and true crime.
In addition to these resources, it's also important to consider seeking support from a licensed mental health professional or support group. Talking with a trusted friend or family member can also be beneficial in overcoming trauma and its aftermath.
Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/
GoodTherapy: https://www.goodtherapy.org/
Trauma-Recovery.org: https://trauma-recovery.org/
American Psychological Association: https://www.apa.org/
National Institute of Mental Health: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/index.shtml
[00:00:00] Because of this incident. It opened up this window into their family that nobody was looking at. And now then the younger son goes missing. I just, it goes, it turns up dead. The wife, Maggie. It's astonishing to me as someone who has been through extreme violence and has a psychopathic father, I wish I could explain what goes through these people's heads.
[00:00:22] I wish I could understand still to this day why they think they will get. This and the only defense that I have.
[00:00:34] Testimony continued. Today in the most notorious criminal trial in Richland County history. Dr. John Boyle is accused of killing his wife, Noreen, and burying her body in the basement of his new home in Erie, Pennsylvania. The 12 year-old son finally took the stand as I heard a scream. I heard a thud was about this loud.
We the jury, find the defendant guilty. When I was 12 years old, my testimony sent my father to prison for murdering my. This podcast serves as a type of therapy and reconciliation for myself, and it is my hope that it helps anyone who has experienced deception, betrayal, and dark trauma. I'm Collier Landry, and this is Moving Past Murder.
[00:01:15] Hey movers. Welcome back to another episode of Moving Past Murder. I'm your host. Call Your Landry and what's going on? Happy Friday, February. What a day, what a week? Actually, the end of an era is upon us. We had two retirements on February 1st. We had Tom Brady, who has finally decided again to retire from the NFL after 23 seasons.
[00:01:45] And Dr. Phil, after, I guess 23 seasons, 21 seasons, something like that, of his television show has decided to call Acquits after this season. Congratulations to both those guys. Having amazing careers, [00:02:00] I got to meet one of them. Obviously as you guys know, I was on Dr. Phil, which you guys can check out that episode, which is on my Patreon.
[00:02:06] If you guys are subscribers, there are links to that below. Call your landry.com/support if you wanna check it out. But yeah, I got to meet Dr. Phil and was, I was on his show and uh, he was really cool to me. Actually. I was very nervous about being on his. . But it was good. He interviewed me about my film, A Murder in Mansfield, and obviously about the murder of my mother by my father.
[00:02:27] It was a great episode. He was very nice to me. And we took pictures and stuff like that, which I have also, like I said, on the Patreon, so you just check it out. Bye. What a week though. I guess today, I just was reading in the headlines that there is a Chinese spy balloon that is flying somewhere over the United States, over Billings, Montana, apparently.
[00:02:46] Like what? Like literally what's going on? What's going on? What is going on in the world? What a bizarre thing. Like a balloon and I guess the Chinese government is saying that there's, it's weather related or something and it [00:03:00] drifted off course cuz of weather patterns and force majeure. Who knows?
[00:03:04] And these things are well beyond the scope of this podcast host for sure. I don't need to really weigh in on them. I did watch a couple of things this week, which I do want to talk about. I finally watched that documentary about the Murdochs, or Murdochs or however you pronounce it called Lowcountry, which is on h b o Max.
[00:03:23] It's actually a docu-series, and I love anything that HBO does this documentary anyways, and I, and I always feel like there is a real, watching their documentaries, there's always a really high level. Of journalistic integrity and like when you make a documentary and you do it through a network like hbo, you're really held accountable.
[00:03:43] And so I feel like the information that they give is really, you can bank on it versus following. I talk a lot about, on this program, about media conjecture, especially related around true crime and the commodification of true crime. When I see something on hbo [00:04:00] I'm intrigued and it's all over the news, this guy.
[00:04:04] And my goodness, there were a few moments, there were more than a few moments, honestly, where I was just like, this guy is a carbon copy of my father. Probably the most interesting part to me look, first of all, this is a family that had like a lockdown dynasty on their like the great-great-grandfather was a solicitor, so they've had a hold.
[00:04:30] And for those of you who don't know what a solicitor is like a prosecutor I believe . And they've had a stranglehold on this small community in South Carolina for like a hundred plus years. And then this guy, Alex Murdoch, has been implicated and obviously he's a suspect. He is on trial right now for this.
[00:04:52] Not only has he been implicated in like a hun ripping like hundreds of people off, or almost a hundred people, Because he had [00:05:00] a private law firm that he would represent people in cases of you you get into a car accident you file a lawsuit against an insurance company to get payment and things of that nature.
[00:05:12] And I guess he was running this sort of scam, apparently that and he was keeping all the money. Now there's a lot of claims that he was that he claims that he was an opioid addict and that's where that money went. Tens of millions of dollars this guy got away. It'd be really unfortunate if it was all, if it all went to drugs.
[00:05:31] I, I can't even imagine. Look, the opioid epidemic is a real crisis in this country. I think we all know that. But my god, that's a lot of pills if it's all gone on. Wow. And it's really unfortunate because those people obviously need that money from these insurance settlements. This guy stole it all.
[00:05:49] I don't under I really don't understand how one gets away with these things or how one thinks they're gonna get away with these things or how they're I don't know. [00:06:00] The what is the restitution these people are gonna get? There's nothing. It's just, it's so tragic. On top of that, this guy is on trial for murdering his wife and his own.
[00:06:13] Apparently this went down in, I believe, July of 2021, and I know many of you follow this stuff, so I'm probably preaching to the choir. But this went down in July of 2021 where he apparently plotted to ki to murder both his wife and his son. His younger son and it's so tragic and I thought, is this next level?
[00:06:38] And apparently on top of that, there was a missing co or there was a housekeeper who mysteriously died in his home a couple of years prior to that. The younger son who was killed, Paul, I believe his name is, he was implicated in a boating accident where he was intoxicated, apparent. And this poor girl lost [00:07:00] her life, which is the center of the whole story, which is what I really liked because it starts.
[00:07:04] It's har I don't like it cause it's horrible story. But it starts out with this investigation of this girl, this poor girl who lost her life in college and was hanging out with the Murr os kids who apparently could do no wrong in the community, of course. And he was a drinker and was a boating accident.
[00:07:24] And her boyfriend was on the boat and was in love with her. And she went missing. And they couldn't, they didn't find her body. A week or two weeks or something. It was insane. The quest that this guy, this young man has, his name is Connor, I believe, not too far from Collier.
[00:07:42] His quest to find closure in all of this, which he's very calm throughout this whole documentary. He's obviously clearly been affected by this and they interview his parents and families and the family of the girl. And it's really, I believe her name was Mallory, actually. [00:08:00] She was just a poor victim, but her, because of this incident, it opened up this window into their family that nobody was looking at.
[00:08:08] And now then the younger son goes missing. I just, it goes, it turns up dead. The wife, Maggie. It's astonishing to me as someone who has been through extreme violence and has a psychopathic. I wish I could explain what goes through these people's heads. I wish I could understand still to this day why they think they will get away with this, and the only defense that I have for that is it's in their nature.
[00:08:35] It's the psychopath, it's the narcissism, it's that they literally think they are smarter than everyone and they can do whatever the hell they want. I don't know. It's a lot for me. Anyways, so I watched the documentary and at, oh, sorry, at the docu-series and at the end he's on the phone with his son Buster, who's the [00:09:00] older son Now, this older son has lost his mother and his younger brother, and his father is in jail for not only defrauding all these people, but also for the murder of his mother and his younger brother, and they're having this conversation.
[00:09:15] This light and, oh, what'd you guys do last night? And he's telling his dad how he went to a party or something with his girlfriend who's in college, and she and dad's oh, can I talk to her? And he's oh no, she's going upstairs. She's tired, she's hungover. We had, he's oh, y'all had a good time last night.
[00:09:32] And he starts going into this whole fantasy. Of, I just remember when mom would get buzzed up and how funny she was. Wasn't she funny when she would get buzzed up? Like he's having this conversation with his son and his son is on the phone. He is like, yeah, and what hit me is this is the same stuff my father would pull with me.
[00:09:56] It was, I don't know, it was [00:10:00] ConX. and you can hear it in this kid's voice. And then the dad keeps on talking of oh yeah, I just, I don't know if it was miss her or whatever it was, but I, my father would do the exact same thing with me. He would start talking about, and there's an episode that I did months ago where my father romanticizes falling in love with my mother.
[00:10:21] Like he sent me this letter. I should reread this. and he's explaining their backstory and how he saw her in the convertible and she pulled her sunglasses out, down and she looked at him and he was hooked. It was love at first sight, all this stuff. And I'm thinking to myself, not only did you, were you a womanizer the entire time you were married to my mother, and everyone knew that, but also you murdered her.
[00:10:47] What do you mean love at first sight? And I think that these things are just so next level. I really feel for the family in this one. The legacy that this buster kid I don't know where he's [00:11:00] at in his life. I think he's 23 ish, 24 maybe 25 probably. He's starting a whole other journey and not only has he lost his mother, I'm sure he was very close to, but also his, he's losing his father.
[00:11:15] He is lost his younger. this whole way of life right now as family has been disgraced because of all of this, because of the father, where do you go? What do you do? For me, I left my small town of Mansfield, Ohio cuz I wanted to be unknown and start a whole new life. And that's what this kid is.
[00:11:37] probably gonna have to do, or if he's already not done it and I just, all these things just ring so true. And I've spent the last couple episodes talking about the Anna Walsh case with her children two, four, and six. And what's gonna happen with them after her apparent murder by her husband Brian.
[00:11:53] And there's there's a lot of media conjecture around this Idaho four [00:12:00] case and Brian Koberg, but now there's the mother who has been. The mother of one of the girls who has been interviewed, who is a heroin addict, who has now recently been the last couple of days, been arrested outside in Yakima, Washington for PO possess drug possession and things like that.
[00:12:15] Just the spiral is something I've been talking about for a very long time. The spiral and the chaos that comes out of violence and violation and. It's just a downward, it's just a downward spiral. What can I say? There's no other way to put it. And but what I wanna get to a listener question of the week, cuz I always read you guys listener questions of the week.
[00:12:40] This one comes from Diana on Instagram and she says, Collier. Your YouTube channel popped up on my feed for the first time today. I listened to a few videos while cleaning and decluttering. I'm glad you decluttered while listening to me and I wanted to say thank you for sharing your story.
[00:12:57] It doesn't sound easy what you went [00:13:00] through, but I can tell it. Tell it you made. I can tell. It made you mentally stronger and wise. For a very long time. I thought everyone lived like the Brady Bunch family or the Flintstones. I'm glad that people like yourself are coming out and not afraid to talk about their lives.
[00:13:17] Thank you for that. Good luck on your journey. I think you're helping many people and it sounds like you're doing cool things in your life. Diana. Diana, thank you so much for reaching out. Really makes me happy. I try to do cool things in my life, and this podcast is one of those things, and. I am glad that it's impacting people.
[00:13:36] I, it, this, it's a lot of work to put the show on and so when people reach out and it's impacting them, and I know it has an impact, and somebody once said to me, it's not the people that you see, it's the people that you don't see who are impacted and or that reach out to you, that don't reach out to you that are impacted.
[00:13:55] And I firmly believe that. . Okay. I think about that in my own life of the people [00:14:00] that have impacted me. And I might not always say, Hey, thank you, or, Hey that's amazing. You've really inspired me. But yeah, hey, one of them was Tom Brady, who recently, like I said, retired. Hey, that man just always wins and just always fights, right?
[00:14:13] But I digress. So back to what I was saying about this sort of downward spiral. There is another . There's a few things that have happened this. One is, so I work in, I've worked in Hollywood for a long time as a cinematographer, and Alec Baldwin and this girl, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, have been charged with involuntary manslaughter in New Mexico for the onset death of cinematographer Helena Hutchins, which is absolutely horrible.
[00:14:49] It happened in October of 2021, and. There's a lot of talk about the safety that was on the set and the safety. Obviously they're using [00:15:00] firearms. This Hannah Gucci's Reid was the armorer. There's another guy who's pled out, who was the assistant director, and apparently Alec was handed the gun and it said, cold gun, which means on set that there's no bullets in the gun.
[00:15:18] I, this is such a, this is such a touchy subject I think for a lot of people, especially in Hollywood, because there's a lot of talk of the set was unsafe It was an independent film that was low budget , obviously, and they always cut corners and that's a terrible thing. There was a young woman who was killed years ago.
[00:15:38] Her name was Sarah A. Jones, and she was killed moving some camera equipment off a train track. They were filming in, I believe, Georgia. Th she was killed. There was a train that they did not prepare for, and those producers actually went to prison, I believe, for a couple of years for this because they didn't have the updated train schedule and all these things.
[00:15:58] And they put the crew's life in [00:16:00] danger. And it's really, this is a weird situation because Alec Baldwin is a producer on the film, but he's also the talent and he's also the person he claims he didn't pull the trigger. He claims he cocked back the hammer or the gun went off. I have no idea apparently.
[00:16:15] This prosecutor who is in New Mexico has decided to press these charges, has said the FBI crime lab in Quantico turned back and said, look they gave a report that said the gun had actually been fired. Cause they examined the firearm, obviously, and there's been video released of when this happened.
[00:16:32] It's just, it's a mess. It's a mess. And obviously I think everyone could agree that Alec Walden was not trying to kill cinematographer Helena Hutchins, who God rest her. Is an innocent victim of this. It's so awful. And also I would note that the director of the film was also injured in this and he didn't lose his life, but he was also injured.
[00:16:55] But just so unfortunate, but I think about this [00:17:00] and think about a time when I was visiting a girlfriend of mine and I was on. And I was walking past and a light just happened to fall, and this is before I even worked in the film business. This is like 2008 I think, and a light was up really high.
[00:17:18] It was what we call in the, it was a junior is what we call, which is a two K light, which is. A mulbridge or so, which is very heavy. It was really up high on a stand and it was on the wrong stand and it fell and it hit me in the back of the head. The light did not hit me, cuz if the light hit me, I probably wouldn't be here.
[00:17:35] But the back of the stand hit me right across the neck and they had to take me to the hospital to get x-rays and all this stuff. It was an, it was like a nightmare but I was just like, Ugh, man. . It was a drag. I was very lucky because it didn't, But I thought about what if that had happened to me?
[00:17:54] And obviously there's insurance for these types of things, but there is a level of [00:18:00] negligence that this prosecutor is alleging was not only with this armorer who is in charge of all the firearms, but also Alec Baldwin as the actor who fired the firearm. And also as the producer saying that they did not act responsibly, and this is their negligence is what caused this death.
[00:18:18] Death. And even though it was an accidental death, they're saying that doesn't matter in the eyes of the law, which I understand but it's criminal negligence is apparently what they're claiming. So this is, and again, this is a bit of a red herring what I'm gonna talk about, but the red herring is how in the hell did a live round get onto the.
[00:18:41] is my question and why it's not the prosecutor's question because I have worked on a western myself. A few years ago I worked with a gentleman named Steven Campanelli. He is the first assistant or first unit director for the wonderful Master of Westerns himself, Clint [00:19:00] Eastwood. And he is a amazingly accomplished cinematographer, steady cam operator and director.
[00:19:07] Amazing guy. We had a lot of fun. He's Canadians and he was super cool. He we were using these antique guns because it's a period piece and it was, and I just remember being close to the camera and I had heard the guns fire. We had done a little rehearsal, we were doing a camera rehearsal and I was making this move.
[00:19:28] And as I was coming around, the girl fired the rifle, and I swear to God, I must have jumped six feet in the air. It was so loud, it scared the living crap out of me, and I was just, ugh, . It was very embarrassing actually, but we ended up getting the shot. But it was it reminded me of how close we are to these types of things, but our.
[00:19:52] We had a big safety meeting every day and ev every day we were using these firearms and he would explain, this is a gun, this is this. And a lot [00:20:00] of times you think you're sitting there and going, okay, let's just get on with it. Can we just eat our food? Can we just get on with our day? But it actually is very important to discuss these safety things.
[00:20:07] Now, I was not on the set of rust. I have no idea, but I, you could hear that there, that they said it was a cold gun. But again, my biggest concern is how does live ammunition get on? How does that get confused with the other dummy rounds, the blanks that are used? That's really concerning to me.
[00:20:33] And I look and a lot of people were saying, oh, the gov the truck was super messy where they had the props, they had those. Lemme tell you something, I've worked on plenty of film sets. Stuff gets messy. , they were halfway through production. I believe it's it gets messy stuff. So anyone coming from an outsider, you go, oh, it was really messy.
[00:20:54] And these guys are weighing in on it, these journalists and talking heads. And it's have you ever been [00:21:00] to a film set? Man, it gets a little messy. , but it just begs the question. So back to my original thought, which is I was almost struck in the back of the head by a light that was not properly secured, that fell over.
[00:21:10] Cause it was actually an act actor had crossed in and he got tangled up with the extension cord or what we call a stinger on set. And I thought to myself, okay thinking about that incident, what if I had been killed? Because for sure if this light had hit me in the back of the head, it would've taken a chunk out of my skull.
[00:21:25] They're very. Very nature , you don't wanna get hit, especially as high as it was too. And I remember, so thinking about that, would someone have been criminally negligent for not properly laying the extension cord or the stinger as we call 'em, on set for not properly bagging down the light or making sure that no one, an actor couldn't trip over the chords and cause an accident like that?
[00:21:54] It is an interesting thought to think about. And again a gun is fired. It's a lot different than a light falling. [00:22:00] But again, where do we draw the line on the negligence? And shouldn't a performer who is in a movie, even if they're regardless of their pro producer or not, is it now their responsibility to check the firearm that they're being handed to, handed by another professional?
[00:22:17] And do they need to check that too? And think about this. This is Alec Baldwin. Obviously very rich and very famous, and this has obviously deeply affected this guy and he's talked about it publicly and whatever your sentiments are on Al Paul, when this is not the question , this is not what we're talking about.
[00:22:36] What I'm talking about is what if it's another actor that doesn't have the resources to defend themselves or they're caught up in this situation and maybe they're just starting their. and now they're going potentially facing jail because it's 18 months because of the involuntary manslaughter, but because there's a firearm used, he can get another five years and so can this armorer [00:23:00] who handed the gun over.
[00:23:03] It's, it really, it calls into question a lot of ethical questions and again, this is nothing a life was lost. Helena Hutchins lost her life, which is horrifically tragic. Again, but are we gonna now go after and criminally convict someone and put other people in prison and Yeah. Maybe an example needs to be set.
[00:23:28] I think that's what this prosecutor feels. I think there's a lot of people that feel this way. For me, I just, I'm really torn on this because I want to know how does a live round get into the set? How does who. Where was that happening? How does that happen? That's my big question for all of us.
[00:23:48] And look, I was a cinematographer in the union, local 600. There there are a lot of safety measures on set. This, I believe, was a non-union set, which to be honest with you, like I said, I've worked a long time in this industry. [00:24:00] Non-union sets can get a little hairy and I've had many a friend complain about dangers and things that, not even about firearms or anything like that.
[00:24:07] Just general safety and being able to take breaks on time and getting fed, and there's always things that fall by the wayside on these sets, but gun safety should never be one of them. But how did that live round? They don't really seem to be too concerned about how live rounds got into the set. And I've heard speculation and conjecture that.
[00:24:29] people were firing guns. It's New Mexico is an open carry state or a state where you can obviously have a firearm in possession of a firearm, right? It's not like California. But it's, it poses a lot of questions about how we, how justice will be carried out, what the implications are further into the entertainment industry and what is negligence and where does that line get drawn between.
[00:24:56] An accident and an intent [00:25:00] or charges being filed against someone. Because if that light had hit me in the back of the head, I'm pretty sure that no one would, would've been charged for my manslaughter or my murder on set. I just, I don't think that would've happened. But will this carry out a new, will this be a new set, a new standard in the entertainment industry that if there's negligence, like I think about.
[00:25:22] Obviously, one of the things that I think about on set is electricity, right? Because I was I've worked in the lighting departments. I cinematographer. We work a lot with lighting. We're always work with lighting and camera, and a lot of the electrical safety, you have to take safety courses in the union.
[00:25:39] But a lot of times on a non-union set, you're working with people that might not understand electricity, like when you're plugging in lights. You don't put your knee on the ground because the electricity will carry through you and kill you if it's not properly grounded, cuz you're essentially grounding yourself.
[00:25:54] So the electricity will run through you if you have on shoes with soles rubber soles, there is [00:26:00] insulation and you'll get sparked and it'll suck and it'll arc on you, as we call it, but you won't die most likely . And I've seen that. With people that have plugged in, generators that have plugged in what we call camlock, into electrical panels on sound stages that didn't know what they were doing, use things.
[00:26:18] We have a thing called a suicide pin, which you forces you to reverse connect something, the ground lead so you don't get killed. And there's all these safety measures in place, but sometimes safety measures don't work as in the. Of what happened on Rust. Call, I'm really curious and I'd love to hear your, you as the audiences, your thoughts on this, because I look, I know a lot of people have opinions of Hollywood, and again, he's a big famous actor, Alec Baldwin, but I like, I wonder what the way forward is, like, where do you draw the line on negligence?
[00:26:53] I just remember there was a, there hearing stories of someone. People have fallen off of high there, there [00:27:00] are beams that go across sound stages in Hollywood that are 80, a hundred feet up from the south stage where people are. And a lot of times you're not wearing a safety harness up there.
[00:27:09] You sometimes you're supposed to, but a lot of people don't do that. And they'll just walk up across these beams over the thing and they'll connect lights and connect PowerPoint cables and things. And I remember somebody fell and died. I believe someone on a James Cameron film back in the nineties was run over by a forklift or a lift device.
[00:27:30] Things happen and where do we draw the line? I don't know. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. I would love to hear your thoughts on today's episode. I have a lot of random thoughts popping through my. But I'm still focused on this balloon that's flying overhead. I don't know what's going on.
[00:27:46] If you guys are watching on YouTube, please leave a message and the comments below. Please and subscribe if you are on YouTube. And if you are listening to this podcast, please rate and review five stars on your podcast app, apple Podcast, wherever you get your podcast from. [00:28:00] I would really appreciate it, and I'd love to hear from you guys in the comments or in my social media.
[00:28:04] All my social medias at Callier Landry links below in the. Thank you all so much. This has been a, an interesting episode for me. And on that note, I'm Collier Landry, and this is moving Past Murder. Thanks y'all.
This podcast is made possible by support from listeners just like you. Please subscribe via Apple Podcast, Spotify Audible. Find us on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/collierlandry
The film A Murder in Mansfield is available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery Plus and Amazon Prime Video.
This podcast is a production of Don't Touch My Radio.
