If you start with the premise that desperate people do desperate things, I think you can conjure a motive that fits the narrative of what we know now as it relates to what Alex was thinking on Monday morning June 7th of 2021. You have to make the allowance that it won’t necessarily make total sense to someone not in Alex’s shoes, but it was the best he could do given his situation. I doubt he was eager to do it, more resigned that it had to be done than anything.
Alex was/is a narcissist and he just can’t allow for others actions to ruin him, at least not while he can still prevent it.
He had a raging drug addiction and from the sound of it, Paul and Maggie were the only two that held his feet to the fire. They were bird dogging him in the prior weeks leading up to this point and taking his pills.
I would assume he was angry at them for this. The guy has money troubles and he is having to spend thousands of dollars extra to feed a habit that has totally taken control of his life. They are making it hard for him to survive. I can only assume Alex knew he couldn’t beat the habit, based off of the testimony I saw, so he had to find a way to live with taking drugs and not have his wife and son in his grill every step of the way.
He has a hearing in 3 days that will cover, amongst other things, a motion to compel him to disclose financial information because of the boat case suit. The outcome was going to lead him to disclose some level of information to Mark Tinsley, how much at that time was up for debate, but ultimately Tinsley wasn’t the issue.
Danny Henderson (Alex’s attorney) was likely going to have access to all of Alex‘s financial documents in preparing a court ordered summary. That would likely lead to the discovery of millions of dollars of theft at some point in the not too distant future. Danny was a law partner and would have been compelled to report it. The discovery would end Alex’s career, tarnish his family name and land him in jail.
The CFO of his law firm is pestering him about fees to the tune of $750 thousand dollars that has not come to the firm and should have by now on the Farris case. She has information suggesting something is amiss and for the second or third time, brings it to Alex’s attention on the morning of the 7th.
She testified she told Alex she had reason to believe he had received those funds personally. Previous to this she simply was enquiring about when they would arrive and why they hadn’t received them. Alex said he was waiting, trying to see what his options were to get the funds In Maggie’s name due to the boat case. Clearly he was concerned that his finances were going to be under a microscope to some degree. The CFO had notified other partners Alex was wanting to hide money and they said no way. Alex was on the clock to get the Farris fee situation figured out. He was going to have to get the money back to Chris Wilson or risk being fired or having his finances more thoroughly looked into at the law firm.
There was speculation, although not presented at trial, that Alex and Maggie were having marital issues. Certainly not hard to imagine given what we now know. Regardless of the truth of Maggie visiting a divorce attorney or not, I do know most people threaten divorce long before they ever follow through, if they ever follow through. So let’s assume Maggie is or has been telling Alex to get off of the drugs or I am gone. Alex knows if that happens, Mags will take him to the cleaners and the theft will come to light.
I can only assume Alex thought that a tragic accident that killed Paul and Maggie would provide the opportunity to make most of these issues go away. There has been enough testimony to indicate that is likely true.
The boat case could be settled for far less money with out financial discovery. The law firm certainly wouldn’t press him on the Farris fees right away and he could figure out how to get the money back to Chris Wilson and put that fire out. I am not sure the drug thing really was a driving factor, but it was probably a silver lining that he could carry on with out the headache of accountability.
Ultimately most of the desired outcome either happened or was headed in the right direction the first few weeks after the murders.
The problem with the plan Alex crafted is it didn’t give LE any real viable suspects to focus on. There was nothing, no one other than the idea it was vigilante justice related to the boat case.
The boat accident had been two and half years prior and the timing just didn’t fit. Add in that he simply didn’t craft a very good plan that gave him an alibi or set it up in such a way that he could be ruled out rather quickly.
Alex is the only one who truly knows why he did what he did. Regardless of the motive, the facts of the case simply don’t allow for a reasonable alternative other than Alex killing them. Now that he has willingly admitted to lying numerous times about being at the crime scene minutes before Paul and Maggie were killed, I don’t see how a reasonable person can’t conclude he wasn’t the one.
There is plenty of evidence, electronic fingerprints, guns missing, clothes missing, witnesses feeling like Alex was coercing them, etc. that point the finger squarely at Alex. No other scenario outside of Alex planning this would have unfolded in this manner.
The motive isn’t necessary, but there clearly is one.