In the low country of South Carolina, Alex Murdaugh’s family had a prosecuting dynasty, with his father, grandpa, and great-grandfather holding the position for 86 continuous years. But with a long list of odd alleged crimes and acts of violence that might take years to thoroughly examine, he has turned the family heritage on its head.
Murdaugh, 63, was charged with murder on Thursday in connection with the murders of his adult son Paul and wife Maggie, who were discovered shot outside the family’s hunting lodge in June. The grand jury indictment claims that the personal injury lawyer shot and murdered his 22-year-old son and 52-year-old wife over the course of a 13-month inquiry, but it did not specify how the connection between Murdaugh and the deaths was made. Murdaugh, who discovered the dead and alerted authorities, has denied killing his family members. According to his attorneys, he was visiting his dementia-stricken mother at the time that his wife and son were slain, and a caregiver was there to support his alibi. Two people involved with the investigation, according to NBC News, assert that police have cellphone recordings showing Murdaugh at the crime site moments before the deaths took place.
The allegations announced on Thursday are the first to link Murdaugh to his family members’ fatal accidents. But he has previously been detained for a while owing to a number of peculiar purported misdeeds. He reportedly hired a hit man to kill him in order for his other son to get $10 million from a life insurance policy, and he then turned himself in last September. He was accused of stealing money by the century-old legal practise his family built two days after the attempted suicide-for-hire. Authorities discovered that he reportedly took $8.5 million from clients during the murder probe. He was charged with 48 connected crimes, including forgery, breach of trust with fraudulent purpose, and money laundering, in the latter half of 2021. He was charged with 21 charges of trust breach with fraudulent purpose and six counts of computer offences in January. The state’s top court is now seeking to have him barred after his legal licence was revoked last October.
Authorities have also launched an investigation into the death of Murdaugh’s maid Gloria Satterfield in 2018, which was allegedly caused by a “trip and fall accident” on his property, according to attorneys. Authorities state that in June of last year, a case involving a 19-year-old who passed away from a head injury was reopened by detectives “based upon evidence collected over the course of the double-murder investigation.”
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