[ad_1]
In the wooded darkness, MPs from South Carolina’s coastal Lowcountry walk through the sprawling hunting lodge property known to locals as the Moselle. There, on the night of June 7, they uncovered a gruesome murder scene: A mother and son were shot multiple times, their lifeless bodies lying on the ground near the family kennels.
A frantic 911 call was made by Alex Murdaugh, a personal injury lawyer, at 10:07 p.m. His voice quivered as he told a dispatcher that his wife, Margaret, and son, Paul, were not breathing. not.
“I’m gone,” said Alex Murdaugh. “I just got back.”
“It’s bad.”
The incident, later classified by state investigators as a double homicide, is still unsolved three months later. Additionally, the unanswered questions surrounding the murders have only scratched the surface of a meandering saga involving the Murdaughs, a well-connected and important legal family who wielded power for nearly a century in the South. east of South Carolina, and put more emphasis on scion Alex Murdaugh. .
The death – just days after the death of Paul and Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh – of the father of Alex Murdaugh, 81, family patriarch Randolph Murdaugh III, a retired 14th State Circuit prosecutor, added to the tragedy.
After weeks of intrigue, the case was re-examined on Saturday, when Alex Murdaugh called 911 to say he had been shot in a roadside attack in the county. rural hamlet. Another investigation was opened and it was revealed this week that Alex Murdaugh’s own law firm accused him of mismanaging money, resulting in the indefinite suspension of his lawyer’s license.
This is only part of a story that remains as murky and mysterious as the swampy waters of the Lowcountry.
‘What the hell is happening’
South Carolina’s law enforcement division gave no indication that the shootings of Margaret Murdaugh, 52, and Paul, 22, were directly linked to that of Alex Murdaugh, 53.
Investigators shared few details and did not name any suspects or people of interest or possible motives in either incident, saying they did not want to jeopardize the cases.
The apparent narrative has only grown heavier since the police have kept quiet.
Initially, Jim Griffin, a family friend and lawyer, told the media that Alex Murdaugh was driving his late wife’s black Mercedes-Benz SUV when he pulled over due to a flat tire and a pickup truck drove by, turned around and approached him. Then someone inside opened fire.
Griffin said he spoke with Alex Murdaugh’s brother Randolph Murdaugh IV, who works for the same law firm founded by the family patriarch, and told him his brother was able to make a phone call and continued to use his phone from his hospital bed in Charleston.
“It makes you wonder what’s going on,” Griffin said.
The next day, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division clarified that Murdaugh’s wound was a “shallow” gunshot to the head and that he was in fact airlifted to Memorial Health University Medical. Center in Savannah, Georgia. A family spokesperson said he is expected to recover.
Alex Murdaugh released a vague statement on Monday that he was resigning from his post at law firm Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick to enter rehab.
“The murders of my wife and son have caused an incredibly difficult time in my life,” he said, adding: “I am extremely sorry for everyone I have injured including my family, my friends and colleagues. “
Hours later, the law firm released its own statement, making it clear that Alex Murdaugh only resigned after the partners discovered he had embezzled funds. It is not known how much money Murdaugh is accused of taking and how it was used, and the law firm declined to comment further.
Randolph Murdaugh IV said in a statement he was “shocked” along with his colleagues to learn of his brother’s drug addiction and the money theft charges.
Conflicting accounts emerged Thursday when the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office initially released a report on the roadside shooting saying police saw “no visible injuries” to Alex Murdaugh.
But following questions about the inconsistency, the agency said it corrected the report to make it clear that an injury was visible.
Additionally, Griffin provided more details to The Island Packet on Thursday, telling the newspaper that Alex Murdaugh was driving when he noticed a light indicating he had a low tire on his car, he got out and encountered a man in a blue van. who ended up shooting him.
Griffin also told NBC News that Alex Murdaugh saw the shooter and met a cartoonist. He told The Island Packet that he would meet with investigators again once he completes an initial phase of drug rehab.
Griffin fought off rumors that the gunshot wound was self-inflicted.
“I don’t think you are choosing to have a flat tire or stage a flat tire to kill yourself. It just doesn’t make sense,” he said. “There are a lot of things (being reported) that are out of place.”
A family spokesperson remained adamant on Friday that the shooting had not been organized, saying there was an entry and exit wound and that Alex Murdaugh’s skull had been fractured.
“We know that [the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division] continues to work diligently to locate this individual and the person (s) who murdered Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, ”the spokesperson said.
The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday on the latest in its investigation.
“Mallory Beach has disappeared”
At the time of Paul Murdaugh’s death, he was on trial for the death of a teenage girl killed in a boating accident in early 2019.
Six youths, including Paul Murdaugh, were on a boat owned by Alex Murdaugh when it struck a stake under a bridge near Parris Island in Beaufort County at 2:20 a.m. Paul Murdaugh was driving, records show of the police.
One of the passengers – Mallory Beach, 19 – was reportedly seated on her boyfriend’s lap when she was thrown from the boat under impact.
A police report said the teens were “grossly intoxicated”. The Beach family have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Murdaughs and the convenience store chain that allegedly sold alcohol.
Local reports after the boat accident indicated that the Murdaugh family did not initially cooperate with the law enforcement investigation and that officers never took Paul Murdaugh for a blood alcohol test, according to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, which conducted the investigation.
Paul Murdaugh had pleaded not guilty to three counts of navigation under the influence. At the time, he was on personal undertaking bond of $ 50,000.
In the aftermath of the Paul and Margaret Murdaugh murders in June, as people began to reunite the sons connecting the family to Beach’s death, the South Carolina law enforcement division acknowledged in a statement that ” everyone has questions and rumors are plentiful. “
It is not known if investigators believe there is a link between the fallout from Beach’s death and the shootings.
State prosecutors last month officially dropped all charges against Paul Murdaugh over a matter of protocol. The wrongful death trial is still ongoing.
Beach’s death has left some wondering if a member of the Murdaugh family accused of a crime could be held accountable – or would they manage to shirk responsibility.
It is “a sad case,” David Lauderdale, longtime columnist for The Beaufort Gazette, wrote in 2019, “because it immediately raised a jarring question: is justice possible?”
“Stephen did not have justice”
After the unsolved murders of Paul and Margaret Murdaugh, state law enforcement officials also said they were opening an investigation into the death of another youth “on the basis of information gathered during of the double murder investigation “.
Stephen Smith was 19 when he was found dead on a rural road in Hampton County in 2015.
Investigators said at the time that it appeared Smith was struck by a vehicle while standing outside his car while running out of gas, the affiliate reported. NBC WCBD in Charleston.
But initially, according to an investigator’s report obtained by The Island Packet, Smith was found with a “defensive wound” to his hand and a homicide investigation has been opened. However, the case fell apart when a forensic scientist later wrote in a report that Smith’s cause of death was in fact struck in the head by a car mirror, part of an apparent misdemeanor misdemeanor. leak.
But no glass or debris from a car was found where Smith’s body was or in the immediate vicinity, The Island Packet reported.
Meanwhile, South Carolina Highway Patrol investigators said they received reports that Paul Murdaugh’s older brother Buster may have been connected. An investigator has attempted to contact Buster Murdaugh, but the extent of the conversations is unclear and state investigators have declined to discuss the case.
Buster Murdaugh and Smith reportedly graduated in 2014 from the same high school. His body was found approximately 15 miles from Murdaugh Estate in Moselle.
No member of the Murdaugh family has been directly cited as being involved in Smith’s death. A family spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
But Smith’s mother Sandy has long argued that there was more to the story and believes her son was beaten up and the victim of a crime.
“The way his body was lying on the road, with his arm dislocated and tucked behind his body, I just don’t think he was hit by a vehicle’s rearview mirror,” she said in 2015 .
The news of an investigation was encouraging, she told ABC affiliate WCIV in June.
“We’ve been waiting for this forever,” said Sandy Smith. “Stephen has always been put on the back burner. It’s like no one is looking for answers. Stephen didn’t get justice.”
[ad_2]
Source link