Alex Murdaugh, a once successful lawyer, is on trial for murder, accused of murdering his wife and children as his finances and legal career crumbled.
The Murder of Alex Murtaugh:
The murder of a woman and her kid. Millions of dollars have been taken. New investigations have been launched into a catastrophic boat disaster and a fatal fall by a maid.
The terrible circumstances surrounding a lawyer and his family in South Carolina got more baffling over time, leading to many arrests, startling turns — and now, one of the country’s most widely watched cases.
At its heart is Alex Murdaugh, 54, whose family has controlled the legal scene in the state’s south for 100 years and is now on trial on two charges of murder. Prosecutors accuse him of murdering his wife and children in an unsuccessful effort to cover his financial misdeeds. Mr Murdaugh has defended his innocence in the killings of his wife and son, and his counsel declared before the trial that he “stands forward to this opportunity to clear his reputation.” The inquiry into Mr Murdaugh has generated numerous further questions about three earlier fatalities in the family’s vicinity.
What Occurred in the First ‘Murdaugh Murders’?
The shooting deaths of Mr Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, 52, and their son Paul, a 22-year-old junior at the University of South Carolina, shook the state’s Lowcountry area, where the Murdaugh family had formed a legal dynasty.
Mr Murdaugh told officials that he found their dead after returning to the family’s small house in Islandton, a tiny town approximately 65 miles west of Charleston. In the tape of his 911 call, which he made shortly after 10 p.m., a very disturbed Mr Murdaugh said that he had gotten home and discovered their carcasses on the ground “out at my kennel.”
When and Why was Alex Murdaugh Shot?
Prosecutors said that almost three months after Mr Murdaugh’s wife and son were murdered, an employee at his legal company, which his great-grandfather started more than a century ago, discovered a check that was meant to be addressed to the firm but was made out to Mr Murdaugh. That discovery prompted the business to do an additional investigation and, upon discovering proof of financial impropriety, to request his departure, which he gladly accepted.
Mr Murdaugh said the following day, Sept. 4, 2021, that he was shot in the head on the side of a rural road by someone who passed by while fixing a flat tyre. He was rushed to the hospital, but his narrative quickly unravelled. He was not, as he said, alone by the side of the road but was with a friend and distant relative, Curtis Edward Smith.
Medical records show that Mr Murdaugh had been shot in the back of the head, but he could subsequently call for help. Mr Murdaugh apologised to his “family, friends, and coworkers” two days later and said he was attending treatment for a painkiller addiction.
In 2018, How did a Housekeeper Die at the Murdaugh Residence?
Gloria Satterfield, who had worked for Mr Murdaugh and his family for more than 20 years as a nanny and housekeeper, fell at their home in February 2018 and passed away from her injuries a few weeks later.
Mr Murdaugh introduced her two adult sons to a lawyer after her burial, who he said would help them settle the difficulties surrounding their mother’s death. Still, the boys claimed in a recent lawsuit that they had no idea the lawyer, Cory Fleming, was a close friend of Mr Murdaugh’s. Mr Fleming obtained a $4.3 million settlement with Mr Murdaugh and his insurers, which was scheduled to transfer around $2.8 million to Ms Satterfield’s boys after lawyer’s expenses. Still, the sons claimed in September 2021 that they had just recently heard about the transaction and had never received any money.
How Influential is the Murdaugh Family?
The Murdaugh legal dynasty may be traced back to Randolph Murdaugh, who maintained a one-person law firm before being chosen as the first lead prosecutor over a five-county district covering 3,200 square miles in 1920.
He held the role for two decades until being killed in a railway accident. Then his son, Randolph Murdaugh Jr., sometimes known as Buster, took up his father’s position as Solicitor of the 14th Circuit. When the younger Murdaugh resigned after 46 years, his son, Randolph Murdaugh III, Alex Murdaugh’s father, was elected and served until 2006.
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