An attorney for Alex Murdaugh says the embattled South Carolina legal scion will turn himself in on Thursday after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Jim Griffin said that Murdaugh has a bond hearing at 4 p.m. at the Hampton County Magistrate Court on a charge of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, WCBD reports.
The charges relate to Murdaugh’s alleged shooting on September 4, when he called 911 to report that he’d been shot by an unknown assailant. But on Tuesday, the State Law Enforcement Division arrested Curtis Edward Smith, 61, on charges of assisted suicide, assault and battery of a high aggravated nature, pointing and presenting a firearm, insurance fraud, and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, as CrimeOnline previously reported.
According to the affidavits released by SLED, Murdaugh provided Smith with a firearm and instructed Smith to kill him by shooting him in the head. Murdaugh admitted to the plot on September 13, and told SLED he planned to have Smith kill him “for the purpose of his son collecting a life insurance policy valued at approximately ten million dollars.”
Murdaugh resigned from his law firm — founded by his great-grandfather — the day before the shooting after other members of the firm confronted him with allegations that he had misappropriated fund from the firm. Two days after the shooting, Murdaugh left the hospital, where he had been treated for a “superficial gunshot wound to the head,” and announced he was entering rehab.
He cited “a long battle” exacerbated by the June 7 murders of his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul,” as the reason behind his entering into treatment.
SLED has been investigating the murders as well as Murdaugh’s shooting, and on Wednesday, the agency announced it was opening an investigation into the death of longtime Murdaugh family housekeeper Gloria Satterfield in 2018. The Hampton County Coroner requested the investigation, saying their office was not informed of the death and Satterfield’s death certificate gave “natural” as the cause of death while a request to approve a wrongful death settlement said she died after tripping and falling on the Murdaugh’s steps.
Murdaugh is also facing two lawsuits: one filed Wednesday by Satterfield’s sons, who say they never received any money from that settlement and a second by the mother of Mallory Beach, a 19-year-old who died when she was thrown from a boat driving by an allegedly drunk Paul Murdaugh into bridge pilings. Beach’s body was found a week later.
Read all CrimeOnline’s coverage of the Murdaugh family tribulations.
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[Featured image: Alex Murdaugh/Facebook]
