Prosecutors alleged on Thursday that disbarred South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh waited an hour to call 911 after the 2021 murders of his wife and son.
State Grand Jury Chief Prosecutor Creighton Waters also claimed that video footage shows Murdaugh at the family’s 1,770-acre lodge in Colleton County with Paul and Maggie before their phone activity ceased. Murdaugh maintains he was with his ailing father — not at the lodge — at the time of his wife and son’s slayings, according to the Daily Beast.
In June 2021, Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, 52 and 22, were found fatally shot at the family’s lodge. Alex is believed to have acted alone in their slayings. Maggie was reportedly killed with a rifle while a shotgun was used in Paul’s slaying.
Murdaugh was allegedly filmed driving away from the lodge at 9:06 p.m. — an hour before he called 911 to report their deaths.
Prosecutors have not yet revealed a motive in this case. The Daily Beast reported that detectives are currently comparing DNA from the murder scene to evidence from the September 2021 suicide-for-hire plot that Murdaugh survived.
In the September 2021 case, the disgraced lawyer was left with superficial head wounds when he allegedly had former client Curtis Smith, 61, shoot him in the head so his son Buster would receive a $10 million insurance payout. A day before the shooting, Murdaugh was forced out of his family law firm amid allegations he misappropriated funds.
Two days after the apparent botched suicide, Murdaugh announced he was entering rehabilitation for drugs. Murdaugh was charged with insurance fraud in connection with the suicide-for-hire plot and released on bail.
However, in October 2021, Murdaugh was rearrested upon leaving a rehabilitation center in Florida for allegedly stealing $4.3 million from the estate of his former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who suffered a fatal fall on his property in February 2018.
In that case, he was accused of stealing insurance payouts that were intended for Satterfield’s family. Authorities plan to exhume Satterfield’s body amid an ongoing investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death.
In June of this year, Murdaugh and Smith were indicted for allegedly purchasing and distributing oxycodone in multiple counties.
Murdaugh was charged with his wife and son’s murders days after he was formally disbarred by the South Carolina Supreme Court.
In addition to the murder charges, Murdaugh is facing 84 criminal counts for allegedly stealing money from a slew of clients and his former law firm. He remains jailed on $7 million bail.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast. Listen to a related episode below.
[Featured image: L-R: Buster, Maggie, Paul, Alex/Facebook]
