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Murdaugh Family Murders: Maggie’s Sister Says Alex Was Obsessed With Clearing Paul’s Name — Not Finding Their Killer
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On Tuesday, Maggie Murdaugh’s sister testified that Alex was mainly concerned with clearing Paul’s name in a deadly boat crash, not finding out who killed him and his wife.

“We’ve got to find out who’ve done this,” Marion Proctor recalled telling Alex days after the murders. She reportedly asked Alex who he thought killed Maggie and Paul. Alex allegedly said he was not sure but whoever did it thought about it for a long time. Marion noted that she did not understand what this meant.

“I thought that was so strange because my No. 1 was to find out who killed my sister and Paul,” she commented.

Proctor testified that Alex told her mother that on the day of the murders, he took a nap after having dinner with Maggie and Paul. Proctor said she was surprised they did not go to Almeda with Alex to visit his parents because she had believed the only reason Maggie met with Alex at the Moselle property was to see Alex’s parents.

Proctor alleged that Maggie was in Edisto overseeing work on another house when Alex wanted her to come home to Moselle that night. Proctor said she was under the impression that Alex wanted to see his ailing parents, so she encouraged Maggie to meet him in Moselle.

After the slayings, Proctor said she asked Alex if Paul and Maggie suffered and he said they did not.

Alex has claimed he was napping on the family property when his wife and son went to the dog kennels and were fatally shot. Alex said he woke up and went to his mother’s home before returning and finding their bodies.

In February 2019, Paul reportedly crashed his boat into Archer’s Creek Bridge in Beaufort County. Passenger Mallory Beach, 19, was ejected from the boat and killed; five other people aboard were injured. Paul was charged with felony boating under the influence in connection with Beach’s death, but he was murdered before he could face trial.

Prosecutors said cell phone data and forensic evidence tie Alex to the slayings. Meanwhile, Alex’s attorney, Dick Harpootlian, said the cell phone records were incomplete and asserted that Alex would be covered in blood if he killed his wife and son at close range. Harpootlian said no blood was found on Alex’s clothing.

In September 2021, months after Paul and Maggie’s slayings, Alex suffered superficial head wounds when he allegedly had former client Curtis Smith, 61, shoot him in the head so his surviving son, Buster, would receive a $10 million insurance payout.

A day before the shooting, Alex was forced out of his family law firm amid allegations he misappropriated funds.

Two days after the apparent botched suicide, Alex announced he was entering rehabilitation for drugs. Shortly after that, he was charged with insurance fraud in connection with the September 2021 suicide-for-hire plot and released on bail.

However, in October 2021, Alex was rearrested upon leaving a rehabilitation center in Florida for allegedly stealing $4.3 million from Satterfield’s estate. In that case, he was accused of stealing insurance payouts that were intended for Satterfield’s family. Authorities plan to exhume her body amid an ongoing investigation regarding her death.

In addition to the murder charges, Alex faces more than 100 criminal counts related to fraud.

In June 2022, Alex and Smith were indicted for allegedly purchasing and distributing oxycodone in multiple counties. In December 2022, Alex was indicted for tax evasion for allegedly failing to claim the $6 million he allegedly earned through illegal acts between 2011 and 2019.

Alex was charged with Maggie and Paul’s murders days after he was formally disbarred by the South Carolina Supreme Court.

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