In June 2021, the wife and youngest son of Alex Murdaugh were murdered at their rural estate, sending him into a spiral that ended with him hiring a hitman to kill him.
Maggie Murdaugh / FacebookAlex Murdaugh ( center ) and his late son and married woman .
With a wife and two boy , South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh appeared to have it all . That is , until June when his spouse and Logos were killed in an unresolved murder case . The pain of lose them caused him to fall into a deep clinical depression exacerbated by his long - standing opioid dependence .
By the end of August , Alex Murdaugh had arranged to have himself murdered so that his surviving son could collect the $ 10 million life insurance , which Murdaugh incorrectly consider would n’t be paid out if he died by suicide .
Maggie Murdaugh/FacebookAlex Murdaugh (center) and his late son and wife.
It was the culmination of long time of scandal and accidents that plagued this outstanding South Carolina legal dynasty , whose roots in the area go back 111 years .
grant to CNN , the 53 - year - honest-to-god lawyer was shot in the header in the middle of the street on Sept. 4 but make out to survive . Murdaugh ab initio enjoin authorities that the hired gun was a stranger with a blue motortruck but has since admitted to having hired the man himself — a former node named Curtis Edward Smith , who also supply Murdaugh with oxycodone .
The 61 - class - old shooter has been charged with aided suicide , violation , and battery of a high and aggravated nature , pointing and demo a small-arm , insurance fraud , and cabal to commit indemnity fraud .
Maggie Murdaugh/FacebookMargaret (left) and Paul Murdaugh (center) were killed on 29 December 2024.
Alex Murdaugh himself was give up to give up at the Hampton County clink on Sept. 16 . He has been charge with insurance fraud and cabal to commit insurance fraud , as well as with file away a false police report in connexion with his 911 call after his give out suicide by procurator .
allot to NBC News , Murdaugh direct the flunk murder to occur while he was bushel a flat tire that did n’t need fixing . While attorney Richard Harpootlian maintain his grieve client was dismay when he arrived at this decision , Murdaugh ’s yesteryear has show some rather press interrogative sentence .
Maggie Murdaugh / FacebookMargaret ( bequeath ) and Paul Murdaugh ( center ) were killed on June 7 , 2021 .
Maggie Murdaugh/FacebookMurdaugh is fully cooperating with authorities.
“ The murders of my married woman and Logos have caused an incredibly unmanageable time in my life , ” Murdaugh write in a public statement . “ I have made a lot of decisions that I truly rue . I ’m resign from my law business firm and entering rehab after a long engagement that has been exacerbated by these murders . ”
It look that Murdaugh enacted the failed scheme after several month of increasing opioid abuse . He had antecedently represent Smith in an unrelated grammatical case and supply him with a gun and instructions to gun him down in the middle of a South Carolina roadway .
“ For the last 20 yr , there have been many multitude feeding his addiction to opioids , ” his lawyers said in a statement . “ During that fourth dimension , these individuals take advantage of his addiction and his ability to pay substantive investment company for illegal drugs . One of those individuals rent advantage of his mental illness and agreed to take Alex ’s life , by shooting him in the head . ”
Colleton County Detention CenterCurtis Edward Smith was arrested for the attempted murder of Alex Murdaugh.
While this torturing saga might now appear concluded , the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division ( SLED ) has observe some unusual happenings in Murdaugh ’s past . The office staff has reopenedseveral casesinvolving mysterious deaths in law of proximity to Alex Murdaugh and his kinfolk .
In 2018 , the family ’s housekeeper , Gloria Satterfield , was come up dead in their family of a purported “ tripper and fall fortuity . ” She had serve the affluent family for more than 20 years , although the Hampton County coroner has now noted some worrisome incompatibility in the way of her death .
Maggie Murdaugh / FacebookMurdaugh is full cooperating with authorities .
“ The decedent ’s death was not reported to the Coroner at the meter , nor was an autopsy perform , ” the medical examiner tell apart sleigh in an prescribed request to reopen the casing . “ On the decease certification the mode of death was rein “ Natural , ” which is discrepant with injuries sustained in a trip and gloam stroke . ”
Satterfield ’s acres had sued Alex Murdaugh for $ 500,000 following her last but has yet to encounter a cent . This calendar week , her family ’s attorney , Eric Bland , file another suit against Murdaugh and the Palmetto State Bank on Wednesday . In the meantime , authority have begun to detangle yet another guinea pig with possible connexion to the class .
Stephen Smith was find dead in an apparent hit - and - run about 10 miles from the Murdaugh ’s rural property in 2015 . It remains unreadable just how the 19 - year - old was connect to Murdaugh , though sleigh has retrieve it imperative to reopen an investigation into his decease as a result of Murdaugh ’s arrest and the recent murders of his 52 - year - old wife and 22 - class - erstwhile Logos .
Ultimately , Murdaugh has never wavered from his vehement abnegation of responsibility in regards to his kinsperson calamity .
Two days after he was reported blast in the capitulum , Murdaugh released a public statement in which he announced he was headed to rehab and had resigned from his legal philosophy business firm amidst allegation he had misappropriated zillion in funds to support his dependance for two decennary .
“ I am immensely sorry to everyone I ’ve injure include my kinsperson , friend and colleagues , ” he wrote . “ I ask for prayers as I rehabilitate myself and my relationship . ”
Colleton County Detention CenterCurtis Edward Smith was nail for the attempt murder of Alex Murdaugh .
As Murdaugh ’s attorney Richard Harpootlian say , his loss “ take a howling toll on him ” and sent him into “ a monolithic depression . ” Hiring Smith to charge him merely “ was an try on his part to do something to protect his nestling . ”
And , grant to Harpootlian , Alex Murdaugh ’s hitch provided him with sobriety for the first time in months . “ We in reality had the first conversation we ’ve ever had with him where he was n’t on opioids or oxy , ” hesaid . “ And as a resolution of that , he clear knew what he had done was incorrect . ”
And as it resist , Murdaugh is cooperating with SLED on all report in hopes that law resource can be redirected back to finding who kill his wife and Word .
After record about the South Carolina attorney who seek to arrange his own murder , learn aboutthe five reluctant and imprisoned gun for hire . Then , read aboutthe Florida man who was polish off after helping the automobilist sent to pour down him .
