Who is Alex Murdaugh and what happened to him? | The Sun

DISBARRED lawyer Alex Murdaugh is standing trial for the murders of his wife and son in June 2021.

Court documents were released providing further clues into the timing of events and what happened the night Murdaugh's family was murdered.

Who is Alex Murdaugh?

Alex Murdaugh is the husband of Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and their 22-year-old son, Paul who were found dead in their family home on June 7, 2021.

Murdaugh was the eighth in a long line of prosecutors dating back to the first elected official over 100 years ago, but everything changed when he made a 911 call at 10.07pm to report his wife and son had been fatally shot.

Authorities found shell casings at the scene and said Maggie and Paul had been shot several times and they had not initially found a weapon.

According to a timeline of events, Murdaugh called the police dispatcher and told them he arrived home to find the lifeless bodies of his son and wife.

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"I've been gone," Murdaugh told a dispatcher, adding: "I just came back."

A coroner determined Maggie and Paul had likely died between 9pm and 9.30pm, but Murdaugh provided an alibi that he had spent the day with his mother, who has dementia, and her caretaker.

However, the case surrounding the murders began to unravel when three months later, Murdaugh was driving when his vehicle had a flat tire.

He reportedly stopped to change the tire when a man driving by turned around and shot Murdaugh.

He sustained a minor gunshot wound to the head, and information later revealed Murtaugh had hired a man to kill him so his eldest son, Butler, would receive the $10million insurance money.

The man, identified as 61-year-old Curtis Edward Smith, was arrested on charges of assisted suicide, assault and battery, pointing and presenting a firearm, insurance fraud, and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

Investigators delved into Murdaugh's past and revealed he had committed fraudulent business dealings and he was arrested on November 19, 2021.

He was charged with 27 counts of indictment including breach of trust with fraudulent intent, obtaining signature or property by false pretenses, money laundering, computer crimes, and forgery.

The state attorney general's office said: "Altogether, Murdaugh is charged with respect to alleged schemes to defraud victims and thereafter launder" nearly $4.9 million.

In January he faced another 23 charges, including breach of trust with fraudulent intent and computer crimes.

The total amounts to 71 charges of fraud and theft, amounting to about $8.5million over 11 years.

Was Alex Murdaugh charged with murder?

The investigation into Maggie and Paul's murders gained momentum in July 2022 when authorities uncovered a cellphone video that they said allegedly linked Murdaugh to the crime.

Murdaugh was arrested on a double murder charge on July 14 for the slayings of his wife and son.

“Over the last 13 months, SLED agents and our partners have worked day in and day out to build a case against the person responsible for the murders of Maggie and Paul and to exclude those who were not," Mark Keel, the chief of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, or SLED, told NBC News.

"At no point did agents lose focus on this investigation. From the beginning, I have been clear the priority was to ensure justice was served. Today is one more step in a long process for justice for Maggie and Paul.”

Federal agents said the new video placed Murdaugh at the scene of the crime when the murders occurred.

Murdaugh's lawyers said in a statement at the time: "Alex wants his family, friends, and everyone to know that he did not have anything to do with the murders of Maggie and Paul. He loved them more than anything in the world."

The statement continued: "It was very clear from day one that law enforcement and the Attorney General prematurely concluded that Alex was responsible for the murder of his wife and son.

"But we know that Alex did not have any motive whatsoever to murder them."

His lawyers filed a motion to hand over evidence acquired within 30 days and demanded to have a trial within 60 days of receipt of the evidence.

Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to the double murder charge and a trial date has been set for January 23, 2023.

What does the new information show?

New court documents reveal a key component in the murder trial against Murdaugh pertaining to his location and the time of death.

Prosecutors noted Maggie and Paul died between 8.30 and 10.06pm, although a coroner initially put their deaths to have occurred between 9 and 9.30pm.

Prosecutors revealed at an August hearing that Paul's phone captured video and audio of his parents' conversation shortly before their deaths at 8.44pm.

At the hearing, prosecutors revealed Murdaugh had left the property in his car at 9.06pm and headed to his father's home in Alameda and an hour later, the 911 call came in from the Moselle property where the bodies were found.

Murdaugh's lawyers have been ordered to provide their client's alibi within ten days including the specific place or places Murdaugh claims to have been.

They also have ordered Murdaugh to provide the names and addresses of the witnesses who will back up his alibi.

If Murdaugh plans to plead "insanity, mental illness, entrapment, or duress," he is required to do so within the ten-day time limit.

Murdaugh's lawyer Dick Harpootlian said in July his client wanted to expedite the trial "for a number of reasons – one, as you heard, he believes he’s innocent.

"And two, he believes the killer or killers are still at large and wants SLED to put this behind them and go look for the real killers." 

Prosecutor Creighton Waters didn't reveal the specifics of what was found on the video recording but told the courtroom: "The evidence in this case is substantial. It all comes back to Alex Murdaugh."

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