South Carolina police called for help from the FBI to investigate the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, who were both murdered on June 7th in their Colleton County estate.
SLED agents have since been investigating the murders, utilizing federal assistance as needed. But there is more to this story than these murders have let on.
Alex Murdaugh (father and husband to Paul and Maggie) is the scion of South Carolina’s prominent law dynasty. The Murdaugh family name has been well-known among the small South Carolina town and the law community for almost a century now.
The Murdaugh family established the prominent PMPED firm in 1910, and they’ve held a position of power within this firm ever since.
Also known for being “a railroad company’s biggest nightmare,” PMPED has a nationwide reputation for its consistent advocation for railroad employees and others who have suffered injury or loss of loved ones due to negligence by railroad companies.
Alex Murdaugh was the next family member to work in the firm, and since his reign, things have taken a dark turn for the Murdaugh family.
Public Information Officer Tommy Crosby added, “As a result of the brutal murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh on June 7, SLED’s initial priority was finding anyone responsible for their deaths. During the course of the double murder investigation, SLED agents have uncovered other potential crimes that warrant further investigation.”
Paul was connected to the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach who went missing in a boat crash near Parris Island in late February 2019.
Her body was found just a week later, and further investigation uncovered bloodstains and numerous containers of beer aboard the damaged boat.
The Beach family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against several parties, and Paul Murdaugh was one of the suspects indicted for allegedly boating under the influence.
The charges were still pending when Paul and his mother, Maggie Murdaugh, were murdered at the family’s hunting estate in Colleton County.
No arrests were made in connection to the double homicide, but more dirt on the father Alex, and the history of the Murdaugh family has since been uncovered.
In what seems to be a botched scheme to organize his own death, Alex Murdaugh called 911 to report that he’d been shot in the head while changing a tire in Hampton County. Just 8 days before, he renounced his right to personally represent the estate of his younger son Paul.
His defense attorney has since claimed that this was a scheme poorly executed by Alex, who organized his own death so that his surviving son Buster could collect a $10 million life insurance policy.
SLED immediately began investigating the case once he was hospitalized in Savannah.
On September 14th, Curtis Smith was arrested in connection to the assisted suicide shooting of Alex Murdaugh. And it was at this point that authorities say he admitted to his scheme of setting up his son to collect the $10 million life insurance policy.
Shortly after, Alex Murdaugh turned himself in to the Hampton County Detention Center. Hampton County Magistrate Judge Tonja Alexander set his bond at $20,000, and he was released on his own recognizance.
Alex Murdaugh has been charged in connection with his own attempted suicide shooting, alongside other charges of insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, along filing a false police report. Since then, his license to practice law has also been revoked.
There is still to be a clear perpetrator in the murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh, SLED Chief Mark Keel said “SLED agents continue to work diligently to bring justice to all victims in these cases. As I have previously stated, our agents remain committed to following the facts no matter where they lead us.”
The Fall of the Murdaugh family is one driven by power and money-hungry greed, ultimately ending the era of the family’s reign in the law world.
