Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was charged with murder Thursday in the deaths of his wife and youngest son, who were fatally shot outside their home more than a year ago. Murdaugh is already in prison and faces dozens of criminal charges that have piled up in the months since he killed his wife, Maggie, 52, and their 22-year-old son, Paul. But until now he had not been charged in the deaths of his wife and son. Indictments handed up by a grand jury in Colleton County, where the shootings took place, allege Murdaugh killed his wife with a rifle and his son with a shotgun. They do not include details of how police connected Murdaugh to the deaths after a 13-month investigation. More details may be released at a bond hearing, which has not been scheduled. Murdaugh, 54, has repeatedly denied any involvement in the deaths, saying he was visiting his mother and ailing father and discovered his son and wife killed when he returned to their property. “Alex wants his family, his friends and everyone to know that he had nothing to do with the murders of Maggie and Paul. He loved them more than anything in the world,” said Murdoch’s defense attorneys, Jim Griffin and Dick Harputlian. . Murdaugh was also charged Thursday with possession of a weapon during a violent crime. The Murdaugh family has dominated the legal scene in tiny, neighboring Hampton County for nearly a century. Murdaugh’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather were elected district attorneys for 87 consecutive years. Murdaugh once worked for the century-old, family-owned law firm, which he said in September was embezzling money. Throughout the investigation, state police have released few details about the case, and Thursday’s indictments were no exception. A joint statement from state Law Enforcement Chief Mark Keel and state Attorney General Alan Wilson said they would not comment on specifics because the investigation remains active and a court case is pending. “For the past 13 months, SLED agents and our partners have worked every day to build a case against the person responsible for Maggie and Paul’s murders and rule out those who were not. At no point did the agents lose focus them in this investigation,” Keel said in the statement. Murdaugh’s attorneys said it was “very clear from day one” that law enforcement was focused on Murdaugh and no one else. They said they want his trial to be held in the next three months, “We know Alex had no motive to murder them,” defense attorneys said. If convicted of murder, Murdaugh would face 30 years to life in prison without parole. Prosecutors could also choose to seek the death penalty under state law because more than one person was killed. The June 2021 deaths prompted authorities to look into all corners of Murdo’s life. At least half a dozen investigations have resulted in accusations that he stole $8.5 million from people who hired him and lied to police about being shot by a stranger on the side of the road when, officials say, he actually asked a friend to kill him so his surviving son could collect on a $10 million life insurance policy just days after the family company found he was embezzling money. State police said information gathered in the Murdaugh investigations also led them to re-examine what was initially reported as the July 2015 death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith in Hampton County, although they did not provide further details. . Agents also exhumed the body of Murdaugh’s housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who the family said died at the hospital several days after a fall in 2018. Prosecutors said Murdaugh asked his home insurers to pay more than $4 million dollars in wrongful death claims in Satterfield’s case saying she was negotiating for her family but didn’t give them any of the money. In June, Murdaugh was indicted on an eight-year money laundering and painkiller ring, which Murdaugh accused of trying to help him kill himself. Murdaugh wrote 437 checks worth $2.4 million that his friend cashed over eight years, keeping some of the money for himself and funneling the rest to widespread illegal activities, according to indictments unsealed last month. The South Carolina Supreme Court dismissed Murdaugh on Tuesday, confirming the inevitable after Murdaugh’s lawyers declined to challenge the arguments at a June hearing. Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were shot multiple times between 9 and 9:30 p.m. on the night of June 7, 2021, outside their home on the family’s land near Islandton, authorities said. Their bodies were found near dog kennels, according to Colleton County Coroner Richard Harvey. At the time, authorities said Alex Murdaugh discovered the bodies and called 911. Murdaugh sounded deeply upset and agitated during the call, immediately identifying himself and telling the operator “his wife and child were shot” on the property of. “I’m over it now. It’s bad,” Murdaugh said.
