Alex Murdaugh is already in jail on dozens of other criminal charges that have piled up in the months since he killed his wife Maggie, 52, and their 22-year-old son, Paul. But so far no charges have been filed in connection with their deaths in South Carolina last June. Prosecutors claim Murdaugh, 54, killed them with a shotgun, something he has repeatedly denied. The Murdaugh family has dominated the legal scene in their small Hampton County neighborhood for nearly a century. Murdaugh’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather were elected district attorneys for 87 years. He used to work for the company but now claims he was stealing money from the business. 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. However, a statement from Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian, his defense team, said: “Alex wants his family, 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.” They claimed it was “very clear from day one” that police were “focusing on Murdaugh and no one else”. Why did he ask a friend to kill him? Murdaugh was also charged Thursday with possession of a weapon during a violent crime. The June 2021 deaths prompted authorities to look into all corners of Murdo’s life. At least six investigations have resulted in accusations that he stole $8.5m (£7.2m) from people who hired him and that he lied to police about being shot by a stranger on the side of the road when, officials say, he actually asked a friend of his to Kill him. He did this, they say, so his surviving son could collect on a $10m (£8.5m) life insurance policy, days after the family firm found he was stealing money. And 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. Questions about the death of the housekeeper 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 $4m (£3.4m) in wrongful-death claims in Satterfield’s case, saying he was negotiating for her family – but they claimed he was actually he did not give them any of the money. In June, Murdaugh was indicted in an eight-year money laundering and painkiller ring that also involved the same friend and former client accused of trying to help him kill himself. Further charges allege Murdoch wrote 437 checks worth $2.4m (£2m) which his friend cashed over eight years, keeping some of the money for himself and giving the rest to extensive illegal activities. The South Carolina Supreme Court overruled Murdaugh.
