Why did Alex Murdaugh allegedly kill wife and son? Prosecutors reveal MOTIVE in brutal double murder case
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA: Richard "Alex" Murdaugh, a disbarred lawyer who had previously worked for the same prosecutor's office that his great-grandfather, grandfather, and father had successively run for nearly a century, killed his wife and youngest son due to impending "personal, legal, and financial ruin," authorities in South Carolina said on Thursday, December 8. The South Carolina Attorney General's Office filed a hypothesis of motive on December 8, 2022, claiming that the 54-year-old was "going to lose everything and that everyone was about to find out."
Murdaugh claimed to have discovered his wife, Margaret "Maggie" Murdaugh, 52, and son Paul Murdaugh, 22, shot to death on the family's property, an opulent 1,770-acre hunting lodge they called "Moselle," in the midsummer months prior to that roadside shooting.
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In his report to the state grand jury, top prosecutor Creighton Waters reveals for the first time the investigators' understanding of the purpose behind two gruesome murders. The document also provides fresh information regarding Murdaugh's alleged financial scams, the cause of his financial difficulties, and his initial statements to police on the evening of the deaths on June 7, 2021, reported The Post and Courier.
“The jury will need to understand the distinction between who Alex Murdaugh appeared to be to the outside world a successful lawyer and scion of the most prominent family in the region and who he was in the real life only he fully knew an allegedly crooked lawyer and drug user who borrowed and stole whatever he could to stay afloat and one step ahead of detection,” Waters wrote. “Proof of years of Alex Murdaugh’s unbroken series of misappropriations, lies, loans, debts, and thefts is necessary to explain that distinction to a jury. Only then can a jury understand that the clouds of Defendant’s past were gathering into a perfect storm that was going to expose the real Alex Murdaugh to the world — and which would mean facing real accountability for his life.”
An alleged decade of financial criminality is at the heart of the prosecution's case. Murdaugh is charged with other financial crimes, including insurance fraud, property fraud, money laundering, and computer fraud, in addition to two counts of first-degree murder and related weapons allegations. Additionally, according to the prosecution, he allegedly stole millions from a fund intended to benefit the family of his former housekeeper who died on his family's property. Additionally, the previous legal practice of the defendant is suing him in civil court for allegedly taking unimaginable sums of money from clients.
Those mounds of alleged financial irregularities, which include one fraud charge connected to the time of his shooting in early September 2021, will likely come up in forthcoming hearings. The state indicated in their motion that they intended to use the evidence against Murdaugh, he'll presumably raise an objection in defense. Media interest focused on the circumstances surrounding the killings as well as the family's considerable wealth and political influence accumulated over more than a century of practicing law. Murdaugh's grandfather founded a Hampton, South Carolina, firm in 1910 that carried his family's name until recently, even before serving as the 14th circuit district's solicitor.
According to the filing, Murdaugh “suggested to law enforcement the killer’s motive stemmed from the February 2019 boat wreck that resulted in the tragic death of Mallory Beach” and “expressed certainty and stated he knew” the fatal crash was the killer’s motive. “Based on the evidence that has been uncovered during the investigation into the killings, Murdaugh was the only individual with a true motive to kill his wife and son,” authorities wrote.
Mallory Beach, 19, died in a boating accident in February 2019. It is thought that Murdaugh's since-deceased son, who is suspected of using his older brother's ID to buy alcohol, was driving the boat while intoxicated. As a result of that incident, he was facing three criminal accusations. The Beach case was plagued by a claim that the family had in some way shaped the initial law enforcement inquiry by using its long-accumulated power, generosity, and influence. Prosecutors made mention of that topic in their Thursday motion. That's because Murdaugh allegedly did it himself the day his wife and son were killed, just 30 seconds after speaking with police.
A hearing is now scheduled for Friday, December 9, 2022. “This case is unique in South Carolina history for many reasons,” Waters wrote in the motion. “One of those is that exposing what happened to Maggie and Paul necessarily has its roots in a corruption that began years ago and festered until June 7 [2021] was the result. The evidence should be admitted so the jury can fairly assess why a man might murder his wife and son.”