Alex Murdaugh falsely linked wife and son's murders to 2019 boat crash to distract cops from his crimes
ISLANDTON, SOUTH CAROLINA: Maggie and Paul Murdaugh belonged to a prominent Lowcountry legal family, and were reportedly found dead in 2021 at their hunting lodge in Islandton, South Carolina. Alex Murdaugh had claimed that the gruesome murders were tied to the 2019 boat crash in which 19-year-old Mallory Beach was killed. He has alleged that the main target of the unidentified suspect(s) was his 22-year-old son while his wife was fatally shot because she was there by chance.
Daily Mail has obtained a new state filing Alex's actions in the immediate aftermath of the vicious slayings. Prosecutors have alleged that the first thing he tried to do was throw the cops off the scent by linking the murder of his wife and son to the 2019 fatal boat crash for which Paul faced criminal charges, while Alex and his older brother Buster faced a wrongful death lawsuit. Alex made a 911 call after 10 pm on the night of June 7, 2021, claiming to have found Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, shot near dog kennels at the family's rural hunting estate of Moselle. Paul faced criminal charges, while Alex and his older brother Buster faced a wrongful death lawsuit.
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Alex Murdaugh wanted to 'shift focus' from his own crimes
It is now claimed that the "only person with a true motive to kill his wife and son" was Murdaugh himself. The prosecutors wrote in the document filed in the Colleton County Court, "clouds of Murdaugh's past misdeeds were gathering into a perfect storm that was going to expose the real Alex Murdaugh." Alex was described as "an allegedly crooked lawyer and drug user who borrowed and stole wherever he could to stay afloat and one step ahead of detection." It further says that he faced a dooming "legal, financial and personal ruin,"
The prosecutors say that Alex murdered his wife and son in an attempt to "shift focus" away from himself in order to "buy some additional time to try and prevent his financial crimes from being uncovered." It is mentioned that the prosecutors will argue that Murdaugh killed his own wife and son for no other reason than to create a distraction. It is mentioned that Alex was once a partner at Peter Murdaugh Parker Elztroth & Detrick (PMPED) which is now rebranded the Parker Law Group LLP. The partners at the firm asked for answers about the financial irregularities and he received an ultimatum which was till the end of the day. He had been on an "incessant financial rollercoaster" for decades which he had to hide.
Alex Murdaugh and his rising debt
The State claimed that Murdaugh was taken over by the crushing debt and it was such "a velocity of money" that he turned to crime and fraud. He totaled $8.7 million in client settlements and taking out loans he had neither the intention nor the means of repaying. The filing states: "Since people are naturally expected to love their wives and sons instead of brutally gunning them down, why Murdaugh did what he is accused of doing will unquestionably weigh on any rational juror's mind when deciding whether the State has met it burden of proof."
The prosecution states, "Within just thirty seconds of beginning to speak to the first officer to arrive at the crime scene on June 7, 2021 [he] suggested to law enforcement that the killer's motive stemmed from the February 2019 boat wreck that resulted in the tragic death of Mallory Beach. In fact, Murdaugh expressed certainty and stated that he knew 'that's what it is' to the responding officer."