Disgraced Irish American lawyer Alex Murdaugh has been indicted for the murders of his wife and son in South Carolina in 2021.
Murdaugh was indicted in South Carolina today, July 14, for two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in the deaths of his wife Maggie and his son Paul.
Maggie and Paul were killed on June 7, 2021, at the Murdaugh family’s property in Colleton County, South Carolina.
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) Chief Mark Keel said on Thursday: “Over the last 13 months, SLED agents and our partners have worked day in and day out to build a case against the person responsible for the murders of Maggie and Paul and to exclude those who were not. At no point did agents lose focus on this investigation.
"From the beginning, I have been clear, the priority was to ensure justice was served. Today is one more step in a long process for justice for Maggie and Paul."
Alan Wilson, the South Carolina Attorney General, noted that because this is an active investigation and is now a pending court case, he cannot comment on specifics.
A bond hearing is set to be scheduled for Murdaugh.
Murdaugh, the scion of a once-powerful legal family in South Carolina, has seen his life unravel in the months since the deaths of his wife and son.
In September 2021, he was suspended from the practice of law by Order of the Supreme Court of South Carolina. That same month, he was arrested after allegedly arranging his own murder with a hitman so that his son Buster could collect a $10 million life insurance policy.
Days before his botched attempt to arrange his own murder, Murdaugh had been caught stealing money from his law firm and fired.
He hired distant cousin Curtis Edward Smith to shoot him in the head on the side of a deserted South Carolina road, but Smith fired a shot that did not hit him. Murdaugh was later charged with fraud, while Smith was charged with assisted suicide and other offenses.
In June 2022, prosecutors filed additional charges against Murdaugh and Smith, accusing them of laundering millions of dollars over the course of seven years as part of an illegal oxycodone distribution network.
Murdaugh has also been charged with stealing millions of dollars from clients, including the family of Gloria Satterfield, a housekeeper who died after a fall at Murdaugh's estate in 2018.
Murdaugh admitted that he wrongly pocketed $4.3 million owed to Satterfield's sons and has since been disbarred by the Supreme Court of South Carolina over the offense.
South Carolina police have also opened an investigation into Satterfield's death and said last month that they planned to exhume her body. They have also opened an investigation into the death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith, who was found dead about 10 miles from the Murdaugh family home in 2015. Both deaths were considered accidents.
At the time of his death, Paul Murdaugh was also under investigation for causing the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach while boating under the influence.
Beach's family had sued the Murdaughs and their lawyers had been trying to force Murdaugh to provide details about his finances prior to the deaths of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.
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