1/7/2024 0 Comments Buster murdaughThe murder indictments have begun to clarify the chain of events that investigators believe may have led, three months later, to a fake suicide-for-hire plot, in which Alex Murdaugh was allegedly shot in the head by a cousin, Curtis Smith, on a country road, in what may have been a plot to give his surviving son, Buster, a $10m life insurance payout. The charges stemmed from a 2019 crash in which 19-year-old Mallory Beach, a passenger in the boat, died after being thrown overboard in a collision with a bridge pier.īeach family attorney Mark Tinsley told the Guardian last year: “The Beach family are incensed at the way the criminal investigation was conducted while their daughter’s body was missing and believe people were actively trying to cover up what had happened.” Separately, Paul Murdaugh, the son found dead last year, was awaiting trial on charges of boating under the influence. I said that from the beginning it was a hate crime,” Smith’s mother, Sandy, said last year in an interview. Smith had attended high school with Buster Murdaugh, Alex’s surviving son. The family told police they thought the offer was “weird”. Photograph: Jeffrey Collins/APīut files with the state highway patrol showed that a Murdaugh family member – a personal injury lawyer – called Smith’s family on the day he was found, offering to represent them at no charge. Smith’s death was initially investigated as a homicide, then blamed on a hit-and-run.Ī sign welcomes people to Hampton county, South Carolina, where the Murdaughs have been prominent for generations. Authorities are now preparing to exhume her remains.Īuthorities have also opened an investigation into the unsolved death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith, whose body was found with blunt-force head trauma on a nearby county road in July 2015. The portfolio of alleged scams include a $3.5m insurance payout due to the family of his late housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who died after a slip-and-fall accident at the Murdaugh home. A federal investigation into the Murdaugh empire is also under way, according to Fits News, a South Carolina news website. Two other people have been indicted in connection with the alleged financial crimes. Murdaugh is also facing 79 fraud-related charges. Prosecutors accused him of diverting $8.5m in legal settlements from personal injury cases to a bank account he controlled. The killings also placed a spotlight on the prominent Murdaugh family, which has for almost a century represented wealth, power and privilege across the lowlands of South Carolina.įor three generations, a member of the Murdaughs has served as the chief prosecutor for the state’s southern tip, and the family law firm had made a fortune from corporate litigation, often against the railroad running through the area.īut interlocking investigations began to produce charges against Alex Murdaugh. Investigators said no threat existed, prompting speculation that a suspect must already be known to them. Investigators released little information on the killings, but word soon surfaced that they had been killed with different guns – an assault rifle and a shotgun. Murdaugh had reported finding his wife and son shot dead shortly after 10pm on 7 June last year. ![]() On Tuesday, state police told family members that they planned to bring criminal charges against Murdaugh, and did not mention any other suspects in the case. South Carolina state law enforcement division (Sled) chief Mark Keel said: “Today is one more step in a long process for justice for Maggie and Paul.” Wilson declined to offer more details in the case. South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson said in a statement: “All the efforts of our office and the law enforcement agencies involved in this investigation have been focused on seeking justice for the victims’ families.” The civil attorney, who was disbarred earlier this week, had told investigators he went to the property after visiting with his ailing father, and discovered the two bodies.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |