South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh charged with murder of wife and son

The charges mark a milestone in a case that encompasses seven separate investigations in the sprawling saga, each involving the 54-year-old attorney at their center.

Murdaugh was charged with two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, after evidence was presented to a grand jury sitting in Colleton county. Court documents released on Thursday allege Murdaugh shot his wife with a rifle and his son with a shotgun.

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.

Wilson declined to offer more details in the case.

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.

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.

But interlocking investigations began to produce charges against Alex Murdaugh. Prosecutors accused him of diverting $8.5m in legal settlements from personal injury cases to a bank account he controlled.

Murdaugh is also facing 79 fraud-related charges. Two other people have been indicted in connection with the alleged financial crimes. A federal investigation into the Murdaugh empire is also under way, according to Fits News, a South Carolina news website.

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. Authorities are now preparing to exhume her remains.

Separately, Paul Murdaugh, the son found dead last year, was awaiting trial on charges of boating under the influence. 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.

The 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.