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South Carolina Mother and Son Murdered


Howl

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Whoa! Cousin Eddie has cashed over 200 checks for Alex over the years? What's that about? Money laundering? 

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On 7/10/2022 at 2:25 PM, Howl said:

Whoa! Cousin Eddie has cashed over 200 checks for Alex over the years? What's that about? Money laundering? 

Curtis "Eddie" Smith is a friend and distant cousin of Alex. Eddie is charged as part of the insurance scheme because he is the one who allegedly shot Alex in hopes that son Buster could collect the $10 million life insurance policy. According to the article I will link below:

"In all, Murdaugh wrote 437 checks to Smith from 2013-2021, worth $2.4 million, and Smith used the money for a “myriad of unlawful activities,” according to a June indictment against Murdaugh and Smith."

"Smith used much of the money Murdaugh gave him to buy drugs for Murdaugh and others, but a “substantial amount of cash is unaccounted for that passed through Mr. Smith’s hands,” Waters said."

https://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article262299067.html#storylink=cpy

 

Alex Murdaugh and Curtis "Eddie" Smith's newest charges of drug trafficking and money laundering of $2.4 million. Most checks were written for less than $10,000 in an attempt to go undetected. 

"Murdaugh and Smith have been indicted on two conspiracy counts that include a narcotics count related to oxycodone. Smith was also indicted on four counts of money laundering, three counts of forgery, trafficking methamphetamine 10-28 grams, one count of unlawful possession of a schedule II controlled substance and marijuana possession."

Read more at: https://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article262933208.html#storylink=cpy?

Edited by ifosterkittens
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On 7/10/2022 at 10:48 AM, Howl said:

A truly staggering amount of money and for what?  One doesn't expect this level of  blatant corruption in current times, but I suspect if this had not come to light because of Alex Murtaugh's unraveling, the crime juggernaut would have just kept on. 

Hopefully, this will allow that entire county to be cleaned up, but you never know. There have to be so many people who are complicit or not in a position to say anything.

That family has been in power for multiple generations - were all the previous Murdaughs corrupt?  How could this extent of corruption just begin with Alex Murdaugh?  Hopefully, all involved will  end up in prison. 

The blatant corruption is bananas. I don't know if you follow Emily D Baker (legal commentator on youtube who covers pop culture), but she covers Tom Giradi's (husband of Real Housewife Erika Giradi of Beverly Hills) corruption. Erika Giradi filed for divorce and then all Tom's corruption started coming to light. It sounds like Erika somehow found out it was a house of cards set to collapse, she tried to peace out, and bam terrible atrocities started accumulating. To my knowledge Tom Giradi has no personal connection to any suspicious deaths. If I remember correctly Alex Murdaugh's wife Maggie was considering/threatening divorce, at least suspected finances were not all above board, wanted some auditing and bam she and troublemaker son Paul were gunned down. I find it interesting that if I have the timelines correct the wives (Erika and Maggie) trying to move forward with a divorce preceded the corruption coming to light. I imagine Paul's legal troubles and the costs to defend him probably brought some of the financial concerns Maggie had to light. 

I share your concerns about generations of corruption. It's been a while since I listened, but I believe the Murdaugh Murders Podcast with Mandy Matney said Paul called his grandfather (the one who was retired but had acted as solicitor essentially the district attorney until 2006) before calling his father following the boat crash. I inferred Paul knew his grandfather still carried weight. Paul's grandfather died of natural causes three days after Maggie and Paul were murdered per wikipedia. I wonder if the grandfather (Alex's father) had any suspicions his son might be connected to the murder of Maggie and Paul? Fits News reported Randolph Murdaugh III (grandfather of Paul, father of Alex) had heart disease and lung cancer prior to passing away at age 82. 

Given three Murdaugh's acted as solicitor (district attorney) from 1920-2006 I'm going to guess there was plenty of corruption. Most of the time the Murdaugh's ran unopposed for solicitor. 

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Added this to first post. 

Edited by ifosterkittens
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Alex Murdaugh has officially been charged with the murder of his wife and son. 

https://www.fitsnews.com/2022/07/14/alex-murdaugh-charged-with-killing-his-wife-and-son/

Directly from the article: 

"As FITSNews exclusively reported in April, high-velocity impact spatter was found on Murdaugh’s clothes, placing him at the scene of the murders when at least one of the victims was killed. Last month, we reported on audio and video evidence obtained by investigators which called into question statements provided by Murdaugh to investigators. 

Last week, we reported on cellular location data which could have assisted investigators in tracking Murdaugh’s movements at the time of the murders – helping them create a timeline for what actually happened versus what Murdaugh and his attorneys told them happened.

FITSNews has also reported that Maggie Murdaugh appears to have been lured to Moselle that night by her husband under the guise of visiting his dying father."

Edited by ifosterkittens
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On 7/11/2022 at 10:56 PM, ifosterkittens said:

Paul's grandfather died of natural causes three days after Maggie and Paul were murdered per wikipedia.

I have no doubt he died of a broken heart. 

Alex Murdaugh is an evil man. He'll never see the outside of a jail cell or a prison cell.  Plea deal?  Life in prison without parole vs death penalty at trial?

Please, please let this be what cleans up the cess pool of corruption in that area.  

There have to be more people charged.  Alex and Cousin Eddie are only the tip of the iceberg.  Bankers, other lawyers, at least some law enforcement...had to be complicit. 

 

Edited by Howl
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On 7/15/2022 at 7:33 PM, Howl said:

There have to be more people charged.  Alex and Cousin Eddie are only the tip of the iceberg.  Bankers, other lawyers, at least some law enforcement...had to be complicit. 

From Websleuths:

First Federal Indictment Handed Down In Murdaugh Case … To Russell Laffitte

"On the same day accused murderer Alex Murdaugh appeared for a bond hearing in Colleton County, his alleged co-conspirator and banker friend Russell Laffitte was indicted by a United States grand jury for his alleged role in illegally loaning himself money from the accounts of Murdaugh’s clients. The five-count indictment includes bank fraud, wire fraud, misapplication of bank funds and conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud."

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Emily D Baker released a podcast episode today titled Alex Murdaugh Indicted for Murder (S4 Ep 154) on her podcast The Emily Show. It is a 56-minute recap for anyone interested. 

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A Websleuths poster subscribes to People magazine and has early access to bombshells to come out in the Aug 1 edition: 

Spoiler
  • Maggie had consulted a divorce attorney and was looking forward to “life without Alex.”
  • Her divorce lawyer “surely would discover [Alex’s] crimes while digging through the couple’s accounts. She knew Alex was a liar.”
  • She had moved to Edisto [South Carolina] in February 2021.
  • Alex would not tell her what hospital his father was at and insisted she meet him first at Moselle.
  • “According to a law enforcement source who shared with People all the details from the investigators working theory of what happened that night, when Maggie arrived, Alex had one of his AR style rifles at the ready.”
  • Alex didn’t know Paul would be there, checking on a dog he was boarding for a friend.
  • As Paul took a video of the friend’s dog, he could hear a tense argument between his parents outside. Police found audio of the fighting captured in a video on Paul’s phone, which was discovered under his body.
  • Blood spatter matching Maggie’s DNA was found on Alex’s laundered shirt.

Another poster on Websleuths noted that Paul (the son) sustained a shot that went through his arm and then head, clearly a defensive posture.  

Edited by Howl
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  • 2 weeks later...

Two new stories involving the Murdaugh family: Several clients reached a settlement involving Murdaugh misappropriating funds that were intended for their client. I'm glad to hear Palmetto State Bank now-former CEO is facing charges. There are other people involved including Alex's father (Paul's grandfather).  This grandfather Randolph Murdaugh III is the same grandfather who died shortly of natural causes shortly after Paul's and Maggie's deaths. Here's the article for more news.

In other news, in a very J**h Duggar turn of events a former sex worker says she had sex with Alex. She says he got violent with her. 

 

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  • 4 months later...
On 7/11/2022 at 11:56 PM, ifosterkittens said:

If I remember correctly Alex Murdaugh's wife Maggie was considering/threatening divorce, at least suspected finances were not all above board, wanted some auditing and bam she and troublemaker son Paul were gunned down. I find it interesting that if I have the timelines correct the wives (Erika and Maggie) trying to move forward with a divorce preceded the corruption coming to light.

Yup! The prosecution stated in a pre-trial hearing yesterday that the motivation for Alex to murder Maggie and Paul was specifically to pre-empt the imminent exposure of Alex' financial shenanigans, corrupt dealings and massive debt.   

On 7/11/2022 at 11:56 PM, ifosterkittens said:

I imagine Paul's legal troubles and the costs to defend him probably brought some of the financial concerns Maggie had to light. 

What an interesting point!  As far as I can tell, Mallory Beach's family was suing Paul at the time Paul was murdered. 

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  • 1 month later...

@Howlare you or anyone else on this board watching Alex's trial? Thankfully it will be aired, so far it is jury selection and motions. Emily D Baker and others from lawtube will be covering the trial. 

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Have been following these linked cases for 1-2 years. Wonʻt be watching the trial but will check in on news & social media info on a daily basis. 

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I can't believe this yahoo won't plead guilty and be done with it.

However, he's the 4th generation of a family that has totally controlled the legal system in his county, so maybe assuming he has  a much better than average chance of skating on the overwhelming evidence and staggering number of financial crimes? 

He was profoundly deep into long-term drug addiction;  would be interesting to know how he's doing now that he's had no access to drugs (that we know of) for quite some time.  

On 1/24/2023 at 10:46 PM, ifosterkittens said:

@Howlare you or anyone else on this board watching Alex's trial? 

No, just following news reports.  

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2 hours ago, Howl said:

I can't believe this yahoo won't plead guilty and be done with it.

However, he's the 4th generation of a family that has totally controlled the legal system in his county, so maybe assuming he has  a much better than average chance of skating on the overwhelming evidence and staggering number of financial crimes? 

A picture of Alex's grandfather hangs in the courtroom and had to be removed for the trial-- clearly in a different league then the rest of us! I'm linking Emily D Baker's video from yesterday, it is time stamped, go to 1:57:10 named The Audacity it is only seven minutes. It shows the level of privilege and deference that has been given to Alex that the regular defendant would NEVER be given! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsuiQZ6hVDA

The Murdaugh family did what they wanted for one hundred years with no consequences. I believe Alex thought he was untouchable. Now he knows he caught red handed on some of the financial stuff but probably can justify it to himself and think the victims were eventually compensated (in some cases by the insurance company) so no harm no foul. Paul's alleged crimes (he died before there was a plea or guilty verdict) were likely only pursued because Mallory Beach died and there were several witnesses. It appears Paul's crimes brought to light the financial crimes and subsequent murder of Maggie and Paul. To me it follows the mindset of someone used to getting away with everything and willing to go to any extreme to protect his interest.  

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2 hours ago, Howl said:

I can't believe this yahoo won't plead guilty and be done with it.

South Carolina is a death penalty state so I can see why he would fight the murder charges. I agree though that Alex and probably his whole family never thought things would get to this point. They probably believed it could all be made to go away somehow.

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So far the trial is an example of Alex isn't very smart for an attorney.  Lots of statements to the police that don't look good for him. 

 

 

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18 hours ago, ifosterkittens said:

The Murdaugh family did what they wanted for one hundred years with no consequences.

Alex Murdaugh seems like a one-man kleptocracy, but there is an entire multi-generational network of enablers, facilitators, co-conspirators -- endemic corruption -- that allowed it to continue.   There were bankers, lawyers, police/sheriff, elected officials, enforcers and everyone on down in that county who enabled or supported it.  Others knew of the corrupt practices and were too intimidated or compromised to do anything about it.  Still others had no power to bring about reform. 

Time will tell if reformers/honest people can make inroads that make that county a better place to live. 

Edited by Howl
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For those watching the trial what do you think so far? My main take away is how much I dislike Dick H the defense attorney. 

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1 hour ago, ifosterkittens said:

For those watching the trial what do you think so far? My main take away is how much I dislike Dick H the defense attorney. 

Still catching up but it sounds like neither Alex nor Dick H. had a clue about the potential for forensic analysis of digital devices & information. 

 

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On 7/11/2022 at 11:56 PM, ifosterkittens said:

If I remember correctly Alex Murdaugh's wife Maggie was considering/threatening divorce, at least suspected finances were not all above board, wanted some auditing

IIRC, Maggie had been living separately from Alex in her own place for quite some time. 

There would have been forensic accounting to divide assets. 

Alex Muraugh cheated clients out of millions of dollars. Even with no divorce, it would have all come crashing down at some point and the astounding level of financial malfeasance exposed. 

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