Murdaugh’s lawyers said Wednesday that as authorities investigated the double homicide, he began to fall deeper into an opioid addiction-and ultimately turned to Smith for help in ending his life because he thought suicide would void his insurance policy.
At the time, Paul was awaiting trial for his role in a 2019 boat crash that killed a teenage girl, though it’s not clear if the two tragedies are liked. It comes three months after Murdaugh found his wife, 52-year-old Maggie, and their 22-year-old son, Paul, shot dead at the family's estate. The arrest warrant for Murdaugh is just the latest turn in a dizzying Deep South saga that has surrounded the prominent legal family, which has held sway in the Lowcountry area for decades. “He didn’t want law enforcement spending more time on this fake crime instead of focusing on solving the murders of Maggie and Paul,” attorney Dick Harpootlian said Wednesday on the Today show.Īlex Murdaugh Shooting Was Twisted Suicide Insurance Ploy They say he is cooperating with investigators. Murdaugh’s attorneys have painted him as a man rocked by grief over the June murders of his wife and other son and wracked by mental illness and drug addiction. Smith also admitted his role in the plot and to getting rid of the gun, according to an arrest affidavit. Murdaugh hoped his death would lead to a $10 million insurance payout that would go to his sole surviving son, Buster, officials said. 4 shooting.Īuthorities say that Murdaugh admitted to the scheme and providing Smith with a gun to shoot him in the head. Murdaugh’s arrest will come two days after his former client and co-defendant, Curtis Edward Smith, was charged with a slew of crimes, including insurance fraud and assisted suicide for the botched Sept.