It’s been nearly 7 weeks since the Murdaugh murders. Here’s what we’ve learned
This story was first published July 24, 2021.
Over the past two weeks, investigations linked to the prominent Murdaugh family of Hampton have provided new details about last month’s murders of two Murdaugh family members and two other cases: a fatal boat crash in 2019 and a teen found dead on a rural road in 2015.
The pieces of new information show how tangled the prominent legal family has become in increasingly complicated — and in one case seemingly unrelated — probes of suspicious homicides. It also shows how quickly the Murdaugh name comes up in criminal investigations, lawsuits and the rumor mill.
In a harrowing 911 call released Thursday, Alex Murdaugh frantically describes finding Paul and Maggie Murdaugh, his son and wife, shot to death near dog kennels on their Colleton County estate. During the June 7 call, Murdaugh begs police to hurry.
The computer-aided dispatch (CAD) report from the double homicide, also released Thursday, shows that the black Chevrolet Suburban towed from the scene the morning after the double homicide — and collected as evidence — is owned by the Murdaugh family law firm.
Court filings reveal that police seized firearms from the crime scene and may be investigating “forced entry” onto the property where the two Murdaughs were found shot to death.
In the 2019 boat crash that killed Mallory Beach — and led to Paul Murdaugh’s indictment for boating under the influence — documents released last week from the investigation show Alex Murdaugh’s attempts to interfere in the investigation the night of the crash.
Previously unreported statements by boat passengers, police interviews, surveillance footage and GPS coordinates offer a clearer timeline of events from late afternoon Feb. 23, 2019, when Paul Murdaugh purchased alcohol at a local gas station, to 1 a.m. shots at a waterfront bar, to Beach’s death.
And police investigating the 2015 death of Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old Hampton teen, unsuccessfully chased rumors tying the Murdaugh family to the case, according to audio interviews recently released.
Records show S.C. Highway Patrol investigators were interested in a possible Murdaugh connection, interviewing several people with third-hand information but never actually asking family members about their involvement.
But nearly seven weeks after Paul and Maggie Murdaugh were found shot to death, police still have divulged little about the investigation into the murders at the Colleton County estate.
The S.C. Law Enforcement Division, the agency investigating the murders, has declined to explain the links among the three criminal investigations. Nor has it attempted to quell the rumors surrounding the high-profile double homicide. Police have released no information on potential suspects or possible motives, saying only the day after the shootings that there was no danger to the public.
Here is what we’ve learned — and still don’t know:
DOUBLE HOMICIDE INVESTIGATION
In the 911 call from the night of June 7, released by the S.C. Law Enforcement Division on Thursday, more than six weeks after the double homicide, Alex Murdaugh told police dispatchers he came home to find his wife and son shot to death on their sprawling Colleton County property.
“I need the police and an ambulance immediately,” Murdaugh told the 911 dispatcher hysterically. “My wife and child were just shot badly.”
Recent court filings by the S.C. Law Enforcement Division show that police seized firearms from the crime scene and may be investigating “forced entry” onto the property.
The details emerged in a log filed by the state defending its heavy redactions of police reports from the crime scene. They are part of a lawsuit that accuses SLED of violating the Freedom of Information Act by overly censoring police reports relating to the double homicide.
Last month, shortly after the Charleston Post and Courier newspaper filed the lawsuit against SLED and the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office over their refusal to provide police documents, SLED released a heavily redacted version of the Murdaugh incident reports.
In a response to the suit filed Monday, the attorneys for SLED argue that the records sought by the newspaper were not required to be disclosed. They ask the judge to declare that the state agency did not violate the Freedom of Information Act.
The agency reiterated that no arrests have been made and “law enforcement proceedings remain active and ongoing at this time.”
With the agency’s silence, the Murdaugh double homicide still leaves more questions than answers. Among them:
▪ Why did SLED and the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office immediately say there was no danger to the public after the killings?
▪ Why did police have one vehicle towed from the property but not both?
▪ Were the guns found at the scene used in the murders?
▪ Do police have suspects or people of interest?
2019 BOAT CRASH INVESTIGATION
The 2019 boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach and led to then-20-year-old Paul Murdaugh’s indictment on felony charges of boating under the influence has renewed scrutiny since Murdaugh’s death.
Among the new information in the case: Investigative documents released last week paint a clearer picture of what happened in the hours before the crash and show Murdaugh’s father’s attempts to interfere in the investigation. A civil court filing by a boat passenger alleges there may have been attempts by police to shift blame away from Murdaugh, the accused boat driver. And new sworn statements show several inconsistencies by police during the investigation.
The new investigative documents and court filings raise questions about what the S.C. Attorney General’s Office could be looking at during its investigation into how police handled the 2019 boat crash — and whether the boat crash is at all connected to the double homicide.
Despite reams of new documents, several other questions remain about the 2019 boat crash. Among them:
▪ Why did it take two months for the AG’s Office to indict Murdaugh in the crash?
▪ Did investigators collude to frame Connor Cook as the driver of the boat?
▪ Why, more than two years after his indictment, had Murdaugh not faced trial?
▪ Why is the Attorney General’s investigation into the crash still open after the only person charged in the crash — Murdaugh — has died?
STEPHEN SMITH INVESTIGATION
New audio files from the investigation into the death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith in 2015 show that police investigators chased rumors about the Murdaugh family’s possible connection to the case — but never spoke with a member of that family.
Records obtained by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette detail how S.C. Highway Patrol investigators, looking into what happened to the young man whose body had been found in the middle of a road, had talked to people who had heard rumors about the Murdaugh family’s involvement — and how investigators unsuccessfully chased those leads.
The files also show that one Murdaugh family lawyer called the Smith family on the day Stephen Smith was found dead, offering to represent the family for free. The family thought the offer was “weird.”
Smith’s death, initially ruled a hit-and-run, was cold for years — until the June 7 killings of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh. Weeks later, S.C. Law Enforcement Division, the agency investigating the double homicide, confirmed that it had opened an investigation into Smith’s death because of information gathered in the Murdaugh murders.
However, SLED has declined to say anything else about the case, including: What information led the agency to open the investigation; whether Smith’s death is tied to the Murdaugh double homicide; and whether investigators believe Smith’s death was accidental or intentional.
This story was originally published July 24, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
