‘Perfect storm’ of debts and looming exposure drove Murdaugh to kill, SC prosecutors say

Ted Clifford, John Monk
·3 min read

A “perfect storm” of debts, drug abuse and the looming exposure of his numerous alleged financial crimes is what pushed a seemingly respectable Alex Murdaugh to kill his wife and son, according to a Thursday filing by the South Carolina Attorney General’s office.

The killings were a means to shift attention away from the impending discovery of his financial crimes, which would have resulted in “personal, legal, and financial ruin” for Murdaugh, the filling said.

Attorney Jim Griffin, who is representing Murdaugh, said he will respond to the state’s filing at a 2 p.m. Friday hearing in Colleton County. Murdaugh is expected to be in attendance.

“We will make our comments in court,” Griffin said.

A former attorney, Murdaugh is accused of killing his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, on the family’s 1,700-acre Colleton County estate the night of June 7, 2021. Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty. He is scheduled to stand trial Jan. 23.

In recent weeks, his lawyers and state have filed dueling motions.

Prosecutors’ Thursday motion came in response to a motion filed earlier this week by Murdaugh’s lawyers, which asked a judge to compel the state Attorney General’s office to reveal a possible motive.

In their Thursday motion, filed in Colleton County court, prosecutors laid out their case.

“Motive is the most important fact the jury would want to know in understanding why (the) defendant murdered his own wife and son,” prosecutors said in their filing.

At the time of the killings, Murdaugh was snared in an “unbroken series of misappropriations, lies, loans, debts, and thefts” that belied his surface appearance as a rich, successful attorney from a prominent family, prosecutors said.

Beneath that gilded surface was the hidden life of a drug user who borrowed and stole money, staying barely one step ahead of debt and discovery, prosecutors said.

On June 7, 2021, the day that Paul and Maggie were killed at the family’s 1,700-acre hunting lodge called Moselle, Murdaugh’s law firm had demanded that Murdaugh provide an explanation as to where hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees owed to the firm had gone, according to the motion.

“Murdaugh had neither the money nor a plausible legal explanation with which to respond to the demand,” prosecutors allege.

Murdaugh also was facing a pending motion to compel production of his personal financial records in the ongoing civil litigation surrounding the boat crash that killed Mallory Beach in 2019.

Murdaugh’s son, Paul, was alleged to be driving the boat at the time of the crash.

While the motion describes a motive, it also seeks to reject the defense’s motion for a “bill of particulars,” describing the motive filed earlier this week. Prosecutors called this bill of particulars an “esoteric and ancient practice” that was in conflict with modern jurisprudence in South Carolina.

In addition to murder charges, Murdaugh remains in the Richland County jail on drug and financial fraud charges.

This is a developing story. It will be updated.

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