Alex Murdaugh arrested for allegedly staging his own SC murder for insurance money
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Alex Murdaugh Coverage
The Murdaugh family saga has dominated the news after another shooting, a resignation and criminal accusations — with Alex Murdaugh at the center of it all. Here are the latest updates on Alex Murdaugh.
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Alex Murdaugh, the prominent South Carolina lawyer who confessed to staging his own murder so his son could receive a $10 million insurance payout, turned himself in to Hampton County police late Thursday morning.
He was booked at the Hampton County Detention Center.
Warrants were obtained for his arrest Wednesday on charges of insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and falsifying a police report, according to the S.C. Law Enforcement Division. His case will be prosecuted by the state Attorney General’s Office.
A bond hearing for the charges is scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday in Hampton.
The 53-year-old Murdaugh, who was shot in the head on Sept. 4, had originally told police someone shot him as he was fixing a flat tire on his car on the side of a rural Hampton County road. He was flown to a Savannah hospital for treatment, and then entered an out-of-state drug rehab facility.
Shortly after Murdaugh’s arrest, his former law firm — a firm started by his great-grandfather — released a statement saying the firm was focused on representing its clients.
“Alex Murdaugh is no longer associated with our firm in any manner,” the statement said. “Questions related to Alex’s arrest should be directed to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.”
On Tuesday, SLED accused a Walterboro man with assisting in a suicide plot to kill Murdaugh.
The man, Curtis Edward Smith, is a former client of Murdaugh’s from a 2010 personal injury lawsuit.
SLED accused Murdaugh of conspiring with Smith, calling him a “co-defendant.”
According to the warrants, Murdaugh gave Smith a gun and told him to shoot Murdaugh in the head so Buster Murdaugh could receive a $10 million insurance payout. Buster is Alex Murdaugh’s sole surviving son.
Smith later threw the gun away in an undisclosed location, an affidavit in the case says.
Murdaugh admitted to the botched scheme in a statement to SLED on Monday, according to the warrants.
“I can assure you that SLED agents will continue working to bring justice to anyone involved with any criminal act associated with these ongoing investigations,” said SLED Chief Mark Keel in a Thursday statement. “The arrests in this case are only the first step in that process.”
This story was originally published September 16, 2021 at 12:26 PM with the headline "Alex Murdaugh arrested for allegedly staging his own SC murder for insurance money."
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