Blood ties Alex Murdaugh to murders of wife and son: report

2022-07-16 00:20:38 By : Ms. vivian Yang

Thanks for contacting us. We've received your submission.

Once-powerful South Carolina legal scion Alex Murdaugh was allegedly tied to the double slaying of his wife and son by blood spatter on his clothing — as well as a video putting him at the murder scene, according to reports.

The jailed lawyer — who is expected to get charged with the murders as early as Thursday — had called 911 in June last year, claiming he had stumbled across the slain bodies on the ground outside his hunting lodge.

He claimed to have an ironclad alibi for when his wife, Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, were actually gunned down with two different weapons, a rifle and a shotgun.

However, a source told CNN Thursday that blood spatters were found on his clothing — suggesting he had been close to at least one of his family members at the time they were shot.

The source confirmed an earlier report in local outlet FITSNews, which said that a significant amount of high-velocity impact spatter was found on the shirt he’d worn that night.

It “could have only come from one thing,” a source had told the outlet, which has broken numerous stories in the case while producing a podcast, “Murdaugh Murders.”

On Wednesday, the “Today” show said that video footage was discovered placing the since-debarred lawyer at the murder scene.

That was actually video and footage recovered from his slain son’s phone, CNN’s source said Thursday, ahead of the expected charges.

Although Murdaugh was not seen in the video, he was heard talking to his wife — with a timestamp showing it was just before the slaying, when the lawyer claimed to be visiting his dying dad and checking on his mom, CNN said.

Investigators never sought any other suspects for the double slaying, which sparked a stunning fall from power for the lawyer, whose legal-dynasty family had for three generations served as 14th Circuit solicitor covering the state’s southern tip.

He is already behind bars in Columbia, South Carolina, on a $7 million bond facing dozens of charges for financial crimes and faking his own murder in an attempted life insurance scam. He also admitted to a secret yearslong battle with drug addiction.

Investigators visited his family on Tuesday to warn them that murder charges will be presented to a grand jury on Thursday, his lawyer has confirmed.

Murdaugh was also alerted to the likely charges, his attorneys, Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian, confirmed to CNN.

However, they “don’t know the existence or quality of any evidence since he hasn’t been charged,” they said of the outlet’s report on video footage and blood spatters.

Murdaugh was also formally disbarred Tuesday over his “admitted reprehensible misconduct” that already led to “myriad criminal charges.”

A spokesperson for South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) would only say that its “investigation into the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh is still active and ongoing.”

“Agents are committed to the integrity of the investigation, thus no additional information from SLED will be provided at this time,” the spokesperson said.