“I am aware that South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has advised the family that they plan to file a murder charge with a grand jury later this week,” attorney Jim Griffin told CNN. “We will have no comment until charges are actually brought against Alex.”
“SLED’s investigation into the Maggie and Paul Murdaugh murders is still active and ongoing,” Wunderlich said. “Agents are committed to the integrity of the investigation, so no additional information from SLED will be provided at this time.”
A spokesman for the South Carolina Attorney General’s office told CNN they have no comment at this time on possible charges against Murdaugh.
The potential charges would further see a remarkable fall from favor for Murdaugh, the 64-year-old scion of a powerful political family in South Carolina’s Lowcountry.
News of the possible charges being filed was first reported by FITSNews.com on Tuesday.
Last June, Murdaugh called 911 to report that his wife Margaret, 52, and son Paul, 22, had been shot and killed outside their Islandton home, according to SLED.
The investigation into those deaths has led to a series of events full of twists and turns: the reopening of an investigation into the unsolved death of a 19-year-old in 2015; Murdaughs resigned as an attorney for a leading legal group; a confession that he struggled with opioid abuse; and dozens of charges accusing him of stealing money from customers.
In a particularly bizarre incident, Murdaugh called police in September to report that he had been injured by a gunshot to the head. He soon admitted that he conspired with another man to fatally shoot him so that his surviving son would collect a $10 million life insurance benefit, according to authorities.
Since then, he has been indicted on a total of 71 charges accusing him of defrauding clients of nearly $8.5 million in various schemes.
Several charges relate to the death of Gloria Satterfield, his family’s housekeeper who died in a fall at Murdaugh’s home in 2018. the proceeds. However, he secretly deposited about $3 million of that money into an account he owned, according to affidavits released by SLED.
In another development Tuesday, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued an injunction suspending Murdaugh after he suspended his license to practice law in the state in 2021.
“Respondent admits suspension is warranted in light of his admitted professional misconduct,” the warrant read. “However, our decision today does not revolve around Defendant’s concession, but rather stems from our constitutional authority and duty to protect the public from attorneys unfit to exercise the law.”
Murdaugh has been jailed in Columbia, South Carolina, on $7 million bail.
He has denied any involvement in the deaths of his wife and son. In a statement from his lawyers last September, he said their deaths had exacerbated his problems with opioid addiction.
“The murders of my wife and son have caused an incredibly difficult time in my life,” Murdaugh said at the time. “I’ve made a lot of decisions that I really regret.”
