On the evening of June 7, 2021,Alex Murdaughallegedly reached out to his wifeMaggie, asking her to meet him at the family’s 1,770-acre estate in the small town of Islandton, S.C.
According to a law enforcement source close to the investigation, Alex told Maggie that his 81-year-old father, Randolph Murdaugh III, was in failing health and that she needed to see him before he died.
According to several sources, Maggie and Alex hadhit a rough patch in their marriage, and she was staying at the family’s beach house on Edisto Island, approximately an hour away from the family’s estate.
The law enforcement source tells PEOPLE that Maggie initially declined to meet Alex at the family home, suggesting instead that they meet at the hospital. Ultimately, she consented to meet at the property, planning to follow Alex to the hospital in her own vehicle.
Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh.
On her way to the house, Maggie allegedly messaged a friend, saying that something about her husband’s behavior felt “fishy,” the law enforcement source says. “He’s up to something,” Maggie allegedly wrote to her friend.
From left, Buster Murdaugh, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, Paul Murdaugh, Alex Murdaugh.Maggie Murdaugh/Facebook
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When Maggie arrived at the scene, she left her car running and walked to the dog kennels on the estate where her son,Paul, was taking photos of a dog he was watching for a friend.
It’s unclear what happened next — butMaggie, 52, and Paul, 22 weregunned downclose to the dog kennels. Paul’s body was found “half in and half out” of the dog kennels, authorities say.
Paul was shot in the chest and head with a shotgun at close range. Maggie was shot multiple times, including one shot in the back and additional shots while she was lying on the ground. She had been shot with 300 Blackout ammo from an AR-style rifle. Both of them were pronounced dead at the scene.
Alex Murdaugh.Orange County Department of Corrections
Investigators with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) have not divulged what evidence they have, but the law enforcement source tells PEOPLE blood spatter allegedly found on Alex Murdaugh’s clothes indicates he was at the scene at the time of the murder, and not visiting his father at the hospital, as he later claimed.
Murdaugh attorneys have not returned PEOPLE’s calls for comment, but they maintain his innocence in a statement. “Alex wants his family, friends and everyone to know that he did not have anything to do with the murders of Maggie and Paul,” his attorneys wrote. “He loved them more than anything in the world.”
Now disbarred from practicing law, Murdaugh faces more than 85 criminal charges in addition to the murder counts.
RELATED VIDEO: Alex Murdaugh Indicted for Murders of Wife and Son
After the murders of his wife and son, Murdaugh made news again when he allegedly tried to stage his own death so that his one surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, 26, could benefit from a $10 million life insurance settlement. He was criminally charged in connection with the alleged botched suicide-for-hire plot and is awaiting trial in that case.
According to prosecutors, he had his associate Curtis “Eddie” Smithshoot himon the side of the road, but the shooting was unsuccessful and Murdaugh suffered only superficial wounds.
He has pleaded not guilty to all the previous charges. Murdaugh is currently being held on $7 million bond. It’s unclear if additional bond will be added with the murder charges.
source: people.com
