South Carolina police have arrested a man who allegedly conspired with Alex Murdaugh, a highly regarded lawyer, whose wife and son were killed in a double shooting in June, to shoot and kill him. in a plot to get millions in life insurance to his son. .
“Officers from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division arrested a Colleton County man on Tuesday in connection with the shooting incident involving Alex Murdaugh on Sept. 4 in Hampton County,” he said. said in a statement the spokesman for the law enforcement division of South Carolina, Tommy Crosby.
Curtis Edward Smith, 61, faces charges of assisted suicide, assault and battery, which he has pointed to and filed a firearm, insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud in connection with the case, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
Investigators said they have likely reason to believe Murdaugh set up the plot himself, but he survived the shooting attempt with a superficial wound to the head, according to an SLED affidavit.
“Richard Alex Murdaugh conspired with Curtis Edward Smith in the Old Salkehatchie Road area, with the intent that Mr. Smith help Murdaugh commit suicide,” the affidavit alleges. “Mr. Murdaugh provided Mr. Smith with a firearm and directed Mr. Smith to shoot him in the head for the purpose of causing Mr. Murdaugh’s death and allowing payment of a declared death benefit.”
If the plot was successful, Murdaugh’s surviving son Buster Murdaugh could have taken out his father’s $ 10 million life insurance policy, police said.
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Smith allegedly shot Murdaugh in the head on Old Salkehatchie Road on the afternoon of Sept. 4 and then pulled away from his hand to dispose of the weapon, which the lawyer allegedly provided.
Police also charged Smith with allegedly selling methamphetamine and possessing marijuana.
Additional charges are expected in connection with the Murdaugh case after state investigators joined the case at the request of the Hampton County sheriff’s office, Crosby said.
Two days after the shooting, Murdaugh announced that he was resigning from his law firm, which his family founded more than a century ago, and that he was entering rehab. Hours later, the firm, PMPED, alleged that the lawyer who had left had misappropriated funds. SLED is also investigating this case.
Later that week, the state Supreme Court suspended Murdaugh’s legal license.
CAROLINA DEL SUD’S LAWYER, ALEX MURDAUGH, THROWN THE MONTHS AFTER THE WIFE AND SON WERE DEAD IN AN UN RESOLVED CASE
The Murdaughs, prominent in the region through their legal practice and control of the local prosecution for decades, have attracted national attention after the unresolved deaths of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh, aged 22 and 52, on 7 June. a family property and discovered by Alex Murdaugh, who said he stumbled upon the crime scene when he went home to visit his ailing father, who died days later.
At the time of his killings, Paul was awaiting trial in connection with a drunken boat accident that killed a 19-year-old passenger named Mallory Beach in February 2019.
Investigators studying the double murder said they also discovered information that led them to reopen the investigation into the 2015 hit-and-run death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith.
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This case has raised questions about the family’s ties to local law enforcement and has launched a state investigation and civil litigation over whether there had been undue influence.