The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) on Monday opened a new investigation into allegations that Alex Murdaugh, who was shot in the head earlier this month and that his wife and husband son shot dead in June, misappropriated funds from his former law firm.
Murdaugh resigned from the law firm of Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth and Detrick on Sept. 6, hours before the firm issued a statement saying Murdaugh had taken money from the business.
The prominent lawyer said at the time that the June murders of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and his son, Paul Murdaugh, 22, had “caused an incredibly difficult time” in his life.
“I’ve made a lot of decisions that I really regret,” Murdaugh said in a statement on Sept. 6.
“I am resigning from my law firm and entering rehab after a long battle that has been aggravated by these murders. I am immensely sorry for everyone I have hurt, including my family, friends and colleagues.”
MURDAUGH DOUBLE MURDERS: THE PROSECUTOR IS REFUSED IN CASE
On Sept. 4, Murdaugh was on his way to Charleston when he stopped due to a tire pressure indicator light. A driver of a blue van stopped and asked Murdaugh if he had any problems with the car and then shot him when he responded, a Murdaugh spokeswoman told Fox News.
According to a police spokesman, he was taken to a hospital for “being a superficial weapon to the head”.
About three months before he was shot, Murdaugh returned home to visit his sick father to find his wife and son shot on June 7.
At the time of the June shootings, Paul Murdaugh was awaiting trial for an alleged drunken boat crash in February 2019 that left 19-year-old Mallory Beach dead.
Officers investigating the double murder also reopened an investigation into the 2015 hit-and-run death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION
Mark Keel, head of South Carolina’s law enforcement division, on Monday urged the public to let the investigation continue.
“The investigative decisions we make throughout this case and any potentially related cases must ultimately resist scrutiny of the criminal justice process,” Keel said Monday. “As in all cases, SLED is committed to conducting a professional, thorough and impartial criminal investigation, regardless of where the facts lead us.”
Griff Jenkins and Michael Ruiz of Fox News contributed to this report, as did the Associated Press.