Son of prominent South Carolina legal family, not mother, may have been target in double homicide: report
Almost a week after a mother and son were fatally shot at their South Carolina home, investigators are still scrambling for any information, including whether the son — who was facing charges for a 2019 fatal boat crash — was the target.
Paul Murdaugh, 22, and mom Maggie, 52, were found dead Monday in Colleton County, according to the Island Packet. Paul was shot in the head and upper body with a shotgun, and Maggie Murdaugh was killed with what appears to be an assault rifle, sources told the newspaper.
Autopsies are currently being performed on both.
Officials are reportedly investigating all scenarios, including whether Paul was the target, rather than Maggie, the wife of Alex Murdaugh, a senior lawyer at the powerhouse Murdaugh law firm, founded in 1910.
In February 2019, Paul, who was reportedly drunk, was piloting a boat in Archers Creek when he crashed into a bridge around 2 a.m. His passenger, 19-year-old Mallory Beach, was thrown from the boat and found dead a week later. Five other passengers were also ejected on impact.
Paul pleaded not guilty to boating under the influence causing death, and boating under the influence causing great bodily injury and was released on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond.
Those charges are expected to be dropped now, according to the Island Packet.
Beach’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, naming Paul as well as his older brother, who allegedly let Paul use his ID to buy alcohol, and his dad, for allegedly allowing the teenagers to drink on his property.
“They would like the family and the community to know that their thoughts and continued prayers are with the Murdaughs,” Beach’s family said in a statement after Paul and Maggie were killed. “It is their most sincere hope that someone will come forward and cooperate with authorities so that the perpetrator of these senseless crimes can be brought to justice.”
No arrests have been made in the murders yet.
