South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh breaks down in 911 call about wife, son’s murder — ‘It’s bad’
A high-profile South Carolina attorney dissolved into sobs during a 911 call made in the immediate moments after he found his wife and son fatally shot at their family home in Colleton County.
The desperate conversation between Alex Murdaugh and Colleton County dispatcher Angel Fraser was released on Thursday, nearly two months after his 22-year-old son, Paul, and 52-year-old wife, Maggie were killed. Murdaugh said he had just returned home on the night of June 7 when he found his loved ones bloodied and wounded near a kennel on the property.
“I need the police and ambulance immediately,” he told Fraser. “My wife and child have been shot badly.”
“I’ve been up to it, and it’s bad,” Murdaugh added, sobbing.
At one point in the call, Fraser asked the prominent lawyer whether his family members were breathing.
“No Ma’am,” responded Murdaugh, who was named a person of interest in the case early on.
Police have since acknowledged that he has an alibi.
Recordings of the 911 call were released in response to a request filed by The Post and Courier under the Freedom of Information Act.
No suspects have been named in the case as of Friday.
The Murdaugh family had been facing controversy at the time of the double murder. In 2019, Paul Murdaugh was involved in a drunk boating accident, which left his friend dead and several others injured. A grand jury indicted the 22-year-old just two months later on three felony charges, including boating under the influence causing death and boating under the influence causing injury.
He pleaded not guilty in May 2019, but a trial date was never set.
His father, a part-time prosecutor in the solicitor’s office, recused itself from the BWI case.
