Mr. Murdaugh’s account of the capturing remained the identical, Mr. Griffin stated: Somebody had pushed by in a truck as he was altering a tire, then pushed again round and requested if he was having automobile bother. The subsequent factor Mr. Murdaugh heard was a gunshot, Mr. Griffin stated. Mr. Griffin stated state regulation enforcement authorities had informed him that no weapon had been discovered on the scene and that there was a slice in certainly one of Mr. Murdaugh’s tires, particulars that Mr. Crosby wouldn’t verify.
Mr. Griffin added that police investigators have been conscious of the accusations towards Mr. Murdaugh and of his departure from the regulation agency.
The killing of Mr. Murdaugh’s spouse and son introduced nationwide consideration to what’s usually a quiet, rural neighborhood 65 miles west of Charleston. It was there that the Murdaugh’s authorized legacy started, when residents elected Randolph Murdaugh, Mr. Murdaugh’s great-grandfather, because the area’s prime prosecutor 101 years in the past. For greater than eight a long time, till 2006, three generations of the Murdaugh household served within the place, prosecuting instances throughout 5 counties.
The killings additionally introduced scrutiny to the household’s historical past within the area in addition to a number of different deaths.
Mr. Murdaugh’s son, Paul Murdaugh, who had been a junior on the College of South Carolina, was killed whereas he was awaiting trial on felony expenses that accused him of driving a ship whereas drunk in 2019, crashing it and killing a 19-year-old girl, Mallory Seashore. Paul Murdaugh’s dying introduced renewed consideration to that case, and native information shops and paperwork launched by the police have raised questions on errors or favorable therapy towards him within the investigation.
The killings additionally led the South Carolina Legislation Enforcement Division to open a brand new inquiry into the unsolved dying of Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old whose physique was discovered on a rural highway within the space in 2015. The police haven’t accused the Murdaughs of wrongdoing in that case.
The revelation that Mr. Murdaugh had been accused of misusing his regulation agency’s cash solely provides to the turmoil and tragedy that the household has confronted for the reason that killing of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, on June 7. Three days after their deaths, Mr. Murdaugh’s father, Randolph Murdaugh III, the final member of the household to function the area’s prime prosecutor, died of pure causes.