SC - Paul Murdaugh, 22 and mom Margaret, 52, found shot to death, Islandton, 7 June 2021 #6

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You can't see the kennels in this picture. They're under the trees on the down side (in your picture) of the red roofed building.
I have been thinking they were the long, low white-roof building between the red bldg and the trees.

Have we seen the kennels in another photo? Or how are you thinking they are under the trees on the "down side" of the photo? Interested in more details from you so I can churn with them.o_O
 
I have been thinking they were the long, low white-roof building between the red bldg and the trees.

Have we seen the kennels in another photo? Or how are you thinking they are under the trees on the "down side" of the photo? Interested in more details from you so I can churn with them.o_O

You can see the cages in this photo
U23FO66ULFEQ3IQPFMHM6Q3XLA.jpg
 
Then there is the grey area of vague and token compliance with the parts of the request that must be provided.
$10M will buy a lot of opiate.

Though I have little knowledge in finances of law firms, I wonder where that stated 10 million figure comes from? There seems to be a lot of hype and smoke regarding the firm. Color me cynical cyamon, but I don't trust that number.

Not only is AM stated to have stolen to million with out triggering any internal controls, but to my non existent knowledge of law firm finances, it seems strange:

- The firm was not a national injury form suing Boeing on behalf 737 Max victims. They were not suing tobacco companies on behalf of entire states, nor were they suing say, Catholic dioceses over sex abuse.

- The firm had 70 local cases pending at one time (significant majority being low grade car crash and slipped and fell at Marges type stuff. Also suggests that bread and butter was standard "sue'em" stuff in rural SC, not juicy corperate.

- The firms website touted millions in jury verdicts (mean nothing), yet never stated what settlements were actually arrived at. With millions coming in, why not advertise actual settlement amounts?

- Several of the attorneys personal webpages indicates that they worked part time for the firm and that personal injury was not their main law area. If the firm was that lucrarative, why wouldn't they be full time?

- CRX railroad complained of having to settle one case for 300K instead of 100K. Another case involving a 1 million verdict (yawn) was a "hurt my back in the railyard" claim- not "train hits school bus" type claim.

My bet is that "back hurt" claims at a rail company are as common as "shipped and fell" at Hilton. Companies are wise and know how to appeal. Red appellate courts in SC might not be lawsuit friendly. Settlements could be low.

In short, how viable is the 10 million stolen claim? Despite having no knowledge on the subject, it just seems.... almost like a form of advertising.
 
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The Colleton County deputies were BUSY? Doing what, arresting squirrels for trespassing?

Respectfully, you obviously do not live in a rural area. There is plenty to keep LE busy on both the proactive and reactive sides. Add in there might not be another officer within 10 miles of your location - it's dicey at best.
 
You can see the cages in this photo
View attachment 312175
Oh, yes. I agree those are "kennels," but I didn't think the dogs would be housed in them full time.

I doubt they would leave the dogs without any shelter in those cages. I have been thinking they kept the dogs under a roof in low white bldg with some protection from sun and rain, and the caged kennels were for fresh air on nice days or some temporary containment. OMO.
 
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Respectfully, you obviously do not live in a rural area. There is plenty to keep LE busy on both the proactive and reactive sides. Add in there might not be another officer within 10 miles of your location - it's dicey at best.
I’m sure there’s plenty of real work for them to do. <modsnip> And BTW, I was once a medical social worker covering 14 counties in Central North Florida, so I know from rural already.
 
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Was there any truth or accurate report of one or both guns used in the murders belonging to the Ms? I just have a hard time, tho it’s possible, seeing PM having the shotgun taken and used on him.

I think it’s important to note the actual wording that was used regarding the weapons used in the murders of Maggie and Paul.

“It is not immediately clear whether the weapons used in the murders have been recovered by law enforcement, although sources familiar with the inquiry have told me at least one of the weapons used in the double homicide belonged to the Murdaugh family.”

I’ve seen a lot of people interpreting this as only one of the weapons belonged to the Murdaughs; however, that’s not actually what was reported. We don’t know if it was one or both guns.

Murdaugh Murders: Does Prosecutor’s Recusal Shed Light On Direction Of Investigation?
 
I noted in the photographs from the scene of the alleged shooting of AM that there were several items of clothing hanging in the area behind the driver's seat of AM's vehicle. It looked like a few pressed shirts as well as some items in opaque plastic or vinyl protective covers (that might contain something like slacks, suits, or jackets). So, it looked like AM was packed to spend a few days away. I wonder if AM had also packed toiletries (thus indicating he'd be spending at least a few days away, and not that he had just picked up his dry cleaning and not taken it inside).

AM's attorney said AM had been headed to Charleston and had left "hours before," which is odd since the location where his car was parked by the side of the road (near St. John's Baptist Church, 15385 Old Salkehatchie Highway) is only 8-9 miles from his home at 4147 Moselle (Islandton), so one would expect that would take about 10 minutes or so to drive. So, it is unclear whether "hours before" was referring to hours before AM called 911 to report he'd been shot in the head or some other time frame (such as hours before the news broke about the events). When crimes are involved, actual times are so much more helpful than terms like "hours before" and one wonders why a more precise answer wasn't provided.

What was AM's destination in Charleston? Was he driving himself to rehab? And if so, was he doing so on his own volition, or had he been offered an ultimatum when he was confronted the day before by his law partners? (Something like, you check yourself into rehab TOMORROW or we report this theft to the authorities TODAY.). If AM had been offered an ultimatum, was anyone planning to accompany him to the door of rehab to make sure he actually admitted himself and didn't just promise to do that and instead take off or do something dangerous, like commit suicide or go postal on whoever discovered his theft or confronted him about it?

I ask because I think it odd that the law firm notified LE about the misappropriation of funds AFTER the alleged shot in the head at the side of the Old Saskehatchie Highway and not BEFORE. That is, LE was notified AFTER AM became a victim and not when he was merely a thief with a serious addiction who'd stolen from his place of business AND whose family was mostly annihilated 3 months before.

I know if I was one of those partners who'd just discovered my firm had been stolen from in a big way (millions of dollars, reportedly... and this is before the forensic accountants have even done their investigation) and the thief deflected the responsibility for that theft at his addiction, the FIRST thing I would be reconsidering is whether or not I should give him a pass when considering whether he might have been capable of murdering his family too and if so, whether those of us who confronted him might also be in danger.
 
I used to think the target was PM with MM as collateral damage. Now I think the target may have been MM and PM was not really supposed to be around at that time...but he was so he was collateral damage.
AM is the PM of his generation in the family.
And really it does not make much sense that MM would be killed by the kennels. Most women would not be out there in the dark like that at that time. Was her car or PMs car near the kennels?
So much weirdness and black holes...all kinds of things that just do not match up and are not logical.
 
I used to think the target was PM with MM as collateral damage. Now I think the target may have been MM and PM was not really supposed to be around at that time...but he was so he was collateral damage.
AM is the PM of his generation in the family.
And really it does not make much sense that MM would be killed by the kennels. Most women would not be out there in the dark like that at that time. Was her car or PMs car near the kennels?
So much weirdness and black holes...all kinds of things that just do not match up and are not logical.
BBM.

Would you please share the basis for your making this statement? I ask because I have suspected that to be the case, but have little to go on, mostly my own judgments about why he might have been particularly close to RM-III and seemed to work in his shadow (assisting with the work at the Solicitor's office without pay, the sole brother who took RM-III to the hospital the night of PM's and MM's murders, AM's sons called their grandfather for assistance when in trouble, etc.) as well as reports that their family had a reputation for hosting parties which permitted underage drinkers.

Minor edits.
 
I noted in the photographs from the scene of the alleged shooting of AM that there were several items of clothing hanging in the area behind the driver's seat of AM's vehicle. It looked like a few pressed shirts as well as some items in opaque plastic or vinyl protective covers (that might contain something like slacks, suits, or jackets). So, it looked like AM was packed to spend a few days away. I wonder if AM had also packed toiletries (thus indicating he'd be spending at least a few days away, and not that he had just picked up his dry cleaning and not taken it inside).

AM's attorney said AM had been headed to Charleston and had left "hours before," which is odd since the location where his car was parked by the side of the road (near St. John's Baptist Church, 15385 Old Salkehatchie Highway) is only 8-9 miles from his home at 4147 Moselle (Islandton), so one would expect that would take about 10 minutes or so to drive. So, it is unclear whether "hours before" was referring to hours before AM called 911 to report he'd been shot in the head or some other time frame (such as hours before the news broke about the events). When crimes are involved, actual times are so much more helpful than terms like "hours before" and one wonders why a more precise answer wasn't provided.

What was AM's destination in Charleston? Was he driving himself to rehab? And if so, was he doing so on his own volition, or had he been offered an ultimatum when he was confronted the day before by his law partners? (Something like, you check yourself into rehab TOMORROW or we report this theft to the authorities TODAY.). If AM had been offered an ultimatum, was anyone planning to accompany him to the door of rehab to make sure he actually admitted himself and didn't just promise to do that and instead take off or do something dangerous, like commit suicide or go postal on whoever discovered his theft or confronted him about it?

I ask because I think it odd that the law firm notified LE about the misappropriation of funds AFTER the alleged shot in the head at the side of the Old Saskehatchie Highway and not BEFORE. That is, LE was notified AFTER AM became a victim and not when he was merely a thief with a serious addiction who'd stolen from his place of business AND whose family was mostly annihilated 3 months before.

I know if I was one of those partners who'd just discovered my firm had been stolen from in a big way (millions of dollars, reportedly... and this is before the forensic accountants have even done their investigation) and the thief deflected the responsibility for that theft at his addiction, the FIRST thing I would be reconsidering is whether or not I should give him a pass when considering whether he might have been capable of murdering his family too and if so, whether those of us who confronted him might also be in danger.
Yup. To me, nothing in this family adds up or makes sense.
SOOOoooooooo much drama and baloney.
And it was mentioned before but where did AM and MM live actually? They had sold their other house, had lots of other properties, the boys had apartments, they had the hunting "Lodge", but where did they actually live?
Who has that much money supposedly and no actual primary residence?
 
IIRC SLED has said one of the guns used was a Murdaugh gun. I can't remember exactly which news I read it on an I gotta tell you trying to find specific things is getting harder and harder as google is getting jammed with ALL these different things going on!! I just spent 15 min searching it every which way...I know I read it somewhere.

“ONE OF THE GUNS…”

Were BOTH the guns found at the scene? One belonging to the Murdaughs and one not registered to them?

If this were a stranger murder, or revenge murder, why would ANY gun be left at the scene?

If this was AM committing the murders, I can see him thinking that using a gun registered to the family might make it look like PM was trying to defend the family (so then presumably the gun registered to the family was the AR, because the shotgun was used to kill PM.). So, hypothetically, he shoots PM with the shotgun, then shoots MM with the AR, and drops the AR near PM.

So where is the shotgun? And did anyone do a gunshot residue test on PM to see whether or not he fired any gun?!

If AM, or anyone else committing these murders, were smart, they would have made it look like mother and son got in an argument, had a shootout, and shot each other concurrently. And would leave both guns at the scene!

Ugh. I wish we had more info!!
 
Respectfully, you obviously do not live in a rural area. There is plenty to keep LE busy on both the proactive and reactive sides. Add in there might not be another officer within 10 miles of your location - it's dicey at best.

No matter where you go, it's always the 3 D's for LE: Drugs, drunks, domestic abuse.

My smaller town's newspaper is always full of vehicle stops where meth / heroin / alcohol / firearms are involved. It's very creepy realizing how many people out there driving around are using, and armed!
 
RSBM
In short, how viable is the 10 million stolen claim?

AM’s bar admission was 11/21/1994 (Richard Murdaugh | South Carolina Bar).

Assuming he went to work at PMPED after his admission, he worked at the firm for approximately 25 years.

If he started the fraud from the get-go in his career (unlikely), $10M would equate to approximately $400K misappropriated each year. If he started the fraud in the middle of his career, $10M would equate to approximately $800K a year.

I would say that it is viable if he was able to circumnavigate internal controls, considering other notable fraud cases like Rita Crundwell, who embezzled $54M from her employer (a city) over 22 years.

Rita Crundwell, ex-Dixon official who embezzled nearly $54 million to finance lavish lifestyle, released from prison with 8 years left on sentence

ETA: It all depends on who is monitoring the finances and how critically they are being evaluated. Many people without business degrees (and even some that do) simply do not know how to read financial statements other than going straight to the bottom line. If the bottom line is positive, they often won’t question it. MOO from what I have seen in the wild as a financial statement auditor.
 
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I noted in the photographs from the scene of the alleged shooting of AM that there were several items of clothing hanging in the area behind the driver's seat of AM's vehicle. It looked like a few pressed shirts as well as some items in opaque plastic or vinyl protective covers (that might contain something like slacks, suits, or jackets). So, it looked like AM was packed to spend a few days away. I wonder if AM had also packed toiletries (thus indicating he'd be spending at least a few days away, and not that he had just picked up his dry cleaning and not taken it inside).

AM's attorney said AM had been headed to Charleston and had left "hours before," which is odd since the location where his car was parked by the side of the road (near St. John's Baptist Church, 15385 Old Salkehatchie Highway) is only 8-9 miles from his home at 4147 Moselle (Islandton), so one would expect that would take about 10 minutes or so to drive. So, it is unclear whether "hours before" was referring to hours before AM called 911 to report he'd been shot in the head or some other time frame (such as hours before the news broke about the events). When crimes are involved, actual times are so much more helpful than terms like "hours before" and one wonders why a more precise answer wasn't provided.

What was AM's destination in Charleston? Was he driving himself to rehab? And if so, was he doing so on his own volition, or had he been offered an ultimatum when he was confronted the day before by his law partners? (Something like, you check yourself into rehab TOMORROW or we report this theft to the authorities TODAY.). If AM had been offered an ultimatum, was anyone planning to accompany him to the door of rehab to make sure he actually admitted himself and didn't just promise to do that and instead take off or do something dangerous, like commit suicide or go postal on whoever discovered his theft or confronted him about it?

I ask because I think it odd that the law firm notified LE about the misappropriation of funds AFTER the alleged shot in the head at the side of the Old Saskehatchie Highway and not BEFORE. That is, LE was notified AFTER AM became a victim and not when he was merely a thief with a serious addiction who'd stolen from his place of business AND whose family was mostly annihilated 3 months before.

I know if I was one of those partners who'd just discovered my firm had been stolen from in a big way (millions of dollars, reportedly... and this is before the forensic accountants have even done their investigation) and the thief deflected the responsibility for that theft at his addiction, the FIRST thing I would be reconsidering is whether or not I should give him a pass when considering whether he might have been capable of murdering his family too and if so, whether those of us who confronted him might also be in danger.

I believe it has been reported that Alex and Buster had not returned to live in the Moselle property after the murders, but were living with Alex's brother Randy in Hampton.

I also agree that the timing of the announcement of the crime is really strange. There is a good discussion several theads back about the difference in embezzeling from a plaintiff's settlement funds in trust vs internally within the firm's funds. If it was embezzling from the holdings of the partnership, for example, rather than the operating funds or the settlement funds in trust, I think the missing funds have been noted for several weeks, as the death of Alex's father would have required an audit to settle his share of the partnership. So I think the partners have known about the large amount of funds missing for weeks, and for some reason have not chosen to report this as a crime of embezzlement until forced to by Alex's accident. It would make the most sense that Alex had been confronted about the funds and the partner's intentions to deal with it very soon before his accident, maybe the addiction story was forthcoming and he was told to report to rehab, just as you say, above.

My guess is also that his brother Randy knew about these events and has chosen not to speak about it publicly. I don't have any reason to think that the other brother, John, is of the same knowledge. He lives in Okaite, near Hilton Head.

Curiously, the obituary of the patriarch, Randolph "Buster" Murdaugh II lists Alex's residence as in Islandton, although I suppose that could mean the county rather than a specific town.
 
The Colleton County deputies were BUSY? Doing what, arresting squirrels for trespassing?

This isn’t uncommon in these big rural areas where there are miles of backroads to get places with usually just a few LE folks on duty. With big situations, of course they have others on call. I know a local now retired cop that complained of being stretched “across the county” a lot.
 
Here’s the link. This was very informative.


Dhese guyz **said with a NY accent** are great, thanks for posting this. I gotta say I was yelling at the screen, when peeps were chatting at them during the show,
TELL THEM ABOUT MAGGIE HIRING A FORENSIC ACCOUNTANT! and

TELL THEM ABOUT THE "GOOD SAMARITAN WHO WHISKED AM AWAY FROM THE CRIME SCENE BEFORE LE GOT THERE!" one more

"TELL THEM THAT WASN'T ALL LE WALKING AROUND AT MOZELLE CRIME SCENE, IT WAS AM'S BROTHER TOO!"

Sorry I'll stop yelling now


Right around the 55:00 mark he says,

"They found evidence from that case [Stephen Smith] at the murder scene [Moselle]"

I don't know where he got that info from but he says it !?
 
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