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

[Harry Seaward]

So, does it sound like AM said. "Oh Paul why'd you have to get involved"?

<modsnip>

I listened to it several times on headphones and can't make any of it out because the 911 gal is talking all over what he's saying. I do think I hear "involved" at the very end after she stopped talking, but again, I read that here first, so I have no idea what I would have heard otherwise.

 

[Tiff23fr]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a defense like that work, at least in a first degree murder case (which I’m sure this is).

Although I have no reason to believe the drug addiction is not true, I believe it was used as an excuse to explain his embezzlement.

I have no idea what these drugs would cost, but millions of dollars would seem to be much more than a single individuals habit IMO. I am not suggesting he was supporting others habits, but I suspect money was going to support other unsavory choices as well.

 

[MassGuy]

I have no idea what these drugs would cost, but millions of dollars would seem to be much more than a single individuals habit IMO. I am not suggesting he was supporting others habits, but I suspect money was going to support other unsavory choices as well.

Yes. While he may have spent quite a bit of money on drugs, that doesn’t come close to explaining where the vast majority of it went.

There’s gotta be way more to it.

 

[MerryB]

Yes. While he may have spent quite a bit of money on drugs, that doesn’t come close to explaining where the vast majority of it went.

There’s gotta be way more to it.

What about paying investigators to look the other way, judges to rule in his favor, evidence to “disappear…”
just to name a few things off the top of my head. MOO

 

[Harry Seaward]

AM showed up to Moselle in the dark. He says in the middle of the 911 call that he's "just been up to it, it's bad", but he told the 911 operator at the beginning of the call that MM and AM had been shot. How did he know that before he had been "up to it"?

The other thing is there was some discussion about him saying no one was supposed to be there. The dispatcher asked if anyone *else* was supposed to be there.

 

[MassGuy]

Since the evidence at the roadside crime scene doesn't align (as far as we know) with the alleged crime as reported through intermediaries, it would seem

• the evidence was staged, either

1. unintentionally badly, or
2. intentionally badly to make it look like something else (like a suicide attempt) happened and then was covered up

• the crime scene isn't the crime scene and whatever happened, happened elsewhere (then see above).

I wonder if some sort of confrontation happened earlier, then AM and perhaps others following drove to the roadside area to stage the car scene. Random speculation only.

I just think this was staged badly.

There were two major stressors at the time, and that’s ignoring potentially unclear thinking caused by opioid abuse:

Stone recusing himself; a clear signal that SLED was closing in on the perpetrator(s).

The discovery of the embezzlement, and Alex subsequently being forced out the previous day.

That just seems like a perfect recipe for mental unraveling.

 

[Misy]

If Paul went to check on the dogs - purely hypothetical - and took a shotgun, just in case (we know he didn't take an assault rifle), regarding what happened at the time of the shooting, it seems that Paul was either disarmed or caught off guard. Suppose - again, hypothetical - Maggie heard an assault rifle and went outside to call for Paul, knowing that he was headed to the kennels. Suppose that the shooter picked up the shotgun, if Paul had one, waited for Maggie to get close to Paul and then shot her.

I'm curious about the moments, and 24 hours, prior to the murders.

If Alex was not expecting anyone else to be at the house, what changed that his wife and son were at the house? Why were they there? Where were they immediately prior to heading to the house? Who saw them last?

Someone postedafewdays ago that the manager at PM’s apartment called police because his door was wide open. I’m not sure but I think they said it was from the same night.

 

[Tiff23fr]

Yes. While he may have spent quite a bit of money on drugs, that doesn’t come close to explaining where the vast majority of it went.

There’s gotta be way more to it.

Another scenario might include making choices well beyond ones’ means and not taking a stand against extraneous spending within the family. For example: pay for college, pay for apartments for adult children, properties, vehicles, vacations, etc.

For some that have had the luxury of giving everything to a spouse or their children upon request, it can be a difficult stance to suddenly admit one can not afford those things. Pride can be hard to swallow. They were no longer purchasing boxes of Legos.

 

[bestill]

If millions are indeed missing there had to be conflicting reports going on that should have triggered red flags like tax returns showing reported income vs actual money filtering through accounts. He couldn't have used all cash. So something is amiss, imo.

 

[Harikari]

@Harikari

I listened to the 911 call AM place, it is my opinion that AM found them dead and I don’t think he had anything to do with it. I really never did, still don’t.


Jmo

Thank you! I was afraid of being trashed for my post so I tried to delete it.

I think many people are only thinking about the good things about having money and perceived power - when in reality, it may have been hell, and impossible to live up to.

I probably would have turned to Anything to dull the pain… Especially after the boating accident.

I grew up in a family in which the Only option was to be the most successful…and it was crippling. I turned to drugs as a coping mechanism - and compared to AM, my life was cake. No one suspected - straight A’s, Ivy League school…..

So, whether or not AM has a drug problem, I can see why he would - and have empathy for Everyone.

Am I allowed to say this? If not, mods feel free to delete.

 

[mainemom376]

I'm also skeptical about the oxycontin. If he said booze, I'd be more apt to believe it. I think he said oxycontin because it's a sympathy play. Lots of people from all walks of life with Rx problems. It might go over better in their social circle or good old boy network to be hooked on Rx drugs than just not being able to handle your booze.

I agree about the diminished capacity establishment. Getting that out to the public right away.

I think this is starting to come together for me.

I wonder if the eldest son is in contact with his dad and supportive of his rehab?

All of the above is MOO.

Ya. ITA. Will be very surprised if it’s Oxy. JMO

 

[StrangerThanFiction]

This story… Good Samaritans pick up a guy who’s been shot in the head, at least grazed/bleeding from the head… and they don’t call 911 for him? He calls himself?
As usual, we are missing a whole lot of info. And what we do have is likely, at least partially, incorrect. But as it stands, I would call these Average Samaritans. Or more likely Planned Samaritans.
MOO

Or the same Sams who grazed his head first before driving him off? Nothing would surprise me at this point. Would love to hear what SLED found from the cameras at the church. My suspicion is not much. YMMV

This atty has an answer for everything.

Correction: he MAKES UP an answer for everything. JMO

 

[StrangerThanFiction]

Thank you, I agree...virtuous reasoning will prevail in the end.

Sorry but “virtuous” and “Murdaugh” doesn’t go together in this multi-year fiasco story. JMO.

 

[RAISINISBACK]

Someone posted a side picture of AM's car beside the road they got off face book or somewhere but I can't find it now. If whoever posted it would be so kind as to post it again, I thought I saw two bullet holes in the back drivers side fender right above the fender well. I wanted to enlarge it and look again but it is back in thread 5 and it would be all day to find it now. TIA

 

[skyedaze]

<modsnip>

I listened to it several times on headphones and can't make any of it out because the 911 gal is talking all over what he's saying. I do think I hear "involved" at the very end after she stopped talking, but again, I read that here first, so I have no idea what I would have heard otherwise.

and while no normal person would want their son killed...if PM were "involved" in defending his mother from execution, to me that would be understandable. If it were my son I would be proud of him rather than wish he do something other than come to the aid of his own mother.
Unless I knew what was to happen and did not realize the son would be there...if he were not the intended victim.

 

[Elley Mae]

The Solicitor's Office seems to be fixated on the issue of whether AM was paid. I don't see that as an issue and in fact it probably would have been better if he had been paid in some capacity because that would have meant any casework he did was tracked and logged. (IMO, he did no work.)

The issues with his volunteer gig with the Solicitor's Office are

1. Did AM benefit from an ongoing relationship with the Solicitor's Office?
2. Were any of the cases he worked affected by his criminal behavior?

On the first issue, I'd say that he benefited by carrying a badge and by the public perception that he was still affiliated with the Solicitor's Office. That public perception would be strengthened by the Murdaughs having held that office for 80-odd years. The reporting and court documents released indicate that AM was aware that the badge and affiliation conferred additional authority and used that authority to intimidate people who crossed his family.

On the second issue, the Solicitor's Office has already publicly admitted that they did not track AM's casework because he "volunteered." If that's the case, could they decline to revisit past cases if new allegations of criminal misconduct by AM in the adjudication of past cases were to surface? They have no records to demonstrate the cases he worked on or didn't work on.

If the Solicitor's Office now wants to say that AM didn't actually do any volunteer work, then why was he afforded benefits as though he were? Did AM ever do any volunteer work? If AM did do volunteer work at some point and then stopped, how would they know since they weren't tracking his hours or his casework (and see above)?

IMO, I don't see how AM's sweetheart volunteer gig doesn't drive directly toward misconduct, misuse of public office and corruption on the part of the Solicitor's Office. MOO.

This is not a fact.

I have looked & looked and can’t find but I thought I read early on that AM was getting $2500 month, maybe his dad.

Not fact

Jmo

 

[RAISINISBACK]

Initially I was wondering why he would take the back road. Personally, if my family members were recently murdered, I would be in constant state of heightened awareness and I would probably stick to the most visible, travelled roads possible. No back roads for me. But then I thought (and iirc it was mentioned earlier) that if he was having car troubles from initially leaving home, maybe it was smarter to take roads allowing for slower speeds. However from one of his lawyer's many comments, the alert light came on as he was driving. So there's that.

I can *maybe* understand if the Moselle property wasn't covered by cameras initially, but after the murders, it would seem foolish to not install them, at least near the residence and where vehicles were kept. That makes sense, right? Where and how would someone have knifed the tire?

HIGHLY unlikely but I do wonder if a tracking device was put on his car.

I agree. I also would have had that place lit up like the Super Bowl at halftime. (That reference coming since football season just started. Go Sooners!!)

Also I would have hired a couple of armed beefy hunks with military training as 24/7 caretakers just to ward off evil spirits so to speak. Guess he isn't much worried about whoever killed his wife and son coming back for him or God forbid his other son.

JMO

 

[RAISINISBACK]

Initially I was wondering why he would take the back road. Personally, if my family members were recently murdered, I would be in constant state of heightened awareness and I would probably stick to the most visible, travelled roads possible. No back roads for me. But then I thought (and iirc it was mentioned earlier) that if he was having car troubles from initially leaving home, maybe it was smarter to take roads allowing for slower speeds. However from one of his lawyer's many comments, the alert light came on as he was driving. So there's that.

I can *maybe* understand if the Moselle property wasn't covered by cameras initially, but after the murders, it would seem foolish to not install them, at least near the residence and where vehicles were kept. That makes sense, right? Where and how would someone have knifed the tire?

HIGHLY unlikely but I do wonder if a tracking device was put on his car.

With his own knife no less. Wonder if anyone has any information about caretakers ect who might live on the property full time?

JMO

 

[Tiff23fr]

This is not a fact.

I have looked & looked and can’t find but I thought I read early on that AM was getting $2500 month, maybe his dad.

Not fact

Jmo

Hope this helps. I am wondering what a “Special Volunteer” may mean.

Alex Murdaugh, a private attorney in Hampton whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather served as chief prosecutor for five South Carolina counties for nearly a century, has been a special volunteer with the current 14th Circuit solicitor and was not paid for his work, the office said Wednesday, responding to requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

His father, Randolph Murdaugh III, who retired as 14th Circuit solicitor in 2005, worked on a contract basis for $2,500 per month for his successor, Duffie Stone, wrote Stone’s spokesman, Jeff Kidd, citing records that date to 2015.


https://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/crime/article252498973.html

 

[Herat]

The Solicitor's Office seems to be fixated on the issue of whether AM was paid. I don't see that as an issue and in fact it probably would have been better if he had been paid in some capacity because that would have meant any casework he did was tracked and logged. (IMO, he did no work.)

The issues with his volunteer gig with the Solicitor's Office are

1. Did AM benefit from an ongoing relationship with the Solicitor's Office?
2. Were any of the cases he worked affected by his criminal behavior?

On the first issue, I'd say that he benefited by carrying a badge and by the public perception that he was still affiliated with the Solicitor's Office. That public perception would be strengthened by the Murdaughs having held that office for 80-odd years. The reporting and court documents released indicate that AM was aware that the badge and affiliation conferred additional authority and used that authority to intimidate people who crossed his family.

On the second issue, the Solicitor's Office has already publicly admitted that they did not track AM's casework because he "volunteered." If that's the case, could they decline to revisit past cases if new allegations of criminal misconduct by AM in the adjudication of past cases were to surface? They have no records to demonstrate the cases he worked on or didn't work on.

If the Solicitor's Office now wants to say that AM didn't actually do any volunteer work, then why was he afforded benefits as though he were? Did AM ever do any volunteer work? If AM did do volunteer work at some point and then stopped, how would they know since they weren't tracking his hours or his casework (and see above)?

IMO, I don't see how AM's sweetheart volunteer gig doesn't drive directly toward misconduct, misuse of public office and corruption on the part of the Solicitor's Office. MOO.

It's unfathomable that the Solicitor's Office would not be able to track the cases he was in any way involved with.

I'm unsure exactly what his position as "volunteer" there would be and what it would entail, but I think there is a very real opportunity of a conflict of interest or inappropriate access to records and judicial or other legal personnel. He could very well have been the victim of extortion by an employee there if his alleged drug use was discovered.