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

[Beren]

Something seems very wrong with this latest bombshell. Eddie clearly sucks at "assisted suicide". LOL

1) If the deal was to kill Alex - as in DEAD - why didn't Eddie make sure he completed the job (multiple shell casings and Alex was still just grazed!)?

2) Why did Alex enlist Eddie to allegedly kill him, why involve anyone else in his own death? (Unless Eddie is a professional hit man - in which case, he double sucks because he failed to complete the hit?!) Speaking as a former State Farm professional: typically, a life insurance policy will still pay out for a suicide death as long as the policy's been in force for at least two years.

3) If Alex was allegedly intent on dying / having himself killed for the $10M insurance payout to Buster, why did he ID a blue pickup / provide sketch details of a "suspect" - essentially throw Eddie under the bus? On a lonely stretch of back road with no witnesses, who would have known? Why didn't Alex keep his mouth shut to protect Eddie?

1). Either Eddie is not a killer and couldn’t cross that particular line or it was always staged

2). He just increased the life insurance and it hadn’t been long?

3). blue pick up might have been on the surveillance video. He was clearly vague on purpose with the sketch.

 

[sunshineray]

I can't wrap my brain around the possibilities -- assisted suicide to look like murder? A fake murder later claimed to be an assisted suicide?? And then there's the 2 murder weapons used at Moselle. Brain freeze. JMO.

Yeah it's the two blasts with a shotgun that I can't think of...why? Especially since revisiting the Moselle 911 call and hearing "For God's sake Paul. Why'd you have to get involved."

I think the weapon reported to be a Murdaugh owned weapon is probably that shotgun. Paul must of had it and it was taken away and used on him? But by whom?

Because of her hiring a forensic accountant and her and AM living apart, I think more than ever she was the target. I believe AM had genuine grief at finding his son dead that night. I don't think PM being killed was part of the plan. I think his death was a quickly thought out solution to a witness needing to be silenced. AJMO

 

[MassGuy]

Would Alex’s insurance pay out differently for suicide versus murdered?

Maybe. Some policies are “double indemnity,” which pays out twice as much for an accidental death. Murder is included.

 

[Beren]

Oh, I completely agree with you. I don’t think that is a reason to murder, or even dislike anyone. But you and I are not conservative old men in the deep South. To them, it’s a horrible sin to be gay. It’s sad, and wrong, but they see it as it terrible choice.

Might be a reason if BM hadn’t wanted to be outed and having someone who can hold that info over you is liability.

 

[katydid23]

All this makes me wonder.....Did Alex's father really die of natural causes?? I know he wasn't in good health,but it seems plausible his death could have been speeded along.
We probably won't ever know.

I wonder if he had a large estate being left to AM?

 

[otto]

Do you really think so?

I don't believe that Alex is suicidal, that he intended to die, or that he was seeking to gift his surviving son $10 million. If he wanted to commit a suicide that looked like murder, why not stage it at the same location as his wife and son's murders?

I think he wanted to stage the scene of a fake attempted murder so he would appear as a victim (like wife and son). He needed a minor head injury at a location where help, such as medical evacuation, would arrive quickly.

 

[Luna20]

I don't believe that Alex is suicidal, that he intended to die, or that he was seeking to gift his surviving son $10 million. If he wanted to commit a suicide that looked like murder, why not stage it at the same location as his wife and son's murders?

I think he wanted to stage the scene of a fake attempted murder so he would appear as a victim (like wife and son). He needed a minor head injury at a location where help, such as medical evacuation, would arrive quickly.

Same!

 

[StrangerThanFiction]

Me either. While I have no problem believing Alex is behind his own scheming self being shot in the head, I have a hard time accepting it was a suicide attempt.
IMO physical evidence (bullet casings, etc) don’t really fit the suicide attempt, but more importantly AM doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who’d kill himself without a fight. Nor does he strike me as a the martyrly father type.

However I could see him telling the person asked to shoot him that’s what he was doing, then returning fire on the guy claiming he must be the one who killed Paul and MM.

Just a hypothesis and not one I’m wed to.

Another scenario is that AM is just an incredible coward, looking forward the easy way out of the abominable mess he’s created in his life and in the lives of others in his sphere. That rings more true to me. JMO YMMV

 

[Bodhi]

Just hearing this news!!! So Murdaugh ratted out the person he paid to shoot him? My opinion of him was not high to begin with, but phew! The whole charade implicates him in the murder of his wife and son IMO.

SLED: Murdaugh conspired with Colleton County man in his own shooting

 

[StrangerThanFiction]

Something seems very wrong with this latest bombshell. Eddie clearly sucks at "assisted suicide". LOL

1) If the deal was to kill Alex - as in DEAD - why didn't Eddie make sure he completed the job (multiple shell casings and Alex was still just grazed!)?

2) Why did Alex enlist Eddie to allegedly kill him, why involve anyone else in his own death? (Unless Eddie is a professional hit man - in which case, he double sucks because he failed to complete the hit?!) Speaking as a former State Farm professional: typically, a life insurance policy will still pay out for a suicide death as long as the policy's been in force for at least two years.

3) If Alex was allegedly intent on dying / having himself killed for the $10M insurance payout to Buster, why did he ID a blue pickup / provide sketch details of a "suspect" - essentially throw Eddie under the bus? On a lonely stretch of back road with no witnesses, who would have known? Why didn't Alex keep his mouth shut to protect Eddie?

Because of the video footage captured across the street at the church? Easy to confess when you’re confronted with your own actions on film. JMO

 

[katydid23]

Hmm… Either:
1. Suicide plan was real but Cousin Eddie just couldn’t cross that line into murder. I suppose it’s possible that AM holds onto CES’ hand with gun to his own head saying “do it!” but CES yanks it away at last minute therefore causing only a graze. CES then drives off terrified and ditches gun. AM calls brothers and is a psychological mess for still being alive. Motive for $10M in life insurance is to cover all the money he embezzled. It’s not for BM to live in luxury. It’s for his whole family to get out of the mess he caused. He himself said he needs to work on rehabilitating the relationship with his family, clients, colleague… or something like that. It was his last ditch attempt to fix things for them?

OR

2. It was supposed to just be a simulated attempt on his life “see! I told you someone’s out to get me and my family!” to take the heat off of him as the double homicide investigations circled in closer. In the beginning they were adamant it WASN’T a suicide attempt (who was asking?) because they reflexively thought that made him look guilty about killing his family. Then they realized AM trying to kill himself for insurance money might put him in a better light.

Scenario 1 makes it more likely CES is not the hitman and likely AM did it himself or the double homicide is unrelated.

Scenario 2 makes it likely CES would do anything for AM and what are the chances AM has a whole ’nother shady associate he can task his dirty deeds with and trust that secrets will be kept?

I am leaning towards number 2.

Reason being---number 1 implies he cares about others and is concerned about their well being and feels so bad about what he has done that he is willing to sacrifice his own life. It is hard for me to envision that.

Number 2 fits him like a glove---totally impulsive, disorganised, chaotic series of events because he is flying by the seat of his pants---[Acting according to one's own desires or beliefs without regard for standards for social behavior, logical sensibility, or the approval of others. ]

 

[StrangerThanFiction]

I am leaning towards number 2.

Reason being---number 1 implies he cares about others and is concerned about their well being and feels so bad about what he has done that he is willing to sacrifice his own life. It is hard for me to envision that.

Number 2 fits him like a glove---totally impulsive, disorganised, chaotic series of events because he is flying by the seat of his pants---[Acting according to one's own desires or beliefs without regard for standards for social behavior, logical sensibility, or the approval of others. ]

Agree. Scenario 2 seems like his clearly established MO. MOO

 

[Bodhi]

I don't believe that Alex is suicidal, that he intended to die, or that he was seeking to gift his surviving son $10 million. If he wanted to commit a suicide that looked like murder, why not stage it at the same location as his wife and son's murders?

I think he wanted to stage the scene of a fake attempted murder so he would appear as a victim (like wife and son). He needed a minor head injury at a location where help, such as medical evacuation, would arrive quickly.

I agree. If Murdaugh decided after he was shot that he didn't want to die, there wouldn't have been a medievac helicopter seemingly staged nearby to transport him out of state so quickly. If law enforcement arrived a couple minutes later, he would have been gone.

 

[McSpy]

Would Alex’s insurance pay out differently for suicide versus murdered?

I don’t think insurance pays out anything for suicide. It would be good to know for sure though. Homicide probably pays off something though. That is involuntary. Similar to an accidental death.

 

[Beren]

I don't believe that Alex is suicidal, that he intended to die, or that he was seeking to gift his surviving son $10 million. If he wanted to commit a suicide that looked like murder, why not stage it at the same location as his wife and son's murders?

I think he wanted to stage the scene of a fake attempted murder so he would appear as a victim (like wife and son). He needed a minor head injury at a location where help, such as medical evacuation, would arrive quickly.

OR he was trying to set up CES to be the fall guy to rehab his own image when all CES ever did was be shady enough to get AM drugs. He relied on AM for $ so when a depressed, desperate and begging AM asked him to help him kill himself but make it look like murder for a big insurance pay out for his family, maybe he agreed for a price.
At the last minute CES realized the optics of this and how he could possibly pinned with 3 murders (or more) if he did this and pulled away at the last minute, thereby only causing a superficial wound.
CES was safe only as long as AM was safe after all. With AM dead, no one would believe or help him.

 

[Beren]

So if the plan succeeded, what was in it for CES? Seems like they would have caught up with him eventually and charged with murder. Makes no sense.

Really good question. He’s in AM’s will?

 

[katydid23]

It's strange to me that if he had Maggie and Paul killed he tries to have Buster set up with money by offing himself.Does he care about B but hated Paul?Strange.

Paul and Buster are just two very different people.
Buster seems to be reliable, responsible, hard working young man, keeping a low profile.
Do you remember the things Paul said in the hospital? His crude, sick remarks, his sexist come ons to the staff, the arrogant pompous entitled attitude towards everyone. His lies about the death he caused? He was about to bring his whole family down with these upcoming lawsuits and investigations. He was an out of control, narcissistic, entitled punk.

Guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

 

[katydid23]

Just thinking about the optics here:

We have this Curtis fellow arrested on a litany of charges. Within those documents, we can see that Alex has also confessed, yet no charges have been filed.

I’m wondering if he’s in the process of spilling the beans on the rest of this sordid affair, and tomorrow we will see the culmination.

I wonder if he is going to bring down some of the other corrupt higher- ups in his inner circle? Judges, bankers, co-workers, conspirators?

 

[McSpy]

AM is a lawyer, so he probably knows a lot about this stuff. If I recall correctly, he claims to have a substance abuse addiction issue, so the fact he has this issue could possibly mean his insurance company would have fought off a pay off if he committed suicide. Besides, why not commit suicide without a 3rd party involved? Why did he need someone else to shoot him? He could have shot himself or used drugs to do the job. I have a feeling he just botched a diversion tactic. His original story was probably his intent, but LE probably pressured him to come clean. Just my opinion for now. It all seems hinky, which is why we are all discussing it.

Here is some info on insurance and suicide:
The truth about suicide & life insurance | Coverage.com

 

[JRWoodwardMSW]

Would Alex’s insurance pay out differently for suicide versus murdered?

Yes.