South Carolina Lawyer Alex Murdaugh Charged In Murders Of Wife, Son

A South Carolina attorney previously charged with orchestrating a plot to have himself shot last year in an insurance scheme has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of murdering his wife and youngest son in June of last year.

Alex Murdaugh, already facing dozens of state charges including embezzlement, was indicted on Thursday on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon in connection with the murders, the state's Attorney General Alan Wilson said.

Murdaugh's wife Margaret and son Paul were killed on June 7, 2021, at the family's property in Colleton County.

Murdaugh was charged last September with insurance fraud in the scheme to have himself killed, which he survived. The shooting allegedly was designed so that his surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, could collect a $10 million insurance payout, police had said.

Murdaugh in an affidavit admitted to plotting his own death, a state police agency said last September.

A state grand jury indicted him in November on 27 charges stemming from schemes to defraud law clients and associates as well as launder more than $4.8 million.

His lawyers released a statement on Thursday denying the murder charges and said they would file a motion for a speedy trial.

"He did not have anything to do with the murders of Maggie and Paul," CNN quoted his lawyers as saying in a statement.

Murdaugh, a scion of a South Carolina legal dynasty, is in custody. He was suspended from practicing law in September.

Separately, Murdaugh was accused of embezzling settlement funds related to his housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who died in 2018 after a "trip and fall" accident in the Murdaugh home, according to court records.