SC - Paul Murdaugh, 22 and mom Margaret, 52, found shot to death, Islandton, 7 June 2021 #13

[Kudzuu]

I agree StarrysStarryNight.

 

[sunshineray]

I think she, if not before then that night, was afraid of him.

I believe that also.

 

[sunshineray]

From 48 Hours which aired Saturday, July 16,2022:

Stephen Smith death: What happened to the S.C. teen?​

Days after the June 2021 murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, investigators say they found information that led them to open a new investigation in an unsolved 2015 case: the mysterious death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith.

Did they ever say or hint at what that information was?

 

[Ann-Tx]

CBS has finally posted the 48 Hours episode that aired Saturday night, 7/16/22.

If you missed it or if you are interested in seeing it, here it is:

The Murdaugh Mysteries

Five deaths with a connection to one family. "48 Hours" contributor Nikki Battiste investigates.

www.cbsnews.com

CBS News.com -- "The Murdaugh Mysteries"

The deaths of a mother and son, a young woman's fatal boating crash, and two other mysterious deaths all connect to the family of disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh.

This originally aired October 30, 2021.

​

​

 

[Chelly]

Could Maggie have contacted Paul about AM asking her to meet him at the cabin? I don’t think AM expected Paul to be there. Surely he had to know there were issues with her living at the Edisto home and the Beach lawsuit.

Jmo

Agree.

 

[Ann-Tx]

South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh charged with murder of wife and son

Charges for prominent lawyer represent milestone in sprawling saga involving interlocking deaths and dozens of fraud charges

www.theguardian.com

The Guardian - 7/14/22

 

[stmarysmead]

It’s interesting to look back at MM’s FB. On June 21, she posted that loving tribute to AM. Less than a month later, July12, she moves to,Edisto.

<modsnip>

 

[Gypsy Road]

It’s interesting to look back at MM’s FB. On June 21, she posted that loving tribute to AM. Less than a month later, July12, she moves to,Edisto.

About a month after that she posts this…

Been here lurking on the thread, catching up with this case. Lots of good insights and so many clever minds here. Love WS for this very reason. My thoughts about MM are this - that she was married to a narcissist. Some days they can pull you in and make you feel you are so loved and that you are in the best relationship ever, while other days are pure hell and you are upset and confused by their behavior. She raised two boys with this man and seemed the perfect Southern housewife who just wanted the dream and to love and raise her family. Someone earlier here wrote that in these types of marriages - when you are married into a powerful family - you have to “go along to get along” and if you don’t you are punished, so you learn to always be a yes person and just play along and go about the business of raising your boys and loving your family - and not rocking the boat so that life is more predictable and easier, happier. But there are days you reach your limit, and maybe she finally had and she wanted out. JMO.

 

[LetsSolvIt]

Found this on Ivana Trump thread: Common Injuries from Falling Down Stairs & How to Prevent Falls

 

[RAISINISBACK]

Where did you read that he was a ‘retired executive?’ I am also familar with the tiered structure of large engineering departments, their pay grades and benefit programs. Many large companies have many, many engineers. Many never move upward. They are not considered “executives.”

I would be interested in where you obtained this information or are you just speaking generally?

Yes, he received other offers coming out of college, but did he receive any during the life of his career?

Is there documentation that this was a ’wealthy’ family? Or is part of the reason MM stayed, because she supposedly “married up?” I will admit to being very curious about Maggie. She was smart. There was so much going on around her…both son and husband. Was there pressure on her to stay because of the lifestyle?

Some details here…but Id sincerely like to read what more you have found.

<modsnip - sleuthing victim’s family>

Compare that to the Murdaugh's who built a fortune almost 100 years ago with 5 generations and many heirs to the first RM's fortune. Alex alone had 2 brothers and a sister, that doesn't count other lines from GGGP's other children and so on. There could potentially be hundreds of heirs now.

They had a big law firm with multiple offices in different cities but after GGGP bled the railroad dry and CSR moved out of the area not many other big companies built there because of the SC law @evilwise mentioned up thread. Walmart wouldn't even build a store there. So PMPED's high dollar settlements dried up. Also there are a lot of lawyers in that firm so fees from lawsuits were diluted substantially.

Then there is the fact that both Alex's grandfather and father went into public service as prosecutors. We all know how much civil servants get paid. It's peanuts compared to the private sector.

I think the Murdaugh's had the power and influence but very little in the way of real money. I think MM was the opposite. She owned in only her name all the real property, Moselle, Edisto Beach and even a share in PMPED which I think she bought from AM. I think her family had the money but no power and prestige outside their own accomplishments. I think her dad pulled himself up by his bootstraps by working hard and was very frugal. We have no way of knowing his opinion since he has offered no statements at all on the subject of his daughters marriage or murder and I am not going to speculate about it.

I think that MM really loved AM at first until she saw his addiction and what it drove him to do and that addiction destroyed her love. Addiction does that. One article stated there was "no love lost" between MM and AM by the time of the murders. I think MM was trying to hold on until the boys were out of college and on their own but her hand was forced when she had that check bounce and realized that AM had blew through (her) their money. Plus it was stated early on that he wasn't working much.

This is all pure speculation on my part. But I do have a link to an interview you might be interested in that I do not think can be posted on the main forum.

JMO

 

[Seattle1]

MOO - Could it be, because a cause of death by murder would negate the settlement the sons received from the homeowner's insurance policy?? From the get-go, it seems that Bland has intentionally shied away from placing any blame on anyone for GS death. Is the finding of an accidental death more advantageous for his clients? Just wondering out loud...

GAS heirs filed a civil claim under the wrongful death statute-- which would also be available to them had AM murdered their mother. So no, I disagree with this theory. JMO

ETA: Actually, filing WDC under a murder scenario would have likely proved more favorable to GAS's family as they would not have been caught up with AM manipulating the suit that he encouraged and orchestrated for his own personal, financial gain.

 

[Luna20]

Was it repetitious? I watched the first and second, I didnt see anything in the second one that we didn’t already know. Neither of them were particularly suspenseful.

 

[stmarysmead]

Another curious thing to me was the interview the brothers did. AM had not been named as a suspect. Why did they feel they had to goin National TV? Of it does turn out that Maggie was divorcing him, a lot of people will remember that they said the opposite.

Just a strange thing to do.

 

[Misy]

I’ve been lurking too but had to sign in to ask a question. The site sure has changed since I was on here before (followed Jennifer Dulos for so long). It’s been said here several (if not more) times that MM came to the house, leaving her car running, and found PM in the kennel taking a picture of his friends dog. How could anyone know that? Where is that coming from?
Also it’s been said here that PM was videoing the dog(s) and you can hear MM and AM talking in the background. How do we know this? Do the police have his phone and the video leaked?? MOO TIA

 

[MerryB]

I’ve been lurking too but had to sign in to ask a question. The site sure has changed since I was on here before (followed Jennifer Dulos for so long). It’s been said here several (if not more) times that MM came to the house, leaving her car running, and found PM in the kennel taking a picture of his friends dog. How could anyone know that? Where is that coming from?
Also it’s been said here that PM was videoing the dog(s) and you can hear MM and AM talking in the background. How do we know this? Do the police have his phone and the video leaked?? MOO TIA

I assume they have information from her fancy car’s computer about it being left running, and they have the information from Paul’s friend about asking him to check on his dog. They also were able to get the video Paul took of the dog off his phone, which is time-stamped and shows Alex and Maggie talking in the background.

 

[stmarysmead]

BBM

i do feel certain that there was no family wealth to begin with. As the Post article that I posted stated, her maternal grandfather was a barber.

I appreciate your opinion and do agree that the Murdaughs were not as wealthy as they wanted people to believe.

What I respectfully disagree with is the dismissal of MM's father's hard work and upwardly mobile trajectory at DuPont being defined by his father being a barber.

Should I point out that Steve Jobs biological father was a teaching assistant and spent quite a while in prison for being a political activist. And that his adoptive father was a Coast Guard mechanic?

Or that the Koch brothers father started out as a chemical engineer?

Or that Frank Phillips father was a farmer?

Even though Bill Gates father was a little better off financially his parents were lower middle class?

Most wealthy people come from humble beginnings. I think we are defined by our own hard work as to what we become in life.

But shall we at this point respectfully agree to disagree?

JMO

You misunderstand my post. I would agree with you…if that was my point, but it isn‘t. I believe you speculated that there may hsve been inherited wealth in MM’s maternal side of the family. The Post arrticle upthread disputes that.

i absolutely agree that many wealthy people have humble beginnings.

i just don't believe that MM came from wealth. i have seen no indicators of that in any Zillow real estate searches, name searches, google searches, etc. They sound like lovely people though.

But we certainly can agree to disagree.

 

[clearskies1]

I assume they have information from her fancy car’s computer about it being left running, and they have the information from Paul’s friend about asking him to check on his dog. They also were able to get the video Paul took of the dog off his phone, which is time-stamped and shows Alex and Maggie talking in the background.

I'm surprised that Alex and Maggie were talking. Somehow I had it in my head that Alex lured her there and had no interaction with her except to shoot her -- the motive being her refusal to back down on her forensic audit demand. Wonder if he was carrying a gun when he spoke to her. That would certainly make me head for the hills if I was her. JMO and total speculation.

 

[Luna20]

Another curious thing to me was the interview the brothers did. AM had not been named as a suspect. Why did they feel they had to goin National TV? Of it does turn out that Maggie was divorcing him, a lot of people will remember that they said the opposite.

Just a strange thing to do.

To me the interview was one of the most incriminating things initially. It was what they said and how they said it.

What: they had a great marriage and the family had no enemies. The family had to know the marriage wasn’t “great”. And I don’t know of any attorney who could say emphatically they have no enemies since the very nature of litigation involves a winner and a loser. Plus we now know the boating accident produced enemies and litigation was pending at the time of the murders. Makes for a big credibility check.

How: the interaction between the 2 brothers was very contrived. At one point one of them pats the other one on the shoulder and the other one tries to appear tearful. There was no traumatic laden communication or any shock about a double murder. They were too calm and too quick to do a live televised interview. It was obvious they wanted to quickly control the narrative. Everyone went along with whatever they said in the past so they would make a statement and no one would question them. They underestimated how the public would react.

 

[LetsSolvIt]

“I would never advocate anyone committing suicide but in Alex’s case he has ruined so many people’s lives already and there’s so much more coming,” Eric Bland, the Columbia, SC attorney representing the Satterfield family, told The Post.

Accused killer Alex Murdaugh compared to Charles Manson, Ted Bundy

South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh was indicted on two counts of murder and two counts of weapons possession in the shooting deaths of his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22.

nypost.com

“This guy has left so many victims in his wake, family members whose lives he’s either destroyed and family members he may have killed, that that’s hard to overestimate the damage. This could all drag on another seven years. Alex is potentially a guy who will go down in history making the name ‘Murdaugh’ synonymous with Madoff, Manson and Ted Bundy.”

Bland said that, short of suicide, the only honorable option for Murdaugh now would be to come clean on everything he knows about both the murders of Maggie and Paul as well as the slew of financial charges against him.

Much more at link.

Up to now EB has been a hero in my mind and I totally agree that the only honorable thing for Alec to do is come clean and confess everything he knows about the deaths of Maggie and Paul, and also GS, MH, SS, etc.

What really infuriates me is that EB would even suggest suicide is an honorable option for AM.

IMO, IT’s NOT! It would be a cop out and cowardly. Further, we, LE, and the families of AM’s victims would never have potential to hear the complete stories (and/or an apology, explanation, or remorse.) AM would never face his punishment.

Going forward I hope EB keeps his mouth shut on this topic!

 

[RAISINISBACK]

Up to now EB has been a hero in my mind and I totally agree that the only honorable thing for Alec to do is come clean and confess everything he knows about the deaths of Maggie and Paul, and also GS, MH, SS, etc.

What really infuriates me is that EB would even suggest suicide is an honorable option for AM.

IMO, IT’s NOT! It would be a cop out and cowardly. Further, we, LE, and the families of AM’s victims would never have potential to hear the complete stories (and/or an apology, explanation, or remorse.) AM would never face his punishment.

Going forward I hope EB keeps his mouth shut on this topic!

BBM

What really infuriates me is that EB would even suggest suicide is an honorable option for AM.

I agree. That threw me for a loop too.

I have no idea why he would say that or even suggest it. AM may be a total narcissist but he is still a human and all human life is valuable.

I wonder if EB is afraid that if AM starts talking he might rescind his admission of fault in the GS fall?

But still to suggest suicide as a solution is a slap in the face to anyone who has lost a loved one to suicide.

SMH

JMO