SC - Paul Murdaugh, 22 and mom Margaret, 52, found shot to death, Islandton, 7 June 2021 #2

[stmarysmead]

I am no defense atty for the Murdaugh family. I’m just trying to take my personal animosity and emotions out of the situation and look at what we really factually know. My suspicions…which aren’t facts…are very similar to what yours are.

Unfortunately, the coroner in the Smith case ruled that it was an accident. So there is, at present, an official dispute to the charge of murder. That’s what stands at the moment.

I’m thrilled that the case is reopened and that there is a grand jury investigating obstruction. But, for the moment, the coroner’s ruling stands…so legally, it cannot be called murder.

And, I agree, PM was reportedly recklessly driving the boat. Testimony about his behavior is appalling. Did he call his Dad before they called for help…not proven.

My post was just to point out what we can fairly say we KNOW…from the small amount of factual information we have. Like you, I have read reams of rumors and I grit my teeth and sit on my hands. We can’t discuss that here because WS requires a higher standard.

So we wait….

‘I cannot edit my post…but I’d like to correct. It was the pathologist that determined it was an accident.

 

[Luna20]

Is Stephen Smith was not cremated, I hope his body is exhumed. A new autopsy is done out of any local counties or counties anyone has business or contact with.
I fear though SS body could have been removed and hidden. I sure hope not….jmoo.

All local LE should stay away from the new investigation….I would rather see the FBI take over. Something smells real fishy and I hope the new LE can get to the bottom of the murders and possible cover ups.

Thank you scmom for the link to the news article on the reopening of the 2015 case. Very interesting.

“Yet another note in the case file mentions a tip that came from a man who claimed his stepson struck and killed Smith. The man claimed he was instructed to pass this information to investigators because “Randy Murdaugh told him to call,” the report states”

An interesting twist…Re-Randy

 

[Warwick7]

It is obviously heartbreaking to think of the multiple tragedies that have happened to the family, but this post reads like that of a defense attorney. Raising doubt is important and rumors should obviously be corroborated but no investigation ever reveals 100% complete and unimpeachable truth. We do know that investigators had enough evidence (likely including the depositions, Snapchat, location, and phone records) to charge PM with manslaughter (edit, technically felony BUI). Intoxicated people do not suddenly lack memory or always confabulate information - their statements must obviously be corroborated but at the very least PM was reported by multiple people to have recklessly driven the boat and to have refused to let others drive. Similarly, there has been absolutely no dispute that Stephen Smith's death was a homicide - whether it was vehicular manslaughter or premeditated murder, there is no evidence this was self-inflicted or an accident not caused by another human being.

I see you are a new member. Nice to have you here!!!

 

[genuineusa77]

So there are 3 people named in that tip that possibly had something to do with Steven Smith's death and one of them is a Murdaugh boy. That makes sense if that's what happened because it sounds like this poor guy was beat up by a bunch of people, considering all those injuries and even a hole above his eye! Why in the world wasn't DNA taken from these three people and from Smith's body? I hope they can still do that.

 

[Warwick7]

Correction…it was the pathologist not the coroner who made the determination.


“An investigator who attempted to dig into the autopsy report indicated in notes that he got into a heated discussion with the pathologist who performed Smith’s autopsy.

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The doctor said it was a hit and run based on his body being found in the middle of the road, the notes state.

“She had no evidence other than that for the statement being put in the report,” the investigator wrote.

The investigator asked the pathologist if someone with a baseball bat could have caused the injury and she said no, the notes state.

But when he asked if Smith could have suffered the head wound from being struck by a bat or other object held by someone in a moving vehicle, the pathologist answered, “Well, I guess it’s possible” and asked if a bat had been found as evidence.

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The investigator notes that as he was leaving, the pathologist told him the report was “preliminary” and it was his job to figure out what struck Smith, not hers.

The investigator went on to say he discussed the autopsy report with the coroner on Aug. 18, 2015, and said the coroner stated he did not agree with the pathologist’s suggestion that Smith was struck by a motor vehicle.

The notes state the report listed the cause of death as “blunt head trauma, motor vehicle crash, pedestrian v. vehicle” but that the manner of death was “undetermined.”

“I would think that the blunt force head trauma would be the cause of death and the motor vehicle crash would be the manner the trauma was delivered to cause the death,” the investigator wrote. “The pathologist also states in the report, that in light of historical information along with the autopsy, these conclusions were made. To what historical information she possessed, I am unaware.”

I'm stunned!

 

[Marysmith]

Correction…it was the pathologist not the coroner who made the determination.


“An investigator who attempted to dig into the autopsy report indicated in notes that he got into a heated discussion with the pathologist who performed Smith’s autopsy.

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The doctor said it was a hit and run based on his body being found in the middle of the road, the notes state.

“She had no evidence other than that for the statement being put in the report,” the investigator wrote.

The investigator asked the pathologist if someone with a baseball bat could have caused the injury and she said no, the notes state.

But when he asked if Smith could have suffered the head wound from being struck by a bat or other object held by someone in a moving vehicle, the pathologist answered, “Well, I guess it’s possible” and asked if a bat had been found as evidence.

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The investigator notes that as he was leaving, the pathologist told him the report was “preliminary” and it was his job to figure out what struck Smith, not hers.

The investigator went on to say he discussed the autopsy report with the coroner on Aug. 18, 2015, and said the coroner stated he did not agree with the pathologist’s suggestion that Smith was struck by a motor vehicle.

The notes state the report listed the cause of death as “blunt head trauma, motor vehicle crash, pedestrian v. vehicle” but that the manner of death was “undetermined.”

“I would think that the blunt force head trauma would be the cause of death and the motor vehicle crash would be the manner the trauma was delivered to cause the death,” the investigator wrote. “The pathologist also states in the report, that in light of historical information along with the autopsy, these conclusions were made. To what historical information she possessed, I am unaware.”

Wow. With great power comes great responsibility… just MOO - and of course this is from Spider-Man but I love this quote!

 

[swedeheart]

 

[swedeheart]

https://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article252329953.html

Alex Murdaugh is working to post a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer or killers of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, a Columbia lawyer said Thursday.

“We are close to finalizing the procedure in which tips would be processed,” said attorney Jim Griffin, who is working with Alex Murdaugh to set up procedures to handle and distribute any reward money paid out.

 

[Diddian]

https://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article252329953.html

Alex Murdaugh is working to post a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer or killers of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, a Columbia lawyer said Thursday.

“We are close to finalizing the procedure in which tips would be processed,” said attorney Jim Griffin, who is working with Alex Murdaugh to set up procedures to handle and distribute any reward money paid out.

Regarding "finalizing procedure in which tips would be processed... and set up procedures to handle and distribute any reward money paid out..."

Does this mean tips generated by those seeking reward will be processed independently of tips made directly to LE?

 

[Mademoiselle6]

Ridgeland man arrested in armed robbery case

No known enemies?

 

[amickey]

My apologies, I'm mostly a lurker, so if this has been mentioned...

But how did anyone know where these people were? They owned multiple properties (the lodge, the beachfront, plus Paul had his uni apartment). If you DO think this is retaliatory or based on some event (which for me seems most likely due to the violence involved), then the perpetrator(s) would have needed some awareness of where people were.

I grew up in a small rural town so I get knowing people's business, but we were spread out enough that we wouldn't necessarily know where people were staying or their comings and goings.

 

[Hotsauce777]

The only immediate family member whose movements that night we think we know…is AM. He is said to have an ironclad alibi involving taken his critically ill Father to the hospital and then returning to spend some time with his Mother.

We don’t know where MM or PM were. I’m assuming MM was living at the lodge with her husband. Did she leave the house earlier that day/night? How did she spend her day? Did she run the various households…meaning hiring/firing household employees was her job?

How did she happen to be over at the dog kennels at 9pm on a rainy night? Was her car in that area too?

Does the fact that her phone was discarded in the road mean that she had actual physical contact with her killer/killers, struggling over that phone, before they shot her?

Most women I know, living in or entering a lonely isolated property would not confront intruders on their own. But if the person/persons were known to them, and not considered a threat…then yes. ‘What’s up? Why are you here?”

Was PM living at his apartment…the one with the open door? Or was he staying at the Lodge? Where was his car found…on the property? Or did he arrive at the Lodge with the perpetrators…after they’d picked him up, left his apartment so quickly that the door was ajar?

Or did PM return home to find his Mother arguing with some individuals? I know MM was said to have a lovely caring reputation. But the whole family must have been in a highly emotional state with the patriarch essentially near death.

And as far as we know, nothing was taken. This crime is one complex mystery.

His apartment with the open door was a 2.5 hour drive from Moselle.

 

[Hotsauce777]

https://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article252329953.html

Alex Murdaugh is working to post a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer or killers of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, a Columbia lawyer said Thursday.

“We are close to finalizing the procedure in which tips would be processed,” said attorney Jim Griffin, who is working with Alex Murdaugh to set up procedures to handle and distribute any reward money paid out.

Jim Griffin is one of the premier criminal defense attorneys in SC btw. I find it interesting and telling that he is involved in this at this stage. Hmmm.

 

[stmarysmead]

His apartment with the open door was a 2.5 hour drive from Moselle.

I thought the apartment was in Columbia SC which is about 1 hour 45 minutes according to Google. Google Maps

Where was the apartment?

 

[Sustained]

I thought the apartment was in Columbia SC which is about 1 hour 45 minutes according to Google. Google Maps

Where was the apartment?

It is in Columbia - close to USC.

 

[Elley Mae]

AM arrived at Moselle just about 10:00pm.

Nothing has been reported on time of death, not sure bout visiting hours at hospital. I am wondering if AM had been trying to contact MM or PM and got no response. Possible he went home from hospital and then went to Moselle looking for them.

 

[Sustained]

AM arrived at Moselle just about 10:00pm.

Nothing has been reported on time of death, not sure bout visiting hours at hospital. I am wondering if AM had been trying to contact MM or PM and got no response. Possible he went home from hospital and then went to Moselle looking for them.

The county coroner reported that both PM/MM likely died between 9 - 9:30 PM.

 

[Elley Mae]

Murdaugh, 22, shared the apartment, located in an apartment complex at 612 Whaley St., with another student, sources said. The complex is located in the Olympia section of Columbia, a popular apartment area for USC students

https://www.thestate.com/article252203618.html

 

[girlhasnoname]

Just reported on evening news that the Mudaughs refused to comply with the Stephen Smith investigation.

And this:
Murdaugh double murders: Former SC trooper speaks out about suspicions in 2015 cold case linked to family

<snipped from above & BBM>

But Proctor. who worked for the state's highway patrol for more than 15 years, told Fox News exclusively that he always felt the case looked more like a murder than a hit-and-run death, and added: "Nothing about this case from the very beginning pointed towards it being a hit and run."

"As any investigator, you go off of the evidence – there was no evidence that pointed towards this being a hit and run, or a vehicle even being involved in it," he said. "It looked like it was more staged. Like possibly the body had been placed in the roadway."

 

[Hotsauce777]

I thought the apartment was in Columbia SC which is about 1 hour 45 minutes according to Google. Google Maps

Where was the apartment?

I use to drive that route all the time. It’s somewhere between 2-2.5 hours with traffic.