SC - Paul Murdaugh, 22 and mom Margaret, 52, found shot to death, Islandton, 7 June 2021 #5

[LotusPawprint]

Good point, and addiction or no addiction, since he electively went to rehab, can he leave at any time? I’m just worried about his potential actions once he’s out.

I think he would be able to.
If the facility *strongly* recommends that he stay, but he chooses to leave, it might just be an AMA situation where he has to sign a form acknowledging he's been informed of this.
Unless he makes statements about wanting to harm himself, I don't believe he can be held.

 

[MemPat]

I think he would be able to.
If the facility *strongly* recommends that he stay, but he chooses to leave, it might just be an AMA situation where he has to sign a form acknowledging he's been informed of this.
Unless he makes statements about wanting to harm himself, I don't believe he can be held.

If he faked the shooting (duh!) perhaps LE will arrest AM upon notification that he is checking himself out of rehab.

 

[worm]

Since we have 2 different stories on the wound, one being significant and the other a surface wound, nothing is too far fetched. There was no visible blood at the scene and he was able to make a few calls while he was waiting for EMS, his attorney or both to show up.

There is no info on the car-truck (that he SAW pass by and then turn around) as far as color, model, etc. No BOLO.

Yea, even the lawyer with the facts didn’t describe the truck for some reason.

 

[Missing Susan]

Is there more evidence that money was misappropriated or that a false police report was given? Absurd that the supreme court can swoop in and suspend his license at the drop of a hat yet locals are still endangered from crossfire from actual or alleged assassins surrounding the same lawyer.

 

[MassGuy]

Yea, even the lawyer with the facts didn’t describe the truck for some reason.

The lawyer hasn’t described the truck, and most importantly, SLED has never identified the truck.

If they were in fact searching for a mystery vehicle, I have no doubt we would have heard about it days ago.

So either there is no vehicle, or there is no mystery.

 

[MassGuy]

Is there more evidence that money was misappropriated or that a false police report was given? Absurd that the supreme court can swoop in and suspend his license at the drop of a hat yet locals are still endangered from crossfire from actual or alleged assassins surrounding the same lawyer.

Even he didn’t deny stealing that money, and his trip to rehab also indicates as much.

The court system doing one thing, has no bearing on law enforcement’s actions.

And you nailed it with “alleged assassins.”

 

[skyedaze]

Yea, even the lawyer with the facts didn’t describe the truck for some reason.

Either there wasn't one, or there is something else bad we do not yet know for sure.

 

[white rabbit]

Wasn't the 17 ft center console the smaller of the Murdaugh's two boats?

And, I don't know if there is any relation, but I think the Milton Murdaugh farm (now Murdaugh Farm, run by the late Milton's son) is another family entirely.

Milton is another related family name, one of the cousins is named "Mills" in that context (referenced in the obituary of the patriarch)

Obituary for Randolph Murdaugh III at Parker-Rhoden Funeral Home

Also of note is the arson committed against AM...he definitely has enemies. IMO this is completely unrelated (as the perpetrator was arrested) but goes to reputation:

Local attorney victim of attempted arson

 

[oviedo]

Excellent questions. I have no idea how SC law works, in this regard. A don't ask, don't tell marriage?

If the Court finds that he knowingly transferred stolen money anywhere then it's fair game in all 50 states, IMO. So yeah, it's pertinent. He knew he was embezzling, so when he pleads out on that (which he will), I wonder what the process will look like after that. The law firm is surely entitled to half of the joint marital assets, if not more.

Look for their properties to go on the market soon. There doesn't seem to be anyone driving this train, though, at this point in time.

I’m curious though if she held the properties in her individual name and absent a Will- SC may award him through an intestate probate administration everything, after all they are married - and then her estate would need to sue him and her beneficiaries (her surviving children -but at this rate?) would need to go after their dad to take it away. I sense a whole miniseries with all this drama and intrigue. And if he did transfer his assets to her to safeguard and insulate himself -is the law firm on behalf of itself and clients entitled to sue her estate???
We need a really good investigative reporter on this case - one with zero ties to SC
JMO

 

[worm]

Is there more evidence that money was misappropriated or that a false police report was given? Absurd that the supreme court can swoop in and suspend his license at the drop of a hat yet locals are still endangered from crossfire from actual or alleged assassins surrounding the same lawyer.

Good point. It kind of says something about priorities in this state. Telling citizens about even possible killers isn’t going to interfere with this. I believe they are telling more with silence than they want to.

 

[geevee]

Someone up thread speculated on a very interesting theory that (if my memory serves me correctly) if someone's phone was part of a "find family & friends" app, throwing it out on the road where it was no longer moving could be a signal to someone that the deed was done.

The other popular idea is that it was taken from her so she couldn't call for help, and then tossed as the culprits made a getaway.

Or maybe someone texted or called her to get her to come down to the kennels and once the deeds were done, took her phone to erase the communication and tossed where it would look like culprits had discarded it on their way away from the scene.

Not that erasure from the device would erase it from existence, but it wouldn't surprise me as none of this looks like master criminal planning.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

Trying to keep up here but OMG I have the same reaction as so many others have....
People actually live like this??? I mean seriously thank u God for a dull life. This is absolutely one for the many books to come. We’ll be hearing about this case for a long, long time & it’s so unnerving to see what is uncovered next.
My heart goes out to the many victims in this whole sordid mess.
What a family & OMG what a dynasty.

 

[MerryB]

Rehab was the quickest way to save face. That’s why I believe Saturday was staged. The prelude attempting suicide because he’s having such a difficult time ‘since the murders’ and ‘exacerbating the problems that were already there’. So now the good ole boy stance ‘I’m admitting I have a problem, I’m checking into rehab and resigning’.

That was nothing more than a packaged response to blur the facts. In reality he was forced out because he was found out. He didn’t say anything about the actions causing the fall out, other than he was sorry for affecting relationships.

While it’s not unusual to orchestrate a damage control statement his is pure BS. He’s lying, he thinks he can script his own fall from grace.

100%. I’m not buying the addiction excuse at all.

 

[otto]

Someone up thread speculated on a very interesting theory that (if my memory serves me correctly) if someone's phone was part of a "find family & friends" app, throwing it out on the road where it was no longer moving could be a signal to someone that the deed was done.

The other popular idea is that it was taken from her so she couldn't call for help, and then tossed as the culprits made a getaway.

This is 100% hypothetical, trying to put the pieces together.

I have quite an imagination, so I wonder whether Paul and his mom were at Moselle. He was typically there, she didn't like the property. Perhaps it was not planned that she would be at the house with Paul that day. Paul's legal troubles verged on destroying generational family finances.

What if Paul and mom were relaxing around the house when, 8:30-9:00 PM, the dogs start barking. What if Paul grabs the 22 and says he'll check it out. He gets out there, is hit by an assault weapon, mom hears shots and looks. He's hit with an assault rifle and she's hit with a 22-type non-exploding bullets, phone tossed? I know very little about guns, but something about this doesn't fit.

2016 map. I understand that a dog kennel was built at the entrance to the property. This is the house, across the acreage from the driveway entrance.

This is the entrance. Between Dec 2016, when property was transferred, and today, a dog kennel was built next to the red-roof building. Maybe it's in these aerial photos - can anyone zoom in better?

qPublic.net - Colleton County, SC - Map

 

[skyedaze]

Trying to keep up here but OMG I have the same reaction as so many others have....
People actually live like this??? I mean seriously thank u God for a dull life. This is absolutely one for the many books to come. We’ll be hearing about this case for a long, long time & it’s so unnerving to see what is uncovered next.
My heart goes out to the many victims in this whole sordid mess.
What a family & OMG what a dynasty.

Amen to that! I work hard to live as peacefully as possible.
So many people needlessly affected negatively over and over again.
Just why?

 

[Boodles]

But why wasn't PM's phone also taken and tossed? I find it odd that only MM's was.

She may have fled to the road but been chased by the murderer and forced to drop the phone, coerced back onto the property where she was killed.

 

[clearskies1]

Even if he is currently in rehab, I hope he's being tailed by LE. Dude could leave the country. JMO.

 

[Herat]

I heard of another case, where a guy set up his neighbor to shoot his parents and sister. The neighbor as pre-planned intentionally grazed him on the shoulder. I am struggling as to why they Med flighted a superficial wound.

The local LE and first responders would know his name and how important he was. Their town is very small and has no hospital with a neuro unit. They can't possibly take the risk that what looks like a superficial wound has also caused intracranial bleeding and an acute epidural or subdural hematoma. The kind of thing that killed Natasha Richardson after a fall while skiing.

I understand why he would be helicoptered to a facility with a neurosurgeon, a neuro unit, and emergency priority CT scan.

 

[MerryB]

What if Paul and mom were relaxing around the house when, 8:30-9:00 PM, the dogs start barking. What if Paul grabs the 22 and says he'll check it out. He gets out there, is hit by an assault weapon, mom hears shots and looks. He's hit with an assault rifle and she's hit with a 22-type non-exploding bullets, phone tossed? I know very little about guns, but something about this doesn't fit.

Respectfully SBM. Paul was killed with a shotgun. Maggie was killed by the assault rifle.

 

[MerryB]

As I recall, I think they found the phone down the road a bit.

Yes. It was found on a rural road. Remember, it was far enough away from Moselle that they were actually able to find it by using an app like Life 360 or Find My iPhone.