Following the murder of his wife and one of their children last June, Alex Murdaugh, a prestigious South Carolina attorney, found himself in a riotous emotional meltdown, leading him to orchestrate his execution, court documents reveal.
According to his attorney, Dick Harpootlian, opioid addiction, and severe depression after the loss of his family led Murdaugh to hire a man to end his life, for his surviving son to collect a fee. A $10 million life insurance policy, People reported.
The lawyer confessed that the shot he received a few weeks ago was the result of a pact between him and a man who sold him opiates. He did this to financially secure his only living son.
After the unsolved murder of his wife, he agreed with this man to get killed but the bullet did not kill him and now both will face charges.
The shooter, Curtis Edward Smith, was charged with assisted suicide, insurance fraud, and several other counts for shooting Alex Murdaugh on a lonely highway in Hampton County.
Murdaugh was not charged Tuesday night, but agents said more charges were expected.
Murdaugh gave Smith the gun to kill him and he followed Murdaugh to Old Salkehatchie Road firing one shot at the lawyer as he stood in the road, an agent said in a sworn statement.
Murdaugh’s attorney commented that his client wanted his son to claim the life insurance money, but believed that the policy had a suicide exclusion.
“The suicide exclusions remain for two years, and he didn’t realize it. So he arranged to have him murdered.”
So far, no charges have been filed against Murdaugh, but police assume that could change with the development of the investigation, which includes allegations of misrepresentation of funds from the prestigious law firm of which he was a part.
