Disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh, who is suspected of killing his son and wife, allegedly waited an hour to call 911 after arriving at the home where he told dispatchers he found them with gunshot wounds last year, according to court documents.
South Carolina investigators released the 911 calls last July, more than a month after 52-year-old Maggie and 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh were discovered shot dead on a family estate in Islandton.
In court dispute over whether the elder Murdaugh should be compelled to offer an alibi this week, prosecutors wrote in court filings that they have evidence placing him at the scene around 8:44 p.m. on the night of the slayings of his wife and son.
"[That was] not long before their phones ceased any meaningful activity," South Carolina Assistant Attorney General S. Creighton Waters told the court, elaborating on the filings, according to the Charlotte-based WCCB News. "And it’s about 9:06 p.m. when his car fires up and he drives over to Almena’s. We’ve made that clear to the defense and they, of course, know the 911 call occurred at 10:06 p.m."
MURDAUGH DOUBLE MURDERS: SOUTH CAROLINA INVESTIGATORS RELEASE HARROWING 911 CALLS
Alex Murdaugh sits in court with his legal team, including attorney Margaret Fox during a judicial hearing before Judge Clifton Newman in the Colleton County Courthouse on Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The judge has ordered Murdaugh to supply an alibi.
The 911 calls were recorded on the evening of June 7, when Murdaugh told the dispatcher in a shaky voice that he came home to one of the family’s sprawling properties in Islandton and found 22-year-old Paul and 52-year-old Maggie on the ground, as Fox News Digital has previously reported.
"I've been up to it now, it’s bad," he says, speaking frantically.
Later in the call, when asked if he heard anything or came home and found them, he replied: "I've been gone. I just came back."
MURDAUGH DOUBLE MURDERS: PROSECUTOR RECUSES HIMSELF FROM CASE
"I need the police and an ambulance immediately," he tells the dispatcher, his voice cracking. "My wife and child were shot badly."
Early in the call, the dispatcher asks if the victims are breathing.
"No ma’am," Murdaugh replies.
READ THE COURT FILINGS:
Paul Murdaugh, at the time of his death, was facing felony boating while intoxicated charges stemming from a crash that killed one of his friends, Mallory Beach, and injured several others in 2019. His father, a former part-time prosecutor, has been accused in civil lawsuits of meddling with the investigation.
Alex Murdaugh, right, is shown here with his family. From left: Buster, Maggie and Paul Murdaugh. (Fox News)
And state investigators said that while looking into the slayings, they found information that led them to reopen the 2015 case of 19-year-old Stephen Smith, who was found dead on a rural road with severe head trauma near another Murdaugh property.
Since then, the elder Murdaugh’s life has seemingly fallen apart. He was disbarred, kicked out of his family's law practice and stands accused of among other things, financial crimes, a botched murder-for-hire plot against himself that would have sent his other son millions in life insurance payouts, and of killing Paul and Maggie.
FILE - This photo provided by the Colleton County sheriff's office shows Curtis Edward Smith. (Colleton County Sheriffs Office via AP, File)
In the same court filing Thursday, prosecutors called the defense’s proposal that Curtis Eddie Smith, Murdaugh’s alleged accomplice in the failed murder-for-hire setup, played some role in the shootings "some scuttlebutt story."
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"Defendant Alex Murdaugh also seems to pursue the same aim of prejudicing the public by quoting in a public filing some scuttlebutt story Eddie Smith related he heard about a groundskeeper having an affair with Maggie – a story which defense counsel knows has no basis in anyone’s personal knowledge or evidentiary fact and frankly is insulting to her memory," Waters wrote. "It says a lot about Defendant’s true motives here with these motions that he would prominently feature such salacious content, which adds nothing to a pretrial motion supposedly on legal issues."
