This is the shocking moment Alex Murdaugh admitted to police that he asked his drug dealer cousin to shoot him in the head “as a favor” in a botched suicide life insurance scam to give his surviving son Buster $10 million to paint
The disgraced legal scion, 54, is accused of shooting dead his wife Maggie and son Paul on June 7, 2021 at their sprawling hunting ground in Moselle in South Carolina’s Lowcountry.
Three months later, on September 4, Murdaugh was shot in the head by Curtis Smith – known as Cousin Eddie – on a country road in Hampton County. He initially told police officers he had a flat tire and someone stopped to offer help before shooting at him.
But a week later, he called police from a rehab facility in Atlanta, Georgia, and confessed to the elaborate plan, even frantically apologizing to police for the lies and claiming he was “in a very bad place.” Murdaugh said he was in the clutches of a 20-year opioid addiction and paid Smith up to $60,000 a week for pills, including Oxycontin.
“When the withdrawal symptoms start, you do almost anything to make them stop,” he told police.
Murdaugh suffered a superficial wound and was loaded into an ambulance at the scene, where police officers got into the vehicle. Murdaugh told police that “a handsome man” approached him and offered help with the apartment before shooting him
Alex Murdaugh addresses defense attorney Dick Harpootlian during Murdaugh’s double murder trial Thursday at the Colleton County Courthouse
Murdaugh later told authorities he hired Curtis “Eddie” Smith, 61, (pictured) to shoot him. But the 911 call shows he originally described his alleged shooter as a “younger,” “white guy” with “really, really short hair.”
The defense has struggled to keep the evidence of the roadside shooting out of court throughout the trial. But yesterday defense attorney Jim Griffin opened the door for the prosecution when he questioned a police officer about how Murdaugh was paying Smith $50,000 a week to fund his opioid addiction.
Prosecutors argue the evidence is crucial to proving why Murdaugh killed his wife and son when his life spiraled out of control after being fired for embezzling millions from his company and clients.
The state was expected to drop its case on Wednesday, but the introduction of roadside shooting means that may not happen until next week.
After the roadside shooting, cops discovered Smith was the driver after discovering the pickup truck used in the crime at his Walterboro home.
Investigators obtained a search warrant and found narcotics and a ledger of numbers, payments and pills. An examination of Smith’s bank accounts also revealed numerous payments from Murdaugh, worth hundreds of thousands.
After the connection to Smith was made, police requested another interview with Murdaugh, but defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said the legal scion would go to a rehab facility in Atlanta, Georgia.
To the police officers’ dissatisfaction, they were instead offered a phone interview, during which Harpootlian – who is now Murdaugh’s lead trial attorney – asked him to explain the plan to Smith.
Murdaugh said he met with longtime friend and fellow attorney Chris Wilson at the curb on the day of the shooting to “discuss everything I’ve done … finances, pills, lies.”
He told police he was “suffering from withdrawal symptoms” and believed “it would make it easier for my family to be dead.”
After meeting Wilson, he called Smith, whom he described as “the first person I’ve bought pills from,” and they met at a gas station. Murdaugh told police he knew Smith got the drugs “from a black guy in Walterboro,” but that was the extent of his knowledge.
“I told him things were preparing to get really bad and it would be better if I wasn’t here. And I asked him to shoot me,’ said Murdaugh.
“At first he was a little surprised, but then he said okay,” he added.
Murdaugh said he gave Eddie a .38 revolver pistol at the gas station.
He told police officers, “I told him to follow me outside and I would flat tire and he would pass me and then turn around and then do it.”
A composite sketch of the man Murdaugh described to police had shot him roadside and bore no resemblance to Curtis Smith
CCTV footage shows Eddie Smith’s pickup truck. Murdaugh initially told police it was a newer model Chevy or GMC that was fitted with sporty off-road tires
Murdaugh listens as his 911 call from the Sept. 4 roadside shooting was played to the jury on Thursday
He admitted to slashing his own tire with a knife on the rear driver’s side wheel before throwing the blade across the road.
Murdaugh said: “I was standing near his car and he shot me. He missed me and hit me in the back of the head. I briefly lost my sight, I’m not sure if it knocked me down, but I was disoriented and it took me a few minutes to recover.”
He broke down during the call when he admitted the program was supposed to provide money to Buster. He knew his life was insured for $10-12 million.
The disfellowshipped attorney said Smith never tried to get him to reconsider or stop the plan. Murdaugh said he made no payment to Smith to shoot him.
The cops then took over the call from Harpootlian, with Murdaugh preceding his replies by saying, “Before we get started, I just want to say that I apologize to you for lying to you when I was in the hospital, I was in a very bad place. ‘
On September 4, the day of the roadside shooting, Murdaugh called 911 just after 2 p.m. and told the dispatcher, “I had a flat tire and pulled over and someone stopped to help me and when I turned me around, they tried to shoot me. ‘
Murdaugh suffered a surface wound and was loaded into an ambulance at the scene. Police officers joined him in the vehicle and he told them that “a handsome man” approached him and offered him help with the apartment before shooting him dead.
Despite his injury, he appeared sane in the ambulance and gave details of how he believed he was hit by a shotgun, noting that the firearm sounded “very loud” despite being told he was from been hit by a small caliber bullet.
Murdaugh said the shooter was in a blue Chevy or GMC and mentioned that he briefly lost his sight afterwards.
He was interviewed again after being flown to a hospital in Savannah.
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) investigator Ryan Kelly told jurors how the disfellowshipped attorney told him he was driving on Old Salkahatchie Road when he “hit something significant that caused his tire to go flat.”
He told police the shooter was in a dark blue, late-model Chevy pickup truck with sport tires, which drove around and returned to its location.
He again described the suspect as a “very handsome man, between 30 and 40, with close-cropped hair.
A composite sketch of the man described by Murdaugh was later produced, bearing no resemblance to Smith.
Kelly told the court Murdaugh initially told them he had been shot with a shotgun in the ambulance, but at the hospital told them it might have been a .22 rifle.
Police could find no trace on the street of what Murdaugh said caused the explosion. The tire also appeared to have been slashed with a knife.
Old Salkehatchie Rd in Hampton, SC South Carolina where Alex Murdaugh was shot by Curtis Eddie Smith
Paul, Margaret, Alex and Buster (left to right). The legal scion has admitted stealing millions from his housekeeper’s sons and his law firm, but denies any involvement in the murders of his wife and son
A jackknife was recovered across the street from where Murdaugh’s vehicle was recovered.
Forensic analysis of the knife revealed that it contained DNA from Alex Murdaugh and Eddie Smith.
In a subsequent police interview, Murdaugh admitted that he and Smith were behind the program to earn a life insurance payout, saying he believed it was just “easier for everyone.”
Murdaugh said the knife recovered from the scene was his and that he threw it across the street.
The evidence will be presented to the jury today after defense attorney Griffin on Wednesday asked SLED agent David Owen if he knew Murdaugh was paying Smith up to $50,000 a week to get drugs to treat his opioid addiction.
Griffin suggested that the money was paid to the “Cowboy” drug gang in Walterboro, but that Smith had siphoned funds from the top.
Defense attorneys hinted that one of the cowboys could be a suspect in Paul and Maggie’s murders and asked why their cell phones and DNA were never evaluated.
Judge Clifton Newman ruled on the state’s side that this opened the door for prosecutors to bring the September shooting to a jury.
Prosecutors argue the evidence helps prove why Murdaugh was motivated to kill his wife and son — to distract from his financial crimes, which had come to a head “like a gathering storm.”
SCHEDULE: NIGHT OF THE KILLS
Alex Murdaugh, 54, is accused of shooting dead his wife Maggie, 52, and younger son Paul, 22, on the night of June 7, 2021 at the family’s hunting property in Islandton, South Carolina.
Here are the key events in the timeline established by the prosecution:
At 7.56pm, Paul sent a Snapchat video to friends showing the 22-year-old driving around the property with his father.
At 8:15 p.m., Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, came home and the trio had dinner together. Autopsies showed similar stomach contents for Maggie and Paul.
Around 8:30 p.m., Paul’s phone moves in the direction of the kennel.
Then, at 8.44pm, a second video taken by Paul in the kennel – soon to lead to a murder scene – allegedly proves Maggie, Paul and Alex were together.
At 8:49 p.m., prosecutors say Paul’s phone was locked and forever silent, never to text again or make another call.
Between 9pm and 9.30pm, Paul and Maggie were killed – according to the coroner.
At 9:06 p.m., Murdaugh’s car is set on fire.
The alleged killer said he was visiting his mother in Almeda, about 15 minutes’ drive away, who has late-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
At 10:07 p.m., Murdaugh called 911 and claimed he got home to find his wife and son shot.