911 calls from Convicted Killer Alex Murdaugh Revealed: 'My Wife and Child Have Been Shot Badly!' (FPD CASE VAULT)
A panicked man yelled for police and ambulance as he pleaded with 911 dispatchers to send help after finding his wife shot and killed.
"I’ve been up to it,” Alex Murdaugh said on a 911 call. “It’s bad.”
Murdaugh’s calls after finding his wife and son dead in June 2021 on their South Carolina property were released by state officials as they continued to investigate the murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.
Maggie was Alex’s wife and Paul his son. The Murdaughs hailed from a powerful legal family in the part of South Carolina known as “Low Country.” But, the family found itself in controversy since Paul was charged in connection with a drunken boat crash that killed a coed in 2019.
The case became a national sensation as it has ties to a powerful family, allegations of favorable legal treatment for the son and a possible connection with an old cold-case homicide.
SON ACCUSED OF KILLING COED AND HIS MOM FOUND MURDERED. THE QUESTION NOW IS WHO SLAYED 2 MEMBERS OF PROMINENT SC FAMILY.
911 CALL
On the 911 call, Alex Murdaugh is initially put through to Hampton County 911 dispatchers. He told them to send help as both Paul and Maggie have been shot and provides his location. The shooting happened at a hunting lodge property the family owned.
The dispatcher, realizing the shooting happened in a different county, transferred the call to Hampton County operators. Alex Murdaugh continued to provide information and said that both victims were on the ground by the kennel.
Neither were breathing.
“Please hurry,” Alex Murdaugh pleads several times.
The dispatcher asks the hurried-voiced man several questions about the victims’ conditions. At one point, Alex Murdaugh said it did not appear that anything was disturbed on the property.
He also said he touched the bodies to check on their conditions as dispatchers continually tell him that help is on the way. They also ask for his assistance illuminating the area so police can see him and the victims when they arrive on the property.
On June 7, 2021, Colleton County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the property to find Paul and Maggie Murdaugh dead. Police released few details at the time about the investigation or the shooting as they searched for unknown suspects.
TIES TO OTHER CASES
The Murdaughs are a powerful legal family in southern South Carolina with several generations serving as that area’s version of a district attorney.
The family was thrust into the spotlight after a February 2019 boat crash in which Mallory Beach, 19, was killed. Police alleged Paul Murdaugh was drunk behind the wheel of a boat with several college-age people onboard when he crashed it.
Several other people were hurt in the wreck.
Charges were not filed in the crash’s immediate aftermath leading some to claim preferential treatment for the powerful family. In April 2019, the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office announced charges against Paul Murdaugh in connection to the boat crash.
Those charges were still active when Paul Murdaugh was found murdered.
As SLED agents investigate Paul and Maggie Murdaugh’s murders, they also announced they found information that led them to reopen the 2015 death of a 19-year-old, who was found dead in the same area, according to the Hilton Head Island Packet.
Stephen Smith was killed in the middle of the road in July 2015 and his case was initially ruled a hit-and-run.
The victim’s mother, Sandy Smith, said she felt her son was murdered and placed in the road, according to the Island Packet.
Though authorities reopened the case last year, Sandy Smith recently told ABC News 4 she has not received any more information about the investigation.
"I feel like they're treating Stephen like a nobody," Sandy said. "He is a somebody, he's my somebody and I deserve answers and whatever they have."
Alex Murdaugh was sentenced earlier this year to serve 40 years behind bars for stealing from his clients and law firm. He was previously sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for the double murder of his wife and son.
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