A high-society prosecutor has been arrested after hiring a hitman to kill him so his son could claim the life insurance money.
Alex Murdaugh, 53, planned to hand over the $10m (£7.25m) life insurance pay-out to his surviving son Buster and hired a pro hitman to shoot him in the head.
He was charged with insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and filing a false police report, The Times reported..
After the deaths of his wife and son, the well-connected South Carolina lawyer was unable to stop using drugs and had a breakdown.
Murdaugh’s wife Margaret, 52, was killed in the attack on her home with her 22-year-old son Paul.
(Image: Hampton County Detention Center/ZUMA Press Wire Service/REX/Shutterstock)
Murdaugh has maintained he had no role in the fatal shootings, whose perpetrator remains at large.
Paul was being investigated for his role in a drunk boating accident that resulted in the death of a woman.
Murdaugh’s ploy failed when he was found lying by the side of the road with “superficial” bullet wounds to the side of his head.
(Image: Unknown)
The lawyer had hired a hitman to shoot him in the head and make it look like a drive-by shooting.
Curtis Edward Smith (61), was identified as the hitman.
Murdaugh’s former client, Smith now faces assault and battery, conspiracy, insurance fraud, assisted suicide, and possession of drugs.
Dick Harpootlian was Murdaugh’s lawyer and he told the South Carolina Court that this was because Murdaugh believed a suicide would make the $10m unobtainable to Buster.
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It was not correct.
Mr Harpootlian told NBC News: “He called this guy [Mr Smith] who met him on the side of the road and agreed to shoot him in the head.
“It was an attempt, on his part, to do something to protect his child.”
The judge offered a $20k bail for Murdaugh’s release on Thursday and gave him time out of prison to seek help for his opioid addiction.