Alex Murdo killed his family due to crushing financial pressure: prosecutor

WALTORBORO, South Carolina — Prosecutors in the Alex Murdo explosive double murder case told jurors Wednesday in closing arguments that a disbarred South Carolina lawyer fatally shot his wife and son to avoid devastating financial retribution.

“After an exhaustive investigation, there is only one person who had a motive, who had the means, who had the ability to commit these crimes, and whose guilty behavior after these crimes betrayed him,” Creighton Waters said as Murdo looked directly at him. from the defense table.

“There was a storm coming” and “hounds were at the gate” when Murdo allegedly used a shotgun to decapitate his 22-year-old son Paul and a rifle to execute his wife, Maggie, 52. at the family hunting estate known as Moselle on June 7, 2021, Waters said.

On the day of the murder, the CFO of Murdaugh’s former law firm, then known as Peters Murdaugh Parker Eltzroth & Detrick, confronted him for missing fees.

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Creighton Waters (left) delivers his closing statement as Alex Murdo watches the double homicide trial in Walterboro, South Carolina. (Pool)

He also had a hearing on June 10 about his finances related to a multimillion-dollar wrongful death lawsuit in a 2019 boat crash.

Paul Murdo drunkenly crashed his father’s boat on a bridge, killing 19-year-old Mallory Beach and injuring four other friends.

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“The pressure on this man came to a head the day his wife and son were killed,” Waters said. “It was like nothing he had ever experienced. He was always one step ahead of the game.”

Left to right: Brooklyn White and Buster Murdo arrive at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Alex Murdo is on trial for the double murder of his son Paul and wife Maggie in June 2021. (Larry Paci for Fox News Digital)

It was this overwhelming pressure that led a man of “exceptional fame and respect in this community” to kill his own family, Waters told jurors.

The assassinations temporarily solved his problems. No one else asked about the missing fees, and the boat crash hearing was cancelled.

Left to right: Buster, Paul, Alex and Maggie Murdo pose together on a fishing boat. (Facebook)

Murdo is accused of swindling nearly $9 million from his former law firm and his clients in more than a dozen indictments.

“The defendant became so dependent on the velocity of money that the millions of dollars in legal fees he received were not enough,” Waters told jurors.

Waters portrayed Murdo as a master manipulator who easily lied to his vulnerable clients and jurors in the courtroom as he testified.

Alex Murdo (center) is escorted into the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Murdo stood trial for the double murder of his son Paul and wife Maggie in June 2021. (Larry Paci for Fox News Digital)

Waters admitted that it was hard to come to terms with a middle-aged man with a strong family legacy and reputation executing his wife and son.

“Unfortunately, husbands have been killing wives for years, and husbands have been killing sons,” he said. “When this pressure increases, someone becomes a family destroyer.”

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Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.