Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Murdaugh mom and son murders still a mystery

Episode Date: July 12, 2021

Who shot and killed two members of a prominent South Carolina family is still under investigation. Paul Murdaugh, 22, and his mother, Maggie Murdaugh, 52, were found shot to death on June 7 at their family’s hunting lodge in Colleton County, South Carolina. Alex Murdaugh – Paul’s father and Maggie’s husband – discovered the bodies that evening after returning to the property. The victims, who were located outside the residence, had multiple gunshot wounds. No suspects have been named.Joining Nancy Grace today: Susan E.Williams, South Carolina Criminal Defense Atty, former prosecutor, swilliams-law.net, Instagram: @carolinaladylawyer, Twitter: @ATTYswilliams  Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, www.drbethanymarshall.com, New Netflix show: 'Bling Empire' Patrick McDavid PI, former Resident Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations for Charleston, SC, Partner: Quickgroup Investigations,  Quickgroupllc.com  Dr. Michelle Dupre - Forensic Pathologist and former Medical Examiner, Author: “Homicide Investigation Field Guide” & "Investigating Child Abuse Field Guide", Former Police Detective Lexington County Sheriff’s Department Matt Harris - former reporter WSOC TV,  Radio Show Host, and Podcaster, The Murdaugh Family Murders: Impact of Influence  Tipline: 803-896-2605. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The double murders of a mother and son in South Carolina has given way to swirling conspiracy theories. Why? Because the case is still unsolved and cloaked in secrecy. We know very little

about what's happening in the investigation in a mother and son murder. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The 911 call came late Monday night. Officials say prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdoch came home last week and called police after discovering his wife and son murdered. 52-year-old Maggie Murdoch and 22-year-old Paul Murdoch both shot multiple times outside their home, according to investigators. It happened in Island Town, South Carolina, about 90 minutes outside of Charleston. Now, more than a week later, seemingly little progress.

No arrests, no named suspect, and from police, no motive. How can this be? How can there be a case so high profile where the cops are telling us basically nothing? With me, an all-star panel to break it down and put it back together again, We are talking about the mysterious deaths of Maggie Murdoch and her son, Paul, both gunned down with separate long arms on the family's hunting lodge estate. With me, Dr. Bethany Marshall. We're now on Psycho Analysts. Joining us out of L.A., you can find her at drbethanymarshall.com. She's the star of a brand- new Netflix series, Bling Empire. Susan E. Williams, South Carolina criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor. And you can find her

at swilliams-law.net. Patrick McDavid, partner with Quick Group Investigations, former resident agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations there in South Carolina, Dr. Michelle Dupree. Forensic pathologist, former medical examiner and author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide. Matt Harris joining us. Morning Show host WLK. in Charlotte. You can also find him at a brand new podcast called The Murdoch Family Murderer's Impact of Influence. What do we mean by influence? Well, I will let him tell you. Let's start with you, Matt Harris. Thanks for being with us on W.L.N.K. I normally start with the crime itself. The two victims shot dead, a mother and a son.

We know by long guns. We know by two separate long guns. But what do you mean by the impact of influence? Well, the Murdoch family has been in control of the solicitor's office, which is most people know it as the prosecutor's office, for almost 90 years. 2005 was finally... Did you say 9-0? 90 years? Yes. It's allegedly the longest running family rule, if you want to call it that, in all of the United States.

90 years. In 2005, I believe it was, they decided not to run again. But one of their law partners picked up the mantle. So they've continued in a sense. So they have done a lot of money in lawsuits. It's an interesting, it's a hell for companies to go into their Hamlet and sue because they can sue. They had a system where they could sue you if a car crash happened in Charleston, but the tires were made somewhere else and the car was made somewhere else. They could make the lawsuit in their county, in Beaufort County. So it was a very, very powerful little county they had running for a while. Well, hold on right there. Matt Harris, you're saying if the crash occurred in their county,

they could pursue a multi-million dollar lawsuit, correct? That was, well, the law has been changed since then. They made all their money up until 2000 something, whatever. They could make it there. But they do handle tons of injury lawsuits. That's their big thing in their law firm. Well, to you, Susan E. Williams, now South Carolina criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor, that has always been the case under civil procedure. International Shoe is a seminal landmark case where you establish contacts in a particular jurisdiction and you can sue there. If the crash happened in the Murdoch territory, it could be prosecuted there. If the tires were made in Detroit, the case could be prosecuted there,

or the car was made there. The manufacturer could be sued there. So that's an age-old landmark case. You have to establish minimal contacts in a jurisdiction for a lawsuit to be made. Like you live there. You work there. The business was located there. So that doesn't strike me as unusual.

90 years in power. That strikes me as odd. Yes, Nancy. And just to add to that, this family has been part-time solicitors, and they ran this very successful plaintiff's firm all at the same time. That used to be in South Carolina, but it has since changed. But that is how they were able to run this very successful law firm with talented lawyers and serve as prosecutors. That's a huge conflict, Susan. Now I see what Matt Harris, WLNK, is talking about.

For instance, when you take the bench and you become a judge, you leave your law practice. Why? Because cases will come in front of you where your law practice is representing somebody or your practice may be sued and you would have a conflict of interest. How can you be a prosecutor and run a civil law firm at the same time? Huge conflict. Now, let me understand something. Susan Williams joining me out of South Carolina. When Matt Harris says the solicitor's office, is that like the district attorney's office in other jurisdictions? What is that? It is. It's the prosecutor's office in South that like the district attorney's office in other jurisdictions? What is that?

It is. It's the prosecutor's office in South Carolina, and the Murdoch family actually coined that term. South Carolina is the only state in the United States that still uses that term. Interesting. So, for instance, in a highly metropolitan area like New York or Atlanta, L.A., you have the district attorney that handles felonies, and they will have a fleet of ADAs, assistant DAs. And you have the solicitor's office, also prosecutors that handle misdemeanors like loitering or DUI. So you're telling me in this jurisdiction, the solicitor is the DA that handles felonies? That's correct. In the solicitor's office in South Carolina, the solicitors are elected officials, and then they also have assistant

solicitors. And either the elected official or the assistant solicitors are able to handle felonies and misdemeanor. Wow. So this is the 14th Circuit, is it not, Matt Harris? It covers about five counties. That's a pretty big jurisdiction. It is a big jurisdiction. As far as land goes, population is not massive, a lot of country area out there. However, if you're dealing with most of the law enforcement, SLED, or even the wildlife folks, it'd be hard to imagine that most of the people involved in law enforcement haven't had some sort of contact with the Murdochs. You know, I've gotten us off track somehow talking about the background, the power,

that this one family, the Murdoch family, wells in that jurisdiction. Hugely powerful. Not only 90 years in the chief prosecutor's office, running the office, deciding what gets prosecuted and what doesn't, what goes to trial, what gets pled out cheap and what doesn't, and a highly lucrative civil practice as well, raking in millions of dollars a year. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Let's get back to the double murder for those of you just joining us we are talking about the double

murders the shooting deaths and there's no doubt they're murders of a mother and son maggie and paul murdoch the wife of the reigning king of the murdochs alex and the son, the 22-year-old son, Paul, both shot dead. Guys, you earlier heard Blaine Alexander, NBC. Now take a listen to Danae Bucci, WCJL 22. The bodies of Margaret and Paul Murdahl were found at 10 p.m. Monday night. The Colleton County Coroner's Office tells us preliminary results show both died from gunshot wounds. Margaret Murdoch was 52 and was the mother of Paul Murdoch, who was 22. Their bodies were discovered at a family hunting lodge off Mossel Road.

According to county records, Maggie owned the property. Interesting. Let me talk to you about that, Matt Harris. Joining us from WLNK, and you can listen to his podcast called The Murdoch Family Murder's Impact of Influence. Matt, so it's referred to as Moselle, the hunting lodge, I guess because it's on Moselle Road. This was not the family home, was it? No, it was not the family home. It was their hunting cabin, and they kept dogs there,

hunting dogs there. There's just a massive amount of swamp and woods and whatnot around that area, which makes it even more difficult to try to find something that might have been left in this area because it's a large area. It is a swampy, a lot of fields and trees and such. So you just can't go in there and easily find possible evidence because it's such a large, rough area. You know, Dr. Bethany Marshall joining us, psychoanalyst to the stars, joining us out of Beverly Hills. Dr. Bethany, Matt Harris from WLNK may rightfully call it swamp, but that means money. So, you know, you can fill in a swamp if the EPA doesn't stop you or the DNR and build a subdivision or a shopping mall on it. All that land, hundreds of acres equals money. But that aside, who in the, in the hay i mean i don't think

anybody on this panel or in this room jackie unless you're going to surprise me has a home and a hunting lodge where you keep your dogs yeah see this is a family who really wanted to accrue power. Power translated in being able to be free with the law, double dipping, conflict of interest, lots of land, amassing things for themselves. In other words, taking more than their fair share. I don't mean to criticize when there's a 52 year old and a 23 year old dead, but I know from my clinical practice in Beverly Hills, when somebody walks through the door who relates to

other people on the basis of power rather than affection, and their whole raison d'etre in life is accruing power, that person also has a lot of enemies. And their so-called loved ones often also hate them. As you know, love and hate is opposite sides of the same coin. Well, if you have a lot of power, a lot of those attachment systems lean towards hatred more than they do lean towards love. Another thing about power and money, it affects the way that you're raised, the way you grow up, what you think is normal. Does that come into play?

I'm going to circle back with Matt Harris on that. But we're talking about the hunting lodge where the mother and son are found murdered. Still no arrests, and police are keeping it very close to the vest, redacting or marking out with a black magic marker everything they don't want you to know. And then Xeroxing it. We basically know no more today than we did from about a week after the incident. Talking about this remote hunting lodge called Moselle, I guess because it's on Moselle

Road. It's about a thousand acres. Take a listen to Eva Pilgrim, our friend at GMA. The Murdaw property is remote. It spans hundreds of acres and the feeling in the community, whoever killed the Murdaws didn't end up here by accident or randomly. 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh and his 56-year-old mother, Maggie, found shot to death near the dog kennels outside the family's hunting lodge last week. County investigators turning the case over to state law enforcement. So far, there have been no arrests. No suspects have been named. Law enforcement being very tight-lipped about this investigation.

As a matter of fact, isn't it true, Matt Harris, WLNK Charlotte, in that jurisdiction, cops are required to release police documents, certain police documents at request. All that's been released is what? Well, as you said, lots of redacted things, lots of papers with large sharpies taken through them. So you don't have a lot of information. We found out a car was towed from there. We know that Maggie's phone was eventually found on the road near the camp,

but not a lot. And it's really been a battle with some of the newspapers like postman courier etc who are filing freedom of information act papers to get some more information and when they do release it it's it's real redacted i it's there's no shortage of people who may have been on the bad side of the murdoch with all the things that have happened over the last man you can say that again i'm going to get into some of those three of those prior incidents with the Murdochs that people are touting as potential motive for murder. But I want to talk about, again, where we are and the evidence that we know so far. We believe, do we not, to Patrick McDavid, partner with Quick Group Investigations.

You can find him at quickgroupllc.com. Former agent in charge, Homeland Security in South Carolina. This guy's been around the block a couple of times. Patrick, thank you for being with us. We know that one car was towed, which I find to be totally normal. But wait for it. The mother Maggie's cell phone was found in a different place than her body was. That's not right. Yeah, that definitely is not right. And it sounds like somebody in a hurry cell phones are critical cell power information and how easily those phones can be tracked as long as that SIM card is in that phone. To you, Matt Harris, let's follow up on what Patrick McDavid is saying.

Where, Matt, was Maggie, the mother, 52-year-old Maggie Murlock, where was her cell phone found? It was outside of what we would call the compound or the hunting area on one of the roads not far from where the murders were. And I know that what we know is that something happened, must have come up through the looking at that phone, because they reopened the case, which we haven't got into yet, of what was ruled a hit and run back in 2015. That case was reopened, and we think it's tied to the – because they say it was tied to something they found in the investigation. Yeah, something they found in the investigation, not necessarily on the cell phone. But I see you making that connection.

I want to go back to where the cell phone was found. I understood it was found on a road near the hunting lodge. Yes, it was on the side of a road. The side of a road off the hunting lodge. You got about a thousand acres on that hunting lodge, but it was found out on a public road, correct? Right. That is correct. Yes.

So it was off the scene of the crime. It was off the property, either dropped or thrown out of a car window. So somebody got rid of that phone, either intentionally or unintentionally. Why? Now, let me go back to you, Matt Harris. Who found the bodies? The dad, alec did alec is the father of paul and the uh husband of maggie and he they say at an airtight alibi he was visiting his his father the grandfather randolph murdoch who died just a few days after the murders so he was visiting them. What was this? What day of the week was this?

Let's see. That was, it was June. That would be like a Wednesday, I guess, maybe. I'm not sure what day it was. I'll give you a chance to look it up.

It was a Monday. It was a Monday. I was saying Monday. Yes, Monday. So he says he's at his dad's bedside in the hospital on Monday night. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we're talking about the brutal murders of a 52-year-old mother, Maggie Murdoch, and her son, Paul.

Both found several feet apart, both shot multiple times with long guns. And I bring the fact up that they were shot with long guns because that suggests to me that there may have been more than one killer. Unless you're from Rifleman, or you're from an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, who else comes out with two guns blazing that are long guns, like a rifle or an AR assault rifle, like a shotgun. That takes a lot of expertise to handle just one shotgun or one AR, much less two. And we know this because the ballistics show the two victims were shot with different weapons. Now, the husband, the father, says there's an airtight alibi that he's at the hospital at the time they're shot dead. Take a listen now to our friend Brooke Butler, WJCL 22. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the Colleton County Sheriff's Office still not releasing much information about the shooting deaths of Paul and Maggie Murdoch, but a family friend is providing some insight.

Tangi Omer was in her bedroom June 7th when she knew something was wrong. Usually when you hear that many sirens, it has to be something really tragic. Omer was devastated to learn Paul and Maggie Murdoch had been shot. She says Alex Murdoch found their bodies. I can only imagine when you come home and have to find your your wife and your son in the yard. Omer says the days leading up to their deaths were normal. I would have never,

never guessed that I got in that kind of call that night. Even now she and this prominent South Carolina family of attorneys are counting on law enforcement to get them some answers. I think they have enough faith in the judicial system and law enforcement to do their

jobs. They'll know some answers. Now, Omer says, just like everyone else, she's not sure if the shooting was targeted or not, but she does say the fact that they were shot multiple times does seem personal. Back to you, Matt Harris, but they weren't at home. So the father, Alec Murdoch, says that husband slash father says he came, quote, home and found them dead. But it wasn't home. What led him that night to go out to the hunting lodge? That was not their home. From what I understand, the mom, Maggie, and the son, Paul, were staying there. I don't know how long they had been staying there, but they were staying there at this time.

And so Paul or Alec, I mean, probably went there to see, I don't know, see how they were doing. I don't know if he was staying there or not. I know they were staying there for a few days. I don't know how many days. Let me understand something. Was the husband not staying there and the wife and the son were? That's where there is some confusion and rumors and whatnot about whether he was staying there or not. Interesting.

Nothing official has been. Interesting. So he may not have been staying with his wife? That is a possibility. That is a possibility, yes. I think he found them at 10 and it was ruled that the murders happened around 930. So you're telling me he went out there, even though he wasn't staying there, at 10 o'clock at night to check on them? I don't know if he was staying there or not.

There's different, that's not been confirmed, but that's a possibility. Interesting. Or maybe he was staying there that night. Since they had multiple homes, they could be moving back and forth. What do you mean by multiple homes? There's a hunting lodge. There's a chief residence. What else is there?

Yeah, I think that's the chief residence. That's the multiple homes. The chief residence is a big house on the river in that county that they also live at. So that's their main residence right there. Guys, take a listen again to our friend Eva Pilgrim. He's a very caring person and she was the rock of their family. This morning, members of the Murdoch family speaking for the first time since their brother, Alec Murdoch, found his 22-year-old son, Paul,

and his wife, Maggie, shot to death outside their South Carolina home last week. I got a call from from L. A. Monday night. As soon as I answered the phone, I knew something was wrong. Oh, man. He just told me. He said, come as fast as you can. Paul and Maggie have been hurt. His voice, the fear. He was just distraught. No arrests have been made, no suspects named. The Murdochs issuing a plea for help this morning. The person that did this is out there,

and there's information, however big or however small it is. Back to you, Matt Harris. Is that the husband, Alec Murlock, speaking? No, that was his brother's, Randy. I believe that was Randy and probably John Marvin. They also said in that interview that Paul had been getting threats, but they didn't take them very seriously. So that is something we wonder what that was about. You mean the son, Paul, 22-year-old son, Paul?

Yes. Okay. So has the husband made a public plea? No. Has he spoken publicly at all? Not as far as I know. I've not heard anything coming from Alec. It's always been from his brothers or friends of Maggie. That's all I've seen or heard or read. Guys, what more do we know? Take a listen to Katie Kamen, WCSC Live. According to the Colleton County Coroner, Maggie and Paul were both shot multiple times outside

on their rural property near Islandton. Still, there have been no arrests for the murders, and law enforcement has not released information on any potential suspects or motives. Lowcountry attorney Susan Williams says in her 17 years practicing law, she's not seen a case like this that has garnered such attention across the country. She tells us she too is looking for answers. Someone from law enforcement said that the public should not be in fear and no one has been arrested to date. And so it doesn't make sense to me. And I'm sure that there is an explanation for that. That's plausible. But just as a member of the general public, I just don't understand that we've got two murders in Colleton County and we've got no arrests. That is very, very interesting.

Back to Susan E. Williams, South Carolina criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor in Somerville. Susan, to make the statement, you don't need to worry public. We've got this under control. You're not in danger. Why would they say that unless they think they know who is the shooter and that shooter poses no threat to anyone else? That's right, Nancy. And the investigators have given the public little information,

and they say that's to preserve the integrity of the ongoing investigation. So we're left to wonder if this was a random act of violence or revenge killing or something else. There has been a $100,000 reward offered, and it does have an expiration date, which I also find interesting. An expiration date? Tell me about that. The expiration date for the $100,000 reward is at the end of September 2021. I find that very, very interesting. I want to go to Dr. Michelle Dupree joining me. She's a forensic pathologist, former medical examiner, author. She literally wrote the book, Homicide Investigation Field Guide, and to boot, former police detective. Dr. Dupree, let's talk about what we know,

not about influence, what may have happened. Let's talk about what we know happened. We know a mother and son were shot dead in a remote hunting lodge area, about 1,000 acres, that nobody was there. The husband-slash-father was at the hospital that night. I wonder what visiting hours are at the hospital, but he doesn't get home. Well, it's not home. He says he's going to quote, check on them. This is what we've been told. It's 10 o'clock at night to go check on them, he finds the bodies.

How do we know that there were two weapons used, and how can they be identified as an AR and a shotgun? Well, Nancy, that's an excellent question. And one of the ways that we do that is we look at the actual bodies themselves and we look at the wounds. There may also be evidence of shell casings or something at the scene, which we do not know if they were recovered or not. But looking at a body, a shotgun does a particular kind of injury to a body that we can readily identify, as does an assault rifle.

They're two totally different kinds of wounds. I would want to know, was it close range? Was it contact? In other words, gun to skin? If I could figure out who was shot first, if the victims ran, were they shot in the back, or did they know their attacker? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we were talking about the double murders of a mother and son found in a remote hunting lodge. Their second home, so to speak, Maggie and Paul Murdoch. Are there murders? multiple gunshot,

execution-style murders connected to three previous incidents? One, the boating death of a young 19-year-old girl, Mallory Beach, the trip and fall of a houseworker that worked with the Murdochs and the death of a young man. His body found on the side of the road seemingly a hit and run. How could they be connected? Well, take a listen to our friend Stephen Fabian at Inside Edition. Investigators are trying to determine if there is any possible link with the tragic death two years ago of 19-year-old college student Mallory Beach, who was killed when a boat in which she was a passenger slammed into a bridge during a wild party. All five of us are on the same boat, but we're missing one person. An allegedly grossly intoxicated Paul Murdoch was charged with boating under the influence.

He was awaiting trial when he was slain with his mother. Mallory's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Murdochs. The Murdoch family is well known in South Carolina. For 87 years, three generations of Murdochs have served as local prosecutors. Over the decades, they've sent thousands of defendants to prison and more than a dozen men to death row. The list of people who might hate the Murdochs and seek revenge is long. But local reports keep returning to the death of Mallory Beach. Interesting. The theory, straight out to you, joining me, an all-star panel to make sense of it all,

Susan E. Williams joining me, former prosecutor, now defense attorney in South Carolina. The theory would be like a vehicular homicide where you're drunk, out of your gourd, you plow into a mother and son, mother and child in the crosswalk, and you kill both of them. In this case, Paul Murdoch, no doubt about it, was drunk. His alter ego had taken over. I think the name was Timmy that his friends called him when he got so out of his mind drunk he acted like a different person. He had slapped one woman on the boat, was yelling and screaming, insisting on driving when he plowed into pilings around that bridge and Mallory Beach was thrown off the boat. The theory would be like vehicular homicide.

It would be like a boating vehicular homicide, right? Correct. Yes. He was charged with three counts of boating under the influence, resulting in death or serious bodily injury. Death or serious bodily injury. Straight out to Matt Harris. Matt, I want you to take a listen to this. This is part of the 911 call from in Mallory Beach was killed. We just crashed in a boat. Are you in the water or are you?

We're in the boat. We have one missing. Okay. Hang on one second, okay? I'm calling in reference to a disabled, I'm sorry, a boat crash. It's six people on board. They currently have one missing. All right, it's in Archer's Creek, which is right there off of Parris Island.

There's a bridge on Parris Island. They're underneath it. They crashed into the bridge. I want to go straight out to Matt Harris, morning show host, WLNK, and star of the Murdoch family murders, Impact of Influence. Matt, tell me about Mallory Beach's death. Well, the accident was occurred after a night of partying by the driver. You call that partying?

Sounds like a big drunk to me. Yeah, well, they went to a bunch of places. They went to this oyster roast and they stopped by another bar that allegedly Paul insisted on stopping by to get more shots before they went home. And then he took off his clothes. It was only in his boxers when he was driving and screaming. And you're right. Took off his clothes. Yes, that's allegedly.

That's a thing that he does. That's in a deposition. That's in a sworn deposition that came out of the civil suit against Paul Murdoch. He has been sued. The bar that sold him the drinks has been sued. And the brother of Paul Murdoch, as I recall, who let him use his ID to get the booze, has also been sued. Paul wasn't sued, but you're right. Buster was, and Alec was the father because it was his boat. Buster, the fake ID, and the store that sold Paul all the liquor. And you've got to remember when I said he had his clothes off, it was February, and even in South Carolina, that's cold. It was a cold, foggy, really foggy night.

And he was in his boxers driving the boat. Acting crazy. I had driven a little bit. Foggy, really foggy night. And he was in his boxers driving the boat. Acting crazy. I had driven a little bit, but he had said Paul took over and wouldn't let anybody else touch the wheel. And then he was going slow and they started screaming, you know, we've got to get home. Quit putzing around because he was dancing. And then he just floored it and that's when the crash happened, according to the deputy. And isn't it true that, according to sworn testimony under oath, it was stated that Paul Murdoch, the son, had been overtaken by his alter personality, I believe the name was Timmy, that his friends called him when he got so drunk.

It was like he had a different personality. Yes, that is true. They called Timmy, and they said Timmy took over at some point during the evening when they had stopped at another bar after the Oyster Rose to drink some more shots. Can I ask you, why was Paul Murdoch out on bond, walking free, after this girl's dead because of him? Well, he had to go and file a petition to be able to leave and go to USC. He went to University of South Carolina.

So? And the judge allowed him to do that. And so he was back at college in the fall. This happened in February. A judge. A judge. A judge that works hand-in-hand with the district attorney's office every single day? One of those judges? One of those judges, yes.

Okay, so this guy's out walking free. 19-year-old Mallory Beach is dead. But that's not all. Take a listen to our Cut 11. This is Sophia de Soucer, WCBD-TV, Charleston. Stephen Smith was found dead in a roadway. Original reports say it was a hit and run, but the notes that detail Highway Patrol's years-long investigation point to a different story. We obtained photos, videos, and hours' worth of interviews.

The Murdoch's name coming up repeatedly. The 2015 case now getting a second look by SLED. Hampton County 911, where's your emergency? It's the call that would spark an investigation into what troopers thought was a hit and run. I just called down a real road. I see somebody laying out. But incident report after incident report

shows no sign Stephen Smith was hit by a car. Stephen Smith dead on the side of the road. His mother has always said there was a cover-up in this case, that people made up lies because her son, the deceased Stephen Smith, was gay. Take a listen to Sophia again, WCBD-TV, Charleston. This is Our cut 12. Dozens of interviews we obtained show a complicated web of family members and classmates who knew the 19-year-old and the rumors spreading around Hampton County. You don't have to agree with Stephen's lifestyle,

but that don't mean that he gets to be killed and nobody gets to find out what happened. Within a month, those rumors were pointing to Buster Murdoch, the son and brother of the two Murdochs shot dead in June of this year. We didn't know who did it, but we just heard that Buster did it. So after that, I mean, everybody knew who Buster had, like his family and all that. So it was kind of like shocking. You know, I thought you were all busted. investigator speaking with several people backtracking where the tip originated from and did he say where he heard that from or how he was backing that up so he just said oh i heard buster did it did he say how he did it or what happened? To Matt Harris, Morning Show host,

WLNK. So you've got the Molly Beach death. Now you have Stephen Smith. And we don't care if he's gay or straight or purple or blue. The reality is he's found on the side of the road, and it's connected to the Murdoch family, according to reports they deny. Then you've got a trip and fall of a housekeeper. But I want to circle back to Stephen Smith found on the side of the road. Matt Harris, how, if at all, is that death connected to the Murdoch family? Well, Stephen Smith, he was found in the middle of the road, which is the only reason, appears to be the only reason that the pathologist said it was a hit and run, ruled it a hit and run,

because she said, well, it's in the middle of the road. That's what I've got to go with. So how is it tied in? We the thing that we know now is that something happens. They found some information. They discovered something the sled did during the investigation of the Burdock murders that allowed them to reopen the case because they have some something they found led them back to open the Stephen Smith case. And they went and visited Sandy Smith's home, who we've been in contact with for over a year now, and told her they had opened it based on what they found during that investigation.

So that is the immediate tie. Now, we know that Stephen Smith was friends with the Murdoch boys, played baseball with them. The dad, the older brother coached the team with them. The dad was involved with the team. And even Stephen's father had one of the Murdochs representing him in a lawsuit that was going on as well. And Stephen Smith's dad passed soon after Stephen was killed. Now, we also know that 19-year-old Stephen Smith was sprawled in the middle of the road, his head bashed in. He was alone.

His car was found about two or three miles down the street. According to police, it looked as if he had run out of gas. To Dr. Michelle Dupree, joining me, renowned medical examiner. Dr. Dupree, how can you tell if somebody was beaten in the head, dead, left in the middle of the road, as opposed to a hit and run? Well, Nancy, we look at the injuries. I mean, they tell us the facts. A depressed fracture of a skull is going to tell us that they were hit with an object,

a baseball bat or whatever it may be. When we look at something to be an automobile accident, we want to see evidence of that. Are there abrasions in places that we would expect to find? Are there road rash in other places? I don't think we found that in this case. Interesting. To you, Patrick McDavid, partner with Quick Group Investigations, former resident agent in charge of Homeland Security there in Charleston. Patrick, you know, we're investigating the murders of the mom, Maggie, and the son, Paul. But somehow it's gotten very complicated, and the tentacles of this beast are reaching far into very unexpected other cases. Well, there's no question.

I think the strangest thing that's come out of this whole investigation so far is the reopening of the case involving Stephen Smith. Why do you say that? Well, it's just, it seemed like it was a cold case. It goes back to 2015, and there was always rumors about the family having some knowledge about it. And suddenly after this investigation gets started, they've reopened that investigation. And isn't it true, Matt Harris, based on what Patrick McDavid is saying, isn't it true? There are allegations that the Murdoch family clammed up and would not

cooperate with the Stephen Smith investigation? Well, the interesting thing was also about the Stephen Smith, allegedly called it a hit and run at one point, is that the Murdochs were quick on the scene because they're a big law firm and they know these things. So they were there quickly. They even offered Sandy Smith, Stephen's mom, to offer to represent her if she wanted to do a lawsuit and represent her for free. And she thought that was odd. There was a, according to Sandy, there was a rape kit taken. There was defensive wounds on Steven Smith on his hands.

There was also fingernail clippings that were taken. And now that evidence has been lost she thinks uh so if it was a hit and run for the it seems odd that they'd be doing a rape kit and they'd be doing a gunshot residue test and because originally the first people on the scene that he uh the south carolina highway patrol thought it was a gunshot uh then they went on to think that people thought maybe it was a beating and then when they went to the the MUSC pathologist, she went with the hit and run. She was the first one in this long chain to say it was a hit and run. And the officers had disagreed.

Todd Proctor is a big one out there banging the drums saying it doesn't add up. There was no debris from the car, a car that would have hit him. You would assume there was some debris. There was none of that. There was supposed to be glass on or paint chips on Stephen's black Nike shirt. That was a blue paint, which you would think they'd be able to identify what that might belong to. And so there was a lot of things that were adding up to something being not a hit and run, even at the beginning.

So many people are thrilled that it was open again, because there was only one pathologist that kept saying hit and run, even at the beginning. So many people are thrilled that it was open again, because there was only one pathologist that kept saying hit and run, rest the people around the case were saying it wasn't. Matt Harris, how far was Stephen's body found from the Murdoch's? From the Murdoch, where like the hunting cabin is? Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, I don't know how far it is, but this,

the road that he was on is a road that he was found on. I talked to his mom about it. It was a road that anybody, there was a big, I think it was a baseball game or a basketball game that night, that that's just the main road that people from that school use to go back and forth. So it's the same general area. Okay. But it's definitely where Murdoch and everybody that went to that high school, a road that they traveled. We wait.

As justice unfolds, no one has been charged. No person of interest has been named, much less a suspect. The Murdochs insist they have nothing to do with any of these cases. So who murdered Maggie and Paul? Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off goodbye friend this is an iHeart podcast