Law&Crime Sidebar - Alex Murdaugh’s Murder-Suicide Scheme with Curtis ‘Cousin Eddie’ Smith — The Full Story

Episode Date: February 20, 2023

Alex Murdaugh called 911 on September 4, 2021, claiming he was shot in the head while changing a tire on the side of the road. Later, the disgraced lawyer would admit he planned and attempted to complete a murder-suicide scheme for insurance money with a former client of his, Curtis “cousin Eddie” Smith. Murdaugh indicated that he planned the roadside shooting with Smith. However, the lines of truth are blurred and it’s not clear whether Murdaugh’s confession implicating Smith as the gunman is accurate. The Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy discusses the incident with Smith’s lawyer, Aimee Zmroczek.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergWriting & Video Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Vanessa Bein & Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. And you learned through your investigation that Alitt was paying up to $50,000 a week to a guy named Curtis Eddie Smith for drugs, right? That's what was told to us, yes. The name Curtis Eddie Smith has been coming up a lot in Alec Murdoch's double murder trial. So who exactly is he? Was he involved in the murder of Paul and Maggie Murdoch and will he testify? I'm Ann Jeanette Levy and welcome to Law and Crime's Sidebar podcast.

Curtis Eddie Smith is a name that we all know if we've been following the Murdoch saga. Curtis Eddie Smith is a distant cousin of Alec Murdoch, so everyone calls him cousin Eddie. Smith is in protective custody at the Lexington County Jail where the records say he's being held for safe keeping. He faces charges related to that roadside shooting of Alec Murdoch back in September of 2021. This is when Alec Murdoch said he asked Cousin Eddie to shoot him on the side of the road so he would die and his son Buster Murdoch would get $10 million from a life insurance policy. This is what Murdoch's attorneys have said about that incident during the trial. He didn't do it, and I think they will concede, he didn't do it to get some sort of sympathy.

He did it to be dead. That's why he did it. And unfortunately, Eddie Smith, at four feet, couldn't shoot somebody in the head and kill him. He meant to. And that's what Mr. Smith would say. Well, Mr. Smith is given no less, I'm set up to cross-examine him, I know this, six different explanations for the. that and any other event you asked him about, from Wadnear to I was there, and I saw Alec. He'd been shot to, I was there, and I tried to stop Alec to, yes, I shot him in the head.

But the fact of the matter is the cross-examination of Mr. Smith is something I'm looking forward to now. But this particular event had nothing to do with what happened. on June 7 other than the light about something else. Cousin Eddie and Alec Murdoch have known each other for many years. They both face conspiracy charges related to oxycodone, which is an opiate. Eddie Smith also faces charges related to money laundering and trafficking methamphetamine. Alex Murdoch's attorneys have suggested that Smith and a drug gang could have murdered Paul and Maggie Murdoch back on June 7th of 2021.

Did he mention to you anything about these cowboys? that Mr. Griffin's asked you about? No, sir. Did he mention anything about a Curtis Edward Smith? No, sir. June 7th, he didn't? No, sir. No, sir.

August 11th he didn't? No, sir. When did he ask you about Curtis Edward? When did he bring in Curtis Edward Smith into this investigation? He'd be an Alex Murdofis. September 4th, 2021. September 4th, 2021. This is what Curtis Eddie Smith told,

the Today Show back in 2021 about what happened on the side of the road that day. He's standing like this. He said, you're going to shoot? I said, no. He said, we just got to do it. And he made his move like this, you know, and I just grabbed his arm. You took the gun and showed up behind him between me and him. Joining me to discuss Curtis Eddie Smith as his attorney, Amy Zimmercheck. Amy, welcome to sidebar. Thanks for coming on. Thank you. How is your client, Cousin Eddie, we call him Cousin Eddie, obviously.

You call him Eddie. How is he doing right now? I mean, he's in health-wise. He's still having a lot of health issues. He's very anxious. And quite honestly, he's just not, you know, he's not in a great environment. He's in jail where he's not getting the medications that he needs. He's very frustrated.

I'm sure. And he's in protective custody. So essentially, that's isolation, right? absolutely so he's got no human contact except for with the guards right and when and when i can get down there so it's also just really on top of all the anxiety and frustration then he's got to deal with just the sheer loneliness and frustration i'm not being able to talk to anybody he is under subpoena by the state so the state did not call him in its case in chief could call him in rebuttal possibly the defense has not subpoenaed him.

Do you expect the defense to call him? Because Dick Harputian has said he wants to cross-examine him. Obviously, it's not a cross-examination if he calls him, but he could be treated as an adverse witness. I mean, I don't know that he could be treated as an adverse witness, just because he's not going to say what Dick wants him to say. He doesn't necessarily make him an adverse witness. I think he's just a regular witness. And I think that's a problem for the defense. Dick says a lot of things when the cameras are rolling some things that aren't true.

I don't believe that he is looking forward to cross-examining him or even questioning him because he would have called him and maybe he still will. But I'm interested in Dick producing that statement that he said Eddie confessed to shooting Alec because there's never been a statement where he is confessed to shooting Alec. So I'm, you know, I'm looking forward to it as much. as I'm sure Dick is. What really, as far as we know, you know, we've seen cousin Eddie say things on the Today Show that, you know, there was a struggle almost over this gun.

The gun went off. Is there anything that you can tell us about what he claims happened that day? Unfortunately, I can't at this point just because he does still have a possibility of being called when people are questioned by the police and then when they get this mindset kind of almost in shock about how they remember things and then they have some time to go back and look at what really happened as best they can remember. I think that there are, you know, there are some changes. There aren't major changes, but there are some changes. And I think that this is the problem with, was just not having me as his counsel from the beginning. It's been,

it's been a little hard to kind of go back and play cleanup, but, you know, I think that he is definitely finally in a place when he gets to tell his story and exactly what he remembers and exactly how it went down. I think it'll match the physical evidence, and I think it will make a lot more sense. I have so many questions. I want to ask you about that. And I know there are so many that you really can't answer right now, but it appears, you know, that he obviously we can see the photographic evidence he met alec murdock there on the roadside that day he absolutely did something transpired and then alec murdoch suffers some type of wound and and eddie takes off why didn't he stick around are you able to tell us that well so i can tell you that um it's

certainly our position that the wound that alec suffered was from hitting the asphalt with the back of his head that he did not sustain a gunshot wound. Dick likes to wave around these very minor pieces of the medical records and he only wants to put in portions and parts. Because what those medical records consistently say is that person, Alec Murdoch, reports. So these are all things that he's reporting. But they, you know, they absolutely don't say there's a gunshot wound. They say that it reports to be a gunshot wound. It, you know, it's whatever fits with their narrative at the time. But in my opinion, there was, that is not a gunshot wound. So there's potentially this struggle over a firearm that goes off and Alec Murdoch falls backward and hits his head on the

ground and you contend that's how he injured himself. It wasn't a gunshot wound. Absolutely on the asphalt. That's, that's certainly been my position ever since I've been involved in this case. But then why does Eddie leave? Well, because he's in fear. Because this is somebody who is absolutely gone crazy. And in my opinion, before Eddie left, I am fully convinced that Alec planned on killing him on the side of the road. I think that that would have made his life so much easier. The murders could have been solved. He would have said, oh, he was coming to finish off the job or whatever, and all of his problems would have gone away. I think that, you know, Alec is a, I think that we've seen throughout this trial, he shows many different faces to

many different people. And I think that that's frightening. Not only did Eddie leave, but also when questioned, immediately brought the sled agents to the place that he threw the gun. I have so many questions for Dick, because are you contending that Eddie is such a bad shot that he misses from four feet away, yet can sniper kill Paul and Maggie? Those two positions don't make sense to me. Also, with regards to the gun, I would love to see the inventory of the guns because that gun that Alec had is that one that he told the police about because I didn't see it in the it in the itinerary of all the guns that he had. So I think that the problem is, is that you have someone Alec Murdoch incapable of telling the truth and getting different stories

out there that suit him. So it's incredibly frustrating on this side of it. What exactly is the relationship between Alec Murdoch? Or I guess I should say what was the relationship? Because we've heard that Alec Murdoch said he represented Eddie Smith at one point in time years back. They obviously developed a relationship. There's some type of distant relationship there, distant familial relationship. They're both charged with a narcotics conspiracy. They're accused of that. Curtis Eddie Smith is cashing all these checks from Alec Murdoch. So what's the relationship? So I think you kind of outlined them all. I think there's a very distant familiar relationship. I think that, I mean, but it's very distant. I'm talking seventh or eighth cousin removed. I think,

I know that he was a client, that Eddie was a client of Alec Murdox, is somebody that owed him a responsibility as a lawyer. I know that Alec requested that Eddie give him some of his pain pills. That's how it started. And then requested more pills of him. There were other people that We're giving Elyke Murdoch pills. And I think that that's the frustrating part is the public only gets to see portions of what's going on. I think got to see a little bit of it with Nate Tootin. Talked about cashing checks because that's exactly what Eddie did as well was cash checks for Alec. And he wasn't arrested.

I think that kind of covered all. Eddie was a convenient, he was a convenience for Ehrlich to get what he wanted to get done. when people call Eddie a drug dealer who's got to be the worst drug dealer in the world because he had one client and that client was Alec Murdo. But they said he had like the physician's desk reference in his house and stuff like that. And I mean, I don't know. Well, I mean, he has a serious, serious back injury and has been prescribed tons of medication and has been going through a ton of medical treatment.

Um, his nerd, his daughter is in the medical field and lived with him. So yes, he probably has a lot of medical references in his house. So he has an alibi. We've discussed this in the past. You said that for the night of the murders, he has an alibi. Alec Murdoch told the police in the roadside shooting interview when asked whether Eddie Smith was involved in Moselle. He said no. So you're, you're saying that he's got people who can vouch for his alibi the night of the murders. Absolutely. And telephone records and computer records that show he was on his computer at times during the evening that he was at his house. If they had any evidence that they could have linked him to this crime, they would have arrested him for. Did Eddie Smith consider Alec Murdoch a friend or was it more of like a business associate? No, absolutely. He thought of him as a very close friend, someone he cared about and trusted and thought that that person cared about and trusted him as well. And now he feels how?

Completely betrayed like he doesn't even know who Alec was. Did they talk frequently back then before all of this happened? I mean, not necessarily about, I mean, there was work stuff. So Eddie also cleared some land for Alec, you know, so he's very knowledgeable about big heavy equipment and how to use it. And so he would clear land for Alex. So any of the conversations that they would have would have to do with ELEC, you know, either using him to get drugs or using him to get or to do equipment or to cash checks. It wasn't just call you up and see how your day is doing.

Let's check in. It wasn't that kind of relationship. Sure, sure. But they were friendly enough to be considered friends. Absolutely. Last week, you and I had kind of spoken a little bit by text. And you said you were at the jail because you were fearful for Eddie's safety. Tell me a little bit more about that.

You know, I just, people who can't see the power and the control that the Murdox have had for so many years, it's really hard for them to understand. But even when he was in the other jail, random inmates were coming up to him, asking him about being Alex co-defendant and having knowledge about who he was. And he had never spoken to any of these inmates before. And so we request to have him move because there was so much inquiry coming from Alex Storm trying to find out where Eddie was located, things like that. So we actually requested that the attorney general move him to a whole other jail

so that there's not an accident or that nobody can can somehow gain favor with Alec by hurting him. And even though he is in another jail, it's just it's very concerning. on the one hand, Dick saying, I can't wait to cross-examine him and all of these things. But on the other hand, not even subpoenaing him to call. And you just never know exactly what is on the minds of the other people that are involved. Well, Amy Zimmercheck, we really appreciate you coming on to talk with us. We hope you'll come back. And we are wishing Eddie the best. Thank you. Thank you. And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. You can download and listen to Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and we're at

else you get your podcasts. And of course, you can always watch it on Law and Crimes YouTube channel. I'm Ann Janette Levy, and we will see you next time.