Law&Crime Sidebar - ‘Violently Choked’: Sex Worker Claims Alex Murdaugh Abused Her During Drug-Fueled Trysts

Episode Date: March 19, 2023

A former sex worker claimed Alex Murdaugh was a client of hers in the past who often got violent during their trysts. Lindsey Edwards recalled a time when the disgraced lawyer allegedly “violently choked” her during a drug-fueled date. The Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy discusses the claims with the founding editor of FITSNews, Will Folks, who sat down with Edwards in an exclusive interview. 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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will 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. I was pinned down to the bed by my throat of both hands. That is a woman named Lindsay Edwards making a claim about a violent sexual encounter. She claims to have had with Alec Murdoch many years ago. I'm Anjanette Levy and welcome to Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. Lindsay Edwards has only granted one interview about this claim she makes about Alec Murdoch.

She is a former sex worker. She granted that interview to an outlet called Fitznews last year and Fitznews has covered the Alec Murdoch case and the saga extensively. I reached out to representatives. of Alec Murdox about this claim and have not yet heard back. I've gotten no response. Joining me to discuss these allegations is Will Folks. He's the founding editor of Fitznews and he interviewed Lindsay Edwards last summer. Will, welcome to Sidebar. Thanks for coming on. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Will, how did you verify Lindsay Edwards story? How did you

vet it to the best of your ability? Absolutely. We did a lot of work prior to having Lindsay come on camera. We did a number of different pre-interviews with her. And we also did a number of different research efforts to check out aspects of her story. And what we were able to find out a couple things. Number one, we were able to put her where she said she was when she said she was there, which is obviously the first thing you do. You want to make sure, okay, were they in a position to see what they claim to have seen? So for me, that was one of the most important things that we were able to verify right off the bat. And then I think the second most important thing was she had information about another party goer who was at this event. And there was no way she could have

known this information unless she had been in the position that she claimed to be in. So those were two of the things that we initially were able to find regarding her story that corroborated it. But again, the biggest thing for me was just listening to her. I mean, just listen to her. And the way that she approached it, the way that she sort of, you could watch her reliving it during the interview. And the other thing that I think is amazing about Lindsay is the fact that she's not focused on on Alec Murdoch. She's not focused on, you know, fame or money. She's focused on this issue of human trafficking. And I think the way that she's handled herself throughout this process speaks volumes about her motivations for coming forward. You said listen to her. So let's

take a quick listen to a clip from your interview. He seemed like a really nice person, but I was violently choked with both hands, like being pinned. down to the bed in a way by my throat and it was to the point where I couldn't breathe by him by him by Alex Murdoch yes so Will how did you even come to realize that Lindsay Edwards existed I mean how did you get on to her story well she was on TikTok I mean we we saw her on TikTok like everyone else and our first in you know instinctive response was okay this is crazy this is somebody trying to get some fame off of this story and didn't really, I'll be honest, believe it right off the bat. And it took our research director initiating contact with Lindsay, Jen Wood, by the way, as our director

of research. And Jen had one conversation with her and said, hey, I think this girl's telling the truth. I had a conversation with her at that point. I also believed that she was telling the truth. And at that point, we started doing our due diligence on, again, checking to verify as much as we could about her story. So you interviewed her. You believed she was credible. One thing that I find interesting is the fact that throughout the Alec Murdoch trial, when he stood trial for the murders of Paul and Maggie, was the fact that he was repeatedly painted by the defense as a family man, someone who loved his family. We only heard one mention during cross-examination, well, actually one mention during direct examination outside the presence of the jury when Marian Proctor

was on the stand, that there was possibly an affair 15 years ago. That was the only mention of any possible infidelity or anything that was mentioned in the trial. So Alec Murdoch gets up on the stand. To me, this seems like perfect fodder for cross-examination. So this, this would dispute or dispel the image of the family man who loved his family and was devoted to them. These allegations are pretty incendiary. Well, I mean, let's let's be honest, there were a lot of different things that could have been invoked by the prosecution to dispute or to counter and to erode that family man persona. It wasn't just Lindsay's story. There were a lot of different stories that I think they could have told had they wanted to. Why did they make the decision not to go down

that road? I don't know. I think it was a decision that was made during that cross-examination or rather, yeah, during the examination of Murdoch by Crick and Waters. I think he made that decision while he was examining him. I don't think it was something that was, a decision that was made ahead of time. I think Waters felt he'd gotten enough from Alec Murdoch during that exam that he did not have to go there because I think there are risks to go in there. If you feel like you've done damage, if you feel like you've eroded a witness's credibility, and I think Waters did that. I think he did it masterfully as a matter of fact. And I think the prosecution, for whatever reason, felt this was just not ground that they needed

to go into. Lindsay Edwards attorney, I reached out to her and she told me that her client has been interviewed by SLED, the South Carolina law enforcement division about the claims that she made. She doesn't know what came of that. I reached out to SLED and the spokesperson there said she didn't have anything to say about this. What do you expect to come of this, if anything? Because this is somebody who's saying she was trafficked, that she was trafficked to Alec Murdoch. I'm assuming she was trafficked to other people too. She had a madam. So is there anything that you see coming from what she claimed? Well, I hope so. And I I think the first thing that we've seen, at least on the activity that we've been tracking,

there are some individuals related to this alleged network that are, at the very least, no longer active. And so I think that there are individuals that are tied to her particular experience. And again, I'm not sure whether that's directly tied to the Murdoch allegations or just this general trafficking issue. But we know of at least two different individuals who were alleged to have been a part of this that are no longer active in this trafficking endeavor. And so that's, I think, a positive outcome. And what she's been focused on from the beginning, again, to her credit, I mean, this is a woman that

we literally had to twist her arm to pay for her hotel bills. She didn't want any money, wouldn't let us pay for food, didn't want us to even, you know, we literally twisted her arm to just say, look, we're at the very least going to pay for your hotel bill. So it's not money she wanted. It's not fame or she'd be doing a ton of interviews right now. In fact, Fox News did their big story based off our interview. She declined an interview with them. We're trying to get her to sit down with some of the Netflix folks that have, I think, done the best job of any group covering this Murdoch thing. I don't know she'll do that.

But with her, it is all about those networks, about those, like you said, the madams, the enforcers, the people who are responsible for trafficking these girls. And again, a lot of folks say, oh, well, you got paid. It's not really trafficking. Well, if it's not a consensual situation, I think the financial component of it, you have to look at through a different lens. If you're forced to do something, does it really matter if you get paid on the back end? And how does that change it? And so I think from the beginning, that has been her focus, which to me, lends credence to her story. Again, if it was someone trying to get paid, somebody trying to get famous, somebody trying to do all these other things, I would say those are major red flags.

But that has not been her approach to this from the beginning. and it's not her approach today. You have your finger on the pulse. I mean, you guys were always breaking stories down there in South Carolina on the Murdoch saga. Do you expect anything more to come of this? Obviously, we have the financial crimes trials. Those are next on the docket. But will there be more to come?

Or do you think that this is it? Well, I hope it's not it because I think this guy was involved in a lot broader range of criminal activity than just, you know, the financial crimes or the double homicides. I think we've got obstruction of justice, not only in regards to the boat crash and the wrongful death lawsuit, which really unraveled the Murdoch dynasty. You know, the double homicide is when the nation started paying attention to this story, but it was the boat crash back in 2019 that really, that was when this dynasty started to collapse. And those were really when the seeds that led to the double homicide were planted.

So you've got obstruction of justice related to that case. You've got drug charges against Alec Murdoch, and obviously you've got the these nearly 100 financial charges that are pending. Obviously, we are going to see the financial crimes next, particularly the ones involving the former Murdoch housekeeper Gloria Satterfield. And so I think that'll be the first new case out of the gate as it relates to the financial crimes. But there's so much here. And again, in addition, everything I just mentioned, we've got institutional corruption. We've got the judges who were joined at the hip with the Murdox during the nearly, you know, century where they exercised this almost medieval control over this 14,

the judicial circuit was literally their fiefdom. And so I think you've got a lot of judges who've got some questions to answers at Royce to their dealings with the Murdox. And what about the drug charges with Cousin Eddie? I mean, he's accused of running a drug conspiracy with Cousin Eddie and laundering the money, or at least having Cousin Eddie help him launder money. So, I mean, he's accused of being a drug dealer. Well, he is. And he's also accused apparently being the worst drug dealer in human history because he's apparently gotten no money. He's always having to go out and borrow a bag or steal to pay these bills. So, you know, most drug doers, you've got a problem with too much cash.

You've got to find somewhere to put it. And so I think that Alec Murdox, you know, what happened to the money is going to be a big question as the next round of criminal trials starts to play out. But I think the other thing we've got to look at when it comes to the drug charges, if you remember during the double homicide, there was all this discussion of Maggie Murdoch finding pills. but it wasn't just a handful of pills. She was finding bags of pills. And these weren't just typical buy off the street pills.

This was pharmaceutical-grade opioids, which means that there's no risk or substantially reduced risk of getting a hot pill, of getting a pill laced with fentanyl. You buy on the street, that's a major concern. You don't know what you're getting. But the pills, Alec Murdoch had pharmaceutical-grade opioids. So, again, a lot of puzzle pieces we still haven't put together yet. But we were the first news out to really dig on.

the drug angle back in the fall of 2021. We've been continuing to pursue it and continuing to pursue it today, as a matter of fact. Well, interesting. We'll keep a close eye on it. Well, folks, thanks for coming on, a founding editor of Fitznews. We hope you'll come back. I will. And I just want to thank you guys for the amazing job you guys did covering this trial. You guys did excellent work. Well, well, thank you, Will. We appreciate that. And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. You can listen to and download Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get. at your podcasts, and of course, you can always watch it on Law and Crimes YouTube channel.

I'm Anjanette Levy, and we will see you next time.