COLUMBIA, S.C. Local Charlotte News – South Carolina authorities released Friday 911 recordings from Alex Murdaugh’s botched suicide-for-hire attempt along the side of a road on September 4.
The S.C. State Law Enforcement Division accused Murdaugh of orchestrating his own shooting so that a beneficiary could collect a $10 million life insurance policy.
Affidavits from SLED show Murdaugh provided 61-year-old Curtis Smith with a gun and directed him to “shoot him in the head” for the purpose of causing his own death.
Reports also state Smith followed Murdaugh to a section of Old Salkehatchie Road, where the shooting occurred, and fired a shot as Murdaugh stood in the roadway.
“After shooting Mr. Murdaugh in the head, Mr. Smith drove to an unknown location where he disposed of the firearm,” warrants said.
Murdaugh survived the shooting and was taken to a hospital in Savannah, Georgia for treatment.
On the newly released 911 calls, Murdaugh tells the operator that he is at an unknown location of Old Salkehatchie Road in Hampton County.
“I got a flat tire and I stopped,” Murdaugh said. “Somebody stopped to help me. And when I turned my back, they tried to shoot me.”
The 911 operator asked him if he was shot, to which Murdaugh replied, “Yes,” adding that he was ok.
“What part of your body?” the operator asked him.
“I’m not sure. Somewhere on my head,” he replied.
Murdaugh made a second 911 call after a passerby picked him up and drives him to meet with an ambulance before going to the hospital.
Affidavits confirm that Murdaugh admitted to deflating his own tire with a knife. He provided a statement to SLED on September 13th, and Smith admitted to being present during the shooting and disposing of the firearm the next day.
Smith was charged with assisted suicide, assault and battery of a high aggravated nature, pointing and presenting a firearm, insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.
Murdaugh was back in court Tuesday for charges related to missing settlement funds in the wrongful death lawsuit involving a former housekeeper.
Murdaugh was arrested by agents with the State Law Enforcement Division and Charlotte Department of Law Enforcement for two felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses at the time of his release from a drug rehabilitation facility in Orlando, Charlotte.
According to Tommy Crosby, a spokesman SLED, the charges stem from the agency’s investigation into misappropriated settlement funds in the death of Gloria Satterfield, a former housekeeper who allegedly died in a slip and fall accident on the Murdaugh’s property in 2018.
Attorneys for the Satterfield family released documents earlier this month which they say prove Alex Murdaugh was the mastermind behind defrauding the rightful heirs of a multi-million dollar wrongful death settlement.
A South Carolina judge denied bond for Murdaugh and ordered a psychiatric evaluation to be conducted while he remains in jail.
Investigators are still looking in to the unsolved murders of Alex Murdaugh’s wife and younger son who were found shot to death on their family’s property.
In addition to all of the other cases, state police are looking into whether Murdaugh has connections to a 2015 hit-and-run death and whether he or other family members tried to obstruct the investigation into a boat crash involving Paul Murdaugh that killed a 19-year-old woman in 2019.
The Murdaugh family has dominated the legal community in Hampton County for nearly the past century. Murdaugh’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather were elected prosecutors and the family founded and built a prestigious law firm known for suing railroads.
The Associated Press and WCBD News contributed to this report.
