Alex Murdaugh, a prominent South Carolina lawyer accused of trying to arrange his own death earlier this month so his son would receive a $10 million life insurance payment, turned himself in to authorities on Thursday. Murdaugh allegedly hired a gunman to kill him, but the planned fatal shot only grazed his head, according to state police. Jim Griffin, Murdaugh’s attorney, said a warrant was issued for his arrest on a charge of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. The State Law Enforcement Division said in a statement that the alleged shooter, Curtis Edward Smith, was charged with assisted suicide, insurance fraud and several other counts in the September 4 shooting of Murdaugh on a highway in Hampton County.
Still unsolved are the June 7 killings of 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh and her 22-year-old son Paul Murdaugh. Alex Murdaugh discovered the bodies of his wife and son at their Colleton County home; both had been shot multiple times. Attorneys for Murdaugh said he had been struggling with a longtime addiction to opioids and wanted to end his life. Murdaugh is fully cooperating with the investigation of his shooting as well as the deaths of his wife and son. “Alex is not without fault but he is just one of many whose life has been devastated by opioid addiction,” his attorneys said.
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