The Murdaugh family double homicides and criminal investigations - one year later

June 7, 2021, 10:07 p.m.

The 911 call by Richard Alexander Murdaugh, son of a third-generation 14th Circuit Solicitor, reporting the shooting deaths of his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, would propel a scandal-plagued South Carolina family into the national spotlight.

Tuesday marks one year since Maggie and Paul died of multiple gunshot wounds at their rural Colleton County estate. Their images linger in the family photographs splashed across magazines and newscasts, tabloids and blogs. Their names proliferate police files and court documents and resonate on podcasts and television broadcasts.

A year later, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has made no arrests, announced no leads or suspects, and released few details in the ongoing investigation.

Even as SLED probes the killings, much has happened to Alex Murdaugh, the man who made that chilling 911 call. Here's a look back at the last year.

Latest lawsuit: Murdaugh, former bank CEO stole funds from family in fatal crash case, new lawsuit says

Exhumation of Satterfield: SLED to exhume Satterfield remains as Alex Murdaugh investigations continue

Randolph Murdaugh III passed away three days later

Three days after the killings, Alex Murdaugh's father, former 14th Circuit Solicitor Randolph Murdaugh III, died of apparent natural causes on June 10, leaving the Murdaugh clan to lay to rest three of their own in one week. In a 2018 interview with The Hampton County Guardian, the elder Murdaugh had said that he didn't want to be remembered as a man who "put people away" in jail but as an attorney who tried to help people. Tragically for the Murdaugh family, his legacy would come to be associated with something else entirely.

New evidence in old homicides emerge

As state police probed the double homicides, new evidence about old homicides emerged.

Stephen Smith, a Hampton County nursing student, was found dead in the middle of Sandy Run Road on July 8, 2015, with deep gashes to his head. At the time, his death was ruled a hit and run, a ruling disputed by his family and some investigators, and almost immediately rumors connecting the Murdaugh family to the case began circulating around the county.

On June 23, 2021, roughly two weeks after the double killings, state police said they were putting "fresh eyes" on the Smith homicide with this statement: "SLED has opened an investigation into the death of Stephen Smith based upon information gathered during the course of the double murder investigation of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh."

However, police never revealed what they found that led to this development.

The unraveling of the Murdaugh case

September/October 2021

- Sept. 4, 2021 - It's Labor Day weekend, but instead of boating at the family river house, Murdaugh is on a back-country roadside and called 911 to report that he had been shot.

- Sept. 6, 2021 - Murdaugh's family law firm issued a statement saying he has resigned and is "no longer associated with PMPED in any manner" while accusing him of misappropriating funds. Murdaugh issues a statement that he has been battling a long-term opioid addiction worsened by the death of his family members. He apologized to the people he hurt and pledged to enter rehab.

- Sept. 8, 2021 - The S.C. Supreme Court suspends Murdaugh's license to practice law pending the outcome of the accusations. Murdaugh's brother and law partner, Randy Murdaugh, issues a statement: "I was shocked, just as the rest of my PMPED family, to learn of my brother, Alex’s, drug addiction and stealing of money. I love my law firm family and also love Alex as my brother. While I will support him in his recovery, I do not support, condone, or excuse his conduct in stealing by manipulating his most trusted relationships."

- Sept. 13, 2021 - SLED opens investigation into allegations of misappropriated funds from the PMPED law firm by Murdaugh, pledging to move forward "no matter where the facts lead us."

- Sept. 14, 2021 - Curtis Edward Smith, 61, 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 in connection with the Sept. 4 Murdaugh roadside incident.

- Sept. 15, 2021 - SLED announces an investigation into the death of Murdaugh's housekeeper Gloria Satterfield and the handling of her estate." The same day, the heirs of Satterfield's estate filed a civil lawsuit against Murdaugh and alleged accomplices.

- Sept.16, 2021 - SLED arrested Murdaugh for insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, along with filing a false police report after the roadside incident. Murdaugh is booked at the Hampton County Detention Center.

- Sept. 16, 2021 - Murdaugh was granted a $20,000 bond and returns to rehab at an undisclosed location.

- Oct. 14, 2021 - Murdaugh was arrested on felony charges related to the Satterfield insurance scheme.

- Dec. 13, 2021 - After being denied bond, Murdaugh receives a $7 million bond with no ten percent option and is jailed in Richland County, S.C. During the bond hearing, he states, "I made a terrible decision that I regret, that I'm sorry for, and quite frankly I'm embarrassed about," adding, "I want to repair as much of the damage as I can, and repair as many of the relationships as I can."

Wave of grand jury indictments for Alex Murdaugh

Murdaugh is struck with wave after wave of state grand jury indictments, from November 2021 into May 2022, relating to a decade-long, multi-county, multi-million pattern of financial schemes.

"This is Alex Murdaugh's version of Black Friday," said Satterfield attorney Eric Bland when the first indictments were announced.

- Nov. 19, 2021 - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced that the S.C. State Grand Jury had unsealed its first state-level indictments against Murdaugh totaling 27 criminal charges.

- Dec. 9, 2021 - The state grand jury issued seven more indictments consisting of 21 new charges.

- Jan. 21, 2022 - The state grand jury had issued four indictments consisting of 23 new charges, reflecting much earlier alleged criminal acts than before, going back to 2011.

- March 16, 2022 - Other alleged conspirators began to go down with Murdaugh as the state grand jury unsealed a new superseding indictment against Murdaugh and Cory Howerton Fleming, a suspended Beaufort County attorney, in relation to the Satterfield case.

- May 4, 2022 - The state grand jury issued three more superseding indictments, with charges against former Palmetto State banker Russell Lucius Laffitte as well as Murdaugh and Fleming.

- Murdaugh is facing a total of 82 criminal charges — 79 from State Grand Jury indictments and three local indictments — and, in theory, more than seven centuries of prison time.

Civil lawsuits pile up for Murdaugh and associates

Widely accused in the criminal courts, Murdaugh was also drowning in civil suits, resulting in the court placing his assets under the control of legally appointed co-receivers. Following the March 2019 wrongful death suit involving Mallory Beach, other boat crash passengers - and other financial victims - began filing personal injury lawsuits.

- Sept. 15, 2021 Satterfield’s estate filed suit against Murdaugh over allegations he conspired with others to steal her death settlement and insurance monies.

- Sept. 20, 2021 - Boat crash survivor Connor Cook files suit alleging civil conspiracy against multiple parties, claiming the Murdaughs tried to blame him as the driver.

- Oct. 6, 2021 – PMPED, the law firm founded by Murdaugh’s great-grandfather, Randolph Sr., sued Murdaugh seeking to recover money he allegedly stole from the firm and its clients.

- Oct. 28, 2021, Alex’s older brother and former law partner, Randolph “Randy” Murdaugh IV, filed a suit looking to collect $46,500 that he said he loaned his brother but was never repaid.

- The next day, Oct. 29, Murdaugh’s former law partner John E. Parker filed suit claiming that Murdaugh owed him $477,000 in unpaid loans.

- Dec. 2, 2021, Boat crash survivor Keith Cook filed suit over injuries he sustained in the crash.

- Feb. 15, 2022 - Boat crash survivors Miley Altman and Morgan Doughty each filed personal injury lawsuits over crash injuries.

- May 11, 2022, an amended version of a federal lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina by the Nautilus Insurance Company, one of the companies which had paid out claims to Satterfield settlement, naming Murdaugh, Fleming, Palmetto State Bank and others.

- June 2, 2022, another civil lawsuit was filed against Murdaugh, Laffitte, and Palmetto State Bank on behalf of Arthur Badger, a former Murdaugh legal client - and financial victim - who was injured as his wife was killed in a 2001 vehicle crash.

Murdaugh was then facing 11 legal actions directly naming him - ten state, one federal - and was connected to several others.

Alex Murdaugh conspiracy: Hampton County ex-banker gets $1 million bond and house arrest

Power, prestige and privilege: Inside the rise and fall of the Murdaugh dynasty in South Carolina

Alex Murdaugh's fall from grace

During bond hearings, Murdaugh's attorneys stated that their client had truly fallen from grace. With his assets seized and under intense scrutiny and investigation, he is a man who "can't pay his phone bill" and "can't even buy underwear," said attorney Richard Harpootlian.

Meanwhile, media outlets scour for every detail they can learn about him, even airing jail cell phone calls between Murdaugh and family members and publishing lists of personal items he purchases in the jail commissary. The accused attorney is even the subject of mocking memes on social media.

Murdaugh remains detained in the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County on a $7 million bond with no ten percent option.

Read more about the rise and fall of the Murdaugh dynasty here.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Murdaugh mystery: Double homicide, indictments, civil suits