COLUMBIA, S.C. — A prominent South Carolina lawyer surrendered on Thursday to face insurance fraud and other charges in a failed plot to arrange his own death.
Alex Murdaugh has a bond hearing in Hampton County later.
Murdaugh was shot in the head while driving on Sept. 4, but survived when the bullet only grazed his head. A family spokesperson had previously blamed the shooting on an unidentified man in a blue truck.
However, Murdaugh reportedly admitted to police on Monday that he had conspired with the shooter as part of an insurance fraud scheme so his son could collect a $10 million life insurance claim.
According to CNN, Murdaugh had already decided to end his own life but believed his insurance police had a suicide exclusion.
USA Today reports that days before the Sept. 4 shooting, the South Carolina Supreme Court had indefinitely suspended his law license after his prominent law firm accused him of misusing funds.
The State Law Enforcement Division has now been asked to open six investigations involving the Murdaugh family, including the unsolved killings of Murdaugh's wife and son and now the previous death of their housekeeper.
Murdaugh found his wife and one of his sons dead at the family's hunting property in June. Both had been fatally shot.
According to Bluffton Today, Murdaugh's son, Paul, had been charged with boating under the influence in connection with a 2019 incident that lead to the death of a 19-year-old woman.
Those charges were later dropped.
Bluffton Today also reported in June that police reopened an investigation into the 2019 hit-and-run death of a 19-year-old man while investigating the murders of Murdaugh's wife and son.
