Ever since FITSNews first broke the story of the mysterious Alex Murdaugh shooting on Saturday, nearly every detail surrounding the incident has been questioned by a national audience closely watching this twisted saga unfold.
C.A.R.E. Flight officials confirmed Friday the helicopter that transported Alex Murdaugh from a landing zone about 7 miles from the alleged shooting scene was dispatched at 1:43 p.m. Saturday — approximately 9 minutes after Alex Murdaugh called 911.
This means that the helicopter was dispatched approximately 12 minutes before the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched at 1:55 p.m. Saturday, according to their news release written three days after the shooting.
If the shooting was reported to police as an “attempted murder” as the incident report says, why would it take 12 minutes for the law enforcement agency in charge of the area to dispatch officers?
Was local law enforcement’s arrival on the scene deliberately delayed?
Further, an eye witness (see top of article and below) told FITSnews her phone shows the helicopter landed at the scene along Charleston Highway in Varnville, South Carolina around 2:15 p.m. and left around 2:25 p.m. She told FITSNews that police appeared at the landing zone before the helicopter.
The helicopter, based in Colleton County, then transported Alex Murdaugh to a hospital in Savannah, Georgia, according to SLED.
The shooting occurred on Old Salkehatchie Highway approximately seven miles from Moselle — the family hunting lodge where Alex discovered the bodies of his 52-year-old wife Maggie Murdaugh and their son 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh on June 7, 2021.
Hampton County Sheriff T.C. Smalls told the Island Packet that his deputies were “tied up” on Saturday and the Varnville Police Department was first to respond to the scene.
According to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office secured the scene and dispatched SLED for assistance at 2:41 p.m. The sheriff’s office requested that SLED lead the investigation.
Immediately after the shooting was reported, multiple law enforcement sources told FITSNews that the story Alex Murdaugh was telling about the shooting was “very suspicious.”
Click the video below from Beaufort filmmaker Eric Daume who took this video of the shooting scene.
Jim Griffin, Alex Murdaugh’s attorney, has only fueled speculation by pushing a shaky, conflicting narrative to the media that has seemed to shift daily.
Soon after FITSNews first reported that Alex Murdaugh was driven away from the crime scene after calling 911 and transported via car by an unknown individual, Griffin told other media outlets that a “Good Samaritan” picked Alex up and drove him “toward the hospital.”
Fueling further speculation, a Hampton County Sheriff’s Office incident report said Murdaugh had “no visible injuries,” but Smalls later told the Island Packet that a deputy made a mistake in the report and Alex Murdaugh did have injuries.
The report also said that Corporal Henderson was able to meet with Alex Murdaugh — who was referred to in the Hampton County report as a “victim” — before he was flown out (which does not not match up with the previous statement of the report that said deputies were en route while Alex was “being flown out).
Yesterday, SLED officials told FITSNews they stood by their report that Murdaugh suffered “a superficial gunshot wound to the head.”
(Click to Listen)
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Hours after these reports were released Thursday, Murdaugh attorney Jim Griffin — who initially told several media outlets that Alex Murdaugh was at the wrong hospital — doubled down on his claim that his client was badly injured in the shooting.
He told multiple media outlets that Alex Murdaugh had “an entry and exit wound, a skull fracture, and minor brain bleeding in two places.”
Yet, Griffin told media that his client checked into rehab after getting out of the hospital on Monday.
If he suffered a skull fracture and a brain bleed, how would he be released from the hospital just two days after the shooting?
While Griffin told multiple media outlets that Alex Murdaugh was hurt in a shooting by unknown assailants while he was changing a tire, Hampton County did not include that in their report. Neither did SLED.
Many of the questions surrounding the shooting will likely be answered when SLED releases the 911 call. FITSnews has submitted a FOIA request for the 911 call and all records on the incident.
On Monday, an hour after FITSNews published its story about Murdaugh’s opioid addiction and issues at his law firm, a family spokesperson released a statement saying he was going into rehab and resigning from the firm started by his own great grandfather — Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth and Detrick (PMPED).
Later, officials the firm claimed Murdaugh had been “pushed out” after misappropriating millions of dollars and resigned on Friday, September 3, 2021.
Adding more mystery to this strange saga, sources told FITSNews the knife used to slash Alex Murdaugh’s tires was recovered by investigators — and somehow linked to Alex Murdaugh.
Murdaugh, readers will recall, has been named as person of interest in the double homicide of his wife and son.
No arrests have been made in either case. Police have released no information regarding any potential suspect(s) or suspect vehicles.
The story of Saturday’s shooting gets more and more suspicious by the day.
Stay tuned to FITSNews for the latest updates in the case.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR..
Mandy Matney is the news director at FITSNews. She’s an investigative journalist from Kansas who has worked for newspapers in Missouri, Illinois, and South Carolina before making the switch to FITS. She currently lives on Hilton Head Island where she enjoys beach life. Mandy also hosts the Murdaugh Murders podcast. Want to contact Mandy? Send your tips to mandy@fitsnews.com.
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