Alex Murdaugh responds to People Magazine article alleging his wife sought divorce before her death
Former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh has issued a statement through a spokesperson in response to a recent People Magazine article about his marriage to his late wife, Margaret.
On the night of June 7, Murdaugh reported discovering the bodies of his wife, Margaret, 52, and his youngest son, Paul, 22, shot and killed at their home in Colleton County, S.C. This as-yet unsolved, high-profile double homicide has since sparked a series of events propelling the Murdaugh family into an international spotlight.
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Murdaugh is currently in an undisclosed drug rehabilitation facility on a personal recognizance bond for charges that include attempted insurance fraud, and is facing possible pending charges related to missing money at his former law firm in Hampton, S.C.
On Sept. 29, People Magazine published a story alleging that Maggie had met with a divorce attorney in Charleston, S.C., six weeks before her homicide. The article, which cites "a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation," added that "Maggie drove one hour from the family's home into Charleston in late April to meet with a lawyer to explore her options about ending her marriage to Alex Murdaugh... What happened during that exploratory consultation is not known – but the source tells PEOPLE that Maggie, 52, had just begun to look into the family finances to determine the state of their marital assets."
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A spokesperson for Alex Murdaugh released the following statement on Sept. 30:
"The most recent allegations by People Magazine regarding the state of Maggie and Alex Murdaugh’s marriage are totally inconsistent with what we have been told by friends and family members. Also, we have reviewed many years of text messages on Alex’s phone, and the conversations between Alex and Maggie portray a very loving relationship. It is our hope that the media will continue to focus on covering the investigation of the person or people responsible for the murder of Maggie and Paul and not reporting salacious stories with no credible sources connected to the Murdaugh family."
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The Guardian reached out to a spokesperson for the Murdaugh family at large seeking comment, as well as to friends of the family who knew Alex and Maggie well. Emails and phone messages were not immediately returned by press time.