Alex Murdaugh’s wife saw divorce attorney six weeks before she was killed, source says

Maggie Murdaugh and her son, Paul, were found dead of gunshot wounds in June

The wife of Alex Murdaugh met with a divorce attorney just six weeks before she and her son were killed, a source has told People magazine.

According to the source, who People said worked in law enforcement, Maggie Murdaugh drove to Charleston, South Carolina in late April to meet with the lawyer and discuss the possibility of divorcing her husband. The source also said Ms Murdaugh was beginning to dig through her family’s finances.

“She didn’t pay close attention to the family money or where it came from,” the source told People. “But now she was starting to look into it.”

On 7 June, Ms Murdaugh and her 22-year-old son, Paul, were found dead of gunshot wounds.

In a statement to The Daily Beast, a representative for Alex Murdaugh vigorously denied that his marriage had been in trouble.

“We have reviewed many years of text messages on Alex’s phone, and the conversations between Alex and Maggie portray a very loving relationship,” Mr Murdaugh’s spokesperson, Amanda Loveday, told the Beast. “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.”

The meeting is just the latest wrinkle in the swirl of bizarre incidents tied to Mr Murdaugh, a former attorney and heir to a powerful family of lawyers in South Carolina.

When Maggie and Paul were found dead, Mr Murdaugh was the one who reported finding their bodies. Then, in September, Mr Murdaugh himself was shot, but survived. Since then, he has admitted to arranging his own shooting as part of a $10 million insurance fraud scheme.

Meanwhile, based on information they uncovered in relation to the first two murders, police have reopened investigations into the deaths of Mr Murdaugh’s housekeeper and a seemingly unrelated teenager who died under mysterious circumstances.

Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were killed at their Islandton estate (Handout)

A lawyer for Mr Murdaugh, Richard Harpootlian, has repeatedly said his client had nothing to do with the deaths of his wife and son.

“He is totally distraught,” Mr Harpootlian told NBC News. “He did not murder them.”

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has confirmed that the FBI is helping with the myriad investigations related to the Murdaughs.

“I have been in contact with the Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina,” SLED chief Mark Keel said last week.

“From very early on in this investigation SLED has utilized federal resources as needed. We will continue to call upon our federal partners as their assistance is needed to successfully investigate and prosecute specific aspects of these cases.”

The Independent has reached out to Mr Murdaugh’s lawyer for comment, but has not yet heard back.

Alex Murdaugh, who is accused of arranging his own murder, turned himself in to authorities in September (Hampton County Detention Center)