On August 14, 2026, Alex Murdaugh's defense attorneys presented a claim in court suggesting that a recent homicide in Allendale County may be linked to the Murdaugh murders. This claim surprised both prosecutors and the presiding judge, Debra McCaslin. Murdaugh is currently undergoing a retrial after the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned his previous convictions for the murders of his wife and son due to juror influence.
Defense attorney Jim Griffin mentioned that the information came from reporting by FITSNews, which indicated that a weapon related to the Murdaugh case might have been used in the Allendale homicide. Griffin requested the state to investigate and provide any relevant records. FITSNews had discussed an unverified report regarding a possible third gun at the crime scene of the Murdaugh murders.
Griffin did not disclose specific details about the Allendale County case, including the victim or the alleged weapon. He stated that if there were a match between shell casings from the Allendale case and those from the Murdaugh murders, the defense would seek the underlying testing records. Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters expressed surprise at the new allegation and stated that he had not been informed of any such development by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
Waters later confirmed that SLED had found no known ballistics match linking a .300 Blackout firearm used in the Allendale shooting to the Murdaugh case. He stated that the evidence from the Allendale case had been entered into a ballistics database but had not yielded any leads or matches.