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by JENN WOOD
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As the state of South Carolina prepares for the second murder trial of accused killer Alex Murdaugh, another investigator tied to the sprawling crime and corruption saga has found himself facing scrutiny.
Ryan Kelly — a former senior special agent with the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) — was fired earlier this month as internal affairs chief for the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) after an internal investigation into allegations of harassment, unbecoming conduct, improper procedures and unsatisfactory performance.
According to documents obtained by WCSC TV-5 (CBS – Charleston), sheriff Carl Ritchie terminated Kelly on June 8, 2026 after a formal complaint prompted an administrative investigation. The sheriff’s termination letter indicated the allegations against Kelly had been carefully reviewed and concluded it was in the “best interest of the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office” to end Kelly’s employment.
Public records reviewed by the television station did not detail the specific conduct underlying the allegations, and CCSO has declined further comment.
FITSNews has submitted requests to both the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy (SCCJA) and CCSO seeking Kelly’s certification records, personnel file and any documentation related to his termination.
Kelly joined the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office in 2025 after more than a decade with SLED, where he served as a senior special agent from 2012 through 2025. During that time, he worked on several of the most consequential investigations in South Carolina history — including multiple cases connected to Alex Murdaugh.
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A KEY PLAYER IN THE MURDAUGH SAGA
While Kelly was never the lead investigator in the Moselle double homicide case, he played a significant role in the broader Murdaugh inquiries.
Most notably, Kelly served as lead investigator into the September 4, 2021 roadside shooting involving Murdaugh and his alleged drug supplier and money mule, Curtis “Eddie” Smith.
That bizarre incident — initially reported as a random roadside ambush — evolved into allegations that Murdaugh orchestrated the shooting as part of a failed insurance fraud scheme.
Kelly’s work on the roadside investigation ultimately became a key part of the state’s murder case against Murdaugh.
During the 2023 double homicide trial, prosecutors called Kelly to the witness stand to walk jurors through key aspects of the roadside shooting investigation. Among other things, Kelly testified about DNA evidence recovered from a knife found near the scene and about investigative efforts that ultimately tied Smith to Murdaugh.
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Kelly also told jurors Murdaugh never identified Smith during the initial stages of the investigation — including during the 911 call, ambulance transport or early hospital interviews.
According to Kelly, Smith’s name only emerged after investigators began unraveling inconsistencies in Murdaugh’s account of what happened.
Significantly, Kelly testified investigators found no evidence (“none whatsoever”) connecting Smith to the June 7, 2021 murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh — directly undercutting theories advanced by some observers that Smith may have been involved in the killings.
Kelly’s involvement in the Murdaugh saga extended beyond the roadside shooting, though. In August 2022, he was one of four SLED agents subpoenaed by Murdaugh defense attorney Dick Harpootlian as part of an effort to challenge the integrity of the state’s investigation. Alongside agents David Owen, Charles Ghent and Ryan Neill, Kelly was ordered to appear at a hearing related to allegations that investigators and prosecutors had improperly handled evidence and leaked information connected to the case.
At the time, defense attorneys were aggressively pursuing a strategy focused on discrediting SLED and undermining confidence in the investigation.
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SLED’S CREDIBILITY PROBLEM
Kelly’s firing arrives against a backdrop of growing scrutiny involving other SLED investigators connected to high-profile prosecutions. No investigator has faced more criticism than former SLED special agent David Owen — the lead investigator in the Moselle murders.
As FITSNews has extensively reported, Owen’s credibility has become a recurring issue in the years following Murdaugh’s original conviction.
During Murdaugh’s trial, defense attorneys exposed several investigative shortcomings during Owen’s testimony, including SLED’s failure to promptly search the Murdaugh family’s Almeda property despite investigators later theorizing that critical evidence may have been taken there.
Owen also faced intense questioning regarding statements presented to the grand jury and the handling of controversial blood spatter evidence.
More recently, Owen found himself at the center of controversy tied to the Michael Colucci murder case – in which a circuit court judge quashed Colucci’s indictment after finding exculpatory evidence had not been properly disclosed. The ruling fueled additional criticism of Owen and renewed questions about investigative practices within SLED.
FITSNews has also documented concerns involving omitted evidence, disputed timelines and other investigative decisions made during the Murdaugh investigation.
Kelly’s termination has not been linked to any misconduct that occurred during his tenure at SLED, nor is there any indication the allegations cited by Charleston County officials have anything to do with the Murdaugh cases. Still, his firing adds another layer to the ongoing discussion surrounding the credibility of the investigators who helped shape one of South Carolina’s most consequential criminal prosecutions.
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RETRIAL ON THE HORIZON
South Carolina’s supreme court overturned Murdaugh’s murder convictions last month after finding former Colleton County clerk of court Rebecca “Becky” Hill improperly influenced jurors during deliberations.
While the court’s decision was not based on investigative misconduct by SLED, the retrial will place every aspect of the state’s original case under renewed scrutiny. Defense attorneys have already signaled they intend to aggressively revisit investigative decisions, evidentiary disputes and unresolved questions surrounding the original prosecution – scrutiny which will undoubtedly include the work of David Owen and possibly Kelly, as well.
Whether Kelly’s termination becomes relevant in any meaningful way remains unclear. Because the allegations appear unrelated to his work as a SLED agent, courts may view them as having little bearing on the murder case itself.
From a broader perspective, however, the development is difficult to ignore. As prosecutors prepare to retry one of the most closely watched murder cases in modern American history, two former SLED investigators who played significant roles in the Murdaugh saga now find their credibility facing elevated public scrutiny.
For a prosecution team seeking to present a clean and focused case the second time around, that is yet another complication they weren’t counting on…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
As a private investigator turned journalist, Jenn Wood brings a unique skill set to FITSNews as its research director. Known for her meticulous sourcing and victim-centered approach, she helps shape the newsroom’s most complex investigative stories while producing the FITSFiles and Cheer Incorporated podcasts. Jenn lives in South Carolina with her family, where her work continues to spotlight truth, accountability, and justice.
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SOUND OFF…
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1 comment
Good timing, Jenn Wood, specially with the revelation in the Karen Read cases up in Massachusetts!
And for those who missed my assertion that the system which STILL punishes ME for my PROVEN innocence will NEVER admit it wrongly convicted Alex Murdaugh, I here re-paste what I wrote this morning on other outlets:
Perjury and subornation of perjury ARE “true crimes” and may take the lives of their victims without a PHYSICAL weapon.
What “still gives [ME] the chills” is how cold-blooded my attempted framers were and are and how indifferent ALL judges were to those true crimes committed in their own courts and under their own eyes.
My attempted framers ARE Alex Murdaugh’s attempted framers, NOT people like them or people who know them. The SAME people: John Meadors, Donald Zelenka, David Amadeo Fernandez, Johnny James, etc. And these are only the lawyers. The so-called “victims advocate” should be called “victim framers,” too.
And the Indifferent-in-Chief is Judge Clifton Newman, to whom I presented an annotated transcript of my 22-26 February 2010 jury trial over which he presided, at the end of which a hopelessly dead-locked jury forced the judge to declare a mistrial.
Immediately after the mistrial, I did extensive research and compiled OBJECTIVE evidence of the perjuries, forgeries, and fabrications, deployed against me in that trial and presented my DOCUMENTATION to officials, including Judge Clifton Newman, who shrugged it off as “not my lane.”
WHOSE “lane” is it, then?
That is NOT a rhetorical question; nor am I seeking legal advice. After all, thank God, I exonerated myself WITHOUT A LAWYER.
Likely that is why most, if not all, South Carolina lawyers, specially CRIMINAL defense lawyers hate me and want to discredit me, even as the borrow VERBATIM parts of my closing argument to my jury, including my brilliant analogy of reasonable doubt to fuzzy “use-by” dates on food items.
I have not YET thought about giving you, Anne Emerson, an alliterative title because I see you as a working girl trying to make a living on the fringes of journalism.
But I came up with “Bottom-of-the-Barrel Brueski” (“BBB”) for your competitor on Hidden Killers, who is also soliciting his meager audience’s ideas.
Here is my response to BBB, which MIGHT also move YOU, Working Annie:
?Before I give you my records-supported theories on who the real shooters are, or the shooting FEMALE cabal is, I need to emphasize what is ACTUALLY KNOWN about the LIKELY time of end of Paul’s and Maggie’s lives.
I also do NOT apologize for, only explain, why I nick-named you “Bottom-of-the-Barrel Brueski”: your unseemly gloating over Alex Murdaugh disproportionately long sentence and atrocious prison conditions.
Otherwise, I do not know what YOUR AUDIENCE watched; but I know what I watched AND read in the OFFICIAL complete transcript filed in the OFFICIAL Record on Appeal with SC’s Supreme Court and available to the public FOR FREE on that court’s website.
I also know what I LIVED through: a 22-26 February 2010 General Sessions jury trial presided-over by none other than Judge Clifton Newman. Thank God and WITHOUT A LAWYER, I thwarted the evil scheme of THAT SAME JOHN MEADORS and his underlings to frame ME for harassment and, through peculiarities of penalty enhancements in SC’s harassment statute, put ME in prison for 36 years, YES, thirty-six.
I know FIRST-HAND their tactics and their limitless cold-blooded willingness to frame the victim instead of going after the real perpetrators.
And I am NOT the only one.
Again, a Justin Mallory was attempted to be framed by THAT SAME JOHN MEADORS for the murder of Justin’s wife, Nakia. Justin’s jury, like mine, deadlocked in the first trial. Justin and my paths after the mistrial differ but separately end in Justin’s and my UNEQUIVOCAL eventual acquittal DESPITE John Meadors’ doing everything available, but not necessarily ethical, for him to block and delay Justin Mallory’s and my separate AND LONG paths to acquittal.
Lest you think I am avoiding your specific MISTATEMENTS about Paul’s and Maggie’s time of end of life: what expired ONLY 22 minutes after Paul’s and Maggie’s KNOWN large, and relatively fatty, last meal with Alex at the house at Moselle were THE BATTERY charges on Paul’s and Maggie’s cell phones, NOT Paul or Maggie themselves.
For the nth time, the food in Paul’s and Maggie’s stomachs AT AUTOPSY was too little and TOO DIGESTED for them to have expired ONLY 22 minutes after that last meal.
Look up the Dutch Brothers Coffee murder case in Oregon to understand the importance of stomach contents at autopsy in Forensic Medicine.