The operation was conducted with the Port. St. Lucie Police Department’s Digital Forensics and Internet Crimes Against Children team. The ICAC unit was developed to work in partnership with digital forensics experts in an effort to “monitor the dark web and keep our community safe from predators,” according to a press release from the PSLPD

In this case, one detective taking the role of the “mom” and engaging in online chats with the suspect, a Michigan family practice doctor named William J. Murdoch, 45, beginning in June 2025. Murdoch was allegedly “pursuing a platonic relationship with the fictitious mom to see if she would allow her 5-year-old to be courted by and have a sexual relationship with him.”

As the investigation continued, so did the conversations between this undercover detective and the suspect, with the department describing “stomach churning messages” allegedly sent by Murdoch detailing his intentions and plans. The department alleges he shared how he planned to groom the child and “quickly turn the situation sexual.”

While the department said that they could not reveal the details of his “demented behavior,” noting that it “is too explicit to share in its entirety,” they said that his messages “varied in having a sexual relationship in multiple ways.”

ABC affiliate WPBF revealed one excerpt from these conversations reportedly shared by investigators.

• “Are you a bad mom?”
• “Bad mom as in what?”
• “As in, like… open-minded, let’s say.”
• …
• “Or any other bad way you can think of.”
• “Open-minded… yes.”
• “Cool, cool.”

“He wants to do some pretty awful things that should only occur between adults, and he’s talking about doing it to a five-year-old girl,” said Police Chief Leo Niemczyk, per WPBF, saying that Murdoch was allegedly “extremely explicit” about what he wanted.

The chief also offered a few additional details as to what Murdoch was allegedly hoping to accomplish, adding, “He was willing to travel, spend some time, develop a relationship. “He wanted to establish himself as a father within the home for the express purpose of having sexual contact with a five-year-old.”

According to Niemczyk, speaking with Fox affiliate WFLX, the undercover “mom” created an online profile that “certain people would probably find appealing and attractive” and then they simply “allow the predators to come to them.”

Murdoch allegedly made contact with the undercover detectives in a chat group specifically about the sexual abuse of children, according to the arrest affidavit reviewed by WFLX. He allegedly told her he’d been thinking about this for “years and years and years” but had never acted on it.

The release goes on to say that detectives also conducted a search of the doctor’s iCloud and messaging account he was using to speak to the undercover “mom,” which allegedly detailed his training as a medical professional and how it “would assist in other alarming dark web hunts,” which they said were again “too explicit to share in its entirety.”

Police did offer a generalization of these searches, which included “conversations of: conception, full term abortions, and intentional drug and alcohol use to cause birth defects.”

A warrant was subsequently put out for Murdoch’s arrest, after which he was picked up by U.S. Marshalls for extradition to Florida.

He was booked into the Monroe County Jail in Michigan, per an online inmate search conducted by People, and is being with obscene communication — use of a computer to solicit a parent/guardian to consent to the participation of sexual conduct involving a child, per WFLX.

CBS News reached out to ProMedica, which owns ProMedica Monroe Regional Hospital in Monroe, Michigan, with the company confirming Murdoch’s September 2 arrest.

“This arrest triggered an immediate suspension of Dr. Murdoch’s hospital privileges and a termination of all activity involving the physician,” the company said in a statement. “We are supporting investigation efforts in this case. Our priority is the safety and care of our patients and their families.”

Niemczyk said of the investigation and arrest, “I’m afraid we’re just scratching the surface on what’s going on out there.”