Millionaire Alex Murdaugh comes from a long line of eminent lawyers whose name has been synonymous with the law in their swampy corner of the Deep South for nearly a century.
But that excellent reputation changed drastically one night in June 2021 when he called police to say he had come home to find his wife and younger son dead from gunshot wounds outside the kennels of the family’s 1,700-acre hunting property to find.
There appeared to have been two attackers – his wife Maggie, 52, had been killed by four shots from an assault rifle, while his son Paul, 22, had been shot through the head by a point-blank shotgun.
It was a terrifying twist of fate for the scion of one of South Carolina’s most powerful families, a dynasty in which Murdaugh’s great-grandfather, grandfather and father served successively as chief prosecutors in the state’s Lowcountry region from 1920 to 2006.
In addition to being influential, Alex was immensely wealthy, running a private law firm whose aggressive pursuit of personal injury claims had made him a fortune. And yet the family tragedy was soon to darken immeasurably, eventually ending up the bearish redhead in the dock in a double murder trial that has suddenly gripped America.
Alex Murdaugh’s (second right) wife Maggie (second left) had been killed by four shots from an assault rifle, while his son Paul (left) had been shot through the head by a point-blank shotgun
Alex Murdaugh’s (left) wife Maggie (right), 52, was found shot to death on the family’s land along with their son Paul, 22
Mallory Beach (pictured) 19, died in boating accident in 2019. Charges have been brought against Paul Murdaugh
Not only was he accused of killing two members of his own family, but his alleged motive was so cold-blooded it was hard to imagine.
In a courtroom where a portrait of his grandfather used to hang – until a judge ordered it removed for the duration of the trial – prosecutors have argued the 54-year-old murdered his wife and son to gain sympathy and to save himself from being exposed as a massive imposter. The maze-like case, which involves two more deaths and numerous complicated financial allegations, has true crime fanatics and filmmakers lining up every day to get into the courtroom in the small town of Walterboro.
To her, it seems to have it all: ruthless lawyers, allegations of political corruption, multimillion-dollar fraud, a fatal boating accident involving a beautiful young woman, and even an apparent assassination attempt on Murdaugh himself. It centers on a man whose tendency, repeatedly bursting into tears while testifying can simply be a shameless ruse by someone accused of the most calculating and monstrous behavior.
He wept again yesterday, this time from the witness stand, as he ignored the advice of his lawyers and testified. “I didn’t shoot my wife or my son. Never,” he sobbed.
However, he admitted to lying to police about not being near the kennels on the night of the murders, blaming it on his drug-induced paranoia. Quoting Sir Walter Scott, he told the court: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave. . . Once I told the lie and told my family about it, I had to keep lying.
Murdaugh, whose name is pronounced Murdock rather than Murder (fortunately for him and his lawyers), has denied killing his wife and son in a trial now in its fifth week.
The defense has portrayed him as a devoted father and husband who would never dream of butchering his loved ones. Prosecutors counter that 6 ft 4 in Murdaugh committed the murders to avoid “personal legal and financial ruin” by diverting attention from evidence that he was tricking millions of dollars from customers and his own company. (He also faces around 100 charges, mostly for insurance fraud and theft, which he has yet to plead.)
However, both sides agree that the story behind the murders actually begins two years earlier, on the night of another tragic death. In February 2019, Alex’s son Paul Murdaugh, then 19, had taken the family’s 17-foot fishing boat with five friends one night for a short, booze-laden cruise along the South Carolina coast.
Returning home in the early hours of the morning in thick fog, the ship crashed into the piers of a bridge before running onto a bank with a smashed hull. Of three passengers thrown into the icy water, only two emerged. The body of the third, 19-year-old Mallory Beach, was found in a nearby swamp a week later.
Alex Murdaugh is in the dock in a double murder trial that has suddenly captivated America
Defense Attorney Dick Harpootlian holds Buster Murdaugh’s 300 Blackout rifle, similar to the one used to kill Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, Colleton County Courthouse, February 21, 2023
Alex Murdaugh testifies at his murder trial on February 23, 2023 in the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro
Paul Murdaugh, a wayward youth described as “teenage Caligula,” was an aggressive drunk and was allegedly piloting the boat when it crashed.
Despite alleged attempts by his influential family to pressure survivors of the accident that Paul was not at the helm, he was charged with three offenses including boating under the influence resulting in death.
Although that case never went to trial — some said an example of the Murdaughs’ power — the Mallory Beach family filed a civil suit against Murdaugh, claiming he was responsible for her death because he lent his son the boat and an eye to his underage drinking.
A future hearing for this civil case was scheduled just days before Murdaugh’s wife and son were killed. Crucially, Murdaugh should have provided a full picture of his finances, which could have shown he was turning his clients away.
The attorney leading the civil suit had specifically asked his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, to testify about the alleged boozy culture at the Murdaugh hunting estate known as Moselle, where underage teenagers were allegedly allowed to stumble around drunk.
Prosecutors believe that Alex murdered them not only to delay the civil suit (which the murders did), but also to divert attention from himself by claiming that the Murdaughs were attacked by people known as the Mallory Beaches wanted to avenge death in the boat accident.
In fact, his trial last week was shown video evidence from the body cameras of police officers who visited the crime scene. It showed an apparently distraught Alex Murdaugh giving his thoughts on the possible motive.
“That is a long story. My son was in a boat wreck. . . months back. He received threats,” he says. “Most of it was harmless stuff. We didn’t take it seriously, you know, he took a beating. Um, I, I know it is.’
And to support this notion that the murders were actually committed by people out to get revenge on Mallory Beach, it is claimed that Murdaugh then faked an assassination attempt on himself.
Alex Murdaugh vows to tell the truth before testifying at his murder trial
This week his surviving son Buster testified that his father was “devastated” by the murders of his wife and son – so “broken” he could barely speak
Three months after the double murder, he called the police to say a stranger had mugged him while he was changing a tire on the side of the road – and that the attacker had shot him in the head. Medical reports have shown that Alex was indeed hit by a bullet, but as we’ll see, the man involved was anything but a homicidal stranger.
Unfortunately for Murdaugh, a passer-by saw the so-called “shooting” and told police it was so unconvincing that they thought it was a “staging”.
This all coincided with a worsening of Murdaugh’s problems when his family law firm, known by the acronym PMPED, revealed they had just ousted him for allegedly stealing their funds.
Following the firm’s exposure, Murdaugh’s attorney went on national television to admit his client had stolen money – but only because he was paying for a 20-year-old opioid addiction he was now in rehab for.
The attorney also blew the gaff on the mystery individual who allegedly shot Murdaugh at the side of the road, saying he was actually a distant cousin, Eddie Smith, who did odd jobs for him.
Murdaugh asked Smith to shoot him, the lawyer explained, and make it look like murder so his surviving son Buster could collect an £8.4million ($10million) life insurance policy. Only Smith, he added, screwed up and merely hurt him.
The problem was that Smith then insisted to investigators that he had never consented to killing him and that the gun only accidentally fired while attempting to pluck it from Murdaugh.
However, skeptics believe that Murdaugh never intended to die and only wanted to bolster the theory that he and his family were targets.
But what about the financial crimes that prosecutors say Murdaugh was so desperate to keep secret that he was even willing to murder his wife and son? These were already becoming apparent as journalists had begun to cover family affairs after the fatal boat accident.
And here we came to the fourth death in this dark saga. It emerged that Murdaugh’s former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, died in February 2018 after falling down the front steps of their family home. It has been suggested she may have been pushed, although Alex Murdaugh has insisted Ms Satterfield tripped over one of his hounds.
What the journalists uncovered was that the housekeeper’s family had accused Murdaugh of tricking her out of a multi-million dollar settlement over her death.
Buster Murdaugh (left), son of Alex Murdaugh, seated during his father’s double murder trial
Mike Sutton, a forensic engineer, answers questions about defense attorney Dick Harpootlian’s trajectory during the trial of Alex Murdaugh on February 21, 2023
While Murdaugh was an old hand at exploiting America’s highly contentious culture, he encouraged Ms. Satterfield’s brothers to sue him over her death on the grounds that his liability insurance would cover it. And the policies paid out more than £3million – after which Murdaugh reportedly pocketed it all.
It was only after a long battle that Murdaugh, who is now ruled out, agreed in late 2021 to pay the Satterfield family £3.25million to settle their claims.
Prosecutors say many other examples of his shameless looting have surfaced over a decade-long period, including the fact that he once stole from a police officer who was injured on duty, the family of a deaf man who suffered a horrific car accident, which made him quadriplegic.
Locals say he was able to trade with impunity for so long because so many of them were intimidated by the Murdaughs, who — despite allegedly having first made their money distilling illegal alcohol or moonshine — developed strong ties with politicians and law enforcement.
“They were powerful. They own the land,” said Suzy Murdaugh, a relative, of how she sometimes enlisted the help of her powerful cousins.
“If you went to court, you won. Whatever it was. Don’t think that Alex, his father or his grandfather have ever lost a case. He told the judge what to do.”
Even now, Murdaugh is represented in his murder trial by a lawyer friend who is a senior senator and a member of the Judiciary Committee in the State Congress – a congress that elects South Carolina’s judges.
Despite all this historical influence, the process is not going his way, hence his 11 hour decision to take a stand.
Murdaugh has denied killing his wife and son in a fifth-week trial
Alex Murdaugh cries while watching a video clip on his son Paul’s phone during his double murder trial
The Murdaughs’ current housekeeper has testified how Mrs Murdaugh had told her her husband Alex had insisted that she return home from their beach house on the night of the murder.
And video evidence from son Paul’s phone got his father to his family minutes before prosecutors said he killed her – contradicting his previous insistence to police that he didn’t get home until much later and the couple didn’t that night had seen until he found her body.
This week his surviving son Buster testified that his father was “devastated” by the murders of his wife and son – so “broken” he could barely speak.
His defense has suggested the double murders may have been committed by a drug gang, saying Murdaugh spent $50,000 (£41,000) a week buying drugs from a man who was heavily in debt with the gang.
The state still has the death penalty, but prosecutors have said they will not seek it for Murdaugh, perhaps to improve their chances of a conviction.
If convicted, he faces 30 years in prison.
Many believe he was brought down by his own vanity as he desperately tried to live up to the family name.
A jury must decide whether the tears that rolled down his cheeks yesterday are those of an innocent and cruelly bereaved man or a skilled but desperate liar.