Alex Murdaugh trial: South Carolina lawyer found guilty of killing his wife and son

Whereas essentially the most gripping true crime tales take us into the darkest elements of the soul, not often does a case open the ugly coronary heart of the nation itself. The labyrinthine case that’s come to be dubbed “the Murdaugh murders” looks like one that might solely occur in America — a story of generational energy and corruption. This can be a Southern Gothic morality play a few rich however fading Southern household whose large quantities of wealth and affect fueled a jaw-dropping spree of recklessness, greed, and homicide.

The trial that gripped a nation — and resulted, March 3, within the conviction of Alex Murdaugh for the double murder of his spouse and son — is about a lot a couple of household tragedy. Even months later, with Murdaugh pleading guilty to 101 charges of cash laundering and different monetary crimes, myriad questions stay about how huge his internet of deceit actually was.

What one article aptly referred to as “a lot of dead people and crime” entails the Murdaugh (pronounced “Murdock”) household, which has amassed energy and wealth in South Carolina for over 100 years. However that century of energy has crumbled in simply half a decade attributable to an extended record of economic crimes and 5 suspicious deaths starting in 2015: an alleged homophobic hate crime; a lethal boating accident; a mysterious fall and insurance coverage rip-off; the double homicide of the household matriarch and favourite son; and a weird roadside incident which will have been one other insurance coverage rip-off. The entire tangled internet culminated within the indictment in a South Carolina county court docket of the floundering patriarch, Alex Murdaugh, for the 2021 murders of his spouse and son — bringing the overall variety of expenses he’s going through to over 80.

Murdaugh pleaded not guilty to the homicide expenses on July 20, 2022, setting the stage for a bombshell trial and media circus that finally resulted in a responsible verdict and two consecutive life sentences. The lead-up to the double murder arguably happened partially attributable to a hit podcast that started as one native journalist’s try to deliver consideration to the case. En path to the trial, the Murdaugh murders turned a nationwide true crime obsession, spawning documentaries on HBO and Netflix and riveting tens of hundreds of livestream courtroom viewers each day.

Able to dive into the small print? You may want an oxygen tank for this one; as you would possibly count on from simply this abstract, these are darkish waters.

Meet the Murdaughs

The Murdaughs have wielded energy over South Carolina’s “Lowcountry,” the luxurious, mossy wedge on the backside of the state, for over 100 years — ever since Randolph Murdaugh Sr. based his legislation workplace in Hampton County in 1910.

The agency ultimately grew into a big, highly effective follow continued by his son, Randolph Jr., and his grandson, Randolph III. From 1920 to 2006, all three males additionally successively held the submit of solicitor (a.okay.a. prosecutor) for South Carolina’s 14th Circuit Courtroom. The Murdaughs’ 86-year stretch serving as circuit solicitors was the longest such household legacy in US historical past. As you may think, it additionally gave the household an unprecedented quantity of energy and affect, not simply over Hampton County however over the opposite 4 counties beneath the circuit’s jurisdiction.

Randolph IV and Alex, two of Randolph III’s sons, adopted of their father’s footsteps and have become attorneys. As a result of South Carolina eventually prohibited attorneys from serving within the conflicting twin roles of public prosecutor and personal legal professional, the boys didn’t function solicitors — however nonetheless served as “volunteer” prosecutors aiding their father whereas persevering with the household’s legislation follow. The solicitor’s workplace finally fired Alex, and the household legislation agency changed its name from Peters Murdaugh Parker Eltzroth and Detrick, often shortened to PMPED, to Parker Legislation Group earlier this yr, more likely to escape the rising stigma of the Murdaugh title — particularly its affiliation with Alex Murdaugh.

Alex, pronounced “Alec,” was a golden little one who sired golden youngsters. Born in 1967, he adopted in his household’s footsteps and studied legislation on the College of South Carolina, the place he met athlete-turned-sorority-sister Margaret “Maggie” Branstetter. They married in 1993 and subsequently had two sons, Buster, born in 1996, and Paul, born in 1999. The household lived in opulence, dividing their time amongst a seaside home, a few personal islands, and a large 1,772-acre estate often known as Moselle — which, just like the legislation agency, was renamed to flee its connections with the Murdaughs.

However the household additionally lived lives of hedonism; Alex and each of his sons would face accusations of drug and alcohol habit and wild, out-of-control habits within the lead-up to the sequence of crimes. Specifically, Alex’s years of extravagant residing led to a litany of alleged monetary crimes together with fraud, embezzlement, and a number of tried insurance coverage scams — all of it including as much as an alleged $8.5 million in theft and resulting in a number of homicides.

The Murdaughs’ energy arguably hindered the preliminary and follow-up investigations into these deaths, resulting in accusations of cover-ups and corruption. In the end, what started as separate investigations into separate crimes would knot themselves into an interconnected internet of tragedy. These deaths — all dramatically completely different however all doubtlessly linked by the Murdaughs — mirrored one thing of the chaos the Murdaughs introduced with them, regardless of their stature and status.

2015: The loss of life of Stephen Smith

On July 8, 2015, 19-year-old Hampton pupil Stephen Smith phoned his mom to inform her he’d run out of fuel. Later that evening he was discovered mendacity in the midst of the highway miles away from his truck. He’d died of blunt pressure trauma, and his physique had been “laid out in the midst of the highway like a snow angel,” according to his mom.

Authorities with the South Carolina Freeway Patrol initially assumed Stephen was the sufferer of a hit-and-run after leaving his truck and strolling to get fuel, and closed the case accordingly, regardless of numerous observations by police that recommended Smith’s loss of life was a murder. However police additionally later famous that the scene looked staged, and town gossip started to swirl that Smith, who was rumored to be dating Buster Murdaugh on the time, had been the sufferer of a hate crime or that the Murdaugh brothers had a task in his loss of life.

In June 2021, whereas the South Carolina Legislation Enforcement Division, or SLED, was investigating the opposite murders associated to the Murdaugh household, authorities reopened the investigation into Smith’s loss of life, issuing a press release implying they had been someway linked. Up to now no expenses or indictments have been issued, however the investigation remains to be open, and Smith’s mom has stated that the newest indictments into the opposite murders give her “hope that we’ll get justice.”

2018: The loss of life of Gloria Satterfield — and a complete lot of fraud

On February 2, 2018, the Murdaughs’ longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, suffered a extreme head damage on the Moselle property and died on February 26 of problems together with a stroke. The reason for her loss of life is unclear, because the coroner was by no means notified and Satterfield’s physique was by no means autopsied; authorities later paradoxically described her loss of life as each “pure” and ensuing from an unintended journey and fall.

Nonetheless, Satterfield’s loss of life won’t be precisely suspicious had it not been for what got here subsequent: In keeping with multiple legal indictments and multiple lawsuits, Alex Murdaugh and two different males, banker Chad Westendorf and fellow legal professional Cory Fleming, then conspired to steal Satterfield’s $4.3 million insurance coverage coverage by deceptive Satterfield’s sons and diverting all of the funds to Alex himself by way of a phony enterprise Alex created referred to as “Forge” — an irony, since Murdaugh would later be charged with a number of counts of forgery. As a part of the rip-off, Alex satisfied Satterfield’s sons to sue him for legal responsibility in order that they might be capable to obtain a hefty legal responsibility settlement. However he then saved all the cash for himself.

The Satterfield insurance coverage rip-off was simply one among a laundry list of instances the place Alex embezzled and defrauded cash from purchasers at his legislation agency, often by settling their instances for giant sums of cash after which failing to inform them about it whereas he spent the shopper’s settlement payout on himself. He repeated the identical sample with, amongst others, Hakeem Pinckney, a university soccer participant who turned quadriplegic following an auto accident. Pinckney died in 2011, and his household by no means noticed the more than $750,000 payout.

In Satterfield’s case, Alex evinced further suspicious habits round her loss of life, together with arriving on the scene earlier than the EMTs and insisting he heard Satterfield say his canines precipitated her fall, contradicting her personal assertion later that she had no thought what precipitated it.

Satterfield’s sons had been finally able to recover greater than $6.5 million from subsequent lawsuits; in the meantime, authorities received permission to exhume Satterfield’s physique in June 2022 as a way to proceed the legal investigation into her loss of life.

2019: The loss of life of Mallory Seashore

Thriller nonetheless surrounds the loss of life of Mallory Seashore, however one factor is obvious: With out the occasions of February 24, 2019, we’d not even be speaking concerning the Murdaughs at present.

That night, 19-year-old Paul Murdaugh and a bunch of pals had been returning to the Murdaugh property by boat after an evening of partying. In keeping with nearly all witnesses current, Paul insisted on piloting the boat himself regardless of being extraordinarily intoxicated. He was reportedly in a belligerent, offended state and refused to surrender the wheel, driving erratically and too quick alongside one of many space’s many twisting waterways. Sooner or later throughout the early morning hours, Paul crashed the boat into Archers Creek Bridge, ejecting a number of passengers from the boat, together with 19-year-old Mallory Seashore. It took every week for authorities to get better Seashore’s physique.

Regardless of the clear indicators of intoxication, nevertheless, authorities failed to record his intoxication ranges on the scene; on the hospital later that evening, a number of witnesses confirmed that Paul was nonetheless drunk and uncooperative. Additionally they noticed that Alex Murdaugh arrived on the hospital and started to threaten and try to coerce witnesses there, encouraging them to stay to a model of occasions that cleared Paul of wrongdoing; one witness described the environment as “a bizarre, corny teen drama.”

Mallory Seashore’s loss of life led to a flurry of lawsuits and a legal investigation specializing in Paul Murdaugh. The Seashore case additionally coincided with rising monetary troubles for Alex Murdaugh and suspicion about his many fraudulent actions, and later court docket paperwork revealed a person who appeared desperate to shift blame away from his son. As a substitute, in 2019, Paul was charged with three legal counts of felony boating beneath the affect; he ultimately pleaded not guilty.

Seashore’s household sued the entire Murdaugh family, roughly, for her wrongful loss of life, alleging that Alex Murdaugh and his brother Randolph, and Paul Murdaugh and his brother Buster, had conspired to cowl up the reason for her loss of life. Neighborhood members additionally accused the Murdaughs of utilizing their energy and affect to delay the trial. Within the lead-up to the trial, at least three completely different legislation officers recused themselves due to their shut ties to the Murdaugh household.

In June 2021, Paul Murdaugh was simply days away from what would have been a expensive and costly trial for Seashore’s loss of life. He would by no means make it to the court docket date.

2021: The deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh — and a bottomless fallout

Through the summer season of 2021, an increasing number of public curiosity grew round Paul Murdaugh’s upcoming trial. After 30 years, Maggie Murdaugh was estranged from her husband Alex, residing on the household’s seaside home and reportedly wanting into divorce. Alex was neck-deep in fraud schemes whose payouts had been dwindling, going through a expensive divorce and doubtlessly steep authorized charges for his son. He additionally claimed to be battling what he later described as a 20-year opioid habit.

On June 7, 2021, Alex Murdaugh reportedly lured Maggie to Moselle, prompting her to textual content a good friend that Alex was appearing “fishy”; “he’s as much as one thing,” she allegedly wrote to her friend. Upon arriving on the property, Maggie met her son Paul on the household’s canine kennels. Whereas they had been there, mom and son had been gunned down with two different weapons — Maggie with an assault-style rifle, Paul with a shotgun. Alex appeared on the scene shortly afterward and referred to as 911 to report the deaths. An post-mortem later confirmed each died of a number of gunshot wounds.

The double murder of the Murdaughs precipitated Alex Murdaugh’s home of playing cards to break down. He instantly fell beneath suspicion for the murders, and the case made nationwide headlines. Three days after the murders, his father, Randolph III, died. On September 3, 2021, Murdaugh resigned from the household’s legislation agency after the agency confronted him over his years of suspected embezzlement. The agency later sued him, and legislation enforcement opened its personal criminal investigation into the alleged fraud.

The next day, on September 4, 2021, Alex called 911 to report a wierd roadside incident wherein he claimed to have blown a tire. When a stranger stopped to assist him, Alex reported, they shot him within the head as a substitute. Although somebody clearly shot and grazed Alex within the head, even witnesses on the scene didn’t consider his story; “it sort of appears to be like like a setup, so we didn’t cease,” one 911 caller reported.

On September 14, Alex gave up the true plot: He’d meant to have a good friend shoot and kill him in order that his surviving son, Buster, may obtain Alex’s $10 million life insurance coverage payout. Authorities promptly arrested Murdaugh and his confederate, Alex’s alleged drug supplier and former shopper Curtis Smith, charging Smith with assisted suicide and each males with conspiracy to commit insurance coverage fraud. Alex’s legislation license was instantly suspended, and he was later disbarred.

Alex posted bond and checked himself into a drug rehab middle, solely to be arrested for felony fraud expenses within the Satterfield case when he emerged. This time, his bail was denied and his assets were frozen.

By now, the case was a nationwide sensation making common mainstream headlines — largely thanks to at least one native journalist. Mandy Matney had allegedly alienated her former information outlet by pursuing the Murdaugh case in additional depth than her editors wished. In 2020, she joined the South Carolina web site FITSNews.com simply so she may cowl the Murdaughs. Days after the murders of Maggie and Paul, Matney and FITS launched the Murdaugh Murders podcast, which broke down the voluminous case piece by piece — beginning with what she dubbed “South Carolina’s Chappaquiddick.”

The podcast was so profitable it reportedly ranked among the many world’s high podcasts in 2021; it’s at the moment being developed as a real crime drama sequence for a division of Common. HBO Max and Netflix each produced true crime documentary series concerning the case. The extra consideration Matney drew to the case, the extra investigators appeared to ramp up their very own work. Between November 2021 and July 2022, dozens of indictments had been doled out towards Alex Murdaugh and his co-conspirators. Neighborhood accusations leveled towards the household for abusing its affect continued too, as yet one more solicitor recused himself from the case, and proof allegedly connecting Alex to the double murders was suppressed from the general public. “You’ll know a Murdaugh did it if nobody is arrested,” ran one apocryphal Facebook remark.

On July 14, 2022, nevertheless, Alex Murdaugh was indicted for the double murder of his spouse and son. “At this time is yet one more step in an extended course of for justice for Maggie and Paul,” said Mark Keel, head of South Carolina’s State Legislation Enforcement Division.

However Alex Murdaugh apparently didn’t intend to make the method straightforward. On July 20, 2022, he pleaded not guilty, within the first of many controversial court docket proceedings earlier than the trial, which lastly started on January 23, 2023. With the nationwide media wanting on, the courtroom spectacle that unfolded over the following six weeks gave onlookers a glimpse into what that century of accrued energy has actually achieved: Choose Newman had to order the removal of a portrait of Murdaugh’s grandfather from the courthouse as a way to guarantee a good trial. Would Murdaugh, along with his high-powered state senator legal professional, be capable to persuade a jury of his innocence? What would that say about South Carolina’s small-town political panorama?

A lot of the proof the prosecution offered at trial was circumstantial, but it surely was typically dramatic and compelling. And it kicked off with a game-changing reveal from the prosecution: A never-before-seen cellphone video from Paul’s telephone shortly earlier than the murders. Whereas on the kennels, Paul took a video of himself enjoying with one of many canines. Within the background, you possibly can clearly hear two further voices — one among them seems to be Maggie saying, “He’s received a hen in his mouth!” referring to Paul’s canine, Bubba. The opposite voice, calling, “C’mere, Bubba!” within the background, is clearly that of Alex Murdaugh.

Prosecutors alleged that this video, which was filmed on Paul’s telephone at 8:44 pm, befell roughly 5 minutes earlier than the shootings, based mostly on when Paul and Maggie stopped their telephones and replying to texts. That will place Alex firmly on the scene earlier than the murders, contradicting his model of the timeline. In one other dramatic second, Alex Murdaugh unexpectedly took the stand in his personal protection and admitted that his earlier longstanding declare he hadn’t been on the kennels was a lie. As a substitute, he claimed, he had solely been down on the kennels for a couple of moments earlier than returning to the home simply earlier than Maggie and Paul had been murdered.

It was a flimsy, clear try to justify an internet of lies, and the jury noticed by way of it: On March 2, 2023, after barely two hours of deliberation, they discovered Murdaugh responsible. Circuit court docket Choose Clifton Newman dressed down Murdaugh for his fall from grace, calling out his ongoing “duplicitous conduct.”

“Amazingly, to have you ever come and testify that it was simply one other peculiar day,” he mentioned, referring to the day of the murders, when every part in Murdaugh’s life was collapsing. “Not credible. Not plausible.”

“You’ll be able to persuade your self about it,” Newman continued, “however clearly you could have the lack to persuade anybody else. Should you made any such arguments as a lawyer, you’d lose each case like that — instances you’ll by no means have a possibility to argue anymore, besides maybe your individual, as you sit within the Division of Corrections.”

Choose Newman then sentenced Murdaugh to 2 consecutive life sentences. Murdaugh’s sentence begins instantly on the Kirkland Correctional Establishment, a maximum-security jail in Columbia, South Carolina.

The murders surrounding the Murdaugh household appear to have revealed a justice system that turned a blind eye whereas Alex Murdaugh dedicated felonies for years — to say nothing of homicide. For therefore lengthy, the Murdaughs had been allowed to rule their nook of the world as a result of they knew that system in a means most individuals don’t, at the same time as their train of these privileges drove them and people round them to wreck. Questions nonetheless stay relating to the deaths of Stephen Smith and Gloria Satterfield, together with the extent and full nature of Alex Murdaugh’s lengthy record of fraudulent actions. Although the murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh have lastly seen a grim decision, they’re only one side of a case which will by no means be totally resolved. Murdaugh was scheduled to start trial on November 27 for his many monetary crimes; his last-minute responsible plea avoids that, but in addition doubtless signifies that lots of the sordid particulars of his actions previous to the murders might by no means be broadly recognized.

Replace, November 17, 2023, 2:25 pm ET: This story was initially printed on August 2, 2022, and has been up to date a number of occasions with new particulars concerning the trial and Murdaugh’s most up-to-date responsible plea.