Alex Murdaugh: The Epic Fall of a Dynasty Pt. 4

No one on this earth is truly infallible. To learn this lesson you need only look at Alex Murdaugh. A man that once held more power than any one human being should. Someone who once used his position within the law to make himself a fortune and cover up his tracks. His story mimics every tale of morality you’ve ever heard. Where lies and cover-ups become bigger and more elaborate with each passing day just to cover the same secret. This always ends up being the downfall of the character, and the same could certainly be said about Alex.

When we left off in Part 3 the search was still underway for Mallory Beach. Alex had already convinced the group to collectively point their fingers at Conner Cook as the boat’s driver as Conner was cowed into saying he didn’t know who was driving. Alex was trying to throw him under the bus in his son’s place.

Mallory’s mother, Renee Beach, rushed to Archers Creek after hearing of the crash that her daughter disappeared from. There she met her husband, Phillip, who she was separated from. That fact seemed to matter little as the couple waited together with bated breath. Due to the dangerous conditions no one was allowed in the water or on the rocks where the wreckage laid. An area was set up at the foot of the bridge for Mallory’s friends and family to gather and wait for word. A chaplain had even been summoned to the site to be with them on that awful morning. Officer Christopher Williams of the Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot, who was in charge of the entry control point, sent a case of water up to Mallory’s loved ones after assuring them that they were looking for her. More than twenty of Mallory’s closest friends and relatives waited there for the next few hours as hope dwindled with every passing moment.

Anthony Cook remained at the scene as searchers combed the area for his girlfriend. He refused medical treatment as he waited for her to be found. When he was interviewed by Officer Williams he freely and openly said that Paul had killed his girlfriend, going on to say that it had been Paul behind the wheel when the boat crashed.

At 7:00 on the morning of the crash visibility finally improved as the fog lifted from over the water. A full scale search could finally get underway as the US Coast Guard sent a helicopter up into the sky. A twenty-nine-foot response boat also took to the water and joined the effort. SCDNR divers were finally getting into the water while other officers from their agency examined the boat. The smell of alcohol was still heavily present onboard with several beer cans laying scattered about. Large blood stains mingled with muddy footprints left when the ejected passengers returned to retrieve their items. The boat was finally hauled to the Battery Creek landing on Parris Island for forensic testing later that afternoon.

Alex Murdaugh’s younger brother, John Marvin, kindly offered his services in hauling the boat his nephew had crashed in for testing. When he arrived at the scene with his trailer SCDNR officers waved him through with no argument. After all many of the officers belonging to that agency were close, dear friends of the Murdaugh family. Alex’s boat was initially towed to Parris Island by another boat. Because the family demanded it not be searched without a warrant they were made to wait several hours to obtain one. Once the signed warrant came through photographs were taken from every angle before the boat was forensically processed to determine the driver. Twenty-two unopened beer bottles and cans were retrieved as well as twenty-seven open containers. Once it had been swabbed for DNA the boat was hooked up to John Marvin’s trailer to be driven to the SCDNR laboratory in Charleston.

Unfortunately the boat had been left sitting out in the rain all through morning. This made the possibility of obtaining any fingerprints impossible. Any other evidence would’ve either been destroyed or damaged.

Day turned to night and Mallory still hadn’t been found. As the search entered its second day her family remained hopeful that she would be found alive. By this time Anthony had finally received medical attention and returned to the bridge with his arm in a sling. The search systematically expanded from the bridge as all likelihood of a happy outcome diminished with every passing second.

As searchers scrambled against the clock to find Mallory and Alex rushed to get ahead of the investigation, Morgan was starting to doubt herself. She got in contact with conservation officer Pritcher on the second day of her friend’s search to change her statement. Without Alex Murdaugh looming overhead she felt much safer pointing the finger at his son. When she met the officer at the Port Royal Police Department she told him that it had started coming back to her during the night. “I have the strongest feeling Paul was driving,” she admitted in such a way to not make it appear that she’d been withholding information. With Morgan’s changed statement and those of Anthony Cook the die had been cast and the outcome wouldn’t favor the Murdaughs. The family didn’t know it yet, but that boat crash was about to turn their entire world inside-out.

As Morgan was changing her statement, Conner was undergoing surgery for his fractured jaw. While he lay in the operating room his parents were meeting with Cory Flemming at his office. Alex had recommended his close friend and former college roommate as their attorney in any resulting criminal investigations without disclosing their close ties. As Conner’s parents sat before the attorney that they prepared to lay their trust in they had no idea that he was actually Paul’s godfather as well as Alex’s best friend. He was playing the Cook family the same way he’d played the sons of his deceased housekeeper.

Cory was hired by the family and he immediately ordered them not to cooperate with authorities upon hearing that his godson had been driving. Instead they were asked to refer any inquiries to him directly. Later in the very same day 14th Judicial Circuit solicitor Duffie Stone recused himself from the investigation due to his close ties with the Murdaughs. Somehow as all of this was going on Alex was still allowed to not only hold his position as assistant solicitor, but to keep trying cases for the 14th Circuit.

The search for Mallory crawled into its third day and media outlets were publishing what they knew so far. It was made public knowledge that alcohol had been a factor in the crash. All of the passengers from that night had obtained legal counsel and were refusing to be interviewed according to the papers. When asked, SCDNR’s spokesman Captain McCullough said that he wasn’t aware of any of the passengers being tested for blood alcohol content that night.

The search had devolved into a recovery effort by day three, with her friends and family still coming back to the foot of the bridge to wait. For the next four days they would return and continue to wait. They publicly pleaded for help in finding her and those prayers did not fall on deaf ears. Boaters showed up in droves to help while the SCDNR set up a hotline for anyone in the boating community to call if they happened to see anything out of the ordinary. Mallory’s uncle, Randy Beach, asked all of the crabbers and fishermen in the area to keep their eyes peeled.

As news outlets latched onto the story the “grossly intoxicated” state of the underage passengers was highlighted and circulated. Though no names were named it was revealed that the driver had been narrowed down to two of the six people onboard. When Alex Murdaugh was named as the owner of the crashed boat the press guaranteed that this story wasn’t going away easily as curious ears pricked up all over the state.

Local fishermen Kenneth Campbell and his brother, Keith, decided to spend their day off helping in the search. On March 3, 2019, they set out from the Broad River boat landing at around 1:30 in the afternoon. Just five miles downriver from where the boat had crashed that night they spotted someone lying in the marshes. A closer examination revealed a young, white female with blonde hair. She was still fully clothed and wearing her boots as she lay facedown in the muddy bank of a small creek. The brothers called 911 immediately and the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office responded. Within minutes the body was identified as Mallory Beach. Once she was photographed, Mallory was placed in a yellow body bag and taken for autopsy by Beaufort County’s deputy coroner, David Ott. Her cause of death was found to be drowning and secondary blunt force trauma to the head.

The very day their daughter was found her parents had spent the morning at church, praying for her. They drove directly from their church to the boat landing, noticing the increase in activity immediately. When they saw a man walk by with the word “Coroner” printed across his shirt they knew that the news wasn’t good. After she was recovered her employers at It’s Retail Therapy posted a sweet and loving tribute to her in front of the store, expressing their profound grief. More then five hundred mourners attended her funeral at the Open Arms Fellowship Church in Hampton, almost a quarter of the town. Paul Murdaugh and his parents attended her funeral and burial with the rest of the community.

During the week that proceeded Mallory’s funeral Alex used every bit of power and influence he possessed to frame Conner Cook for the crash. Knowing well that murder charges were a real concern, he wanted to do all he could to protect his son from serious criminal charges while also shielding his family’s name from a permanent stain. Conner Cook, Miley Altman, and Morgan Doughty had all canceled their interviews with SCDNR, but Anthony Cook was still fully cooperating. In a written statement Anthony said that his cousin now denied driving the boat, saying that he was afraid the powerful family was “out to pin it on him.” The Beaufort Gazette quoted Captain McCullough as saying that criminal charges were “very possible.” Reckless homicide would likely carry a ten-year sentence as well as a fine, but if murder charges were pursued then “the max charge” would certainly apply.

While the SCDNR was actively investigating his son, Alex was still working hard on pillaging the settlements of Gloria Satterfield’s sons, Tony Satterfield and Brian Harriott. Having already received a $505,000 settlement for his former housekeeper’s estate and pocketing it, now he was after a $5 million settlement. With Cory Flemming acting as the boys’ attorney and their good friend at Palmetto State Bank, Chad Westendorf, acting as their personal representative, Gloria’s sons were left out of the loop on the law suits and payments. Alex’s first insurance provider, Lloyd’s of London, had paid out pretty quickly to avoid entering a Hampton courtroom, where the Murdaughs would always be favored. Cory Flemming pushed the same agenda at his other provider, Nautilus Insurance Company.

Nautilus Insurance didn’t want to enter a Hampton courtroom, either. Especially not with Alex threatening to admit full liability in the incident. This would leave them wide open to a massive payout with no way of dodging it. Alex knew this well and was correct in assuming that he’d quickly get his way.

On March 20, 2019, Renee Beach filed a wrongful suit in Beaufort County against Parker’s 55 convenience store and Luther’s Rare & Well Done. Both establishments had served Paul alcohol on the night of the crash, accepting his brother’s ID when the picture clearly looked nothing like him. The host of the oyster roast was included in the suit as well. With everyone but Anthony clamming up and canceling their interviews, she could see clearly where this was going. A cover-up was actively taking place and she wasn’t about to allow her daughter’s death to be brushed under the rug as though it had never happened. It was her hope that the wrongful death suit would force the kids to come clean about what happened that night under oath, revealing the actual driver of the boat. The results of her lawsuit couldn’t have been predicted by anyone, certainly not her.

The very night after Renee Beach filed her suit, Alex was honored at the 2019 Frampton Court of Honor Induction Dinner. The event took place at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center with more than one-hundred alumni from the USC School of Law’s Kappa Alpha Order fraternity in attendance. Everyone came out that night to honor Alex for all of his accomplishments and achievements. To all those on the outside looking in it seemed as though the Murdaugh family had it all. But the corners of the picture-perfect family were starting to peel away. Before much longer the entire world would see the real picture hidden underneath. The twisted reality of their life and the frayed strings that Alex had been tying it all together with for years.

On March 29, 2019, Renee filed another wrongful death suit in Hampton County after dismissing the first in Beaufort. Their representing attorney, Mark Tinsley, included Randolph III, Alex, and Buster Murdaugh in the new filing. Randolph III was accused of allowing underage consumption of alcohol at his river house on Murdaugh Island, alleging that he allowed the minors to leave his home in an “intoxicated state.” Alex was accused of allowing Paul to buy and drink alcohol though he was underage, while Buster was accused of providing his younger brother with his ID to purchase it. Everyone else in the Lowcountry was far too scared of the Murdaughs and the power the held and represented to go against them. Renee and Phillip Beach could’ve cared less as they raced to gather as much evidence as they could find to bring them down for good. Renee would later tell 20/20 that she knew how quickly things could just disappear considering who they were dealing with. The family was undoubtedly ready to call in every favor they had ever been owed to make this all go away.

After Mallory’s family filed their new lawsuit, Conner decided to fire Cory Flemming as his attorney. He could clearly see that he was being hung out to dry and Cory wasn’t even trying to help the situation. He hired attorney Joe McCulloch instead, who actually worked towards defending him.

Alex hired two of the most expensive attorneys money could buy to represent Paul in the impending lawsuit. “White-collar crime specialist” Jim Griffin worked alongside multimillionaire Democratic State Senator Dick Harpootlian to defend him. Public outrage was growing after five weeks with no legal action taken in Mallory’s case. The fact that the Murdaughs were refusing to comment on the case only agitated people further. Aside from a statement they issued through the SCDNR sending thoughts and prayers to her loved ones, the family said nothing publicly about Mallory’s death or the investigation into the crash that killed her. SCDNR’s spokesman Captain McCullough assured everyone that the investigation was progressing and that they had called SLED in. There was nothing he could say to ease the growing pressure for Paul Murdaugh to face prosecution, though. With the death of a sweet, smart, beautiful young woman the Lowcountry had had enough of the Murdaughs.

The first of many scathing articles framed the family in harsh lighting on April 5, 2019. The Beaufort Gazette took the first solid shot at the Murdaughs, not only highlighting the boat crash that took Mallory’s life, but the mysterious death of Stephen Smith as well. This was far from the first time that the locals of Hampton County had suspected them of wrongdoing, but this seemed to be the first time that the public at large was given the same perspective.

With the pressure on to indict Paul, 14th Judicial Circuit judges Perry Buckner and Carmen Mullen both recused themselves from the case. Both had close ties to the family and couldn’t ethically be involved. The very day that these judges recused themselves, Alex was accused of stealing six figures from one of his clients. Judge Buckner had awarded this personal injury client $2.25 million. It was alleged that Alex diverted $112,500 of that large settlement into his fake Forge account.

On a slightly more positive note, Mallory’s family set up a non-profit in her name to raise money for the Hampton County Animal Shelter. Mallory loved animals dearly and her family could think of no better way to memorialize her. Called Malz Palz, the non-profit staged an event for the first responders that helped search for her, giving a portion of what was raised to help animals, too. Within its first three months Malz Palz raised almost $50,000 towards building a new shelter in Hampton.

April 18, 2019 would’ve been Mallory Beach’s twentieth birthday. Her family and friends didn’t get to celebrate her special day with her, but they were given something to celebrate. On that very day Paul Murdaugh was indicted on one count of causing Mallory’s death while boating under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and two counts of causing great bodily harm to both her and Conner Cook. If convicted on all three felony charges Paul would’ve faced a maximum sentence of fifty-five years in prison. As 14th Judicial Circuit solicitor Duffie Stone had already recused himself from the case, it fell to South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson to prosecute. Mallory’s family was elated to hear of the charges, having convinced themselves that the Murdaughs would find a way to weasel out of the situation. They would quickly be disappointed to learn that Paul was practically given the red carpet treatment from the very beginning. The special treatment he received disgusted those that witnessed it as they assumed that he would skate right out of this unscathed, while Mallory would never get to return to her family.

While anyone else would be ordered to turn themselves in for processing before their bond hearing, Paul didn’t have to face what his family thought of as an indignity. He waved his right to a preliminary hearing, likely being advised that all the evidence against him would be presented in that hearing. On the morning of May 6 he walked into the Beaufort County Courthouse with his parents for his arraignment. Judge Steven H. John of the 15th Judicial Circuit presided over the fifteen minute hearing. Dressed in a dark suit and checked shirt, Paul took his seat at the defense table while his father walked over to shake Phillip Beach’s hand.

Before a packed courtroom, Harpootlian waived the reading of his indictments. He stated that his client would be pleading not guilty to the charges brought against him and “as a result” should be released of his own reconnaissance. Pointing to the fact that his family had lived in Hampton “for literally a hundred years,” he drove home the point that Paul wouldn’t flee. The prosecution rightfully worried about Paul’s penchant for drinking. Prosecutor Megan Burchstead of the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office cited the very real concern that Paul was a danger to the community at large. Before the hearing a defense memorandum had been filed into court on Paul’s behalf, stating that he posed no flight risk and would freely surrender his passport. His family’s long-held ties to the community were cited as reason enough to release him without fear. The ploy worked and he was released on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond.

Paul’s bond stipulated that his passport be surrendered and that he not leave the five counties that comprise the 14th Circuit. Judge John didn’t see any evidence that would lead him to believe that Paul would not come to court when the time came. The special treatment that the young Murdaugh son received only continued after the hearing. As a bailiff approached to handcuff him the prosecutor stopped him, saying that it wouldn’t be necessary. Rather than being processed in jail like any other defendant in his shoes would be, he was taken just outside the courtroom to be fingerprinted and photographed in the hallway. His now-famous mugshot shows him standing before a white wall in the courthouse, wearing his suit rather than the typical jail-issued orange scrubs he should’ve been wearing.

Just two months before Paul appeared for his arraignment Alex’s insurance provider, Nautilus Insurance Company, had backed down against his threat of admitting full liability in Gloria Satterfield’s death. Just as he knew they would, the company avoided a Hampton jury as though it were the plague, agreeing upon a $3.8 million settlement. This was added to the $505,000 settlement that they had received from Lloyd’s of London for Gloria’s death. Though her sons, Brian and Tony, should’ve been millionaires by that point, they were completely unaware of the lawsuits or the settlements. Chad Westendorf signed a release agreeing to the settlement on April 11, in the midst of the boat crash ordeal.

According to South Carolina law the settlement had to be officially ratified by a judge. Of course Alex and Cory had a good friend from law school ready and able to help. 14th Judicial Circuit judge Carmen Mullen held a settlement hearing behind the closed doors of her office just three days after Paul faced his arraignment in Beaufort. The only people present were herself, Cory Flemming, and Chad Westendorf. There was no law clerk or stenographer there.

As a favor Cory requested that Alex’s name not be included in the official papers due to the civil action suit brought against him after the boat crash. He wished to avoid his finances being scrutinized by the Beach family’s attorney, not surprising as he was in the process of stealing millions of dollars from his former housekeeper’s sons. Carmen understood and allowed the request. Cory then stated that they would not be filing the settlement due to the publicity caused by the boat crash. The judge simply replied, “Okay.” When Judge Mullen signed the order approving the settlement, it was never given a case number or filed into court records. However the court’s stamp of approval was given for the release of a whopping $4,305,000.

Of course Cory and his firm received $166,000 of the settlement while Chad Westendorf received $30,000. The rest was siphoned into Alex’s phony Forge account and quickly spent. While Tony and Brian were left in the dark and in need, Alex paid off a $100,000 credit card debt and wrote his father a check for $300,000.

During the spring of 2019, in the midst of his second semester, Buster was kicked out of the USC School of Law for low grades and plagiarism. This was an extreme embarrassment for the family whose seen four generations pass the bar at that very school. Now the fifth generation was being tossed out, with his grades in the tank, for cheating. Right off the bat Alex was calling in every favor he could think of to get his oldest son reinstated. Even after his imprisonment Alex was adamant that Buster carry on the family tradition of law. He even went as far as paying a top Columbia attorney and fixer $60,000 to get the wayward son back into school to no avail. It seemed that the school wanted no part of a cheating scandal and the fact that Buster’s younger brother was dominating headlines probably didn’t help matters any.

During his downtime Buster started dating another student from the USC School of Law. Brooklyn White found herself quickly accepted by the family as though she were one of their own. As the relationship carried on she continued to fit right in, especially after receiving her law degree in 2021.

At the end of June 2019 Alex’s father, Randolph III, was appointed Grand Marshall of that year’s week-long Watermelon Festival. With all of the bad publicity the family had been facing from Paul’s boat crash they grabbed onto the opportunity to smooth over their public appearance. During a parade that was broadcast by WTOC-TV, John Marvin drove a red tractor down Hampton’s main street that towed a colorful float behind it. Randolph III sat atop the float with two of his granddaughters under an umbrella. As they smiled and waved for the crowd they undoubtedly hoped that the image of their patriarch and his two lovely granddaughters would soften the public towards them.

Five months after the crash Paul’s attorneys filed a motion to relax the terms of his bond. In order for him to continue his criminology classes at USC, he would need to be able to travel to Columbia, which was outside of the five counties of the 14th Judicial Circuit. Megan Burchstead expressed concerns about Paul returning to a college situation, where he would likely start drinking again. If he was allowed to return, she argued, he should have his bond raised and be outfitted with an ankle monitor. Jim Griffin retorted that his client had not violated his bond and had not been drinking since his arraignment. Citing the large amount of publicity his case had received, he stated that if Paul had been drinking that the attorney general’s office would’ve been made aware. The request for a higher bond and ankle monitor was rejected by 12th Judicial Circuit judge Michael G. Nettles. Paul would be allowed to travel anywhere within the state of South Carolina, just not outside of it.

Most people in Paul’s position would’ve reigned themselves in out of the fear of going to prison. Instead he continued to drink heavily, having several more run-ins with police while out on bond for felony charges. Just a few months after his bond restrictions were relaxed, Paul was caught speeding in his truck as he towed his father’s freshly repaired Sea Hunt fishing boat along. The very same boat he had crashed earlier that year, killing Mallory Beach. While tearing down the road in a 55mph zone, he was clocked traveling at 78mph.

Alex was trying his best to shield the family and his own illegal activity from the Beachs’ civil suit and Paul’s indictment. He filed a claim with Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance to protect him in the suit. The insurance company ended up filing a suit of their own in the U.S. District Court. Protecting Alex could’ve left them open to a $6 million payout. Knowing well of the Murdaugh legal prowess, they asked that the court shield them from a ruinous outcome. Their suit maintained that the two commercial policies that Alex held with them only covered “private hunting operations,” and that Mallory’s death had not been business related. Pointing to “the monitoring or supervision” of Paul (or lack thereof) by his brother and father, they alleged wrongdoing in Alex’s filing. Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance would be found not liable and Alex would find himself without protection against the Beach family’s lawsuit.

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office finally released the official incident report in Mid-November, nine months after the fatal crash. It reveals that Anthony Cook had pointed to Paul as the driver of the boat just an hour after the incident had occurred. However the report’s concluding remarks contradict Anthony’s first statement, saying that it wasn’t clear who was driving at the time of the crash, Conner Cook or Paul Murdaugh. It goes on to state that all of the passengers that night had been drunk and underage at the time. The moment this report dropped the public saw it as nothing more than a bad attempt at a cover-up. When the family’s position in the area was considered it seemed quite possible to everyone that they used their influence to confuse the investigation. It would later be revealed that two of the sheriff’s deputies on the scene that morning had previously been represented by the Murdaughs in personal injury claims.

To anyone peeking in from the outside it would seem as though life were continuing as normal for the Murdaughs. Alex was still trying cases as an assistant solicitor for the 14th Judicial Circuit while also working civil cases for PMPED. As his son was facing felony charges Alex even served as the lead attorney in a drug case that ended in a mistrial, which seems strange with hindsight’s goggles on. Meanwhile Maggie was continuing to post pictures of her seemingly happy family to Facebook. To anyone not in the know it would seem as though nothing had changed and life was totally normal for them at that point.

Though Alex had just taken Gloria Satterfield’s sons for more than $4 million, he was still actively seeking out clients to defraud. Between his ever-growing drug addiction, his family’s lofty lifestyle, and the cost incurred from Paul’s defense, he needed more and more to keep up. Taking advantage of a grieving mother whose daughter had died in a drunk driving accident, he negotiated a $180,000 settlement from State Farm. Then he told the poor, grief-stricken woman that he was only able to recover $30,000. Since the payout was so small he would waive his legal fees, you know, cause he’s such a nice guy and all. While this woman walked away thinking she’d dodged a bullet, Alex transferred the other $152,866 of her settlement into his Forge account.

In January 2020 the Beach family’s civil suit was finally getting underway. Morgan Doughty would be the first of the group to be deposed. She answered all of the questions posed to her in total honesty, also describing the altercation between herself and Paul that he repeatedly left the wheel to engage in. By the time she stepped down the picture of Paul Murdaugh that had been painted was a dark and frightening one. He was a crazy, angry, abusive drunk who thought himself invincible. With the use of his older brother’s ID, he was also being enabled to carry on as he had. When Morgan was finished with her deposition the court had a very vivid and accurate version of events. Starting from the time that Buster’s ID was used to buy the alcohol all the way to the time the boat crashed, they covered every awful moment.

Miley Altman’s deposition confirmed every word of Morgan’s. She described the fight between Morgan and Paul as well, recalling the moment that he slapped and spit on her in front of everyone. Conner Cook’s deposition was by far the most damning to the family when he revealed the lie in his initial statement. He had told investigators many times that he didn’t know who was driving when in fact he did. He had known all along that Paul had been the driver, but Alex had told him that he didn’t need to tell anyone who was driving the boat the night.

A month after the depositions Alex was already swindling yet another PMPED client. Christopher Anderson was taken for $750,000 as Alex juggled large amounts of money to stay afloat. Investigators believe that he was up to his ears in debt at this point. Though we have already covered quite a bit of suspicious activity and white collar crime so far, we have really only scratched the surface of a much larger operation at work behind the scenes. Alex was secretly writing checks to a distant cousin of his named Eddie Smith, better known as “Fast Eddie” among other names. Alex and Eddie were heavily involved in a drug ring that was responsible for laundering over $2 million of stolen funds. This was all money stolen from the clients that had trusted Alex to file personal injury claims on their behalf. When Alex set up his fake Forge account he began writing checks to Eddie for hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time to be laundered.

As Eddie was helping his cousin to cover his tracks, he was also selling him drugs in a vicious cycle that saw no end. Alex’s childhood friend, Russell Laffitte, had also aided and abetted him all the way down his disastrous path. Back in 2015 Russell had granted his old friend a line of credit at Palmetto State Bank, where his father was the CEO. Just three months later Alex had overdrawn it by more than $50,000. Somehow he still managed to get Russell to extend his credit line to $1 million. Three years down the line the account was still overdrawn and Alex owed close to $34,000. By the summer of 2020 he was staring into an abyss of debt as his troubles seemed to keep piling on.

Many found themselves surprised when Alex sold the house that he and Maggie had built when they were first married. The home they had raised their sons in at 515 Holly Street sold for $375,000. Twenty years old by this point, the four-bedroom house was still known as one of the nicest properties in the town of Hampton. The family moved onto their Moselle hunting property full-time, a short fifteen-minute drive from their old home.

Though no one would’ve ever guessed it to look at Maggie’s Facebook page, her marriage was on its last leg. Amidst rumors that Alex was having an affair and frequenting prostitutes more often than he had before, Maggie was looking for a way out. Mindful that keeping up appearances was more important than ever at that point, she continued to make her happy family posts, all while looking for the door. Her Facebook page was like a shrine to her family, praising everything they did and highlighting every vacation, party, sporting event, and hunting trip they tried to enjoy together. She even posted a heartfelt tribute to her husband on Father’s Day in 2020 while contemplating divorce.

By mid-July 2020 Maggie had moved out of Moselle and into the family’s Edisto Beach house, her favorite of their properties. She told a friend that she just couldn’t stand living in the same house as Alex anymore. It’s been speculated since her death that she learned of her husband’s heavy opiate addiction and the crippling amount of debt that he had landed them in as a result. After moving into the beach house, Maggie started selling off many of her possessions on a resale website known as Poshmark.

Gregory Parker, owner of Parker’s 55, hired a crisis management team eighteen months after the incident. The goal was to gather dirt on the Murdaughs before the civil suit. Mark Tinsley, the Beach’s lawyer, accused Gregory of hiring private investigator Sara Capelli to follow Paul around. Sara shot videos of Paul out partying and drinking while talking about killing Mallory. She even planted a camera by the driveway at Moselle that would prove to be extremely helpful later on. Not only was Sara asked to trail Paul, she was also asked to dig up evidence that Buster was gay to help implicate him in Stephen Smith’s case. The private investigator spent the next year following Paul, talking to the other minors he associated with at the bars he frequented, and allegedly buying them alcohol to speak with her. Tinsley outright accused Gregory Parker of reimbursing her for the alcohol, knowing full well what he was paying for.

Mark Tinsley filed the motion that brought Alex to his knees in mid-October 2020. The motion would force him to disclose his net worth as well as a detailed breakdown of all his finances. The filing of this motion came just two weeks after the failed mediation talks between the Murdaugh and Beach families to settle. Tinsley demanded a full list of his checking and savings accounts, 401(k) accounts, property, life insurance policies, investments, and all of his bank statements to be presented to the court. A quick glance over his finances would’ve revealed his crimes clearly. His fake Forge account and all of his underhanded tricks would be exposed for all to see. There would be no way of avoiding the storm of felony charges to follow. Feeling the walls beginning to close in on him, Alex was likely praying his attorneys would find a way around this.

Griffin and Harpootlian firmly objected to Tinsley’s motion. They called it “overly broad and burdensome.” They considered it to be “irrelevant,” saying that it would not “lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” When Alex was asked if he had spoken with the other kids about the crash that night his attorneys objected again, citing attorney-client privilege.

Mandy Matney of the South Carolina news blog FITSNews covered the story surrounding the Murdaughs. She would go on to cover the rest of their hard and fast downfall. Having gone back and done her homework, she made mention of a $505,000 payout Alex had recently won in a wrongful death suit. Though she never mentioned Gloria Satterfield by name, she posted links within her article to the court papers that did. She wrote about the trip-and-fall accident at the Murdaugh’s Moselle property that involved a 57-year-old woman. When Gloria’s older son, Tony Satterfield, read the article he quickly made the connection. This was the first that he had heard of any settlement in his mother’s estate and he was rightfully angered and confused. After their family home was repossessed, Gloria’s sons had been cast into homelessness as they waited to hear something on their mother’s estate to help them back onto their feet.

Tony showed the article to other members of his family, who were also angered at the revelation that the boys had been ripped off. At that time they had no idea exactly how much they had been taken for. The family quickly went in search of an attorney that could look into the dealings concerning Gloria’s estate only to find that no lawyer in the area would take their case. After being turned away from numerous offices it became obvious that they were not only fighting against the Murdaughs, they were fighting the fear that the Lowcountry had for them. After months of disappointment they finally found a South Carolina attorney fearless enough to take the case. Alex didn’t know it yet, but a news blog had just pulled another loose thread from his carefully constructed cover.

By this point Randolph III was 81-years-old and in bad health. Sick with lung cancer and heart disease, he spent the month of October in 2020 lying in a hospital bed. He was released just in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family, but it would be his last. Randolph’s wife, Libby, was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and required round-the-clock care, which she received in her home. Maggie returned for the Thanksgiving holiday and posted a flurry of pictures to keep appearances up. She attended PMPED’s Christmas party that year as well, but kept a good distance from her husband as she mingled with the other guests. Though she tried to maintain the facade it was clearly becoming harder to do so as she drifted further and further from the man she felt anchored to at this point.

It was around this time that Alex finally informed Trooper Tommy Moore about the settlement received in his personal injury claim. The full payout was $250,000, but Moore received a check in the mail for only $125,000 from his insurance company. Alex immediately asked that he hand over that check so it could put into a “frozen” PMPED account. This would only be until the workers’ compensation case was fully resolved, then he’d have access to it. Later Moore would testify that this check never went into an account with the firm. Instead that check went right into Alex’s fake Forge account and was cashed the same day. Alex even went as far as to forge the trooper’s signature on a disbursement form. Trooper Moore never saw a cent of his settlement.

As winter melted away and the spring of 2021 dawned things were beginning to look up for Maggie. She was renovating her Edisto Beach house to live there full-time without her husband. The idea of divorce was becoming more and more appealing with every day she lived on her own. After twenty-seven years of marriage all Alex had managed to do for her was make her life “miserable.” Now that both of her sons were grown and out of the house, she was looking forward to the next chapter of her life. At the end of April she saw a divorce lawyer in Charleston that recommended she start “gathering numbers.” This was the first time she ever seriously questioned the family’s finances, or where it was all coming from. The only time she’d questioned Alex about his stake in the firm was just a few weeks prior when she faced the humiliation of having a check to her favorite charity bounce.

As Maggie began to dig, she started to find some oddities. He had been borrowing large sums from the other partners at the firm while writing numerous checks to his cousin Eddie from a Bank of America Forge account. If she hadn’t suspected him of wrongdoing by this point, she likely started to. It’s not known if she knew exactly what she was looking at, but investigators would piece it all together rather quickly. She was looking at the books on a large-scale money-laundering and drug operation.

It’s not known if Maggie ever confronted Alex on his drug use or the abnormalities in their finances. What is known is that he was under a great deal of stress as he was approaching the next hearing of the Beach’s civil suit. It looked very likely that the judge would rule in favor of Tinsley and his motion to reveal his assets and finances. Alex would be forced to lay his crimes out in the harsh light of day for everyone to see. Adding to his immense anxiety was the fact that the Mallory’s family had added Maggie and Paul to their wrongful death suit. With no insurance to shield them from financial ruin, they were laid open to even more liabilities with no way to pay up. Alex was backed into a corner when his father entered the hospital once again. He was dying of cancer and soon would no longer be around to protect his son from himself.

Alex spent his last truly carefree weekend with his family at a Gamecocks game on June 5, 2021. He, Buster, and Buster’s girlfriend, Brooklyn, drank beer and enjoyed the game as Maggie glowered in frustration. Coming back from the bar with drinks, Alex threw a bag of peanuts at his wife without so much as a word during their awkward final evening out.

On June 7 Alex strolled into the office as though it were any other Monday, ready to start the week. He was likely shocked and terrified when he was confronted by one of his PMPED colleagues about money missing from one of his client’s accounts. The earth beneath him was starting to crumble as he was asked outright about financial mismanagement. He likely thought that this was it when he received a call about his father. Randolph III was entering hospice and didn’t have much longer to live. With this unfortunate news the confrontation was cut short, but it was far from over.

That very same day he called his wife to deliver the news about Randolph III. He asked that she come to see him on his deathbed and say her goodbyes, suggesting that they meet at Moselle first. Maggie didn’t like the idea of meeting him beforehand. She didn’t want to be alone with him. When he refused to disclose the name of the hospital she was left with no choice but to drive out to the hunting property. It was an hour-long drive from Edisto Beach to Hampton. During that long drive she texted a friend her concerns, saying, “it’s fishy. He’s up to something, but I don’t know what.”

It was just after 8:00 that evening when she arrived to find a chicken dinner ready to eat. She sat down to dinner with Alex and Paul, likely just wishing to get through the experience and get home. They all decided to take a walk down to the kennels after they finished eating so Maggie could visit with the dogs. Paul was boarding a puppy with an injured tail for a friend of his at the time. At 8:44 he sent a Snapchat video to that friend to update him on the puppy’s progress. This video would prove invaluable to the trial to convict Alex Murdaugh of murder. In the background he can be heard laughing and joking with Maggie and Paul just minutes before they’re gunned down.

It was only six minutes after this video was sent that Alex burst back into the kennel with a shotgun. Paul didn’t even have time to react before his father shot him point-blank in the head and chest. Maggie was outside when her son was shot, but quickly ran back in to investigate the loud blast. No one could possibly imagine what was going through her head when she saw Paul on the ground and her husband standing over him. She was shot in the back with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle with 300 Blackout ammo as she tried to flee the kennel. Once down on the ground, Alex stood over her, shooting her again and again as she lay helpless in the grass, forty feet from her son’s body. As Paul lay half in and half out of the kennel’s door his phone and the incriminating video lay just underneath him.

Alex hosed himself off at the kennels. By 9:07 that night he was in his 2021 Chevrolet Suburban driving to his parent’s house in Almeda. He spent twenty minutes alone with his mother in her bedroom before speeding back to Moselle at rates as high as 80mph. Arriving back at the hunting property at 10:05, he went straight to the kennels to make the discovery of his wife and son before calling 911 in hysterical sobs.

He turned the hazard lights on his vehicle on as requested by the dispatcher so emergency services could more easily locate him. After hanging up with the dispatcher he next called his brothers to inform them of Paul and Maggie’s murder. Little Randy and John Marvin would later comment on the level of fear heard in his voice that night. When Alex asked his brothers to come quickly, they did just that, with Little Randy arriving soon after the authorities.

Sheriff’s deputies from Colleton County arrived twenty minutes after the call was placed. Soon after their arrival it was decided that SLED would need to be called in as the case involved the very influential Murdaugh family. The sheriff’s office faced a serious conflict of interest investigating the family that so many of their officers had close connections to.

Alex was prepared when sheriff’s deputies arrived with what he thought was a solid alibi and a story for what happened. He immediately made it known that he believed the double homicide was revenge for the 2019 boat crash that claimed Mallory Beach’s life. He claimed to have taken his father to the hospital before returning to Moselle to take a nap, never seeing Maggie or Paul before going to to sleep. There was still no sign of his wife and son when he awoke, so he decided to make the twenty minute drive to Varnville to visit with his mother. While he was there he watched a game show with Libby and her caretaker. After the show he drove home to discover Maggie and Paul’s lifeless bodies as soon as he pulled into the back entrance of the property.

Little Randy arrived just as the scene was being taped off. A fifty-foot perimeter was set and the bodies covered with white sheets as the deputies waited for SLED CSI officers. Randy was allowed onto the crime scene without a fuss to comfort his brother. He recalled the way Alex stared off in complete shock and how he would break into sobs every time he tried to speak. Alex tried to call Buster, but was unable to get through. His surviving son was 160 miles away in Rock Hill, South Carolina at the time. Shoddy service led Little Randy to call Buster for him with the tragic news.

Though the house was an important part of the crime scene, Alex informed the investigators that he and his brother would be waiting inside. They didn’t want to leave as the investigation’s early stages unfolded and were allowed inside without any question or argument. They wouldn’t leave Moselle until later that night, finally driving to their parent’s house in Varnville to spend the night.

Paul Murdaugh was pronounced dead at 11:05 that night, with his mother pronounced dead shortly after. He was only twenty-two. Maggie was fifty-two. SLED arrived just after the pronouncements to process the scene along with Colleton County deputies. Paul’s phone was quickly located underneath his body, containing the incriminating videos that contradicted Alex’s alibi. Sheriff’s deputies and SLED agents worked side-by-side through the night to gather as much evidence as could be found for forensic testing. Duffie Stone was called about the murders at 12:29 that morning.

Alex returned to Moselle the next morning with his brothers and his son. Though it was still an active crime scene with investigators milling about, they were allowed on the property to wander around with no supervision of any kind. Many questions would be raised later about the Murdaugh’s presence at the crime scene. Another frequently asked question at that time was why Duffie Stone had not immediately recused himself from the case. He had wasted no time in doing just that in the Mallory Beach case, citing his ties to the family.

Though Paul’s phone had quickly been recovered, Maggie’s was not. The next morning investigators were still trying to locate it. Buster was able to ping it using an app on his own phone. John Marvin accompanied three investigators as they tracked Maggie’s phone to the side of the road just off the property. Photographs were taken of John Marvin as he assisted investigators with that search. The phone would be examined for DNA evidence and anything useful contained within. Alex was able to provide the passcode to unlock it. Though a black SUV registered to PMPED was towed for forensic processing due to its location by the kennels, a 2019 Chevrolet Silverardo also registered to the family firm was not taken.

Sheriff’s deputies took on the task of canvassing the neighborhood for surveillance footage. It would be months before they finally located the cameras posted outside the main gate by private investigator Sara Capelli. Hidden in a tree just outside the gate, no one would’ve guessed that somebody had already been surveilling the family.

The flashing of blue lights and the blaring of sirens awoke the entire neighborhood from rest. In a town as small as Hampton word of the double homicide sped through the area faster than light. Just as the sun peeked over the horizon Moselle Road began to swarm with curious onlookers. Deputies kept them at a distance though there was nothing for them to see. The main house and the kennels sat so far back on the property that there was no hope of catching a glimpse of them from the road. When reporters started showing up they likely thought there would be no problem receiving plenty of comments with so many people rubbernecking in front of the drive. They were very wrong. Whether out of loyalty or fear, many didn’t want to speak out against the Murdaughs.

Such a shocking crime in a small town immediately sparked speculation. With the next hearing of the Beach’s civil suit quickly approaching it was initially thought that the shooting could have been retribution. There were others that worried a crazed gunman was loose in the Lowcountry. To quell this fear Shalane Lowes, spokeswoman for the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office, raced to get a statement out. She assured the public that they had no reason to fear for their own personal safety. She also informed the locals of a tip line set up in the hopes of receiving any information on the killings. If any information pointing to a danger in the Lowcountry was received they would be informed right away. With this statement released so early on in the investigation many speculated that authorities already knew who they were looking for.

The Beach family wasted no time in releasing a statement of their own through their attorney, sending their deepest condolences to the Murdaughs. They voluntarily submitted to DNA tests to quickly clear themselves as suspects. They had absolutely nothing to gain in the slaying of Maggie and Paul. Their civil suit was going along well with much information coming out about the boat crash, which was the main goal. Their upcoming hearing also promised to be a slam-dunk, with Alex sure to be forced to lay out his finances.

The very morning after his wife and son were killed, Alex hired the same attorneys that had been handling Paul’s case. Reportedly paying a $500,000 retainer, he secured the most expensive counsel money could buy. Throughout that morning an outpouring of love, support, and condolences steadily rolled in from the shocked community. A statement issued by PMPED thanked everyone for their thoughts and prayers as well as their continued patience.

The State was the first to print a story on the murders and they held nothing back. This was only the beginning of a circus of media coverage that not only surrounded the double murder, but the mysterious deaths of Stephen Smith and Gloria Satterfield. Decades of alleged corruption also attributed to the powerful family made their way into these articles as well. The small community was still reeling when the news started going national. An immediate blacklash from the Lowcountry’s residents was inevitable. Though they themselves had always suspected the Murdaughs of corruption, they are also proud Southerners who don’t believe in dragging a person’s name through the mud, no matter what they may or may not have done. Of course there were also many within the area who wholeheartedly believed Alex to be innocent.

Paul’s criminal charges were dropped in light of his untimely passing. The civil hearing for Mallory Beach’s wrongful death suit, which had been scheduled for later that week, was postponed. The walls had momentarily stopped closing in and Alex presumably breathed a heavy sigh of relief. His repose was short-lived. The day after Paul’s charges were dropped FITSNews published their next article on the case, reporting that Alex had been named a “person of interest.”

Colleton County Coroner Richard Harvey performed the autopsies at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Without releasing any details on the cause of death, he revealed that mother and son had been shot multiple times between 9:00 and 9:30 that night. As the family came to terms with the gruesome homicides they faced another profound loss. The very day that Alex should’ve been revealing his assets to the court in Mallory’s wrongful death suit his father, Randolph Murdaugh III, passed away. His last breaths were taken in his own bed just a couple of hours after seeing Alex for the last time.

Paul and Maggie’s double funeral took place on June 11, 2021. Hundreds gathered for the public ceremony, though reporters were asked to keep a respectful distance. Referred to as a “celebration of their lives,” the gathering left no inquiry about how the family was regarded in the Lowcountry. Officers from several different agencies directed traffic for the huge turnout while two uniformed officers stood near the graves. Their remains had been cremated and their graves placed across from Paul’s great-great-grandfather, Randolph Murdaugh Sr.

Alex was joined at the front by his oldest son and Maggie’s parents. Wiping tears away with a handkerchief, he cried throughout the stately funeral of those he was supposed to love most. It was an inhospitable ninety-three-degrees during the outdoor service and it ended with a torrential downpour that ran everyone back to their cars. EMS treated four elderly mourners for heat exhaustion before the rain that ended the funeral started. While everyone else ran away to escape the weather, Buster continued to stand by Paul and Maggie’s graves, hugging a member of his family as they became drenched. Randolph III was laid to rest on the following Sunday at the United Methodist Church in Varnville. Only members of the family attended the private ceremony that celebrated his life and enduring legal legacy.

Only a week had passed since the awful crime that set the Lowcountry on edge. By that time the story had gone from national news to international. The entire world had turned their gaze towards this small, backward town in South Carolina, and more specifically, the family that had run it for four generations. The people couldn’t get enough of this salacious, scandalous story and they wanted more. Media outlets worldwide heard their cries and happily obliged. The New York Post obtained a deposition from the Beach family’s civil case that outlined the drunken, abhorrent behavior displayed by Paul the night he crashed his father’s boat and killed Mallory. The headline that accompanied the story caught the attention of everyone: “SC Man Murdered with Mom had Drunken Alter Ego.” Meanwhile every other publication across the globe was closely and intently following the downfall of an American dynasty.

Much to the frustration and disappointment of reporters SLED was keeping a tight lid on the investigation. Other than the time of Alex’s 911 call and the time that various officers arrived to the scene, they released no information. Perfecting the art of preventing leaks, SLED has always been known for keeping quiet throughout an investigation. Nothing gets out, but plenty of evidence comes in. They may have been silent, but they certainly weren’t idle. SLED divers dove into the Salkehatchie River on the Murdaugh’s estate in search of evidence. Agents were re-interviewing Stephen Smith’s family and searching Paul’s USC apartment in Columbia as well. Though many may have thought their silence meant a lack of effort that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Meanwhile the public wondered aloud why Duffie Stone had still not recused himself. When asked by the Beaufort Gazette what role his office was playing in the case, he flat refused to answer. It seemed odd and suspicious to everyone. Especially given the fact that he had so quickly recused himself in Paul’s case.

Little Randy and John Marvin made a somber appearance on Good Morning America. Emotions overflowed as the brothers sat side-by-side and spoke of the tragedy that had befallen their family. Through their emotions they made clear that though they had no enemies they were aware of, Paul had been receiving anonymous threats. They apparently lent no credence to these threats until it was far too late to do anything about them. They also made clear that the Murdaughs did not see themselves as being above the law in any way when asked by Eva Pilgrim. She asked them how Alex was doing after the terrible murders that tore his family apart. John Marvin replied that he was “upright and looks strong” before going on to say that he “just breaks down” at times.

Several hungry media outlets impatient for word on the investigation sued law enforcement agencies for withholding public records. This was all so they could get their hands on what police already knew about the crime. It did not quite work out to their advantage. True to form, SLED released a heavily redacted incident report from the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office. Eight out of eighteen pages were completely blacked out from top to bottom, preventing them from seeing anything they may have wanted to see. SLED Chief Mark Keel pleaded with the public to have a little patience while they worked out the details to solve this case. At the same time Duffie Stone was releasing a statement against the building pressure to recuse himself, saying he knew nothing of a suspect. He assured the public that his office’s involvement in the case was pure speculation.

Suddenly and surprisingly SLED reopened the Stephen Smith case, citing new evidence gathered during the double homicide investigation. Even after all this time no one knows what that evidence was, but clearly it went nowhere. By this point in our timeline six years had passed since Stephen’s death. The news came as a thrilling, cheerful shock to his mother, Sandy Smith. When SLED agents arrived to inform her, she couldn’t have been happier. Having counted the “2,174 days” since her son’s death, she was more than ready for closure. There are many that still believe Buster Murdaugh to be guilty of his death, but no arrests or assertions of guilt have ever been made.While some may think that he was covered for it has to be noted that SLED had no problem bringing charges against his father.

Scrambling for a way to save face, Alex hired the Columbia-based NP Strategy PR firm through his attorney, Jim Griffin. Handling press releases and crisis management, they had their hands full with Alex Murdaugh. Their first press release on his behalf announced that he and Buster were offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of Paul and Maggie’s killer or killers. Oddly, the reward had an expiration date for September 30, 2021, only two months and five days after the reward was offered. NP Strategy CEO Amanda Loveday thanked the public for their support and asked that anyone with information call Crime Stoppers or the SLED tip line.

The weeks that followed saw SLED agents pulling together a slew of cases against Alex. They quietly looked into his alibi and quickly pulled it apart like a cheap sweater. It would take more than a year before details slowly started to trickle out into the mainstream, but even before that point Alex’s goose was well-cooked. The negative publicity he received started raising eyebrows and creating more civil suits. Accusations started piling up against him as the long-held mask started to fall.

Conner Cook filed a civil suit accusing Alex of trying to frame him for the boat crash that Paul caused. Acting through his attorney, Joe McCulloch, he claimed that five key officers at the scene of the crash had close ties to the Murdaughs. His filing sought to have these officers deposed under oath while also alleging that key evidence in the case had disappeared.

Duffie Stone didn’t finally recuse himself from the double murder case until August 2021. When he did so, he did it quietly with no public statements or attention drawn to himself. It would later be revealed that by this point in the investigation evidence directly linking Alex to the murders had been uncovered. It’s funny that Duffie Stone didn’t choose to recuse himself until SLED knew for sure that Alex was guilty. Blood spatter evidence and cell phone tracking information were only the tip of the fast-approaching iceberg. Paul’s phone had been inspected thoroughly, uncovering the now-infamous kennel video that damned Alex straight to Hell. Completely unaware that the final nail had been slammed into his coffin, he kept living life as though nothing had changed.

He didn’t behave as though the noose were tightening at all. He didn’t even act like a man that had just lost his wife and youngest son. In late July he and Buster were photographed drinking at the South Carolina Governor’s Cup Edisto Invitational Billfishing Tournament. The following month he was in attendance for the annual South Carolina Association for Justice meeting at the Marriott Resort and Spa on Hilton Head. No one at the meeting saw a change in his demeanor as he drank at multiple bars throughout the weekend-long event. He also continued to steal from his clients until August 2021 as well. Earning more than $180,000 for a client in a wrongful death case, he told the decedent’s grieving mother that he had only obtained $30,000. The rest of that money was funneled straight into his Forge account.

In September 2021 one of Alex’s colleagues found a check on his desk made payable to Alex. It was supposed to have been made out to the firm. His colleague reported the finding and PMPED immediately began investigating all of the past settlements he had won. “Numerous checks” written out to a Bank of America account in the name of Forge were found after little investigation. No filing documents backing up the checks seemed to exist. PMPED contacted Forge Consulting LLC about the improper use of their company’s name on this account. It came as quite a surprise to them that their name was being used. They summoned Alex to their Hampton office to explain himself.

When confronted with a logjam of wrongdoing he broke down and cried, likely hoping to garner sympathy. Alex admitted to stealing millions from his clients, shocking those who had worked beside him for years. His immediate resignation was demanded from the very firm his great-grandfather founded in 1910. He agreed to the resignation before turning around to ask his older brother for a loan. He said that he needed the money “to cover an overdrawn bank account.” On Saturday morning of that Labor Day weekend SLED was notified of Alex’s embezzlement. They wasted no time in launching their own investigation into his crimes.

His carefully constructed house of cards was toppling over and there was no way to stop the destruction. Alex devolved into panic mode as he devised his wildest plot yet. He would just need to call dear, old cousin Eddie for a favor. Feeling backed into a dark corner with no way out, Alex asked Eddie to kill him. If Alex was killed then Buster could reap the $10 million life insurance payout afterward, securing him for life. The same day that his firm disclosed their findings to SLED, Alex had his cousin meet him out on Salkehatchie Road “…by the church.” Driving his late wife’s black Mercedes, he arrived to the meeting point to start the show. To say that this was the act of a desperate man is nothing short of an understatement.

When Alex called 911 at 1:30 that afternoon he was frenzied as he described what he claimed to be an attempt made on his life. He said that he had stopped on Salkehatchie Road to fix a flat tire when someone stopped to offer help. Accepting the services of this good Samaritan, he turned his back only to be shot at. When asked if he had been shot, he said, “Yes, but I mean, I’m okay.” The dispatcher asked if he was in need of an ambulance, to which he replied, “Yes. I can’t drive.” He informed the dispatcher that he was having trouble seeing and he was bleeding profusely.

While Alex was on the phone with 911 a woman drove by the scene and also called. Continuing to drive past, she stated that what she saw looked like a setup. She didn’t want to stop her car, but quickly called the incident in as she drove away.

As Alex waited an anonymous person thought to be a friend of his arrived in a white Nissan to take him to the hospital. As he and this friend traveled down the road, Alex called 911 for a second time. This time he arranged for an ambulance to meet him on a landing strip located in a field off the Charleston Highway in Varnville. The location that he would meet EMS was a full seven miles from where he had been shot. Corporal Kendrell Henderson of the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office met and interviewed him upon arrival. He was airlifted to the Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah to be treated for his injuries. Just a few days later the sheriff’s incident report was released, classifying the incident as “an attempted murder with no visible injuries.”

Witnesses were interviewed as a three-mile stretch of Salkehatchie Road was blocked off. Several bullet casings were recovered near the Mercedes before it was towed for forensic processing. In a press release SLED stated that Alex had merely suffered “a superficial head wound.” Then the inconsistencies of his supposed assassination attempt started to pile up. Jim Griffin rushed to The New York Times to give the public some clarity on Alex’s story as well as his condition. He said that the former prosecutor was conscious and taking calls from his hospital room. Then he went into detail on the story of his client’s assassination attempt.

Alex had been working to change a tire on his car when a blue truck drove past. The truck circled back and its driver shot him in the head. According to his attorney, he was lucky to have survived such an assault. Griffin stated that his client had been interviewed by SLED agents at the hospital, likely hoping to give the impression of cooperation. A report obtained from Memorial Health University Medical Center told of a CT scan that revealed a partial skull fracture and brain bleed. High levels of barbiturates and opiates were also found in his system. The report made special note of the fact that his wife and son had been murdered earlier that year. They had no idea just how much that explained the incident.

Later on the evening of the shooting NP Strategy released their own statement at a breakneck pace. They pointed to everything he had already suffered before asking for privacy during his recovery, stating that he would indeed recover. With the entire world watching, questions were getting fired off like bullets in what was shaping up to be an outlandish case. It was like a television drama that the media was producing and the people were hooked.

The day after his attempted shooting Alex was still in intensive care as he became increasingly agitated. Three painkillers had been administered for his pain, but they were doing nothing to help. Complaining that the medication wasn’t working, he demanded to go home. He paced back and forth around the unit, pulling the IV tubes from his arm repeatedly. At one point he tried to bribe a hospital employee with twenty dollars to use a cell phone, but was unsuccessful in his attempt. He displayed all the behavior of a man in the grips of withdrawal and anyone looking could see it. When he was discharged on Labor Day his brothers drove him straight to a rehab center in Marietta, Georgia. John Marvin and Little Randy were both convinced that the shooting had been a botched suicide attempt.

Little Randy forked out $15,000 for Alex’s treatment. Later that day the Murdaughs’ public relations firm issued a vague statement concerning Alex’s resignation from PMPED and his entrance into rehab. The murky statement created more questions than it ever hoped to answer. Just as the statement was being released PMPED took their website offline while issuing their own statement about his resignation. They said that he had been forced to step away from the firm due to a mismanagement of funds against their policy.

As Alex’s world crumbled underneath him yet another crime was about to come back to bite him. Gloria’s sons had hired the Columbia-based law firm Bland Ritcher, LLP to look into the mishandling of their mother’s estate. The first week of handling the case they sent a “notice of representation” to Cory Flemming. Politely stepping around an outright accusation, the notice said that there had to have been some kind of “misunderstanding.” They asked to see the $505,000 settlement agreement for themselves. They also wanted to see the court order approving it as well as the check issued by the insurance company. Bland would later state that these type of notices always receive a response, but this one did not. As the representatives of Bland Ritcher waited for a reply they quickly saw that none would come.

After The Washington Post published the most damning op-ed on the Murdaughs thus far, the family was clenching for the blow. Just a few hours after the article went public Little Randy issued a statement declaring how shocked the entire “PMPED family” was, noting the difficult position he found himself in. A few more hours passed and Alex lost yet another job. The 14th Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office fired him as assistant solicitor. He was staring down the barrel as all the power the Murdaughs ever held slipped between his fingers like sand.

Just days after Alex entered rehab the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office released their official report on the alleged attempt on his life. Initially it stated that there had been no visible injuries, but was “corrected” just hours later. Now the visible injuries box was checked off with the words “other major injury” added. According to Sheriff Thomas Smalls this was merely an accident. He explained that a deputy had made the mistake by checking the wrong box. Meanwhile Jim Griffin practically tripped over himself to assure the public through People magazine that Alex had sustained “significant head trauma.” He also maintained that his client was already en route to the hospital when deputies arrived even though a previous statement directly contradicted him. According to an earlier statement Alex had been interviewed by Corporal Henderson before getting onto the helicopter.

Just six days after the botched shooting on Salkehatchie Road and the inconsistencies of Alex’s story had become major news. Everyone was buzzing about how strange the whole thing sounded. NP Strategy swooped in on his behalf to straighten things out. Claiming that there had been some misreporting on the case, they said that he had sustained an entry and exit wound from the bullet that struck him, fracturing his skull in the process. They also made a point of stating that the wound was not self-inflicted. In the newest version of events Alex is said to have stopped his car due to a low tire indicator. When the driver of a passing blue truck offered assistance, Alex replied and was immediately shot.

SLED Chief Mark Keel announced on September 13, 2021 that his department had opened an investigation into Alex’s misappropriation of funds from PMPED. This was the fifth state criminal investigation involving the Murdaughs to be launched since the 2019 boat crash that claimed Mallory Beach’s life. Knowing well the uproar that was coming, he urged the public to remain patient as SLED conducted their investigation. He swore that the probe would be “professional, thorough, and impartial…”

After SLED announced their newest investigation into Alex Murdaugh, he had a sit-down with his attorneys in Marietta, Georgia. In a small room at the detox center he was receiving treatment at, he sat across the table from Griffin and Harpootlian as he admitted to hiring his cousin, Eddie, to kill him. The plan was for Buster to gain the $10 million life insurance payout from his death. The pair met up on Salkehatchie Road and Alex gave him a gun and instructions. Eddie was to shoot his distant cousin in the head for Buster’s future.

His attorneys contacted SLED to arrange his confession and negotiate his surrender. According to Harpootlian’s interview with Fox Carolina News’s Cody Alcorn, he had been completely honest in his confession. Alex claimed that he didn’t want to take resources away from solving the murder of his wife and son, so he decided to confess and put an end to the farce.

Less than twenty-four hours after SLED announced their newest investigation into Alex Murdaugh, Tony Satterfield and Brian Harriott announced their own investigation into the mishandling of their mother’s estate. It had been three years by this point since Alex received the $505,000 settlement and they wanted to know why they were never informed. They would be shocked to learn that in fact they should have been millionaires by then.

Though I may have thought I could wrap this story up in Pt. 4, it doesn’t look like I’m going to. To find out how it all plays out please come back for Pt. 5. We will look into the multiple investigations into Alex Murdaugh as well as his time in prison, which was a long time coming. We will finally see him indicted and tried for the double homicide of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh and find out just how much time he received. And the story wouldn’t be complete without a quick look at his most recent attempt at getting released. For a more detailed look at this case and a better breakdown of Alex’s financial misdeeds please take a look at John Glatt’s Tangled Vines: Power, Privilege, and the Murdaugh Family Murders. It has been an invaluable source for this series of posts.