Alex Murdaugh: The Epic Fall of a Dynasty Pt. 5

As though this story couldn’t possibly get any longer or more dramatic here we are at Pt. 5. This unbelievable epic has mirrored a Greek tragedy, an old moral fable, a penny dreadful, and a wild television drama all at once. In shocking twists and turns that no fiction writer could’ve imagined in any drug or fever-induced dream this story gripped the public and held their attention hostage. Even those completely uninterested in the true crime genre found themselves enthralled in the Murdaugh’s spectacle. And it wasn’t as though Alex was ripping the band-aid off quickly. No, he seemed to be pulling it off ever so slowly, only prolonging his pain and suffering. In his attempt to skate away without charges he just drew his own public execution out further as the world started to spit on him and his name. Everything about him was looking more and more suspicious to everyone reading the papers and that sentiment wasn’t kept quiet.

When we last left our slippery attorney criminal he was under investigation by SLED while Tony Satterfield and Brian Harriott were launching an investigation of their own through their new lawyer. Though Alex was completely unaware, SLED already had him nailed to the wall for the murders of Paul and Maggie. However, he was aware that he had been found out for his financial crimes. Furthermore he was quite aware of what kind of time these crimes would carry once they were all stacked up against him. Having resorted to paying his cousin, Eddie Smith, to kill him so Buster could gain the life insurance payout, he had devolved into absolute desperation.

We can’t really know why Alex paid his cousin to shoot him. Though he claims it was a botched suicide attempt that was put together for the betterment of his surviving son’s future, it’s always possible that this known liar was lying again. Is it possible that guilt got the better of him? Of course it is. It’s also possible that the corner he found himself backed into was a little too tight for him and he saw a small exit in the way of sympathy. Whatever his reasons were, this was the former golden Murdaugh child hitting rock bottom in the most public of ways. So much of the world hadn’t collectively turned their heads for the downfall of a public figure since Britney Spears shaved her head and bashed her ex-husband’s car with an umbrella.

Alex’s old friend, Cory Flemming, had been sent a “notice of representation” from Tony and Brian’s attorney at Bland Ritcher, LLP. They wanted to see everything his firm had on the $505,000 settlement he had won from Lloyd’s of London on their behalf. Cory never responded. It seemed that if the boys wanted to know what happened to their mother’s estate they were going to have to fight for every piece of information. They were surely floored when they found out that Cory had in fact won more than $4 million on an entirely different suit filed against Alex’s other insurance provider, Nautilus Insurance Company.

As the brothers took their stand against the devil that had falsely presented himself to them, Eddie Smith was facing the consequences of aiding his cousin. SLED agents arrested him at his home in Walterboro, South Carolina. A rough 61-years-old, Eddie was charged with assisted suicide, assault and battery, possessing a firearm, and insurance fraud. He claimed to have been present when Alex was shot and admitted to disposing of the gun, but said that was all. Just a week prior to his arrest his house had been raided, leading to charges of distribution of methamphetamine and possession of marijuana.

Ironically taking place on what would’ve been Maggie Murdaugh’s birthday, Dick Harpootlian appeared on NBC’s Today to defend his client in the failed suicide and insurance fraud attempt. The interview was conducted mere hours before Alex was scheduled to turn himself in on an assisted suicide charge. Host Craig Melvin pointed out how far-fetched the whole story seemed. Harpootlian jumped on the defensive as he explained Alex’s twenty-year opiate addiction and how he had been taken advantage of because of it. He told the show’s host that after losing his wife, son, and father in the same week he turned to opiates to soothe the pain, pointing out that most people would never be able to face such loss all at once. He stated that Alex had allowed the drugs and his grief to carry him into “a dark, dark place,” leading to his decision to end his life. Adding that Alex was unaware that the suicide exclusion clause had run out on his policy, the plan his client formulated was meant to ensure Buster a $10 million life insurance payout.

When Harpootlian scheduled his interview with NBC’s Today show, he likely didn’t see it taking the sharp left turn that it did. Craig Melvin pulled no punches when he outright asked about the shooting of Maggie and Paul. When considering the fact that Alex had lied about his own shooting, it wasn’t a far stretch to think that he could’ve lied about theirs. To this very serious question Harpoolian gave the weakest of responses, citing the affection he witnessed between Alex and Maggie while he had defended Paul in the fallout from the boat crash. Stating that the pair had been seen holding hands, he went on to say that Alex was reasonably “distraught” about their deaths.

Immediately after his Today show appearance, Harpootlian went on to release a statement that was clearly meant to garner sympathy for his client. This statement only mimicked what he had tried unsuccessfully to point out during his interview. The upside to a statement versus an interview is that there is no one to question what you’re saying. He clearly took advantage of that fact as he waxed on about Alex’s twenty-year addiction, and those who took advantage of him and his income while he was in the grips of it. He seemed to push the blame for Alex’s addiction and his suicide attempt on those around him that prospered from his drug use. Blame was also laid at the feet of Cousin Eddie as he stated that certain “individuals” had taken advantage of his mental illness when they agreed to shoot him. The public was assured of his client’s continued cooperation with SLED in the case of his botched shooting as well as his drug use and the murder of his wife and son. He closed saying that though his client couldn’t claim to be “without fault,” he was merely one out of the millions whose lives have been destroyed by the use of opioids.

The very day that Harpootlian’s face was seen on the Today show SLED was announcing their newest investigation into Alex Murdaugh. They had launched a criminal investigation into the death of Gloria Satterfield as well as the handling of her estate. Coroner Angela Topper requested the investigation be opened when she stumbled upon newly reported information in the wrongful death case. A “Petition for Approval of a Wrongful Death Settlement” was lodged in the Court of Common Pleas in Hampton County by Cory Flemming. In this claim Cory stated that Gloria had died in a trip-and-fall accident, though her death hadn’t been reported to the coroner at that time. With no autopsy performed her cause of death was marked as being “Natural,” contradicting Cory’s filing directly. This oddity led investigators further down Alex Murdaugh’s rabbit hole.

Meanwhile the dedicated attorneys and associates at Bland Ritcher, LLP were working hard to make things right for the wronged sons of Gloria Satterfield. They were already actively filing a suit against Alex Murdaugh, Chad Westendorf, Cory Flemming, and Cory’s firm, Moss, Kuhn, & Flemming. The suit demanded to know what happened to the wrongful death settlement filed in their name. A settlement that they had only learned of after reading an article about it in the press. Like a punch in the gut, the filing goes on to describe Gloria as a proud, dedicated employee of the Murdaughs. It stated that she had been “told she was part of the Murdaugh family and she believed it to be true.” The claim pointed out that Alex had promised he would look out for the boys by suing himself for their benefit. Then without ever disclosing the ties between them, he directed the boys straight to his friends to help pillage the settlement.

Hours after SLED announced their probe into Gloria’s death and estate Harpootlian found himself in front of a camera for the second time that day. Sitting with Fox Carolina News’s Cody Alcorn, he was stuck answering questions about the latest thread being pulled from Alex’s sweater. He stated that his client had nothing to do with Gloria’s death. Everything the people were hearing was nothing more than rumor. He believed the investigation into her death was just than a distraction, taking away from the inquiry into Maggie and Paul’s deaths. He pointed to the ninety-day-old case of their shooting with no evidence of it being even close to solved. When Alcorn inquired about the five, possibly even six deaths that seemed to surround his client at that point Harpootlian became very defensive. Asserting his client’s innocence, he stated that Alex had hired a private investigator to look into their murders.

According to Harpootlian’s claims they believed that one, possibly two people were involved. As he tried to pull his drowning client from the choppy waters of public doubt, Alcorn drove home the point on everyone’s mind as they watched. One person being so closely connected to so many strange deaths was almost too crazy to be believed. The only way it makes sense to the minds of most people is that either something is driving it all, or it’s all just a coincidence. Harpootlian had no comment to lend on this observation.

It was late that very same night when Jim Griffin released their last statement of the day. A warrant had been issued for Alex’s arrest for conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. He would surrender himself voluntarily the next day with an arraignment and bond hearing to follow at 4:00 that evening. Ironically he would stand before the judge at the Hampton County Magistrates Court in Varnville, where he had tried many cases throughout his career.

On September 16, 2021, Eddie Smith was led into the Hampton County Magistrates Court at 9:05 that morning. Outfitted in a beige jumpsuit, shackles, and a white mask to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, his hair looked as though it hadn’t been washed or brushed in days. As he shuffled into a courtroom for the second time that morning, he appeared disoriented. Just a few hours beforehand he had already received a $5000 bond on drug charges unrelated to the Murdaugh case. Now he rocked back and forth in his defendant’s chair as two guards stood over him, ready to hear his next round of charges. Judge Tonja Alexander read the charges against him relating to Alex’s suicide and insurance fraud attempt: assisted suicide, assault and battery, pointing and presenting a firearm, insurance fraud, and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. Handed a $55,000 bond, he was ordered to appear for roll call at the Hampton County Courthouse on October 25.

Eddie was asked if he was interested in obtaining a public defender. He stated that he would probably find one “Tomorrow or the next day.” As he was led from the courtroom he could be heard mumbling, “This is bogus … all crap.” Soon after the hearing he posted bail and rode home from Hampton Jail with a friend.

Just before noon that day Alex was pulling up in front of the Hampton County Law Enforcement Center in a beige SUV with a police escort. Local and national news outlets clamored outside for a glimpse of the fallen Murdaugh. Climbing out of the passenger’s side of the SUV, he was dressed in grey pants, a light colored shirt, and a pair of pink Nikes. He struck a much different figure than his cousin had earlier that morning. He was fingerprinted, his mug shot was taken, and he was charged with insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, and filing a false police report. His $20,000 bond had already been set through negotiations prior to his surrender, with the amount being posted to the website hours before the judge announced it.

At 4:00 that evening Alex was brought into the Hampton courtroom that he worked in many times over the years. After a costume change, he was now dressed in a beige jumpsuit with the size “3X” stenciled on the back. Wearing shackles and handcuffs, he shambled into the room filled with reporters scrutinizing his every move. The first thing they noticed once they had a better chance to look at him was the lack of injury from his suicide attempt. His attorneys and PR firm made it out like he had been horribly and noticeably injured. Sitting there before them that evening there was no evidence whatsoever that he had been shot. A white mask covered his face as his glasses perched atop his head. As he took his seat at the defense table he was likely very aware that every local media outlet was streaming his hearing live.

Creighton Waters of the Attorney General’s Office was prosecuting the case in light of the defendant’s connection to all of the members of the 14th Judicial Circuit. He asked that the judge force Alex to surrender his passport and sign a waiver of extradition if he was to finish his drug rehab out-of-state. He also asked that he pay a $100,000 surety bond and wear an ankle monitor. He stated that though Alex had no criminal record to speak of, his crime had been violent in nature, regardless of who it was violent towards. He worried for the safety of the community if Alex were to decide to harm himself so publicly again. Pointing to his “fall from grace,” Waters thought he posed a larger threat to the community than the type of person that had faced charges before.

Asking to remove his mask so he could be better heard, Dick Harpootlian immediately bombarded the court with one attempt at sympathy after another. When scrutinized the only argument he had for release was Alex’s lack of a police record. Everything else he said would make one believe he shouldn’t have been allowed on the streets unsupervised. Just as he had in Paul’s case, he leaned heavily on the fact that Alex's family held such deep roots in the community. He pointed to his client’s intense addiction as the cause of the “financial issues” that landed him where he was. The only danger he posed was to himself and since he was facing financial ruin, he had nowhere to go, either. Highlighting his addiction once more, he stated that Alex struggled with it everyday. Not exactly an inspiring message for his release.

Alex began sobbing in his defendant’s chair as his attorney confirmed a statement of Waters’s. He had in fact “fallen from grace” and that fall had been “tremendous.” He blamed the murders of Maggie and Paul for the undoing of his client as he tried once again to use his addiction as a crutch for pity. Calling it a “horrible, horrible disease,” he begged that Alex be allowed to go back into rehab to treat himself for it. Judge Alexander didn’t see a reason not to release him under a $20,000 personal recognizance bond: $10,000 for false insurance representation and $5000 each for conspiracy and filing a false police report.

As the world watched, unflinching, PMPED was distancing themselves further from their former partner. Just an hour after his surrender they issued a statement saying that they were “focused on representing our valued clients.” It went on to say that any questions concerning his arrest should be directed to authorities. With Alex’s life actively imploding the firm raced to distance themselves from the wreckage before getting burnt. The public’s split beliefs on this case were becoming louder, with more and more people steadily changing their verdict to guilty. Even those who believed him innocent had to admit that the whole thing was rather strange. Either this man was cursed with an ever-hanging cloud of misfortune, or there was more to the story yet to be revealed.

Eddie finally spoke out over the chaos after posting bail and being released. He gave an interview to the New York Post, telling reporter Dana Kennedy that he was an innocent pawn being set up by Alex Murdaugh. He told the interviewer that he had merely received a call from Alex saying to meet him out on Old Salkehatchie Road. When he got there, he found his cousin waving a gun around as though he intended to harm himself. Eddie sprang into action, trying to wrestle the weapon away when it went off just above Alex’s head. The loud bang scared Eddie off as he jumped back into his truck and sped away with the gun in his hand. He admitted that it was “just plain stupid” to take it and throw it away as he drove, but that’s what he did.

When asked if he was Alex’s drug dealer, Eddie just calmly and quietly shook his head, no. Then he gave a warning that was clearly meant for Alex to see. He said, “I wouldn’t advise him to try and set me up,” going on to reiterate the foreboding sentiment.

Alex was scheduled to enter rehab in Orlando, Florida on September 16, 2021. Before leaving, he granted Buster full power of attorney and instructed him to start liquidating assets. At this time Buster was forging his own path in life, having just been promoted at his job in the accounting department of the Wild Wing Cafe corporate office. He was living in an apartment in Columbia, while spending weekends with his girlfriend, Brooklyn, at her Hilton Head condo. Within the last week of September, Buster paid a nearly $1 million mortgage on a tract of land sprawling between Hampton and Colleton Counties. He also sold his father’s stake in the seven-thousand-acre Green Swamp Hunting Club for $250,000, and put a thirty-one-foot, twin outboard boat up for sale for $115,000. The Beach family’s civil suit alone was enough to leave him with nothing. Alex could see well where the chips were about to land when he started trying to sell off everything to lessen the blow.

On September 24, PMPED obviously felt that they hadn’t distanced themselves far enough from Alex’s sinking ship when they decided to release another statement titled “A Message to Our Community.” Condemning the actions of their former partner, they called it “a tragic situation,” going on to say how “shocked and dismayed” they were to discover his violations. He had stepped all over their code of ethics while lying and stealing from the very firm his family had built. Worst of all, he had “betrayed our trust.”

SLED didn’t have to dig very far into the the handling of Gloria’s estate before they discovered the true amount owed to the boys. They went in already knowing of the $505,000 settlement from Lloyd’s of London that Tony and Brian were never informed of. They were flabbergasted to learn of the $3.8 million negotiated from Nautilus. In total Brian Harriott and Tony Satterfield were entitled to $4.3 million as they struggled through homelessness and poverty. They would come to find that most of their money had been laundered through Alex’s sham Forge account.

Alex tried to text his old friend, Cory Flemming, from rehab. On September 28, he apologized for getting him tied up in all of his trouble. Cory didn’t seem interested in replying to what now looked to be a former friend.

The Murdaughs found themselves on the cover of People magazine with more of their dirty laundry inside for public consumption. Their article revealed for the first time that Maggie had been seeing a divorce lawyer not long before the murders. Alex’s motive was strongly hinted at when it was disclosed that his wife had been advised to look over the family’s finances. Interviews had been conducted for the article and the sentiment was not heartwarming. One former PMPED colleague thought that Alex was getting roughly what he deserved for a lifetime of “fucking people over,” going on to say that “…the chickens coming home to roost.” An unnamed member of the Murdaughs’ elevated circle was quoted as saying “Behind the black ties and fancy dresses were some pretty miserable people.” With the walls coming down and the truth spilling forth it seemed that people were becoming more willing to speak their minds.

Immediately after People’s article dropped, NP Strategy’s Amanda Loveday countered. She stood firm on the hill that the family had planted her on. There were no issues in the Murdaugh marriage and People’s claims contradicted what she had been told by other family members. She said that after reviewing years of text messages between husband and wife she found nothing less than a happy relationship. In closing, she hoped for the media to stick to reporting on Maggie and Paul’s murders instead of “…salacious stories with no credible sources…”

Dick Harpootlian also countered the article, going to the New York Post to assure the public of Alex and Maggie’s loving marriage. He was adamant that there was never a problem between the two and based his opinion solely on the fact that he once saw them hold hands during one of Paul’s hearings. Had there really been talk of divorce, he argued, wouldn't there be more proof of it by this point? In reality there had been a divorce lawyer and Maggie was actively, and quietly taking steps to end her marriage. For unknown reasons all her own she didn’t want many people to know of her plans and she was obviously quite successful in keeping them quiet.

On September 30, 2021 the highly publicized $100,000 reward Alex had offered through his PR firm was set to expire. It had only been four months since it had been announced and it seemed weird to everyone taking notice that such a reward would even have an expiration date. SLED was unusually quiet on the investigation’s progress, even for them. As the press dug through the weeds looking for whatever information they could find, they questioned if the reward would be continued. The world was confused to learn that it would not. Amanda Loveday issued another statement saying the family would be looking into whatever other steps they could take in getting the case solved, commenting what a shame it was that no one came forward to claim the reward.

Cory and his firm, Moss, Kuhn, & Flemming, agreed on October 1, 2021 to repay all of the legal fees and expenses received from the $4.3 million settlement in Gloria Satterfield’s estate. Chad Westendorf had also agreed to return the $30,000 that he had received as personal representative just a few days prior. Hoping to put a happy and cooperative face on the situation, Cory and his law partners joined Bland Ritcher in a statement that patted them on the back for doing “…the right thing by the Estate.” Slapping Alex hard across the face, they went on to say that Cory had trusted him as a friend when he was betrayed and misled into helping steal money.

With the story spinning out of control in the media as well as the minds of the public, HBO Max and Netflix were looking to cash in. Much to the horror of Hampton’s residents, both announced plans to film documentaries on the case. Half a dozen podcasts were dissecting every new development right along with the media. Facebook groups started popping up dedicated to the case and the fascination it commanded, garnering thousands of subscribers hungry for more. Three major television networks working on specials dedicated to the story sent crews to the Lowcountry, agitating the locals with too many questions. They hoped to find a fresh angle, new on the unfolding saga. All they would find was disgruntled, uncooperative locals with no patience for their inquiries.

Alex’s most expensive and soul-crushing blow came in the form of another law suit. This one was filed by PMPED, taking him to task for the millions of dollars he’d embezzled throughout his years there. His phony Forge account in the name of “Richard A. Murdaugh d/b/a Forge” was highlighted. It stated that he knew full well his actions wouldn’t be discovered “based on his experience with PMPED and its long-standing relations with Forge Consulting, LLC…” In their statement announcing the lawsuit PMPED assured the public that all of the cases he had worked on were “under forensic investigation.” Their aim was to recover all of the money he’d embezzled during his years with the firm. They were also interested in finding out if Alex had signed any book or movie deals, exploiting his own terrible story to help dig him out from under the rubble of his former life. Alex would end up taking the Fifth Amendment in this case, which accused him of stealing a total of $10 million.

Just a couple of days after PMPED filed their suit against Alex, Cory Flemming’s license to practice law was suspended. He stood accused of helping his old friend and college roommate steal millions of dollars from Gloria Satterfield’s sons. As Cory was handed the same “Interim Suspension” that Alex had received just a month earlier the South Carolina Bar’s website updated both of their statuses to “Not Good Standing.” Immediately after his suspension Cory’s name was removed from the Moss, Kuhn, & Flemming letterhead while any and all mention of him was wiped away from their website. Eric Bland and Ronnie Ritcher of the Bland Ritcher law firm were elated to see the development, calling it “a very good day for the South Carolina Bar.”

Jim Griffin sat down with Fox Carolina’s Cody Alcorn for a one-on-one interview on October 12. He had hoped to wax poetic about Paul and Maggie’s murders and Alex’s addiction to gain the public’s compassion. Little did he know he was walking into an ambush. Before he even had an opportunity to launch into his speech Alcorn opened the interview by underlining outrageous reports, unsolved cases, and the six open and active investigations into Alex Murdaugh. Adding that he was named a person of interest in the double homicide, he sent Griffin on the defensive. Stating that Alex had been named a person of interest from the beginning, he called the development “mind-boggling.” If he had killed his wife and son, Griffin reasoned, wouldn’t SLED have found evidence proving it a lot sooner? He asked why no evidence of his involvement had been found inside the house when it was searched if his client was guilty.

Griffin claimed that he had no motive to kill either Maggie or Paul. Before he was able to lean into Alex’s addiction himself, Alcorn asked outright how a twenty-year dependence to opioids could go unnoticed by so many. All he could say in response was that it had come as “a surprise to a lot of people…” Alex had tried many times to detox on his own without anyone knowing. Masking his rehab as golfing vacations, he would secretly seek treatment and quickly fall right back off the wagon after returning home.

As Griffin and Harpootlian worked overtime to defend an obviously guilty man, Eddie Smith was taking his side of the story to every interviewer that would hear it. Speaking with The New York Times from the front porch of his Walterboro home, he described himself as a scapegoat for his cousin’s failed attempt at suicide. When speaking of the Judas kiss he received from Alex, he said, “I don’t know if betrayed is even the word for it.” Having once thought of him as more of a brother than a cousin, he said he would’ve “…done almost anything for him.”

On October 14 Eddie and his Columbia-based attorney Johnny McCoy made the rounds on three different morning shows to proclaim his innocence for the world to hear. In brutal honesty he told one interviewer, “If I’d shot him, he’d be dead.” When asked what percentage he was sure that his cousin wasn’t shot that day, he replied “A thousand,” noting that there had been no blood on either of them. McCoy steadfastly maintained that his client was the victim of a set-up, orchestrated by a man experiencing “horrific withdrawals.” McCoy denied that Eddie had ever sold drugs to Alex as he accused the interviewer of perpetuating his lies. On CBS Mornings, Eddie claimed to have taken the gun from his cousin and thrown it out to keep him from harming himself. He said that if he hadn’t there was no telling he may have done. Of course Griffin accused him of lying, offering up hospital reports as proof of Alex’s injury.

Alex was still recovering in an Orlando rehab when SLED agents prepared to arrest him for the second time in a month. This time he would be charged for swindling Tony Satterfield and Brian Harriott for the total sum of $4.3 million of their mother’s estate. With no warning and no negotiation for surrender, he was perp-walked out of the facility by officers before being booked into the Orange County Department of Corrections. Booked on two felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses, each of his charges carried a maximum of ten years in prison. Until his extradition could be arranged, he was forced to spend two nights in an Orange County cell. SLED Chief Mark Keel referred to it as “merely one more step in a long process for justice…” He declared that his department was committed to chasing the facts wherever they may lead.

When he was marched into the Richland County Courthouse for his bond hearing, his attorneys hoped to once again lean on their ace-in-the-hole for his release. His family’s long-time connection and service to the area. Dressed in a navy detention center suit with shackles and leg irons, he faced a room full of reporters from behind a mask. Judge Clifton Newman presided over the hearing as prosecutor Creighton Waters laid the charges and the case out for the court. Gloria had been a proud employee of the Murdaughs for twenty years leading up to the trip-and-fall accident on their Moselle property that led to her death. Alex accepted the blame and offered to help by directing them to his good friend, Cory Flemming, without ever disclosing their relationship. He set up his sham Forge account to mimic the real consulting firm he had worked with in the past to lend it an air of legitimacy as he laundered stolen funds through it. Then Cory added a third accomplice from Palmetto State Bank before the three won and stole millions of dollars from the unsuspecting victims.

Two settlements won for Gloria’s sons had been laundered through the fake Forge account and transferred for personal use. Given the amount of money he was accused of taking the $200,000 surety bond Waters asked for almost doesn’t seem like enough. The prosecutor also asked that he surrender all of his guns and wear a GPS monitor. Calling this case, “the tip of the iceberg,” Waters was sure that there was more to come. He had no idea exactly how right he was.

Harpootlian complained at the lack of notification in their client’s arrest when he was allowed to retort. He believed that the mere six weeks of drug rehabilitation he had received was enough to no longer consider him a danger to himself or others. Griffin asked that he be granted a personal recognizance bond that would allow him to walk out of the courthouse that day without spending a dime. With just a written promise to return to court at a later date, he would be free to go without posting a penny.

Eric Bland addressed Judge Newman on behalf of Gloria’s sons, outright calling Alex Murdaugh a “liar” and a “cheat.” He stated that the defendant needed to “…get comfortable getting uncomfortable” driving home the point that his breach of trust was unprecedented. His housekeeper died from a serious and mysterious injury on his property and his solution was to set her children up to rob them of her wrongful death settlements. Ronnie Ritcher asked to see his bond elevated to a more appropriate amount given how much he had taken from them. When asked what that bond should look like, he replied $4 million for the $4.3 million stolen from Tony and Brian.

Before a fifteen minutes recess was called for Judge Newman to review documents from both sides, he wanted to hear from one more person. SLED special agent Phillip Turner addressed the court with the agency’s tangled web of investigations. While investigating the double homicide of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh they were led back to the deaths of Stephen Smith and Gloria Satterfield as well as numerous financial crimes possibly leading to more wrongdoing.

Harpootlian tried to argue that Alex was not acting as the attorney in the wrongful death suit, just the defendant. He tried to cast all of the blame on Cory Flemming and Chad Westendorf for the alleged financial irregularities. With Alex only acting as the defendant, he should have no control over the settlement money. It was up to Cory to issue the checks to Chad. Therefore it had to be all their fault that Alex was stealing the money.

Judge Newman returned from his recess having made a difficult decision quickly. He expressed the “safety issues” involved in Alex’s release, not only for him, but the entire community. There wasn’t an amount he could think of that would ensure his or the public’s safety. He ordered Alex to undergo a psychiatric evaluation that would be submitted to the court for their consideration. Lumbering back through the courtroom, he looked dumbstruck and dejected.

The day after his failed bond hearing three plaintiffs involved in separate Murdaugh civil cases all filed the same motion to freeze his assets and monitor his spending. Mere hours after the hearing Buster had been photographed gambling with John Marvin in Las Vegas, leading directly to these motions. Attorneys working for the Beach family, Conner Cook, and Gloria’s sons were all asking that a receiver be appointed to investigate, identify, and locate all of his assets. A temporary injunction was also demanded to keep Buster from disposing of any assets without the approval of the court. With Buster acting as his father’s power of attorney, they felt it a necessary measure.

The floor had already fallen out from underneath him when his own brother, Little Randy, decided to file a lawsuit against him along with his former law partner, Johnny E. Parker. Suing him for half a million dollars, Randy alleged that he had lent his brother $75,000 on the promise that it would be paid back in thirty days. But Alex never disclosed his deteriorated financial state when he asked for the money. Randy also cited the $15,000 he paid for his brother’s rehabilitation after driving him there. He had never been reimbursed for that amount, either. Alex’s total debt of $90,000 had been reduced to $46,500 after Buster had traded a Kubota tractor and a rotary cutter against it.

In Parker’s separate suit he alleged to have lent Alex $477,000 in three installments without ever receiving repayment. Just before the receivership hearing that would determine whether his assets were frozen, Alex signed two confessions of judgement for the amount that he owed to his brother and his former law partner. Essentially, he ensured that they would jump to the front of the line when the time came to pay the many pipers. Mark Tinsley, working on behalf of the Beach family, was infuriated at this development, calling it “the height of arrogance.”

The receivership hearing was attended by all three of the plaintiff’s attorneys, but Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian were noticeably absent, striking everyone as odd. Mark Tinsley accused Alex of trying to hide millions of dollars away so that it would not be collected in the various suits against him. Griffin and Harpootlian had loudly and repeatedly claimed that their client was broke. If that were the case, asked Tinsley, then how was he able to retain his defense team at a cost of $750 an hour? How had he managed to pay for a crisis management team, who surely were not working for free? If Alex was really as broke as he claimed then what could it possibly hurt to enjoin him from spending what he didn’t have? Attorney John Tiller, representing Alex and Buster in the hearing, argued that the plaintiffs had no right to control the family’s money. Judge Daniel Hall decided to take the week to make his decision.

Alex’s assets were frozen the following week, with attorneys Peter McCoy Jr. and John T. Lay Jr. appointed as receivers. Buster’s status as power of attorney was officially invalidated just days later. The receivers would now catalog all of his assets and control all of his future spending. The first act they undertook as receivers was to prevent Randy Murdaugh and Johnny E. Parker from getting anything out of Alex’s signed confessions of judgement. Eric Bland called this “a clear message that the justice system has had enough of Alex Murdaugh.”

Alex and his cousin Eddie were both indicted on November 4 by a Hampton County jury. Their charges related to the botched Labor Day weekend shooting that had been heard around the world. Their grand jury indictment meant that there would be no preliminary hearing to present evidence. Instead the two cases went straight on to trial, with Eddie facing up to sixty-five years if convicted, and Alex only facing twenty.

Just two days after their indictments were handed down, Judge Clifton Newman denied Alex’s bond. Though the results of his psychiatric evaluation are still sealed evidently it didn’t go very well. Judge Newman thought that the defendant still posed a danger to himself and the community at large. Within hours of his decision Griffin and Harpootlian were already appealing it directly to the South Carolina Supreme Court. In a petition for a writ of habeas corpus they argued that bail should only be denied to those who have committed serious capital offenses, violent crimes, or crimes carrying life sentences. Calling for a “speedy review of the case,” they pointed out that Dr. Donna Maddox didn’t find him to be a danger to himself when performing her evaluation. Finding that he was still struggling with “severe opioid disorder,” she suggested that he undergo another eight to ten weeks of drug rehab at a residential facility. Of course the petition also explained that he never would’ve gotten addicted to drugs if not for a knee surgery that landed him on painkillers.

Griffin and Harpootlian showed their boldness when they asked a judge to dismiss the Gloria Satterfield civil suit against their client. On November 17 they argued that Brian and Tony had already been paid more than the $4.3 million sum that Alex owed them when Cory Flemming and his former law firm agreed to repay all legal fees and expenses. Their malpractice insurance carrier was also paying the full limits of their policy. Because of this, they reasoned, Alex didn’t owe them a thing. They asked that the case either be dismissed, or at least put on hold until the criminal case against him was resolved.

On November 18, a South Carolina state grand jury indicted him on another twenty-seven charges. Four counts of breach of trust with fraudulent intent, seven counts of obtaining a signature or property by false pretenses, seven counts of money laundering, eight counts of computer crimes, and one count of forgery. Only one of these counts related to the Gloria Satterield case, with the rest relating to the many other victims of Alex’s white collar crimes. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said that altogether Alex was charged with crimes that sought to defraud the victims and launder a total of $4,853,488. If found guilty his charges carried more than one hundred years of prison time.

While sitting in a cell at the Richland County Detention Center, Alex decided to compose a letter to his dear, old friend, Cory Flemming. From behind bars he apologized for getting Cory mixed up in his long list of misdeeds. Finally experiencing the full alienation of his addiction and the wreckage it caused, he found himself cast aside by his many friends.

Life in jail was lonely as Alex awaited his next bond hearing. Housed in the medical wing for his protection, he had little interaction with the other inmates. Due to a screaming next-door neighbor and the vent system being used as a telephone line throughout the facility, he didn’t sleep well. He talked with members of his family on the phone as often as he could as he tried to make the best of a bad situation. He cleaned his cell, worked out, and worried. He worried about being “shivved” when he reached the general population. Then the worry of how he would continue to pay his legal fees crept up on him.

Griffin and Harpootlian were asking $550,000 up front to continue defending him. They urged him to cash in his retirement account, containing $2.2 million, to pay them off. He debated the issue back and forth with his family. Should he cash in, or just get a loan that he would have to pay back eventually?

Seven more indictments were thrown Alex’s way on December 9, six months after the murders of Maggie and Paul. The new indictments included twenty-one charges of stealing another $1.3 million. The total of indictments against him for those keeping count was brought to a dozen, including forty-eight separate charges of stealing $6 million. His newest charges included nine counts of breach of trust with fraudulent intent, seven counts of computer crimes, four counts of money laundering, and another count of forgery.

Another bond hearing was held four days later, but virtually this time. The defense requested that this hearing not be public. Video and audio recording devices were strictly prohibited from the courtroom. Alex was now agreeing to confess a judgment in the Gloria Satterfield case for the $4.3 million he owed her sons. Apologizing for his crimes and the “pain” that they caused, he hoped to lessen the damage, even if only a little. As his lawyers begged for a reasonable bond and release of their client, Alex silently sat with his eyes closed until time to deliver his mea culpa. They asked for house arrest and a GPS monitor instead of continued jail time.

With this being the first of his hearings not recorded for public consumption, Alex decided to address the court for the first time. For the next eight minutes the previously subdued defendant suddenly became quite animated as he allowed all of the passion he possessed to spill forth in his speech. Citing his suicide attempt on Labor Day weekend, he understood why he was considered to be a danger to himself. He explained the events leading up to his decision, stating that he had just been confronted about stealing money by his older brother and another PMPED colleague. Experiencing intense withdrawals and profound grief over the loss of his wife and son, he saw no way forward, and only one way out. He knew that the revelation of his actions would humiliate himself and his son, who was trying to become a lawyer, he said. Saying that he was actually quite “embarrassed” about the whole thing, he apologized to the court. Thirty-eight days of drug treatment had left him with a much clearer head and he claimed that it had changed his life.

Alex boldly claimed to have cured himself of a twenty-year dependence on opioids as he appealed to be released of his own recognizance. Prosecutor Creighton Waters argued that his family’s assets made him a flight risk. Already facing forty-eight charges of stealing a total of $6.2 million with more expected to follow, he had plenty of reasons to run. Of course there was also the backlash some of his victims had faced to consider. One of his former clients had been referred to as '“a snitch,” prompting others to step back into the shadows. With people afraid to come forward, Waters felt a strong message needed to be sent to them. Regardless of this family’s name, prestige, or wealth the system was taking this case seriously.

Waters requested a $4.7 million bond, which would represent $100,000 for each felony he faced. Judge Alison Renee Lee had her doubts and concerns about turning Alex loose. Knowing she had to set a bond, she set it at a $7 million cash only bond to be paid in full. If by some miracle he did manage to come up with that much money he would be restricted to house arrest and outfitted with an ankle monitor. He would have to surrender his passport, be subject to random drug tests, and receive counselling for substance abuse and mental health.

His attorneys were outraged at the huge amount asked, stating that even the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office hadn’t asked so much. Vowing that they would appeal, Harpootlian called the amount “tantamount to no bond.” He said that it would be impossible for his client to come up with that much money, knowing full well that was what the judge had hoped for.

PMPED changed their name on December 29, completely dropping the Murdaugh name from its letterhead. Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth, & Detrick would be known as the Parker Law Group, LLP from then on out. In their press release they recognized the only surviving partner left of the original PMPED, Johnny E. Parker. For fifty years he had served the firm faithfully and its new name was meant to honor all he’d done. When Alex was told of the name change on a recorded jailhouse phone call he was baffled. Though his great-grandfather had founded the firm they were now forced to distance themselves as far from the Murdaugh name as possible.

In early January 2022 FITSNews director Mandy Matney was the first to break the biggest Murdaugh story thus far. Inside sources had told her that SLED investigators had physical and forensic evidence linking Alex directly to the deaths of Maggie and Paul. The “substantial and serious” evidence had piled up against him in a crime that he clearly thought he’d gotten by with. SLED agents declined to comment, but that mattered little to a hungry public that was already casting suspicious glances his way.

As this shocking news was hitting the mainstream, Griffin and Harpootlian were requesting a bond reduction. In a new seventeen-page motion they claimed that he was left with only $10,000 in his two Palmetto State Bank accounts. They described their client as a man unable to even pay his phone bill, which no one would believe if these two high-paid attorneys were still defending him.

Cory Flemming was far from the only one that would get pulled under Alex’s current. Russell Laffitte had used his influence working at the bank his family owned and ran to help his childhood friend in his crimes. He had rose through the ranks to become Palmetto State Bank’s CEO only to piss it all away helping an old friend. The bank’s board of directors, which was mostly comprised of his family, placed him on an administrative leave before firing him three days later. Though Russell had received his walking papers somehow Chad Westendorf remained employed at the bank. Watching the bank’s CEO turned out by his own family, he likely knew that he was living on borrowed time.

Alex appeared virtually for another hearing on January 10. This time he would find out whether his attorney’s motion to reduce his bond would be successful. When he appeared onscreen for all to see in the public hearing his knuckles were noticeably bruised as he looked into the camera with a black eye. John Lay Jr., one of the two receivers appointed to catalog and control Alex’s assets, was the first to speak. He testified to three bank accounts held by the defendant containing a total of $10,000 as well as a $2.2 million retirement account and various real estate holdings already seized by the court. He added that Alex stood to inherit his late wife’s estate, including their Moselle property and the Edisto Beach house. He was likely a beneficiary of his father’s estate as well, which no doubt was quite large.

Of course Harpootlian argued that his client had no liquid assets to post as bond. He also disputed the claim made at the last hearing about Alex’s victims being made to feel threatened. Pointing to the amount of coverage the case had received in the media, he didn’t feel that his client had been treated as anyone else in his position would’ve. He blamed what he called “the paparazzi view” for Alex’s treatment since his first arrest. Arguing that his bond had been set unreasonably high, he stated that even Bernie Madoff had been given a $10 million bond after stealing $65 billion and was able to pay it. His argument started to sound downright whiny and entitled as he accused the system of punishing his client for carrying the name Murdaugh. Harpootlian claimed that because Alex came from a “reputable, well-respected, and affluent” family, he was being penalized.

Waters argued for the threatened victims of Alex Murdaugh once again, mentioning one in particular that feared for the safety of his wife and children if he spoke out. There were many more still struggling with the fact that they had been so successfully manipulated by a con artist in a suit and tie. It’s not surprising that some of his victims felt a degree of embarrassment at being taken for such a ride. Waters felt that Alex posed a serious danger to the public, not only because of his Labor Day suicide attempt, but because he had so easily misrepresented himself to those in need of help.

Harpootlian angrily demanded that the victims’ allegations of threats be addressed before any of them testified. Judge Lee conceded that she could do that, but it was likely that Harpootlian would only have more to say on the matter. He stated otherwise, saying that it would just be “the same old song” that he’d heard before. Deciding to go a step further, he accused the prosecution of lacking the ability to focus on Maggie and Paul’s case. He said that all of the charges Alex now faced was nothing more than a distraction from the case that really mattered.

Before the hearing concluded Lieutenant Thomas Moore appeared virtually via Zoom. In full police uniform, he was ready to testify to his experience in hiring Alex Murdaugh as a personal injury lawyer. Originally he had gone to the PMPED firm and sought Alex’s help because he had heard that he was good at his job. Upon meeting him, he thought the attorney to be “a very nice man and very cordial.” Speaking with him regularly, he said that he had no problems with him to start. He confidently underwent back surgery after hiring Alex, a procedure that cost him $250,000 out of his own pocket. When the time came to cut a check for his on-duty accident all he received was $125,000, which he was asked to bring directly to the PMPED office to deposit into a special account. Once the workers’ compensation case was resolved, he would finally get his money.

Lieutenant Moore waited and waited, but never got a penny of his settlement. Instead all he received from Alex was “bad legal advice.” After his surgery he was left in terrible pain, but with no other way to pay his living and medical expenses, he had to keep working everyday. His pain only worsened as he was left waiting for a payment that would never come. Sitting there that day, he questioned how Alex Murdaugh was able to afford such an expensive defense team if he was as broke as he claimed to be. Paraphrasing the words Harpootlian had just spoken, he said that he wasn’t there to offer up “the same old song and dance,” merely to give his opinion on what had happened to him personally.

He asked the judge not to release Alex because he was clearly a very intelligent and dangerous individual. Calling him “a physical threat” and “a financial threat,” he was sure that Alex had some way of coming up with money if released. He even stated that it would not surprise him to see a relative of Alex’s standing on his doorstep with a gun in hand after his testimony that day. Judge Lee said that she would take everything under consideration as she made her decision, which would later be issued in a written order.

The South Carolina Supreme Court deemed Alex’s writ of habeas corpus moot soon after the damning hearing in which Lieutenant Moore testified. His testimony not only helped Judge Lee in her decision not to reduce his $7 million bond, but it also rattled the Murdaugh family. Little Randy seemed the most threatened by the officer’s closing comment, expressing his concerns to Alex on a jailhouse phone call. He felt that the lieutenant’s testimony had painted their family in the dark shade a mafia family. Alex replied that much had been said about threats being made, telling his brother that if someone was doing such a thing he needed to take care of it instead of talking to him about it.

Just two days after learning that his $7 million bond would not be reduced and there would be no 10% cash option Alex was handed four more indictments by a state grand jury. With twenty-one fresh charges of breach of trust with fraudulent intent and computer crimes, he stood accused of stealing an additional $2.65 million. At this point Alex Murdaugh was thought to have stolen a total of $8.9 million from his trusting clients. Now facing seventy-five separate charges, if found guilty on all counts he stood to serve up to 731 years in prison. Russell Laffitte was found to have served as personal representative on many of the cases included in the most recent indictments. In an issued statement he assured the public that he had been cooperating with SLED agents since the very beginning and would continue to help with the investigation.

Shortly after receiving the latest nail in his coffin, Mark Tinsley filed six creditor’s claims against the estates of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh. Working on behalf of the Beach family, the claims he filed totaled $65 million: $25 million for the Beach family; $5 million for Morgan Doughty; and $2.5 million for Miley Altman. This deft maneuver would ensure that assets such as their Moselle property would not be handed off to family members before the victims were sufficiently compensated. Alex’s younger brother, John Marvin, was acting as personal representative on the two estates. Before he could hand a dime over to his brother, John Marvin would have to settle any creditor’s claims. Tinsley made sure that neither Alex, or a single member of his family would profit before his victims were able to pick the bones of his former life clean.

Alex was lying helplessly under the rubble of his bad decisions. Not only had the system made their newfound disdain for him apparent, so had his former neighbors, friends, and clients in Hampton. As the federal charges stacked up against him so did the lawsuits. On February 14, 2022, Morgan Doughty and Miley Altman added to the growing pile of filings against him. The girls who had suffered through the boat crash that killed their best friend were not only suing the Murdaughs, but Parker’s 55 convenience store as well. The filing of their motions came just ten days before the third anniversary of that crash. If they had waited another ten days to file the statute of limitations would’ve run out and they would’ve no longer been able to sue for the injuries sustained in the wreck.

Their suit named Alex, Buster, Randy, and John Marvin Murdaugh in their respective roles as personal representatives for Maggie and Paul’s estates. They alleged what most of the Lowcountry already knew to be true. That Maggie and Alex allowed their son’s excessive underage drinking and even “encouraged” it. This was proven by many social media posts of Paul drinking. Posts that were all ‘liked’ by his mother. It was alleged that the couple let their son drive vehicles and boats while heavily intoxicated, knowing that he “was incompetent, unfit, and/or reckless.” A previously unknown piece of information was also included in the filings. Paul had spoken with his mother on the phone just shortly before wrecking the boat and she didn’t even attempt to stop him from continuing on his dangerous journey though his drunken state was evident.

Cory Flemming faced the music for his role in the Gloria Satterfield insurance scam on March 16. In a forty-page indictment he was charged with eighteen felonies while Alex faced an additional four charges. The pair were jointly charged with criminal conspiracy while Alex was indicted on three counts of obtaining a signature or property by false pretenses, three counts of money laundering, three counts of computer crimes, and three counts of making a false statement or representation. Cory found himself charged with three counts of making false statements and misrepresentations, seven counts of breach of trust with fraudulent intent, six counts of money laundering, and one count of computer crimes. Judge Lee granted Cory a $100,000 surety bond with a 10% cash option. He was also to surrender his passport and have no contact whatsoever with his former friend and college roommate, a prospect that didn’t seem to cause him too much distress.

On February 23, 2022, the third anniversary of the boat crash, a dozen recordings of Alex’s jailhouse phone calls were publicly aired for the first time. A popular podcast at the time called Murdaugh Murders were the first to play these recordings for the world to hear. These calls demonstrated the Murdaugh family dynamic in the sharpest light as he spoke with Buster, his brothers, his sister, Lynn, and his sister-in-law, Liz. On March 1, Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian filed a federal suit in the US District Court in South Carolina to prevent any more of their client’s phone calls from going public. Citing the federal wiretapping statute, they stated that while inmates were aware their calls were recorded, they had no idea that they may be released to the public.

The release of his phone calls rattled Alex, leading him to make fewer calls than before. Due to COVID-19 restrictions this had been the only way for him to keep in touch with his family as visitation was not an option at the time. In the five months between October 2021 and May 2022, he had made nearly two hundred calls home, most of these taking place before Murdaugh Murders played some of his conversations for the first time. Local media took a page from the popular podcast and filed motions to access jailhouse calls in mid-April, but were unable to so until a judge ruled on Griffin and Harpootlian’s motion. US District judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled that a further two hundred calls would be released on June 10, much to the Murdaughs disappointment. It’s believed at this point that Alex started to route calls through his lawyer’s office, using client-attorney privilege as a shield.

Alex grew increasingly despondent as he sat in his cell alone. It had been six months since his arrest at this point and he hadn’t heard a word from Maggie’s parents or her sister in all that time. He had somehow managed to convince himself that they were simply embarrassed about his incarceration and all the publicity he’d received. He bugged his son on the subject when they would talk on the phone, even ordering him to find out whether or not they were willing to speak to him. Saying that he understood if they did not, he relentlessly bothered Buster to get in touch with them.

Palmetto State Bank’s former CEO Russell Laffitte was secretly indicted on a slew of charges by a South Carolina grand jury. Alex and Cory suffered additional charges along with him as he received his first slap in the face from helping his childhood friend. Russell faced twenty-one charges dating all the way back to 2011. If convicted he could face up to 170 years. Alex’s new indictment brought his total of charges up to seventy-nine, representing $8.4 million stolen. Cory’s brought his total to twenty-three charges. Alex was sinking even further under the current of his wrongdoing as his long-time friends were only beginning to face the consequences of their actions.

During Russell’s bond hearing on May 6, Prosecutor Creighton Waters laid out his crimes for the court in full detail. He described for Judge Lee how he had granted his old friend $1.8 million in loans that were all “off the books.” Alex would make out disbursement checks to Palmetto State Bank before taking them to Russell to be converted for Alex’s personal use. After asking why Russell would do such a thing, Waters explained that he had been a loan officer that granted Alex many loans over the years. Though his oldest friend should’ve been making more than a decent living as an attorney, he resorted to begging, sponging, and stealing as much as he could get his hands on. Without Russell Laffitte working as “An important cog in that hamster wheel,” Alex couldn’t have kept his head above water for as long as he did.

Russell was granted a $1 million bond with a 10% cash option. Ordered to remain under house arrest after his release, he would be outfitted with a GPS monitor and all of his assets would be frozen. This decision was made upon hearing that he had recently put his house in Varnville up for sale. Until an agreement could be met on both sides about protecting his money until his criminal case was resolved, he couldn’t touch a dime. Within hours of the ruling he posted bail and returned home to begin his house arrest and await trial.

May 8 was Mother’s Day and Alex was sure to call his sister to inquire about their mother and her dementia. He also got in touch with Buster, obsessing about his surviving son getting some flowers to his mother’s grave. He even called his sister-in-law, prodding her into making sure he did as he was asked. When he called Buster he was also insistent that he set up a conference call with Maggie’s family so he could finally speak to them for the first time since his arrest. If they hadn’t got back in touch with him by 8:00 that evening, he wanted Buster to send a text to Maggie’s mother and sister wishing them a happy Mother’s Day.

Nine months after SLED opened their investigation into Gloria Satterfield’s death and the handling of her estate they made an announcement in the case. During their probe they had become increasingly curious about exactly how she died. After fighting through some reluctance, her family agreed to have her body exhumed for autopsy.

Though they announced the exhumation of Gloria’s remains, SLED remained tight-lipped on their investigation into Maggie and Paul’s deaths. Many speculated that this meant it had either stalled or was moving very slowly. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. FITSNews reported that a “high-velocity impact spatter” had been found on Alex’s shirt on the night of the murders. This evidence forensically linked him directly to the deaths of his wife and his youngest son. They also reported that Alex had lured Maggie to their Moselle property that night. These would’ve been the texts he sent to her phone asking that she come say her final goodbyes to his father. As the case was “still very active,” SLED Chief and lead on the investigation Mark Keel refused to comment.

Alex’s law license was officially revoked by the South Carolina Supreme Court’s Disciplinary Office. Due to “overwhelming evidence” that he robbed his clients of millions of dollars, he would no longer be allowed to practice law. Alex waived his right to contest the ruling to avoid appearing before the state Supreme Court.

Meanwhile the Nautilus Insurance Company was lodging a suit of their own against Alex. Aimed at getting back the money stolen from Gloria’s estate, his former insurance provider had effectively kicked him as he was already down for the count. Their filing held back nothing as they described what they characterized as the “Murdaugh depravity,” calling it “without precedent in Western jurisprudence.”

Though Gloria’s sons, Tony Satterfield and Brian Harriott, had suffered through poverty and homelessness waiting on their settlement they had not lost any sense of compassion in the process. After receiving $7 million from settlements and another $4.3 million from Alex’s signed confession of judgement, they announced their intentions to the world. They set up a non-profit in their mother’s name that they called “Gloria’s Gift Foundation.” This amazing charity gives gifts and holiday meals to families in need at Christmastime.

Alex and his cousin, Eddie Smith, were both indicted on drug charges on June 23 as both stood accused of manufacturing, distributing, and possessing oxycodone. Cousin Eddie also faced four counts of money laundering, three counts of forgery, charges for trafficking methamphetamine, and unlawful possession of marijuana. It was alleged in their indictments that Alex had written nearly 450 checks to his cousin throughout an eight-year period, totaling $2.4 million. Every penny of that money had been stolen from Alex’s clients and then funneled into a large-scale drug operation run by Alex, Eddie, and “other persons known and unknown to the Grand Jury.” Eddie’s sixty-second birthday was just a week away when he was arrested from his Walterboro home for the second time. This fresh batch of charges brought against him would see him serve a maximum of 122 years of prison time if found guilty. At his bond hearing Creighton Waters told Judge Clifton Newman that he had been involved in long-running “conspiracy” in which he distributed large amounts of pills to Alex. Eddie was also distributing oxycodone in what would turn out to be a drug ring, funded by his distant cousin and apparent business partner.

Waters made mention of “a substantial amount of cash unaccounted for” before recommending he receive a $350,000 surety bond. Eddie’s defense attorney, Jarrett Bouchette, argued that his client’s income consisted of nothing more than monthly disability checks and he qualified for the indigent defense program. Citing a short criminal record and low income, Bouchette called Water’s request “greatly excessive.” Before his bond was set Judge Newman asked Eddie if he had anything to say. He only stated that he had no money because Alex had gotten all of it. He merely lived off of his disability and stayed in a modest, affordable home. The judge set a $250,000 surety bond with conditions that he remain under house arrest with an ankle monitor and submit to random drug tests.

The Murdaugh and Branstetter families were sat down by SLED agents on July 12 with news that outright shocked Alex’s family, but came as little surprise to Maggie’s They were told privately of the indictment being brought against Alex for the murders of Maggie and Paul. This courtesy call was meant to prepare them before the indictments went to the grand jury. They were told that he had acted on his own with no outside help, using both a rifle and a shotgun. Both families were brought together for the announcement at John Marvin’s home.

Just a few hours after this news went public Alex was officially disbarred by the South Carolina Supreme Court. Just two days later he was indicted by a Colleton County grand jury on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Of course his attorneys leapt at the first opportunity to defend him as innocent, saying that he loved his wife and son “more than anything in the world.” They accused SLED of rushing to a judgement in a case that they worked just over a year on, carefully collecting damning evidence against their client. According to the attorneys, SLED agents had decided that he was guilty from the outset. Though they claimed Alex to have no motive at all to kill them, anyone that had only been partly paying attention to the coverage on his case knew otherwise. He had 8.4 million motives that were already holding him in prison.

Griffin and Harpootlian filed a motion for a speedy trial, demanding that all evidence be turned over in thirty days “as required by law.” Within sixty days of receiving that evidence they expected a trial to begin. As his lawyers tried to speed the process along the news of his biggest and most shocking indictment was making worldwide headlines. Cable news stations broke into regularly scheduled programming to drop the bombshell of his murder charges. Though many locals had suspected him all along they were still appalled and surprised to be proven right.

On July 20 Alex appeared in a Colleton County courtroom that his father and grandfather had tried many cases in throughout their long careers. The portrait of his grandfather that had hung in the back of the room for decades had come down in the midst of the family’s fall. With his trademark red hair shaved off and much of his weight shed, he looked like a different man as he walked into the courthouse in his navy jumpsuit and bright pink Nikes. After he changed into a white linen shirt and some khaki pants, he was brought into the courtroom for his bond hearing. The courtroom was packed elbow-to-elbow with reporters, photographers, television news crews, and police. While Maggie’s family did not wish to attend the hearing in person, they did watch a live stream of it from home.

Alex waived the reading of the indictments and requested a formal arraignment. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, replying to the question of how he would be tried with “By God and my country.” Thanking SLED agents for their thirteen-month investigation, he told the judge that every possibility had been explored in the case. All roads lead back to Alex. As to the question of motive, he pointed to the eighty-one counts of white-collar fraud, drug crimes, and other offenses he already stood charged of.

Harpootlian asked that all motions in the murder case be sealed to prevent them from going public. He wanted the case tried by a jury and not by public opinion created by the media. Judge Newman asked what this proposed gag order should look like to which Waters replied that it would only cover “extrajudicial comments to the press.” He thought that all hearings in the matter should be public, leading Harpootlian to parry with leaking information that he believed caused a “constant churning” of press coverage. Judge Newman typically did not favor gag orders, but asked both sides to prepare proposals for him to go over. He made it clear that regardless of his decision all hearings would be public, stating “Public matters will be public.” His final decision would be issued in writing at a later date. Citing their motion for a speedy trial, Harpootlian made it clear that his client wanted this issue resolved quickly so the real killer or killers could be caught.

For the first time Griffin and Harpootlian exited the courthouse with nothing to say. Silently they brushed past as reporters closed in with questions. Lying, Harpootlian replied, “I’m gagged,” as he continued on to his car.

The same day that Alex faced his biggest bond hearing yet his childhood friend was indicted once again by a federal grand jury. Russell Laffitte faced charges of wire fraud, bank fraud, and misappropriation of bank funds. Accused of defrauding four of Alex’s clients as far back as 2011, he faced up to thirty years on these charges. When Russell pleaded not guilty a week later, his attorney, Matt Austin, told Judge Molly Cherry that he didn’t believe his client had committed a crime. He complained of the media circus that surrounded the case to no avail before Judge Cherry set his bond at $500,000 with a requirement that $25,000 be paid up front. Russell would be asked to surrender his passport, wear an ankle monitor, and not have any guns in his house, stipulations he had already complied with as part of his $1 million South Carolina state bond.

Alex was indicted on another nine charges by a state grand jury on August 16. All of these charges related to him stealing money from his older brother, Randy, and the PMPED firm that his grandfather founded. The growing stack of state and federal charges against him now outweighed him. Even if he skated out of all of his criminal charges unscathed, his growing pile of civil suits would surely bury him in debt and destitution. Eighteen indictments now stood between him and freedom, including ninety counts relating to his theft of nearly $9 million. A dozen clients had been defrauded by this con artist and now they wanted justice.

His newest charges accused him of embezzling $121,358 from Randy when he received a loan repayment meant for him by mistake. Instead of returning the check, he cashed it for his personal use. It was also alleged that he siphoned off $175,200 from PMPED cases, using his fake Forge account to funnel the money into. The indictment included two more names of suspects believed to be involved Alex and Eddie’s drug ring. Spencer Anwan Roberts and Jerry K. Rivers were given separate bond hearings, taking place on the same day. Later that day Eddie Smith’s bond was revoked by Judge Newman and he was sent right back to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center that his cousin was also housed at. It had been found that Eddie lied about his financial standing when a bank account was found in his name containing $58,000. Clearly he had lied about Alex getting all of the money.

Alex’s murder trial got underway on January 23, 2023 at the Colleton County Courthouse that generations of Murdaughs before him had tried similar cases in. None, however, had been quite as wild or as shocking as his. The circus-like atmosphere enveloping the whole town as the trial began was unlike anything anyone had ever seen. Several hundred journalists poured into the small town. A media overflow room was set up at the Walterboro Wildlife Center. Court TV was carrying the trial while also supplying both local and network television stations that were streaming it. Since the town boasted few restaurants food trucks flooded the town square as half a dozen portable toilets were also set up. To anyone crawling out from underneath a rock for the first time in a few years they would think that a festival was taking place when in fact it was the biggest murder trial since OJ Simpson.

The turnout was such that the town’s two-star Hampton Inn raised its rates as high as $374 a night. While reporters were overpaying for their scoop, Griffin and Harpootlian were also shelling out big bucks for their accommodations. At $20,475 a week the defense team took over the 500-acre Eden at Gracefield wedding venue while defending a man they had formerly claimed hadn’t enough money to pay his phone bill.

Standing charged with the first-degree murders of Maggie and Paul as well as two counts of possessing a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, he faced another thirty years to life if convicted. Alex was now fifty-four years old and facing a total of ninety-nine charges that were sure to sink him to the bottom of the prison system.

Buster sat in the courtroom with his uncles and aunt as he listened to Creighton Waters lay out the murders of his mother and brother. Alex shot his twenty-two-year-old son twice with a shotgun before turning on Maggie with a 300 Blackout semiautomatic assault rifle. Both victims were shot close range and presented no defensive wounds, proving that neither saw the heinous act coming. A point-by-point timeline was laid out with the help of circumstantial evidence. Paul’s Snapchat video, taken just five minutes before the shooting, was revealed for the very first time. SLED had remained so tight-lipped on the investigation that the damning video was never leaked to the press. It came as a shock to everyone, but it downright rattled Alex to hear his own voice ring through the courtroom when it was finally played. From the beginning he claimed that he hadn’t seen Maggie and Paul since dinner, but that video proved he’d been lying.

The first five days of the trial saw the first responders that arrived on the scene give their testimonies. As Sergeant Daniel Green was the first to arrive that night, he was the first called to the stand on day one. His body cam footage from that night was played for the court. Everyone got to watch Alex attempt to push his crime off on a loved one of Mallory Beach in bold color, calling the shooting retaliation for the 2019 boat crash that killed her. Pushing the story that Paul had been receiving threats leading up to that night, he hoped to clear himself of any suspicion right off the bat.

Detective Laura Rutland of the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office took the stand on day five. Alex initially told her that he turned his son’s body over to check for a pulse upon finding him. This should’ve left blood stains on his clothes, but his freshly washed white shirt and khaki shorts were oddly clean. When she stepped down Alex’s first videotaped interview with police was played. Sitting in the back seat of a police car at 12:57 that morning, he claimed to have taken a nap before driving to Varnville to visit his mother. It was upon his return home that he made the discovery of Maggie and Paul’s bodies at the kennels. He made no mention whatsoever about being at the kennels before the murders took place.

When SLED Senior Special Agent Jeff Croft was called to testify the jury was shown Alex’s second videotaped interview. Taken just three days after the murders, Alex cried hysterically as he made a comment that would cause much confusion and disagreement in the courtroom. Though many heard him cry, “I did him so bad,” Griffin immediately argued otherwise. Stating that his client actually said, “They did him so bad,” the recording was replayed at the normal speed before being replayed again at one third the speed. This didn’t manage to make the audio any clearer to those that may have been in doubt. Croft remained “one hundred percent confident in what I heard,” sticking to his testimony that Alex had cried out, “I did him so bad.”

Cell phone records and firearms would dominate the next leg of the trial as John Bedingfield testified to building three assault-style rifles in 300 Blackout caliber for Alex. Creighton Waters took this opportunity to point out that 300 Blackout cartridges matching ones found around the hunting property were found at the murder scene as well. Lieutenant Britt Dove of SLED’s computer crimes division offered his analysis of Alex, Maggie, and Paul’s IPhone data next. The last texts that Maggie read on June 7 were before 8:49 that evening, including one from John Marvin about visiting her ailing father-in-law in the hospital. After this several calls and texts come in from Alex. At 9:08, just minutes after she and Paul are thought to have been killed, she receives a text from her husband saying, “Going to check on M. Be right back.” His final text to her phone comes in just twenty minutes before he reports the murders at 9:47, saying, “Call me babe.”

The state’s star witness was one of Paul’s best friends, Rogan Gibson. Paul called Rogan just minutes before his death about a puppy named Cash that he was boarding for him. Cash was recovering with an injured tail as he stayed at the kennels with the family’s dogs. Since Rogan’s signal was cutting in and out, he asked Paul to take a video of Cash to send to him. He wanted to show the video to another friend who worked as a vet for an opinion. This damning Snapchat video taken just minutes before the killings wasn’t found until a year later. It proved to be the final heap of dirt lumped on top of Alex’s grave.

There were two voices heard in the background, one male, one female. Rogan testified to recognizing those voices as Alex and Maggie Murdaugh. Having known them for a long time, he referred to them as “Miss Maggie” and “Mr. Alex” when he identified their voices with absolute certainty. Waters played Paul’s final Snapchat video for the jury. Shot at 8:44 that evening, Maggie, Paul, and Alex’s voices could all be heard clearly on the audio as Paul attempted to reign the puppy in for a close-up. Maggie talks about their lab having a guinea in its mouth before Paul corrects her, telling her its a chicken the dog has. Then the sound of Alex’s voice rings through speakers as he calls out to his dog, Bubba. The words, “Come here, Bubba,” undeniably came from Alex’s mouth.

Rogan testified to being “one hundred percent” sure that he heard Alex and Maggie’s voices in the background. Under cross-examination, he told the defense that Maggie had been like “a second mother".” When asked if there were any circumstances under which he thought Alex may have killed Maggie and Paul, he replied, “Not that I could think of.”

The state’s next witness, Will Loving, testified to receiving a Snapchat video from Paul that night as well. Taken an hour before the murders, this video shows Paul and Alex driving around their Moselle property together. Though Alex had been wearing a white shirt and khaki shorts when police arrived later that night, in this video he’s wearing a light-blue short-sleeved button-up shirt with khaki pants. This outfit was never recovered during the search of the property and still has yet to resurface. Before Will stepped down, Waters played the kennel video for him as well, asking if he recognized the male voice in the background. He was certain that he was hearing the voice of Alex Murdaugh.

The ninth day of the trial delivered the biggest blow to the defense yet, and it had been Jim Griffin that inadvertently brought it about. That day the question of whether Alex’s white-collar crimes were admissible in the murder trial was raised. Griffin mistakenly brought the topic up for debate when he asked a witness on the stand if he knew of any reason Alex would have to kill them. Judge Clifton Newman pointed out that asking that question in particular “turned cross-examination” into “a character witness” testimony. At this point a mini trial within a trial took place to determine whether his other crimes would be deemed admissible.

Several witnesses testified before the judge while the jury was absent. This included friends of Alex’s, former colleagues, and his victims. Seven witnesses spoke about his white-collar crimes before Judge Newman ruled that the jury would hear this as well. His financial misdeeds provided motive for the murders, so they would deemed admissible.

Mushelle “Shelly” Smith was called as a witness for the state as the trial entered its third week. Shelly was employed as the caretaker of Alex’s mother, Libby, at the time of the murders. She seemed quite anxious as she sat on the stand that day. She testified that Alex suddenly arrived at his mother’s house at 9:00 on the night of the murders. He stayed only fifteen to twenty minutes, but in that short amount of time she noticed how “fidgety” he was. It wasn’t typical for him to visit with his mother that late, striking her as odd.

Things only got stranger from there. Shelly was among the close relations and friends that attended Randolph’s funeral. At the gathering, Alex approached her with instructions on what to say if she was interviewed by police. He ordered her to tell investigators that he had been at his mother’s house for thirty to forty minutes that night before offering to pay for her upcoming wedding. Several days later Alex returned to his mother’s house at 6:30 in the morning. With a blue tarp “balled-up” in his hand, it was obvious that something was wrapped inside. He carried it upstairs and left it there before leaving right back out the door.

Weeks later Shelly mentioned the tarp to investigators, who then searched the upstairs of Libby’s home. The tarp was found stashed in a closet on the second floor. A blue raincoat was found wrapped up inside with high levels of gunshot residue present.

The jury would learn of his financial crimes at this point, beginning with the testimony of Jeanne Seckinger. As she confidently took the stand, she testified to confronting the defendant with $792,000 in missing funds from PMPED. Her disdain could hardly be disguised when asked if she really knew the man on trial. She replied, “I don’t think anybody really knew him.”

When friend and former law partner Ronnie Crosby took the stand, he nearly cried to think of Paul. Alex led him and all of the other partners to believe that he was never at the kennels on the night of murders. When Paul’s video was played for him, he confirmed for the court that the voices heard were that of Paul, Maggie, and Alex.

PMPED paralegal Annette Griswold informed the jury of how he would correct her when making checks out to Forge. These checks would end up being made out to the phony Forge account that Alex set up for the purpose of money laundering. According to her testimony, Alex was rarely ever at the firm’s office, but when he was he always remained closed up inside his personal office. It was when Annette became suspicious about some missing fees that she alerted Jeanne Seckinger and a full internal investigation began within the firm. After the murders the firm went straight into “mama bear mode” for Alex until early September of that year. With the discovery of another suspicious check, Alex was fired from the firm his grandfather founded in 1910, leading directly to his subsequent suicide attempt on Labor Day weekend. With the backdrop laid the jury had a much better idea of the circumstances under which Paul and Maggie were killed. Alex was looking guiltier by the minute and even he couldn’t deny it at this point.

Just before everyone was to break for lunch on day thirteen a bomb threat was called in to the Colleton County Courthouse. Judge Newman very calmly made the announcement that the building would be evacuated before everyone exited in confusion and fear. It seemed at every turn this case only got wilder and more unbelievable. Agents from SLED entered and searched the courthouse up and down for any traces of explosives. When nothing was turned up everyone returned to the courtroom likely expecting some sort of explanation. None would come and the trial restarted as though nothing had happened at 3:00 on the very same day. To this day no one knows who called the threat in, or why.

The day after the short-lived bomb threat Alex’s best friend, Chris Wilson, was called to testify about a personal injury case he worked on with him. The case resulted in a payout of $5.5 million. When Chris was making out the checks, Alex insisted that he wrote the check for PMPED’s $792,000 fee to him personally instead of the firm. Stating that he’d known Alex for thirty years, he said he had no “reason not to trust him.” When suspicions were raised about PMPED’s missing fee, Alex tried to cover his tracks by borrowing $600,000 and then wiring it all to Chris. He asked that Chris send the full amount of their missing fee to the firm and then give the remaining $192,000 to him. He lent Alex that money never to see repayment. The day he was fired from his grandfather’s law firm Alex met with Chris, telling him, “I shit you up,” as he admitted to his twenty-year addiction to opioids and the millions of dollars he’d stolen.

Long-time housekeeper for the Murdaughs, Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson, gave her testimony the following day as she highlighted Maggie’s anxiety about the civil suit launched against them by the Beach family. She had confided to her housekeeper that Alex was keeping things from her about the lawsuit that sure to devastate them all. Maggie was aware that they couldn’t afford the damages they were facing, telling Blanca that they didn't have “that kind of money.” Willing to freely hand over everything the family had, Maggie just wanted the burden hanging over their heads to disappear once and for all. Blanca was also present when Alex asked Maggie to return to Moselle on the night of the murders. Maggie had been quite reluctant to go before she finally agreed to the meeting. When shown the kennel video pulled from Paul’s phone, Blanca became the fifth person to confidently identify Alex Murdaugh’s voice in the background.

A delay in the trial seemed altogether unavoidable when two jurors came down with COVID-19. The prosecution and defense both agreed on the one and only thing they would agree on throughout the proceedings. That it should be delayed to prevent an outbreak from ripping through the jury room. Judge Newman ordered that the trial would continue without delay, selecting two alternative jurors at random. Without a setback, or even a pause, the trial entered its fourth week.

At this point in the proceedings a procession of computer, blood spatter, DNA, firearms, crime scene, and medical experts were all heard from. The defense used this opportunity to rip the investigation a new one as they put a strong emphasis on the sloppiness it represented. Evidence that wasn’t properly photographed; fingerprints that were never taken; blood that was never tested. They were hanging their hopes on SLED’s performance, which would not prove to be a winning strategy.

Maggie’s older sister, Marian Proctor, would give the most revealing testimony heard thus far when she divulged her knowledge of Alex’s drug problem. Maggie used to refer to Paul as her “little detective,” as he kept an eye on his father to ensure he behaved himself as much as he could. Before this moment it had been thought that the victims knew nothing of his drug use, but Marian disputed that notion.

Her grief was overshadowed by an immense sense of guilt as she sat before the court that day. Just hours before her sister and nephew were gunned down, she encouraged Maggie to go meet with Alex. There was no way she could’ve known what was coming, but all the same she felt as though she were partly responsible. It wasn’t until the investigation into their murders was underway that she began to suspect he could be capable of such an atrocious act. While everyone else in their family was living in fear of an anonymous shooter, Alex’s demeanor didn’t seem to change. He actually seemed to be quite disinterested in the whole affair. Once he was fired from PMPED and attempted to have himself killed, Marian’s opinion of him flipped in an instant. Already suspicious, everything started to take on a darker light for those that knew him at that point.

The jury briefly exited the room while Marian dropped a bombshell revelation on the judge. Even the family’s closest acquaintances were unaware of this development. Back in 2007, Maggie kicked Alex out of their house due to a suspected affair. Though the incident had long been put behind them, it wasn’t a completely closed case for Maggie, who would continue to bring it up from time to time. Judge Newman didn’t deem the affair relevant to the murder trial as it had taken place so long ago. Though Alex was a well-known philanderer, that wasn’t the motive for his worst crime. Under cross-examination by the defense, she admitted that they did have a good marriage, though it wasn’t perfect. Maggie had been “happy” according to her older sister.

The following day of testimony opened with SLED Special Agent David Owen and his walk-through of the investigation. This ended in a viewing of Alex’s third interview on video, where he vehemently denied killing his wife and son. Asking if they thought he was guilty, Special Agent Owen replied that they had to go whichever direction the evidence pointed, and it all pointed back to him. When the defense got the opportunity to cross-examine the witness Jim Griffin screwed himself for a second time by simply asking the wrong question. Asking Owen if he ever investigated Eddie Smith as a suspect in the murders, Judge Newman quickly reacted. He reversed his previous decision to allow evidence from the Labor Day weekend shooting to be presented. As Griffin continued to hinder his own defense the prosecution was likely celebrating silently.

The sixty-first and final witness for the state was SLED agent Peter Rudofski, who presented an impressive forty-three-page timeline for Maggie, Paul, and Alex Murdaugh on the day of June 7, 2021. Utilizing texts, calls, cell tower pings, step counts, GPS coordinates, and General Motors’ OnStar data from Alex’s car, SLED was able to piece their day together like an elaborate puzzle. OnStar data showed that Alex climbed into his 2021 Chevrolet Suburban heading to his mother’s house at 9:07 that night, passing the exact spot where Maggie’s cell phone would later be found. This would’ve been about twenty minutes after investigators believe the shooting occurred. During what would’ve typically been a fifteen-minute drive to his mother’s, Alex reached speeds of up to seventy-four mph. Arriving at 9:22, he parked his car around the back of the house. By 9:43 he was pulling out of the driveway on his way back home. On the narrow two-lane roads he traveled, he drove as fast as eighty mph.

Agent Rudofski had one more piece of damning evidence to present before the state rested its case. A text that Paul sent to his father on May 6, 2021, just a month before he and his mother were killed. He informed Alex that they would need to talk when he returned home. Maggie “found several bags of pills” hidden inside a computer bag of Alex’s. On that same day it was found she was searching the internet to identify oxycodone as well as other kinds of pills. This time Phil Barber cross-examined the witness for the defense, producing an apologetic text to Maggie from Alex sent on May 7. He said that he was “very sorry” for all that he does to her, saying he loved her.

Of course the first witness the defense called was Alex’s surviving son, Buster. Twenty-six years old by this time, Buster had attended every single day of the trial so far with his girlfriend, Brooklyn White, standing by for support. He was understandably “destroyed” and “heartbroken” over the loss of his mother and brother. Testifying to Alex’s addiction, he stated that the family was aware all along. They also knew about his rehab treatment around Christmastime of 2018. Paul and Maggie confronted him multiple times with pills they’d found around the house and Alex always appeared apologetic when his hands were painted red. Griffin had been gentle throughout his questioning, mindful of everything Buster had endured up to this point. Asking if there had ever been any violence in their home, Buster replied that there had not.

Alex smiled approvingly at his son as he gave his painful testimony. Buster didn’t seem so taken by his father’s acceptance. As he stepped down and exited the courtroom, Alex patted him on the hip as he passed by. It was as though he were praising a dog for a job well-done.

The defense then led a procession of highly paid experts meant to strengthen their case. Forensic engineer Mike Sutton had visited the crime scene and examined the photos taken by SLED. After studying the trajectory of the bullets and making his own calculations, he determined that the shooter had to have been no taller than five-feet, two-inches. With Alex standing at six-foot, four-inches tall, he was far too tall to have been the shooter, according to these questionable calculations.

Longtime friend and former PMPED partner Mark Ball told the court of the crime scene he witnessed at Moselle. More than a dozen people walked around the taped off property, causing him concern over how the investigation was being handled. Having known Alex for thirty-four years, he had always thought of his old friend and co-worker as a loving husband and a proud father. However his opinions began to shift after Alex was fired from the firm and arranged his own death. When asked by the prosecution if he was good at hiding his true nature, Mark replied, “Obviously.”

An audible gasp echoed through the courtroom when Alex Murdaugh was called to the stand. Against the advice of his counsel, he decided to testify in his own defense. As a long-time solicitor for the 14th Judicial Circuit, he knew that this was a bad idea. Defendants are always advised against taking the stand in their own defense. Rarely does it ever go well, and it certainly wouldn’t in Alex’s case. Feeling the need to explain away the holes in his original story, he went against his counsel and his own common sense in a last ditch attempt to save his neck. As he waxed poetic, quoting the 17th century poet Sir Walter Scott, the world saw straight through his well-worn mask to the ugly truth underneath.

For the first time Alex admitted to being at the kennels on the night of the murders. Now he claimed that opioid-induced paranoia led him to lie to investigators. One lie had to be covered with another, and another until a delegate web formed. One that might easily be torn down unless he kept adding to it. As he pushed through his testimony, he referred to Maggie and Paul by the pet names he called them in life, “Mags” and “Paul-Paul.” He continued to claim his innocence, denying any involvement in their deaths. Meanwhile he freely admitted to the rest of his crimes and his longtime addiction.

After having knee surgery Alex’s life never looked the same again, according to his testimony. He became desperately addicted to the opioids prescribed afterward, leading to a $60,000-a-week habit by the time it all came toppling down. Often taking up to two-thousand milligrams of oxycodone everyday, he said the drugs gave him energy. He claimed not to have been phased when cornered over the $792,000 in missing fees from the firm on June 7, 2021. On the contrary, he wasn’t concerned at all to hear of the discovery. When asked if he thought his “house of cards was about to crumble,” he replied, “Absolutely not.”

Now that he stood confronted with the lie in his initial statement, he felt the need to explain, and then over-explain to cover the holes. It had been Maggie that asked him to go down to the kennels with her and Paul, but he declined. Claiming to have just taken a shower, he didn’t wish to step out into the heat. After they had gone, he changed his mind and hopped in his golf cart to ride down. He pulled a chicken out of his dog, Bubba’s, mouth before returning to the house to cool off, leaving his wife and son with the dogs. After a short nap, he drove to his mother’s house for a visit, getting back home at around 10:00. When he couldn’t find Maggie or Paul in the house, he decided to check the last place he’d left them, the kennels. It was at that point, he claimed, that the gruesome discovery was made.

When asked what he found, he told the court that he found “what y’all have seen pictures of.” Unsure of what he did from that moment on, he said he remembered getting out of the car, running back, and calling 911. While on the phone with dispatch, he ran “back and forth” between the bodies of his wife and son. Finding Paul facedown on the ground, he immediately tried to turn him over by his belt loop.

When the time came to cross-examine Alex it was a brutal five-hour affair that stretched into the following day of the trial. Creighton Waters outright accused him of taking advantage of his position as assistant solicitor and behaving as though he were above the law. He freely displayed the badge given to him as part of his position and even went as far as to install blue police lights on his car. When confronted with his history and aptitude for lying a large stack of papers was dramatically dropped in front of him. They all pertained to cases in which Alex had defrauded a client out of an incredible amount of money. Pointing to the large stack, Waters also pointed out that for every piece of paper sitting there, he had to sit down with a client, look directly into their hopeful eyes, and convincingly lie. He admitted that he had indeed “misled people” and “stole their money.”

Waters wasn’t through with the defendant just yet, using the prosecution’s timeline of that night to rip holes into Alex’s revised version of events. His aptitude for lying was highlighted again when his quick and not-so-nimble change of story was brought up. Until confronted with the sound of his own voice in that courtroom, he had been happy to keep on saying that he hadn’t been to the kennels that evening. Once his lie was uncovered in loud volume and all of his friends and family confirmed it, he was forced to rewrite the tale. Alex tried to argue otherwise, but the damage had been done. When asked if he was “a family annihilator,” he flat-out replied, “No.” Just as his defense team surely would’ve warned, his time on the stand only hurt his case in the end.

The defense rested their case, but the state still had six rebuttal witnesses to call. Once they were heard from the jury went on a field trip to Moselle to view the crime scene for themselves before hearing closing arguments. Once they returned to the courthouse, Waters launched straight into his three-hour-long closing statement. Comprising the state’s mostly circumstantial evidence, he managed to make a very convincing argument for Alex’s guilt. The “gathering storm” he described was threatening to reveal him for what he really was. On June 7 he was staring down the barrel of a civil lawsuit while he had recently been accelerating his theft. At that point he was standing accused of stealing from his family’s firm and the pressure was on like never before.

Pointing back to the Snapchat video that unraveled his alibi, he asked why such a loving, caring, and devoted husband would lie about such a detail from the beginning. Then there was his ability to flip his story on a dime to better fit the evidence. This was a devious, calculating man that had been covering his own tracks for so long that it had become second nature. Waters begged that the jury not be taken by this man the way his friends and family had.

Griffin’s closing argument was nearly as long as Waters’s had been. Speaking for almost two and a half hours, he focused mainly on what he characterized as the investigation’s short-comings. He pleaded with the jury to not “compound a family tragedy with another.” Prosecutor John Meadows gave an hour-long rebuttal that pointed out how Paul had solved his and Maggie’s murders. While making his video he never would’ve guessed just how important it would become.

The jury was finally allowed to begin deliberations at 4:00 that evening. Returning to the courtroom at 6:41, it took then less than three hours to come to a unanimous decision. Colleton County clerk Rebecca Hill read the verdict as Alex sat anxiously in his seat. Buster sat with his aunt in the gallery, bracing for whatever came next. Alex Murdaugh was found guilty on all four counts in the murders of Maggie and Paul. With no emotion shown, he stared down at the table while his defense team jumped to his legal aid. They demanded that Judge Newman call a mistrial. The judge refused, calling the evidence against him “overwhelming.”

With the defense’s knee-jerk motion denied, Alex’s sentencing was scheduled. He would be back at 9:30 the next morning to find out exactly how bad it was. As he was led from the courtroom he turned to look at his surviving son. A saddened expression painted his face as he mouthed something to him. Heartbroken and incredulous, Buster avoided his gaze as he was taken from the room.

Throughout his trial Alex had been dressed in the best tailored jackets and the nicest dress shirts. Now that he was facing sentencing, he appeared in the courtroom wearing a beige Colleton County Jail jumpsuit. Buster was in the gallery along with his aunt, Lynn Goattee, and his uncle, John Marvin, as they awaited the worst. Though the defense team had nothing to say for the first time since they took on the job of defending him, Alex wanted to claim his innocence once more.

Judge Newman didn’t deny that it may not have been him as much as it was the “monster you become.” Conceding that he had seen such things before, it was possible that Alex turned into Mr. Hyde when he got high. He pointed to the Murdaugh legacy that hung over the trial like a shadow, threatening to blot it out. His family had tried cases in the very courtroom they stood in, seeing people receive death sentences for lesser crimes than his. Judge Newman recalled the years he watched Alex practice law and called the whole situation “heartbreaking.” He now watched a grieving husband and father become the rightfully convicted. It was Newman’s deepest and truest hope that the ghosts of Maggie and Paul visited his cell every night for the rest of his life.

Alex was handed two consecutive life sentences, which would pale in comparison to the sentences he received on his financial crimes. Newman didn’t go easy on him, giving him the maximum for both Maggie and Paul. With that he was taken away to await the rest of his trials. If you’d like to hear more about those please read Tangled Vines: Power, Privilege, and the Murdaugh Family Murders by John Glatt on Amazon Kindle.

After the trial Buster grew apart from his father. Their contact became fewer and further between as Buster always seemed in a rush to get off the phone. When he did answer his father’s calls, his discomfort was audible. The evidence against his father had proven to be overwhelming to him as well.

In January 2024 Alex Murdaugh was seeking a new trial in the murders of Maggie and Paul. His defense team claimed that the jury had been swayed unfairly by Colleton County clerk Rebecca Hill. This had been the woman to read his guilty verdict for the court. At the time of Alex’s trial Rebecca was attempting to push a book she’d written on the case. Even with her position within the court and the vast amount of resources she must have had, she still plagiarized the book, resulting in the publication being taken off of shelves.

The request for a new trial had to see its way through the South Carolina Supreme Court. The motion that was filed in October 2023 accused Rebecca Hill outright of jury tampering. They believed that she had advised the jury against lending Alex’s defense or any evidence presented in his favor any credence. According to their filing, she pressured them into a quick guilty verdict for her own personal gain. She’s supposed to have misrepresented material information to the judge so she could have a juror removed. This juror is said to have leaned more favorably towards the defense, leading to this action. After the trial they say that she flew to New York with three of the jurors for their post-trial television interviews and even gave them the business cards of journalists to speak with.

A three-day-long evidentiary hearing was scheduled for January 29, 2024 at the Richland County Courthouse. Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian passionately delivered their evidence of jury tampering to no avail. In a sworn statement Rebecca Hill denied the allegations against her, stating that she never insinuated Alex’s guilt or led jury members towards their unanimous verdict. She was found to have had no influence over the guilty verdict he received. Alex was not granted a new trial and is still serving his longer-than-life sentence.

This story has almost become a cautionary tale of power and privilege. It’s one that bears repeating. While the American Justice system celebrated a victory in bringing Alex Murdaugh down, effectively putting an end to his life of crime, there are others still out there. Just because his case was unprecedented doesn’t mean he’s been the only one operating on his level. He was just the first of his kind to go down so spectacularly.

John Glatt’s Tangles Vines: Power, Privilege, and the Murdaugh Family Murders was an invaluable source for this series. If his financial crimes and the trials he faced because of them interest you I highly recommend it. If you are also interested in reading Alex’s jailhouse phone calls they can be found in his book on Amazon Kindle.