‘Murdaugh Murders’: The harrowing true story of lifeless household and lacking hundreds of thousands – Nationwide

In what can solely be described as actually impeccable timing, Netflix dropped their newest true-crime providing simply hours earlier than the principle character within the case was referred to as to the stand at his personal double-murder trial.

Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal was launched to the streaming platform Wednesday, someday forward of disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh being referred to as to provide testimony in his personal defence.

And whereas the title of the three-part documentary ostensibly references the 2021 killings of Alex Murdaugh’s son, Paul, and spouse, Maggie, the episodes concentrate on sequence of tragic accidents, mysterious deaths, brutal murders and monetary crimes that every one converged to take down a household that appeared to imagine they had been above the legislation.

The case at hand

Alex Murdaugh is at present on trial for the murders of 52-year-old Maggie and 22-year-old Paul. He’s accused of taking pictures Paul twice with a shotgun and Maggie 5 occasions with a rifle on the household’s looking lodge on June 7, 2021.

On Thursday, he tearfully instructed the South Carolina courtroom that he maintains his innocence, however admitted that he lied about when he final noticed his members of the family.

“I might by no means deliberately do something to harm both of them,” Murdaugh mentioned, tears working down his cheeks, mucous dripping out of his nostril.

Taking the stand 5 weeks into his trial, Murdaugh admitted he lied to police about being on the looking property’s canine kennels together with his spouse and son shortly earlier than the killings, however he blamed his dependancy to opioids for clouding his pondering and making a mistrust of state legislation enforcement brokers.

Prosecutors contend that Murdaugh killed his spouse and son as a result of he needed sympathy to purchase time to cowl up his monetary crimes that had been about to be found. He faces roughly 100 different costs — from stealing from shoppers to arranging his personal taking pictures on the aspect of a freeway.

And whereas Murdaugh’s trial will possible final no less than one other week, and it may very well be a while earlier than the jury shares a verdict, the downfall of the Murdaugh dynasty started a few years in the past.

The place the story begins

For 86 years, the Murdaugh household had been the unofficial rulers of South Carolina, with three generations controlling the native prosecutor’s workplace from 1920-2006 for the Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton, Allendale and Colleton counties.

Alex Murdaugh’s great-grandfather, grandfather and father all served because the area’s solicitor (generally known as a district legal professional in different states), whereas the remainder of the household ran a profitable litigation agency in Hampton, making the Murdaugh household highly effective on either side of the legislation.

And whereas Alex Murdaugh was not appointed solicitor, the docuseries examines how the civil litigation lawyer used his energy to affect and manipulate these round him.

The dying of Mallory Seashore

The documentary’s first episode takes a have a look at the occasions surrounding the dying of Mallory Seashore, the occasion which served as catalyst for the downfall of the Murdaugh household.

On Feb. 24, 2019, Paul Murdaugh, together with 5 associates, was travelling residence by boat after an evening of heavy consuming when he crashed right into a bridge footing, throwing them overboard. One of many teenagers, 19-year-old Seashore, went lacking and her physique was discovered washed up on shore 5 days later.

Murdaugh Murders interviews the opposite teenagers that had been on the boat that evening, together with Paul’s girlfriend Morgan Doughty, Seashore’s associates Miley Altman and Connor Cook dinner, and Seashore’s boyfriend Anthony Cook dinner. All of them say that Paul had been consuming excessively that evening and element how, after the accident, they witnessed Alex Murdaugh trying to make use of his affect and energy to guard his son.

The case gained a lot consideration that this was one scenario the Murdaugh household couldn’t management, and a month later Paul was indicted on costs of cruising beneath the affect.

Paul pleaded not responsible to a number of felonies, and in keeping with a number of documentary sources, tried to pin one in every of his associates because the boat’s driver that evening. The documentary additionally explores how Paul was not given a discipline sobriety take a look at, taken to jail for reserving, and even handcuffed.

The Seashore household filed a wrongful dying lawsuit towards the Murdaugh household and a listening to within the case was purported to go forward the primary week of June 2021. If discovered responsible, Paul was going through 25 years in jail. Nonetheless, he didn’t dwell lengthy sufficient to face court docket.

On June 7, Alex Murdaugh referred to as police to report that he discovered his spouse, Maggie, and Paul shot lifeless on the household’s looking property in Islandton, S.C. Murdaugh instructed investigators that he returned to the sprawling property late at evening after visiting his aged mom and located the our bodies of his spouse and son.

Police started investigating Paul and Maggie’s deaths and, two weeks later, on June 22, introduced that they had been reopening an investigation right into a 2015 dying of an area teen, citing new data gathered whereas investigating the deaths of the slain Murdaughs.

On July 8, 2015, the physique of 19-year-old Stephen Smith was discovered lifeless in the midst of Sandy Run Highway in Hampton County. Investigators dominated the dying of the overtly homosexual teen as a hit-and-run, however his household doubted the ruling from the start.

The documentary reveals how, in early August 2015, shortly after Smith’s dying, authorities obtained a number of suggestions that Smith and Buster Murdaugh, Alex’s eldest son, might have been concerned in a secret romantic relationship. Whereas there have been no latest updates from police within the reopened case, sources within the documentary allege that many within the space imagine that the Murdaugh household might have had one thing to do with Smith’s dying, and imagine the Murdaughs needed to cowl up a gay relationship tied to the household.

An tried hit job?

After Paul and Maggie’s deaths, issues shortly started to crumble for Alex Murdaugh.

On Sept. 3, 2021, companions at Murdaugh’s legislation agency, PMPED, accused him of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of {dollars} of shoppers’ funds and funnelling them into his personal coffers. WJCL experiences that the agency started investigating after they discovered a suspicious cheque on his desk.

The very subsequent day, after being confronted by a longtime good friend and fellow lawyer over the alleged theft, Murdaugh referred to as 911 from the aspect of a street close to his residence, telling the dispatcher he had been shot within the head. A shooter, he claimed, had pulled up beside him whereas he was inspecting a flat tire. The bullet had grazed his head, inflicting solely a superficial wound, and he was handled in hospital.

Two days after allegedly being shot at, Murdaugh issued a press release saying that he could be resigning from the legislation agency and getting into rehab, citing an opioid dependancy.

“The murders of my spouse and son have brought about an extremely tough time in my life. I’ve made a number of selections that I really remorse. I’m resigning from my legislation agency and getting into rehab after a protracted battle that has been exacerbated by these murders. I’m immensely sorry to everybody I’ve harm together with my household, associates and colleagues. I ask for prayers as I rehabilitate myself and my relationships,” learn Murdaugh’s complete assertion.

A serious confession

One week into his rehab therapy, Murdaugh confessed to police that he was the mastermind of his personal taking pictures. He instructed police that he had orchestrated his taking pictures as a part of a botched assisted suicide plot.

On Sept. 13, 2021, Murdaugh instructed police that he had employed a former consumer, distant cousin and drug supplier, 62-year-old Curtis “Cousin Eddie” Smith, to shoot and kill him. The rationale, he mentioned, was in order that Buster, his surviving son, might declare a $10 million life insurance coverage payout. Police arrested and charged Murdaugh and Smith, however Murdaugh was launched on bond and despatched again to rehab to complete his program.

Smith, to this present day, denies taking pictures Murdaugh. His lawyer, Aimee Zmroczek, instructed media final month: “I imagine that when he (Alex Murdaugh) lured Eddie out to the aspect of the street, he was gonna kill him and blame (the deaths of Paul and Maggie) on him … I firmly imagine that was what was gonna occur.”

One other mysterious dying

Two days after sending Murdaugh again to rehab, the South Carolina Regulation Enforcement Division (SLED) introduced they had been opening a prison investigation into the mysterious dying of the Murdaugh household housekeeper.

Two-and-a-half years after Stephen Smith’s dying on Feb. 26, 2018, longtime housekeeper for the Murdaugh household, Gloria Satterfield, died.

In keeping with the Satterfield property lawyer, Eric Bland, her dying was described as a “journey and fall accident” on the Murdaugh residence, the place she had served for greater than 20 years as an worker.

In keeping with a pair of affidavits launched on Oct. 16, 2021, Murdaugh allegedly went to Satterfield’s sons following her dying, beneath the guise of altruism, and satisfied them to sue his insurance coverage corporations with the promise he would admit fault so they might get a big settlement. The sons mentioned they didn’t see a dime of the cash and claimed Murdaugh conspired with two fellow legal professionals to have the insurance coverage payout diverted to his personal account.

A month later, on Nov. 19, 2021, Murdaugh was charged with virtually 30 counts over the Satterfield wrongful dying settlement. His bond was set at $7 million and he remained in jail.

At a listening to the next month, Murdaugh’s lawyer mentioned his consumer agreed to pay $4.3 million to the Satterfield household.

The documentary speaks with Satterfield’s household, who imagine her dying was not investigated correctly and have suspicions of foul play by the Murdaugh household.

Final yr, authorities introduced plans to exhume Satterfield’s physique. (As of this writing, it’s not publicly recognized if this was ever accomplished.)

“The decedent’s dying was not reported to the Coroner on the time, nor was an post-mortem carried out. On the dying certificates the style of dying was dominated ‘Pure,’ which is inconsistent with accidents sustained in a visit and fall accident,” the coroner’s request to the legislation enforcement division mentioned.

Murdaugh’s eventual homicide costs

Via December of 2021 and into January of 2022, dozens extra prison costs piled up towards Murdaugh, all referring to allegations of defrauding shoppers of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}. By the tip of January 2022, Murdaugh confronted 71 costs stemming from accusations that he defrauded victims of practically $8.5 million in numerous schemes.

Between January and June of 2022, issues had been quiet. Murdaugh was indicted on 4 extra crimes associated to a scheme to defraud a number of insurance coverage corporations in March. Whereas all of this was occurring, Murdaugh remained in jail.

Throughout this time, investigators instructed media that Murdaugh was an individual of curiosity within the murders of Paul and Maggie, and no further suspects had been named.

On July 12, the South Carolina Supreme Courtroom introduced that Murdaugh had been disbarred and two days later, on July 14, Murdaugh was indicted on two counts of homicide and two weapons counts in reference to the killings of his spouse and son.

What’s occurring now?

Between final summer time’s costs and now, Murdaugh has been charged with additional monetary crimes associated to tax evasion, cash laundering and laptop crime.

On Jan. 23, Murdaugh’s trial for the murders of his spouse and son started in Walterboro, S.C.

This week, Buster Murdaugh took the witness stand for the defence and testified that his father was “destroyed” by the deaths of Paul and Maggie.

In the meantime, the docuseries’ filmmakers, Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason, say they’ve uncovered further crimes since they started placing the sequence collectively within the fall of 2021 — they usually’re hoping Netflix greenlights a second season of the present.

“There may be a lot extra to inform on this story,” Furst instructed Vainness Truthful. “There are further crimes which have occurred that now we have the inside track on — corruption that goes far wider than Hampton, South Carolina. That goes to the state and to the federal degree.”