Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Dynasty

 

Where or how do you even begin to tell the story of disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh? I mean this man, and his actions have all but single handily destroyed literally a family empire that last well over a hundred years. His family was so powerful the area in a five county district was called “Murdaugh Country.” They even had to remove a picture of one of his ancestors in the courthouse during his murder trial in 2023 as not to taint the jury or anyone else.

I have had such difficulty in pulling this together that I have started, erased and restarted this story three times now. So, this time around I am going to try something different and more like a previous blog. I am going to tell you the story, basically as it happened and then we will analyze things. Now, some will tell you that know the story that if I am going to start at the beginning I should start with the Stephen Smith case in 2015 or the Gloria Satterfield case in 2018. I will mention these two cases closer to the end but I am going to start in 2019 and a boating accident because in my opinion that was the event that would ultimately bring Alex Murdaugh down.

In the early morning hours of February 24, 2019 (which just so happens to be my birthday) six young people were on a boat that crashed into a bridge just outside Parris Island South Carolina. Anthony Cook had been in the back of the boat with his girlfriend, Mallory Beach. At the wheel of the boat was Paul Murdaugh who may has well been South Carolina royalty in the area. Next to Paul was Anthony's cousin Connor Cook. Just in front of them were their girlfriends, Morgan and Miley.

Anthony and Mallory were thrown out of the boat while the others were thrown around inside the boat. The four still inside the boat had varying degrees of injuries with apparently Paul having the least amount. Anthony had been able to swim to the surface and it seemed apparent fairly quickly that Mallory could not be found.

The authorities were called, the investigation began and a massive search started for Mallory. When asked, everyone at the scene, except Paul himself, told authorities that Paul had been driving the boat at the time of impact. Immediately it seems that survivors and families noticed something shady because they were hearing that officers were relaying that there was a question as to who had been driving. Save for Mallory, who was still missing, and Anthony who would not leave the scene until she was found, the rest of the boat victims were sent to the hospital.

Family members soon realized that Alex Murdaugh, Paul's father, was on the scene and was doing “damage control.” He did what he often did, he told everyone to trust him and he would take care of everything. In other situations this had worked for him. And in most situations people allowed the Murdaugh's to handle things. They were trusted and relied upon. There was a belief that they knew what they were doing and it gave them the ability to do the things they needed to do for themselves. But, this was different and it seems all of the families knew it. On March 3^rd, after many days of searching the body of nineteen year old Mallory Beach was found. This was now a criminal investigation.

Alex Murdaugh and his family were experts at skirting the law, “paying” people monetary or otherwise off, and making things go away. And they had the pull, the resources and the charisma some would say to do it. The morning after the crash while Mallory's family were told they could not go near the water, John Marvin Murdaugh, Alex's brother, was allowed to go in and remove the boat and take possession of it. While it was not thought about at the time, years, and many incidents later it is thought that things like this were done to contaminate scene so things were confusing. The more confusing the situation, the less that could be clear and the more convinced someone could be when a Murdaugh said something. I mean come on... they are law abiding people and they would not do anything wrong!

Mallory's death complicated things for Alex. He likely went into the hospital that night first just trying to “muddy the waters” so to speak. He wanted there to be confusion as to who was driving the boat. It may have been his family's boat but he could settle that. He probably figured the most his son would face was a charge of underage drinking. They could not charge him with driving the boat if they could not prove he was driving the boat and if he got everyone else to be quiet he could let that confusion come in. The first problem was that the others were not keeping quiet.

It seemed apparently to in particularly Connor and his parents that the plan was to make it look as if Connor was driving the boat or as I said, at the very least plant the seed that it was possible. They were not going to take that sitting down when everyone knew that Paul was not only the one driving the boat while intoxicated but that the others had attempted to prevent him from doing so. When they had tried Paul had become belligerent, which according to them was not unusual when he was intoxicated, and in turn had pressed harder on the accelerator and soon lost control of the boat.

Before the end of March the family of Mallory Beach filed a wrongful death lawsuit. It has been amended many times since its original filing and is often the case there are several people involved. Included was the owner and clerk of a convenient store that had sold Paul alcohol as he used his brothers identification. Alex and his wife Maggie were also named as it was said they not only allowed Paul to drink despite being underage they often provided alcohol for him. On April 18^th Paul Murdaugh was charged with three felony counts, one of boating under the influence and two counts of boating under the influence causing great bodily injury. Paul pleaded not guilty and was released on bail. It is unclear where this case stood in June of 2021.

Just after ten at night on June 7, 2021 Alex Murdaugh made a 911 call. He reported that he had just returned to his home, a “hunting lodge” named Moselle with over 700 acres in Islandton South Carolina, some sixty-five miles west of Charleston, to find his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul, dead on the property. In the 911 call, later that night while talking to authorities and over the next few days Alex would mention that Paul had received threats regarding the boating accident and he was certain this was related. Paul had been shot twice, once in the chest and once in the head, while Maggie had been shot five times, two of which, one in the chest and one in the head, would have been immediately fatal. Both bodies were located near the area the family called the kennels. Paul was near the kennels themselves while Maggie was a bit further away and in a position that indicated she had been running away. By all accounts the authorities took statements, gathered a bit of evidence (we will get into that) at the scene and although the investigation was ongoing, released everything the following day.

Three days later, and the day before the scheduled funeral of Maggie and Paul, Randolph Murdaugh III, the patriarch of the family and Alex's father died of “natural causes” at the age of eighty-one. I dug into this a bit only because I knew that there was talk of him being sick and in and out of the hospital during the time of the murders but I had also heard the word “terminal” related to him. I mean I suppose we are all “terminal” in the end but generally that word is associated with a disease.

Then, at least from the general public and the media standpoint things seemed to be quiet a while. On the evening of September 4, 2021 Alex Murdaugh made yet another 911 call. This time he told the dispatcher that he had stopped on the side of a rural road to fix a flat tire when a truck pulled up next to him and shot him in the head. The wound ended up being a superficial wound but it made the news, local and national. Some people were convinced the Murdaugh's must be cursed and others knew that many things happening in that short period of time did not appear to be coincidental. And something felt off. Authorities knew more than the general public and they felt the same. Two days later Alex made a public announcement that he was entering a rehabilitation center in Florida.

On September 14^th a man named Curtis Edward Smith, a distant cousin of Alex's and later nicknamed “Cousin Eddie” was arrested for conspiring to kill Alex so that Alex's son, Richard, aka Buster, would receive his ten million dollar life insurance. It was later said that Alex allegedly believed there was a clause in the insurance that would have prevented Buster from receiving the money if he committed suicide. I simply do not think I believe that theory. He was a lawyer for Pete's sake, he knew how to read things and knew exactly what he was doing... but whatever. Two days later, while still in rehab Alex too was charged with fraud and conspiracy charges relating to the shooting event but was allowed to return to rehab after turning over his passport.

On October 14^th after leaving rehab Alex was arrested on two counts of obtaining property by false pretenses. This came about when it was discovered that Alex had filed an insurance claim on behalf of his housekeepers children and instead of giving them the money, some $4.3 million by the way, he had kept it for himself. The housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, had allegedly fallen on the Moselle property on February 2, 2018 and died on the 26^th without ever regaining conciseness. He was held without bail, pending a mental evaluation until December when his bail was set at seven million. I suspect it was set that high because the idea of bail is that generally it should be high enough that there is some kind of burden attached to it or an incentive to return to court. The Murdaugh's had money, or at least that was the thought. In addition to that calls were being recorded in the jail and there was already evidence that money and assets were being moved around. Alex had given Buster power to do things and then all but instructed him on what to do so in November the judge put a freeze on the assets that his attorneys failed to get the judge to remove. The bail was too high for him to make so he remained in jail.

On July 14, 2022 the grand jury indicted Alex Murdaugh on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon in a violent crime. Of course this was related to the murders of his wife and son, some thirteen months earlier. He pleaded not guilty and he, through his attorneys adamantly denied even being on property at the time of the murders. An overwhelming theme from the defense attorneys was that Alex was not only not guilty of murder he had not even been down near the kennels at all the evening of the murders. They continued to insist that that murders must be related to the boating accident and they severely criticized the South Carolina Enforcement Division (SLED) officers who had conducted the investigation. Keep in mind that many people involved in law enforcement, and the legal community could not work on the case because the family was so well known and it constituted a conflict of interest.

It seems that every few months more charges were being filed against Alex in cases involving money laundering, wire fraud and theft due to more and more cases in which Alex had taken money from clients or the law firm itself over a period of a few years. Alex's murder trial took place from January 25^th until March 2, 2023. However as of July 2023 he has or is facing more than 102 grand jury charges. These charges relate to the September 4^th case involving his shooting, drug charges pertaining to his addiction and his ability to obtain gain opioids as well as charges involving the thefts from clients.

In the meantime at least two other cases had been re-opened. The first was the death of Gloria Satterfield in 2018. She had been with the family for more than twenty years. Paul's friends said if there was anyone on the planet that Paul adored, it was Gloria. It was said that she all but raised him, more than his parents. The initial story was that she tripped over one of the Murdaugh's dogs coming down the stairs and hit her head on the steps. Maggie called 911 and she was taken to the hospital where as I stated earlier she never regained conciseness and died on February 26^th. It was later, much later, discovered that the coroner was never called and an autopsy was not performed. In fact, her death certificate stated she died of natural causes, despite that obviously not being the case. Whether Alex was present when she was there or not seems to be a mystery. It was initially believed that he was not at the home at the time, but in the years since he has made statements that indicate either he was present or he knows way more about what happened than anyone has ever revealed. Gloria Satterfield had two sons, one of which has been described as being mentally disabled. They were young and naive and as I have said prior Alex had a way of saying things and getting people to believe him. Alex convinced them that he would file against his own home owners insurance company for the boys to get them a settlement. And, he did just that through his law firm. He even took advantage of a clause in the policy that would pay out more. He spoke to at least one of the boys from time to time but always told them “a little bit longer,” “a little bit longer.” It was not until sometime in 2021 that it was discovered Alex had recovered $4.3 million and had kept it all.

The other case that has garnered attention was the case of nineteen year old Stephen Smith. His body was discovered in the middle of a rural road on July 8, 2015 by a man who happened to be driving by. Stephen had been a classmate of Buster Murdaugh's and was openly gay. An autopsy was performed and his cause of death was said to be “blunt head trauma sustained in a motor vehicle crash.” His manner of death was listed as “undetermined.” This means they could not determine whether his death was an accident, suicide or murder. In March of 2023 SLED announced that they are still investigating Stephen's death but have now called it a murder. Stephen's car was found a few miles from his body and out of gas and it was initially thought, and it still could be true, that he was walking home after this. Authorities say that there was no debris or skid marks in the area and that his injuries did not seem consistent with being struck by a car.

Some have questioned what the Murdaugh's have to do with the Stephen Smith case and officially authorities have not said that they are involved. Suspicion fell on them but it appears it only happened after all of the other things had come out. It was said that Stephen Smith and Buster Murdaugh were friends and that Stephen may have tutored Buster. For his part Buster has denied being involved in Stephen's death and it appears even Stephen's mother's attorney, who has helped spearhead this investigation and get it started has also said in essence that there is no evidence that a Murdaugh is involved but is happy the case has been reopened to find an answer. I have also heard stories that when Stephen's body was discovered and authorities were on the scene John Marvin Murdaugh, Alex's brother and Buster's uncle, also went to the scene. His presence has been questioned but nothing has been determined.

So now that I have addressed the two other elephants in the case, let's move back to the other cases, more importantly the murder case. As I stated in the beginning I believe that the boating accident in February of 2019 was really what not only brought everything to light but ultimately resulted in the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh. Sure, Alex Murdaugh had been already been stealing money from clients. Both Stephen Smith and Gloria Satterfield had died. Then again depending on what happened in either of those cases or if we believe there was foul play involved or the Murdaugh's were responsible it did not cause his house of cards to fall.

There is a two word phrase in the world of law that is very powerful. That phrase is “but for.” The death cases of Stephen Smith and Gloria Satterfield would not have been reopened “but for” the boat crash. Maggie and Paul Murdaugh would likely be alive “but for” the boat crash. And you will see that Alex's financial issues, in the current setting would have remained quiet, “but for” the boat crash. Now, am I saying that none of this would have ever come out and been exposed if the boat crash never happened? Absolutely not. I believe it all would have been exposed sooner or later because something else would have replaced the boat crash in our “but for” scenarios.

Alex knew when he walked into that hospital that night to do damage control that his finances for lack of a better phrase were a hot mess and most believe at that point he is the only one who knew it. He knew what a large civil suit would do and that he would likely be named. He also knew that if his son faced criminal charges he would be expected to pay for and provide him with the best defense, so that was going to be more money he would have to produce. His best bet that night was to do what he did best... charm the people, get them on his side and let him handle things. But even that first night this case was too big for him. There were too many people that he would have to manipulate and make sure they stayed that way. He had to get law enforcement officers, all of the other people on the boat AND their families, even the doctors and nurses at the hospital on his side, listening to him, for it to work.

As I pointed out earlier, the fact that Mallory was then found deceased complicated matters that much more. Now it is a criminal case which means more people getting involved in the case, bigger risks, and less chance people are going to comply with his wishes. This also makes the chances that there are going to be criminal charges and possibly multiple civil law suits higher. Some could try to argue that this did not necessarily really have to affect Alex. Sure, he could be held liable for some level because he was the owner of the boat, or even when we consider that the current lawsuit accuses Alex and Maggie of basically facilitating Paul's drinking. He could have possibly played his financial game with money and gotten away with it for a little while longer if people did not get curious or suspect. He would have had to settle fast though and use that charm to get it done quickly. But, the risk was bigger than that. He would be expected to provide the best defense money could by for his son and to take on every financial burden of the civil suit.

There was story that went around after he was charged in the murders of Maggie and Paul that sometime in April of 2021 Maggie had met with a divorce attorney in Charleston. Now, I truly do not know if this was ever verified and while I admit that I missed quite a bit of the trial, especially in the beginning, due to working and preparing to move to a new city, and then moving, I never caught wind that there was anything ever mentioned that Maggie was considering divorce. But, if this was true, his finances would have been looked into. It was said that while many assets were already in Maggie's name whether she knew it or not, she had nothing to do with the money and Alex handled it all. And he had been able to seemingly maintain their lifestyle without any question. Some suspect that if Maggie was considering divorce it had nothing to do with her knowing anything about the financial situation but more likely dealing with Alex's apparent drug addiction.

Let's talk about the addiction for a minute. I honestly do not believe that we will ever know the complete truth about it. According to Alex he had hidden it for twenty years from just about everyone. There was evidence that Paul, who the family had come to call “a little detective,” and Maggie knew so we can probably assume that Buster knew. Paul actually mentioned finding some pills belonging to Alex to his girlfriend at the time and talked about having a confrontation with him. He also indicated that it was not the first time he had found them. But beyond that little is known about who knew and how much they knew. But, after all of the issues about the theft from clients, the allegations that he set up his own murder, and then later the murder charges against him, everything was caused by this horrible and uncontrollable addition he had, at least according to him and his attorneys. Suddenly the drugs were the reason he stole; the drugs were the reason he lied to police officer on the night of the murders and continued to lie; the drugs made him paranoid of everyone. When he testified at his murder trial in his defense and was asked just how many pills he was taking a day he rattled off a number that was completely implausible. I do not dispute that the man likely had a drug problem but if we believe he was taking as much as he claimed he would have either been dead or unable to function without everyone around him knowing. This has also been said by many experts in the field. And yet he did not seem any different to those around him. No one claimed to see him lethargic or angry or moody or anything else.

Whether Maggie was thinking of filing for divorce or not, she was not spending a lot of time at the Moselle house. She was living nearly full time at a beach house they owned in Edisto Island, near Charleston. It is unclear what time of the day on Monday June 7, 2021 that Alex contacted Maggie, but he asked her to come to Moselle that evening and go with him to visit his ailing mother. It can only be assumed that this call occurred after Alex had received a call that his father was being taken back to the hospital, and this is important. But, that call did not occur until after a secretary at the law firm was questioning Alex about some strange transactions she had found.

The secretary would later testify at the trial saying that while no one expected to find what they eventually did in the records, and that everyone seemed to get alone great with Alex, there was a concern that with the civil suit from the boat crash, that was due to head back to court in a few days, that he would possibly attempt to move some assets to hide them because of the suit. The law firm was in essence just double checking that was not happening. They knew that any unsavory behavior Alex participated in or things that he did could reflect on the law firm and their goal was to keep their reputation. Initially she had just found a few things she was questioning him about and expected he would have a reasonable answer to. In the middle of this conversation with him Alex had received the call about his dad going back into the hospital. Everyone knew and loved Randolph and were truly heartbroken that it seemed he would not last longer. She testified that immediately after that call she was no longer his co-worker but his friend and the issue was dropped. Alex soon left the office.

In the meantime Maggie had called her sister who it was said she was very close to and told her about Alex asking her to come to Moselle that night. I saw much of Maggie's sister's testimony and this is also one of the reasons that I have questioned the story of Maggie going to a divorce attorney. She did not seem to act as if she thought Maggie was considering a divorce. Of course it is completely possible that Maggie had done it and told no one. Her sister did say that Maggie was not thrilled with the idea of going to visit with Alex's mother. It was unclear if there were issues there or she was simply uncomfortable because Elizabeth Murdaugh suffered (and apparently still does as of now) from late stage dementia and was obviously not the woman she once was. Her sister encouraged her to go and be there to support her husband.

Right up until the trial Alex continued to maintain that he had not been at the kennel area that evening until he had returned from his mother's home, found the bodies and called 911. Right out of the gate the prosecutors wanted to show that this was a lie and they reminded the jury repeatedly in their case and they had the proof. It had taken them a while but they had finally been able to get into Paul's phone and what they found completely tore apart the claim that Alex had not been in the area that evening. Not only had he been there, but from the prosecution theory he had been there just minutes before they believed Paul and Maggie were murdered.

Paul had a friend who was keeping his dog out at Moselle at the kennels. Paul had attempted to FaceTime the friend to talk to the dog but the area was not great for cell phone reception so Paul told the friend that he would make a video and send it to him. Paul made the video at 8:45 and seemingly finished it but never sent it to the friend. Prosecutors would say soon after this video was finished Paul's phone went silent “forever” and considering that it was said Paul was constantly on his phone during waking hours, and the fact he had taken the video but not sent it, they believe this is when he was killed. Prosecutors put the friend on the stand and then paraded several witnesses who knew the family quite well. The prosecutor played the video made by Paul once for the friend so that the jury could hear it for the first time. With subsequent witnesses he would simply asked them if they had seen the video. He would then ask if they hear the voice of Alex Murdaugh on the video and they all replied yes. It was not just a few words said on the video. Alex was playing with one of their dogs and talking to him and seemingly saying things to Maggie, and maybe even Paul. So now Alex is “busted.”

When it came time for Alex to testify in his own defense the very first thing he admitted to was the fact that he had lied about not being at the kennels that night. He blamed this on the drugs, saying they made him paranoid, particularly to law enforcement. Now, I do not believe this for a second. Alex had regular interaction with law enforcement within the community and he never seemed to be paranoid. He still maintained his innocence and claimed to have not seen or heard anything prior to going to his mother's home. Prosecutors would hammer the fact that if we were to believe him about not being the murderer but yet believe he was there just prior to it occurring, then it was likely that the murder, or murderers were nearby and watching. The defense had tried to maintain that since two weapons were used there were two shooters. I will touch on this soon, but at this point the prosecutors wanted to point out how unlikely it would be that the murderer, if it was not Alex, would allow him to leave the area. Why would they just not kill him too? But, if they did then in order for it to have happened so soon after he left then they had to be close. They asked if he noticed anything odd or heard anything.... no. Had the dogs, who were not always friendly to strangers reacted in any way to indicate someone was lurking around.... no. Alex maintained that after leaving the kennels he went back to the house, that was said to be about 1,000 feet away. And yet, he maintained he did not hear any gunshots, screams or even the noise of a vehicle. He tried to say when returning to the home he rested on the couch and tried to nap. Maybe this was his attempt to explain why he had not heard anything. Keep in mind that during all this time his phone had not moved, which like Paul, prosecutors pointed out through witnesses that Alex was always on his phone. But there is the video showing he was down at the kennels while his phone was not moving. Prosecutors argued that Alex purposely left his phone at the house so he could, and did, later say he was not down at the kennels. Right about 9:00 so just fifteen minutes after the video was taken and just after both Maggie and Paul's phone stopped moving, Alex's phone began moving again and was moving furiously. It was almost as if he was pacing, but he was moving around a lot. Alex claimed this was because he was “getting ready” to go to his mom's house. He even made texts and calls to both Maggie and Paul's phones.

It is this activity and his explanations that helped me believe in the prosecution theory that the murders had already occurred. His actions and his behavior make absolute no sense. We are supposed to believe that now that he has admitted to being at the kennels that he drove the golf cart (something they often did) back to the home, parked it, went inside and rested for less than 10 minutes (this was his explanation for his phone not moving a bit longer), suddenly got up and decided to go visit his ailing mother and furiously moved around getting ready. In the meantime he attempts to call and text Maggie, and although he says her not answering or responding right away was not unusual he does the same to Paul. Neither of their phones would show that those calls or texts were seen. His reasoning was that he wanted Maggie to know that he was headed to his mother's home. Now, remember, she had gone to Moselle that night when Alex asked because he wanted her to go with him to see his mother. So there is reason number one that it would be odd that he did not just go back down to the kennels and tell her personally and presumably see if she was going with him. Instead he gets in his car and he leaves the property. He had made all this effort to call and text their phones but he could not even stop down there to talk to them on his way out. Some argued that the exit to the property, or at least the main one was in the opposite direction of the kennels but I cannot be certain there was not another exit, even though personally, to me, that did not matter. Make a quick run down there, tell them your plans, see if they wanted to go with or better yet, just double check on them since they haven't answered their phones or texts. Witnesses had described him as always being on his phone and that no matter where he was or what he was doing if Maggie or his sons called, he stopped what he was doing to answer. This was in part of their description of how they felt he was a good husband and father. It just simply made no sense to me that he would not go that 1,000 feet back to the kennels to tell them something he allegedly so desperately wanted to tell them.

Paul's phone had been found under him and for the most part had absolutely quit moving or lighting up. There was a lot of this put out at the trial. But issue became Maggie phone. It was not found on her but off the side of the road outside the property. GPS and OnStar was available on the vehicle that Alex drove to his mothers. It showed he drove right past where Maggie's phone would later be found. Prosecutors, through all the data theorized that he had tossed the phone out on his way to visit his mom. Information also showed that he drove some 80 miles an hour to her home. Previous data showed that this was not a speed he usually drove and considering that it was night time most in the area agreed that those speeds were quite dangerous at night considering the fact that wild animals were often in the area and it was harder to see at night. Prosecutors believe that Alex drove as fast as he did so that later he could say it took “X amount of time” to get to his mothers, which was the case at normal speeds. By driving faster he would give his alibi more time.

He had not called his mother's home before arriving but when he got there he called the caregiver to tell her he was there. She let him inside and while Alex would claim to authorities that he had visited with her for a period of 30-40 minutes and she was awake the entire time, the caregiver would say the time was more like 20 and his mother had not been awake. She would later testify that Alex had attempted to convince her or to have her say to authorities he had been there longer. This would only be the first thing that fell off to the housekeeper. She would also testify that one morning, just after the murders, Alex had arrived at 6:30 in the morning carrying what was later thought to be either a rain jacket or tarp that was blue that seemed to have things wrapped inside. She was not aware of what Alex did with that or the items inside but he had not left with it. She also stated that he had never arrived at the home that early before and she had been with the family for many years.

His mother's caretaker was not the only person who would claim that Alex attempted to change their memory. The housekeeper at Moselle described the clothing that he had worn on the day of the murder but Alex attempted to tell her she was mistaken. The clothing she described, and prosecutors believe he was wearing with the murders occurred was never found and was not what he was wearing when authorities arrived after his 911 call. When asked on the stand about these clothes and where they could be located Alex fumbled around and mentioned how during the first several days after the murders he was staying at several different places, including with a friend, his brother, his mother...etc and he had clothing at all of these places.

The defense did good at pointing out that the investigation really was sloppy and not what it should have been. Authorities had not secured the scene at the kennels and lots of people had come through the area that night. In addition to that it had begun to rain which that in itself could have washed away evidence of foot prints and other things. But, authorities had covered the bodies, not with tarp like material but with sheet and that did not prevent the water from the rain from seeping through. In addition to that Paul's body had laid just outside the kennel shed. Water from the rain was coming off of the roof and either directly onto or at least splashing onto the sheet covering his body. Investigators never secured the house and not only allowed people inside who would basically clean up and move things but also allowed the family to remove items from the home and did not see what those things were. By the following morning they had released the scene at the kennels and had allowed the family to clean the area. Alex's brother John Marvin would later say that it was left to him to do the clean up and that he still saw brain matter, from Paul, in the area as well as other things he thought should have been collected. Authorities did ask permission within a few days to enter the home but it was very much a cursory search and they were not alone. It is unclear at what point they inventoried the guns there as there were several.

Having several guns in rural South Carolina, especially at a home described as a “hunting lodge” was not in the least bit unusual. There was a lot of discussion at the trial about wild hogs and how they were prevalent on the property. I am going to be fair and tell you that I do not remember every bit of this testimony but I know that the jest of it was that prosecutors presented witnesses who had hunted hogs on the property as well as their own and knew not just the process but also how things were done at Moselle. Why was this even an issue? As I recall it became one to show in essence that you did not go out on the property without a gun and one that would “do the job” so to say and it was presented in contrast to some information that Alex had given. The defense lost some ground here, which some could say, did it really matter, when they admitted they themselves knew little about hog hunting yet challenged a witness who was said to be the “expert” on hog hunting in the area. It was almost as if they, like Alex had often done in his life, were attempting to change the narrative or gaslight if you will the witness.

Then there became the issue with the guns. It was common knowledge that two guns had been used. Paul had been shot with a .22 caliber rifle and Maggie had been shot with a .300 Blackout assault rifle. The defense argued that two guns pointed to two shooters. This is not an uncommon theory, nor is it necessarily a wrong one to consider. They also of course maintained that no matter how many shooters there were, Alex was not one of them. They also argued that the fact that neither weapon had been found that the shooter, or shooters had taken the weapons with them. At face value and in a criminal case, where someone's life is on the line (although he was facing life and not the death penalty), if this was all that was alleged I would agree with the defense 100% or I suppose I would say that I would agree enough that I would not have voted for conviction. But, we were still left at that point with a few problems in the story. First, we have to believe that not only did Alex not see or hear one person or more now, but neither had the dogs when he was down at the kennels. We are also left with the idea, regardless of how many shooters there were that Alex claimed to not hear gunshots that night when there were at least seven shots fired.

Despite not finding the guns the prosecution was able to determine that the .300 Blackout assault rifle used to kill Maggie had belonged to the Murdaugh's. At some point Maggie and Alex had bought each of their sons this type of rifle for Christmas. At some point Paul was said to have lost his or it was stolen in 2017. There was conflicting reports as to whether Paul received a new one or if he simply started using Buster's. That weapon, one that was said to be kept at Moselle, was never found. But, it appears that near the house there had been a lot of target shooting going on and several shell casing were found piled up. Authorities gathered those casing, looked them over and compared them to the bullets fired that killed Maggie and Paul. They were able to determine that the rifle that killed Maggie had been used several times on the property previously. For me this was an “aha moment.” A .300 Blackout assault rifle was used in the murder of Maggie, the family owned such a weapon and no one could explain where it was, and that exact weapon had been fired on the property, near home, several times previous to the murders.

The defense wanted to argue that the time of death was off and that the murders occurred after Alex had left. They wanted to challenge the time of death. The coroner had estimated, based on body temperature that the deaths occurred between 9 and 9:30. But apparently even that too close for the defense as Alex did not leave the home until at least five after 9 and had made the 911 call about 10:06 and 10:07. They did not want Alex to be anywhere close when the shots were fired so they could excuse why he did not hear the shots themselves or see or hear anyone on the property. The prosecution of course believe that death occurred before Alex left and based their time based mainly on Paul's cell phone activity.

I would not be doing my “job” here if I did not mention one stance that the defense took or presented that was so ridiculous that I personally believed it showed them “grasping at straws” and in the end discredited them. As with any trial there was a “battle of the experts.” The prosecution experts claimed one thing and the defense presents their own expert who refutes that. One of their experts refuted the evidence prosecutors presented about Paul's head wound. The prosecution witness had described which was the entry and exit wounds. The defense witness said it was the opposite. I am not going to sit here and pretend I remember who said what or that I dug deep into that to determine but let's just say better experts for the prosecution were able to show based on the brain and blood splatter they were correct and explained it in layman's terms which is always a much better thing. But, the defense put on an expert who argued that there was no way the Alex could have shot Paul based on his height and the angle of the shot. Now, this was not a shot that had stippling (power that emits from the gun and onto or into the wound) indicative of a very close gunshot. No, Paul was shot from some distance away.... just how far is unknown. This witness had absolutely nothing to back their statement. Their argument was fully based on how tall Alex was. They seemingly refused to believe that a shooter could have been in any other position. No one knew how far the shooter was, where from their body the gun was shot, if the shooter was laying down or even on one knee. All of these things would have “changed” the height of the shooter so to say Alex was too tall was just simply preposterous.

There was a long period throughout the six week trial where one had to ask themselves if this was a murder case or a financial fraud case. The defense argued that none of the financial issues should be presented because first, they were not crimes that he had been convicted of, just yet, and second, that despite what the prosecution said, was ridiculous to consider as a motive for the murders. The prosecution argued throughout that it was the motive as the financial issues were his “house of cards” and was crumbling and that he had to hide it at all costs. The prosecution also argued that the financial issue showed Alex's character. The judge decided to have some witnesses testify without the jury present so he could determine what they were planning to say and whether he would allow it. This took a few days so while the jury was not privy to it, as someone who watched the trial I saw this. Later when the judge ruled in the favor of the prosecution we had to hear this testimony again only this time so did the jury. The judge agreed with the theory that the finances could have been a motive for murder despite the fact that the defense repeatedly, all the way until today I am sure, has expressed they find that idea ludicrous. But, the judge also allowed it saying the defense had “opened the door” to allowing it. The defense wanted the jury to hear what a good and caring husband and father Alex was. They wanted to plant the idea that he would have never murdered his wife and son. So they would ask the witnesses what kind of man he was and about his character, but they did not want the witnesses to mention the financial things and the judge ruled, correctly I feel, that hindered the witness and gave an unclear picture since many argued he seemed to be a good husband and father but he had stole a lot of money that they were unaware of until later and that had made them question everything.

Before the trial the general public had been made aware that on September 3, 2021 things had come to a head at the law firm Alex not only worked at but his family had literally built. He had first been confront on the day that his wife and son would later die but with everything going with that, and with the death of his father soon after, things were put on the back burner for a bit. As things settled the law firm began digging deeper and what they found astounded them. Alex had been misappropriating funds and stealing money from clients for years. He had some questionable bank loans and in addition to all of that he was in debt, WAY past his eyeballs. I mean we are talking that he had stolen several million dollar that was either due to clients or were technically the possession of the law firm that held money for clients. I cannot even go through all of the allegations and who he swindled, but let's just say, there was a lot. Many of the people involved had been close friends of his and they had no idea what was going on. If they had ever had a question Alex was Alex and sweet talked his way through it and figured out how to ease their concerns. You know the saying “rob Peter to pay Paul”? Well, that is what he would do if something raised a flag to someone. But he was in way, way too deep by the time it all ended. Many of his friends no longer consider themselves that and co-workers from the law firm are extremely bitter. His actions reflected badly on them as a firm and inadvertently on them individually and affected their own lifestyle. In the end the law firm changed their name to no longer be associated with the Murdaugh name, something that until then they had been extremely proud about. On September 3^rd everything had ended for him and he resigned from the law firm. He would soon have his law license suspended. In July of 2022 the South Carolina Supreme Court officially and permanently disbarred him.

Many experts watching the trial were concerned when the judge allowed the financial crimes to be mentioned. Rule 402 in South Carolina discusses the issue of evidence that should not be permitted in a trial and many believed that this was possibly a huge win of sorts to the defense as a violation of that rule. Most believed that if the trial ended in a conviction that an appeal would easily be won based on a 402 violation. Those same experts stopped believing that when Alex Murdaugh took the stand and openly admitted to the financial crimes.

Most defendants who insist on testifying in their own defense do so because they are confident that they can win the jury over, and I guarantee Alex Murdaugh believed that with his whole heart. He got up on that stand and he admitting to lying about being at the kennels; he admitted his drug use; he admitted to all of the financial crimes but he still adamantly stated he did not murder his wife and son. It was not just that he admitted to some things and denied the murders. He was very clear about the things he did surrounding the drug use, the lying, the stealing and pretty much everything else he ever did in life. But when it came to the night of the murders and anything that could have pointed to him being the perpetrator he suddenly became wishy washy. He appeared to cry on the stand a few times but everyone, including jurors, would see tears and felt that it was a performance. And really it was. Much like so many other defendants who testify no one could shut him up. He did not just answer the questions like someone is supposed to do.... and remember.... he had been a lawyer all his life... he rambled and went on and on, often digging his own hole.

In their closings the prosecution focused on the timeline, the lies he told, and the money he'd stolen. They could not reasonably say that they knew exactly why Alex murdered them. Was it because they knew something? Was it because they soon would and he did not want them to know? Was it because Maggie had possibly talked of divorce lately or the “little detective” that was Paul was digging himself? Was it because Paul's involvement in the boat accident was causing him enough financial strain things were going to come out and Maggie was just collateral damage? Was it simply done because he knew the heat was coming since that very day there had been questioned posed to him and if his family died he would garner sympathy and at the very least these inquiries would go away for a bit? Which keep in mind, that did happen. Did he believe with Paul gone that the boat case would go away? It did not. I could say that it is possible that Alex was paranoid as he claimed about some things, I do not think it was due to the drugs he was taking or at least to the point they affected his thinking.

The defense argument was simple. He did not do it, he did not know who did and if he did know he would have told. They argued that the prosecution theories were ridiculous and that Alex loved and adored his family and would have never ever done this. They wanted the jury to believe that this man, while they had to admit had stolen from client and in the end disbarred had only concocted his own killing because he was so distraught and depressed about the murders of his wife and son but not to the point that he was that way because he was responsible.

It took the jury just three hours to come to a verdict. Many have criticized this time saying that after six weeks of trial and all of the evidence presented they could not have come to a conclusion that fast and adequately looked at the evidence. These are the types of people who I suppose simply do not take into account that while they are not to talk to others or even each other throughout the trial they are absorbing all of the evidence while it is being presented and when it is all over they have come to a conclusion in their minds. They are no different than you and I when we hear a story. Certain things stick out that cause us to lean one way or another and we wait to see if something else comes up to explain that to us or change or thinking. Apparently these jurors were the same. They returned to the courtroom and found Alex Murdaugh guilty in the murders of Maggie and Paul.

The following day Alex was back in the courtroom for sentencing. The judge himself expressed that he believed the jury made the right decision and he felt there had been overwhelming evidence proving his guilt. He then sentenced him to two life sentences, to be served concurrently, meaning one right after the other. There were some minor years added in for the firearm charges but they are served consecutively, at the same time, so they did not add any years to his time. The defense immediately announced they planned to appeal and as of today in July of 2023 I have only seen that they have officially filed notice but nothing more.

I want to mention two more things before we end and then I promise I will close this. If you have not been able to tell already I have the ability to go on and on. One of my bucket list items is to “write the great American novel” before I die. Often I feel as if I am off to a great start. At any rate... here are the last things to discuss.

I learned two new words when researching this case. They are Uxoricide and Mariticide. Receptively they refer to the killing of ones wife or girlfriend and the killing of ones husband or boyfriend. In all of the case I have read about or seen on television I had never heard this phrase so I suspect that it is possibly something new.

The next and last thing I want to talk about is the remaining family members in the Murdaugh family. Buster and at least one of his uncles, John Marvin as I recall testified for the defense at the trial. Most of John Marvin's testimony revolved around the investigation and what he saw when he went to the kennel area to clean up. Buster's testimony was more about his relationship with his father and his belief in his innocence really. Few family members have given interviews at all at this point. Fox Nation has recently announced that they will be airing a three part series on this case and for the first time Buster will be interviewed. Recently more jail house calls have been released between Buster and Alex and they seem to have a different tone to them as previous calls. One is left to wander that since Alex has been convicted now if the trial changed Buster's mind in any way as to his guilt or innocence and if he is possibly coming to a point in which Alex can no longer manipulate him. I did find an article that apparently some time after Alex had testified at his trial, his brother, Randy stated that he believes that Alex has not told the entire truth about what he knows about the murders. I am unsure that was elaborated on at all, but the statement itself seems curious. From my understanding while brother, John Marvin, was not a member of the law firm, Randy is so that may affect his thinking also.

Alex Murdaugh is not going away just yet. He still has pending charges dealing with the financial issues as well as those pertaining to drugs and his “assisted suicide.” It is unclear whether he will simply make deals and plea to them or take any of them to court but we are going to be hearing about the Murdaugh's for a long time yet.