Murdaugh Murders

Filmmakers Jenner Furst and Jennifer Willoughby Nason are well acquainted with true-crime tales. Their Emmy-nominated Hulu docuseries Fyre Fraud dug into the ...

In the docuseries, survivors of the crash allege that Alex spent the hours following the accident trying to line up their stories and point blame away from his son. (Alex’s lawyer [says](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/us/alex-murdaugh-shooting-arrest.html#:~:text=A%20day%20after%20he%20was,Mr.) a large portion of the money was used to pay for painkillers.) It was also shortly after Alex was allegedly shot in the head by a former client. We’re hoping that that creates a tidal wave to unlock the rest of the story. “We chose [to tell the story] through the lens of these young people who find themselves at a turning point in history—not just for their generation, but for three generations prior in which this family has been able to get away with murder, literally and figuratively.” (Alex has maintained his innocence in the killing of his wife and son.) The killings happened shortly after Alex was (The man has denied shooting him.) Alex admitted to [asking the man to kill](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/us/alex-murdaugh-shooting-arrest.html#:~:text=A%20day%20after%20he%20was,Mr.) him so his son could collect an insurance policy. The filmmaker made Dune knowing that the first part was dependent on the second. Paul was charged with drunkenly crashing the vessel; at the time of his death, he was out on bail. “Things were at peak insanity,” recalls Furst, explaining that he and Nason had no intention of trying to chase the “absurd” and relentless news cycle. So when they began working on a three-part Netflix docuseries about Alex Murdaugh’s astonishing alleged crime saga—which unfurled in the same South Carolina territory where his family of prosecutors and lawyers have held powerful influence for over 100 years—they were uniquely suited to navigate bizarre headlines. [pushed out](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/us/alex-murdaugh-shooting-arrest.html#:~:text=A%20day%20after%20he%20was,Mr.) of his family law firm after they claimed he misused millions of dollars. It had been several months since Alex phoned 911 to report that his wife Maggie and son Paul had been brutally murdered—the murders for which Alex is currently standing trial.

Landing on Netflix as the trial of Alex Murdaugh continues, "Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal" will certainly benefit from its timeliness, but this ...

What “Murdaugh Murders” doesn’t do, ultimately, is make much of a case for watching it. The focus of the first two parts, rather, centers on the boat crash. Relying almost entirely on those involved to tell the story, the project has a slapdash feel from beginning to end, and finds the younger contingent, especially, to be poor narrators of what transpired.

The new true crime documentary looks at the boating death of Mallory Beach and the murders of Paul Murdaugh and his mother Maggie.

Later on, a detective from Colleton County Sheriff’s Office said that no blood was confirmed on the white shirt Murdaugh was wearing on the night of the murders. Murdaugh is facing approximately 80 charges for embezzlement and other fraud, including being accused of stealing money from his clients, according to the [subscribe now](http://radiotimes.com/magazine-subscription?utm_term=evergreen-article). [The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/live-alex-murdaugh-trial-timeline-b2278124.html). [a forensic scientist told the court](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/alex-murdaugh-raincoat-gunshot-murders-trial-b2277738.html) that 38 gunshot residue particles were found on the inside of a blue raincoat allegedly hidden in the home of Alex Murdaugh's parents, while a friend of Murdaugh's testified that he lied to him about going to the dog kennels that night. "A state grand jury was also empaneled to examine how officers investigated the crash." Altman said that when they then left the party at midnight, "Paul insisted on driving to a bar in downtown Beaufort". [The publication also reported](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/live-alex-murdaugh-trial-timeline-b2278124.html) that the prosecution claimed video footage taken of a dog by Paul minutes before his murder features three voices in the background. [$50,000 on drugs](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/alex-murdaugh-drugs-roadside-shooting-b2283714.html), while the jury were shown a video of Murdaugh being interviewed by police, reportedly showing [discrepancies between his alibi and witness accounts](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11754777/Bombshell-moment-Alex-Murdaugh-confronted-police-evidence-proving-crime-scene.html). The boat then crashed at 2:20am into the Archers Creek Bridge and Beach fell into the water. The authorities spent eight days searching for Beach's body and on 3rd March, volunteers found her five miles from the crash scene. I did him so bad."

The directors of the Netflix true crime documentary 'Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal' Jenner Furst, Julia Willoughby Nason break down the series.

Furst: We found ourselves in this position before, and we have the honor of working on behalf of the court of public opinion. But we wanted to include it to kind of take down the fourth wall, and it shows a cavalier aspect to him. But when we talk about the boat crash, and how we highlighted that for the majority of the series, it is interesting to see and hear in this trial how much Alex was interested in this crash. But in many ways, she is an angel of sorts — who becomes a martyr for a cause that has unfolded in the years to come — and reveals crimes that came before and after her death. Or are you waiting for the trial to reach a conclusion before making any decisions? And they wanted to partner with us to make sure the story is told the right way. But now there are all of these discoveries coming out, the videos and the audio of Alex, and it is exciting as filmmakers to see another trap door open. We knew that we had to construct a series that would need to exist and be relevant regardless of a trial or a verdict. But the idea that this trial, which we knew was coming, would fall right at the same time that our series would premiere was a level of serendipity that no one could have ever fathomed. Jenner Furst: This was a case that was playing out in the news, but when we finally hit the ground, Mike had already done this incredible work to meet members of the community and gain access. By September that year, it became clear in talking with Netflix that they wanted to understand our take, and if we could work to tell a story for their viewers. The most obvious one would have been to tell the story through Alex Murdaugh, a former solicitor who’s currently on trial for the 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.

Netflix's new true crime docuseries 'Murdaugh Murders' dropped on February 22. Here's what to know about Buster Murdaugh: His net worth, job, law career, ...

[ABC News](https://abcnews4.com/news/murdaugh-murders/lawyers-argue-murdaugh-sold-moselle-land-to-wife-illegally-family-must-turn-over-to-court). Brooklynn purchased the condo in 2021, a month after the Murdaugh murders, according to [Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/us/buster-murdaugh-living-south-carolina-ahead-fathers-murder-trial-exclusive-pics). Brooklynn works as an attorney at Olivetti, McCray and Withrow Law Firm, according to [their website](https://omwlawfirm.com/attorney/brooklynn-h-white/). Alex Murdaugh sold the family estate, Moselle, to Maggie for $5 in 2016. He was found with deep gashes to his head on a Hampton County road, according to "The Beach family feels very strongly that whatever their faults were, Paul and Maggie didn’t deserve what happened to them. They recently reached a settlement for a "significant amount" of money, which removed Buster and Maggie's names from the case, per the A local outlet, [The ](https://www.postandcourier.com/murdaugh-updates/alex-murdaughs-jailhouse-tapes-have-dried-up-what-did-they-tell-us/article_e103cea8-3061-11ed-a207-57bb967ad471.html) [Post and Courier](https://www.postandcourier.com/murdaugh-updates/alex-murdaughs-jailhouse-tapes-have-dried-up-what-did-they-tell-us/article_e103cea8-3061-11ed-a207-57bb967ad471.html), then reported that "the family had paid a well-connected Columbia lawyer, Butch Bowers, some $60,000 to help secure Buster’s readmittance." “He was heartbroken,” Buster testified in court, according to He told the court that the Murdaugh family had “a lot of guns” and his brother, Paul, left guns around the property more than anyone else, according to the “He has put his desire to go to law school on hold for now,” the Murdaugh's lawyer told The Post and Courier. He has been charged with their murders, but has maintained his innocence, pleading not guilty to the crimes.

The Murdaugh murders took place at 4147 Moselle Road in Islandton, South Carolina. Netflix's new docuseries highlights the scandals surrounding the family.

Proceeds from the sale will [reportedly](https://www.wsav.com/news/local-news/judge-approves-settlement-between-murdaugh-estate-and-beach-family/) go toward a settlement between the Murdaugh estate and the Beach family. In regards to the double murder, no arrests were made until more than a year later in July 2022 when Alex was indicted for the murders of his wife and son, for which he’s currently on trial. The Murdaugh family is also allegedly connected to other controversial and tragic cases, including the 2015 death of Stephen Smith and the 2018 death of Gloria Satterfield. [scandals](https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/g21051169/fixer-upper-chip-joanna-gaines-scandal/) and deaths surrounding the powerful, old-money Murdaugh family in South Carolina’s Lowcountry have attracted a surge in notoriety as of late. The 1,770-acre property was listed for sale in February 2022. Known as Moselle Farm, the property is located at 4147 Moselle Road. Alex Murdaugh’s wife and son were found dead at the family’s hunting lodge in Islandton, South Carolina. These killings became known as the Murdaugh murders and aside from being horrific, they likely gained even more media attention due to Paul Murdaugh's own ongoing trial, in which he was charged with a wrongful death suit for a fatal boat crash that occurred while he was boating under the influence. The surviving passengers are also included in the settlement. The latter also occurred at the family's Moselle estate. If you’ve tuned into any piece of the family’s story—from Alex Murdaugh's ongoing murder trial to Netflix’s new docuseries Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal—you likely want to know more about where the [murders](https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/a41059891/boise-murder-house/) took place and the state of the home now. Subsequent generations have served as solicitors and joined the family firm ever since.

But the most shocking moment comes in the first episode. A young girl, Mallory Beach, was missing after a boating accident. Her mother, Renee Beach, wanted to ...

And in one of those flats, up very high, a drone showed us, just for a second, the sturdy outline of an upright piano. It was the story of Ukrainian drones and the human stories that went with them. — and some of the criminal cases were still in train when the series was completed. Bella returned to her family home in Irpin — and to the family dog, Zara, who had been left behind when her parents left. Then Alex and Maggie Murdaugh — parents of Paul, the boy who had been driving the boat — arrived at the same scene and were waved through. Several people thought that the police did not really want Mallory’s body to be found, did not at first even want her parents told about the accident, because a Murdaugh was the prime suspect for her accidental but still allegedly unlawful death. We’ve already had several people who taught themselves the piano — from scratch — during lockdown. The police would not give her access to the site. This is the story told in the first episode of the factual series Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal (Netflix). For a start, the story is mostly told by local teenagers, who were involved in a drunken and fatal accident. But the most shocking moment comes in the first episode. Dead bodies, lies and corruption fairly pile up in the course of The Murdaugh Murders — there are three episodes in all.

Netflix's new true crime series, "Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal," explorers the various deaths of five people over the course of six years.

However, Paul, who was reportedly driving the boat while intoxicated, accidentally crashed it into a piling, according to both the docuseries and Three years after Stephen died, the Murdaugh housekeeper (who was a second mother to Alex Murdaugh's youngest son, Paul Murdaugh, according to Paul's ex-girlfriend, Morgan Doughty), Gloria Satterfield, was injured while working at the Murdaugh house and later died. Maggie had been shot several times in the chest and back. Five of the teens were thrown from the boat and suffered serious to mild injuries, but the sixth person on the vehicle, 19-year-old Mallory Beach (pictured left in the above photo), never surfaced. [The Post and Courier](https://www.postandcourier.com/news/sc-hospital-found-paul-murdaugh-had-high-blood-alcohol-level-after-2019-boat-crash/article_54497f7a-e63f-11eb-8cc1-4f96b1c99b6d.html). (However, there does not appear to be any new updates about the exhumation at this time.) And no autopsy was performed [at the time]." The 19-year-old had severe head trauma and, as one of the troopers there that night said in the documentary, "Nothing at the scene appeared that it was a vehicular accident." Buster, and possibly one or two other people, who happened to be in the area, pulled up and offered him a ride. Morgan Doughty, Paul's girlfriend, shared that Alex Murdaugh was addicted to painkillers and Gloria had allegedly found drugs taped underneath Alex's bed. Stephen's case went cold, and when a private investigator hired by Stephen's mother dug into the murder, he spoke with many people who all said they had heard Buster Murdaugh — Alex Murdaugh's eldest son — allegedly committed the crime. However, there are more deaths involved with the wealthy and somewhat notorious Murdaugh family from South Carolina.

During the fifth week of the double murder trial of Richard "Alex" Murdaugh, Netflix premiered its docuseries, "Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal."

HBO Max debuted its three-part docuseries, "Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty," in November. Murdaugh has already signed a $4.3 million confession of judgment in one lawsuit involving the Gloria Satterfield Estate. Along with the criminal charges, a slew of civil court cases have been filed against the disbarred South Carolina attorney. Murdaugh did not respond to requests for an interview from the filmmakers. The presence of high-velocity impact spatter on Murdaugh's clothes indicates that he was with one of the victims at the time of their death. 23 and is expected to last for another week or so. The third episode of the docuseries presents evidence that Alex Murdaugh was at home at the time of Paul and Maggie's deaths. While this doesn't prove Murdaugh is responsible, it does dispute his account of the evening. Some wondered if the killer might've been motivated by a desire to avenge Beach's death. and discovered his wife, 52, and son, 22, had been shot near the dog kennels on their property. on June 7, 2021 and didn't see either of his family members. He then texted his wife and son that he was going to visit his ailing parents.

Netflix's Murdaugh Mysteries: A Southern Scandal unpacks the many crimes of Alex Murdaugh. Here is everything you need to know about the true story.

Ultimately the wound was just a graze and Murdaugh was released from the hospital that day. He was a known associate and occasional friend of Buster and several interviews in Murdaugh Murders mention cite rumors that the pair had a romantic relationship. 4, 2021, Murdaugh called 911 to report that he had been shot in the head while he was changing a tire on the side of the road. While SLED (and documentaries the world over) delve into the circumstances of Smith’s death, there is currently no public-facing evidence for the Murdaugh family’s involvement in his murder. Smith was a high school classmate of Murdaugh’s son Buster (not the currently deceased one) and was found dead from blunt force trauma on the side of the road in 2015. Several of these clients were deceased victims of vehicular accidents who Murdaugh sued on behalf of and then never delivered the winnings to their next of kin. It turns out that Alex Murdaugh had a nasty habit of winning financial settlements on behalf of his clients and then just keeping the money. Revelations that have come out since Murdaugh’s arrest, however, suggest that Alex may have been attempting to create a distraction to forestall the collapse of the house of cards that was his life. Thanks to what came next, however, the death of Mallory Beach was merely the opening salvo of a larger story. Paul is the platonic ideal of the “spoiled rich boy” archetype and the police arriving on the scene of the accident certainly treated him as such. In 2019, that all finally started to change thanks to the actions of one dipshit Murdaugh: Alex. Murdaugh Murders does an excellent job of telling this massive tale but it still might be helpful to run through the real life story of Alex Murdaugh, the Murdaugh family, and the many people they hurt.

Starting with the 2019 death of Mallory Beach in a drunken boating accident involving teenager Paul Murdaugh, the series tracks the four years that follow, ...

Prosecutors believe Alex – who was crying on the tape – said "I did him so bad" and in theory admitted responsibility to the shooting. "Alex wants his family, friends and everyone to know that he did not have anything to do with the murders of Maggie and Paul. The defence also argue that Alex couldn't have possibly killed them due to evidence in the bullet trajectory present in the fatal injuries. Between October 2021 and his eventual arrest in July 2022 for the murders, Alex was indicted on 81 separate charges – including fraud, embezzlement, money laundering and running a painkiller ring. The Satterfield family claim they never received a penny of the supposed $4million settlement (via However, defence argues he said "they did him so bad", simply commenting on the horrific injuries Paul sustained after getting shot. He was married to wife Margaret, and they had two sons – Richard (aka "Buster") and Paul. Alex has pleaded not guilty to the murders. In January 2023, this lawsuit was settled out of court (via "I am immensely sorry to everyone I've hurt, including my family, friends and colleagues. I'm resigning from my law firm and entering rehab after a long battle that has been exacerbated by these murders. While Murdaugh Murders does its best to cover everything as best they can, with such a short run time there was quite a lot of detail left out.

Alex Murdaugh, center, sits with his attorneys during his double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse on Thursday, February 16, 2023, in Walterboro, ...

Cooke testified Wednesday Murdaugh’s legal team saw the case as “defensible.” To him, it amounted to a case accusing Murdaugh of “negligent parenting.” Newman previously ruled to allow the evidence after prosecutors argued Murdaugh killed Maggie and Paul to distract attention from his purported misconduct, which the state contends was about to be revealed at the time of the 2021 fatal shootings. Cooke also rebutted the state’s framing of the June 10, 2021, hearing. Waters argued Murdaugh should be able to be questioned on any issue relevant to the case, including the alleged financial misdeeds. The Murdaughs’ Islandton, South Carolina, property was not cordoned off when the partner, Mark Ball, arrived the night of June 7, 2021, he said, soon after the bodies of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh were discovered. But that hearing was canceled after Maggie and Paul were killed. But the defense maintains Murdaugh said, “They did him so bad.” Additionally, he said that at the scene the night of the murders, a “devastated” Alex told him, “Look at what they did. But the defense has portrayed Murdaugh as a loving father and husband who’s been wrongfully accused of murdering his 52-year-old wife and 22-year-old son after a shoddy investigation by law enforcement. Murdaugh faces 99 charges stemming from those alleged misdeeds separate from the murders. The coroner, citing instructions from South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigators, eventually told the group to gather at the house, which concerned Ball. “It just infuriated me that this young man had been murdered and there was still his remains there.”

Here's why the prosecution thinks Alex Murdaugh murdered his wife Maggie and son Paul after decades of committing financial crimes.

The prosecution alleged his decades of financial crimes created a “perfect storm” that led him to kill his son and wife as a way of garnering sympathy and diverting attention from the money he was accused of stealing. In July of the same year, a jury rules to indict Murdaugh for the murder of Paul and Margaret. The synopsis of which is as follows: “The Murdaughs were one of South Carolina’s most prominent families, but the death of teenager Mallory Beach in a drunken boating accident began the unraveling of their legacy. In his opening statement, Creighton Waters, the state’s lead prosecutor in the case, noted that neither Paul nor Margaret had defensive wounds, “as if they didn’t see a threat coming from their attacker.” The details of the injuries suffered by Murdaugh’s wife and son are “gruesome”, Waters told the jury. He also noted cellphone data that placed Murdaugh at the scene of the crime just minutes before his family’s phones would “go silent forever”. During that time, these individuals took advantage of his addiction and his ability to pay substantial funds for illegal drugs,” the statement said, according [to NBC](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/south-carolina-man-charged-assisted-suicide-shooting-alex-murdaugh-n1279208). “One of those individuals took advantage of his mental illness and agreed to take Alex’s life, by shooting him in the head.” He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and maintains his innocence. On September 6, Murdaugh released a public statement to say he’d resigned from his family’s law firm, Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrickhe, saying he’d “made a lot of decisions that I truly regret” (per [WCSC](https://www.live5news.com/2021/09/06/alex-murdaugh-releases-statement-after-weekend-shooting/)) and cited a substance abuse problem. His lawyer Jim Griffin told news outlets at the time that Murdaugh’s car, a Mercedes-Benz SUV, had a flat tire and he’d pulled over when someone opened fire, Murdaugh escaped with a superficial headwound. [authorities](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/south-carolina-man-charged-assisted-suicide-shooting-alex-murdaugh-n1279208) looking into the roadside shooting said Murdaugh had hired someone to kill him so that his surviving son, Buster, could collect on a $10m life insurance policy. “I’ve been gone,” Murdaugh, his voice quivering, told a dispatcher, [NBC reported](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/alex-murdaugh-indicted-murder-charges-summary-timeline-rcna38026) at the time.

The defense for Alex Murdaugh called into question the integrity of the crime scene in the second day of their case.

Paul Murdaugh was driving a boat that Murdaugh owned when it crashed, leading to the death of Mallory Beach, 19. I’ll have to say I didn’t really pay attention to that issue at the time. He had a Progressive policy for the boat that would pay $500,000, Tinsley said. The court also heard testimony from family housekeeper Barbara Ann Mixon, who worked for Murdaugh's parents. They expressed concerns, however, about his right not to self-incriminate and sought to pre-emptively limit the scope of the prosecution's cross-examination, specifically about Murdaugh's alleged financial crimes. "I'm mad as hell," he said.

The prominent South Carolina lawyer is set to take the stand Thursday morning. He has denied killing his wife and son.

Mr. His wife, he said, was “such a lady.” While she “didn’t grow up in the swamp and in the country,” he said, she came to enjoy the area and raising their two boys. Prosecutors have said that Mr. Murdaugh carried out the murders and was an attempt to create an alibi. Then, he said, he drove over to check on his mother, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Murdaugh’s financial and social dealings, and prosecutors ended the day without having asked Mr. In his cross-examination of Mr. The prosecutor, Creighton Waters, held up a stack of papers relating to clients whom Mr. To many, he was a successful, fourth-generation lawyer who earned millions of dollars for his family’s firm and lived a life of comfort. It has also revealed what amounted to Mr. “I didn’t shoot my wife or my son any time — ever,” Mr. He conceded that he had pocketed a check he was supposed to hand over to his law firm.

Alex Murdaugh, formerly an attorney in Hampton County, is on trial for the July 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, both found shot to death on the ...

[Sign up for the Happiness is a Warm TV newsletter here.](https://t.news.newsobserver.com/webApp/mccSignUp?newsletter=newsobserver_happiness_warmtv_newsletter) ▪ Other deaths are covered: The Netflix series doesn’t ignore the other deaths connected to the Murdaugh family. Tinsley is very effective in delivering evidence that Paul was indeed driving the boat that night (the Murdaughs accused passenger Conner Cook of being the driver). We also hear from other parents of the kids on the boat that night, including ... ▪ More interviews with Paul’s friends: In addition to Doughty, we get interviews with other friends, including those on the boat the night of the crash. The videos give a much more intimate view of Paul and the friend group than we’ve seen so far.

Former lawyer Alex Murdaugh took the stand in his own defense in the Murdaugh murders trial Thursday.

He said Alex Murdaugh was "devastated" the night of the killings and told Ball, "Look at what they did. Ball said he has "no doubt" it is Alex Murdaugh's voice that is heard in the footage. "It just infuriated me that this young man had been murdered and there was still his remains there." Ball also testified that Murdaugh repeatedly said he had not been at the kennels before finding the bodies that night. Maggie's body was covered and under a tent, he said. Paul was a good young man and, quite frankly, it just pissed me off." He said the coroner, citing instructions from South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigators, asked people to gather inside the family's house, where people began cleaning up. Ball wondered, adding it did not appear investigators had searched the house. The defense has argued Murdaugh actually said, "They did him so bad" -- a claim Buster supported. Look at what they did to them." Murdaugh has repeatedly denied being at the scene for the fatal shootings. "He was heartbroken.

What has Alex Murdaugh said about the night of the murders? Chelsea Bailey. BBC News, Washington. The ...

The prosecution has argued Alex killed his wife and son to cover up his financial misdeeds. They've put all theft and fraud in the context of Murdaugh's opioid addiction, which he says he has been battling for more than a decade. He also checked himself in to "rehab" for opioid addiction. The state claims that he murdered his wife and son because his financial misdeeds were going to be exposed. “Listen to the gathering storm that all came to a head,” Waters told the court earlier this month. 14 July 2022 - Alex Murdaugh is charged with the murder of his wife and son. A civil court case involving his son, Paul, was threatening to bring that wrongdoing to light. The murders of Paul and Maggie, Waters has argued, were desperate attempts at a cover-up. There have been allegations that he was trying to intimidate witnesses to the accident. 4 September 2021 - Alex calls 911 and claims that he was ambushed and shot in the head on the side of the road. Alex also admits to stealing money from his law firm and checks into rehab. Instead, Alex is interviewed by state investigators in connection to his wife and son's murders.

e at 9:53 a.m. ET] Alex Murdaugh told the judge in his double murder trial Thursday that he will testify in his own defense, as he and his defense attorneys ...

Still, Murdaugh kept the badge he received as a volunteer assistant solicitor in his vehicle, he said, acknowledging he would “get better treatment” if he were pulled over. He took a golf cart to the kennels, where Maggie had let out the dogs while Paul was “fooling” with the tail of one dog that belonged to his friend. Paul’s injuries were particularly bad, Murdaugh said, and he recalled trying to check his son’s body for a pulse and trying to turn him over. For a time, Murdaugh himself wanted to be the solicitor, he testified. Murdaugh soon returned to the house and laid down on the couch, he said. Maggie and Paul weren’t there, he said, and Murdaugh assumed they were still at the kennels, so he went there. The state, however, contends the purported misconduct was about to be revealed at the time of the killings and that he fatally shot his wife and son in order to stave off those looming revelations. He had already showered, he said, and changed his clothes after sweating during a ride with Paul around the property earlier that evening – undercutting questions raised by the state about what he was wearing that night. Now they’re tasked with persuading a jury Murdaugh is telling the truth about the killings while acknowledging he was dishonest about other parts of his life. Prior to Thursday, Murdaugh had repeatedly denied being at the scene, telling investigators he visited his mother and found the bodies when he returned home later that night. “I did lie to them,” he said, blaming his addiction to opiate painkillers. That video has become a cornerstone of the state’s case, and prosecutors have used it to put Murdaugh at the scene minutes before they say Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, were killed, contradicting his repeated statements to law enforcement that he had not been there that night.

Alex Murdaugh is testifying in his own defense in a murder trial in which he is accused of carrying out an execution-style killing of his wife and son in ...

Murdaugh said he took the chicken out of the dog's mouth and placed it on top of a dog crate at the kennel — "and then I left." He added that he was in a tough spot financially after "spending so much money on [opiate] pills." He laid on the couch, he said, but then he opted to follow them, taking a golf cart down to the kennels. Asked by the 911 dispatcher when he last spoke to his wife, Murdaugh replied, an "hour and a half, probably two hours ago." Murdaugh said he and Paul had been driving around the property, checking on plantings for fields they used to hunt doves. Murdaugh said he tried to check for a pulse and tried to turn Paul over. He went into detail about how his dogs behaved — and he said one of the dogs, Bubba, had chased and caught a chicken. The threats were so "over the top," he added, that the family disregarded it. In court, Murdaugh said his phone had fallen between the seat and the console. Murdaugh admitted that he lied to investigators about his alibi — he has repeatedly said he didn't see his wife and son after they ate dinner at Moselle, their hunting estate. He then drove the Suburban to the kennels. "As my addiction evolved over time," Murdaugh said, he had incidents of great paranoia.

On the witness stand, the prominent South Carolina lawyer blamed his addiction to painkillers for his lies to investigators, but said he did not kill his ...

Harpootlian said a wealth of evidence — texts, pictures, witness testimony and at least one video from the day of the crimes — would show that the Murdaughs were a happy family. “That’s the significance of what he was trying to prevent from being exposed.” Murdaugh was arrested at a Florida drug detoxification center and charged with swindling millions of dollars from the sons of Ms. July 8, 2015: The body of Stephen Smith, 19, was found on Sandy Run Road in Hampton County, S.C. Smith ran out of gas on the side of the road several miles away from where his body was found. Smith, who had been a classmate of Alex Murdaugh’s older son, was found dead on Sandy Run Road in Hampton, S.C., about 10 miles from the Murdaugh home, early in the morning on July 8, 2015. Murdaugh testified that later, he did go to the kennels, following after his wife and younger son on a golf cart. Prosecutors have suggested, based on tracking data from his car, that Alex Murdaugh did not have time to check on the bodies of his wife and son at the dog kennels — as he claimed — before making a 911 call. He admitted that he lied to investigators about his whereabouts, saying he was paranoid at the time and then got caught up in the lie. He is also asking about Murdaugh’s specific knowledge of various forms of evidence, including tracking data from cars. His wife, he said, was “such a lady.” While she “didn’t grow up in the swamp and in the country,” he said, she came to enjoy the area and raising their two boys. Then, he said, he drove over to check on his mother, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Alex Murdaugh, a disgraced South Carolina attorney accused of killing his wife and youngest son, has begun testifying in his own defense in his double ...

Alex Murdaugh told investigators early in the case that he was not down by the kennels that night and had last seen his wife and son at dinner before finding bodies upon returning home from visiting his mother. He said that being asked about his relationship with his wife and getting tested for gunshot residue following the murders triggered his paranoia. Waters asked, to which Alex Murdough responded, "I disagree with that." "And you want this jury to believe a story manufactured to fit the evidence that you brought forth just yesterday after hearing this trial's worth of testimony?" ... I would never hurt Paul," Alex Murdaugh said. "On June the 7th, I wasn't thinking clearly," he said. Weeks into the trial, Alex Murdaugh was called to take the stand by his defense team on Thursday. Waters asked Alex Murdaugh if phone calls he made during that time, including to his wife, was to "manufacture an alibi." "No, I did not," Alex Murdaugh said. "I saw what y’all have seen pictures of," he told the jurors, crying. "It is an absolute fact that I am not manufacturing an alibi," Alex Murdaugh said. that night, when Alex Murdaugh said he was in his home getting ready to visit his mother.

What to Know About the Netflix Docuseries Murdaugh Murders—and Where Alex Murdaugh's Trial Stands Now ... Four years ago, in the dark hours of a February morning, ...

In 2018, Gloria Satterfield, who had been a housekeeper for Alex and Maggie Murdaugh for decades, died at Moselle, the family’s 1,700-acre hunting estate. A couple of months later, he was charged with the murder of his wife and son. “The double homicides of Maggie and Paul really changed everything.” Phone records from that night and the days following show that the investigators repeatedly called members of the Murdaugh family. “It is not an indication that there was incompetence, because you couldn’t have that much incompetence,” Tinsley says in the show. Paul Murdaugh—who was driving the boat when it crashed, with a blood alcohol content three times the legal limit—is the son of Alex Murdaugh, the main focus of the docuseries. Alex and Randolph Murdaugh showed up almost immediately, obstructing law enforcement from interviewing Paul and trying to convince another passenger, Connor Cook, to tell the authorities that he had been driving the boat. For over a century, the Murdaughs served as solicitors in the 14th circuit of South Carolina. He took the stand to testify in his own defense for the first time on Thursday, when he admitted to lying to police about never having been with his wife and son on the night that they were killed, blaming his longtime addiction to painkillers. And at times, they were above the law.” Four years ago, in the dark hours of a February morning, a boat crashed into a bridge on a chilly river in South Carolina’s lowcountry. In 2022, a three-part HBO docuseries, Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty, chronicled the family’s sinister legacy.