Alex Murdaugh is on trial for the double murder of his wife and son in South Carolina, and the proceedings are the subject of intense public interest.
On June 7, 2021, the 54-year-old heir to a prestigious legal dynasty is accused of murdering his 52-year-old wife Maggie and their 22-year-old son Paul on the expansive grounds of their Islandton estate.
In July of 2022, police located him and subsequently charged him with two counts of murder as well as two counts of weapon possession.
Mr. Murdaugh has pled not guilty and claims that the killer or killers of his wife and children are still at large.
The trial began on January 25 with opening statements, during which both the prosecution and the defense described the victims’ horrendous injuries in graphic detail. Since then, more and more shocking information has emerged.
Alex Murdaugh…Who Is He?
In Hampton County, South Carolina, where Alex Murdaugh formerly held sway, his family has dominated the legal system for nearly a century.
There have been three generations of his family working in the 14th Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office: his father, grandpa, and great-grandfather.
In 2018, the governor of South Carolina presented his father, Randy, with the state’s highest civilian honor, the Order of the Palmetto, for his service as governor. Randy passed away only three days after the deaths of Maggie and Paul.
The Murdaugh family was well-known in the lowcountry’s legal system, earning them a reputation for authority and influence.
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How Come He’s Facing Murder Charges?
Maggie and Paul were discovered dead from gunshot wounds in the kennels of the expansive Islandton hunting lodge on June 7th, 2021.
Mr. Murdaugh called 911 in a theatrical fashion, crying and sobbing that he had found their deaths.
He claimed he came home to discover his wife and son dead from multiple gunshot wounds after visiting his sick and elderly parents.
Mr. Murdaugh can be heard sobbing into the recording as he tells the dispatcher, “it’s horrible” and “my wife and child have been shot brutally.”
Victims Maggie and Paul were both shot multiple times; Maggie with an automatic rifle and Paul with a shotgun (once to the head and once to the chest).
For 13 months after their deaths, no one was arrested or labeled as a suspect until Mr. Murdaugh was charged in July 2022.
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Just What Other Legal Issues Does He Have?
Mr. Murdaugh has been charged with murder as well as at least a hundred other crimes.
On September 4, 2021, three months after the killings, Mr. Murdaugh allegedly arranged to pay a hitman to shoot him dead so that Buster could inherit $10 million from life insurance.
The disbarred lawyer claimed at first that he was the victim of a drive-by gunshot while changing a tire, but his tale fell apart and he admitted to planning the whole thing.
Mr. Murdaugh and his alleged accomplice, Curtis Smith, were taken into custody and charged in connection with the event.
Mr. Murdaugh had been accused of stealing millions of dollars from clients by his law company PMPED just one day before the incident.
Over the course of a decade, he is accused of stealing about $8.5 million from clients of his law company through various fraudulent schemes, for which he now faces charges in more than a hundred counts spread across different indictments.
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Randolph Murdaugh III Resigns As Prosecutor In January 2006.
It was his resignation from office that ended his Democratic family’s 87-year run as the chief prosecutor over five counties.
Colleton, Hampton, Allendale, Beaufort, and Jasper counties are all represented by the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
As Alex Murdaugh sees his family in the courtroom on January 25, 2023, during opening statements at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, he starts to cry.
Opening comments were being made on January 25, 2023, at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, when Alex Murdaugh became emotional at seeing his family in the courtroom. Grace Beahm Alford/The Post and Courier/Pool
As Alex continued to be a partner at the once-prestigious personal injury firm Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick, he joined Randolph as a volunteer prosecutor at the solicitor’s office.
Randolph Murdaugh, the firm’s namesake and the first Murdaugh to be elected attorney, established the firm in 1910.
On the first day of jury selection for Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial, he is brought into the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, on January 23, 2023.
On the first day of jury selection in his murder trial, Alex Murdaugh is brought into the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina on January 23, 2023. (For Fox News Digital, I’m Mark Sims)
With the demise of the Murdaugh name due to Alex’s legal and criminal troubles, the company rebranded itself as the Parker Law Group.
The partnership still includes Alex’s brother, Randolph “Randy” Murdaugh IV.
A Housekeeper For The Murdaugh Family Tragically Passed Away On February 26th, 2018.
Gloria Satterfield, the family’s longstanding nanny and maid, tragically fell down the stairs at the Moselle mansion and perished.
Alex urged her family to pursue a wrongful death suit about 10 months after her death. An attorney for Satterfield’s boys found out that Alex and his buddies reportedly stole more than $4 million from insurance payouts.
Gloria Satterfield, the Murdaughs’ long-time housekeeper, is pictured in a family portrait that was taken at some point in the past but is likely from the 1970s or 1980s.
Relatives of the Murdaugh family contributed this photo of Gloria Satterfield, the family’s longtime housekeeper, however the shot’s date is unknown. The Brice Herndon Funeral Home
Alex was caught in a Florida drug rehabilitation center in October 2021 and charged with embezzling millions from her sons. Since then, he has been incarcerated continuously.
Under a plea deal of judgment, he admitted to stealing $4.3 million and agreed to pay it back. Satterfield’s exhumation and subsequent investigation into her death were subsequently announced by SLED.
