Alex Murdaugh is a rich white man so criminally evil he could get the death penalty
The criminal justice system does not sentence rich white people to death. But, if there were to be an instance where one of the social elite faces the ultimate penalty, Alex Murdaugh is a strong candidate. This scion of a wealthy and powerful South Carolina family has checked many boxes on the felony list. His alleged crimes include murder, insurance fraud, theft, drug dealing, wrongful death, computer crimes, embezzlement, breach of trust, and sexual assault.
Let us have a look at his history.
The Murdaugh Family
For a century, the Murdaugh clan (pronounced Murdock) was one of the most powerful families in South Carolina. Their wealth came from a nationally renowned, multi-million dollar personal injury practice, Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick, P.A. (PMPED).
Their political power came from their iron grip on the office of solicitor (i.e., district attorney), in the state's 14th circuit district — a rural five-county legal fiefdom in the far south of South Carolina’s low country. For 86 years, from 1920 to 2006, three generations of the family served consecutively in the position — and were responsible for prosecuting all criminal cases. Their influence was so pervasive the area became known as “Murdaugh Country.”
The third of these solicitors, Randolph Murdaugh III, was the father to Richard Alexander (Alex) Murdaugh, who is the subject of this diary. Alex is a man born to wealth who squandered his position, money, reputation, and ultimately his freedom, and possibly his life, in a downward spiral of hubris, drugs, greed, and sociopathy.
Let us start with the first crime and go from there.
The killing of Stephen Smith
2015: The family’s hegemony suffered its first cracks after Stephen Smith, an openly gay teenager and a classmate of Alex Murdaugh’s older son Buster, was found lying lifeless on a remote road in Hampton County. The cause of death was blunt force trauma. The coroner ruled the death a hit-and-run. The police have arrested no suspects. However, witnesses claimed that Buster Murdaugh and Smith were lovers.
According to The Greeneville News, soon after Smith's death "rumors hinting at a cover-up and the possible involvement of one or more members of the Murdaugh family … began circulating around the Hampton County area.” The Beaufort County Island Packet reported the case "reeked of insider interference."
The death of Gloria Satterfield
February 2018: Gloria Satterfield, Murdaugh’s housekeeper, died a month after falling down the front steps of the family estate. A death certificate stated her demise resulted from natural causes arising from a trip and fall accident. No coroner was notified and no autopsy was performed.
Alex Murdaugh’s behavior caused suspicion. He arrived on the scene before the EMTs and insisted Satterfield said that his dogs had caused her fall. However, before her death, she denied Alex's account and said she had no idea why she fell. A corner later ruled that her death was not natural.
Things went badly sideways after Satterfield's two sons did not receive a penny of the $4.3 million insurance settlement. Alex Murdaugh had diverted the payment to his account without notifying them the insurance company had settled and paid up. Satterfield's sons eventually sued and recovered $6.5 million from the Murdaugh law firm and the Palmetto State Bank.
Based on that settlement and Murdaugh’s other legal issues, the South Carolina authorities have received permission to exhume Satterfield’s body.
The drowning of Mallory Beach
February 2019: Alex's younger son, 19-year-old Paul Murdaugh, had an accident while driving a boat. His recklessness killed his teenage friend Mallory Beach. The authorities charged him with three felonies. Yet, despite a BAC of .286 (three times the legal limit), the police neither gave Paul a field sobriety test - nor took him to jail for booking or even handcuff him. A judge later rejected a prosecution request that he wear an alcohol monitor.
Paul would not live to stand trial.
Beach’s family sued Alex Murdaugh because Murdaugh had supplied the alcohol to his son Paul. Their suit exposed the dodgy financial behavior that led to an investigation of Murdaugh as a potential criminal.
Murdaugh's life spiraled out of control. A judge scheduled a hearing on June 10, 2021, to consider a motion to compel Murdaugh to turn over his financial information. And Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, arranged for a forensic accountant to review the family finances.
She did not live long enough to see the result of the review.
The murder of Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh
June 7, 2021: Three days before the hearing, Alex Murdaugh called police from his cell phone at around 10 pm, saying he had discovered the bodies of 22-year-old son Paul and 52-year-old wife Maggie near the dog kennels at the family hunting lodge in Islandton SC. The police investigation revealed that, at around 9 pm, they had been shot multiple times with different weapons.
Police reports indicated that Alex had called Maggie, who had left him and was living separately, and asked her to meet him at the lodge. She did not want to go and texted a friend saying Alex sounded "fishy" and was "up to something." Nevertheless, she went.
In October, it became apparent that the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) had always regarded Murdaugh as a person of interest in the deaths.
In July 2022, the Colleton County Grand Jury issued an indictment charging Alex Murdaugh with two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in the deaths of his wife, Maggie, and his son, Paul.
Alex Murdaugh and assisted suicide
September 4, 2021: Someone in a passing truck shot Murdaugh in the head as he was changing a tire on a remote road. The wound was superficial, and the hospital soon released him.
September 6: Murdaugh announced he was entering an Orlando rehab facility to treat his substance abuse.
September 14: SLED announced they had arrested Murdaugh's former client, Curtis Edward Smith, and oxycodone supplier for conspiring with Murdaugh to kill him so his remaining son Buster would receive a $10 million insurance payout. Murdoch, suffering from "massive depression," admitted to concocting the “assisted suicide as murder” scheme to benefit his son.
Murdaugh’s crimes
The list of Mudaugh’s crimes is shockingly long. By August 2022, he faced 97 grand jury criminal charges, including financial fraud, drugs, and murder. He is also a defendant in three separate lawsuits. He is disbarred, his assets seized, and he is in jail.
The list:
March 2019 The Beaches sue the Murdaugh family, including Alex, for their daughter Mallory’s death.
On November 19, 2021, the State Grand Jury issued 27 charges of embezzlement and other crimes, including breach of trust, fraudulent intent, money laundering, computer crimes, and forgery in the Satterfield killing.
On December 9, 2021, the Grand Jury filed 21 more criminal charges over his assisted suicide scheme.
On January 21, 2022, the State Grand Jury issued a further 23 criminal charges, which included 19 breaches of trust with fraudulent intent and four counts of computer crimes.
On March 16, 2022, the State Grand Jury issued a superseding indictment against Murdaugh for an alleged scheme to defraud multiple insurance companies.
In April 2022, Murdaugh received more superseding indictments relating to four charges of conspiring with former banker Russell Lucius Laffitte and former attorney Cory Howerton Fleming.
On August 19, 2022, the State Grand Jury issued a new round of indictments against Murdaugh, Spencer Anwan Roberts, and Jerry K. Rivers. Murdaugh now faced an additional nine charges related to the theft of $295,000 from his brother and his old law firm.
In June 2022, the State Grand Jury indicted him for conspiring with accomplice Curtis Edward Smith (a distant cousin) to purchase and distribute narcotics using a money-laundering scheme involving $2.4 million of stolen money.
In July 2022, the Colleton County Grand Jury issued an indictment charging Alex Murdaugh with two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in the deaths of his wife, Maggie, and his son, Paul.
On September 12, 2022, Forge Consulting announced it would file a lawsuit against Alex Murdaugh and Bank of America because Forge "suffered serious harm to its business reputation and credibility because of Murdaugh and BoA".
On October 7, 2022, Manuel Santis-Cristiani of Chiapas, Mexico, filed a lawsuit against Murdaugh, Crosby, Barnes, the PMPED firm, Laffitte, and Palmetto State Bank for their roles in the diversion of the Satterfield insurance settlement.
This Friday, state prosecutors alleged Murdaugh killed his wife and son because he was desperate to "escape the accountability" for his string of financial crimes. And he sought to cover up the slayings to gain sympathy and buy himself more time.
The court has scheduled Murdaugh’s murder trial to start on January 23, 2023. There is no word yet on what penalty the prosecutors will seek.