Alex Murdaugh: Here’s What You Need To Know

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Bonnie-Marie Allmendinger, Staff Reporter

On March 2, 2023, Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of the murder of his wife and son: Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, along with multiple counts of embezzlement. The Murdaugh’s are a prominent family from Hampton County, South Carolina, who are now caught in a web of wrongdoings. On February 2, 2018, the Murdaugh family housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, reportedly fell and died on their property. Coincidentally, Alex promised Satterfield’s two sons he would be their lawyer and help them file a wrongful death suit. Later, her two sons spoke out and said they never say any of the $4 million won from the case. On February 23, 2019, Paul Murdaugh, Alex’s youngest son, was involved in a boating accident with his friends while returning from an oyster roast. Paul was operating the boat drunk when they crashed into a bridge near Paris Island, South Carolina. Due to the crash, 19-year-old Mallory Beach was knocked unconscious and drowned. Although Paul Murdaugh was charged with the death of Mallory Beach along with multiple felonies, he would never stand trial. On September 4, 2021, Alex hired a hitman on himself while coming off an opioid high, and was consequently arrested for conspiracy of insurance fraud. Later that year, on June 7, 2021, Paul was killed along with his mother, Maggie. Maggie was allegedly filing for divorce, and some speculate that she “knew too much” about Alex and his intense drug addiction. Some speculate that Maggie was killed due to her knowledge, and Paul was murdered as collateral since his father thought if he killed him both murders would appear as someone taking revenge on Mallory’s behalf. However, a video taken on Paul’s phone, just minutes before the murders, undeniably placed Alex at the crime scene, therefore leading to his guilty sentence of life in prison. Currently, Murdaugh’s lawyers are filing an appeal, but on what legal grounds they are filing the appeal are not clear.