The Murdaugh family has been well known by people in South Carolina for decades. But this year, they're in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Alex Murdaugh worked as a local attorney and comes from a line of prominent Murdaugh men. He and his wife, Maggie, had two sons, Buster and Paul. The family first got into trouble back in 2019. Alex's son Paul was hosting a party on the family boat that ended in tragedy. The boat, which had six people on board and was reportedly driven by Paul, crashed and left 19-year-old Mallory Beach dead. Those on the boat were drinking heavily at the time.
While that's a heavy event to recover from, it didn't end there.
On June 7, 2021, Alex called 911 to report the death of his wife and Paul. Paul was only 22 at the time of his death.
The two were found at their hunting property in Islandton. Both suffered from multiple gunshots. Just days later, Alex suffered another loss — the death of his father, Randolph Murdaugh III. His death was not suspicious, as he died at the age of 81.
Five days after that, the home of the homicides was investigated. Per CNN, a statement listed the steps that the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) planned to take.
"We continue to pursue all leads and the investigation is certainly active and ongoing at this time," the statement said.
"We will continue to submit all forensic evidence to SLED's forensic lab," it continued. "SLED is committed to conducting a professional and thorough criminal investigation to bring justice in the deaths of Paul and Maggie." Days later, Alex's brothers went on Good Morning America and said that they didn't think Alex was involved with these deaths.
That said, suspicions were immediately aroused due to the boating accident. However, investigators claimed that that incident wasn't in any way related.
"In that case, it was immediately apparent Mr. Murdaugh would be a suspect, that his father owned the boat in which those involved were travelling and that other passengers were related to employees of my office," said attorney Duffie Stone. "Thus, any comparison of these cases simply is not apt."
Next, Alex allegedly attempted to stage his own murder. But, oddly enough, he lived. On September 4, he called 911 and said he had a bullet wound to the head. While he survived it, the New York Post reported that he suffered from both a skull fracture and brain bleeding.
He reportedly staged the shooting so that his remaining son, Buster, would be able to cash in on his $10 million insurance policy. Since then, even more has been revealed about Alex. He's reportedly addicted to opiates, which has exacerbated his depression. He has also had to resign from his job.
However, the latest information to emerge from the Murdaugh drama is that his wife had begun developing plans to leave him before her death. That, in itself, adds a lot of context that might explain her murder. A source told People that Maggie had recently met with a divorce attorney in Charleston, which was well out of town.
Maggie had reportedly started to question the family's financial situation. Prior to, she had been left in the dark about the money they had.
"She didn't pay close attention to the family money or where it came from," said a source. "But now she was starting to look into it."
Alex's family is trying hard to refute these rumors that the marriage was anything other than happy. But Alex's coworkers did notice that Maggie didn't join him for lunch as often as she used to prior to everything going down. It definitely looks like Maggie was in a position where she learned too much and wanted answers — and it's possible that that made her a target.
Currently, Alex has two charges against him — conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and filing a false police report. The suspected murders of his wife and son are still unsolved. Many believe that, much like his own suicide attempt, he may have hired someone to kill the two of them.
But many claim that Alex — who's currently out of jail on bond — was truly blindsided by this news. He reportedly called 911 as soon as he returned to the house and discovered their bodies, and people say he was distraught while talking to the operator about what he saw. It's hard to imagine what Alex is currently feeling, having lost so much.
He also has new investigations out on him, due to missing money from his family's firm and the mysterious death of a housekeeper from years ago. It was claimed that the housekeeper slipped and fell to her death at their home, but now the story seems to have more holes in it based on Alex's latest charges. It seems like it'll be a long time before this mystery is fully solved.
