The Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal
By Maureen McCabe
Netflix’s The Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal traces the almost unbelievable events that led to the downfall of the powerful Murdaugh family, a fixture in the South Carolina legal establishment for almost a century. From 1920 to 2006 a member of the Murdaugh family served as the county’s district attorney, prosecuting all crimes committed in the five-county 14th Judicial Circuit. They also ran an extremely influential law firm that handled civil cases. In the South Carolina low-country the Murdaughs were the law. Everyone in Hampton County knew them or knew of them. Alex Murdaugh and his wife Maggie were wealthy, prominent pillars of society, from a highly-respected family. So how did it all end up with Maggie and their son Paul dead in June of 2021 and Alex accused of their murders? Things began unravelling in 2019 when a drunken Paul crashed his boat into a bridge pylon, which resulted in a young woman’s death. But as the Netflix series deftly shows, things were wrong with the Murdaugh family for a long time before that.
The series, by the Emmy- nominated Frye Fraud team of Jenner Furst, Julia Willoughby Nason and Michael Gasparro, begins by focusing on the boat crash and the death of Mallory Beach, a young, beautiful, vibrant teenager. On the cold night of February 2, 2019 Paul, who was known to drink to raging excess, drove a group of friends to an oyster roast on his boat. Highly intoxicated, he insisted on driving, despite the pleas of his scared friends. When the boat hit the pylon, Mallory was ejected and while the other passengers made it to shore with various injuries, she was missing. Interviews with the friends show how immediately Paul contacted his father, who inserted himself into the investigation. He was given unprecented, some might say illegal, access to the crime scene and the evidence gathered. He and Paul’s grandfather were allowed to speak to the other passengers at the hospital while they were being treated and did their best to create confusion as to who was driving the boat, trying their hardest to pin it on another young man. The fact that the mother of the missing girl was never contacted by law enforcement, while the Murdaughs were seen driving around at the crime scene and being constantly updated by SLED (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division) is shocking. Even more disturbing is that the search for Mallory’s body, while it employed several rescue teams, seems like it could have been orchestrated better. As the mother of Mallory’s boyfriend asks, “She wore an apple watch, why did no one think to ping it right away?’ Several parents of the boat passengers detailed how Alex Murdaugh and his father Randolph seemed far more concerned with protecting Paul than finding Mallory.
As horrific as the boat crash was, it’s not the only death of a young person associated with the Murdaughs. Stephen Smith was an acquaintance of the Murdaugh’s oldest son Buster, and there is some hint they may have had a close, perhaps homosexual, relationship. In July 2015 Smith’s body was found lying in the middle of a rural highway, twisted and bloody. Despite the suspicious circumstances, his death was ruled accidental, and once the Murdaugh connection came to light, any investigation into it was shelved, seemingly at Alex’s intervention.
But that’s not all. In February 2018 Maggie Murdaugh placed a 911 call stating the Murdaugh’s long- time housekeeper Gloria Satterfield had fallen on the Murdaugh’s front steps and was bleeding and unresponsive. Satterfield succumbed to head trauma at the hospital shortly afterwards. Ms. Gloria, as she was known, was more than just an employee; she was regarded by the Murdaugh sons as a second mom. Several of Paul’s friends spoke movingly of her in their interviews. At the time Murdaugh claimed his large hunting dogs accidentally tripped her, causing her to fall. He bragged that he was planning to sue his own insurance in order to provide funds for Satterfield’s sons. But despite the insurance paying out a multi-million dollar settlement, Satterfield’s family has never received a penny. When their attorneys began looking into this, it was discovered that Murdaugh had been embezzling millions of dollars from his law firm for years, presumably to fuel his oxycontin addiction and gambling. He was fired from his law firm and later disbarred.
Then came the shocking deaths of Maggie and Paul. Alex maintained his innocence, and had what law enforcement considered a solid alibi in that he said he was visiting his elderly parents. But the days when the Murdaugh name was enough to get everyone from law enforcement to journalists to look the other way were over. Murdaugh’s story unraveled as new information was brought to light, and Murdaugh was charged with two counts of murder, along with multiple charges of embezzlement, computer crimes, defrauding insurance companies and wire-fraud. More astounding events, including Alex staging his own failed suicide as an attempted murder followed.
The series features many affecting interviews with the passengers from the boat crash and the Satterfield and Beach families. It skillfully interweaves interviews with journalists, law enforcement personal and attorneys with still photographs and video, to give a comprehensive picture of the Murdaugh family’s power and alleged crimes. The series’ writers and editors do an excellent job of keeping the information coherent and interesting. Extremely well-researched, it lays out facts and evidence that clearly make a case for Murdaugh’s guilt.
At the time filming ended, Alex Murdaugh was in jail awaiting trial. That trial just concluded on March 2, 2023. The jury took only three hours to deliberate and found Murdaugh guilty of the two counts of murder. The next day on March 3rd, the judge sentenced him to two consecutive life sentences with no possibility of parole. He faces multiple other charges for embezzlement and fraud, and the deaths of Stephen Smith and Gloria Satterfield are being reinvestigated. (Murdaugh plans to appeal.) He still has multiple fraud charges to face. During one of his recorded prison conversations, Alex Murdaugh is heard asking his son Buster if he knew if “Netflix put out somethin’ about all of this?” The answer is yes, they most definitely did, and it is does an admirable job of tracing the downfall of a familial and legal dynasty and showing how, despite having all the power and connections and wealth available, ultimately no one is above the law.
