Transcript
A (0:00)
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B (0:29)
Oh, my gosh, you guys. I was just. I filmed this podcast inside of my apartment. I was just standing inside of the office door for a good 10 minutes because I was out there getting a ponytail or whatever and I heard papers fall down. And, like, I thought I heard the camera move and then, like, tapping sounds in here. And I was like, oh, there's. There's a ghost in there. I accepted my fate so fast. I was like, what a shame. I'm not going to be able to film today. There's a ghost inside. Turns out it just started storming and the tapping was rain on the window. So no ghost that I know of. Maybe might still be here. Who knows? Let's not talk about it because I don't want to awake its presence. But anyway, I'm, like, flushed from that experience. And I really hope you can't hear the rain in the background, because that would be unfortunate. However, let's get into today's episode. I was talking to a friend. We started talking about Alex Murdock, as you do, and she made a point, which I'm assuming sounds many of you guys have heard this whole story, and there's so many different talking points. We're gonna get to it. Don't worry. If you don't know, you're gonna understand. But I was talking to my friend and she was talking specifically about the boating incident, the boat crash. And she said, putting myself in their shoes. Right, like you're out with a group of friends, whatever. There's an accident. It's really bad and scary. But there's one person in your friend group whose family is full of lawyers and has been full of lawyers for the past 100 years. If the father of your friend, who you know is a lawyer, who you know has a good reputation, is smart, is knowledgeable, if they're suggesting that you take a certain path within the investigation, or they're giving suggestions on what you should do or not do or say and not do, I think it would be a natural response to pay attention to that father. Right, because he knows the law, because he deals with criminal cases every single day, has for years, you would be inclined to listen to his advice in a situation like this. That's what my friend was saying, put yourself in there shoes. You would think that you could trust a guy like Alex Murdock and I would personally trust that guy. Because you'd like to believe that he has a good reputation for a reason. But that's where you would be wrong. That's where I would be wrong. Because trusting a person like Alex Murdock would unfortunately prove to be a lot of people's downfall. Alex Murdoch was at one point in his life a reputable, admirable, 54 year old, high profile attorney from South Carolina. He was married to his wife Maggie, whom he had two sons with Buster and Paul. And he was the kind of guy that seemed to have everything that he could have ever possibly wanted. His family owned a law firm that was well over 100 years old. The law firm goes back three different generations. Meaning they had such a long history of being a prominent, well known family in the Hampton County. And the Murdoch family name as a whole, having that last name, it felt like it made you. Or at least it felt like they acted like they were completely untouchable. An extremely wealthy family with a lot of secrets swept underneath the rug throughout their entire life. And those secrets started to unravel when Maggie and Paul were killed in June of 2021. The walls came absolutely crashing down. And Alex's house of cards completely crumbled all around him. And when people really started to pay attention to him, to look into him closer than they could, just not help but notice that somehow, some way, death seemed to follow the Murdoch family everywhere they went. This is a full breakdown of the Murdoch murders. Welcome to this episode of I wish you were here. On June 7th of 2021, Alex Murdoch made a 911 call claiming that he had just found his wife and his son Paul shot dead lying near dog kennels at his property. Property. And he was hysterical. 911, what is your emergency? 4147 Mosel Road. Yes, sir. 4147 Mosel Road. Please help. I've been up to it now. It's bad. Are they breathing? No. Ma', am, do you see anyone? I can tell that she shot in the head. And he shot really bad. Ma'. Am. I don't know, but he is blood everywhere. I see brain. I can see his brain. She's face down. I tried to turn her a little bit, but she's got a hole in her head. But please help. Please hurry. Okay, and what is your name? My name is Alex Murdoch. That night in June, according to Alex he had gone and he returned home to find his son and his wife dead. When authorities showed up, they arrived at the Murdoch family house. It was sitting on a 1700 acre property otherwise known as Moselle. They pulled up to the dark, large estate that sat miles off of the road. They drove in from the long dirt driveway that let them deep into the property, which past fields, past kennels and hunting trails, until they eventually reached the dog kennels near the edge of the property. And that's where Alex Murdock was. He was standing outside, right by the bodies of his wife and son. 22 year old Paul was lying on the ground, face down, the concrete floor underneath him, absolutely covered with blood. He had been shot twice with a shotgun, once in the chest and again once in the head. The. The impact to his head was so powerful that part of his skull had blown away. And investigators would later describe this scene as not only horrific, but also chaotic. A few yards away, not far away from where the family's dogs were still barking frantically, was 52 year old Maggie Murdoch. She was found lying face down near the edge of the kennels, several feet away from Paul's body. Maggie had been shot multiple times with a high powered rifle, including in the back and head and the legs. Two bodies, two separate weapons, shell casings spread out on the ground, and no immediate signs of forced entry or theft. The family's dogs were thankfully left unharmed. The property gates were opened and Alex Murdock was standing right there, pacing, very visibly distressed. And once again, the story that Alex was telling was when he was sitting inside of the patrol car, by the way, talking to them. His story was that he had gotten home to the crime scene, that whatever happened obviously happened before he arrived. Therefore he had no idea what had gone wrong. He did, however, make sure to tell authorities that he had touched both Maggie and Paul's body to try and help them before the police got there. He said that he had tried to turn them over to try and see if he could feel for a pulse. And he also mentions that at one point in the chaos, he did pick up Paul's phone. That phone was found on top of Paul's body. And throughout the entire conversation, by the way, he's very clearly distraught. There's body cam footage of this. You can find it on YouTube. He's crying, he's weeping, he's taking breaks to take a breath. And he tells the officers that his mother has Alzheimer's and that his father is in the hospital. Again, cooperating into his story that he was visiting his mom. And he says that earlier in the night he left his house. I guess he said he was inside of the house while Paul and Maggie were somewhere outside. He ended up falling asleep. He took a nap, woke up, and immediately got in his car and drove over to go and see his mom. While he was gone, he says that he tried to call Maggie, he tried to text Maggie, but he got no response. And by the time that he got back, he didn't see Maggie or Paul anywhere, which is when he decided to walk outside toward the dog kennels to go and look for them. And. And he found them. Alex claimed that he was outside of the house between the hours of 9pm and 10pm the autopsies for Maggie and Paul, of course, ruled their deaths a homicide, but it was determined that they were killed sometime between 9pm to 9:30pm with two different kind of guns. When Alex is asked about this, he says that neither Maggie nor Paul have anyone who have relationships with anyone who would want to harm them in such a terrible way. He claims that his relationship with Paul and his marriage to Maggie were both wonderful. And by the way, he's telling the story right again. You can see the footage of him saying the story. Obviously now, in hindsight is so bizarre because when he's describing the bodies the way that he found them, describing the crime scene, he is losing it, like very literally gasping for air. He's crying so much, and he has to pause to get his story straight, I guess. So when he talks about the body, he's so upset. I mean, he. The man cannot stop crying. But when he's describing the timeline of events, it feels like all of a sudden he gets really composed, like you can almost physically see him. His body language just gets, like, a lot more direct. And he looks like he's being really careful, making sure not to mess up what he's saying, taking a lot of pauses in between. And again, the fact that he is an attorney and has been for many years and grew up surrounded by attorneys and lawyers, it does play such a big part in this because he knows how it goes. He is well versed in criminal law. He has experience. He knows how people should react and hold themselves in situations such as this one, because he understands, he's seen it firsthand just how important it is, the way that someone behaves and reacts and talks and. And in my opinion, the fact that he has that much knowledge on it, it shows. So after the news of Maggie and Paul's deaths breaks into the media in 2021. The South Carolina law enforcement does not make an arrest. However, they do make an announcement that there is no public threat. Which makes you think, did they have someone on their radar? Did they already figure out who the killer was? Obviously something terrible had happened to two people were dead. Yet the police seemed to be keeping their cards close to their chest. They were not saying much, or at least that's what it felt like. So naturally the public started to wonder and people began speculating. And that's when once again, the infamous boat incident that Paul had been involved in a couple of years prior got brought back up into the conversation. And actually when they were questioning Alex at the scene of the crime In June of 2021, they were talking to him in that patrol car for about half an hour. And remember when I said that they asked him if Maggie or Paul had any enemies or knew of anyone who might want to hurt them. Alex Murdock said that no, he couldn't specifically think of anyone who would go after his family in that way. But he did mention that Paul had faced a lot of backlash and judgment from people because of that boat wreck that happened in 2019. In the early hours of February 24th. In 2019, 19 year old Mallory beach was killed the night Prior on the 23rd, Paul Murdoch, who was 19 years old at the time, he took his family's boat out with five of his friends. Mallory beach, her boyfriend Anthony Cook, Anthony's cousin Connor Cook, and Connor's girlfriend Miley Altman, and Paul's girlfriend, Morgan Dowdy. They'd spent the night drinking, having fun. They had brought a cooler onto the boat with them with different kind of drinks and they started off at an oyster bar and they kept the party going at bars on Parris island in Beaufort, South Carolina. Some of them were bar hopping for a little bit. Actually, I wouldn't even say that they were bar hopping. I wouldn't say that it was Paul, the person who wanted to stop by a bar after they had already been spending some time on the boat. He wanted to stop by a bar and one of the other guys, Connor, went with him. Connor went with him until they were eventually ready to get back on the boat with everyone. Witnesses as well as surveillance camera footage later confirms that Paul, who was already very visibly under the influence, insisted on driving the boat himself. His friends tried to stop him, but he refused. That night it was cold, it was dark, it was late, it was foggy. He had been drinking way too much. But the six of them climbed back into the boat at around 1am in the morning to head back home. Paul reportedly got into arguments on the boat with both Morgan, his girlfriend and Anthony because he was driving like a maniac in the water, completely recklessly. Witnesses later said that he would rev the throttle of the boat, then suddenly let it off as the boat lurched forward, obviously, like, out of his control. He was driving in circles. His friends were making it clear that they were scared. And Anthony and Mallory were both getting very nervous, as I'm sure the others were as well. But they began asking to get off of the boat, but Paul wasn't having it. He was getting angry and he started arguing with everyone. But his friends knew that the way that Paul was driving was not safe, and they knew that Paul had no business driving that boat. As they approached Archer's Creek Bridge, which was not only poorly lit, but also very, very narrow, Paul was allegedly still standing at the wheel, still steering erratically. And then at about 2:20 in the morning, the boat slammed into a piling near a bridge at full speed, crashing. The impact of the crash was so strong that it threw Mallory off of the boat as well as injured some of the other kids, some of the other teenagers on the boat. Everyone was screaming, everyone was panicking, and they panicked even more so when they realized that Mallory beach was missing. Her body would not be found until eight days later at the crash site. The night that it happened. 911 was called, and when investigators arrived, they quickly began piecing together what happened. They found alcohol containers inside of the boat. They also took note of Paul's behavior. And later at the hospital, his alcohol level was measured to be at three times the legal limit. Paul. Paul Murdoch refused from the very beginning, refused to cooperate with police even after not only he was taken to the hospital, but also the other kids were as well because some of them were injured. He just did not want to talk. The only people that he was interested in talking with was his dad, Alex Murdaugh, and his grandfather, Randolph Murdoch. And I don't think that that's the part of the story that's weird. I do think that getting a lawyer or wanting to talk to someone who you trust and who is knowledgeable in law despite the situation, is always a safe move. Right? Like, I don't think that's what straight. That's what is strange here. I don't think that's what stands out. I don't see anything wrong, honestly, with wanting to protect yourself. Taking into consideration the gravity of the situation. Everyone does have a right to get a lawyer. At the end of the day. But the part that I do find weird was just how quickly Paul was let off of the hook. And even at the crime scene that night, when all the kids were talking to investigators, all of the kids were yelling at Paul in front of the officers, fully pointing the finger at him, saying that it was entirely his fault that he was driving the boat because he had no business driving the boat, blaming him for driving recklessly, literally pointing the finger at him and saying, this is all your fault. On body cam footage, you can hear officers talking amongst themselves, and one of them says, do you know Alex Murdaugh? The other one responds, yes. And the officer says, that's his son. Good luck. That night, even though everyone was confirming that Paul had been the driver of the vote, and even after it was confirmed that his blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit, there was no arrest made. Eventually, Mallory's family ended up filing a wrongful death suit against Alex and Paul Murdoch. And because of that, In April of 2019, Paul was charged with boating under the influence, causing death and great bodily injury. To that, he pled not guilty, and he was let out on bond. But before he could stand trial, he was murdered along with his mother in June of 2021. And just as an update, as far as Mallory goes, just in July of 2023. So not too long ago, Mallory's family settled for $15 million over the boat crash. And. And a further $3 million was to be split between the four other teenage passengers who were on the boat that night. Now, knowing that information, isn't it a bit uncomfortable how casually Alex brought it up to the officers the night that Paul and Maggie were found dead and he was being questioned, like, okay, he did bring it up, which is important. He did say, you know, there was this crash. This is what happened. It was an accident. My son was involved. He was arrested. But that is just a prime example of what I'm trying to say as far as the fact that Alex knows how to talk to cops. Because he brings it up. In my opinion, this is just what I think. He brings it up to be able to say, look, I'm giving you all the information. I'm not hiding anything. I will talk to you if you want to talk about it. But he says it in a way to minimize the gravity of the situation, making sure that he doesn't make the Murdoch name look bad. Like he. It sounds like, or it feels like he only says, or he only tells them what he wants them to know. And he like, words it a specific way that benefits him. I don't know. It feels very calculated, the way that he talks to officers. It feels manipulative, in my own personal opinion, but what do I do? And also, it feels gross when you learn that Mallory's death was not the only one that has been connected to the Murdoch family. All right, guys, it is November, meaning that Christmas is coming up and it's coming up quick. I have already started to think about the gifts that I'm giving. Actually, I kind of think about presents and gifts all year round because I start taking notes throughout the year of different things that my family and friends and loved ones have been talking about. So I know what to get them, because I always want to get them the perfect gift gift. Because that's something that my family and I really pride ourselves on, on giving the best gifts. We are. I wish that I could show you guys videos of us on Christmas ripping open our Christmas presents. Actually, it's usually on Christmas Eve. It's never on Christmas morning. Because we're always that desperate to just see what we bought each other, because we always make it a point to give each other the best of the best gifts. And when I think about gifting this holiday season, I think of Quints. Quince is the first thing on my mind. I'm not even exaggerating. If you guys haven't heard of quints, first of all, are you okay? You must be living underneath a rock or something. Quint has sweaters, they have shirts, they have outerwear. They have everyday essentials. But my favorite part of it is the quality. The pieces that you buy from Quince, and I'm telling you guys this from the bottom of my heart, I would not recommend anything to you guys. That one I haven't tried. And that, too, I don't love. But genuinely, the pieces that you buy from quints are pieces that you're going to be able to keep in your wardrobe for forever. That is when, like, the essential part of it comes, because they have essential pieces that you can keep in your wardrobe and style in 100 different ways. They are genuinely so lush, and they make you feel so put together. When I wear quints, I feel better about myself because I know the pieces that I'm wearing are high quality, and I love that. I know that I'm going to be able to wear them year after year after year. They have 50 cashmere sweaters made for everyday wear. I have one that I've worn on Tick Tock. My favorite color, brown. You guys probably seen it. That's definitely my most worn sweater. Not only because it's soft but also I love it so much because it's thin so it doesn't feel like I've said this before. I can sometimes feel a little claustrophobic when I'm wearing something really tight. But I love that sweater because it's loose, it's off the shoulder and you can wear it casually. It's just a little cute cutie sweater. Or you can layer it and wear it in the winter. And because the the colors they offer are so neutral you can style them in a million different ways. They are just the best. Honestly, I could sit here and talk about quints genuinely for hours. Not to mention Quince works with ethical top tier factories making it possible for them to be able to skip over the middleman and offer prices 50 less than similar brands. So if you have not already, go onto their website, search through what you might be wanting to buy for yourself or maybe for others. Get on there. Tell me about the pieces that you are considering buying it. I will tell you if I have that specific piece that you're thinking about buying yourself and I will vouch for it and tell you to buy it because you deserve it. Step into the holiday season with layers made to feel good, look polished and last from Quince. Perfect for gifting or keeping for yourself. Go to quince.com wish for free shipping on your order and 365 days return. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com wish to get free shipping and 365 days return. Quince.com wish on June 8th of 2015, 19 year old Stephen Smith was found dead. Found in the middle of the road in the middle of the night with clear blunt force trauma to the head. His car was later found miles away from where his body was found. But there is so much suspicion surrounding his death as well. Stephen was gay and his mom strongly believed that someone killed him as a hate crime. Like many people, she did not think that Stephen lost his life due to an accident because of the way that he was found in the middle of the road in a pile of his own blood. It was her belief that someone ended her son's life on purpose and she completely disagreed with the idea that it could have been an accident and that he could have just been hit by a moving car because it made no sense and it really doesn't as to why Steven would be in the middle of the road at four in the morning and it makes no sense as to why he would not have moved out of the way, out of the road if he saw cars driving on the road. During the investigation into his death, rumors began to spread that Buster Murdoch, Alex's son and Paul's brother, was involved in this. People began to speculate and talk about the possibility that Buster could have been romantically involved with Steven. The two of them went to high school together. And according to Steven's mom, leading up to his death, Steven had been behaving strangely. There was something off about him and she had reason to believe that he was being bullied at school by the Murdaugh sons. But as soon as Buster's name got brought up involving him, wrapping him into this mysterious suspicious death, the Murdaughs shut it down immediately. In fact, right after Steven's mom was notified that her son had been killed, she received a phone call from Alex Murdaugh's brother Randy, also a lawyer, offering to represent her on the case free of charge. Steven's death was eventually ruled to be a hit and run. But because of the amount of tips and leads that were coming in, Buster Murdoch should have been looked into. Yet he wasn't. And people believe it was because his family had the wealth, power and connections they needed to have in order to be able to cover it up. So now that's two tragic, mysterious deaths that had been linked to the Murdoch family plague prior to the deaths of Maggie and Paul, the death of 19 year old Stephen Smith and 19 year old Mallory Beach. And this is important because first of all, every single victim matters just as much as the next, obviously. But it also paints a picture of the long standing relationship that the Murdochs had with the South Carolina authorities. And it shows the way that they behave, the way that Alex Murdoch behaves in a time of crisis. And would you believe me if I told you that there was yet another suspicious death? And don't worry, we're gonna get back to Maggie and Paul. I just think it's important to give you all of the background so you understand the history and the track record that the Murdochs had. And obviously this gets brought up later on. So everything is going to come together. Don't worry. But there was yet another tragic death that took place years before 2021 that once again had direct ties to the Murdoch family. In early 2018, 57 year old Gloria Satterfield lost her life. Gloria Satterfield was the Murdaugh's family housekeeper, but she was way more than just a housekeeper. She was like family, honestly. Gloria had worked for the Murdochs for over two decades, over 20 years, helping raise Paul, helping raise Buster, taking care of the dogs, taking care of their home, their meals, their laundry. Everyone described Gloria to be kind, to be loyal, hardworking, and she really did so much over the course of 20 years to help out the Murdoch family. But then, In February of 2018, tragedy struck. While Maggie and Paul were home, Gloria allegedly tripped and suffered a fall down the stairs. Maggie Murdoch called 911. My housekeeper has fallen. Her head is bleeding. I cannot get her up, she tells the operator on the phone. As she's on the phone giving authorities details and asking for them to be dispatched, Alex Murdock was supposedly at work. Yet somehow, some way, even though the math doesn't really add up, it doesn't really make sense because of how far away his office was from their house. Alex was able to get home before officers got there, before paramedics got there, and by the time he did, he was able to talk to them and help cooperate with Maggie's story. They claimed that Gloria fell, and right after she said that she fell because she tripped, she tripped over one of the dogs. However, on the 911 call, Maggie can be clearly heard telling the operator that Gloria was unresponsive and that she couldn't talk. Regardless of how she felt, the fall was so damaging that she was immediately rushed to get the medical help that she needed. Gloria was bleeding all over from her head, and she was barely conscious. I don't think she could. I don't think she was really talking. She was just, like, a little bit there, but pretty unresponsive. She was taken to the hospital, but sadly, Gloria never recovered. Gloria Satterfield passed away in the hospital, leaving her two sons behind. It was absolutely horrible. I mean, not only was it so unexpected, like, just so tragic, it was an awful situation, especially for Gloria's family members, everyone who loved her so much, and especially for both of her sons. But Alex stepped up. I think it was at her funeral that he went up to talk to Gloria's sons, and he promised the sons that he could help take care of them financially because he wanted to be able to do so. And because he was wealthy, he had the money to do so. And. And because out of the kindness of his heart, he wanted to make sure that Gloria's sons would be okay and would be taken care of. Gloria's manner of death was officially ruled as natural, even though it was clearly an accident. And oddly enough, there was also never an autopsy done following her death. Alex Murdock recommended to her sons that they hire Corey Fleming as their attorney. The boys had no idea, but Corey Fleming was one of Alex Murdoch's closest friends, and he told them to file a wrongful death suit against the Murdaughs so that then Alex's insurance could pay them out. And obviously, he pitched this to them as if this was in their best interest. He also told them to hire a man called Chad as their financial representative. Chad also happened to be, conveniently, one of Alex's best friends, but of course, the boys did not know that. So what Alex did was basically go out of his way to offer his help, to offer to help them get their ducks in a row, to help them get a big sum of money, saying that his insurance would pay them out. But that never happened. The settlement reached meant that Gloria's son would get around half a million dollars to them. But Chad never told them that. And Chad, alongside of Alex, did some sneaky stuff. They forged paperwork, they created fake accounts, and they told Gloria's family that the process was still, quote, unquote, still ongoing, when in reality it was done. And it resulted in Alex Murdock, not Gloria, not Gloria's sons, not Gloria's family. It resulted in Alex murdock pocketing over $54 million. Yet none of this was ever filed in court, and Gloria's sons were never made aware of it. Fast forward to 2021. Maggie and Paul's deaths were now looking like they were the fourth and fifth suspicious deaths tied back to their own family. And again, this started to get so much attention. People were talking. And things got even weirder when the Snapchat videos came to the surface. Remember the night of the murders? Alex was claiming that he had gone out, he had left the house, he was out visiting his mom from 9pm to 10pm and his story was that that entire day, especially that entire night, he had never been close to the dog kennels where the bodies were found. He said that he only found them there because he couldn't find them when he got home, he couldn't find them inside of the house when he got back. And so he walked outside, assuming that they could have been in that area. But prior to, he was claiming that he had not been near the kennels whatsoever. And authorities believe that the deaths took place sometime between 9:00pm to 9:30pm so if Alex's version of events were true, his first time being in the area of the dog kennels that night would have been when he found the bodies. But there was video evidence proving otherwise. And that video evidence captured Paul and Maggie alive just minutes before they were killed. That night at 7:56pm Paul recorded a short Snapchat video on his phone. It showed him recording one of his friend's dog, a dog that he was dog sitting down at the kennels at the Murdoch property. Paul, with his video cameras on his phone, he was trying to get a close up of the dog's tail to show his friend Rogan, to show him that something looked weird on the dog's tail. But what made this video stand out was what investigators heard in the background. You could clearly hear three voices, Paul, Maggie's and a third man's. The third voice was Alex Murdock. This was huge because Alex claimed that he had not been anywhere near the dog kennels when the murders took place. He told investigators that he had been in the house, inside of the house, took a nap, woke up, left to go visit his mother, and came back to find Maggie and Paul already dead. But the Snapchat videos placed him at the scene just minutes before 8:50pm when investigators believe the murders could have taken place. Even Paul's friends, people who knew his voice and, and his patterns and his mannerisms, testified that there was absolutely no doubt that the male voice heard in that Snapchat video belonged to Alex Murdock. There was also a second Snapchat video found on Paul's phone from earlier that night showing Alex outside near some trees wearing a completely different outfit than the clothes that he had on later when police arrived after the murders. So that detail in itself raised even more suspicion because Alex was seen on police body cam footage that night wearing a clean white shirt and shorts with no visible blood on him, despite the extremely violent nature of the crime scene. And those two Snapchat videos painted a very scary timeline. They placed Alex Murdock at the kennels at around 8:44pm when both victims were still alive. And by 9:49pm five minutes later, Paul's phone activity stopped forever. Those videos ended up being one of the most damning pieces of digital evidence in the case against Alex Murdock. And after finding that, investigators started to believe that what really happened was that Alex had been outside with his wife and with his son. That at some point, for some reason, he had grabbed two different guns and used them to kill both of them before 9pm that he had somehow gotten rid of his bloody clothing as well as gotten rid of the murder weapons, and then drove to his mother's house to give himself an alibi and we do know that he. He did go to his mother's house. We know that at 9:07pm he actually did drive to his mother's house because his car GPS data told us that. But it makes it all that more eerie when you find out that he had been at his mother's house the night of the murders and that later on investigators would find a jacket of his at his mother's house covered with gunshot residue. His mother's housekeeper confirmed that she saw him at the house around that time that night. And she described him to be holding something that looked to be like a blue tarp, which makes sense that it could have been the blue rain jacket that was found. And the gunshot residue that was on it would make sense if he was using it to hide the murder weapon with it. Like, if he was, if he wrapped up the guns with it, that's kind of how the gunshot residue was left behind on the inside of the jacket. But no murder weapon has ever been found. Regardless, everything that they did find, it pointed the finger straight at Alex to being the killer. And the more information that they gathered and the more and more they started to find out, the more and more the dots started to connect. Now, let's talk about a motive, because why would a guy that seemed to have it all ruin his entire life by killing his wife and his son? Well, like I mentioned earlier, when he was asked about it, Alex claimed that his marriage with Maggie was wonderful. He. In his own words, he said that they did have their usual bickering here and there, but in the grand scheme of things, he said that they had a good marriage, that they were happy and they were good together. But that wasn't the case because there was clear trouble in paradise. It turns out that shortly before her death, Maggie had started to pay a little bit of closer attention to their finances. And she was not happy with the things that she was seeing and the things that she was finding out. And I think it's safe to say that Maggie was starting to uncover things that Alex had been previously trying to hide from her. So much so that she had gone out of her way to begin talking to divorce lawyers. Months after the suspicious deaths of Maggie and Paul, Alex Murdock's career was struggling, to say the least. There was a check that was found that was quite Susan. And finding that led to investigators discovering that Alex had been stealing money not only from his own clients, but also from the firm itself. He was stealing and pocketing large sums of money for himself. And he was confronted about this by the CFO of his law firm. The exact same day that Maggie and Paul were killed, he admitted to stealing and he resigned the very next day. So that came to the surface after the deaths. But he was confronted about it internally by the CFO the very day that Maggie and Paul were killed. So say if Maggie had been digging around, suspicious of her husband, questioning their marriage, questioning his lies, could it be that she found out that he was doing illegal things financially? That she found out that he had been confronted for stealing? And could it be that she threatened to leave him because of it and to prevent it from all coming out, to prevent his family from falling apart? Could it be that Alex Murdock made the decision to get rid of her forever? And could it be that because the three of them were together that day, Maggie, Paul, and Alex, that Paul also found out or overheard that his dad was a weird, sketchy man, and that because he didn't want that to come out, Alex got rid of Paul as well? That was looking like a pretty solid possibility in the eyes of the investigators. While the investigation into Maggie and Paul's deaths continued, other investigators were also working on getting the case of Stephen Smith reopened again. Because new things were coming to light. Conversations were happening. And eventually, down the line, in 2023, his death was switched to to be ruled as a homicide rather than a hit and run, which was crazy that it was ever ruled as a hit and run. But to this day, no arrest has ever been made. So all of that was happening, all while Gloria's case was also being talked about massively again. Because when investigators started to focus in on Alex and they started evaluating his finances, it was then that for the very first time, they realized that Alex had pocketed millions of dollars from Gloria's death for himself and given nothing to Gloria Sunz. When Gloria Sunz found out about that In September of 2021, they ended up filing a wrongful death suit against Alex. And that same day, the South Carolina Law Enforcement division announced that they were opening up officially a criminal investigation of her death and the handling of her estate. Two days after that, there was yet another lawsuit filed against Alex by the firm that he was once a partner of. So things are getting crazier by the second. It felt like every single day, there was something new that would get brought up and intertwined in the absolute chaos and disaster and mess. That was an investigation into Alex Murdock. And one of the wildest and and most unexpected turns that ended up being a crucial turning point in the entire Murdoch saga came from Alex himself. On September 4th of 2021, again, months after Maggie and Paul were murdered, Alex Murdaugh called 911 again. He was standing on the side of a rural road in Hampton County, South Carolina, claiming that he had just been shot in the head by while he was changing a tire. He told the dispatcher that a man in a blue pickup truck had pulled up beside him, shot him and then driven off. When first responsors arrived at the scene, they found Alex with a superficial gunshot wound to his head. The injury itself was bad. I don't want to minimize that it was bad, but it was not life threatening. But it was enough for him to be consistently bleeding from his head. So he ended up being flat flown to hospital. He was rushed to the hospital and of course, now word about this began spreading fast. And if you looked at the situation from far, far away and maybe with one of your eyes closed, it could look like just another attack. It could look like just another accident, maybe even an attack that could be connected to Maggie and Paul's murders. But within days, that also began to unravel. When officers dug deeper, they discovered that the entire thing was staged. Alex Murdock said that he hired a man called Curtis Eddie Smith, a former client of his and also a distant cousins of his, to shoot him, supposedly so that his surviving son Buster could collect a $10 million life insurance payout. The plan, according to investigators, was for Eddie to kill Alex so that it would look like a murder not unaliving, because Alex's insurance policy would not pay out for a self inflicted death. But I guess Eddie's aim wasn't great. The bullet just grazed Alex's head, leaving him alive and leaving him to once again face the fallout of his own actions. So that was what Alex confessed to and Eddie was arrested for it. But according to Eddie, he knew nothing about the plan. He knew nothing about the stage death. He said that Alex never told him about any plan and that he never fired any weapon at Alex. He did say that that that very night Alex called him to meet up with him on the side of the road and he showed up and he saw that Alex had a weapon. But Eddie stuck to his story that he did not shoot him. He said that once Alex started talking crazy, Eddie took the gun away from him and left. But in the same breath, we know that Alex did suffer a superficial gunshot wound to the head. So did he do it to himself? Did he do it to himself after Eddie left? Did he have two guns with him? If Eddie did take one with him when he left. I don't know. It was extremely confusing. And again, it was painting Alex out to be what he really is, which is a liar. That happened around the same time that Gloria Satterfield's case came roaring back into focus. And everything was just so messy. This is what I mean when I say that his house of cards was crumbling around him because it was just one thing after another. Following Alex getting shot in the head, he comes out with a statement from his lawyer saying that he had been underneath a lot of stress and would be checking himself into a rehab facility. And it was then that it came out that he had been struggling with an oxy addiction for the past 20 years. His lawyer would later say that because of that addiction and because of those struggles, that Alex had been stealing money. But that was their argument, that Alex stole millions of dollars to fund his addiction, and that because he was not in the right state of mind over the years, he had made a lot of wrong and illegal financial decisions. So by the summer of 2021, Alex Murdock found himself facing over 80 separate charges and 11 different lawsuits against him for his financial criminal activities. By that point, the South Carolina Supreme Court had disbarred Alex, meaning that he was permanently banned from practicing law, basically losing his law license and all legal authority to be able to act as an attorney. And on July 14th of 2022, Alex Murdock was finally indicted on two counts of murder and two weapon counts in connection to the 2021 killings of his wife and. And his son. On July 20th, he pled not guilty, and he was held in custody pending a psychiatric evaluation. Now, during his time in jail, he was making calls to his only living son, Buster, trying to move money around, trying to sell stuff to pay out some of his debts before he would no longer be able to do so. And Alex, on those recorded phone calls from jail, he was just fishy. It's just so blatantly obvious that everything he does is only to benefit himself, to. Only to get money for himself or for his family. He doesn't care about anyone or anything else. And that shows clear as day. His trial began in January of 2023, and as you can imagine, it was pure chaos. The prosecution argued that his financial crimes were coming to light and that he was on the verge of losing absolutely everything. And to prevent his family from falling apart because he saw no way out, he planned the murders of his wife, Maggie, and his son Paul. The defense, on the other hand, they argued that he was very mentally unwell, and that his behavior was not an accurate reflection of the person who he really was. But they still stuck to their story that he was not the person responsible for killing Maggie and Paul. And they stated that everything that they had against him was only circumstantial evidence, saying that the prosecution did not have anything that could 100% prove that Alex Murdoch murdered his family members beyond a reasonable doubt. Ultimately, the jury found Alex Murdoch guilty, and he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole in March of 2020, 23. And separately on the federal side for the financial crimes for wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering. He pleaded guilty to some of those charges, and the U.S. department of justice announced his sentencing of 40 years in prison in August of 2024. To this day, Alex Murdock is still trying to fight his sentence. He is still claiming his innocence. And I think he's working behind the scenes with lawyers to still try and get out of this. And it terrifies me that it's a possibility that he could because of the connections. I don't know how, I don't know why or when or what he's gonna do, but I mean, the fact of the matter is that he does have the right connections. He might be behind bars and he might not be able to get a hold of any of his money, if he even has any anymore. But he's not gonna go down without a fight. Even now, he's still. He's behind bars, but he is still fighting. So, yeah, that is my best attempt at a recap of the Murdoch murders. Let me know what your thoughts are on it. I am so intrigued to see what you guys's opinion is on every single one of the deaths connected to him. That is all for me today. Thank you guys so much for tuning into this episode of I wish you were here. Who. Hope you're having the best day. If not, go do something to make it the best day. Make somebody happy, and I will see you in my next video. Massive kiss on the forehead to every single one of you.
