FROM THE VAULT – The Murdaugh Family Murders | #287

Summary

RedHanded Podcast – FROM THE VAULT: The Murdaugh Family Murders | #287
Episode Date: May 14, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, the RedHanded hosts revisit the tangled saga of the Murdaugh family—a Southern legal dynasty unraveling through a web of corruption, privilege, multiple suspicious deaths, and, ultimately, murder. Triggered by news that Alex (Alec/Ellick) Murdaugh’s murder conviction was overturned, the hosts summarize the timeline and chaos leading up to the stunning double homicide of his wife Maggie and son Paul, and the subsequent investigation. From legacy legal power to catastrophic falls, this episode serves as both primer and commentary on the circuitous, shocking story of one family’s seeming untouchability and implosion.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Case Introduction and Context

Timestamps: [00:00 – 06:28]

• The hosts address the recent news of Alec Murdaugh’s conviction being overturned and set the context for why this case has captivated public attention.
• Introductory banter includes pronunciation clarifications: Alec (like “relic”) and Murdaugh (like “Sherlock”).
• The case is described as a “wool hamper” of tangled storylines—a sprawling collection of interconnected mysteries, crimes, and cover-ups.
• Listeners are directed to journalist Mandy Matney and her Murdaugh Murders Podcast for in-depth investigative reporting.
• Quote: “This case is so tangled you can’t even really call it a web. What you can call it is Hannah’s wool hamper.” — B [04:20]
• Tone: Wry, irreverent, and self-aware of the complexity.

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2. The 2019 Boat Accident and the Death of Mallory Beach

Timestamps: [06:28 – 23:00]

• The episode’s main narrative begins with the infamous “Chappaquiddick of South Carolina”—a boating accident resulting in the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach.
• Details recounted:
  • Paul Murdaugh, then 19, buys alcohol with a fake ID and his mom’s credit card.
  • Six college-age friends opt to travel to a party by boat, aware of a roadside DUI checkpoint.
  • Paul insists on driving the group home despite heavy intoxication and no working boat lights; another bar stop en route.
  • Paul’s destructive, aggressive drunken behavior (nickname: “Timmy”).
  • The fatal crash at Arthur's Creek results in the death of Mallory Beach (her body recovered a week later), and the subsequent 911 call.
  • Immediate and extensive efforts to obfuscate Paul as the driver due to Murdaugh family influence.
  • Law enforcement interference—no roadside breathalyzer, evidence goes missing, Paul is treated as a victim, not a perpetrator.
  • The Murdochs’ legal power and relationships with the sheriff’s office described as “diamond-encrusted tentacles.”
  • Quote: “Paul Murdoch was not breathalysed at the scene of the crash...Even though it was his boat. He was taken off to hospital with the other four.” — B [22:09]
• Overall Insight: Establishes the recurring pattern of privilege, cover-up, and institutional complicity fundamental to subsequent events.

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3. The Murdaugh Family Dynasty and Corruption

Timestamps: [23:00 – 27:13]

• A primer on the Murdaughs’ grip on Hampton County (“Murdoch County”).
• Three generations served as county solicitors from 1920–2006, essentially overseeing the local justice system.
• Their law firm PMPED (joked as “Pimped”) becomes extremely wealthy from favorable local verdicts.
• Quote: “You better believe that the Murdochs have their diamond encrusted tentacles in basically every office and in every orifice of every official in Hampton county, especially the sheriff’s office.” — A [20:12]
• Tone: Sarcastic, critical, and incredulous at the unassailable systemic power.

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4. The Broader Spectrum of Suspicious Deaths

A. The Death of Stephen Smith (2015)

Timestamps: [27:13 – 32:55]

• Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old nursing student, is found dead with blunt force trauma (but almost no other injuries).
• Officially ruled a hit-and-run, but hosts highlight forensic inconsistencies (no tire marks, no debris, shoes still on, missing or tampered evidence).
• Rumors connect Buster Murdaugh to Smith, possibly due to a personal relationship.
• Law enforcement’s quick closure and lack of follow-up underline the family's shield.
• Quote: “Investigators called Buster a grand total of once. He didn’t pick up and his voicemail was full, so they left no message and never called again.” — A [31:33]
• Recent news: case reopened in 2022 after new evidence surfaced during the Maggie and Paul murder investigation.

B. The Death of Housekeeper Gloria Satterfield (2018)

Timestamps: [32:55 – 39:21]

• Gloria Satterfield, decades-long housekeeper and “second mother” to the Murdoch boys, dies suspiciously after falling at a Murdoch property.
• “Natural causes” listed on autopsy despite brain trauma from the fall; no documentation on the incident or emergency response.
• Murdaugh orchestrates a wrongful death civil suit, then embezzles millions from the insurance meant for her sons.
• Alec’s financial maneuvering in this matter later leads to criminal fraud charges and the unraveling of his financial empire.
• Quote: “E.C. Murdoch does a lot of fucked up stuff. This makes me sick.” — B [37:08]
• Motif of people dying or being ruined when entangled with the Murdochs.

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5. The Murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh (2021)

Timestamps: [39:21 – 48:14]

• Maggie and Paul are found shot dead at the family’s Moselle hunting estate.
• Alec claims an alibi: he was visiting his mother (verified by caregiver—potentially under Murdoch influence).
• The murder weapons belong to the family but, given the estate’s armory, this is ambiguous evidence.
• Theories:
  • Possible marital strife (divorce rumors, separate living arrangements, but unclear evidence).
  • Motive speculation, including financial distress and fear that exposure of fraud would ruin the family.
  • “Why kill Paul too?”—highlighting the lack of a straightforward motive for a double murder.
• Outsider suspects considered (e.g., Mallory Beach’s family seeking revenge), but conclusively dismissed.
• Family’s tepid response to the murders (delayed reward with suspicious time limits).
• Quote: “It’s specific and it’s targeted…this isn’t a family annihilation.” — B [45:22]
• The murder heightens legal scrutiny, driving simultaneous investigations into financial and historic crimes.

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6. The Staged Shooting of Alec Murdaugh (September 2021)

Timestamps: [48:14 – 56:42]

• Alec claims to be shot in the head while changing a tire—story quickly unravels.
• “Shooter” is Eddie Smith, a former client and odd-job man for the Murdochs, who says Alec asked him to kill him so that Buster could inherit insurance money; the wound is superficial and timeline suspicious.
• Evidence points to a staged suicide/murder attempt; attempts to deflect blame onto shadowy drug traffickers.
• Quote: “What Alec Murdoch didn’t know was that the emergency services were simultaneously on the phone with a couple who had just driven past him…they thought the whole situation smelled like a setup.” — B [51:49]
• Murdoch, facing dozens of fraud charges and lawsuits, becomes increasingly desperate and isolated after the deaths of his wife, son, and father.

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7. Legal Fallout and The Ongoing Courtroom Drama

Timestamps: [56:42 – 65:51]

• Alec is indicted for the double homicide of his wife and son in July 2022.
• The defense argues there’s not enough time for Alec to have committed the murders, covered his tracks, and returned to the house, but prosecution points to damning timeline evidence from phone and forensic data.
• The hosts emphasize the “absence of evidence” can be as incriminating as its presence, given the missing DNA and uncharacteristic behaviors after the crime.
• Financial and legal pressures mount: asset freezes, family lawsuits, exposure of fraud, and renewed investigations into Stephen Smith’s death.
• Buster Murdaugh, the surviving son, is left with a ruined legacy and massive debts, symbolizing the family’s fall from grace.
• Quote: “Buster, even though he was nowhere near Moselle on the night his brother and his mum died, is left holding the baby. If the baby was made of debt and ruin…and drug addiction.” — B [57:56]
• The episode ends with the hosts acknowledging the still-ongoing trial at the time of recording, noting the impossibility of a resolution and again suggesting listeners turn to Mandy Matney for breaking developments.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “This case is so tangled you can’t even really call it a web. What you can call it is Hannah’s wool hamper.” — B [04:20]
• “You better believe that the Murdochs have their diamond encrusted tentacles in basically every office and in every orifice of every official in Hampton county, especially the sheriff’s office.” — A [20:12]
• “He was not breathalysed at the scene of the crash...Even though it was his boat.” — B [22:09]
• “Investigators called Buster a grand total of once. He didn’t pick up and his voicemail was full, so they left no message and never called again.” — A [31:33]
• “E.C. Murdoch does a lot of fucked up stuff. This makes me sick.” — B [37:08]
• “It’s specific and it’s targeted…this isn’t a family annihilation.” — B [45:22]
• “Buster, even though he was nowhere near Moselle on the night his brother and his mum died, is left holding the baby. If the baby was made of debt and ruin…and drug addiction.” — B [57:56]

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Key Timeline Timestamps

• [06:28] — Start of Mallory Beach boat crash story
• [16:23] — Boat crashes; 911 call; Mallory missing
• [27:13] — Death of Stephen Smith introduced
• [32:55] — Death of Gloria Satterfield and Alec’s fraud
• [39:21] — Double homicide at Moselle (Maggie & Paul Murdaugh)
• [48:14] — Alec Murdaugh’s staged roadside shooting
• [56:42] — Indictment for double murder, trial preparations

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Episode Tone & Style

• Language & Tone: Conversational, darkly humorous, skeptical, and candid. The hosts balance meticulous research with sarcasm, frequent cultural asides, and personal reactions of disbelief and horror.
• Speaker Attribution: Hosts are A (Saru) and B (Hannah).

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Takeaways and Conclusions

• The Murdaugh family wielded extraordinary legal and social influence in South Carolina, enabling repeated patterns of cover-up, intimidation, and evasion of accountability.
• Multiple deaths—Mallory Beach, Stephen Smith, Gloria Satterfield, Maggie, and Paul Murdaugh—are directly or indirectly surrounded by the Murdaughs’ power and privilege.
• The sense of impunity was shattered only when financial crimes surfaced that even local influence could not shield.
• The case is ongoing and deeply complex, with each revelation spawning further questions and investigations.
• The hosts emphasize that for the most granular, minute-by-minute reporting, Mandy Matney and the Murdaugh Murders Podcast are unrivaled resources.

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Final Thoughts

• The Murdaugh saga remains a prime example of how generational influence and unchecked privilege can warp and damage not just institutions, but entire communities.
• The episode ends on an open note, acknowledging the unresolved state of trial(s) and the likelihood of further twists.

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Suggested Next Steps

• Listen to Mandy Matney’s investigative podcast for real-time updates
• Follow mainstream and independent news for trial developments and future verdicts

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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[A]

That's what we're doing. She's done it.

[B]

I have. I have done it because I think, like ones like Rasputin that you just like, you take your time with, like blah, blah, blah. Sometimes it's quite nice to do ones like this that you're like, you know what, I can turn this around in a way.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

So reminding ourselves of excellence. I heard this. I think it's Viola Davis. That was like, sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm Viola Davis so I can be Viola Davis for everyone else. So I'm Viola Davis and this is

[A]

redheaded, my co host for tonight, everybody. But no, I'm very excited about this case. Hannah, can we do one last name reminder?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Of how to say this name?

[B]

Yes. Ellic, like relic.

[A]

Even though it's spelled Alex, like Alex.

[B]

Yes. And Murdoch like Sherlock.

[A]

Okay. E.C. murdoch.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Got it. Because a lot of the producers on our team thought that his surname was murder.

[B]

Yeah, the murder murders.

[A]

The murder murders. Good.

[B]

And that's what I thought. But it's also Alec's murder.

[A]

Murder by name. Murder by murder.

[B]

Fuck it up.

[A]

It would only be better if his name was Johnny. Johnny Murder.

[B]

Johnny Murder. People do get it wrong. Podcasters are included, but that is quite a good sign that they haven't done their research.

[A]

Uh oh, shade.

[B]

Anyway, I have, so let's get on with it. This is not one story. It's not even the five stories that we're going to tell you this episode. This case is so tangled that you can't even really call it a web. What you can call it is Hannah's wool hamper. Because it has so many strands wrapped around each other that there is absolutely no hope of them ever being separate ever again. So we never want to open the hamper. It stays in the doom cupboard forever. But we can't always get what we want. So we are heading to the doom cupboard. We are opening the door to the doom cupboard. And we are opening the dreaded wool hamper of the Murdoch murders by Johnny Murder.

[A]

The murder murders.

[B]

You asked, we listened, and we stayed up very late on the Sabbath. If you've turned on a TV recently, you'll know that there is an enormous amount of ground to cover. And we, your humble servants, just cannot do it all to that end, we implore you. The absolute best source out there on the Murdoch case is the Murdoch Murders podcast, sometimes referred to as mmp, created and hosted by Mandy Matney, who is the news director of Fitz News. We just can't do it all. There are pretty significant storylines I've had to leave out, including a life support machine being turned off. But if you want to find those, go find Mandy.

[A]

Absolutely. Mandy is your girl because she has put over four years of her life into investigating the Murdoch family.

[B]

Smashed it.

[A]

And I did. There was a pause, wasn't there? It just looks wrong. And also, she spent so much time looking into all the kind of dark corners, every single like element of this case. Like Hannah said, we just can't compete. So this episode will be a summary of the story so far. If you want more detail, including 911 calls and more in depth analysis, then go listen to Mandy. This is a red handed episode. We are not an investigative podcast. So there are things that we have had to leave out. MMP and Mandy, go find them wherever you listen to your podcasts and they will tell you everything you want to know. Because by the end of this episode, you will definitely be wanting to know more about Mr. E.C. murdoch.

[B]

And that is a promise, a guarantee, if you will, no money back. This story, because there is so much to it, could start in any number of places, but we have decided to start with a boat because it's our show and we can do what we want. So let's begin with a boat. And this boat, like everything in this story was and probably still is in South Carolina. And the story that this boat is at the centre of is sometimes known as the Chappaquiddick of South Carolina. Don't worry, I had no idea either.

[A]

Yeah, I was immediately lost reading this.

[B]

And when Mandy says it in the MMP podcast, she just skates straight over it. And I was like, wait, what? I don't know what that is. Americans do know what it is. I know what it is. Now, basically, you still haven't watched Succession, have you?

[A]

No.

[B]

So this basically happens in succession. It's season one. Don't come for me for spoilers like whatever. Basically, in 1969, Ted Kennedy. Yes, that kind of. Kennedy was driving 29 year old Mary Jo Kopechny in his car and he drove his car off a bridge into the water. Kennedy escaped the upturned vehicle, but he left Mary Jo to drown. Her body was recovered the next morning and as a consequence, Ted Kennedy was banished. And he did not Run for president.

[A]

Black Sheep Kennedy. The would be president.

[B]

So, yeah, that's what Chappaquiddick is. And now we all know.

[A]

But our story is a more modern aquatic incident. 24th February, 2019 was date night in Hampton County, South Carolina. Mallory Beach. Her boyfriend Anthony Cook, and two other couples were off to an oyster roast. They were all about college age between 18 and 20. But before we continue, what on earth is an oyster roast?

[B]

I will answer this question, but I will admit that I did not know.

[A]

Okay, good.

[B]

So basically, it's like a barbecue, but oysters. And I think that cooked oysters are foul. I will eat a raw oyster till I die. I love them. They are my fave. Cook them, no gross vomit. But I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, all of you oyster roasters out there, but I believe you just get a ton of oysters and then you barbecue them in their shells and then you crack them open. So it's just like an outdoor ET fun time.

[A]

Got it. So they're on their way to one of those, being all young and whatnot. Now, there are a lot of names in this story, so we are going to leave some of them out just to make things easier to follow because otherwise you're just all going to be incredibly confused.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So do.

[B]

If you notice that we have left out someone's proper name, it is intentional, but it's not because they're not important. It's just for the sake of telling the story in a way that you will be able to follow.

[A]

Yeah. So I may not know much about oyster roasts, but I do know loads about underage drinking. I think we both do. So before this group headed to the oyster fiesta that they were going to, they went to a shop to buy some white claws or like, whatever else white teens drink in South Carolina. And this shop was called Parker's. Now, that may seem like an unimportant piece of information, but we'll need it later on. So, you know, put it under your hat.

[B]

Your oyster hat.

[A]

Your oyster hat. Paul Murdoch, one of the boyfriends in the group, went into Parker's and made the illegal purchase. He was just 19. Remember, in the US you've got to be 21, which just still blows my mind.

[B]

Yeah. But if you want to join the army, 18, no problem.

[A]

Being underage and going in to buy booze didn't phase a guy like Paul Murdoch. He had his mum Maggie's credit card and his older brother Buster's fake id.

[B]

Despite looking almost nothing like his brother they're very different sizes. And he very definitely did not have the name Maggie. Paul purchased the forbidden nectar without issue and carried it back to his friends who were waiting in the car. He carried his bounty aloft in a gesture of victory, which under US Alcohol sales law is known as a third party gesture. So that's the buying of alcohol to distribute to somebody else.

[A]

Oh, I thought you meant the holding it aloft.

[B]

No, no, it. Oh, right. It's like a celebration thing. So he's like, I've got it and I'm giving it to you. And under the law, that's a thing. Yeah.

[A]

Wow. Yeah.

[B]

Parker's getting quite some trouble later on. Anyway, the group of mates had heard that there would be a booze checkpoint on the road that night. And with their illegal cargo taken into account, they decided that it would be better to take Paul's dad's boat to the oyster roast instead of the car.

[A]

It's good to have choices.

[B]

This boat was 17ft, which might sound huge, but you can very easily find pictures of it. It's really not. And six people in a boat like that was definitely a squeeze. And also, the lights didn't work. Oh, good. Now, at McDonald's, a McDouble is only $2.50, so you can get your gym games on or just get lunch for only $2.50. Get more value on the under $3 menu.

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[B]

Nevertheless, the kids got to the oyster roast in that boat without incident. And they all had a jolly old time. So jolly that Anthony Mallory's boyfriend suggested that the whole gang take an Uber back to Paul Murdoch's river house. Yes, he has a river house. He has many houses rather than the boat. He's a smart guy. He's like, hey, guys, you know, I was all for the boat on the way here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we've all been drinking. The lights don't work. It's Dark. Let's just take an Uber. It will make no difference. We don't have any booze on us anymore. They can't stop us.

[A]

So, yeah, Paul's not having any of it. He was absolutely hammered, but determined to drive the whole gang back in the boat.

[B]

With no lights.

[A]

With no lights. But not before making another stop at a bar for some more shots.

[B]

I think. Obviously, Americans and British people drink in very different ways. We drink ourselves to death. They're not as consistent drinkers, you know, but Americans love a shot.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like I saw.

[A]

They're so big as well, the shots.

[B]

They're huge. A friend of mine who lives in Tennessee, she's doing a Ph.D. at Vanderbilt. She. I saw her, she was over here for a conference and I met her in a pub and it was a Sunday night and I was like, oh, what do you want? She was like, oh, a beer and a shot. And I was like, I cannot go to a bar on a Sunday night and order a shot. I'm sorry, I just can't do that. So different. Exactly. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

I was watching 90 Day Fiance. This woman's like, I just need to go out and have a drink. And she's out with her friends and they order shots, but they come in like tumblers. And I was like, that's not a shot. And then she shot the whole thing. It was like a drink of tequila. It was madness.

[B]

Yeah. No shade. I mean, like you. Do you. I'm just saying that we don't have a very shotty culture in this country.

[A]

No, thank you. Paul Murdoch was a particularly obnoxious drunk. Surprise, surprise. And everyone knew it. He shouted, he spat, he took his clothes off and was just all round generally insufferable. He's very. Lads, lads, lads. Right, yeah. His friends even had a nickname for drunk Paul. It was Timmy.

[B]

Try harder. You know, Timmy.

[A]

Uh.

[B]

Oh, Timmy's back. Timmy the drunk.

[A]

Only Paul, or should we say Timmy and Connor Cook, went into the bar. Connor is Anthony's cousin and another half of the final couple that were there that day.

[B]

So the boys in the boat. Yeah, we do need to know all of their names. Paul Murdoch, Conor Cook. Anthony Cook. Connor and Anthony are cousins.

[A]

Yes. And while they go do this, the rest of the group, including Malorie and Anthony, stay with the boat. There is CCTV to prove this. But the thing is, they're not happy. They're tired, probably cold, and just want to go home.

[B]

But Paul being Timmy.

[A]

Yeah, he's the one that can't call it a night.

[B]

He Can't. And Connor seems to be all for it. Paul and Connor were the only ones to go into the bar. The bar was called Luther's, and they were actually only in there for about nine minutes. They had two shots each before Paul started throwing chairs around.

[A]

Timmy.

[B]

Timmy. And they headed back to the boat at about one o' clock in the morning. And Paul, like an utter maniac, still thought he was the only one who could possibly drive the boat. He says things like, I know this river better than any of you. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, it starts off probably terrifying, but kind of okay. He does set off quite slowly.

[A]

I just love the idea of, like, throwing chairs, coming out, frantically arguing with everybody that you're going to drive the boat, but then just like very slowly moving it along the river. I mean, good, safe.

[B]

But then, in a classic Timmy move, Paul Murdoch took off all of his clothes. The rest of the group didn't love this. And we're not going to go into too much detail about what happened, if you want to know, Mandy can tell you. But basically an argument happened. And then that argument escalated to Paul pushing, shouting, and spitting at his own girlfriend and then rapidly accelerating. And the boat got up to 29 miles per hour, which is fast for a little boat with no lights on a narrow creek.

[A]

With a drunk driver.

[B]

With a drunk driver who's naked. Yeah. Mallory and Anthony were so scared that they sat on the floor of the boat clutching at each other.

[A]

And they were right to be scared because just moments later, the boat rammed into a bridge piling on Arthur's Creek. Mallory, Anthony, and Paul were all thrown from the boat. Connor remained on the boat, but he broke his jaw during the collision. There was blood everywhere. But despite his severe injury, Connor was the one to call 91 1. The dispatcher wasted ages trying to figure out where he was. And she actually resigned a few months later because of this.

[B]

Yeah, it's pretty bad. You can kind of hear, you know, in really early Kanye when he's just out of the car crash, and you can kind of hear that he can't move his jaw. That's what the 911 call sounds like. And he's so clearly in a lot of pain, terrified. And the woman is just like, so where are you? And he's like, I just. I just told you.

[A]

Oh, no.

[B]

Oh, no. Oh, no.

[A]

Cause it should have been pretty simple. Arthur's Creek is not that big, and they were the only boat in the water. But the 911 operator just didn't seem

[B]

to get it eventually Connor managed to explain that there were six of them, they had been in a boat crash and that one of them was missing. 19 year old Mallory Beach. Anthony Cook's girlfriend never emerged from the water. Her body wasn't recovered for a week after the crash. As first responders started to show up, they treated the injured and tried to find Mallory. All of the kids on the boat were questioned. Anthony Cook stated very clearly that Paul Murdoch was driving the boat when it crashed. He also added, you know Alec Murdoch. That's his son. Good luck. Anthony Cook had lived in Hampton County, South Carolina his whole life and he ain't no dummy. The Murdoch family ran Hampton County. They had done for over a century and they made sure everyone knew it. Paul Murdoch especially was known for saying things to the effect of, I'm a Murdoch, I can do whatever I want. Yeah.

[A]

A couple of news reports I saw about this said things like Hampton county is actually called Murdoch County. Like that's how much this family ran the fucking show there.

[B]

It's so like Gone with the Wind, old money, Deep south stuff.

[A]

Sure. So let's take a look at this family. They had been solicitors of Hampton county from 1920 to 2006. That's three generations of elected officials elected in inverted commas. Yeah. Kind of like a district attorney.

[B]

Yeah. I will hold my hands up. I haven't given an enormous amount of time to understanding the South Carolina justice system, but it does seem to be different. They don't have district attorneys, they have solicitors. I believe they're similar. I'm probably wrong. We don't need to know. If you want to know, Mandy knows.

[A]

Yeah. It's basically they are in the upper echelons.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

They this society for three generations, they

[B]

decide who's going to jail.

[A]

Sure. And Hampton county has a long time reputation for being a really bad place to get sued. The county almost always sides with the plaintiff and awards extraordinarily high damages. And that makes the Murdoch family and their law firm pmped. PM what?

[B]

Yep. That's the name of their law firm.

[A]

Pmped. Yeah.

[B]

Pimp My lawsuit.

[A]

Great. That pimped. Pimped. Like a license plate for Pimped is the name of your fucking.

[B]

And no one comments on it.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And it wasn't till I wrote it down and that I was like, hold on.

[A]

Pimp. Pimped, yeah, pimped.

[B]

Obviously. Like, it's just, it's a series of surnames of which Murdoch is one. But yeah, calling your pmped.

[A]

Not great. Not great. But this practice of awarding extraordinarily high damages did make pmped the law firm extremely powerful and very rich. And you better believe that the Murdochs have their diamond encrusted tentacles in basically every office and in every orifice of every official in Hampton county, especially the sheriff's office.

[B]

Which is handy when you want to do crime. Yes.

[A]

When you want to be a criminal.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Having a diamond encrusted chokehold on the local sheriff's office is very helpful.

[B]

Yes. So I believe I have this correct. Sheriffs are county by county, but yes, the sheriff's office might as well be called the Murdoch office. Got it.

[A]

And that sort of connection between the Murdochs and the sheriff's office is possibly why, even though none of the surviving boat kids said anything to contradict Anthony's statement that Paul had been the one driving, reports later stated that there was confusion over who had been driving the boat. And later reports even stated that it was Connor who had been at the helm. Even though literally no one on the scene said that ever. And it was Paul Murdoch's boat. Etc, etc, etc.

[B]

And that's all on audio. Like this is not speculation.

[A]

Yeah. And it's not like bad notes were taken at the scene or that the notes vanished. It's like they have proof that what the people at the scene said that Paul Murdoch was the one driving and then they're just like, oh, no one seemed to know who was driving. Oh, actually it was Connor who was driving.

[B]

So falsification of evidence by lots of people already tick 1. The Murdoch dynasty looming large is probably also why, although he was so aggressive toward paramedics that he had to be strapped down, Paul Murdoch was not breathalysed at the scene of the crash.

[A]

I mean, I feel like the breathalyzer would have just broken.

[B]

Yeah. Just exploded into alcohol drenched flames.

[A]

And it's just like the idea that they would turn up at this scene. He is so clearly intoxicated, he's timmying all over the place. And they don't breathalyze him.

[B]

I mean, they try and breathalyze Connor and he refuses. Yeah, smart boy.

[A]

Yeah. He's got a fucking broken jaw as well.

[B]

Yeah, right.

[A]

I can't. I can't do it.

[B]

Paul Murdoch wasn't even treated as a suspect even though it was his boat. He was taken off to hospital with the other four.

[A]

And just to remind everybody, this is happening in 2019, not 209.

[B]

I don't know the year 209. The year of our boat.

[A]

I'm so hungover and tired, but yeah, you get what I mean. It's like 2019 and this level of corruption is just like rampant.

[B]

Once Paul got to hospital, his behavior was so erratic that doctors and nurses thought that he might have a brain injury.

[A]

Nah, it's just Timmy.

[B]

Just Timmy. Timmy. I wonder how drunk I would have to be for people to think I had a brain injury.

[A]

Oh, she's brain injury drunk.

[B]

Anyway, so his blood's got taken cause they're worried he's gonna have some sort of stroke. Right. And Paul Murdoch was found to be 3.5 times over the legal driving alcohol limit. That's brain injury drug.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

But had that reading never been taken, no one would ever have been able to charge Paul with driving under the influence because there would have been no evidence. My God. Even still, even though they have that 3.5 reading, it took a whole two months before Paul Murdoch was charged with three counts of boating under the influence. A bui.

[A]

The state may have had the blood alcohol reading, but they didn't have much else to make a case against Paul Murdoch, because funnily enough, his wallet, phone and the clothes that he'd been wearing on the night that beautiful, intelligent and just 19 year old Mallory beach died had all vanished without a trace.

[B]

Funny that.

[A]

Yes. Seems odd, especially when there were so many officers at the scene of the crash. And yet more skeptical scenes played out at the hospital that night when Paul's dad, Alec Murdoch came out of the woodwork. So E.C. was a lawyer, but he was just not quite as important as his dad Randolph, who also made an appearance at the hospital.

[B]

Randolph is the big daddy. Right.

[A]

So I'm scared of him just reading his name.

[B]

You'll be even more scared when you know what his real name is. Randolph Murdoch iii. So he was a solicitor. Right. But he's old now. He's old as shit. So his daddy and his granddaddy were all solicitors. Right. So that's.

[A]

He's like evil Atticus.

[B]

Yes, yes, exactly that. And he's the one with the big swinging dick. Right, so ec, I get the feeling, is a bit of a disappointment.

[A]

Oh no.

[B]

But also Elek has a brother called Randy, who I would assume is Randolph iv, but he doesn't go on to be solicitor, they pick someone else. So there is some sort of succession bullshit going on. Anyway, we're not going to spend too much time on that because we have not the time to do it. But yeah, you need. Randolph is very old, but also very important.

[A]

Yes. Set the scene. They're at the hospital and you've got Paul's dad, Elek, basically wandering from room to room trying to talk to the kids who have all been involved in the crash, especially Paul's girlfriend, which does look quite a lot like he was there telling them what to say. A security guard even overheard EC on the phone saying, she's gone, don't worry about her. One can only assume that he was talking about poor dead Mallory Beach. So the big daddy, former solicitor Randolph Murdoch iii, so spent most of his time at the hospital telling his moronic grandson Paul, Timmy to keep his stupid mouth shut.

[B]

You know who he reminds me of? You know, in the Dropout, the TV series, he reminds me of the like War General that Elizabeth Holmes had on her board. Okay, it's very that like sure, sure, sure.

[A]

Very powerful Maddox, Mad Maddox or whatever his name.

[B]

Right, right, right. Just very, very calm but like words that sure.

[A]

Got it. But anyway, back to this. Randolph's there threatening Paul and Alec is there threatening the kids. And in May 2019, Paul was actually charged, but unusually he wasn't jailed. He had no mugshot taken and he was never even handcuffed. He was also never ordered to wear an alcohol monitor. All of these things in a DUI case in South Carolina we've been led to believe are quite unusual. Like those things would happen. So it's unusual that they're not happening here. And Paul would never get his day in court for drunk driving either, because just one year and 11 months later, Paul Murdoch would be dead.

[B]

THUNDERCLAP but before we get to Paul Murdoch's demise, we have a lot more mystery. Murdoch meters to cover. The death of Mallory beach is not the only death that has been associated with the Murdoch family in recent years. There are quite a few more. The next one that we're going to cover is the death of 19 year old Stephen Smith in 2015. So that's four years before the boating accident. The Murdoch connections to the death of Mallory Beech and Stephen Smith were brought to the attention of superstar journalists like Mandy Matney due to the widespread use of the hashtag justice for Mallory. And Stephen. And Mandy's like, I know who Mallory is, but who's Stephen? I'm going to tell you who Stephen Smith is. He was a nursing student with aspirations to move abroad and help those in need. And he was found dead in the middle of the road in Hampton county on the 8th of July 2015.

[A]

Stephen's head was totally misshapen from some kind of blunt force trauma. There was a 7 inch gash in the side of his forehead. But there were very few injuries to the rest of his body. Spare a few scratches, a dislocated shoulder and grazed knuckles. On the day Stephen died, a Passerby made a 911 call saying there was a kid lying in the middle of the road. Stephen was fully clothed and still had his shoes on when the authorities found him. His death was initially classified as a homicide, but remained in the hands of the highway patrol rather than the sheriff's department. Do highway patrol deal with homicides now?

[B]

No.

[A]

Yeah. So the highway patrol obviously don't investigate that. My question was rhetorical.

[B]

Keep up.

[A]

All they do is recreate accidents. Not saying that's not important, but it's not a murder investigation.

[B]

No, they're not the sheriff's department.

[A]

Nah. So by the time Stephen made it to a forensic pathologist, who in the state of South Carolina have the final say on stuff like this, it was decided that Stephen had not been killed with a gun or a bat. Rather, he had been hit by the wing mirror of a truck whilst walking along the road. And therefore his death was not a homicide. It was a hit and run.

[B]

Which you can probably tell from the tone of Saroo's voice. We don't believe for several reasons. One, there were no tire marks on the road. Two, there was no vehicular debris at the scene. Three, Stephen's shoes were still on. One of the most common things that happens when you're hit by a truck is that your shoes come off. It's like a force and friction thing.

[A]

Wow, that's really interesting. I didn't know that. But, like the first two. Yeah. Like, how is there nothing? If he hit a wing mirror that hard, where the fuck is the wing mirror?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And also, presumably if somebody hit him, they then swerved or did something or tried to break after they felt the impact, even if they didn't see him before. And if there are no skid marks, no tire marks, that didn't happen.

[B]

Absolutely. Four, this is the real kicker for me. There were no car paint fragments found on Stephen's clothes until a bag of his clothes were left unattended in the funeral home where he was laid to rest. Fuck off.

[A]

It's like. Also, there would have been paint fragments in the wound as well. Surely. Surely if you got hit by a fucking wing mirror, there's gonna be something of that wing mirror in your wound.

[B]

And these. I'm not talking about, like, paint chips. I'm talking, like microscopic paint flecks are not there. Equally, there was no chain of custody recorded with Stephen's phone. So God knows where that ended up. I mean, it probably ended up with the gunshot residue report that was never heard of again. And also the rape kit that was performed on Stephen's body that has also mysteriously disappeared and never resurfaced. Stephen's family have always insisted that he never would have walked along a rural road at night alone. And his autopsy showed that he was completely sober. Stephen was buried on 11th July, 2015. His family left his casket open, so all the attendees were confronted with what had been done to their boy. It has always been Stephen's family's firm belief that he was murdered for being openly gay.

[A]

And just days after Stephen died, there were rumours reported to the highway patrol, who, again, are not supposed to be investigating homicides. But these rumours were that the Murdoch brothers, Paul and Buster, were behind the death of Stephen Smith. Why? Because Buster had been intimately linked with Stephen. We have audio recordings of these conversations, but not a sniff of the Murdoch name made it into the official report notes on Stephen's death. Investigators called Buster a grand total of once. He didn't pick up and his voicemail was full, so they left no message and never called again. And pretty quickly the case went cold. Which is what will happen when you ignore tips. Yeah, Stephen's mother, Sandy, made an appeal to the FBI for help. But since Stephen's death was not federal in nature, they don't really do anything they can't, apparently.

[B]

So unless they're invited in.

[A]

Yes, they have to be invited in.

[B]

Unless it happens on federal property or like there's very specific or cross country,

[A]

sorry, cross state lines to commit a felony. And even then, like, often the actual crime will take precedence over the fact that they're crossing lines. But yes, from watching my many years of Criminal Minds, I know they have to be called in.

[B]

The good News is in June 2022. So just last year, SLED, who are essentially the South Carolina Super Police, reopened the investigation into Stephen's death based on evidence that we will go through later on. But first, we have another mystery to get through before we get to the much less mysterious and just plain baffling section of today's episode. But did you hear about the housekeeper? An ominous sentence that flew around Hampton county in the wake of Mallory Beech's death. Oh, yeah, The Murdochs have even more blood on their hands. And this one predates the boat crash that killed Mallory Beech. Gloria Satterfield was the Murdoch's housekeeper for two decades. She as good as raised Paul and Buster, and she had two Boys of her own as well. And then one day in February 2018, the 57 year old Gloria fell down the stairs at a Murdoch property and died a few weeks later. It is believed, not by me, but by some, that dogs belonging to the Murdoch family tripped her. And then Gloria tumbled to her eventual death.

[A]

She's 57, not 87.

[B]

Right. However, no documentation pertaining to the exact cause of her fall can be found anywhere. We don't know who called 911. We don't even know who took her to hospital. All we know was that she was in intensive care with a traumatic brain injury for weeks before she died. But according to her autopsy, she died of natural causes. Is a brain trauma from falling down the stairs a natural cause? No, that's bonkers to me. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I have misunderstood that, but it just seems odd.

[A]

I mean, it's very similar to the staircase situation, which I'm not going to spoil here, because I actually didn't know that case very well. Like, we don't actually tend to often know the really big cases in that much detail until we cover them, I always find. But in that, there is an accusation of, like, somebody who. I won't say who. It's not Kathleen falling down some stairs, but she fell because a brain aneurysm happened. So they're like, oh, my God, the brain aneurysm happens, and then that's what causes her to fall. And so she actually dies of natural causes because that's what would have killed her anyway. So maybe they're saying something like that, but that's a fucking stretch. Mom, can you tell me a story? Sure.

[B]

Once upon a time, a mom needed a new car. Was she brave? She was tired, mostly. But she went to Carvana.com and found a great car at a great price. No secret treasure map required.

[A]

Did you have to fight a dragon?

[B]

Nope. She bought it 100% online from her bed, actually. Was it scary? Honey, it was as unscary as car buying could be.

[A]

Did the car have a sunroof?

[B]

It did, actually.

[A]

Okay, good story.

[B]

Car buying you'll want to tell stories about. Buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply.

[A]

So we also know that the Murdoch boys didn't visit Gloria in hospital. And the richest family in Hampton county, for whom she had been a maid for 20 years, didn't even pay for this woman's funeral.

[B]

That is outrageous.

[A]

Especially. She died in your fucking house. Mm. So, naturally, this led to a lot of speculation about the real cause of Gloria's death. At Gloria's funeral, Alex Murdoch approached her sons and basically said the I'm so sorry for your loss. Your mum died on my property and you should absolutely receive compensation. I can make that happen for you. Sue me, get your money. And I happen to know just the guy to help you. But you obviously can't tell anyone I told you to do this because I could get in a lot of trouble. So Gloria's boys, stricken with grief and knowing no better, went to one of the Murdoch's henchmen attorneys to represent them. And they file what they believe to be a $500,000 wrongful death lawsuit against the Murdoch family.

[B]

E.C. murdoch does a lot of fucked up stuff. This makes me sick. He orchestrates this whole thing. In reality, the lawsuit wasn't worth $500,000. It was worth millions. And Alec Murdoch settled it. And through a web of false companies, lined pockets, greased palms and secret whisperings between good old boys, Gloria's sons have not seen a penny of that settlement. We don't know how he did it exactly because all of the records of the suit have mysteriously disappeared. A little Easter egg of some good news that I'm speckling throughout this episode. This particular shafting did catch up with Alec Murdoch. He was arrested on two felony fraud charges in relation to Gloria Satterfield. And he was arrested for them in Orange County, Florida, where he was allegedly in rehab for a $50,000 a week opioid addiction.

[A]

Da da na na na I'm trying to think of the OC sound that is it.

[B]

I was like why are you doing Phantom Planet?

[A]

Well done.

[B]

That is it.

[A]

Always on the run. I can't remember the words.

[B]

Driving in the sand driving down the 101. California, here we go.

[A]

California, there we go.

[B]

We will be driving down the 101 in just a few weeks.

[A]

Let's keep going.

[B]

They catch up with him in Florida. Ellic is charged with obtaining property under false pretenses and misappropriating settlement funds. It is understood that through his tangled financial web, he received $3.5 million in relation to the wrongful death of Gloria.

[A]

So EH was denied bond for the first time in Murdoch history and sent for a psychiatric evaluation, which is bad news first for sure.

[B]

Particularly for Alec. I don't love any of them. I mean, but he. There's something specific about him and Paul. I think him and Paul are very similar. Buster's a bit of an outlier.

[A]

So eventually Alec signed a confession admitting that he had stolen $4.3 million from Gloria's family. Which meant that eventually he would have to reveal his financial situation. More extremely bad news.

[B]

That's what he's terrified of. Because as soon as he gets to any sort of hearing about this Gloria Satterfield case, he is going to have to expose all of his finances. Which basically will bring down his entire family.

[A]

Oh, absolutely. And that's the thing, isn't it? It's just like a little murder here and there. Doesn't matter. You cannot let the family secrets about the money and the way we do business get out.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Because that's how they'll fucking get you. That's how they'll get you all. So Sled agreed to exhume Gloria's body. And to be honest, the news just kept getting worse and worse for the Murdochs. Especially if you happen to be Paul and or Maggie Murdoch, who is of course his mum. Because on the 7th of June 2021, Maggie and Paul were found shot in dead on the family's 1700 acre hunting estate called Mosul.

[B]

Mosul.

[A]

Moselle.

[B]

So no, it's Mosul. It's not the capital of Isis. It's Moselle.

[A]

It's very like bucket bouquet. Your hunting estate is called Mosul? It's Moselle. Fuck it up. So with his wife and son found dead in Moselle, Eck Murdoch was the one to call in emergency services. And he placed this call at 10:07pm he told the operator that he had been out and returned home after visiting his elderly mother. How very wholesome to find his wife and youngest son murdered out in the open air by the dog kennels on Moselle. 22 year old Paul Murdoch had been shot twice with a blackout rifle. And his mother Maggie, 52, had been shot with a semi automatic shotgun. Now this crime scene was an absolute mess. Both Paul and Maggie had been shot several times. There was nothing clean about it. And this was certainly not the work of a professional.

[B]

Still though, Sledd took over the crime scene pretty quickly as it was very obvious that it was way beyond what the sheriff's department were equipped to handle. And also everyone knew that the Murdoch family wore the Hampton County Sheriff's Department like a sock puppet. Naturally, as the one who found the bodies, and also the spouse, parent E.C. murdoch was at the very front of the person of interest queue. He was not impressed with this. He told Sled that he had an ironclad alibi. He said he had been visiting his dying father and then he went to visit his mother who was suffering with late stage dementia. And he just so happened to have done both of those things at the time that the murders took place. And the visit to the mother was verified by her caregiver. But wouldn't the caregiver of Mummy Murdoch be exactly the kind of person who would be scared to rat out a Murdoch because her literal livelihood depended on it?

[A]

Yeah, that kind of feels like a connection that should be made.

[B]

And we will find out later on that Alec Murdoch is absolutely no stranger to intimidating witnesses.

[A]

It was determined at autopsy that Maggie and Paul had both been killed between 9 and 9.30pm There were two weapons involved, like we said, but that doesn't necessarily mean two shooters. Both firearms were identified to belong to the Murdoch family. But again, Moselle is a literal hunting lodge. It's the hunting estate for this family. There were guns everywhere. There was even a gun room. So by the same token, the guns belonging to the family didn't mean that a Murdoch must have shot them. Anyone who knew the property could have got hold of them. I don't think they did, but let's not get sidetracked here yet.

[B]

Let's stick with Alec for now. What motive could he possibly have had for killing his son and his wife? Well, we don't really have much more than rumour at the moment. The word on the country lane was that Maggie and Alec's marriage was on the rocks. Some people seem to think that Maggie had actually been to see a divorce lawyer, although we haven't been able to find any conclusive evidence that that actually happened. But I also think, like, just because someone hasn't physically gone to see a divorce lawyer doesn't mean that they're not thinking about divorce, you know? Anyway, there was quite a lot of speculation that Maggie wasn't particularly happy in her marriage, but she loved being a Murdoch. The next piece of evidence, I want to get your thoughts on. So there's. People make the point that the day before Maggie died, she's selling shoes on Poshmark for $28 and they're like, why would she be doing that? She must be, you know, trying to collect as much money as she can so she can run off into the sunset. Bullshit. That's what rich people do. They're tight as fuck.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Like, people don't stay rich by frittering their money away. You don't get wealthy by frittering your money away. You can be rich and fritter your money away because you can lose rich. Like fucking with a solid opioid addiction. Wealthy is. You don't fuck your money.

[B]

No, exactly. So I think that is such a classic, like, rich old lady thing to be doing. She probably doesn't buy branded orange juice. Do you know what I mean? It's like, that kind of rich, for sure. So I don't put too much stock in the poshmark thing, but anyway, it does seem like EC And Maggie were living at different properties at the time of the double homicide. But I suspect that's actually a lot more to do with the fact that she was renovating one of their properties at the time. And I feel like rich people sleep in separate bedrooms, you know? Like, I think, like, it's just rich people stuff, you know? Let's say that EC did want to get rid of his wife to stop her from divorcing him. Why would he kill Paul, too?

[A]

That's a very good question.

[B]

I don't know the answer to it.

[A]

Why would you kill your progeny? Because your wife is threatening to leave. And they're not children. They're not children. It's not like he does it in a. You know, fuck you. You were trying to take my child away from me as well. I'm gonna kill you. And I'm gonna kill him because, you know, if I can't have him, whatever. Or kill him first to punish her. He's an adult. He doesn't really fit that pattern.

[B]

No, exactly. And also, Buster was nowhere near Mozel that night. So this isn't a family annihilation. It's specific and it's targeted.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It was widely known that Paul had learned absolutely nothing from the boat crush and was just as entitled and obnoxious as he had always been. So maybe Alec had just had enough of him. And maybe he thought he could just get away with it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Interestingly, Maggie did not have a life insurance policy.

[A]

Very unusual for a rich woman.

[B]

She did have an estate to the tune of about 5 million. And it's all tied up in trusts and bonds and blah, blah, blah. Sure. Naturally, life insurance policies don't pay out if you murder your wife.

[A]

No, they don't. Famously, they don't.

[B]

But estates. Oh, estates can be fucked with a lot more. And eh knew that. Look at what he did to Gloria Satterfield. Remember that? It's gonna come back, okay?

[A]

But let's entertain for the briefest of moments what motives any outsiders from the Murdoch clan may have had for killing Maggie and Paul. Apart from the fact that literally everyone hated the Murdochs.

[B]

Everyone hates them, but everyone's terrified of them, too.

[A]

Yeah. You don't just be like, I hate that incredibly powerful family, I'm gonna try break into their hu estate and murder the matriarch and one of the sons. One group of people under suspicion were Mallory Beecher's family. They had filed a civil suit going after the shop, which is Parker's, that we told you about at the start of the episode. That's a shop that sold Paul Murdoch the white claws, etc. And an Alec Murdoch specifically for normalizing underage drinking in his family.

[B]

Yeah, the beaches, they can't get what they want. So what they're trying to do is settle the case by going after Parker's and being like, he had fake id, he had his mum's credit card, he did the third party gesture and you didn't stop him. And then also, it's very widely accepted that the Murdoch boys were drinking from, like, 14. It was encouraged by the family, blah, blah, blah. So that's why they're suing both EH and Parker's at the same time.

[A]

So you could say maybe the Beechers wanted to get back at Ellich, kill one of his kids as revenge, and maybe Maggie the mum just got in the way. Paul did claim that he had received threats since the crash, but probs not because every single one of Mallory Beecher's family cooperated totally with the police, even submitting DNA samples in the wake of the Moselle murders, without question. So that one doesn't really work for us.

[B]

Yeah, I don't think Mallory Beecher's family were anywhere fucking near it.

[A]

I don't think they would have had the nerve to do that. Like, it's terrifying.

[B]

And people who insinuate that the Beechers might be behind it or the Satterfields or something. The argument that is made, which is a very weak one in my opinion, is that, like, oh, they hired a hitman to take them out.

[A]

With what money? Firstly. And also, it doesn't look like a hit at all.

[B]

Exactly. So that one doesn't work. Actually, quite a few things don't work for us. Or maybe just don't quite sit right. Firstly, there are no initial requests from the Murdoch family to the public for information for weeks after Paul and Maggie died, until eventually a couple of other Murdochs, notably not Ellick, went on Good Morning America and offered a $100,000 reward for any information that led to an arrest in connection to the double homicide. Fine. You might be thinking, what is not fine is that this reward money had a time limit. All tips had to be submitted before 30th September 2021.

[A]

To be in with a chance of winning that tax free cash.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. I've never seen that before.

[A]

It's crazy. I mean, you know, he's like, I love my family, but only within this time window.

[B]

Only until the 30th of September and then I'm out of here, baby. But it actually turned out that Ehrlich himself could have used that 100k. In the midst of the Gloria Satterfield investigation and the Mallory beach suit, all of his assets were frozen. On top of that, his own brother sued him for embezzling money from their family law firm, which, if you need reminding, is called pmped. So Alec Murdoch, murderer or not, was running out of options. Eventually, he was going to have to untangle the financial web he had spun in the cold light of day and under the eyes of the law, probably in a different county where he would be in real trouble. He really, really, really did not want to do that. That is his house of cards. Down like that is game over. And it's double game over. Because just three days after Paul and Maggie were shot dead, the Logan Roy of our piece, Randolph Murdoch iii, died. So Daddy wasn't around to protect Elec anymore. He was on his own.

[A]

The house of cards is coming down. So this led investigation into the Murdoch murders continued and led to, although we don't know yet why, a renewed investigation into the death of Stephen Smith. That would start from the total beginning, literally.

[B]

All we know is that SLED have announced that they have come across evidence in the investigation of the double homicide that has led them to believe it is worth reopening the death of Stephen Smith.

[A]

Which is.

[B]

That's huge.

[A]

Yes, absolutely. But things are about to go from somewhat affirming to utterly batshit, because on the 4th of September, 2021, EK Murdoch called 911 claiming that he too had been shot at 1:34. He called emergency services and said that he had pulled over to change a flat tyre on his car on a rural road seven miles from Moselle. He was driving to his hunting lodge from Charleston, Red flag number one. The road he was on was not a direct route from Charleston to Moselle. But anyway, Ellic told the 911 operator that a man had pulled up behind him as he was changing his tyre, shot him in the head and then driven off. He also gave a description of the man who had shot him. He said that he was white, he had really short hair and he was much younger than Eck himself. This is all delivered in a very calm manner for a man who had been shot in the head. And again, you can go Listen to the 911 calls on Mandy's podcast.

[B]

What Alec Murdoch didn't know was that the emergency services were simultaneously on the phone with a couple who had just driven past him on the rural road. This couple told the operator that they'd just driven past a man who was waving his arms and covered in blood. They wanted to ring it in just in case, but they hadn't stopped because they thought the whole situation smelled like a setup. And the operator told the couple that she didn't blame them. Red flag number two. Meanwhile, on the other line, E.K. murdoch told his operator that some people showed up in a white Nissan and they were going to drive him to a hospital in Charleston. But he also asked her to send an ambulance. The white Nissan probably never existed. EC Murdoch was airlifted by a medical helicopter to a different hospital in Savannah, Georgia. Red flag number three, because get this, the helicopter was chartered before E.C. murdoch called 911. Firstly, by the fuck who. Secondly, why wouldn't he tell the operator that a helicopter was coming for him? And three, why would he tell the operator that he was headed to a hospital in Charleston when he was going to a different state? It's not far, I'll give them that. But, like, they're in opposite directions.

[A]

I mean, that is probably one of the most confusing parts of this story. This incident on the roadside. And it all went from weird to bonkers when 13 days later, E.C. murdoch appeared at a bond hearing without a single scratch on him. Even a superficial head wound from having been shot in the head would have left behind something. But after not even two weeks, he's there without a scratch.

[B]

Fucking hell, Alec.

[A]

It makes zero sense. So here is another, much more likely version of events. An old client of Ehlich Murdoch called Eddie Smith either happened across Ehrlich on the side of the road, or he was sent to find him by someone else, or possibly by Alec himself.

[B]

Eddie Smith is also the exact opposite of the man that EC Describes on the show.

[A]

Yeah, because Eddie was a logger, he'd also injured his lower back, which left him unable to log. So he did odd jobs, including for the Murdochs. And he was actually on his way to a Murdoch property when he came across EH on the side of the road. And Eddie told Sled that EC was in an incredibly agitated state when he found him. And he'd asked Eddie to shoot him in the head. Eddie refused, so Alec threatened to shoot himself. So a struggle ensued in which the gun was fired. So they're like, tussling with it when he's telling him to shoot him. And Eddie's like, no, the gun goes off. And then Eddie left, sure that EC was not hurt. And as he put it, if I had wanted to shoot ec, he wouldn't have had a superficial head injury. He would have been dead. Exactly, yeah. The Murdoch camp had their own story that Ellick was a drug addict and that he had a $50,000 a week drug problem, and that the loss of his father, his wife, his son, and all of this legal and money trouble he was going through had all pushed him over the edge.

[B]

So the Murdoch camp say that Ehlic hired Eddie Smith to kill him so that he could escape it all and leave his son Buster a decent trust fund behind. But that wouldn't happen if he killed himself. Someone else has to kill him. Right? That's their argument. There was also a bit of a feeble attempt to make it look like drug traffickers were after Alec because he owed them money. And also, MOW appeared to have been purchased from a drug trafficker. But, like, they're literally just like, look over there. Do you know what I mean? And it's a distraction. It doesn't last very long.

[A]

Also, if I was owed money by Alec Murdoch and I knew his family do have money, maybe not liquid, but they've got assets, I wouldn't fucking kill him. I would take him hostage and I would torture him until I got all the money.

[B]

Yeah. I don't know how much Eddie Smith knew. I don't know if he really did just drive past him. I don't know if he was sent there. Cause, like, he's on the way to a Murdoch property, right? So, like, I don't know if they're like, oh, come this specific way, and then you'll see him on the. I don't know, but I don't think Eddie Smith is a hitman. It did seem pretty obvious that Eddie Smith was not a hitman when the knife found at the scene that was used to slash EC's tyres turned out to belong to him. And also when Sled discovered that ec's car didn't have a spare tyre in it in the first place. And all the while, EH is racking up more fraud charges from a plethora of different cases by the day. So the shooting story is a load of nonsense. And clearly Sled were pretty certain of that too. And by the time it happened, eh already had 84 criminal charges and 11 lawsuits to worry about. I think that would probably give me, a 50k a week.

[A]

Drug addiction, I mean, quite. But on the 14th of July, 2022, the grand jury had a few more problems to throw onto Alec Murdoch's worry pile. They indicted him for the murder of his wife and son 13 months after they died. Naturally, never one to go down without a fight, Murdoch pleaded not guilty. Now, before we get onto the trial, which I know you're all gagging to get to, we have to remind ourselves of the lesser discussed Murdoch. Where the fuck is Buster in all of this?

[B]

An excellent question and I'm going to try and answer it. He's kind of everywhere and nowhere.

[A]

He's like the eggman.

[B]

He is, you know, inextricably involved. Because if his dad goes down, he's the last one left. So all of the civil suits against his father will become his problem because he inherits the estate. Right. But how is he gonna settle any of these lawsuits when his dad has allegedly spent all of his embezzled millions on opioids? So Buster, even though he was nowhere near Moselle on the night his brother and his mom died, is left holding the baby. If the baby was made of debt and ruined.

[A]

And drug addiction.

[B]

Exactly. I, as I said, not a fan of any Murdoch. Buster doesn't seem to be a stand up guy. He was extremely happy to be a Murdoch. He did throw his weight around. He actually tended to wear a monogrammed cummerbund, for example, which makes me want to vomit. But it does seem, from what I have gathered, that Buster wasn't great, but he wasn't quite as obnoxious as Paul was.

[A]

And what else is interesting is remember Maggie's lack of life insurance? Well, she had named Alec as the executor of her estate. Nothing weird about that. That's what most people do, leave everything to their partner. But what is weird is that E.C. murdoch renounced his rights to Maggie's estate.

[B]

Why would you do that?

[A]

Exactly. Could this have been in an attempt to make himself look less guilty? After all, your wife turns up dead, suddenly you inherit all of her money. Maybe if you say I don't want that, I'm going to renounce all of that. Maybe it makes you look less like you have a motive. Whether that will do him any good or not in this trial remains to be seen. Because obviously the trial is still ongoing. We are like not anywhere near the end of it by the looks of things. Because as we speak, 64 year old Alec Murdoch is still very much standing trial for the murders of his wife and son.

[B]

We are not going to give you a play by play of the trial. That's Mandy Matney's job. We also can't give you a resolution for this story because the trial is unfolding right now and it could continue to unfold for months to come. What we're going to give you is a very brief rundown of the cases presented by the prosecution and the case for the defence. This is the timeline that the prosecution give of the night that Maggie and Paul died. Maggie didn't really want to be at Moselle that night, but Ehrlich asked her to go, so she went and she got there at about 8:15pm Paul was already there. Buster, as we know, was out of town. Maggie and Paul had dinner together and that's backed up by the fact that they were both found to have similar stomach contents at autopsy. And then we know that at half past eight, Maggie and Paul headed down to the dog kennels, which are about a quarter mile from the main house. It's a 45 second drive and the dog kennels are very visible from the main house. And we know that they were there because of Paul's mobile phone activity. Once at the kennels, Paul was looking at one of the dogs that actually belonged to a friend of his and he thought the dog was wagging funny. So he took a video of the dog on his phone to send to his owner. And in the background of that video, Maggie and Ellic can be heard speaking to each other, which is odd, considering that E.C. told police that he had not been down to the dog kennels that night at all. And it's more odd when you learn that just three minutes after that dog video was taken, Paul stopped interacting with his phone forever. It was never unlocked again and neither was his mum's.

[A]

So Alec's phone tells tales on him too. There is absolutely no activity on his phone between 8:09 and 9:02.

[B]

And we know from autopsy that Maggie and Paul died between 9 and 9.30.

[A]

At 9:04, Elliot calls Maggie's phone. There's no answer.

[B]

Funny that she's dead.

[A]

Mm. Then he calls his dad, Randolph. No answer. At 9:06, he called Maggie again. Then he text her saying that he was going to go check on his mum. How very convenient. But strangely, he chose not to drive past the dog kennels on his way out of the estate because, you see, Moselle has two driveways, one that goes past the kennels, which is the one that everyone uses. And it's like where the post box is, etc. But EC didn't take that one that night. If he couldn't get hold of his wife, why wouldn't he check the kennels on his way out?

[B]

Like you can see it from the house. He would have been able to see if they were down there. And if he's trying to get hold of her, you would just drive that way out. Even if you couldn't see them, you would just check on your way past, wouldn't you?

[A]

And it's also the route that everybody always takes out of the estate.

[B]

Yeah. It's like it's unusual to take the other drive.

[A]

Yeah. And although Alec was wearing totally clean clothes, a white T shirt, to be precise, when the police showed up, there was gunshot residue on his car seat belt and Maggie's blood was found on the steering wheel.

[B]

Apparently a lot of people forget about seatbelts and they forget to clean them.

[A]

You would. And his housekeeper had already told the court that EC was wearing a different T shirt when he left in the morning and that she had felt pressured by him to say differently. So to say that he was wearing the white shirt that he was found in by the police. And interestingly, there was no DNA on him from Maggie or Paul, even though he had insisted that he had turned Paul over and checked if both of them were breathing. This is the thing. Sometimes the absence of evidence looks really, really suspicious. Like when your own wife's DNA is not anywhere on you.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. Additionally, neither Maggie nor Paul had any defensive wounds and they were shot at from extremely close range, indicating that they had no idea that they were under threat. Murdoch's defence team, unsurprisingly, were two things. Old and expensive. It's very boys club. Basically. Their argument is that EC could not have got from the main house down to the dog kennels, back up to the house, cleaned all the blood off him and got changed in the 10 minutes that his phone was inactive, which of course he could. It's a 45 second drive.

[A]

Yeah. And the fact that there is gunshot residue on the seatbelt shows that he probably did drive back from the kennels to the main house. And also the other thing about it seeming like it was somebody they knew is they're in the middle of an estate, right? They're at the dog kennels. There's no running. Their bodies aren't found, like in two different places because there's been a chase, there's been like a pursuit by this hitman who has been hired by somebody who doesn't like the Murdoch family. It's like we're all down at the dog kennels. Bang, bang. It's like, like you said, they never saw it coming because they were with somebody that they knew.

[B]

I agree. But the defence, granted they don't have too much to go on and they don't really seem to make that much sense. But they argue that Sled had no idea what was going on with the case, they couldn't solve it, so they decided to pit it all on Eric, even though they have no evidence and no motive, which, like, side eye. They have both of those things. Basically. They're like, well, it took 13 months to arrest him, so they can't have had that much evidence. Which, like, that's just not how that works.

[A]

No. The fact that they arrested a Murdoch within 13 months of a murder says that they probably have a shitload of evidence. And also, they're reopening the Stephen Smith case because of other evidence they've discovered. How are you going to say they have no evidence? And as for motive, you don't have to show motive. The prosecution does not have to show motive at court. And also, murdering your spouse, like, I'm not trying to sound like someone's mum on Facebook, that's motive enough because that's who kills you.

[B]

Exactly. So by the time you hear this, the trial of Alec Murdoch will be in its sixth week and God knows what will have happened in the time that we record this and the time it releases. At the moment, we know that Buster has taken the stand and that the prosecution rests. We have absolutely no idea what will happen next. But we do know that this is not the end and that is a big deal. Which is Mandy Matney, sign off.

[A]

She does sound like a superhero. Comic novelist. I'm Mandy Matney with Fitz News, here to tell you about the Johnny Murders. Johnny Murders. Murder, murders.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And on the Murdoch case, because all three of them are pending trials or currently in trial.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So let's see.

[B]

So have fun. Do nice things.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Go find Mandy.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And we'll see you next time.

[A]

Yes. Bye.

[B]

Bye.