The Murdaugh Family: Part 1

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Discretion is it by its immediate murder
and many true crime cases, investigators uncover

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more than they expected when looking into
a suspect, hidden affairs, suspicious deaths,

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fraud, and theft. When Alex
Murdoch, a highly successful lawyer in

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South Carolina, called the police to
report that his wife and one of his

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children had been shot dead, nobody
expected the course the investigation would take.

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Day by day, the secrets that
Alex had been trying so hard to keep

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hidden began to see a light.
Alex wasn't just a successful lawyer. He

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and his family were some of the
most dominant legal forces in the entire state

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of South Carolina. His great grandfather, Randolph Murdoch, had been the one

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to bring the family's name into the
public eye when he opened his own law

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office in the early nineteen tens.
In nineteen twenty, Randolph was elected to

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serve as the first chief prosecutor for
a three thousand mile region that incorporated five

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different counties. From that day forward, being in the Murdoch family guaranteed two

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things, a successful legal career and
all the wealth that came with it.

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It was passed on through the generations, each son taking the role from his

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father. Alex's father, grandfather,
and great grandfather had all sat comfortably in

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that role, exuding a huge amount
of power over the slice of South Carolina

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that their legal firm ruled. The
Murdos being so well known in the area

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meant that when two of them were
murdered, it was the talk of South

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Carolina's Low Country region. It again
on June seventh, twenty twenty one.

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Alex Murdah had spent most of the
time at home with his loving wife,

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fifty two year old Maggie Murdoch,
and one of their two sons, twenty

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two year old Paul. They lived
in a rural area isolated sixty five miles

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outside of Charleston. In the late
evening, at about nine o'clock that night,

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Alex had left home alone, intending
to visit his mother. When he

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arrived back at his family home,
it wasn't long before he made a nine

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one phone call. Before giving any
details to the operator, Alex first took

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the time to introduce himself by his
full name in between what appeared to be

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sobs of anguish. He then informed
the operator, quote, I need the

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police and an ambulance immediately. My
wife and son were just shot badly.

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The operator asked if the victims were
still breathing. Alex responded that they were

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not, unlike most nine one one
callers who remained close to their loved ones.

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While waiting for an ambulance to arrive, Alex told the operator that he'd

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gone to the location of the bodies
near his dog kennels, checked if Maggie

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and Paul were breathing, and then
left again. First responders arrived at the

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scene and were unable to resuscitate Paul
or Maggie, not that Alex had made

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any effort to do that himself.
In the early crucial minutes after he discovered

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they had been shot, while talking
to local law enforcement from the County Sheriff's

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office, Alex informed the officers that
he was concerned that Paul had been the

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target of the attacks. A few
years ago, Paul was charged with several

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felonies due to his involvement in a
boat crash. Paul had been severely intoxicated

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and behind the wheel of his boat, and he'd crashed into a bridge,

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killing one of his passengers, nineteen
year old Mallory Beach. According to Alex,

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somebody had been making threats to Paul. Ever since the crash, Alex

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told the police that he believed the
person who had been making the threats might

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have been the shooter. One part
of Alex's story was easily confirmed. Both

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Maggie and Paul had been fatally shot, and multiple shell casings from the same

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weapon were found at the scene.
However, other evidence was hard to come

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by. Officers scoured through footage from
neighbors surveillance cameras, but as time went

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by, the investigation appeared to come
to a standstill. In the months after

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Maggie and Paul died, very few
details were made public and nobody was placed

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under arrest. For over a year, it was a local mystery, and

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everybody had a theory about what might
have happened to the two prominent members of

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the community. Before long, the
killings were given a nickname, the Murdoch

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Murders. Even though the murders themselves
remained a mystery, there was no shortage

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of information coming forward about the legendary
Murdoch family. It began only a couple

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of weeks after Maggie and Paul were
shot dead, when South Carolina's Law Enforcement

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Division made a surprising announcement. They
were opening a new inquiry into another death

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connected to the Murdough name. In
twenty fifteen, nineteen year old by the

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name of Stephen Smith was found dead
lying in the road about ten miles away

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from the Murdoch family home. Stephen's
family never received any closure from the starts.

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The entire case, to put it
simply, was weird. Due to

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the location of Stephen's own vehicle,
it seemed as if the nineteen year old

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had run out of gas more than
a mile away from where he died.

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In the early days after the body
was found, it was believed that Stephen

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died in a shooting incident. Then
the course of the investigation changed and the

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police began to wonder if Stephen had
been the victim of a hidden run.

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However, Stephen's mother never believed the
hidden run theory. Nobody had found any

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vehicle to breathe at the location where
Stephen's supposedly was hit. If he was

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a hid and run victim, then
the vehicle that killed him had not hit

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anything else in the area and had
driven away without a scratch. No arrests

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were ever made, and the Murdaws
were never directly implicated in Stephen's death,

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even though his body was found in
an isolated area relatively close to their home,

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and the decision to open a new
inquiry into the death took place only

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weeks after Maggie and Paul were shot. Stephen's mother began fundraising efforts, hoping

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that Stephen's body could be exhumed and
re autopsied in the search for more answers.

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The more awareness was raised about the
case, the more people began to

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whisper about the Murdaus. It's worth
noting that Stephen Smith was gay, and

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there were rumors that he was having
a secret situation ship with Buster, Alex

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Murdaw's oldest son, But again,
though are only rumors. After losing half

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of his family in one night,
the remaining Murdoch's son, Buster made a

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public statement in response to the rumors
about Stephen Smith, rumors which he described

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as vicious. He said, quote, I unequivocally deny any involvement in Stephen's

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death, and my heart goes out
to the Smith family. Stephen Smith's mother

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doesn't necessarily believe that a member of
the Murdoch family was responsible for her son's

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death. She just wants answers,
no matter where those answers could be found.

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She explained her feelings at a news
conference, saying, quote, I

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just love my son, and since
I couldn't protect him, I'm going to

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fight for him. I hope to
find the real reason for Stephen's death and

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the real why. Lawyers agreed to
apply for a court order to approve Stephen's

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remains being exhumed, but clarified that
there was no new evidence that linked the

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Murdoch family to Stephen's mysterious death.
To this day, Steven Smith's case remains

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unsolved. Three months after the murders, the investigation into the Murdoch murders took

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another surprising turn. On the fourth
of September twenty twenty one, Alex Murdoch

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was shot in the head. The
previous day, Alex had willingly resigned from

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his job, even though he worked
at a law firm that had been in

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the Murdoch family for more than three
generations after being initially founded by Alex's great

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grandfather. The circumstances surrounding Alex's resignation
and why he was shot the next day,

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or where the story begins to get
murky. An employee at the firm

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had discovered something unusual, a check
that was meant to be addressed to the

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firm as a whole, but it
was instead addressed to only one person,

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Alex Murdoch. At first it was
thought to be a mistake, but the

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firm was obligated to investigate the check. The deeper they looked, the more

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evidence of Alex's shady legal and financial
practice this is they found. Finally,

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instead of firing him, they asked
him to resign, which he did,

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and the next day he called nine
one one to report that he'd been a

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victim of a drive by shooting.
Okay, now one one was your emergency?

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Oh no, I'm Socca Hatchee Road. Okay, what's the address on

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Socca hat Ro I'm by the church. What church? What church are you

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talking about? Uh? I don't
know the name of it with the red

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roof? Oh say what end of'm
sucking hater role? Because I don't know

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who you're talking about? Um at
the Hampley County side. Okay, what's

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going on? I stopped. I
got a flat tire and I stopped and

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somebody stopped to help me, and
when I turned my back, they tried

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to shoot me. Oh okay,
will you shot yes, but okay,

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I'm okay you shot where where will
you shot at? Huh? Did they

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actually shoot you? They're tied to
shoot you? They shot me? But

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okay, where you need the ms? Uh? Well, I mean yes,

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I can't drive okay, and I'm
bleeding a lot. When we're part

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of your body, I'm not sure
somewhere on my head, your head.

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Somebody just stopped from me man um
from nine one one? Okay, we're

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still hey, okay, and what's
your name? I'm still here, I'm

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still on the line with you.
What's your name? Alex Murdock. Alex

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Murdock, Yes, ma'am. And
you see we're driving you out of flat

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tie. Somebody stopped to help you
and need shot you? Well they pull

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over, yes, man, like
they were going to help me. Okay,

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still on the line, one man, We're gonna get some I'm believing

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pretty bad, okay, John Missionary
Saint John Missionary Church, Yes, ma'am.

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And can you give me a description
of the person that shot you a

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shot at you? Yes, ma'am, I mean it was a white fellaw

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Uh. I'd say a white man's
a fair amount younger than me, really

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really short hair. Um all right. Do you have an ambulance coming there,

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yes, sir, yes, sir