Magnifying the Murdaugh Mystery

Kaylee Terry Currents Editor

Islandtown, South Carolina very few people, 49 to be specific, call home. In this town reigned a highly prominent family: Alex Murdaugh, his wife Maggie, and two sons Buster and Paul. The power this family holds originally derived from Randolph Murdaugh, a district attorney back in the 1920’s. Now the family name is known for Murder.

In 2018, the first major incident had occurred on Murdaugh property where the housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, had died due to a fall. The family claimed that she tripped over dogs. At the time, this seemed reasonable and the case was ruled as just an accident. Throughout the case, Alex Murdaugh had taken initiative and acknowledged the role his property held in her death, and, in turn, promised Satterfield’s sons money. Later, it has been revealed that Statterfields’ sons actually never received these reparations

About a year later on February 23, 2019, Paul Murdaugh, took a couple of friends out on his boat late at night. These friends now reflect back on their friendship with Paul in a Netflix Documentary claiming that when he would get drunk, Paul’s personality transformed completely. After everyone had been drinking for a while that night, Paul insisted on the boat, was missing.

After days of searching, officials found her body and declared her dead as a result of this crash. This was a terrible incident, and while Paul’s friends were in the hospital, they recalled Paul’s father, Alex Murdaugh, making sure no one said anything that as he and his mother were mur dered on June 7th, 2021. Many were questioned in the process, but Alex Murdaugh’s alibi was not aligning with investigators. Before his trial, Alex Murdaugh had tried to stage his own murder so his son could gain access to a $10 million insurance policy. The plan failed, posing even more reasons to question Murdaughs involvement in not only this case, but other cases as well. on driving the boat back even though his friends questioned his ability. They also recall Paul leaving the wheel at times, and at around 2:00 a.m, Paul had run the boat into a bridge. It was shortly after the crash where they realized Mallory Beach, a passenger incriminated his son. Paul had even claimed that it was another friend, Connor, who was driving the boat, but this was just one of many lies to be uncovered in the Murdaugh family history.

During recent trials, Alex Murdaugh openly admitted to stealing money at his law firm, as well as lying to investigators about his whereabouts on the night of the homicide, but did plead not guilty.

Paul Murdaugh was never able to make it to his trial, however,

After a long and highly public trial, it was concluded that Alex Murdaugh was guilty of both embezzling $8.8 million dollars and the double homicide of his wife and son. Now the other unsolved mysteries are taking center stage.