On 7 June 2021, Alex Murdaugh called 911 to report that his wife (Margaret 'Maggie' Murdaugh) and one of his two sons (Paul Murdaugh) had been shot to death at the family's Islandton hunting lodge. Alex was indicted for their murders on 14 July 2022 and finally sentenced to two consecutive terms in prison on 3 March.
The case has been notable for the Murdaugh family's prominence in South Carolina's legal landscape. Alex Murdaugh's father, grandfather and great-grandfather each served as top prosecutors across the south of the state. It has also been notable for the number of twists and turns that have intrigued those following the case, and which have resulted in Alex facing down no fewer than 80 criminal charges.
Paul, then 20, had been arrested earlier that year and was awaiting trial in connection with a boating accident in 2019 that had left a 19-year-old dead. Alex drew scrutiny following the incident for his attempts to disrupt any potential prosecution of his son. In so doing, he drew attention to the past deaths of one of his clients, the Murdaugh family housekeeper, and a gay college student who may have been involved with the other Murdaugh son, Buster.
Along with allegagtions of a range of financial crimes – including hiring a man to shoot him to death so that Buster could receive his $10 million life insurance payout – the unwinding of Alex's criminal endeavours, culminating in the potentially opioid-fuelled killing of his wife and son, has raised new questions about the legal protection that the Murdaugh family appeared to enjoy for years. Alex Murdaugh's two life sentences will begin immediately at the maximum-security Kirkland Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina.
