How a prominent South Carolina attorney orchestrated the killing of his wife and son
Alex Murdaugh, a member of an influential South Carolina legal family, was convicted in March 2023 of murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul on the family's Moselle estate in June 2021. The case exposed decades of financial crimes and addiction that preceded the double homicide.
Quick Facts
On June 7, 2021, Alex Murdaugh shot and killed his wife Maggie, 52, and his youngest son Paul, 22, on the family's Moselle estate in South Carolina. The murders would unravel a carefully constructed life built on lies, theft, and addiction—and expose a man desperate enough to kill his own family.
Murdaugh came from privilege. As a member of an influential South Carolina legal family, he enjoyed status, wealth, and connections. Yet beneath the surface lay a secret that would eventually destroy everything: a crippling addiction to oxycodone that began in the early 2000s.
The addiction fed a hunger for money. Over the years, Murdaugh embezzled millions from clients and his own law firm, stealing from people who had trusted him. He lied to his family. He lied to his colleagues. He lied to anyone who might discover the truth.
But addiction and theft were not enough. In September 2021, just three months after the murders, Murdaugh conspired with Curtis "Eddie" Smith to have himself killed. His plan: stage his death, collect a $10 million insurance payout for his surviving son Buster. When the scheme fell apart, he confessed—initially claiming a drive-by shooting before admitting the conspiracy.
The murders themselves bore the hallmarks of someone with everything to lose. On the evening of June 7, a video taken on Paul's cellphone at 8:44 p.m. captured audio of Murdaugh's voice at the kennels minutes before the killings. Blood and biological matter were later found strewn across the ground and walls at that same location. According to the indictment, he shot his wife with a rifle and his son with a shotgun.
