Latest / This is monsters / Power _ Privilege _ Alex Murdaugh

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Power _ Privilege _ Alex Murdaugh · This is monsters

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hello, I'm just going down to Crockettville Road. I see
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: somebody laying out.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: What road are you, what's the name of the highway
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: that you're on?
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I know it's Crockettville Road. You just know it's Crockettville Road? Yeah.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: And is it in the road or on the side
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: of the road?
• 0:19
  Speaker 4: In the road.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: In the road?
• 0:23
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Uh-oh. All right, so what's your name and call
• 0:27
  Speaker 5: that number?
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: My name is Ronnie Capers. Okay.
• 0:31
  Speaker 6: All right, Mr.
• 0:32
  Speaker 7: Capers, can I get a phone number for you?
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Let's see.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: I don't know the number off this phone, but you
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: can call this number back.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: I'm going to work. Okay, but this is a good
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: number to reach you back at?
• 0:44
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: We'll get an officer headed out that way to see
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: what's going on.
• 0:48
  Speaker 7: Okay.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: All right. We'll get an officer headed out that way.
• 1:02
  Speaker 5: On July 8th, 2015, a man was on his way
• 1:06
  Speaker 5: to work in Hampton County, South Carolina, when he saw
• 1:09
  Speaker 5: somebody laying in the middle of the road. When officers
• 1:13
  Speaker 5: arrived on the scene, they found the body of 19-year-old
• 1:16
  Speaker 5: Stephen Smith and determined that he was already dead. At
• 1:20
  Speaker 5: the scene, officers initially believed that Stephen had been shot,
• 1:25
  Speaker 5: but an autopsy revealed that he had actually died of
• 1:27
  Speaker 5: blunt force trauma to the head. Stephen's car was found
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: about 3 miles or 4.8 kilometers away. The fuel door
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: was open and the gas cap was hanging off. It
• 1:39
  Speaker 5: made it seem like Stephen had run out of fuel
• 1:42
  Speaker 5: and while walking down the street to get assistance, he
• 1:44
  Speaker 5: was hit by a car and killed. But the evidence
• 1:47
  Speaker 5: didn't really match that scenario. Investigators would say that the
• 1:51
  Speaker 5: vehicle did look staged to them. Also, his wallet was
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: inside the car. Why would he have left his wallet
• 1:58
  Speaker 5: if he had run out of gas? And why would
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: the gas cap be off? It's not like you can
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: check how much fuel is in the car that way.
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: If Steven had been struck by a car, he would
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: have had other injuries. He would have had injuries from
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: where the vehicle struck his body, but the only injury
• 2:14
  Speaker 5: the medical examiner could find was the head wound. His
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: shoes were loose-fitting, and a vehicle impact would have knocked
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: them off his feet. Stephen also had blood spatter on
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: his body that didn't add up to a vehicle impact.
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: It left many questions about what had really happened that night,
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: and many people involved in the case would suggest that
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: the death was intentional and not an accident. Over the
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: course of the investigation, a very familiar name continued to
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: come up. Murdoch. The Murdoch family was one of the
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: most powerful and well-known families in the area, and despite
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: the case eventually going cold, Stephen's death would only be
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: the first in a string of deaths related to the
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: Murdoch family. A string of deaths that would end an
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: entire dynasty. This is Monsters. Monsters On February 2, 2018,
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: Gloria Satterfield was rushed to the hospital after taking a
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: bad fall at her employer's hunting lodge. She had been
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: the Murdoch family housekeeper for 20 years when Maggie Murdoch
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: called 911. What's going on out there?
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: My housekeeper has fallen and her head is bleeding.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: I cannot get her up.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Okay, you said she's fallen and she's bleeding from the head?
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: How old is she?
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure, like 58 maybe.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Where'd she fall from?
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: She fell going up the steps, up the brick steps.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: How many steps is there?
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Eight.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Okay, is she on the ground or is she up
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: near the top? She's on the ground. She's on the ground.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: She's on the ground.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Did she conjure?
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: No, not really.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Is she awake at all?
• 4:15
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Okay. Is she just not, like, responding appropriately, but she
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: is awake?
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Ma'am, she's not. No, she's not responding.
• 4:26
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: I've already got them on the way. Me asking questions
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: does not slow them down, ma'am. Knowing if she's conscious
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: is one of the things that the medic needs to
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: know if she's responding at all to you.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: No. Okay.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: So she's not responsive at all.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, she's mumbling.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Okay, so she is somewhat conscious. Is she breathing okay?
• 4:48
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: Is she bleeding from anywhere?
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Yes, her head.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Okay, are you guys able to control the bleeding? No,
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: I haven't even tried. Can you put a clean rag
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: or anything on it?
• 4:59
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I got it.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: Okay, is she bleeding from like her face, the back
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: of the head? I've got an ambulance coming. Sir, my
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: name was?
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: Where exactly is she bleeding from on her head?
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure, at the top of her head. Okay.
• 5:14
  Speaker 6: What happened?
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: She just fell back down.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: Can I get off this phone so I can go
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: down there? Can I have your name and phone number?
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Are you able to bring the phone down by her?
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: What?
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Are you on a cell phone where you can walk
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: down there and talk? I'm on a cell phone.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: Okay, can you bring it with you so we can
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: ask her some questions about what kind of pain she's having?
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: Maggie seemed annoyed and distracted during the call. At one point,
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: she said that Gloria fell again, and despite being on
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: a cell phone, she wanted to end the call with
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: 911 in order to go check on her. When the
• 5:44
  Speaker 5: operator insisted she stay on the phone, Maggie handed the
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: phone over to her son, Paul.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Hello? Yeah, can you ask the patient what kind of
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: pain she's having?
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Ma'am, she can't talk.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Okay, do you know... She's cracked.
• 5:59
  Speaker 6: Her head and there's blood on the concrete and she's
• 6:01
  Speaker 6: bleeding out of.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Her left ear. Okay, she's bleeding out of her ear?
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: And out of her head.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: She's cracked her skull.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: Alright, did other ladies say that she had tried to
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: stand up and fell down again?
• 6:14
  Speaker 6: No, I was holding her up.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Okay. She told me to turn her loose, and she
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: was trying to use her arm, but then she fell
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: back over.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Okay, do you guys know who she is?
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Yes, she works for us.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Okay, do you know if she's ever had a stroke
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: or anything before?
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: Ma'am, can you stop asking her questions? I already have
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: them on the way. Me asking questions does not slow
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: them down in any way. These are relevant questions that
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: I have to ask for the ambulance. One of my
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: questions is, has she ever had a stroke?
• 6:44
  Speaker 6: At the hospital, Gloria was lucid.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Enough to give her name and say she didn't know
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: what caused the fall. She had a subdural hematoma and
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: several broken ribs.
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: She had surgery to repair the ribs and part of
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: her chest wall, but while she was in recovery, she
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: suffered a brain bleed and she was near comatose for
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: three weeks. Gloria died on February 26th. The Murdochs told
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: police that Gloria had been tripped by one of their
• 7:28
  Speaker 5: dogs and fell down the brick stairs in front of
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: their house, but most people didn't believe that. Alec Murdoch
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: claimed that he arrived at the hunting lodge just after
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: the accident and that Gloria told him that the dogs
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: had tripped her. But first, she wasn't able to communicate
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: on the scene. It was likely that she wasn't able
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: to speak until she was stabilized at the hospital. Second,
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: Alex's claim didn't match what Gloria had said at the hospital.
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: And third, the handyman that was employed by the Murdochs
• 7:57
  Speaker 5: was also there and said that Alec had never spoken
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: to Gloria after the incident. Soon, the rumor mill started
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: to say that Maggie had pushed Gloria down the stairs. Then,
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: they said it was Paul. There were rumors that Gloria
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: knew about Alec's drug habit, so she was killed to
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: keep her quiet. There were also rumors that Gloria had
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: been stern with Paul, and he snapped and pushed her.
• 8:20
  Speaker 5: Despite the wild speculation, no charges were ever filed. On
• 8:25
  Speaker 5: February 23rd, 2019, 19-year-old Mallory Beach and five friends, her
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: boyfriend Anthony Cook, plus Connor Cook, Morgan Dowdy, Miley Altman,
• 8:36
  Speaker 5: and Paul Murdoch had gone on a boat on the
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: Beaufort River and headed to an oyster roast. The boat
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: belonged to Paul's family, and he was adamant that he
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: would be the driver. Paul had stopped on the way
• 8:48
  Speaker 5: to the boat and used his older brother's ID to
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: purchase beer and White Claws. It's alleged that the group
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: decided to take the boat to the party instead of
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: driving because they heard there were drunk driving checkpoints on
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: the road that evening. They spent five hours at the gathering,
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: drinking all of the alcohol they had brought with them,
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: plus additional drinks that were at the party. When they
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: were ready to leave, numerous people asked them not to
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: drive the boat drunk, but Paul wouldn't listen. Early the
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: next morning, The group were returning when they stopped at
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: a dockside bar where Paul and another underaged passenger each
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: drank two shots. Paul, who was known as an angry drunk,
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: almost got into a fight with another patron before throwing
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: a chair and leaving. Despite friends asking him to let
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: someone else drive, he insisted he knew what he was doing.
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: While on the boat, Paul was either driving erratically or
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: leaving the wheel to go argue with his girlfriend, Morgan Dowdy.
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: The surviving passenger said that a belligerent Paul yelled at her,
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: spit on her, and then slapped her in the face.
• 9:52
  Speaker 5: The fight wasn't about anything specific. It was just Paul
• 9:55
  Speaker 5: being confrontational because he wasn't able to handle his liquor.
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: But after Mallory yelled at him to stop, he stomped
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: back over to the wheel and pushed the throttle. The
• 10:05
  Speaker 5: boat took off and crashed. At 2.17am, Paul crashed the
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: boat into the Archer's Creek Bridge, throwing the passengers into
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: the river. When emergency responders arrived at the scene, five
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: of the young adults had made it to the shore,
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: but Mallory was nowhere to be found. Despite an extensive
• 10:24
  Speaker 5: search of the water, rescuers couldn't find the young woman.
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: Eight days later, two boaters spotted her body about five
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: miles down the river. The autopsy determined that she had
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: suffered blunt force trauma and drowned. Paul's blood alcohol level was. 24,
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: three times the legal limit. Now, that wasn't discovered right
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: away because Paul was never given a breathalyzer at the scene. Fortunately,
• 10:49
  Speaker 5: he had had blood taken at the hospital, so authorities
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: were able to document that he was intoxicated at the
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: time of the crash. That blood was taken several hours
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: after the crash, so he would have been even more
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: intoxicated at the time of the accident. Paul was reported
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: to be belligerent at the hospital, and while the victims
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: were being treated, Paul's father, Alec Murdoch, and his grandfather,
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: Randolph Murdoch, showed up and told police that Connor was
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: the person driving the boat. How they could have possibly
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: known that was unclear, and it didn't match the stories
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: of the other passengers on the boat that morning. The
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: Murdochs were immediately trying to take over the investigation's narrative
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: to absolve Paul of being responsible for the fatal boat crash.
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: Despite Paul obviously being the driver during the accident, he
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: wasn't charged with a crime until two months later. Many
• 11:39
  Speaker 5: people believe that it was due to the interference from
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: his family. And that wouldn't be the first time that
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: Paul would get away with crashing a vehicle while under
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: the influence. In 2017, Paul and Morgan were driving home
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: from a Christmas party. Morgan was driving because Paul was
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: heavily intoxicated, but he told her to pull over because
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: he wanted to drive. After they switched, he ended up
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: losing control of the pickup truck going around a turn
• 12:06
  Speaker 5: and crashed. The truck was on its side, and Morgan
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: said that Paul kept a number of guns in his
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: vehicle so they had spilled out all over the side
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: of the road. Along with that, there were empty beer
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: cans that were also in the vehicle. Morgan pulled out
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: her phone and dialed 911, but Paul grabbed it out
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: of her hand, ended the call, and threw the device.
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: He ended up calling his family who showed up and
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: cleared out the mess. They removed the guns and the
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: beer cans before the police arrived at the scene. Not
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: only that, but they berated Morgan for attempting to call
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: the police in the first place. The Murdoch family had
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: risen to a place where they believed they were above
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: the law and that nobody could say no to them.
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: Unfortunately for them, that level of corruption would only tear
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: the family apart. The Murdoch family had run the largest
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: law firm in Hampton County, South Carolina for generations. Randolph
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: Murdoch Sr. graduated from law school and established a law
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: practice in Hampton County in 1910. In 1920, Randolph became
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: the county attorney and that position would be filled by
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: a Murdoch for the next 86 years. Richard Alexander Murdoch
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: was born on May 27, 1968 to Randolph III and Elizabeth.
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: Randolph was the acting county attorney at the time while
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: also working for his own law firm. Richard, who went
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: by Alec, spelled like Alex, grew up under the umbrella
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: of the Murdoch name. He and his father and his
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: two brothers spent their time hunting and fishing. The Murdoch
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: boys were raised with an overwhelming sense of entitlement. They
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: were all allowed to drink from a young age and
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: everyone in the Murdoch family seemed to suffer from alcoholism.
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: Since his parents were generous donors to the school board,
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: Alec would never get in trouble despite being described as
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: a bully. Alec followed in the family business, starting out
• 13:58
  Speaker 5: attending the University of South Carolina. That's where he met
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: his future wife, Maggie. Margaret Branstetter was born on September 15, 1968,
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: in Nashville, Tennessee, to Terry and Kennedy Branstetter. Maggie's father
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: worked for DuPont, and he was transferred around a bit
• 14:15
  Speaker 5: before they settled in Cooper River, South Carolina, and Maggie
• 14:19
  Speaker 5: began attending USC. Both Alec and Maggie graduated from the
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: university with bachelor's degrees, and Alec went on to attend
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: the University of South Carolina School of Law. During his
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: time there, his identity as an entitled elitist would show itself. Once,
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: after getting drunk at a party, he and some friends
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: went to a strip club and attempted to continue drinking.
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: When the bartender refused to serve the already drunk and
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: rowdy law students, Alec instigated a fight with the bouncers.
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: When sheriff's deputies arrived, they arrested the intoxicated men, but
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: once Alec mentioned that his father was the county attorney,
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: he was personally escorted home by an officer, and eventually
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: all charges against him were dropped. Alec and Maggie were
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: married on August 14, 1993 in Charleston. A year later,
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: Alec graduated from law school and would eventually begin working
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: for the family law business. Richard Alexander Murdoch Jr. was
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: born on April 11, 1996, but instead of going by
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: Alec like his father, he was always known as Buster.
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: Over the years, Alec's prominence in the community increased. He
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: was elected chairman of the Hampton County Democratic Party. He
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: got a position on the Arnold Fields Community Endowment. And
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: of course, he was working for the largest law firm
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: in the area. Paul Murdoch was born on April 14, 1999.
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: It was soon after Paul joined the family that Alec
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: hired Gloria Satterfield to be their housekeeper, but she also
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: helped raise their two sons. People close to the family
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: said that they felt like Maggie never really bonded with
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: Paul as she suffered from postpartum depression, and Gloria ended
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: up doing much of the childcare early in Paul's life.
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: Despite that, the family continued to be viewed in high
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: regard as one of the most powerful in the area.
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: That was until death started to be connected to the family.
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: But it wasn't only death that had been plaguing the
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: Murdoch family. Alec Murdoch had become addicted to Oxycontin and
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: eventually needed more and more money to feed his habit.
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: In an effort to bring in more money, in 2005,
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: Alec began a campaign of fraud in order to line
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: his bank account. He started filing insurance settlements on behalf
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: of victims and their families, but never giving the settlement
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: to those people. The first known victims were two minor
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: sisters whose mother and brother had died in a car accident.
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: The Plyler family was driving on the highway when a
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: tire blew, causing an accident that killed 37-year-old Angela and
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: 14-year-old Justin. 12-year-old Alanya and 8-year-old Hannah were both seriously injured.
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: Alec filed a wrongful death suit against Bridgestone, Firestone, and
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: the Ford Motor Company. The girls were awarded a settlement
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: in the millions, and though they did receive some of
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: the money, they believed they needed to ask Alec and
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: his partner, Russell Lafitte, any time they needed any. So
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: the lawyers controlled the money, and over the years, they
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: stole millions of dollars from the two victims. In 2009,
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: Alec represented a young man who had been paralyzed in
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: another car accident. 21-year-old Hakeem Pinckney was in a car
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: driven by his mother when a tire blew out and
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: resulted in a crash. While Hakeem was in the hospital
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: fighting for his life, Alex filed a lawsuit against the
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: Michelin Tire Company and won over $ 600, 000. Nobody in the
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: Pinckney family was notified about the judgment, and a few
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: days later, Hakeem's ventilator was somehow unplugged. By the time
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: anyone noticed, it was too late and Hakeem had died.
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: None of the money awarded in the suit was ever
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: given to the victims. Alec continued embezzling over the years,
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: stealing millions of dollars from the victims he was supposed
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: to be helping. Some people said that he spent the
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: money on drugs, but it's hard to believe he bought
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: that many drugs. It's known that he also took lavish vacations,
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: went on many hunting trips in exotic locations, and always
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: took a private jet when he traveled. Eventually, Alec's theft
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: of his clients hit closer to home. After Gloria Satterfield's death,
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: Alec offered to file a lawsuit against his homeowner's insurance
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: on her family's behalf. Alec told Gloria's sons that he
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: felt terrible about the supposed accident and claimed that he
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: wanted to take care of them. They had no reason
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: not to trust him. Gloria had worked for the Murdochs
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: for nearly 20 years and they thought of them as families.
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: Alec would go on to receive $ 4. 3 million in settlements
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: from his own insurance company, none of which were given
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: to Gloria's family. And conveniently enough, he had only started
• 18:59
  Speaker 5: that policy a month before the accident. On June 7th, 2021,
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: Alec called 911 to report he found Maggie and Paul
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: shot dead in the kennels of their hunting lodge.
• 19:12
  Speaker 6: Okay, and are they breathing?
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: No, ma'am. Okay, and you said it's your wife and
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: your son?
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: My wife and my son.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Are they in a vehicle?
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: No, ma'am. They're on the ground out at my kennel.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Do you see anyone in the area?
• 19:24
  Speaker 6: No, ma'am. What color is your house.
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: On the outside?
• 19:46
  Speaker 6: What color is your house on the outside?
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: It's white. You can't see it from the road.
• 19:52
  Speaker 6: Okay. Is it a house or a mobile home?
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: It's a house.
• 19:56
  Speaker 7: Okay.
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: And what is your name?
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: My name is Alex Murdoch.
• 20:02
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: Did you hear anything or did you come home and
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: find them?
• 20:07
  Speaker 7: I've been gone.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: I just came back.
• 20:12
  Speaker 6: Okay, and was anyone else supposed to be at your house?
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: No, ma'am.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: Please hurry.
• 20:22
  Speaker 6: We're getting somebody out there to you.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: Okay, what is her name?
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: Maggie and Paul.
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: Maggie is her name?
• 20:37
  Speaker 7: Yes, ma'am.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Please hurry.
• 20:42
  Speaker 6: We're getting somebody out there to you. Me asking you
• 20:45
  Speaker 6: these questions, don't slow them down, okay? Is he moving
• 20:50
  Speaker 6: at all, your son? I know you said that she
• 20:52
  Speaker 6: was shot, but what about your son?
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Nobody. They're not getting one of them.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: And does anything look out of place?
• 21:06
  Speaker 6: Ma'am, I.
• 21:11
  Speaker 6: Not particularly, really.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: No, ma'am.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Okay. Are they close, ma'am?
• 21:18
  Speaker 6: Yeah, they've been around with you ever since you got
• 21:21
  Speaker 6: on the phone with me.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: I have multiple people coming out there to you.
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: Alec told investigators that he had arrived at the hunting
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: lodge in Island 10 at 10.05 and immediately felt like
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: something was wrong. He found his wife Maggie and younger
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: son Paul shot to death near the dog kennels. He
• 21:38
  Speaker 5: said he had immediately called 911. During the 911 call,
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: he went out of his way to inform the operator
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: that he had been gone and had just gotten back
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: to the property. He told investigators that he had given
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: his father a ride to the hospital that evening. Then
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: he went back to the lodge and took a nap.
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: When he woke up, he didn't see Maggie or Paul
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: at the house, so he went to visit his mother,
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: who had dementia. When he arrived back at the lodge,
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: he found his wife and son murdered.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Female victim, male victim, male caller. And then the other
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: guy there, I mean, he hasn't came inside the tape yet.
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: Then don't have to worry about him. The medical examiner
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: determined that Maggie had died from gunshot wounds fired from
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: a rifle, and Paul had died from gunshot wounds from
• 22:24
  Speaker 5: a shotgun. He placed their time of death at around
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: 9 p.m. Again, Alec's claimed to have been gone at
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: that time. During a search of the crime scene, investigators
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: found Paul's cell phone, which had a video time-stamped 8.44 p.m.
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: In the video, you could see dogs in the kennel
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: and in the background you could hear voices. The voices
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: were of Alec and Maggie engaged in an argument. That
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: meant that Alec was actually at the property around the
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: time of the shootings. Investigators found shell casings at the
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: scene matching a rifle and a shotgun, but those weapons
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: were never found despite a large number of firearms being
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: recovered from the property. But all of those details wouldn't
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: be immediately released. There was talk that Alec was a
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: person of interest and he hired a lawyer, but authorities
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: didn't name any suspects and assured the public that they
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: were safe. During the investigation, Buster, as well as a
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: number of people close to Alec, were allowed on the
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: property unsupervised while it was still an active crime scene.
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: Alec outright stated that he thought the shooting might have
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: been in retaliation to Mallory Beach's death. It was one
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: of the first things he told officers on the scene.
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: The Murdochs claimed that Paul had received anonymous threats. Mallory's boyfriend,
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: Anthony Cook, was interviewed as a possible suspect, but that
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: avenue didn't go anywhere. Based on the information investigators were finding,
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: authorities reopened the cases of Stephen Smith and Gloria Satterfield.
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: They even exhumed Gloria's body. While that was happening, law
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: enforcement had reviewed the Snapchat video where Alec could be
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: heard in the background. After interviewing multiple people close to
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: the family and having most of them confirm it was
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: in fact Alec's voice, they brought him into the station
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: for another interview.
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: And Maggie was heard in the background. And you were
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: heard in the background. And that was prior to 9 p.m.
• 24:28
  Speaker 7: I heard Rogan Gibson ask me if I was up there.
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: He said he thought it was me.
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: Was it.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: You?
• 24:38
  Speaker 7: At 9 o'clock?
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Yes, sir. No, sir.
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: Not if my times are right.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: Who do you think it could have been?
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: I have no idea.
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: And Rogan's been around your family for pretty much all
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: of his life.
• 24:59
  Speaker 8: Absolutely.
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: And he recognizes your voice, and you have a distinct voice.
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: Do you think of anybody else that has a voice
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: similar to yours that he may have.
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: Misinterpreted?
• 25:17
  Speaker 8: No.
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: The detective brought up the Snapchat video and asked if
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: it was his voice in the background. Alec claimed that
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: it wasn't him, even though the voice sounded just like him.
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: Alec couldn't explain who the voice might have been. Not
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: long after that, another lawyer at Alec's law firm saw
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: a check on his desk made out to him instead
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: of the law firm. He reported it to his supervisors,
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: and they looked into every settlement case Alec had worked
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: on and found years worth of fraud. When they called
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: him in to question him about their findings, he admitted
• 25:53
  Speaker 5: to the thefts. He told his superiors that he had
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: stolen millions of dollars worth of money from his clients.
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: The company demanded his resignation and then notified the authorities
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: of the crimes. The Murdochs had been a powerful name
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: in South Carolina, having been built up over generations. In
• 26:11
  Speaker 5: just three months, Alec had managed to tear the dynasty
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: to the ground. Two days later, Alec made another frantic
• 26:19
  Speaker 5: 911 call, but this time it was him who was
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: the victim.
• 26:22
  Speaker 6: 10-10-9-1-1, what is your emergency?
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: On Saucahatchee Road.
• 26:28
  Speaker 6: Okay, what's the address on Saucahatchee Road?
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: I'm by the church. What's going on? I got a
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: flat tire, and I stopped, and somebody stopped to help me.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: And when I turned my back, they tried to shoot me.
• 26:45
  Speaker 6: Oh, okay. Were you shot? Yes.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: But, I mean, I'm okay.
• 26:50
  Speaker 6: You shot where? Where were you shot at? Huh? Did
• 26:54
  Speaker 6: they actually shoot you or they tried to shoot you?
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: They shot me.
• 26:59
  Speaker 6: Okay. You need EMS?
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, yes. I can't drive.
• 27:06
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: And I'm bleeding a lot.
• 27:09
  Speaker 6: What part of your body? Uh, I'm not sure.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Somewhere on my head. Okay, and what's your name?
• 27:16
  Speaker 6: I'm still here. I'm going to stay on the line
• 27:17
  Speaker 6: with you. What's your name?
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: Alex Murdoch. Alex Murdoch?
• 27:23
  Speaker 6: Yes, ma'am. And you said you were driving. You got
• 27:25
  Speaker 6: a flat tire. Somebody stopped to help you, and they
• 27:28
  Speaker 6: shot you?
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Well, they pulled over, yes, ma'am, like they were going
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: to help me.
• 27:33
  Speaker 6: And can you give me a description of.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: The person that shot you or shot at you? Yes, ma'am.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, it was a... A white fella, I'd say
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: a white male, a fair amount younger than me, really,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: really short hair. You have an ambulance coming in?
• 28:02
  Speaker 6: Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Stay on the line.
• 28:05
  Speaker 6: I got them on the way.
• 28:07
  Speaker 5: He told the operator that he had gotten a flat tire,
• 28:10
  Speaker 5: and when he stopped to change it, someone else drove by,
• 28:13
  Speaker 5: got out, and shot him in the head. He told
• 28:16
  Speaker 5: the operator that he was okay, but he couldn't drive.
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: He was rushed to the hospital, where he made a
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: full recovery, and then he told authorities that he had
• 28:23
  Speaker 5: actually hired his drug dealer to shoot him so that
• 28:26
  Speaker 5: Buster could get his $ 10 million life insurance. Authorities arrested
• 28:31
  Speaker 5: Curtis Smith, Alec's drug dealer and distant cousin. Curtis told
• 28:35
  Speaker 5: investigators that he had not shot Alec, but he had
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: disposed of the weapon afterward. During an interview while out
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: on bail, Curtis explained that Alec had called him out
• 28:45
  Speaker 5: to where he was that day. Thinking he just needed
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: help with his car, he went to meet him, but
• 28:50
  Speaker 5: when he arrived, he was waving a gun around. He
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: tried to get the gun away from Alec, but it
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: went off, hitting Alec in the head. He said he
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: then panicked, grabbed the gun, and left the area. He
• 29:01
  Speaker 5: said he ended up throwing the gun away and admitted
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: that it was stupid. Those details caused people to speculate
• 29:07
  Speaker 5: that Alec was trying to set Curtis up to take
• 29:09
  Speaker 5: the fall for Maggie and Paul's murders. People said they
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: believed that Alec was going to claim that Curtis had
• 29:15
  Speaker 5: attacked him and that he had to shoot and kill
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: him in self-defense. He would likely claim that Curtis had
• 29:21
  Speaker 5: confessed to murdering Maggie and Paul during the confrontation. When
• 29:25
  Speaker 5: things didn't go according to plan, he made up the
• 29:28
  Speaker 5: story about being shot by a stranger and then, after
• 29:31
  Speaker 5: having time to concoct a new story, he claimed it
• 29:33
  Speaker 5: was an attempt to get Buster his life insurance. One
• 29:37
  Speaker 5: detail that stands out about Alec's version is that he
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: told the authorities that he wasn't sure if his insurance
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: would pay out in the event of a death that
• 29:45
  Speaker 5: was carried out himself. Now, as a skilled lawyer, it
• 29:49
  Speaker 5: seems like he could very easily obtain that information. As
• 29:53
  Speaker 5: a layman, I looked it up and understood easily that
• 29:56
  Speaker 5: federal law requires life insurance to be paid out after
• 29:59
  Speaker 5: having had the policy for two years for any reason.
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: Even death that is caused by someone on their own person.
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: That makes it so somebody can't obtain a life insurance
• 30:09
  Speaker 5: policy and immediately make it so their family can collect.
• 30:12
  Speaker 5: But after two years, if you haven't had a history
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: of attempts of those kind of acts that could cause
• 30:17
  Speaker 5: death on your own person, your policy will pay out
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: for any reason. An experienced lawyer should be able to
• 30:24
  Speaker 5: easily gather that information without putting someone else at risk
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: of being convicted of murder. It seemed like a stupid explanation.
• 30:31
  Speaker 5: Alec was arrested and charged with insurance fraud, while Curtis
• 30:35
  Speaker 5: was charged with assisting the death of someone's self and
• 30:38
  Speaker 5: also insurance fraud. Both were released on bail. While out,
• 30:43
  Speaker 5: Alec announced that he had left the law firm, that
• 30:46
  Speaker 5: he was addicted to painkillers, and that he was going
• 30:48
  Speaker 5: to rehab. Also at that time, the investigation into Gloria
• 30:53
  Speaker 5: Satterfield's death, and more importantly, the insurance payout that was
• 30:56
  Speaker 5: supposed to go to her family, was picking up. The
• 30:59
  Speaker 5: Satterfields had been raising alarms about what they believed was
• 31:03
  Speaker 5: a $ 505, 000 payout from the Murdoch's insurance policy. Upon investigating
• 31:09
  Speaker 5: the case, they learned that that amount was only the
• 31:12
  Speaker 5: first payment, and that the insurance had paid an additional $ 3. 8 million,
• 31:15
  Speaker 5: all of which went to Alec. Two felony fraud charges
• 31:21
  Speaker 5: were added to Alec Murdoch's case, and the judge ordered
• 31:24
  Speaker 5: him to be held without bail. Over the next few months,
• 31:28
  Speaker 5: Alec was indicted for more financial crimes, bringing his total
• 31:32
  Speaker 5: to 75 cases, adding up to almost $ 9 million. At
• 31:37
  Speaker 5: that point, Alec was sitting in jail already having been
• 31:40
  Speaker 5: charged with multiple crimes, but investigators were still gathering information
• 31:44
  Speaker 5: about the murders of Maggie and Paul. They learned that
• 31:48
  Speaker 5: Maggie wasn't happy in the relationship and had even seen
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: a divorce lawyer. They speculated that she may have looked
• 31:54
  Speaker 5: into their finances in preparation of the divorce and realized
• 31:58
  Speaker 5: there was some illegal activity going on. On top of that,
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: Mallory Beach's family was suing the Murdochs in civil court
• 32:06
  Speaker 5: for wrongful death. A hearing was coming up in that
• 32:09
  Speaker 5: case where Alec was going to have to reveal his finances,
• 32:12
  Speaker 5: which would uncover his years of fraud. Investigators also found
• 32:17
  Speaker 5: that Alec had actually texted Maggie earlier on the day
• 32:20
  Speaker 5: of the shooting and asked her to meet him at
• 32:22
  Speaker 5: the lodge. He wanted her to go with him to
• 32:25
  Speaker 5: visit his ailing parents. While she was on her way
• 32:28
  Speaker 5: to the property, Maggie texted a friend and claimed that
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: Alec sounded fishy and she thought he was up to something.
• 32:35
  Speaker 5: Throughout the investigation, all of the information had come back
• 32:38
  Speaker 5: showing that Alec Murdaugh had shot his wife and son
• 32:41
  Speaker 5: with two different weapons. On July 14th, 2022, Alec was
• 32:47
  Speaker 5: indicted on two counts of murder and two counts of
• 32:50
  Speaker 5: possessing a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
• 32:54
  Speaker 5: Alec pleaded not guilty. At the trial, the prosecutor told
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: the jury what they believed happened on the evening of
• 33:00
  Speaker 5: June 7th, 2021. While Alec, Maggie, and Paul were at
• 33:05
  Speaker 5: the hunting lodge, Alec used a shotgun to shoot Paul
• 33:09
  Speaker 5: in the chest and then in the head. Then he
• 33:12
  Speaker 5: grabbed a. 300 Blackout AR-style rifle and shot Maggie just
• 33:16
  Speaker 5: feet away. Two shots to her abdomen and her leg,
• 33:20
  Speaker 5: then two shots to the head. Neither Paul or Maggie
• 33:23
  Speaker 5: had any defensive wounds because they likely didn't see their
• 33:26
  Speaker 5: killer as a threat, despite being shot at close range.
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: The shell casings that were found around Maggie's body were
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: matched to shell casings found near the house where Paul
• 33:37
  Speaker 5: and a friend had been firing one of three. 300
• 33:40
  Speaker 5: Blackout rifles that the Murdochs had owned. They had been
• 33:43
  Speaker 5: firing that rifle just two weeks before the murders. After
• 33:47
  Speaker 5: the murders, Alex raced to his mother's house and arrived
• 33:51
  Speaker 5: just after 9pm. His mother's caretaker said that it was
• 33:54
  Speaker 5: unusual for Alex to arrive that late and he seemed fidgety.
• 33:59
  Speaker 5: She said he stayed for 15 to 20 minutes. She
• 34:02
  Speaker 5: also testified that Alec had later asked her to tell
• 34:05
  Speaker 5: authorities that he had stayed for 30 to 40 minutes
• 34:08
  Speaker 5: as she was ever questioned. A few days after that,
• 34:11
  Speaker 5: Alec showed up at his mother's house with something blue
• 34:14
  Speaker 5: balled up and took it upstairs. When investigators learned of that,
• 34:19
  Speaker 5: they searched the house and found an extra large blue
• 34:21
  Speaker 5: rain jacket that tested positive for high levels of gunshot residue.
• 34:26
  Speaker 5: Alec's defense was based on the fact that there was
• 34:29
  Speaker 5: a video from earlier that day where Alec and Paul
• 34:32
  Speaker 5: were riding around the property looking at trees that had
• 34:34
  Speaker 5: been recently planted. Alec's lawyer claimed that if he was guilty,
• 34:38
  Speaker 5: that meant he had killed his son an hour after
• 34:41
  Speaker 5: having that bonding experience. And that seemed not believable. So,
• 34:46
  Speaker 5: the reasonable doubt they're claiming is that someone couldn't have
• 34:50
  Speaker 5: killed someone else after looking at trees with them? Then,
• 34:54
  Speaker 5: after describing Maggie's injuries, they claimed that Alec was innocent
• 34:58
  Speaker 5: because he had no reason for killing his family. Except
• 35:01
  Speaker 5: he did. Maggie was divorcing him, and Paul was being
• 35:05
  Speaker 5: sued for the boat accident. He had been stealing from
• 35:08
  Speaker 5: his clients, and both Maggie and Paul were opening up
• 35:10
  Speaker 5: issues that would get him caught. It's a very common
• 35:14
  Speaker 5: reason for someone to commit murder, even their own family.
• 35:17
  Speaker 5: Especially by someone who has a history of believing they're untouchable.
• 35:22
  Speaker 5: The first witness called to the stand was Sergeant Daniel
• 35:25
  Speaker 5: Green of the Coleton County Sheriff's Office, who had been
• 35:27
  Speaker 5: first on the scene. He described that Alec began immediately
• 35:31
  Speaker 5: telling him that Paul had caused a boat accident two
• 35:34
  Speaker 5: and a half years prior, and he'd gotten threats, and
• 35:36
  Speaker 5: that the murder was retaliation. His wife and son are dead,
• 35:40
  Speaker 5: and that's the first thing on his mind? Friends testified that,
• 35:45
  Speaker 5: because of the murders, people were afraid that a killer
• 35:48
  Speaker 5: was out there and someone else could be hurt. Except
• 35:51
  Speaker 5: for Alec. A witness testified that Alec never seemed concerned
• 35:55
  Speaker 5: with the killers still being at large, and he didn't
• 35:57
  Speaker 5: really ever talk about them being caught. Alec's defense relied
• 36:01
  Speaker 5: mainly on his story of not being at the property
• 36:04
  Speaker 5: during the time of the murders. Because of that, an
• 36:07
  Speaker 5: investigator testified with a full timeline of movements from everyone involved.
• 36:12
  Speaker 5: Cell phone calls and text messages from Alec, Paul, and
• 36:15
  Speaker 5: Maggie's phones for the entire day had been analyzed and
• 36:18
  Speaker 5: their movements were mapped. Some of the data extracted from
• 36:22
  Speaker 5: the phone showed where Alec and Paul had gone around
• 36:25
  Speaker 5: the property, surveying the trees that had recently been planted.
• 36:29
  Speaker 5: That happened between 7.30 and 8 p.m. Of course, there
• 36:33
  Speaker 5: was also the Snapchat video that had been taken at 8.44 p.m. Hey,
• 36:36
  Speaker 5: he's got a bird in his mouth!
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: Bubba!
• 36:42
  Speaker 6: Hang on, Bubba.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: It's a guinea!
• 36:47
  Speaker 5: It's a chicken.
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 36:53
  Speaker 5: Now remember, Alec claimed that he had taken his father
• 36:56
  Speaker 5: to the hospital and then went back to the lodge
• 36:59
  Speaker 5: where he took a nap. When he woke up, he
• 37:01
  Speaker 5: didn't see Maggie or Paul, so he went by himself
• 37:04
  Speaker 5: to visit his mother. Now, the medical examiner had put
• 37:07
  Speaker 5: Maggie and Paul's time of death at 9pm, so he
• 37:11
  Speaker 5: was with them within 16 minutes of them being shot.
• 37:14
  Speaker 5: So he couldn't have been napping and then woke up
• 37:16
  Speaker 5: without seeing them. That was a lie. And it was
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: more than likely that the mother and son were shot
• 37:22
  Speaker 5: up to 10 minutes before 9pm because both of their
• 37:25
  Speaker 5: phones locked at 8.49pm and were never unlocked by them again.
• 37:30
  Speaker 5: Despite them both having text messages coming in, they never
• 37:33
  Speaker 5: unlocked their phones to respond. Cell phone records show that
• 37:37
  Speaker 5: Alec called Maggie's phone three times over the next few
• 37:40
  Speaker 5: minutes despite still being on the property. The cell phone data,
• 37:44
  Speaker 5: as well as data recovered from his vehicle, shows that
• 37:47
  Speaker 5: Alec didn't leave the property until 9.07 p.m. He then
• 37:52
  Speaker 5: flew to his mother's house, traveling at up to 74
• 37:55
  Speaker 5: miles per hour, or almost 120 kilometers an hour. During
• 38:00
  Speaker 5: the drive, he texted Maggie, quote, going to check on M,
• 38:03
  Speaker 5: be right back. He arrived at his mother's house at 9.22
• 38:06
  Speaker 5: and left at 9.43. He traveled back to the lodge,
• 38:12
  Speaker 5: reaching up to 80 miles an hour, or almost 130
• 38:15
  Speaker 5: kilometers an hour. He got back to the lodge at 10.05pm
• 38:19
  Speaker 5: and called 911 at 10.07. Based on his locations, there
• 38:24
  Speaker 5: was very little doubt that Alec had killed Maggie and Paul.
• 38:28
  Speaker 5: Adding to the fact that he had lied through his
• 38:30
  Speaker 5: teeth about where he had been that evening, any minimal
• 38:33
  Speaker 5: amount of doubt was thoroughly washed away. Cell records also
• 38:37
  Speaker 5: showed that there were communications between Alec and his family
• 38:40
  Speaker 5: members that were not in his phone, but were listed
• 38:42
  Speaker 5: in the cell phone records obtained from Verizon. That makes
• 38:46
  Speaker 5: it seem like he might have deleted some of those
• 38:48
  Speaker 5: communications directly from his phone, not realizing that they would
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: still be in his call records at the cell company.
• 38:56
  Speaker 5: Of course, like all narcissists who think they can talk
• 38:58
  Speaker 5: their way out of a murder conviction, Alec's took the stand.
• 39:02
  Speaker 5: During his testimony, he denied being involved in the deaths
• 39:05
  Speaker 5: of his wife or his son, but he did admit
• 39:07
  Speaker 5: to lying about not being at the kennel.
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 39:11
  Speaker 8: Murdoch, is that you? On the kennel video at 8.44 p.m.
• 39:16
  Speaker 8: on June 7th, the night Maggie and Paul were murdered?
• 39:19
  Speaker 7: It is.
• 39:21
  Speaker 8: Were you, in fact, at the kennels at 8.44 p.m.
• 39:24
  Speaker 8: on the night Maggie and Paul were murdered?
• 39:25
  Speaker 7: I was.
• 39:28
  Speaker 8: Did you lie to Sled Agent Owen and Deputy Laura
• 39:31
  Speaker 8: Rutland on the night of June 7th and told them
• 39:36
  Speaker 8: that you stayed at the house after dinner?
• 39:39
  Speaker 7: I did lie to them.
• 39:40
  Speaker 8: Did you lie to Agent Owen and Agent Croft on
• 39:43
  Speaker 8: the follow-up interview on June 10th that the last time
• 39:47
  Speaker 8: you saw Maggie and Paul... Was that dinner?
• 39:51
  Speaker 7: I did lie to them.
• 39:54
  Speaker 8: And in the interview of August 11th, did you tell
• 39:58
  Speaker 8: Agent Owen and Agent Croft, did you lie to them
• 40:02
  Speaker 8: by telling them that you were not down at the
• 40:05
  Speaker 8: kennels on that night?
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 40:12
  Speaker 8: Alec, why did you lie to Agent Owen, Agent Croft,
• 40:16
  Speaker 8: and Deputy Rutland about the last time you saw Maggie
• 40:18
  Speaker 8: and Paul?
• 40:20
  Speaker 7: As my addiction evolved over time, I would get in
• 40:26
  Speaker 7: these situations or circumstances where I would get paranoid thinking.
• 40:32
  Speaker 7: And it could be anything that triggered it. It might
• 40:35
  Speaker 7: be a look somebody gave me. It might be a
• 40:37
  Speaker 7: reaction somebody had to something I did. It might be
• 40:40
  Speaker 7: a policeman following me in a car. That night, June 7th,
• 40:48
  Speaker 7: after finding... Mags and Paul, don't talk to anybody without
• 41:00
  Speaker 7: Danny with you. All my partners were just repeatedly telling
• 41:05
  Speaker 7: me that. I had a deputy sheriff taking gunshot tests
• 41:11
  Speaker 7: from my hands. I'm sitting in a police car with
• 41:19
  Speaker 7: David Owen asking me about my relationship with my wife.
• 41:23
  Speaker 7: and my son. And all those things coupled together after
• 41:28
  Speaker 7: finding them, coupled with my distrust for SLED, caused me
• 41:34
  Speaker 7: to have paranoid thoughts. Normally, when these paranoid thoughts would
• 41:41
  Speaker 7: hit me, I could take a deep breath real quick,
• 41:45
  Speaker 7: just think about it, reason my way through it, and
• 41:48
  Speaker 7: just get past it really quickly. On June the 7th,
• 42:03
  Speaker 7: I wasn't thinking clearly. I don't think I was capable
• 42:08
  Speaker 7: of reason. And I lied about being down there. And
• 42:19
  Speaker 7: I'm so sorry that I did.
• 42:21
  Speaker 5: After denying murdering his wife and son, the very next
• 42:25
  Speaker 5: thing the defense did was bring up Alec's lies. They
• 42:28
  Speaker 5: wanted to get out ahead of it and create some
• 42:30
  Speaker 5: sort of reasonable explanation for why he lied, but they
• 42:34
  Speaker 5: failed miserably. Alec had no reason to lie. He claims
• 42:38
  Speaker 5: the drugs made him paranoid and that he didn't trust SLED,
• 42:42
  Speaker 5: the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, but that reason is
• 42:45
  Speaker 5: complete bullshit. Alec had planned the murders and thought he
• 42:49
  Speaker 5: could make himself seem like he was not near the
• 42:52
  Speaker 5: property at the time. He raced to his mother's house
• 42:55
  Speaker 5: so he would be seen there and then raced back,
• 42:58
  Speaker 5: and he continued lying about it.
• 43:01
  Speaker 8: You continued lying after that night, did you not?
• 43:05
  Speaker 7: Once I lied, I continued to lie, yes sir.
• 43:07
  Speaker 8: Why?
• 43:14
  Speaker 7: You know, oh what a tangled web we weave, but
• 43:17
  Speaker 7: Once I told a lie, and I told my family,
• 43:21
  Speaker 7: I had to keep lying.
• 43:26
  Speaker 5: Because he's a habitual liar. He didn't lie in his
• 43:30
  Speaker 5: past because he was paranoid. He lied in his past
• 43:33
  Speaker 5: because he was a criminal. He was stealing money from
• 43:35
  Speaker 5: his law firm and his clients. He had a history
• 43:38
  Speaker 5: of lying in order to get away with criminal activity,
• 43:41
  Speaker 5: and this was no different. During the cross-examination, the prosecutor
• 43:46
  Speaker 5: asked Alec this.
• 43:48
  Speaker 6: Let me ask you this. Were the dogs.
• 43:52
  Speaker 8: Barking and carrying on or going out into the woods
• 43:54
  Speaker 8: or acting like they sensed somebody was around that they
• 43:57
  Speaker 8: didn't know?
• 44:00
  Speaker 7: Were the dogs acting like there was somebody around that
• 44:02
  Speaker 7: they didn't know?
• 44:03
  Speaker 6: Yeah, like dogs do.
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: No.
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: No, they weren't.
• 44:06
  Speaker 7: There was nobody around that the dogs didn't know.
• 44:12
  Speaker 5: Dogs didn't... Didn't, to your indication, sense anything out of
• 44:15
  Speaker 5: the ordinary?
• 44:16
  Speaker 8: They were just chasing after the guinea?
• 44:20
  Speaker 7: There was nobody else around for them to sense.
• 44:28
  Speaker 5: For an experienced lawyer, Alec doesn't seem too savvy about
• 44:31
  Speaker 5: what the prosecutor is asking. Based on the timeline that
• 44:35
  Speaker 5: was put together, which Alec was very aware of, Maggie
• 44:38
  Speaker 5: and Paul were killed within minutes of when Alec was
• 44:41
  Speaker 5: there at the kennel. So if he didn't kill them,
• 44:43
  Speaker 5: somebody else would have had to be close by. He
• 44:46
  Speaker 5: could have said, quote, they were barking, I don't know
• 44:49
  Speaker 5: what they were barking about. You know, at least leaving
• 44:52
  Speaker 5: it open to be a possibility. Hell, he could have
• 44:55
  Speaker 5: simply said, I don't know. Instead, he was dead set
• 44:59
  Speaker 5: that there was nobody else around at the time, making
• 45:01
  Speaker 5: himself seem that much more guilty. The prosecutor refuted claims
• 45:06
  Speaker 5: that there were two shooters, saying that it would have
• 45:08
  Speaker 5: been no problem for Alec to have used both weapons,
• 45:11
  Speaker 5: and he likely did it intentionally to throw suspicion off
• 45:14
  Speaker 5: of himself and onto the theory that it was revenge
• 45:17
  Speaker 5: for the death of Mallory Beach. The prosecutor explained that
• 45:20
  Speaker 5: there was more than enough time for Alec to clean
• 45:23
  Speaker 5: up and change his clothes. During his closing arguments, he
• 45:27
  Speaker 5: said that there was no other person who could have
• 45:29
  Speaker 5: committed the crime. Because of those details, Alex Murdoch was
• 45:33
  Speaker 5: found guilty of two counts of murder and two counts
• 45:35
  Speaker 5: of possession of a weapon during a violent crime. He
• 45:38
  Speaker 5: was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without the possibility
• 45:42
  Speaker 5: of parole. On November 29, 2023, Alex Murdoch was sentenced
• 45:47
  Speaker 5: to 27 years in prison for his financial fraud charges.
• 45:52
  Speaker 5: On April 1st, 2024, he was sentenced in federal court
• 45:56
  Speaker 5: to 40 years in prison for the federal charges regarding
• 45:59
  Speaker 5: his financial fraud cases. Alec eventually admitted to having lied
• 46:03
  Speaker 5: about the circumstances of Gloria's fall. He didn't admit to
• 46:07
  Speaker 5: anybody having killed her, but he did admit that the
• 46:09
  Speaker 5: dogs were not involved in the fall. He had made
• 46:12
  Speaker 5: that up in order to be able to file a
• 46:14
  Speaker 5: claim against his homeowner's insurance, money he eventually kept from
• 46:18
  Speaker 5: Gloria's family. He also lied and said she wasn't working
• 46:22
  Speaker 5: at the time of her fall so he wouldn't have
• 46:24
  Speaker 5: to go through workers' compensation insurance. Alex Murdoch is a
• 46:28
  Speaker 5: habitual liar who thought he was above the law. When
• 46:32
  Speaker 5: the law caught up to his crimes, instead of answering
• 46:34
  Speaker 5: for them like a normal member of society, he murdered
• 46:37
  Speaker 5: his wife and son in an effort to continue his
• 46:40
  Speaker 5: life of crime. People make mistakes, and they lie to
• 46:43
  Speaker 5: keep people from discovering them. It happens, and it doesn't
• 46:46
  Speaker 5: mean a person is beyond redemption. But when they make
• 46:49
  Speaker 5: the choice to gun down their wife and son in
• 46:51
  Speaker 5: cold blood because they think they're above the law, that
• 46:54
  Speaker 5: means they're a monster and should remain in a cage forever.
• 47:16
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• 47:18
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• 47:21
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• 47:32
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