The verdict is in and the sentence is in: Alex Murdoch was found guilty of murdering his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, on Thursday, and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday. This marks the end of the six-week trial.
The case really gained national — and international — attention when Netflix released a documentary on Jan. 17, The Blood of the Murdoughs: South Carolina Scandal. Directed by Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason, the program has been one of Netflix’s most watched since its release as Murdow’s trial was taking place at the same time.
Already last year, the double murder was the subject of another HBO Max documentary series, this time called Low Country: Murdoch Dynasty (2022) and created by Mor Lush and Daniel Sivan.
As Variety reports via The New York Times, the verdict was unanimous and the jury reached their decision in less than three hours. The 54-year-old lawyer, once well-respected in the region, also had a conviction for carrying a weapon during a violent crime.
However, during the trial, Murdow denied committing the murders, which took place on June 7, 2021, and even tried to convince the jury of his innocence.
“I would never hurt my wife Maggie and my son Paul Paul“, he said before the jury, as reported by the Associated Press.
But when a Snapchat video was found on his son Paul’s phone moments before the double slaying, in which Murdow’s voice can be heard, the family man’s alibi that he was visiting his parents at the time of the murders was thrown into doubt. . In his testimony, Murdow admitted to lying about his whereabouts and robbing his law firm and clients, but insisted he did not kill his wife and child.
Another suspicious death
As explored in the Netflix documentary, the trial also sparked new investigations into two previous deaths, those of Steven Smith and Gloria Satterfield. Stephen Smith, a classmate of Murdough’s older son Buster, was found dead in 2015 at a Hampton halfway house. Although police have not formally charged them, the document says the last name Merdo was mentioned in investigative documents.
Gloria Satterfield, 57, worked as a housekeeper and nanny for Murdow for more than 20 years. In 2018, it was reported that she fell down the stairs of her family home and died weeks later in hospital of a brain haemorrhage. Despite the fall, his death was attributed to natural causes and no autopsy was performed. Murdow then referred his sons to a lawyer to negotiate an insurance settlement with Gloria Satterfield’s family, but it was revealed in a 2021 lawsuit that they never received the settlement money. In December 2021, Murdow agreed to pay Satterfield $4.3 million.
The Murdows were also close to the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach, one of Paul’s friends, who died in a boating accident in 2019. Witnesses said Paul was driving the boat drunk at the time of the incident. Ultimately, the young man was charged with three counts related to the accident, to which he pleaded not guilty. However, he was killed before he could be brought to trial.
For more information, The Blood of the Murdoughs: Scandal in South Carolina is available to stream on Netflix.
Source: Allocine
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
