Summary
- The Murdaugh family's history is filled with power and influence in the South Carolina legal system, which has led to a web of alleged crimes.
- The family dynasty can be traced back to Randolph Murdaugh Sr., who founded his own law firm and later became the District Attorney.
- Alex Murdaugh, despite not holding a District Attorney position, still had significant power due to his work at the family law firm. He was ultimately found guilty of murdering his wife and son.
Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal on Netflix documents the history of the Murdaugh family but focuses on the recent events surrounding the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh and the trial of Alex Murdaugh. As the true crime documentary television series revealed, the family came under fire following a boating incident on February 24, 2019, that resulted in the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach. The case opened up a web of lies connected to the powerful family and led to the killings of Maggie and Paul two years later, on June 7, 2021.
Alex, whose family held influence in the South Carolina court system and law enforcement for decades, was found guilty of murdering his wife and son on March 2, 2023, following a six-week trial, and was sentenced to life in prison. He maintains his innocence to this day, but the media circus surrounding the court case made a plethora of other crimes allegedly committed by Alex and the Murdaugh family come out, like embezzlement, fraud, corruption, and more. However, Alex was born into a prominent family that gave him the power to hold influence in South Carolina for so long.
Randolph Murdaugh Sr
The Murdaugh family tree, at least those who have been involved in law in South Carolina, can be traced back to Randolph Murdaugh Sr. Now, this might get a bit confusing because three men in the Murdaugh family are named Randolph and have all served consecutively as circuit solicitor, aka the elected District Attorney, for the South Carolina's 14th judicial district. Unfortunately, that is just the nature of this family.
Randolph Murdaugh Sr. was born on February 28, 1887, and started the Murdaugh family dynasty. The family's reputation for holding influence over local law enforcement could be traced back to Randolph Murdaugh Sr's founding of his own one-man law firm in the 1910s. His power steadily grew until he was elected the District Attorney of Varnville, South Carolina, in 1920, according to HELLO! Randolph Murdaugh Sr. tragically died on July 19, 1940, at 53 years old, when his car was hit by a train.
Randolph "Buster" Murdaugh Jr
Randolph Murdaugh Sr.'s wife, Etta Causey Harvey, gave birth to their son, Randolph "Buster" Murdaugh Jr., on January 15, 1915, and Buster would continue his father's legacy as the District Attorney of South Carolina's 14th judicial district. Buster took over Randolph Murdaugh Sr.'s elected seat in 1940 following his death. He held the seat for 46 years until 1986, when he finally retired at 71. Buster later died on February 5, 1998. His portrait was in the courtroom where Alex Murdaugh's trial occurred, as seen in Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, but officials took it down during the court case.
Randolph Murdaugh III
Randolph "Buster" Murdaugh Jr. and Gladys Marvin had only one son, Randolph Murdaugh III. Following Buster's retirement in 1986, the third generation of Randolph Murdaugh took over his father's circuit solicitor seat in Varnville, South Carolina. Randolph Murdaugh III ran unopposed throughout his entire time in office until he eventually retired from the District Attorney position in 2006. He later died on June 10, 2021, just three days following the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, who were his daughter-in-law and grandson.
Alex Murdaugh
Richard "Alex" Murdaugh, who is at the center of Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal on Netflix, was born on May 27, 1968. Even though he did not fall in line with the family tradition of holding the District Attorney seat in South Carolina's 14th judicial district, Alex still fell into their line of work. Alex primarily worked at the Murdaugh family's law firm, meaning he still wielded a lot of power in the county and the state.
However, the empire came crumbling down when Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, Alex's wife and son, were shot to death on their property in June 2021, and Alex was arrested a year later for the murders in July 2022. A jury in South Carolina found Alex guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime on March 2, 2023. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Maggie Murdaugh
Margaret "Maggie" Kennedy Branstetter was born in 1968 and was a socialite who married Alex Murdaugh. Together, the couple had two sons — Paul and Buster. Sadly, Maggie was killed on June 7, 2021, at the age of 52, as well as her son, Paul. Maggie's husband, Alex, was the one to find their bodies and call the police. Body cam footage from the night, which is featured in Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal on Netflix, showed Alex distressed, but the police later suspected him of being the culprit. As mentioned above, Alex was found guilty of murdering Maggie and Paul and is currently serving a life sentence.
Paul Murdaugh
Maggie Murdaugh gave birth to her and Alex Murdaugh's son, Paul Murdaugh, on April 14, 1999. Before he died in 2021, Paul was at the center of a scandal in 2019 when he operated a boat while intoxicated and crashed it, which led to the death of his best friend's girlfriend, Mallory Beach. The other people on the boat itted later that they were urging Paul to let someone else drive and stop being erratic behind the wheel, but he wouldn't listen. Following the accident, Paul was charged and under criminal indictment for the wrongful death of Mallory until his father, Alex, murdered him.
Richard "Buster" Murdaugh
Richard "Buster" Murdaugh is Alex and Maggie Murdaugh's eldest son and Paul's older brother. The first season of Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal revealed that some suspected Buster was involved in the killing of his classmate, Stephen Smith, but no charges were ever brought down upon him. Buster testified on behalf of his father during Alex's murder trial, and he insists that he believes Alex is innocent of murdering Maggie and Paul.
Curtis "Cousin Eddie" Smith
The final integral member of the Murdaugh family is Curtis Smith, aka Cousin Eddie, who can be seen in the second season of the Netflix true crime documentary series. On September 4, 2021, Alex Murdaugh was shot in the head, and the police initially thought Curtis was the culprit. Allegations claimed that Alex hired his distant cousin to shoot him following the deaths of his wife and son so that Buster could collect his life insurance policy. Meanwhile, according to Seventeen, Curtis claimed he refused to shoot Alex, and the gun went off during a struggle. As Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal revealed, Curtis was charged with alleged criminal conspiracy.
Sources: HELLO!, Seventeen