Alex Murdaugh’s double life: How greed and corruption brought down Lowcountry legal empire

The rise and fall of disgraced South Carolina legal scion Alex Murdaugh continues to captivate the country years after his double murder conviction, in a case that uncovered decades of deceit, greed and power.

The story of the Murdaugh family’s downfall is being retold in Hulu’s new limited series, “Murdaugh: Death in the Family,” an eight-part dramatization of one of the most infamous true-crime stories in recent history. 

On June 7, 2021, Murdaugh called 911 to report that he had found his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul, shot to death in an apparent homicide on the family’s sprawling Lowcountry estate. 

ALEX MURDAUGH’S MONEY MAN PAYS THE PRICE AFTER ADMITTING ROLE IN MILLION-DOLLAR CRIME SCHEME

The phone call ignited a shocking chain of events that ultimately uncovered Murdaugh’s long history of lies and deceit, culminating in him murdering his wife and son. 

“I think it’s oftentimes hard for people to compartmentalize what we think and the person we think we knew,” Mark Tinsley, an attorney who testified in the criminal case against Murdaugh, told Fox News Digital. “I think there’s probably a group of people that still find it hard to believe that the facade that they saw wasn’t real.” 

Murdaugh hailed from one of the most prolific legal families in South Carolina, making him a powerful figure in local politics leveraged by name-recognition. 

‘UNTOUCHABLE’ ALEX MURDAUGH COMPARED TO TED BUNDY FOR INDIGNANCE AT FAMILY MURDER SENTENCING

However, his family was not without controversy. 

In 2018, the family’s longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, mysteriously fell to her death at the Murdaughs’ home. 

Three years later, Paul, who was 19 at the time, boarded his family’s boat with a group of friends for a night of drinking on the water. Hours later, the vessel careened into a nearby bridge, ejecting 19-year-old Mallory Beach into the dark water. 

ALEX MURDAUGH APPEAL CHALLENGING MURDER CONVICTIONS FACES STATE PUSHBACK OVER JURY INFLUENCE CLAIMS

Beach’s body was found days later, with the family ultimately filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the Murdaughs. Following intense public pressure, Paul was hit with state charges in connection with Beach’s death. 

Two years later, on the night of Maggie and Paul’s murders, investigators responded to Murdaugh’s 911 call from the family’s home in Colleton County. The bodies of both mother and son were found near the dog kennels in the backyard of the estate, where they were pronounced dead at the scene. 

While Murdaugh initially told authorities he was not present at the kennels that night, a Snapchat video recorded by Paul confirmed his father was at the scene of the crime inside the time frame when investigators believed the pair were killed. 

ELIZABETH BANKS TAKES ON KAREN READ ROLE, JOINING DENNIS QUAID AND PATRICIA ARQUETTE IN TRUE CRIME REALM

In September 2021, Murdaugh attempted to stage his own shooting in an effort to award Buster, his surviving son, a $10 million life insurance payment. The plot failed when Curtis Edward Smith grazed Murdaugh’s head with a bullet. 

However, it was Satterfield’s death that ultimately led investigators to discover Murdaugh’s web of lies, after it became known that he had stolen $4.3 million in insurance settlement funds meant to be awarded to her grieving family.

“I knew that he had done some things that were not necessarily above board in the way [the Satterfield case] was handled,” Tinsley said. “But it turned out it was a lot worse than what I had thought it was. By the time of the roadside shooting, I knew the full scope of what had happened, and there was a lot there.” 

CULT LEADER CHARLES MANSON CONFESSED TO ADDITIONAL MURDERS IN NEWLY REVEALED PHONE CALL

One month later, Murdaugh was arrested on charges stemming from defrauding the Satterfield family while at a drug rehab facility in Orlando, Florida, according to The Associated Press. Shortly after, prosecutors announced 27 new charges against Murdaugh, alleging that he stole nearly $5 million from multiple victims.

In the months leading up to Murdaugh’s indictment for the killings of his wife and son, prosecutors amassed dozens of charges alleging the disgraced attorney stole millions of dollars from clients and victims’ families to maintain his painkiller pill addiction. 

He was charged with the deaths of Maggie and Paul on July 14, 2022, sparking a months-long trial that ended with a guilty verdict. 

Murdaugh was sentenced in 2023 to two consecutive life sentences for murdering his wife and son. He is also serving an additional 40 years in prison for his financial crimes and remains in custody at a maximum security prison in South Carolina – marking the end of a legal dynasty that ruled over the Lowcountry for decades. 

Murdaugh’s attorney, the prosecution and Hulu did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

“I think that overall, most people get it,” Tinsley told Fox News Digital. “Most people understand, and most people see through his web of lies and deception.” 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.