Bizarre Things That Never Made Sense About The Alex Murdaugh Case — Transcript

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1. 0:00Alec Murdoch was convicted of the
2. 0:02murders of his wife and son in 2023. But
3. 0:04the verdict left more questions than
4. 0:06answers. From a bizarre shooting to a
5. 0:07housekeeper's mysterious death, there's
6. 0:09a lot about the Murdoch case that
7. 0:11doesn't add up. In 2019, 2 years before
8. 0:14he was murdered by his father, Paul
9. 0:15Murdoch was involved in a deadly boating
10. 0:17accident. The coast of South Carolina is
11. 0:19popular with boers, especially for
12. 0:21people lucky enough to have a family
13. 0:22island, as the Murdochs did. In February
14. 0:242019, Paul and a cohort of similarly
15. 0:27underage friends decided to meet at
16. 0:28Murdoch Island in pregame before heading
17. 0:30to a party on another nearby island via
18. 0:32the Murdoch family boat. After spending
19. 0:34a few hours at the party, the group
20. 0:36headed to the city of Buford to continue
21. 0:38drinking on land, successfully being
22. 0:40served in a bar. According to the other
23. 0:42passengers, Paul was acting drunk and
24. 0:43erratic, but as it was his family's
25. 0:45boat, he still drove.
26. 0:46>> We had all like made it a point to like
27. 0:49say to him, "You need to let Connor
28. 0:50drive or you need to let Anthony drive."
29. 0:52but he wouldn't listen to anybody.
30. 0:54>> He alternated between driving in circles
31. 0:56and fighting with his girlfriend until
32. 0:58at 2:20 a.m. the boat struck a bridge
33. 1:00and passenger Mallerie Beach was thrown
34. 1:02from the craft. Beach's body was
35. 1:04recovered from the water several days
36. 1:06later about 5 mi downstream from the
37. 1:08crash site. Meanwhile, images of the
38. 1:10boat show serious structural damage and
39. 1:12a significant amount of blood on the
40. 1:13floor. Paul's blood showed a high.24
41. 1:15blood alcohol level several hours after
42. 1:17the incident, which is triple the legal
43. 1:19limit. Paul was indicted for felony
44. 1:21charges in Beach's death and injuries to
45. 1:23other passengers, but died before facing
46. 1:25trial. The story of the boat crash is
47. 1:27fairly damning for Paul Murdoch, but a
48. 1:29lawsuit filed by survivor Connor Cook
49. 1:31makes the rest of the family out to be
50. 1:33complicit in Paul's wrongdoing. Per the
51. 1:35court documents, Paul bought alcohol
52. 1:36using his older brother Buster's ID and
53. 1:38his mother's credit card, even though
54. 1:40both knew he tended to drink to excess.
55. 1:42After the boat crash, Alec may have
56. 1:43tried to shift the blame from his son
57. 1:45onto another passenger. At the hospital,
58. 1:47Alec allegedly approached each survivor
59. 1:49and told them to say they didn't know
60. 1:50who had been driving the boat. Alec even
61. 1:52hired an attorney for Cook, though that
62. 1:54attorney turned out to be his old
63. 1:55college buddy and Paul's godfather. The
64. 1:57documents go on to allege that the
65. 1:58Murdoch tried to blame Cook himself for
66. 2:00the crash, using their influence in a
67. 2:02targeted rumor campaign to turn the
68. 2:04community's focus on Cook instead of
69. 2:06Paul. Cook had been told to be silent
70. 2:07for this theory to avoid too many people
71. 2:09hearing right away that Paul had been
72. 2:11driving the boat. This really is a case
73. 2:14of
74. 2:16institutional
75. 2:18evil
76. 2:20manifesting itself.
77. 2:21>> Cook withdrew the suits in 2024, leaving
78. 2:24questions about the party's relative
79. 2:25culpability formerly unanswered. Alec
80. 2:28and his wife Maggie had not been getting
81. 2:29along at the time of the murders and
82. 2:31were living apart with Maggie holding up
83. 2:32in the family beach house. So when her
84. 2:34husband texted her to meet him at the
85. 2:35family home in about an hour from the
86. 2:38beach house, Maggie didn't feel like
87. 2:39going. She only agreed when Alec told
88. 2:41her his father was dying and that this
89. 2:42was her chance to say goodbye. Maggie
90. 2:44countered with an offer to meet at the
91. 2:46hospital, but no. Alec insisted she meet
92. 2:48him at the Murdoch home in Iron so they
93. 2:49could drive to the hospital together.
94. 2:51Maggie vented in a text to a friend
95. 2:53calling Alex's behavior fishy. And
96. 2:55granted, anyone who reads about the case
97. 2:57quickly comes to feel that everything
98. 2:58Alec does fishy. But why was Maggie
99. 3:00suspicious of him? And why did she go to
100. 3:02the Arlington house against her better
101. 3:03judgment? When she arrived, she left the
102. 3:05car running, presumably expecting to
103. 3:07leave again right away, but she never
104. 3:09made it back to the car. Alex scheme was
105. 3:11even more sinister than she realized.
106. 3:13Alec was an experienced prosecuting
107. 3:15attorney who knew the South Carolina
108. 3:16legal system inside and out. He knew or
109. 3:19should have known what investigators
110. 3:20would look for and at least some of the
111. 3:22tools they could use to probe the
112. 3:23murders and his involvement. However,
113. 3:25even with his connections and
114. 3:26experience, he was caught and convicted.
115. 3:28And while that's good for the interest
116. 3:29of justice and the safety of people who
117. 3:31might pass into his orbit, it does raise
118. 3:33a question of why the murders were so
119. 3:34sloppy. Additionally, why was Murdoch's
120. 3:36defense so weak that the presiding judge
121. 3:38went on the record to comment, "The
122. 3:39evidence of guilt is overwhelming." Gun
123. 3:41casings from the murders matched others
124. 3:43found at the property, indicating that
125. 3:45the murder weapon had been fired there
126. 3:46before and was therefore likely a family
127. 3:48gun. Murdoch's voice appeared on a
128. 3:50Snapchat video Paul took shortly before
129. 3:52his death. Cell phone location data
130. 3:53undercut his account of his movements.
131. 3:55We can speculate that perhaps Alec
132. 3:57wasn't thinking clearly due to his
133. 3:59acknowledged opioid addiction and
134. 4:00perhaps the enormity of the crimes he
135. 4:02planned. But until he sits for a tell-
136. 4:04all interview, we won't know why an
137. 4:06allegedly brilliant legal mind so badly
138. 4:08bungled the highest stake situation of
139. 4:09his life.
140. 4:10>> Murdochs don't really get told no much.
141. 4:12>> The fifth amendment to the US
142. 4:14Constitution states that you don't have
143. 4:15to take the stand in your own defense.
144. 4:17And Alec Murdoch knows this. Yet, as a
145. 4:19tarnished defendant answering for the
146. 4:21murder of his own family, Murdoch chose
147. 4:22to take the stand anyway. So why did he
148. 4:24go on the stand and why did his
149. 4:26attorneys let him? Jurors who spoke to
150. 4:28the media after the trial confirmed that
151. 4:29Murdoch's testimony had hurt him. He
152. 4:31acknowledged lying about his
153. 4:32whereabouts, claiming that he had not
154. 4:34gone down to the kennels where he later
155. 4:35found the bodies. Cell phone data
156. 4:37disproved this story, and Murdoch's
157. 4:38initial attempt at deceit seems to have
158. 4:40made him generally hard to believe. His
159. 4:42former prominence also hurt him, with
160. 4:44one juror commenting that she saw his
161. 4:45testimony as just another iteration of
162. 4:47the courtroom performances he'd given
163. 4:48throughout his career. All families are
164. 4:51different, but even with this caveat in
165. 4:53place, it seems Alec came to his cousin
166. 4:55with a big ask. Curtis Edward Smith was
167. 4:57admittedly not just a distant cousin,
168. 4:59but also a friend and former client. So,
169. 5:01Alec figured Smith was someone he could
170. 5:03ask to shoot him in the head by the side
171. 5:04of a rural road to fake his death in a
172. 5:06botched carjacking. Roughly 3 months
173. 5:08after Paul and Maggie's deaths, Alex's
174. 5:10law firm had formerly accused him of
175. 5:12financial wrongdoing. Given that the jig
176. 5:14seemed to be up, he wanted to die in a
177. 5:16way that would allow a surviving son,
178. 5:17Buster, to collect on a $10 million
179. 5:19insurance policy. A suicide often voids
180. 5:21insurance policies. Alec needed his
181. 5:23death to be by someone else's hand, or
182. 5:25at least appear to be. Smith was game,
183. 5:27but the men with the stunt, leaving Alec
184. 5:29shot in the head, but still alive.
185. 5:31Alec's tale of a carjacking fell apart
186. 5:33under questioning. Smith maintained that
187. 5:35while he had disposed of the gun, he had
188. 5:37not shot Alec intentionally. The gun
189. 5:39went off as he tried to rest the weapon
190. 5:40from Alec to prevent him from shooting
191. 5:42himself. Both men would face charges in
192. 5:44the incident with Alex's insurance fraud
193. 5:46account going in the big pile. One of
194. 5:48the suspicious other deaths associated
195. 5:50with the Murdoch family was the demise
196. 5:51of Gloria Satderfield, the family's
197. 5:53long-term housekeeper. Satderfield fell
198. 5:55and was injured at the Murdoch family
199. 5:57home in early February 2018, lingering a
200. 6:00few weeks before dying on February 26th.
201. 6:02Details of Satderfield's injuries are
202. 6:04not publicly available, but the initial
203. 6:06story, according to Alec, was that she
204. 6:08had tripped over the family's dogs and
205. 6:09fallen down the house's front steps. A
206. 6:11lot of people
207. 6:13weren't really buying the whole dogs
208. 6:17knocked her down the stairs narrative.
209. 6:20This later proved to be a lie with a
210. 6:21story concocted to get a bigger payout
211. 6:23from the Murdoch's insurance company. No
212. 6:25autopsy was performed and the coroner
213. 6:27was apparently not notified of her
214. 6:28allegedly accidental death on private
215. 6:30property. However, her death certificate
216. 6:32attributes her death to natural causes,
217. 6:34not the accidental death Murdoch
218. 6:36described. Alec also attempted to
219. 6:37swindle Satderfield's next of kin out of
220. 6:39the settlement resulting from her death.
221. 6:41He offered to look after her adult son's
222. 6:43interests in discussions with the
223. 6:44insurance company, but then never gave
224. 6:46them any of the money he received. The
225. 6:48Satderfield sons eventually reached the
226. 6:49settlement with Cory Fleming, Murdoch's
227. 6:51friend and associate, who had involved
228. 6:53himself in the case and ultimately
229. 6:54received both the original payout and
230. 6:56one from Fleming's firm's malpractice
231. 6:58insurer. Steven Smith was a 19-year-old
232. 7:01nursing student when he was found dead
233. 7:02in the middle of a road in rural South
234. 7:04Carolina in July 2015. Smith's death was
235. 7:07initially ruled a hit and run, but in
236. 7:09the summer of 2021, South Carolina
237. 7:11police announced that they would be
238. 7:12reopening the case as a homicide,
239. 7:14explicitly citing information they had
240. 7:16uncovered in the investigation of Paul
241. 7:17and Maggie Murdoch's murders. Smith was
242. 7:19openly gay, and both his mother and the
243. 7:21Smith family attorney suspect that his
244. 7:23sexuality may have made Smith a target.
245. 7:25News reports indicate that Buster
246. 7:27Murdoch, who had been a classmate of
247. 7:28Smiths, was mentioned in witness
248. 7:30interviews in the initial investigation,
249. 7:32though he had not been charged as of
250. 7:33mid2025. Buster wasn't the only Murdoch
251. 7:36with a rumored connection to Smith's
252. 7:37death. Though, Alex's brother, Randy,
253. 7:39also an attorney, called the family and
254. 7:41offered to help in the aftermath. Later,
255. 7:43when Smith's mother drove by the area
256. 7:44where his body was found, she saw Alec
257. 7:46and Randy standing by the side of the
258. 7:48road. There was no apparent debris from
259. 7:50a car impact near or on Smith's body,
260. 7:52and the sheriff reporting his death to
261. 7:54his parents initially said he had been
262. 7:55shot. A policeman on the scene has
263. 7:57claimed that the corpse appeared staged,
264. 7:59and unlike in most car impact deaths,
265. 8:01Smith's clothing was undamaged and his
266. 8:03shoes remained on his feet. The
267. 8:05investigation continues. The prosecution
268. 8:08in any murder case is not technically
269. 8:10obligated to prove a motive, but
270. 8:11realistically, their job is made much
271. 8:13easier if they can point to a clear
272. 8:15reason for a killing. Though the
273. 8:16prosecutors were ultimately successful
274. 8:18in the Murdoch case, Alex's reasons for
275. 8:20killing his wife and son remained open
276. 8:22to speculation. During the trial, the
277. 8:23prosecution argued that Murdoch's house
278. 8:25of cards was on the verge of collapse.
279. 8:27His law partner had confronted him about
280. 8:28his financial misdeeds and the walls
281. 8:30were closing in. If Murdoch could
282. 8:32distract from his impending troubles by
283. 8:34becoming the bereieved survivor of a
284. 8:35decimated family, maybe the other
285. 8:37problems would simply go away. If
286. 8:39nothing else, he might buy himself some
287. 8:40time. It's not a great plan, but Alec
288. 8:43was decidedly not a clever strategist at
289. 8:45this point. The official version remains
290. 8:47unsatisfying, but it's what watchers of
291. 8:49this bizarre case have to go on. The
292. 8:51financial stresses that allegedly
293. 8:53provided the motive for Alec's murders
294. 8:54of his wife and son were colossal by
295. 8:56most people's standards. If he and his
296. 8:58family had been found liable in the boat
297. 9:00crash lawsuits, he might have been on
298. 9:01the hook for $10 million. Additionally,
299. 9:04Alec had wrapped himself in a complex
300. 9:05web of fraud schemes, bothing his
301. 9:07employer and his clients alike. There
302. 9:09were plenty of times where I took money
303. 9:12that I shouldn't have taken. There were
304. 9:13plenty of times where I stole money.
305. 9:16>> Gloria Satderfield's death wasn't the
306. 9:17only case in which Alec had lifted
307. 9:19money. It turned out he had set up a
308. 9:20dummy bank account made to look like it
309. 9:22belonged to a structured settlement
310. 9:23administrator in which he had siphoned
311. 9:25funds that belonged to his personal
312. 9:26injury clients. This private account was
313. 9:28also set up to receive litigation fees
314. 9:30payable to Alec's firm, not to Alec
315. 9:32himself, cutting the firm out of the
316. 9:34financial loop. Alec had even pulled
317. 9:36local banks into his schemes with one
318. 9:38bank executive, Russell Lefit, found
319. 9:40guilty of helping Alec conceal his
320. 9:42financial misdeeds and allowing him to
321. 9:43take out loans against accounts in his
322. 9:45client's names. It's a complex web of
323. 9:47crimes to keep afloat, but it seems Alec
324. 9:50needed the cash. According to the
325. 9:51Independent, his drug addiction had
326. 9:53gotten so bad that he was spending over
327. 9:55$50,000 on opiates a week.