All language subtitles for The Fall of the House of Murdaugh s01e01.eng

- Wooo!

[blowing raspberry]

- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[gunshots]

- Wooo!

[alex] come on
y'all ready to roll?

Do you see it, bus?

[gunshots]

- Knuckleheads, here goes
your chance at redemption.

[martha] this is the
murdaugh family.

[buster] same story,
different day.

- Everyone thinks they
know this story,

But do they?

- Love y'all.

Talk to you soon.

[martha] in each
retelling of the turmoil

Surrounding the murdaughs,

There have always
been voices missing.

[martha] and without them,

It is impossible to understand
who these people really are.

[martha] they say they've
been misrepresented,

But have they?

- I don't wanna be rude here,

[martha] the murdaugh family
has been a prominent force

Practicing law in the lowcountry
for the last 100 years.

- In this little
part of the world,

They were bigger
than the kennedys.

It was all privilege and power.

- It turned into a tragedy

That is going to
haunt them forever.

[phone dialing]

- This was a brutal,
violent crime scene.

- There was a tone that
I was not familiar with

Coming from my dad.

He asked if I was sitting down

And then he told me
that he had found

My mom and brother
shot and killed.

- So he says this to you.

What do you say?

- I was in a serious
state of shock.

Obviously, your first
question is, you know, like,

I mean, what happened?

[reporter] why did you
kill your wife?

- South carolina attorney,
alex murdaugh,

Handcuffed and charged
with the double murders

Of his wife and youngest son.

- This story couldn't
be written in hollywood

'cause it's so unbelievable.

[screaming]

- It's a family that has been
marked by tragic circumstance.

- That's still a lot of bodies
for one family to pile up.

- So you think the
police didn't do the job?

- I think there's an
awful lot of pressure

To come up with a suspect.

- Whose voices did you
recognize on that video?

- The minute they found
that video existed

It was like bye-bye alibi
in just a heartbeat.

- Paul murdaugh, maggie
murdaugh, and alex murdaugh.

- How sure are you?

- 100%.

- This is not good,
what the hell?

- It was all a lie.

[martha] and he lied to you?

- He did.

- So when you can't
sleep at night,

Do you ever think maybe he
lied because he killed them?

[suspenseful music]

- What would you
wanna say to them?

[suspenseful music]

[dramatic music]

♪

[gentle music]

♪

[martha] hi buster.

[buster] hi.
- How you doing?

- I'm good, how are you doing?

- I'm good.

Just two and a half months
after alex murdaugh

Was found guilty of murdering
his wife and youngest son,

His only surviving child,
27-year-old buster,

Sat down for an
exclusive interview

For this three-part
documentary series.

You know, I think
a lot of people

Will wonder right off the bat,

What made you decide
that you want to speak out

About what has happened?

- Sure.

One of the main reasons I
wanted to do this is because

There's been an awful lot of,
you know, negative publicity

Talking about, you know, my
family and also about myself.

And I just want to be able
to give a truer perspective

And let people understand
that some of the things

That are out there might
not be exactly the truth.

[ominous music]

[thunder cracks]

- You're gonna hear some
of what was going on

In alex murdaugh's life
leading up to that day,

Stuff that happened
that very day.

Stuff that was leading up
to the perfect storm

That was gathering,

Much like the storms that
are coming outside today.

[thunder cracks]
[rain falling]

[gentle music]

- The lowcountry
is just a certain

Piece of heaven
right here on earth.

- It runs from about georgetown,
south carolina on our coast

To the savannah border.

And it's some of
the most beautiful,

If not the most
beautiful coastline

On the eastern seaboard
of the united states.

[gentle music]

- Lowcountry is a lot
of friends and family.

You got a lot of places where
you do fishing and hunting.

[gentle music]

- It's a mixture of
different classes,

And different races of people,

Different types of people,

And that's what makes it unique.

It's the quintessential south.

[gentle music]

- It's really hard to
talk about the lowcountry

Of south carolina
without talking about

The murdaugh family in some
shape, fashion or form.

- No one in south carolina
can minimize the importance

And the influence of
the murdaugh family.

- The murdaugh law firm
is over 100 years old.

From 1920 to 2006, for the
better part of 86 years,

There had been a murdaugh as
the chief prosecuting officer

Of this five county
district in south carolina.

I don't know that it's
ever happened before,

At least not to my knowledge.

- Here on the wall, we have
mr. Buster murdaugh,

Who was the second family
murdaugh solicitor

Here in our circuit.

I've heard that he
ruled with an iron fist.

As much as he was revered,

I would not wanna cross him.

- The first murdaugh recognized
the power of that position.

That was a time when he
could practice law privately

As well as prosecute it.

They made certain they
were gonna get reelected

So that they could pass
on that power, prestige,

And to some extent, fear.

- The murdaughs could
definitely set the laws,

Make the laws

And bend the laws.

You would not wanna be on
the wrong side of them.

- You would hear stories
about that influence

And about even stories
and maybe influence some

Being used to an
inappropriate level.

- I never was in that position

Because we were raised to
where we didn't really get,

I didn't get into a lot
of trouble, so, I mean,

That wasn't really
a thing for me.

But, there's been an awful
lot of things written

About an awful lot
of my family members.

It is completely, completely
inflamed in the media.

There's no escape
from any of it.

- I went to school
and grew up with alex,

And his name is pronounced alec,

Even though it's spelled alex.

The reputation of their
family was always solid,

Always well-respected.

And it was just
one of those things

Where if you're ever in trouble,

You would want them
to be on your side.

- Obviously, when you have a
high-profile family like that,

There are gonna be
people who adore you

And then there are gonna
be people who fear you.

♪

[martha] the family law firm,
which they started in 1910,

Grew into peters, murdaugh,
parker, eltzroth and detrick.

They specialized
in personal injury

And alex was one of
its star attorneys.

- The murdaugh law firm had
become the go-to law firm

For people who had legal
needs in that area.

While that is a very poor and
rural area of south carolina,

It was a very, very influential

And very, very
powerful law firm.

- There was kind of a joke

That industry would
rarely locate there

Just because if one of your
tractor trailers hits a car,

Then you're gonna get
sued by the law firm.

- Alex was very successful
in the courtroom.

He was from a legal, I hate
to use the word dynasty,

But it was a legal dynasty.

- To be a good trial lawyer,

You gotta be able to communicate
with people not like you,

But people from a
different economic strata,

From a different
racial background,

Religious background,

Different life
experience than you,

And he's very effective at that.

- This is a man who
was a master closer

When it came to
talking to juries.

He could get inside
a juror's mind

And he could convince that juror

To give huge payouts
to his clients.

- Alex treated everybody
like they was family,

Especially once he
got to know you.

He never treated me like
he was any better than me.

He was always real respectful.

- What I would say above all,
he was a family man.

That really was his
number one priority.

- My mom and dad met in college,

So my dad played
football at usc.

He had gotten injured so he
was no longer on the team

And he had asked her to go
to the football game with him

And he called her that day,
and like said,

"hey, I'll come pick you up."

She said, "no, no, like
I'm not feeling good,"

Or something like that.

About four rows down with a,
um, with another guy,

So I don't know what
transpired after that,

But somehow from there they've
been together and happy.

[gentle music]

- Margaret branstetter, who we
all know as maggie murdaugh,

Came from a really different
family background than alex.

She was born in

A small, small town in kentucky.

Her grandfather
had been a barber

And her father did
very well for himself.

He had a long career at dupont.

She went to the university
of south carolina.

She was a sorority girl and
that's where she met alex.

And from what I've heard,

She wasn't thrilled about
moving to hampton county,

But she loved him and
it was marrying up.

In her own little world,
she was the belle of the ball

And they had a home in
hampton at one point,

And they had this
beach house in edisto.

[martha] in 1996, maggie
gave birth to buster,

And just three years later
in 1999, paul was born.

[gentle music]

[gunshots]

[alex] do you see it, bus?

- My childhood was great,
I mean, it really was.

We had two very loving parents,

Two very devoted parents who
wanted to give us everything

That we absolutely ever wanted.

- When I first went down
to hampton county,

One of the first people
I spoke to was a woman

Who knew maggie a little bit.

And the word I
got from everybody

Was she spoiled those two boys.

She loved them
almost to a fault.

- As a child watching their
marriage, it was inspirational.

It was like this is
what I am striving for.

- Never seen him argue with
buster, or paul, miss maggie.

I never even seen alex to
even raise his voice at 'em.

- Love y'all.

Talk to you soon.

[martha] the couple's
comfortable lifestyle

Was facilitated by the
steady loving presence

Of gloria satterfield,

The murdaugh's longtime
housekeeper who assisted maggie

Keeping watch over the two
growing and active boys.

- Gloria to us was-- a maid
doesn't really encapsulate it

Because she was hired
when we were very young,

Took us places if mom
and dad were outta town,

Really, she helped
raise paul and I

From when we were little kids.

She was a big player
inside of our family.

- So, what was the
family dynamic

In terms of you and your mom,
paul and your dad?

Who do you think was
closer or more alike?

- Growing up my parents
held a very firm line

That they were not
going to pick favorites.

[kids cheering and laughing]

- But there were times when,

You know, I considered
myself closer to my mom.

I mean, everything that I ever
needed, she was there for me.

She, you know, advised me,

She loved me.

I can't put enough emphasis on
how important she was to me.

And I think that my brother

Probably was a little
bit closer to my dad.

- Alex and paul's relationship,

You would say it was
more like best friends

Than it was father and son.

They drank beer together,

They went hunting together.

[buster] I was extremely
close with paul.

I mean, we did
everything together.

Paul was an interesting
little dude.

[bluegrassy music]

He did not like to sit inside,

He did not like tv,

He did not like video games,

Anything like that.

He wanted to be outside

And that's where
really his true love

Kind of shined out through that.

[martha] in 2013, the family
moved from hampton county

To a house on a large
property on moselle road

In neighboring colleton county.

- Friends and family
of the murdaughs

Just began calling
the estate "moselle."

- Paul connected with
the moselle property,

Managing the property, you
know, planning the food plots,

Planting the dove fields.

- Paul,

Wanted to be a farmer.

He really wanted to
make moselle a farm.

- My brother and I would love
to be around our friends,

Jumping in the pool,
hanging out at the sand-bar,

Having a dove hunt

And just have a
good day together.

- To a country boy who
loves to hunt and ride

And live outdoors, moselle
was like disneyland.

It really was a place,

A mecca for people who
love the outdoor life.

[alex] you see it bus?

[gunshots]

- They had all the
toys and accoutrements

That go with enjoying your life,

And enjoying your activities,
one of which was hunting.

[gunshot]

[alex] there, you
hit it on the last one.

[martha] to an outsider,

It might look like
a charmed life,

But looks can be deceiving.

- I've always compared the
murdaughs here in hampton

To the kennedys,

And like the kennedys,

The murdaughs have
experienced so many tragedies.

- It's a family that has been
marked by tragic circumstance,

But that's still a lot of bodies
for one family to pile up.

[dramatic music]

[911 operator] 9-1-1,
where's your emergency?

[maggie] my housekeeper
has fallen

And her head is bleeding.

I cannot get her up.

- The story of gloria
satterfield is especially sad.

She'd worked for the murdaugh
family for about 20 years

And she was considered

Really kind of a
member of the family.

She was only 57 years old
and left behind two sons.

- I just wanna ask
you a little bit

About the gloria satterfield
situation.

Who was in the house when
her accident happened?

- I don't know who
was in the house.

I know that my mom and
brother were there together,

And to think that it was
somebody who was so close to us

Is-is-is heartbreaking.

- There are apparently
dogs barking

And alerted maggie and
paul who were in the house.

They come outside and
see gloria lying there

And they called 9-1-1.

- Gloria allegedly
tripped over alex's dogs

And that's what alex
tells us at the time.

And she stumbled,

Hit her head on the
front steps of the porch.

[martha] a little over
three weeks after her fall,

Gloria died due to complications
of a traumatic brain injury

Leaving behind her two sons,
tony and brian.

- Alex murdaugh approached
her children and said,

"let me be the lawyer,
I'll take care of things."

- Alex came up with
this hare-brained scheme

Sort of suing himself using
his own insurance policies

To get money for them.

[martha] but since he
couldn't sue himself,

Alex had an attorney friend,
cory fleming,

Sue him on behalf
of the satterfields.

- Tony trusted mr. Alex so much.

I mean, this man was
larger than life.

- Alex, and just like his father
and his father before him,

Their word was their bond.

When they told us that they
would take care of something,

We expected that
that would be done.

- But what we know
is this is a guy

Who could look you in
your face and lie to you

To get what he wanted

And you would think
y'all were best friends.

[court clerk] state your
name again for the record.

- They were just
a couple of kids.

They were naive.

They had no idea
what was going on.

And this was not just
your everyday lawyer,

This was alex murdaugh,
he was like king alex.

- So it was not much of
a leap of faith at all

For these satterfield
children to believe

That alex murdaugh would
do everything in his power

To get them the best money
that he could possibly get

And would protect
their interest.

They just happened
to be very wrong.

- Did he ever tell you that
there had been a recovery

For $3.8 million against that?

- No.

- Did he ever pay you one
penny of $3.8 million?

- No.

[martha] alex's betrayal
of gloria's children,

The woman who meant so
much to his own children

Might never have come to light
if not for what comes next.

[ominous music]

♪

- On the night of
February 23rd, 2019,

Almost to a year after
gloria satterfield died,

Paul murdaugh took five of
his friends on a boat ride,

And it's a foggy night
with a drunk driver

And everybody else
drinking as well.

- According to depositions,
they purchased alcohol

And they all say that it
was kinda bring your own.

[boat engine starts up and revs]

- All of these 19 year olds
went out for what they thought

Was gonna be an evening cruise.

- Paul bought the liquor that
night at a convenience store

Using buster's identification.

- It turned into a tragedy

That is going to
haunt them forever.

- The kids drank and
launched the boat,

And then they went
to an oyster roast.

From there they went to
a bar called luther's

Where paul had two shots.

- Paul got drunk

And started acting out

And then in the
early morning hours,

Paul and his friends
got on the boat.

- They were all participating
and they all admit to drinking

On the evening of
the boating accident.

Anthony, who was mallory beach's
boyfriend,

States in his deposition
that he did try to drive

And that paul was emphatic

That it was his boat
and he was driving.

- They were traveling back

To the murdaugh
family's river house

And clearly he was
acting erratically,

And along the way as they were
going through archers creek...

They hit a bridge.

[phone ringing]

[ominous music]

[sirens wail]

- I am not there, you know.

I'm in college and I received
a phone call from my mom

That my brother and his friends
had been in a boat accident

And that one of the girls
that was on the boat

They had not found yet.

I was very scared for the kids.

I was very scared for the girl.

I didn't know all of the
details about what happened.

I was just mostly fearful
for what might come.

- There were six
people on the boat.

There was one girl whose hand
was pretty severely injured.

You had one boy who was
thrown into the console

And had a broken jaw.

- Connor cook who was on the
boat was knocked unconscious,

Breaking his jaw
in multiple places,

Causing a terrible
gash on his face.

- Mallory beach was
thrown from the boat

And they couldn't locate her,

But most of the young people
in the boat were injured

And so they went
to the hospital.

[dramatic music]

- It was very odd that paul was

Never given a breathalyzer
by the police,

But his blood alcohol limit
was sky-high they found

Once he was in the hospital.

- And then you
have alex murdaugh

With his father randy murdaugh
walking into the hospital

With his badge flipped
out of his pocket.

What is he doing?

He's managing the situation.

- Alex's father gave him a badge

Because he was a volunteer
in the prosecutor's office.

Alex was not at that hospital
as a law enforcement officer.

He was there as paul's father,

So he had no reason to be
showing this badge to anybody.

It was clearly a
symbol and a message.

- There appeared to
be an effort afoot

To move the law
enforcement's investigation

In the direction of
charging connor cook

Rather than paul murdaugh.

I know from connor that
alex essentially said,

"just be patient, we'll
take care of things."

[martha] the same words
he told tony satterfield,

I'll take care of things.

- Today the family of a
19-year-old lowcountry woman

Got the news they
didn't wanna hear.

Mallory beach's body
was found in the waters

Off of beaufort county
yesterday.

The investigation continues
into what led to her death.

- Once mallory beach's
body was found,

The stakes got much higher
about who was driving that boat,

Connor cook

Or paul murdaugh.

- The evidence was very weak
that paul was driving the boat

And at one point in time,

When connor cook was being
interviewed by law enforcement,

Connor said, "I don't know
who was driving the boat."

I mean, he had the
opportunity to say,

"it wasn't me,"

And he didn't do that.

- There's evidence that paul was

Up in the front of the boat

With his girlfriend at
the time of the crash.

- But there was no lack
of clarity to anthony cook

About who was driving the boat

Because he is seen being
quite demonstrative about

Paul's being the
operator of the boat,

Angrily so.

- You never want to
get ahead of yourself,

But obviously we would
not have proceeded

If we didn't feel that we had

A strong likelihood
of conviction

And we planned to proceed
forward with that case

Against paul murdaugh.

[martha] in April of 2019,

Paul murdaugh was charged
with three felony counts

Of boating under the influence

Including causing
mallory beach's death,

And seriously injuring
two other passengers.

- When I started as a
prosecutor in 1975,

I got to know buster murdaugh,

That would be
alex's grandfather.

He was a legend and thought
to be the best there was.

Over the years, I became
friends with the murdaughs,

And so alex called me

And asked me if I
would represent paul.

- I was asked along with
dick harpootlian to represent

Alex and maggie's son, paul.

In our view, it was not paul
who was the driver of the boat.

Right before they
hit the bridge,

Connor cook's girlfriend
screamed out,

"watch out, connor."

- The case had a lot
of weaknesses in it

And we were getting
ready for trial.

[ominous music]

- Our family stayed
very supportive of paul

Through the whole process

To get through it together.

- After the boat crash,

I think people's view of the
murdaughs shifted a little bit.

They were still a
very prominent family,

But were they getting away
with things because of it?

- To your knowledge, was
paul being threatened,

Or bullied on social media,
or anything like that?

- Yeah, he was
definitely being bullied

And I know a lot of times he'd
be walking down the sidewalk,

And, you know, a car comes by

And they would yell
some stuff at him.

I knew he would go out in a bar

And there's somebody that
wants to talk about it,

And make a scoff about it.

- What was your mother's
reaction to all the negativity

Surrounding the
boating accident?

- It, um, you know,
it kinda consumed her.

- When the boat crash
happened, my mom, especially,

Had a tough time distancing
herself from all the articles.

I think it had a
severe toll on her

And I think even just
doing a certain task

Like running an
errand into hampton

To go to the grocery store,

I think she might've felt like

She was getting
unnecessary looks.

I think it was a very, very
emotionally disabling thing

That also led to her maybe
wanting to spend more time

Out of that area more so
in a place like edisto

Where she found a
little bit more comfort.

- It was at the beach,
it was about an hour away,

Very different environment,

And maggie preferred
to go to edisto

'cause it was like
her sanctuary.

[martha] as the
state moved ahead

With the felony
case against paul,

More suits were being filed
against the murdaughs.

- It wasn't just paul that
was gonna be in trouble,

But alex was gonna
face a civil suit.

The family of mallory beach,
they wanted $10 million,

Which meant that all of his
finances would be revealed

And he did not want this.

[martha] while their
troubles escalated,

The one place where
alex and paul

Always found refuge was moselle.

- Alex had a lot on his mind,

Certainly in his life,

And he had a lot
going on with paul,

And so moselle, it's
a perfect place

If you want peace and quiet.

- If you ever go out that way,

You're gonna enjoy it because
it is quiet out there.

Well, it was quiet until
the murders happened.

[eerie music]

- So tell me about
where you were living,

What were you doing

In the weeks leading
up to June 7th, 2021?

- Um.

June 7th, I was up
in charlotte.

I was about to
start this new job.

I was running around.

I was supposed to
hold this hiring event

For one of the restaurants
right outside of charlotte.

Got conversated on the phone
with my family that day,

You know, both my dad
and my mom,

And maybe even my brother.

I would just describe
it as normal.

- That morning,

It was very hot.

It was probably in
the 90s that day.

[dogs barking]

My job at moselle

Feed the chickens,

Wash the pens out.

Then I installed the
fans for the dogs

To help keep the flies
and give the dogs air

Where they wouldn't be so hot.

I done my regular
routine and I left

And went back to the house.

[ominous music]

- On the afternoon of the
murders, jeanne seckinger,

Who is the cfo of
alex murdaugh's law firm,

Found financial
irregularity involving alex.

[creighton] so if
a lawyer earns fees,

Is it appropriate at all

For those fees to go
directly to the lawyer

As opposed to going
through the law firm?

[jeanne] no.

[creighton] what is that?

- That would be stealing it.

[creighton] stealing.

- And the law partners,
they're all very concerned

Because they think alex may
be trying to divert fees

Because of the boat case to
essentially hide that income.

And so jeanne seckinger
goes up to alex's office

To find where those fees are.

- I went upstairs, his office
is on the second floor,

And he was leaning on a file
cabinet outside his office,

And he turned and looked at
me when I came up and said,

"what do you need now?"

And gave me a very dirty look,

Which made me go,

"oh, you wanna know,
let's go in your office."

- During this conversation,

Which was a little awkward to
begin with, it was interrupted

Because alex got a call
from barbara mixson

Who was his mother's
caretaker for 40 years

And she told him that his
father was in the hospital.

- I said, alex, your mom
is very agitated.

She is crying
because mr. Randolph

Has done gone to the hospital.

I give her medicine and I want
you to come check on her

Later on during the day.

And he said, "okay, I will."

- The call from barbara was
a little bit lucky for alex.

It came at a good time.

All of a sudden the conversation
between jeanne and alex,

Of course, turned to his father.

- When you learned
on the seventh

That his father was going
back in the hospital,

You didn't continue your
inquiry any more that day?

- No, in our firm we're
very family-oriented,

And any time there's
an emergency,

Or something we need to do,

We grant the person
the time off,

And I made the assumption

He was going to go
take care of that.

- Randolph is dying,

And the financial charges was
yet another, I would imagine,

Bit of pressure placed on him.

- Maggie called me

That day and said
she was at edisto

And mr. Randolph was
not doing well at all,

And alex really wanted her
to come home that night.

She hadn't planned on it.

And I said, well,
maggie, I said, you know,

Alex and his dad are super close

And that's probably
what you should do.

- You encouraged her
to go to moselle?

- I did.

- Was that the last
time you talked to her?

- Yes.

- So, was it hard for you to
watch your aunt marian up there?

- Yes it was.

[martha] why?

- Well, for one,

Because I know that she
was absolutely terrified.

I know that she did not
want to be up there,

And I love my aunt marian
no matter whatever happens.

[dramatic music]

- That afternoon, I come back,

All I had to do was feed
the dogs in the afternoon

And give 'em fresh water
and wash the pens out.

I stretched the hose out and,
you know, roll it back up.

I didn't see nobody
there that day.

I know I left there around 4:30,

I do remember that.

- Then at six, alex
returned to moselle,

And he and paul
rode the property.

[dramatic music]

- On June 7th, 2021,

Did you ever have any
conversation with paul,

Or communication with him?

- Yes, I talked to
him around dinnertime,

And then he sent me a snapchat
a little bit after that,

And that was the last
time I heard from him.

- What was the snapchat of?

- It was of him and his dad

Looking at the trees and stuff
that they had planted.

They had one swooped down

That obviously wasn't
doing too good.

- Laughing about a tree

That alex has planted
and it's leaning over,

Sort of laughing about

Alex's ineffective horticultural
experience with that.

That's an hour and 20 minutes
before he allegedly kills paul.

[dramatic music]

- They returned to the house

Just shortly after
eight o'clock.

Maggie arrives there,

And then around 8:33,

We see paul head
towards the kennels,

And we see some activity
on maggie's phone as well.

So clearly they're
going to the kennels.

- On June 7th, 2021, did
you have a dog at that time?

[rogan] I did.

[creighton] what's
the dog's name?

- Cash.
- Cash?

What arrangements did
you make for cash?

I would leave him at
the kennel's at moselle.

- That evening, did
you talk to paul?

- I did.

- And when was that roughly?

[rogan] around 8:40 he called

And asked if something was
wrong with the dog's tail.

He was gonna try to facetime me.

He said, "you know how
the service is out here."

He said, "if I can't get
the facetime to go through,

I'll send you a video."

- Did you ever get that video?

- I did not.

- So paul takes that video,

But he never sends it.

His phone goes silent
around 8:49.

Maggie's phone goes silent
around that same time.

They never ever make any
contact from that point on.

- In the immediate time
period after dinner

With maggie and paul at moselle,

Alex said he'd laid
down and took a nap,

Woke up and then went
to see his mother.

- Alex left the house at 9:06

Because that's when
the onstar records him

Cranking up the car at 9:06.

- He arrives back at the scene
around the 10 o'clock hour

And then goes to
the house first,

And then, we can track the car,
he goes to the kennels.

[ominous music]

[somber music]

[martha] tell me
about the phone call.

- The phone call was,
there was a tone

That I was not familiar with
coming out of his voice.

He requested or asked
if I was sitting down

And then he told me that
he had returned to moselle

And that he rode
down to the kennels

And that he had found my mom
and brother shot and killed.

- My whole body went
into a sense of shock.

I can remember basically
sitting on the foot of the bed.

I had lost all
feeling in my arms.

Obviously your first
question is, you know,

Like, I mean, what happened?

And then you just I don't know,

My body almost kinda
quit working,

Just,

But finally kinda got
some composure together.

You know, my girlfriend,
brooklynn,

Packed my bag up for me.

We got in the car and
we started driving down.

[ominous music]

[indistinct police
radio chatter]

- Someone contacted
me and told me

That our sheriff's department
had been dispatched down there

And that there had
been some murders.

Of course, at that point
you know, everybody wondered,

Well, does this have anything
to do with the boat crash?

You know, early on, it was
just who might have done this?

- When I first started
looking into this

And went down there,

I talked to so many locals in
the weeks following the murder

And no one said they
thought he really did it.

And then, of course,
in September of 2021

We get an alert that
alex murdaugh has been shot

In the craziest scenario
that anybody could imagine,

In which he says he was
fixing a tire on his car

And that someone came
along and just popped it.

[suspenseful music]

[phone dialing]

[indistinct radio chatter]

[officer] what happened?

[alex] I got shot.

- Jim called me and said,

"somebody tried to kill alex,
drive-by shooting."

And we were shocked

And I said,

"oh, my god, they
killed maggie and paul,

And now they're
trying to kill him."

And that's when jim indicated
it wasn't a drive-by,

So we called sled.

[martha] sled is the state
police of south carolina

And when alex speaks with them,

There's a new twist
in his story.

He now says he's
addicted to opioids,

Stemming back to his college
days and a football injury,

But that's not all he reveals.

- Alex murdaugh now
admitting to investigators

That he hired a man to kill him.

[martha] alex says he
hired his alleged drug dealer

To shoot him in the head,

But that the shot
only wounded him.

- Soon after this event,
he is whisked off to rehab.

So, in my mind it was kind of
a little bit of a shifting.

At first, there's
people after him,

The same people who
killed maggie and paul,

And then when that didn't seem
like it was going so well,

Then he's gonna say, well,
I'm addicted to drugs.

- I was upset, I was angry,
I was disappointed.

I mean, it's very,
very, very difficult

To try to wrap my head
around all these--

All these circumstances.

- That was probably
the first time

That I really said
what's he up to?

It just was one of those
things that just struck me

As just really, really odd.

- It's been a little
more than a year

Since maggie and paul murdaugh
were found dead

At the family's home
in colleton county.

- No arrests were made at that
point and the state remained

Tight-lipped on
alex murdaugh's involvement

Up until this morning

When those murder
indictments came down.

- Paul and maggie were
murdered on June 7th, 2021.

While we were pursuing
every lead that we got,

All the questions kept
coming back to alex.

It was in early July of 2022
that we actually indicted him.

- I wanted to make sure
that we got this case right.

- Alex murdaugh has been
charged with murder.

[news reporter] the
high-profile attorney

At the center of a
case involving murder,

Money, and mystery,
is arrested in orange county.

[martha] while the attorney
general gathers evidence,

The national and
international press catch wind

Of alex murdaugh and his family.

- Growing crowd gathering in
a normally quiet community.

- This was a prominent family

Within the legal professionals.

- There are so many
very interesting details

About the family,
three generations.

- In this little
part of the world,

They were bigger
than the kennedys.

They were bigger than any
mafia family in new york,

But we never heard of them,
and you know what?

They liked it that way.

[martha] during his trial

For the murder of his wife
and son in January of 2023,

Alex murdaugh says
he kept a journal.

He recorded excerpts from
it for this documentary.

[dramatic music]

[court clerk] the
court is now in session.

Judge newman presiding.

- We'll now proceed to opening
statements by the state.

- Thank you your honor and
may it please the court.

Listen for that evidence.

Listen to that gathering storm

That all came to a
head on June 7th, 2021,

The day the evidence will show
he killed maggie and paul.

He was the storm

And the storm arrived
on June 7th, 2021,

Just like the storms that
are heading here right now,

That they died as a result

Beyond any reasonable doubt.

Thank y'all.

- When creighton waters

Was talking about
this storm building,

The mysterious death
of gloria satterfield,

The fatal boat crash,

The opioid addiction,

I mean, the walls were
really closing in.

Even his father, randolph,

Who had been such a strong
presence in his life was dying.

- I wanted the jury
to really understand

That this was all coming to a
head and it was falling apart.

- When you listened
to the prosecution,

They built the argument
that killing paul and maggie

Would buy him even more time.

It would turn sympathy on him

At a moment when a lot
was about to come down.

What do you think about that?

- I was thinking that
I don't know what,

Or how bad everything
was going to get,

Or how bad everything
had gotten for him,

But I do know that I do not
think that his justification

And his out of whatever
storm he concocted

Was to kill my
mother and brother.

[thunder rolling]

- I submit to you
what you have heard

From the attorney general
as facts are not,

Are not.

They're his theories,

His conjecture.

Alex, stand up.

This is alex murdaugh,

And alex was the
loving father of paul,

And the loving
husband of maggie.

- Dick harpootlian
and jim griffin

Were alex's defense attorneys.

Dick harpootlian has
the higher profile,

And jim griffin is more the
down-to-earth good ole boy.

Dick harpootlian is known
for his courtroom prowess.

Dick is also a
sitting state senator,

And he is so embedded
in south carolina,

He's such a southern
lawyer and he's just known

For his sort of theatrics
in the courtroom.

- He is presumed innocent.

That's the foundation
of our constitution.

That's the law.

That's your oath.

Thank you.

He's got his
theatrical side, too,

Which comes out
in the courtroom,

And creighton waters had
a large team of attorneys

Working with him,

And he even had the
state attorney general,

Alan wilson there.

- When I told creighton that
I was gonna be at the trial,

I wanted him to know that
I wasn't going down there

To second-guess the leadership
role I'd placed him in.

I said, "creighton,

Consider yourself like
eisenhower and I'm fdr."

Where was maggie's head pointing
when she hit the ground?

"I'm still your boss,

But you're in charge
of the invasion."

[martha] with the opening
statements complete,

The state calls
its first witness.

- We're ready to
proceed by the state.

- Your honor, the state would
call sergeant daniel greene.

Let me take you to the
evening of June 7th, 2021.

Were you working that
particular evening?

[daniel] I was.

Or first responder on the scene?

- I was.

- Did you ultimately
have a conversation

With mr. Murdaugh when
you were out there?

[daniel] I did.

- Did mr. Murdaugh tell you
that he had any sort of firearm?

- First, he pointed to where,

Or pointed out
where the gun was.

It was just based off of
how nervous he was acting

And anxious and upset,

I decided it was in
everyone's best interest

To get that shotgun and
secure it in my vehicle

So that no one else
had access to it,

But once sled arrived on scene

To do their further
investigation,

It was then turned over to sled.

[martha] in the early morning,
sled agent, david owen,

Questions alex in the
first of three interviews.

[alex sobbing]

[alex sobbing]

- I received a call from
john marvin, alex's brother,

Telling me that sled
wished to come out

And do follow-up
interviews with alex

On I believe it
was June the 10th.

So alex was broken, I mean,
he was a broken man.

The interview was
not accusatory.

It was very conversationalist.

[martha] during
alex's second interview,

Lawyer, jim griffin, is
sitting in the back seat,

And what alex does or
does not say that morning

Becomes a key sparring
point during his trial.

- When you asked the defendant
about the traumatic picture

That he saw of paul and maggie,
what did he say?

- It is just so bad,
I did him so bad.

[creighton] I did him so bad.

- Yes sir.

- Did he really just confess?

- It's not uncommon for people

To make those sort of
freudian or subliminal slips.

- Everyone in the
court was like, what?

Did he just admit
to killing his son?

- I feel like, well, why
wouldn't it be case closed?

Why are we sitting here?

[dramatic music]

♪

♪

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