Original subtitles

I was just another dollar sign.

You really just can't trust anyone.

I lied to my clients.

I misled my clients.

And I stole money from my clients.

It's devastating.

Attorney: Did you ultimately borrow

$1 million roughly from the plyler girls

Without their knowledge?

A million--

Attorney: Does that sound right?

It's pure theft.

Alex murdaugh: I took money that I shouldn't have taken.

And just about everything that he told us,

You know, we went along with it.

Attorney: Do you remember looking tony satterfield

In the eye and lying to him?

I remember lying to tony satterfield,

And I remember looking him in the eye on many occasions.

Obviously, you know, we believed him.

Just because you steal with a pen or a stroke of a key

On a computer, doesn't make you any less

Dangerous than somebody who does it with a gun.

To understand that he was making these decisions

And doing these things is very disappointing.

It's like a wound being open over and over and over.

This part's tough to talk about.

I know.

Let's get it out of the way.

Ok.

Do you want to get up?

Do you need a minute?

It's a multi-million dollar scheme that

Targeted the most vulnerable.

A high powered attorney admitted to stealing from children who

Lost their mother and brother, from a quadriplegic former

Football star, and from two brothers

Who considered the accused like family, just to name a few.

Some of the money was taken from wrongful death settlements

And then used to fund a lavish lifestyle.

That attorney's name is alex murdaugh.

According to prosecutors, this elaborate scheme spans

Back long before the now self-described opioid addict

Was convicted in the killing of his wife

Maggie and his son paul.

We follow the money and bring you the emotional stories

Of murdaugh's other victims.

Alex murdaugh: This is alex murdaugh at 4147 moselle road.

I need the police and an ambulance immediately.

My wife and child have been shot badly.

Please hurry!

Host: Colleton county, south carolina.

Oh what a tangled web we weave.

Host: The world watched as alex murdaugh,

Heir to a legal dynasty, took the stand in his own defense.

It was south carolina's trial of the century.

Alex said a tangled web, and he's the one that said it.

But it's very true.

And this was his tangled web as I think anyone has ever seen.

Host: Lead prosecutor creighton waters would know.

He spent years untangling that web.

Everyone who thought they were close to him,

Everyone who thought they knew he was who

He was, he's fooled them all.

Host: At trial, the state illustrated

Murdaugh's motive for murder.

The motive that the state gave was,

He was under such financial pressures that it broke him.

He was hemorrhaging cash.

Host: Murdaugh won large settlements for these families

Of the dead, disabled, and desperate,

And then kept the money for himself, leaving those in need

In the dark.

We were following the money that alex murdaugh was spending

And losing, spending and losing, spending and stealing, spending

And stealing.

Listen to that gathering storm that all came to a head

On June 7, 2021, the day, the evidence will show,

He killed maggie and paul.

Host: That storm, according to federal prosecutors,

Started brewing as early as 2005.

The once prominent personal injury attorney

Was the man everyone in town turned

To during some of the worst moments in their lives.

Nobody would suspect that that person is just an

Ordinary garden variety thief.

Hannah plyler: So my mom, she would be there

For anybody who needed her.

And my brother, he, amazing as well,

Just the best older brother you could ever ask for.

Host: Hannah plyler and her sister alania

Were in the car with their mom and brother

Justin on a hot summer day.

The family was headed to sell newspapers

To make a little extra money to help pay the bills.

I remember the cd I was listening to was usher.

And I had my headphones on.

And I remember, I could see mom talking to me.

I remember pausing it.

Then I heard a loud noise.

It almost resembled a-- like a gunshot.

I remember mom screaming.

I remember seeing trees fly by.

I remember the smell of sweat and blood and pine trees.

Their tire exploded.

And the explorer rolled off the highway into the woods,

And it was a horrific crash.

Mom wasn't moving or saying anything.

My brother's seat had fallen all the way back into my lap,

Essentially.

So he was laying pretty much in my lap.

Hannah was talking.

And I remember screaming, telling her, hannah,

Go to the top of the hill.

Because I couldn't get out of the car.

I was afraid no one could see us.

And I thought we were all going to die down there.

So hannah, being eight-years-old,

Goes to the top of the interstate and gets help.

I remember seeing an 18-wheeler.

And I flagged him down.

And he pulled over.

And after he saw that, he--

I guess other witnesses pulled over too.

And they came to me and they rushed down.

And that's when they called 911 and ems.

Still, it's kind of a blur to me.

Host: But for her older sister, images of that

Fateful Friday their mother and brother died,

Are seared in her memory.

I remember them pulling them out of the car

And immediately putting them in a black body bag.

That was the last time that I saw--

That's the last image that I have of my mom and my brother.

Just traumatizing.

Alania plyler: We had a very unstable life after mom died.

Host: The family picked up the phone

And called one of the area's most trusted

Attorneys, alex murdaugh.

Alex was the rainmaker, the kingmaker.

I remember the first time I talked to him on the phone.

He was just very reassuring.

He was a person I would want on my side.

Host: Murdaugh sued the tire manufacturer and car company

And promised the sisters a large settlement.

It was like, you know, we can't bring

Your mom and brother back.

But we can-- we're going to make sure that you're going to be

Ok for the rest of your life.

He was like a bulldog.

Host: That bulldog attorney won a multi-million dollar

Settlement for the sisters.

We were never told how much money we had.

We just knew it was--

Well, what we were told was a lot.

Alex said that the court appointed a conservator for us.

And he would be in control of our money.

And if we needed something we would go to him and ask for it.

Only when they become 18 does the money become theirs.

The majority of our requests were

For things that we probably shouldn't

Of had to pay for as a child.

I mean, even down to lunch money for the week,

Probably like $15 bucks that week.

Host: At the same time--

Alex is plundering their bank accounts.

I don't think there was anyone in our life as a child

After mom died that was in our absolute best interest.

We were just almost like breeding grounds,

Financially for bigger fish.

It was always about money.

We were dollar sign.

Host: The girls had no idea what was going on behind the scenes

With their money, and wouldn't for years.

In 2009, murdaugh took on the case of hakeem pinckney,

A deaf former football star.

Eric bland: Hakeem pinckney was a wonderful young man.

He was an excellent student and an excellent football player.

And there was an accident.

Host: Hakeem was headed to buy milk,

When just like the plyler accident,

The car tire exploded.

And hakeem was paralyzed from the neck down,

And he was a quadriplegic.

So it was a horrible, horrible existence,

A horrible existence.

Host: Pictures show what was left of the car.

It was a mangled mess.

Murdaugh sued the tire company and won millions of dollars.

Days after the settlement, the pinckney family would suffer

Another devastating blow.

In 2011, the plug that was his apparatus

To breathe and live somehow got dislodged

And he became brain dead.

Host: Hakeem died.

And the man the family had turned

To in their time of need, alex murdaugh, later

Skimmed up to $1 million from hakeem's estate and his family.

Murdaugh then used the case to talk about how important

Showing videos of clients like hakeem during trial

Were to winning over the jury.

With so many clients, who unfortunately have suffered

Catastrophic injuries, and are unable to go about moving

Around the way we take for granted,

To be able to show a jury those things

Instead of telling a jury about them,

The benefit is unexplainable.

There's absolutely no better tool in the courtroom

Than to capture that in video.

The best storyteller in the world cannot relay with full

Effect the way a video can.

Host: And that was coming from alex, a great storyteller

In his own right.

So much so that he went on to secretly pocket money meant

For other clients, like tommy moore, a former south carolina

Highway patrol lieutenant, who was injured in a crash

During a snowstorm while on the job, arthur badger, a father

Of six, whose wife was killed in a head-on crash

With a ups truck, deon martin, the son

Of local funeral homeowners, who was also injured in a crash.

And that is just to name a few.

I sat down with alex's son, buster,

To discuss his father's possible motivations.

What do you think was driving it all?

I mean, we're talking about millions of dollars.

Where did all that money go and why

Did he need all of that money from all

Of these different people?

That's a great question.

And it's a question that I ask myself every day.

And I cannot come up with an answer for it.

It's an unsurmountable amount of money.

You know, even if you look at the pill addiction,

You know, it's not all going to that.

It's not all going to our lifestyle.

I mean, we were comfortable.

But we're not know flying a private jet to the maldives

Every two weeks.

So it just doesn't--

It hasn't added up to me and it still doesn't.

And I can't really fathom where all it went

Or where all it was going.

Host: It seemed no one was safe from murdaugh's deception,

Not even the family of the woman who helped raise his sons.

In 2018, a horrific accident, right on murdaugh's front

Steps.

I just want to ask you a little bit about the gloria

Satterfield situation.

Tell everybody who gloria was to your family.

Gloria satterfield was more than just a housemaid.

She was a part of our family.

She helped raise paul and I from when we were little kids.

Host: As she was raising her own sons, brian and tony.

She was a person that, you know, liked to joke.

She'd make you laugh.

Tony satterfield: She was outgoing.

Everybody loved her.

Her laugh, she would help anybody she could.

She was a wonderful mother.

She was very trusting, very honest.

She was just a gentle soul.

Host: Gloria's sister ginger and the rest of the satterfield

Family had every reason in the world to trust alex murdaugh.

Alex and I went to school together.

We actually went all through high school and everything.

And I felt like that, even in my own relationship with him,

Felt like extended family.

We trust the murdaughs with everything,

And a lot of other people did too.

He was a friend.

He was part of the family.

You know, he was part of our family

And we were part of his family.

Host: One day, according to murdaugh,

Gloria arrived at the family's home

To pick up a paycheck when she took

A hard fall on the brick steps.

Eric bland: Maggie and paul were sleeping.

They were awakened by the dogs barking.

And when they came running out, they

Saw the dogs circling gloria at the bottom of the stairs.

The first call that maggie makes is to alex.

And she calls alex and says exactly what happened.

And alex says, I'm rushing home.

Then she called 911.

Maggie murdaugh: My housekeeper has fallen

And her head is bleeding.

I cannot get her up.

Dispatch: Ok.

And you said she's fallen and she's bleeding from the head?

Maggie murdaugh: Yes.

She fell going up the steps, of the brick steps.

Alex tends to gloria.

And according to alex he said, "what happened?"

And gloria whispered, "the dogs."

Host: She was rushed to the hospital with head trauma

From the fall and her sons met her there.

So when she got there, I was like, hey,

Are you ok or whatever?

What happened?

Obviously she was not able to tell me.

Host: Gloria died three weeks later with her family

At her side.

You know, just the idea of her not being here anymore.

When she passed, it was just hard-- you

Know, something hard to accept.

Host: Alex murdaugh, like so many times before,

Had already concocted a plan.

And he approached the boys at their mother's

Funeral to set it in motion.

Tony satterfield: He told that, you

Know, obviously he would help take care of us guys

Or whatever.

He just told us, you know, for us to put a claim or a lawsuit

Against them for the insurance company

To get some of the medical bills paid and stuff.

And then if anything was left over it would come to us.

It came off as trustworthy, like a friend, like a family.

There was nothing in that conversation to me

That seemed sketchy at the time.

Host: But it was sketchy.

There were settlements to the tune of millions of dollars,

And alex redirected the funds into one of his bank accounts

Without telling the satterfields.

With brian and tony kept at bay, catastrophe

Struck for another family close to the murdaughs.

Alex's son paul, allegedly drove his family boat

Into this piling, killing 19-year-old mallory beach.

Her family filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit

Against alex and others.

This time it was not alex's idea.

It was quite the opposite.

He was going to be confronted in civil court

By this case brought by the beach family that was,

In his mind, at that time, potentially going to lead

To him being fully exposed.

Host: Soon after, the satterfield family

Saw something peculiar in the newspaper.

Murdaugh had won money in their mom's case.

I called tony to see if he had heard anything.

And she's like, hey, have you seen this?

I'm like, no.

I was more, still, you know, no, there's

Got to be an explanation.

You know.

There's got to be a reason.

There's no way that money was received

And the boys weren't told about it.

I don't believe everything that, you know,

Goes in the newspaper.

I brushed it off, like, ok, it's probably not true.

They would never think to question alex.

He is the knight in shining armor.

He is the alpha and omega at that point.

I guess you can kind of say I really

Didn't have the courage to.

Host: But tony didn't need to muster

Up the courage to reach out.

Alex murdaugh extended the olive branch

Himself and exchanged friendly texts like these with tony.

It says, "hey, man.

Just checking in.

Been working on case and made me think about you.

Hope all is good.

Call me anytime I can help."

"hey man.

I'm doing good.

By the way, how's the case going?

Just curious, but how are you?"

"finally getting some movement, still a ways to go.

Doing good.

Was just thinking about and thought I'd check in.

Hope to see you soon."

So he was able to tamp down the satterfields

And make them believe that he was working on their case

At a time when he already recovered

The money, the entirety of the $4.3 million.

Host: To add to alex's pressure cooker,

The chief financial officer at his law firm confronted him

About separate missing funds.

I told him that I had reason to believe that he had

Received the funds himself and that I

Needed proof that he had not.

Attorney: Received those fees himself?

Yes.

Host: With the beach lawsuit about to expose

His financial records, the satterfields

Questioning the news of a potential financial settlement,

And now his own firm starting to ask questions, alex, it

Is said, was looking for a way to get

The hounds off his scent.

For the first time in over a decade,

It appears he was not one step ahead of his financial schemes.

And then just hours after being confronted in his office--

Dispatch: I have an alex murdaugh on the line,

Calling from 4147 moselle road.

He's advising that his wife and child was shot.

Alex murdaugh: It's bad.

It's bad.

I'll checked their pulses.

Daniel greene: Yes, sir.

Alex murdaugh: They are dead, aren't they?

Was your instinct about what happened?

I don't know.

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.

I couldn't really move.

I was in a serious state of shock.

Obviously your first question is, you know, I mean,

What happened?

And then you just--

I don't know.

My body almost kind of quit working.

I remember thinking, like, gosh, I

Know what it feels like to lose, like, those two people as a mom

And a brother.

My heart broke for him.

Host: As law enforcement investigated

The murders and any possible motive,

All eyes were on murdaugh.

Do you think I killed maggie?

I have to go where the evidence and the facts take me.

I understand that.

And you think I killed paul?

I have to go where the evidence and the facts take me.

The pressure during the summer was immense on alex.

You just had the murders of maggie and paul.

And after the murder he was trying to pacify

And tamp down tony satterfield by telling him,

This is not true.

It hasn't settled yet.

I'm working on it.

I'm thinking that we're going to be able to get some money

Before the end of the year.

Host: Then on labor day weekend--

Eric bland: The law firm confronted him.

Host: Again.

But this time--

Alex broke and came clean, and said, I've been stealing money.

Host: Murdaugh was forced out of the very firm his family

Had built its dynasty upon.

Alex was desperate at that point in time.

Supposedly he had a life insurance

Policy for $10 million.

And so he concocted, allegedly, this scheme

Where he was going to be shot and killed on the roadside.

Host: That scheme, intended as a way

To get insurance money for buster,

Involved alex asking an acquaintance to shoot

Him on the side of the road.

Murdaugh even slashed his own tire

To make it look like he had a flat

And was shot at while fixing it.

Dispatch: Ok.

What's going on?

Alex murdaugh: I stopped.

I got a flat tire--

Dispatch: Mmm hmm.

Alex murdaugh: --And I stopped.

And somebody stopped to help me.

And when I turned my back, they tried to shoot me.

Dispatch: Oh, ok.

Were you shot?

Alex murdaugh: Yes.

But, I mean, I'm ok.

Host: The shooting scheme didn't go as planned.

But either way, he did survive to tell another lie.

He was caught and the story kind of unraveled.

Alex murdaugh: And I knew I was about to lose everything.

And I figured he's better off that way than dealing with me.

Host: Murdaugh admitted to staging the shooting,

And he blamed a long, expensive drug addiction.

It was all a lie.

And lied to you.

He did.

How did that make you feel?

It made me feel horrible.

And what made me feel even worse was what

He was actually trying to do.

And to understand that he thought that that was going

To be some kind of benefit, giving all the things

That I had gone through prior, you know, disappointed me.

And, you know, I told him-- it was like, I mean,

You should know that this is not the way to handle it.

This is not what I needed.

You know, I needed you here, not attempting

Some kind of suicide stunt.

Host: Days after the botched shooting, murdaugh's firm

Released a statement saying he stole client funds.

The satterfields were shocked, now realizing

That article about the settlement they brushed off

Might be true.

They hired their own bulldog attorney, eric bland.

He uncovered that murdaugh stole more than $4 million

From the satterfields.

So when I found out what alex had done,

You know, I felt, you know, betrayed, shocked obviously,

You know, because I was not expecting that.

If I would have received a financial proceedings

Or settlement earlier, obviously it would

Have changed both our lives.

He stole from these boys who needed the money,

From brian especially, who was living

In the trailer with his mother.

And that trailer got foreclosed on.

If he would have give them $1,000, $5,000, you know,

It would have been a lot to them.

And we would have all accepted that and would

Have thought no more about it.

The whole thing was just unbelievable, just how someone

Could just do that to anybody, much less people

That you treat and think of as family

And they think of you as family.

Eric bland: The satterfield case blew

The financial crime portion of alex murdaugh wide open.

It was the wellspring to open up to have every other plaintiff

Look into their files.

Host: Bland is brought on by a number of murdaugh victims

To try and unravel all of alex's schemes,

Including the plyler sisters.

Eric bland: Unlike a lot of the other victims,

They did get their money, but it was with stolen money,

Not only arthur badger's money but some of the pickney money.

And that's the relationship between all these cases.

Some get stolen from this person to pay this person.

Some get stolen from this person to pay that person.

It became a ponzi scheme.

When money was due one person, alex would

Steal it from this client.

Host: And murdaugh lived large on those stolen funds.

Eric bland: Bought moselle, bought a ton of farm equipment,

Bought drugs, went on extravagant vacations

To the islands, to europe, rented planes,

Bought boats, deep sea fishing trips.

The lifestyle that they live, it was a very, very affluent

Lifestyle.

Host: Murdaugh was arrested and eventually charged

By the state and the federal government

With more than 100 financial crimes.

Many wonder, how did he get away with stealing from so

Many people for so long?

Eric bland: I think that there were people that knew what he

Was doing, but are deathly afraid to come

Forward and confront him.

You know, the rules didn't seem to apply to alex.

Host: While in jail, murdaugh was

Charged with the murders of his wife maggie and son paul

And faced a dramatic trial.

He had avoided accountability his whole life.

He had relied on his family name.

He had a powerful family.

He lived a wealthy life.

But now finally he was facing complete ruin.

Son was facing charges for the boat case.

He was facing a civil action.

He had an opiate addiction.

The entire illusion of his life was about to be altered.

Host: At the double murder trial, before murdaugh

Was convicted, he was asked about a number

Of his fraud victims.

Attorney: Do you remember looking tony satterfield

In the eye and lying to him?

I remember lying to tony satterfield

And I remember looking him in the eye on many occasions.

Attorney: And lying to him?

Yeah.

Attorney: And hakeem pinckney, do you remember him?

I do.

I took monies from hakeem pinckney

That did not belong to me, that I should not have taken.

Attorney: Who were the plyers?

Did you get a sizable recovery in the case?

Oh yeah.

It was millions of dollars.

Did you feel like he betrayed them?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think he betrayed everybody that he took money from.

I am sitting here today in no way,

Shape, or form am I trying to justify

The financial wrongdoings.

I'm very unsettled by them.

Pretty much all of my family members

Are also unsettled by them.

And I think it's very, very, very bad

And very horrible thing to do to a lot

Of people who needed help.

Host: Both the satterfields and plylers

Are focused on moving forward.

But they'll never forget getting caught in the storm

That is alex murdaugh.

Hannah plyler: It's definitely opened up old wounds

That I thought were healed.

And now I have to relive and hear about the car accident,

You know.

And it just-- it's devastating.

It is.

And it's honestly hard to talk about.

Tony satterfield: If I could speak to him, I would tell him,

I do forgive you.

Just because, you know, I forgive him doesn't mean,

You know, there are not consequences for your actions

That you caused on yourself.

Host: They're using their voices to fight

For justice and help others.

Alania plyler: I pursued a career in law enforcement

Because I needed to help people and I care.

Because I know what it feels like to not be cared for.

I know what it feels like to not feel loved.

I feel like that gloria hasn't died in vain.

I feel like that god has worked it out, to bring all this out.

And I think this is god's way of just proving to people

That if you be deceitful and you hurt truly innocent

Honest people that god will fight for you

And he will bring things to light.

I want everybody to understand,

Alex murdaugh's never going to get a fresh breath of air.

You can rest assured that whatever outstanding charges

Exist, either known or unknown to us at this time, that we

Will never stop pursuing the truth,

And we will follow all of the evidence

Wherever it leads us to, whatever end it takes us to.

Host: Soon after we sat down with the plylers

And satterfields, murdaugh, who had already pled guilty

In federal court, pled guilty in state court

To his financial crimes, just days

Before the first of many more trials were set to begin.

I agree that I wrongly took all of that money, your honor,

And did all of those crimes.

I disagree with some of the narrative,

But not the essential elements of the facts of the crimes.

I am guilty.

And yes, sir, I believe that I would be found guilty.

I'm glad to finally be given the opportunity to plead guilty.

I am happy to be pleading guilty to these charges

For a number of reasons.

Host: Bland says his clients can start the healing process,

And while justice is rarely pretty or perfect,

It was served.

Murdaugh is still appealing his murder convictions.

We will stay on top of all the twists

And turns in the murdaugh case.

Thank you for watching.

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