Alex Murdaugh

A former colleague of Alex Murdaugh's described sloppy work by authorities on the night of the murders — but then he went in on Alex himself.

Alex and his alleged accomplice — Curtis “Eddie” Smith, the man Alex said had been his longtime drug dealer — were soon indicted over the suicide-for-hire scheme. When he got to the rural road where the shooting occurred, he said the scene looked suspicious and the car’s tire looked like it had been intentionally slashed. Ball said Wednesday that he and his colleagues had been the ones to clean up the meal. Alex had allegedly been trying to ensure that Buster would receive a $10 million life insurance payout, but Alex was only lightly injured in the shooting. Ball also described the climate of fear that gripped the law firm after the murders. Instead, he said he awoke from a post-dinner nap at the main house, then left to visit his mother when he couldn’t make contact with the pair. “The way he was doing it was very, very cunning.” Ball spent three decades working at the firm — his entire legal career — and Alex’s thefts ruined their entire reputation, forcing them to essentially start again. He also made the horrific discovery of a baseball-sized piece of Paul’s skull that had not been collected. Alex, he told the jury, was not someone to be trusted. — around two hours on from when officials now believe the pair had been shot — he was shocked at how lax authorities were in preserving what was now an active crime scene. Ball described in detail how authorities made ostensibly no effort to prevent more than a dozen people, including Alex’s friends and colleagues, from coming onto the property and cleaning up the main house — potentially even disturbing evidence.

Jurors returned to the Colleton County Courthouse on Wednesday morning as the defense continued their case in the trial against attorney Alex Murdaugh.

Libby Murdaugh’s night shift nurse, Mushelle “Shelley” Smith, previously testified she saw the defendant carry something that looked like a blue tarp into his mother’s home shortly after the slayings. After lunch, Zercie said first responders violated “standard operating procedure” when they traipsed through the crime scene without special shoe coverings – and may have destroyed crucial evidence. The defense’s prevailing concern, however, expressed by attorney Jim Griffin, was the extent to which the defendant might be cross-examined on financial crimes allegations if he takes the stand. [SEE ALSO: Buster Murdaugh tells jury of father’s peers how he felt when learning mom and brother were shot to death: ‘I was in shock’](https://lawandcrime.com/live-trials/live-trials-current/alex-murdaugh/buster-murdaugh-tells-jury-of-fathers-peers-how-he-felt-when-learning-mom-and-brother-were-shot-to-death-i-was-in-shock/) On Tuesday afternoon, forensic engineer Mike Sutton took the stand for the defense. During that effort, part of an admitted insurance fraud scheme, Alex Murdaugh suffered what law enforcement termed a “superficial” injury to his head.

What are Richard “Alex” Murdaugh crimes? Find out what he is accused of, from killing wife and son Paul, to financial crimes, Mallory Beach and housekeeper ...

Hampton County Coroner Angela Topper said the death was not reported to the coroner, and an autopsy was never performed, per [WLTX](https://www.wltx.com/article/news/crime/criminal-investigation-satterfield-death-murdaugh-family-housekeeper/101-f97f8f64-8f00-49ad-bfe1-f15714c9ac7c). and sending Alex Murdaugh’s fate to jurors. His defense attorneys said they plan to finish their case by Friday, Feb. Murdaugh has not entered any pleas on the financial crimes charges, South Carolina Attorney General's Office Communications Director Robert Kittle told TODAY.com, citing the Clerk of Court of the State Grand Jury. Murdaugh‘s defense attorney, Dick Harpootlian, agreed to the authorities’ allegations that Murdaugh had hired someone to execute him. Murdaugh turned himself in to authorities on Sept. Smith was arrested on Sept. Beach’s mother filed a legal claim against the estates of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh on Jan. [NBC](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/south-carolina-man-charged-assisted-suicide-shooting-alex-murdaugh-n1279208). On Feb. He added the two did not have any defensive wounds, “as if they didn’t see a threat coming from their attacker.” Murdaugh called 911 at 10:07 p.m.

Filmmakers Jenner Furst and Jennifer Willoughby Nason are well acquainted with true-crime tales. Their Emmy-nominated Hulu docuseries Fyre Fraud dug into the ...

In the docuseries, survivors of the crash allege that Alex spent the hours following the accident trying to line up their stories and point blame away from his son. (Alex’s lawyer [says](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/us/alex-murdaugh-shooting-arrest.html#:~:text=A%20day%20after%20he%20was,Mr.) a large portion of the money was used to pay for painkillers.) It was also shortly after Alex was allegedly shot in the head by a former client. We’re hoping that that creates a tidal wave to unlock the rest of the story. “We chose [to tell the story] through the lens of these young people who find themselves at a turning point in history—not just for their generation, but for three generations prior in which this family has been able to get away with murder, literally and figuratively.” (Alex has maintained his innocence in the killing of his wife and son.) The killings happened shortly after Alex was (The man has denied shooting him.) Alex admitted to [asking the man to kill](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/us/alex-murdaugh-shooting-arrest.html#:~:text=A%20day%20after%20he%20was,Mr.) him so his son could collect an insurance policy. The filmmaker made Dune knowing that the first part was dependent on the second. Paul was charged with drunkenly crashing the vessel; at the time of his death, he was out on bail. “Things were at peak insanity,” recalls Furst, explaining that he and Nason had no intention of trying to chase the “absurd” and relentless news cycle. So when they began working on a three-part Netflix docuseries about Alex Murdaugh’s astonishing alleged crime saga—which unfurled in the same South Carolina territory where his family of prosecutors and lawyers have held powerful influence for over 100 years—they were uniquely suited to navigate bizarre headlines. [pushed out](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/us/alex-murdaugh-shooting-arrest.html#:~:text=A%20day%20after%20he%20was,Mr.) of his family law firm after they claimed he misused millions of dollars. It had been several months since Alex phoned 911 to report that his wife Maggie and son Paul had been brutally murdered—the murders for which Alex is currently standing trial.

Landing on Netflix as the trial of Alex Murdaugh continues, "Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal" will certainly benefit from its timeliness, but this ...

What “Murdaugh Murders” doesn’t do, ultimately, is make much of a case for watching it. The focus of the first two parts, rather, centers on the boat crash. Relying almost entirely on those involved to tell the story, the project has a slapdash feel from beginning to end, and finds the younger contingent, especially, to be poor narrators of what transpired.

Alex Murdaugh, center, sits with his attorneys during his double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse on Thursday, February 16, 2023, in Walterboro, ...

Cooke testified Wednesday Murdaugh’s legal team saw the case as “defensible.” To him, it amounted to a case accusing Murdaugh of “negligent parenting.” Newman previously ruled to allow the evidence after prosecutors argued Murdaugh killed Maggie and Paul to distract attention from his purported misconduct, which the state contends was about to be revealed at the time of the 2021 fatal shootings. Cooke also rebutted the state’s framing of the June 10, 2021, hearing. Waters argued Murdaugh should be able to be questioned on any issue relevant to the case, including the alleged financial misdeeds. The Murdaughs’ Islandton, South Carolina, property was not cordoned off when the partner, Mark Ball, arrived the night of June 7, 2021, he said, soon after the bodies of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh were discovered. But that hearing was canceled after Maggie and Paul were killed. But the defense maintains Murdaugh said, “They did him so bad.” Additionally, he said that at the scene the night of the murders, a “devastated” Alex told him, “Look at what they did. But the defense has portrayed Murdaugh as a loving father and husband who’s been wrongfully accused of murdering his 52-year-old wife and 22-year-old son after a shoddy investigation by law enforcement. Murdaugh faces 99 charges stemming from those alleged misdeeds separate from the murders. The coroner, citing instructions from South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigators, eventually told the group to gather at the house, which concerned Ball. “It just infuriated me that this young man had been murdered and there was still his remains there.”

The Murdaugh murders took place at 4147 Moselle Road in Islandton, South Carolina. Netflix's new docuseries highlights the scandals surrounding the family.

Proceeds from the sale will [reportedly](https://www.wsav.com/news/local-news/judge-approves-settlement-between-murdaugh-estate-and-beach-family/) go toward a settlement between the Murdaugh estate and the Beach family. In regards to the double murder, no arrests were made until more than a year later in July 2022 when Alex was indicted for the murders of his wife and son, for which he’s currently on trial. The Murdaugh family is also allegedly connected to other controversial and tragic cases, including the 2015 death of Stephen Smith and the 2018 death of Gloria Satterfield. [scandals](https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/g21051169/fixer-upper-chip-joanna-gaines-scandal/) and deaths surrounding the powerful, old-money Murdaugh family in South Carolina’s Lowcountry have attracted a surge in notoriety as of late. The 1,770-acre property was listed for sale in February 2022. Known as Moselle Farm, the property is located at 4147 Moselle Road. Alex Murdaugh’s wife and son were found dead at the family’s hunting lodge in Islandton, South Carolina. These killings became known as the Murdaugh murders and aside from being horrific, they likely gained even more media attention due to Paul Murdaugh's own ongoing trial, in which he was charged with a wrongful death suit for a fatal boat crash that occurred while he was boating under the influence. The surviving passengers are also included in the settlement. The latter also occurred at the family's Moselle estate. If you’ve tuned into any piece of the family’s story—from Alex Murdaugh's ongoing murder trial to Netflix’s new docuseries Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal—you likely want to know more about where the [murders](https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/a41059891/boise-murder-house/) took place and the state of the home now. Subsequent generations have served as solicitors and joined the family firm ever since.

During the fifth week of the double murder trial of Richard "Alex" Murdaugh, Netflix premiered its docuseries, "Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal."

HBO Max debuted its three-part docuseries, "Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty," in November. Murdaugh has already signed a $4.3 million confession of judgment in one lawsuit involving the Gloria Satterfield Estate. Along with the criminal charges, a slew of civil court cases have been filed against the disbarred South Carolina attorney. Murdaugh did not respond to requests for an interview from the filmmakers. The presence of high-velocity impact spatter on Murdaugh's clothes indicates that he was with one of the victims at the time of their death. 23 and is expected to last for another week or so. The third episode of the docuseries presents evidence that Alex Murdaugh was at home at the time of Paul and Maggie's deaths. While this doesn't prove Murdaugh is responsible, it does dispute his account of the evening. Some wondered if the killer might've been motivated by a desire to avenge Beach's death. and discovered his wife, 52, and son, 22, had been shot near the dog kennels on their property. on June 7, 2021 and didn't see either of his family members. He then texted his wife and son that he was going to visit his ailing parents.

The defense for Alex Murdaugh called into question the integrity of the crime scene in the second day of their case.

Paul Murdaugh was driving a boat that Murdaugh owned when it crashed, leading to the death of Mallory Beach, 19. I’ll have to say I didn’t really pay attention to that issue at the time. He had a Progressive policy for the boat that would pay $500,000, Tinsley said. The court also heard testimony from family housekeeper Barbara Ann Mixon, who worked for Murdaugh's parents. They expressed concerns, however, about his right not to self-incriminate and sought to pre-emptively limit the scope of the prosecution's cross-examination, specifically about Murdaugh's alleged financial crimes. "I'm mad as hell," he said.