Murder in the Low Country: The Murdagh Family Killings

9/9/2023

By M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
On June 7, 2021, Maggie Murdaugh and her son Paul were gunned down on their property on the outskirts of Islandton, South Carolina. In the months to come the senseless crime sprouted more ugly heads than a hydra.

The Murdaugh family were influential in the legal system of the Low Country for decades

Margaret "Maggie" Kennedy Branstetter a graduate from the University of South Carolina, and granddaughter of a barber, married Richard Alexander Murdaugh a member of the state's most powerful legal family. They had two sons, Buster and Paul.

Maggie favored staying at the family's 1,700 acre hunting lodge on Moselle Road, outside the town of Hampton in South Carolina's Low Country.

On June 7, 2021, Maggie Murdaugh and her son Paul, 22, were shot on the grounds of their property known as Cross Swamp Farm around 9 p.m.

Alex Murdaugh found the bodies of his wife and son riddled with bullets from a semi-automatic assault rifle and shotgun.

A double homicide in the rural town was surprising, but not as much as one would expect, since there were whispers the Murdaughs, who were part of the community for over a century had a history of tragic deaths. It seemd that secrets and sins had come home to roost.

Anthony Cook (clockwise from top left), Connor Cook and Miley Altman survived the boat accident, but Mallory Beach did not (Source - Facebook)

The Murdaughs served as prosecutors and civil attorneys since 1910, for the Lowcountry's five counties in the 14th circuit which are Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton, Allendale and Colleton.

They lived in the rural town town of Hampton where there is a lack of chain stores. Charleston was 65 miles away from the law firm Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth and Detrick.

Paul Murdaugh was troubled, and when he died he had a trial hanging over his head for a felony, boat-driving charge in connection to a 2019, incident where a 19-year-old woman, Mallory Beach, was killed.

He was one of six underage people who bought alcohol with fake IDs. They went boating to an oyster roast on Paukie Island.

Anthony Cook, Paul's childhood friend, and Mallory's boyfriend testified that Paul had argued with his girlfriend, then slapped her. Soon after he hit a bridge piling on Archer Creek, and six of them were thrown into the water. Five of them made it to shore, Mallory did not. Her body was recovered a week later.

However Paul's unusual behavior preceded this event. A family member said that when he was around 11, he told his aunt Nancy to "go f--k herself". He was known even then for not handling authority well.

Maggie spoiled her sons, especially Paul whose personality hinted at the troubles he would incur when he was older. She was a homemaker, who involved herself in all aspects of her children's life.

Later Paul's uncles would deny the family used its legal ties to protect him from the incident. There were accusations they had stopped Paul from being tested for his alcohol level.

It's been reported that among Paul's friend it was known he had a drinking problem, when an alter ego called "Timmy" would emerge. This version which had been around since 2015, was deranged and dangerous. He was known for shedding his clothes down to his boxer shorts. His friends learned when to recognize that Timmy was about to show up, and it was time to leave.

The family at the time of Paul's death was facing a civil suit placed by Mallory's mother.

Gloria Satterfield

The family had just settled another civil suit involving the wrongful death of Gloria Satterfield, their housekeeper who died as a result of a "trip and fall" in February 2018, in their home.

According to legal reports, while she was inside the Murdaugh's Hampton home, their dogs caused her to trip and fall down a flight of stairs, which resulted in her sustaining a brain injury.

The claim was settled for $500,000. Documents showed that her death was not reported to the coroner, and an autopsy was not performed. She lingered approximately 20 days before she passed.

Eventually a document was found where it was signed by a judge, affirming a total settlement of $4.3 million paid for Gloria's death. Alex Murdaugh did not pass this money on to Gloria's family.

According to a resident of Hampton, the only one in the whole family to go see Gloria when she was dying in the hospital was Maggie Murdaugh. She had worked for the Murdaughs for more than 20 years.

The property has a main house and cottage. It went on the market in March 2022 (Source - Crosby Land Company)

The Murdaughs, who were usually on the other side of the law found themselves in a precarious situation, now they were being investigated in the murder of two of the family members.

Alex Murdaugh's alibi was easy to verify. He said he was visiting a hospital where his father Randolph Murdaugh III lay dying. He passed away on June 10, three days after the shooting.

Despite the police looking initially at possible suspects close to home, there was no manhunt for a suspect.

Optics being everything by June 17, two brothers of Alex Murdaugh appeared on Good Morning America asking for the public's help in finding the perpetrator. Within a day of their appearance, police started to dredge swampland close to the lodge, and a tip line was set up.

It seemed that Paul Murdaugh had been getting threats prior to the shooting. Apparently the family didn't think they were credible. Paul's paternal uncles claimed the victims had no known enemies.

There were several that could have been motivated by revenge; former employees, people they had sued or prosecuted, or a person with their own axe to grind. Two possible suspects who had good reason to want revenge were the parents of Mallory Beach, or the mother of Stephen Smith.

Stephen Smith

On July 8, 2015, Stephen Smith, 19, a gay man from Hampton was found dead on a rural road. His skull was crushed and his shoulder was dislocated. His mother Sandy, 55, said she had been fighting since then to find out what happened to her son.

The NYPost reviewed the police file of the case, and it reflects where South Carolina Highway Patrol received at "least one anonymous tip connecting a member of the Murdaugh family to the Stephen Smith case." No one in the family was charged or considered a formal suspect in the case.

The case was reopened in 2021 after police discovered new information while investigating Maggie and Paul’s killings.

There's nothing like a murder case to air out a family's dirty laundry, no matter how well connected they are.

Sources familiar with the family claimed that Alex and Maggie were living separate lives when she died. She would stay in their cottage in Edisto Beach, and he was at the hunting lodge in Islandton.

Within three months of the murders, Alex Murdaugh was sued by his family's law firm after he confessed to siphoning millions through a fraudulent bank account. The firm also alerted law enforcement that Alex Murdaugh had admitted to hiring someone to shoot him in a suicide plot so his son Buster could receive a payout from a $10 million life insurance policy.

Curtis "Fast Eddie" Smith

The man named was Curtis "Fast Eddie" Smith, 61, who was Alex Murdaugh's longtime drug supplier. He also happened to be a distant cousin and former client. The plot resulted with a bullet onlygrazing Murdaugh's head.

An unidentified couple told the 911 dispatcher, "We are on Salkehatchie Road and there is a male on the side of the road with blood all over him and he’s waving his hands, He looks fine — but it kinda looks like a set-up, so we didn’t stop"

Murdaugh told 911, “I got a flat tire and I stopped and somebody stopped to help me. And when I turned my back, they tried to shoot me." When asked if he'd been shot, he said, "Yes, but I mean I’m okay … I can’t drive. And I’m bleeding a lot.”

Asked where he was wounded, Murdaugh replied, “I’m not sure — somewhere on my head."

In June 2022, Murdaugh and Smith were indicted on conspiracy and drug charges. It's alleged that Smith received 437 checks totaling $2,413,754 from Murdaugh between 2013 to 2021. Smith would convert them into cash to benefit Murdaugh.

The headquarters of Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick in Hampton, S.C. (Source - Cody Dulaney)

Alex Murdaugh was freed on a $20,000 bail and entered a rehab center to treat his opioid addiction, which he's suffered from for 20 years. Upon his release from the center in October, 2021, he was taken into custody on two felony counts related to the mysterious death of Gloria Satterfield

In July, 2022, he was arrested for the murder of his wife and son. He was allegedly tied to the crime via blood splatter on his clothing, along with a video that placed him at the murder scene.

He was disbarred in South Carolina.

In September 2022, two men connected to the Walterboro Cowboys, a street gang were dragged into the Murdaugh murder mystery.

According to one of the gang members, "Alex Murdaugh runs half the drugs in this county."

In August, 2022, the grand jury indicted two local men, Cowboy "Cousins" Jerry Rivers, 39, and Spencer Anwan Roberts, 34, on charges that possibly involved being part of Murdaugh's drug and money laundering operation in the Low Country.

Alex Murdaugh had dealings with many shady characters

Alex Murdaugh faced a total of 90 charges of financial wrongdoing that included "drug distribution and money laundering" across several counties. The operation was bigger than anyone suspected.

Local criminal groups close to I-95 which were used as a conduit tor run guns and drugs from Miami to New York were part of the distribution ring.

Members of the Cowboys claimed authorities wanted to drag in the gang into the case to muddy the water.

There was even a theory based on information posted on the Web-Sleuth forum after the murder of Paul and Maggie, that Murdaugh had a long-time friendship with Barrett T. Boulware a fisherman based out of Beaufort. He was arrested in 1980, along with his father on drug smuggling charges, where 15 tons of marijuana were seized on a shrimp boat in the Bahamas. The charges were dropped in 1983, after a "key government witness was killed when he stepped in front of a car in Florida,” The State newspaper reported at the time.

Boulware who died in 2018, sold the hunting lodge on Moselle Road to Murdaugh in 2009. Boulware co-owned several odd and out of the way properties along the waterways of St. Helena Island, which would be ideal for smuggling. Access to the islands was only possible by boat.

Alex Murdaugh pled not guilty in July 2022 ahead of his trial which was slated for January 2023.

Alex Murdaugh during his trial c.2023

In October 2022, new court filing pointed the finger at Curtis "Fast Eddie" Smith as the person who murdered Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh.

Smith failed a polygraph test when asked about the crime.

Smith's attorney says he has an "ironclad" alibi for when the crime was committed.

In March 2023, Alex Murdaugh, 54, was convicted of murdering his son and wife. He was also found guilty of two counts of possession of a weapon in the commission of a crime. The jury came to a unanimous decision after 3 hours of deliberation. He was sentenced to 2 life terms, with an appeal pending.

A decision was made to exhume Stephen Smith who was found dead in 2015, not far from the Murdaugh property. The M.E. concluded he died from a hit-and-run. His mother had raised funds for an independent autopsy.

Pictured a young Gloria Satterfield and her tombstone

In May 2023, Murdaugh came clean about what exactly happened with Gloria Satterfield, and Nautilus Insurance sued Murdaugh for committing life insurance fraud. The truth was that no dogs were involved, and the Satterfield family was owed $4.3 million. According to the South Carolina Attorney General's Office, Murdaugh has been indicted on three counts of money laundering, three counts of computer crimes and five counts of obtaining signature or property by false pretenses in connection to the Satterfield case.

Nautilus Insurance Co. paid the settlement, and since this disclosure have sued Murdaugh for committing life insurance fraud.

In August 2023, Cory Fleming was sentenced to 46 months in prison for helping Murdaugh steal the money from the Satterfield family. Fleming was the godfather to Murdaugh's son, and they were once roomates when they attended law school. Fleming ws hired by the Satterfield family to sue Murdaugh in order to collect the insurance money. He said he didn't believe that Murdaugh would keep all the money, just that he would skim about $100,000 from the funds.

Earlier in the month Russell Laffitte, a former Hampton banker was sentenced to seven years in federal prison, and pay nearly $3.6 million in restitution to cover the money his family's bank and Murdaugh's former law firm put up to make the victims whole.

Alex Murdaugh prison pic c.2023

According to the South Carolina Attorney General's Office, Murdaugh has been indicted on three counts of money laundering, three counts of computer crimes and five counts of obtaining signature or property by false pretenses in connection to the Satterfield case.

Murdaugh still faces 100 charges from financial crimes he committed when he was working as a lawyer.

In September 2023, Murdaugh lost privileges after he violated prison policy when he provided information to be delivered to a media outlet for an interview. Jim Griffin, Murdaugh's attorney was accused of helping his client record the interview for the docuseries, The Fall of the House of Murdaugh. The prison where Murdaugh is serving his sentence has been kept a secret.

He is currently serving two life sentences for killing his wife and son on June 7, 2021.

Murdaugh Murder House (source-Facebook)

In October, 2024 the Murdaugh murder house was bought by businessman Alexander Wallace Blair, who paid $1 million for the 21-acre estate.

In March, 2023 the property which included the house and 1,700 acres around it were bought at auction by James Ayer and Jeffrey Godley, who divided up the acreage, and put up the house with the 21 acres on the market, however it was ultimately sold at auction for for $1.95 million.

The murder house is being extensively renovated inside and out by the new owner.