Murdaugh’s wife of 52 years Maggie and the couple’s 22-year-old son Paul were found shot dead in the family’s cabin in June 2021, but the sensational case also includes multiple deaths. Mardo, 54, was initially arrested because he ordered his own death.
For generations, the Murdo family has held high-profile legal positions in South Carolina, and Netflix and HBO have been awaiting a verdict on the case. They both made TV series that ended up splitting between fiction and documentary.
“Decades of power and influence in the South Carolina lowland judiciary are collapsing over allegations of fraud, fraud, and murder,” the HBO promotional reads.
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Alex Murdaugh was convicted of killing his wife and one of his children in 2021. Photo: Chris Carlson/AP/NTB
life sentence
The jury had less than three hours on Thursday to reach a decision after a six-week trial.
The defense wanted to overturn the sentence and order a new trial, but the judge summarily refused.
“The evidence of his guilt is overwhelming,” said Judge Clifton Newman.
On Friday, Mardou was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The most important piece of evidence was a cell phone video taken by his son, Paul, just before the time of the murder. His father called him a “mini-detective” because Paul kept finding vials of opioid painkillers in his father’s files after he promised to stop using them.
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Several photos of the large estate complex in which the Murdow family lived were shown in court. picture: Photo: Andrew J Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool/NTB
Presumably, he was killed to hide the addiction
In court, prosecutors told how they believed the 54-year-old killed his son with a hunting rifle and his wife with an automatic weapon, which he used to hunt wild boar on the family’s vast property in Islandton, South Carolina.
Murdaugh allegedly did so after realizing the day would soon come when he had been robbing his law firm and clients of millions of dollars for years to fund a hidden opioid addiction.
Evidence linking Murdo to the crime scene was presented shortly before the murders, but the murder weapons were never found, and he has no bloodstained clothes or any other direct evidence that could prove he was the killer.
He says he found the bodies
Murdaugh repeatedly broke down in tears when he submitted his petition in court, denying killing his wife and son.
He said he found the two in the doghouse on the family property. Maggie was hit by five bullets and Paul was hit in the head with a shotgun.
He admitted to stealing and embezzling money, and that he also lied about his use of opioids, which his lawyers say cost him $50,000 a week, roughly NOK 520,000.
But Mardo assures that he would never lie about killing his family. His defenders say investigators mutilated the doghouse crime scene and failed to investigate other potential perpetrators, including Mordo’s henchmen and people angry about his son Paul’s involvement in a boating accident that killed a teenage girl.
Attorney Jim Griffin told the jury that it was “completely irrational, irrational and insane” for someone to kill their loved ones when their crimes come to light.
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The main house is on the property of the large Murdo family. For several generations the family held high legal positions in South Carolina. Photo: Andrew J Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool/NTB
Master of lies
Attorney General Creighton Waters painted a picture of Murdo as a “master of lies” who stole money from a disabled client, from the family of a former maid who died in the fall, and from partners in the law firm.
He noted in particular how Murdaugh had lied to the police on the night of the murders that he had not been to the kennel before the bodies were found. Mordo explains that he took a nap to visit his sick mother, and that he then came home to find his wife and son murdered.
The police later find a video on Paul’s phone that shows Murdaugh was there about five minutes before what they believe to be the time of the shooting. According to Waters, the son had recently discovered his father’s addiction problems, and in the morning Murdo was supposed to confront the father with money that had disappeared from his law practice.
– Everyone who thought he knew who he was had deceived him. Waters told the jury that he also cheated on Maggie and Paul, and they had to pay with their lives.
Presumably, he ordered his own death
Among the other elements that have given the case so much attention is what the prosecution believes was a bungled killing that Murdeau himself ordered.
Prosecutors believe Murdaugh paid a former client, who became his affiliate, to shoot and kill him so that his estranged son, Buster, could benefit from his $10 million life insurance policy.
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After the murders, Alex Mordo is said to have ordered his own death, so that his son Buster (pictured) in the amount of $10 million could be paid life insurance. Photo: Joshua Boucher/State via AP, Pool/NTB
Murdo and the agent allegedly grabbed a gun and went a long way. There, the prosecution believes, the guard fired one shot, which only hit Murdow’s head. Murdaugh himself was able to call 911 for help, initially explaining that someone in a passing car had shot him while he was checking for a flat tire.
In addition, the authorities investigated a boating accident in 2019 in which son Paul was accused of driving while intoxicated. A 19-year-old woman was killed and several others injured when the boat hit a bridge in Beaufort County. The murder of Paul and his mother occurred before the boating incident trial began.
Authorities also investigated the death of a maid who worked on the family’s property. The death certificate states that she died of natural causes, which is inconsistent with the explanation that she died in a fall.
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