14. Hampton County, SC: The Murdaughs Part 2

[00:00:00] Warning, the following episode contains discussions about violent crimes, disturbing events, and

[00:00:05] explicit details that may be unsettling for some listeners.

[00:00:09] Please be advised that this podcast is not suitable for young children, and listener discretion

[00:00:13] is strongly advised.

[00:00:15] Hey y'all, welcome back to Southern Shadows, a Mother-Son True Crime Podcast.

[00:00:20] I'm one of your host Janet, aka Mama.

[00:00:22] And I'm DK.

[00:00:24] In part 1 of today's episode, we focused on Paul Murdock, a young carefree man from a

[00:00:30] well-known South Carolina family who enjoyed just living his best life.

[00:00:35] Unfortunately, that meant a lot of heavy drinking and partying with some of his best friends.

[00:00:41] But in 2019, on a night just like any other, Paul's excessive drinking turned to a horrible

[00:00:47] boating accident that takes the life of his best friend's girlfriend.

[00:00:52] I do have to say again that there is a lot tied to this family, and the podcast that

[00:00:57] started it all was Murdock Murders, hosted by Mandy Matney.

[00:01:01] You should definitely go listen if you're interested in the more intricate details

[00:01:05] that are surrounding all of the alleged deaths linked back to this family.

[00:01:10] There's also a Netflix documentary that's out right now called Murdock Murders, A

[00:01:14] Southern Scandal, and both of those were major sources for today's episode.

[00:01:20] The title Murdock Murders can be attributed to a few deaths that are linked back to the

[00:01:25] family, but it's mainly been used to describe the deaths of Margaret Maggie Murdock and

[00:01:30] her youngest son Paul.

[00:01:32] Alec, the family's patriarch, claimed to have found his wife and son shot on their

[00:01:37] hunting property.

[00:01:38] But the details he provided don't seem to match up with the events of that night.

[00:01:43] In fact, several strange events would follow, including Alec himself surviving a gunshot

[00:01:48] wound to the head, financial troubles, and a string of lawsuits brought against him and

[00:01:53] his estate.

[00:01:55] In part one of today's episode, we left off with Paul Murdock awaiting trial for a boating

[00:02:00] accident that took the life of his best friend's girlfriend.

[00:02:04] One night, a call comes into 911 to report that he and his mom had both been found

[00:02:10] dead at their MoZell property home.

[00:02:13] What follows is a strange turn of events, putting his father behind bars and the secrets

[00:02:19] that the family have been hiding come to light.

[00:02:24] This is Southern Shadows.

[00:02:59] When Paul Murdock and five friends decided to attend an oyster roast on the night of

[00:03:04] February 24, 2019, their night of heavy drinking led to a horrible boating accident that took

[00:03:11] the life of Mallory Beach.

[00:03:14] During the investigation, Paul's dad and granddad did their best to interfere with

[00:03:19] the investigation so that Paul wouldn't be blamed even though he was the driver.

[00:03:24] This included using their power and influence to do things like tow the boat away from

[00:03:30] the crime scene a huge piece of evidence.

[00:03:33] Thankfully though, their efforts don't work and Paul does end up being indicted on three

[00:03:38] family counts of boating under the influence causing death.

[00:03:42] Many people took issue with the fact that during his trial he was never handcuffed,

[00:03:47] he didn't have to wear an alcohol monitor while he was out on bond and even though

[00:03:51] he wasn't supposed to leave the county, he often did.

[00:03:56] Because he pleaded not guilty, this meant that his case would go to trial.

[00:04:00] As it is making its way through the system, Paul doesn't just sit around and wait.

[00:04:05] He continues to have run ins with the law and still partying with friends.

[00:04:09] On top of all that, Buster, his older brother, was expelled from the University of South

[00:04:15] Carolina for plagiarism.

[00:04:17] Maggie, their mother, had also become aware of some bills that were going unpaid.

[00:04:23] In the documentary, Wall Street journalist Valerie Borlain discussed that there were

[00:04:28] several reports that Maggie had hired some forensic accountants to take a look at all

[00:04:33] of their bills and figure out what was going on with their finances.

[00:04:37] It's also rumored that she visited a divorce attorney and things were starting to take

[00:04:42] a turn in their marriage.

[00:04:44] On June 7th, 2021, Paul was murdered along with his mother Maggie at one of the Murdoch's

[00:04:51] properties called Moselle.

[00:04:53] Alec Murdoch told 911 that he had returned and found that they had both been shot dead.

[00:04:59] In the audio of the call that you can hear in the documentary, Alec is heard saying,

[00:05:03] quote, My wife and child have been shot badly.

[00:05:06] It's really bad.

[00:05:07] They're not moving.

[00:05:08] He sounds distraught and as if he's just running around.

[00:05:14] When police arrived on scene, they found that Maggie had been shot five times and

[00:05:19] it appeared that she was running away from something or someone.

[00:05:23] She was shot with an AR-15 rifle.

[00:05:27] Paul was shot twice, once in the neck and in the chest with a shotgun.

[00:05:33] What follows is very little information released to the public by authorities other than the

[00:05:37] fact that there was a killer on the loose.

[00:05:40] Obviously, this came as a huge shock to the community, but especially those who

[00:05:44] knew Paul.

[00:05:46] Morgan's mom remember is a nurse and she recalled hearing about it when she

[00:05:51] was in the hospital.

[00:05:52] So she called Morgan to see if she'd heard anything.

[00:05:55] Morgan and Paul dated for four years and she was also one of the victims of the boating

[00:06:01] accident.

[00:06:04] This property was known to many as the Murdoch's hunting property, which means that

[00:06:08] there were an array of guns on the property.

[00:06:11] Both of them were shot near the dog kennels.

[00:06:15] In regards to the AR-15, it's unique because of the bullets and there were shell casings

[00:06:20] left at the scene.

[00:06:22] So the Murdochs are like known to have these type of guns laying around?

[00:06:27] Yep, and the crazy thing is that the guns weren't initially surrendered over to the

[00:06:32] authorities as possibly being the murder weapons at the time.

[00:06:36] I'll get more into some of the key details that start to emerge, but here's something

[00:06:40] significant that also happens on June 17th, 2021, which is 10 days after the shooting.

[00:06:47] Alec Murdoch's brothers, John Marvin and Randolph or Randy Murdoch go on Good Morning

[00:06:54] America to plead their brothers innocence saying, quote, there's no possible way he

[00:06:59] could have anything to do with this.

[00:07:01] I can assure you they were both clearly emotional about the tragedy that had hit the family.

[00:07:07] They even shared that the family had been receiving threats in the wake of that boating

[00:07:11] accident.

[00:07:13] Alec and his son Buster even announced a $100,000 reward for anyone with information regarding

[00:07:19] the shootings.

[00:07:20] Do you think it could have been somebody from Mallory Beach's family?

[00:07:24] I mean that's certainly what they're trying to make it sound like as far as what

[00:07:29] the Murdoch family believes.

[00:07:31] Even Nancy Grace speculated that on her show that it could have had something to

[00:07:35] do with Mallory Beach's case.

[00:07:39] As you might guess, the entire community was now afraid and concerned that there was a killer

[00:07:44] on the loose.

[00:07:45] With the rumor spreading that this was potentially a revenge murder, Connor and Anthony, the

[00:07:50] two cousins, state that they were the first main suspects.

[00:07:55] Remember Connor and Anthony were also on the boat and Mallory was Anthony's girlfriend.

[00:08:02] Anthony even says in the documentary that law enforcement officers actually visited him

[00:08:06] at work and told him that he was the lead suspect and they demanded his alibi.

[00:08:13] He described how upsetting it was because although Mallory was his girlfriend, Paul was also

[00:08:18] one of his best friends since childhood.

[00:08:21] Remember that Connor was the one being blamed for being the driver of the boat?

[00:08:27] In the beginning and Alec and Paul's grandfather were the main ones trying to

[00:08:30] spin that narrative.

[00:08:32] His parents confirmed that around town it was being implied that Connor must have been

[00:08:37] the one who had orchestrated the murders.

[00:08:41] Mallory's father is also called and questioned and Morgan is even visited at work.

[00:08:47] Morgan says that they were demanding DNA samples from her and she tells the Sled

[00:08:52] officers taking her samples or that she's talking to.

[00:08:56] Basically you need to look into Alec, like don't discount him just because he seems

[00:09:01] to be one of the victims.

[00:09:03] Sled by the way stands for South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

[00:09:08] Valerie Borlain, that Wall Street journalist, she actually mainly covers stories in the

[00:09:13] South and when she was talking about this incident in the documentary she highlighted

[00:09:18] how it was strange that there wasn't a suspect description, any sketches or any vehicles

[00:09:25] to be on the lookout for when all of this went down.

[00:09:29] She said it's also strange that the police announced that there was no danger to the

[00:09:33] public asking, well why wouldn't there be?

[00:09:36] Yeah like wouldn't there be a danger if there's a shooter on the loose?

[00:09:40] Unless the police are hiding something.

[00:09:43] Maybe, allegedly I don't know.

[00:09:46] But I could also see that this is such a small town that they didn't want to

[00:09:49] cause panic but it definitely did anyway.

[00:09:53] Yeah.

[00:09:55] Something interesting that she talks about is that if this were 10 to 15 years ago anything

[00:10:00] involving the Murdochs could have been easily swept under the rug but this is what really

[00:10:05] started to change everything for the Murdoch family.

[00:10:08] Michael DeWitt of the Hampton County Guardian even says quote, all lies were on South Carolina

[00:10:14] and the Low Country.

[00:10:15] If the Murdochs had skeletons in their closet it's out now.

[00:10:35] So where was Alec when all of this happened?

[00:10:38] At the time of the murders Alec said that he was visiting his elderly father and mother

[00:10:43] away in Alameda or Alameda.

[00:10:46] See his dad was very ill and his mom was actually suffering from dementia and he'd

[00:10:51] often go and visit them.

[00:10:53] It's often said throughout the documentary that he was really close with his father

[00:10:57] and the entire time that he was sick it was common for him to be at their house

[00:11:02] checking on them.

[00:11:04] So while gathering details about the deaths of Paul and Maggie it's announced that a 2015

[00:11:10] case involving the death of Stephen Smith was going to be reopened.

[00:11:15] What do you mean?

[00:11:18] So basically during the investigation they found evidence that linked back to another

[00:11:23] death of someone else in Hampton County and you want to guess what that link was?

[00:11:28] The Murdoch.

[00:11:29] A Murdoch.

[00:11:30] Smith was the victim of an alleged hit and run accident that many people suspected was

[00:11:35] caused by the oldest son Buster and the case was quickly cleaned up by the Murdoch family

[00:11:41] back in 2015.

[00:11:43] Once this announcement happens it seems like everything is starting to spiral and not

[00:11:49] in Alec Murdoch's favor.

[00:11:51] Why is all of this happening?

[00:11:54] Why are they reopening all these other cases instead of focusing on who killed Paul and Maggie?

[00:11:59] Well if you think about it this is typical whenever we hear about a crime all of the past

[00:12:06] is dug up and reported about.

[00:12:08] It just so happened that Alec's past involved two other deaths.

[00:12:12] Stephen Smith and remember I talked about Paul's nanny who died in the first episode?

[00:12:17] So this isn't really weird behavior on the part of investigators or journalists for that

[00:12:21] matter but it sounds like they're finding more evidence that points towards a suspect

[00:12:26] who had a motive to kill Paul and Maggie.

[00:12:31] Meanwhile additional evidence is being examined and prosecutors are trying to put together

[00:12:35] the timeline of when Alec says that he was in Alameda visiting his parents because his

[00:12:40] parents were elderly the family had a full-time caretaker for them.

[00:12:45] Her name is Michelle or Shelly Smith and she was actually called to testify during

[00:12:51] Alec's trial.

[00:12:53] On the night of the murders she does say that she saw Alec but she noticed that he was acting

[00:12:59] really strange that night just being kind of jittery.

[00:13:02] He didn't stay long but he did come back the next day and told her if someone asks

[00:13:08] you if I was here just say that I was here for about 30 to 40 minutes.

[00:13:14] But she says that isn't true.

[00:13:16] Shelly was visibly upset on the witness stand but she maintains that Alec only

[00:13:21] stopped by for no more than 20 minutes.

[00:13:25] The South Carolina District Attorney at the time Alan Wilson said it became clear to us

[00:13:31] that Alec went over to Alameda to establish an alibi.

[00:13:35] He lied about the length of time that he was there to make it seem like he wasn't

[00:13:39] home during the time of the murders.

[00:13:43] More evidence that was examined was the shirt that Alec was wearing the night of the

[00:13:47] incident.

[00:13:48] They found what appeared to be quote high velocity blood spatter according to Fitz

[00:13:53] News.

[00:13:55] About that shirt on August 11th, 2021 Alec actually went to the sled office to get an

[00:14:00] update on the murder of his wife and son but it turns out to be more of questioning him

[00:14:06] about his account of the events that happened that night.

[00:14:10] They tell him that they found a video that Paul took of him earlier that day

[00:14:13] and he's wearing a completely different outfit other than when they came to the property that night.

[00:14:19] It seems like they're just trying to get him to admit you know why did you change your clothes.

[00:14:25] Yeah.

[00:14:26] The most damning piece of evidence is a video that Paul recorded on his phone at 844 pm

[00:14:34] of a dog that he was babysitting for a friend.

[00:14:37] You can hear Alec in the background saying come here bud or something like that

[00:14:43] and that put him at the scene of the murders.

[00:14:47] Just before he died Paul texted his friend about the dog.

[00:14:52] Also both Paul and Maggie locked their phones at the same time.

[00:14:58] Paul Murdock locked his phone at 849 and 35 seconds p.m.

[00:15:04] I don't know how to say that and Maggie Murdock locked hers at 849 and 31 seconds.

[00:15:10] The video of the dog is played on the Netflix documentary and you can

[00:15:14] clearly hear Alec in the background call for Paul to come here.

[00:15:20] So locking their phones at the same time could be that Alec called both of them out to the

[00:15:26] location where they were going to eventually be murdered.

[00:15:30] They never got another call or text after that.

[00:15:34] Alec though texted Maggie's phone at 947 p.m. quote call me babe.

[00:15:41] There were 59 steps recorded on Maggie's phone from 853 p.m. to 859 p.m.

[00:15:49] after her cell phone was locked.

[00:15:51] Did you know your phone records your steps?

[00:15:54] No.

[00:15:54] Yeah.

[00:15:55] You can discern for yourself why this is important.

[00:15:58] Alec would later be charged with nine criminal counts related to money laundering and computer

[00:16:03] crimes alleging that he stole money from his own firm in the late 2020 and 2021 years.

[00:16:10] So on top of him losing his family now all of like the money issues are starting to come to light.

[00:16:17] As you can imagine all of this puts Alec under a lot of stress which can

[00:16:21] cause someone to be very desperate as it's mentioned in the documentary.

[00:16:27] It's also stated that Alec was apparently doing drugs and lots of them.

[00:16:33] In fact, ABC7 Eyewitness News reported on Alec Murdoch's alleged money misuse,

[00:16:39] the suspension of his law license, opioid addiction, assisted suicide and $10

[00:16:45] million insurance fraud plans.

[00:16:48] How long have you been in suicide?

[00:16:49] Be assisted.

[00:16:50] Okay we're going to get to that so let's jump to September.

[00:16:54] 4th, 2021 when emergency dispatch gets a call from Alec who reports that he was pulled over

[00:17:00] on the side of the road to fix a flat tire where someone got out to help him and then

[00:17:05] shot him in the head.

[00:17:08] How was that suicide and not just murder or whatever?

[00:17:12] Yeah murder.

[00:17:12] Well just hold on one second.

[00:17:15] When the 911 calls are officially released Alec tells the dispatcher I mean I'm

[00:17:21] okay.

[00:17:22] And it's strange to me because it's a really calm call considering he just got shot in the

[00:17:26] head.

[00:17:28] Later it would come out that it was an attempted suicide and Alec actually went to someone he

[00:17:33] knew, allegedly his drug dealer as his attorneys would claim and asked him to shoot him.

[00:17:40] All of this was 90 days after the deaths of Maggie and Paul.

[00:17:44] His attorney then would issue a statement about Alec officially checking into rehab

[00:17:49] for his apparent opioid addiction.

[00:17:51] I got the impression that they were blaming everything that he was going through,

[00:17:54] the money issues, the deaths of Maggie and Paul just everything on the reason that he

[00:17:58] wanted to take his own life.

[00:18:00] Yeah.

[00:18:01] On September 7th, 2021 the law firm where Alec was working the one his great-grandfather

[00:18:06] started announces Murdoch's resignation due to money misuse.

[00:18:12] The law firm Peters, Murdoch, Parker, Elzroth and the other two were released

[00:18:18] a statement that says quote his resignation came after the discovery by PM,

[00:18:25] PED that Alec misappropriated funds in violation of PM,

[00:18:30] PED standards and policies.

[00:18:33] After this the South Carolina Supreme Court issued an order to us to suspend

[00:18:38] his law license and that gunshot wound to the head.

[00:18:42] Well, police announced the arrest of Curtis Edward Smith.

[00:18:47] Edward Smith in connection with the shooting.

[00:18:50] They labeled him as Alec's supposed drug dealer, but he's also referred to as

[00:18:55] cousin Eddie in the documentary.

[00:18:58] He was initially charged with assisted suicide assault and battery of a high

[00:19:03] aggravated nature pointing and presenting a firearm insurance fraud and conspiracy

[00:19:10] to commit insurance fraud.

[00:19:11] So to answer your question earlier about assisting in a suicide if someone comes to

[00:19:16] you and says I would like to unalive myself but I want some help and you agree to do it

[00:19:22] that's what's labeled as assisted suicide.

[00:19:26] And another question, what does insurance have to do with this?

[00:19:30] Well basically Alec had a life insurance policy on himself and that means you know

[00:19:34] when you die the insurance company will pay whatever the policy states to your next of

[00:19:39] kin.

[00:19:40] In this case the only surviving immediate family member was the oldest son Buster.

[00:19:46] Alec's life insurance policy totaled $10 million.

[00:19:50] So with him dead Buster would have received that money.

[00:19:54] I guess he was just you know trying to make sure his oldest son was good with everything going on.

[00:20:01] In the Netflix documentary Curtis is actually interviewed and he basically says that Alec

[00:20:07] set him up.

[00:20:08] He received a call from Alec to meet him somewhere to assist him with something

[00:20:12] and Alec staged it to look like there was a struggle with the gun.

[00:20:16] He even appeared on the Today Show on NBC and says quote if I would have shot him he'd be dead

[00:20:22] but he's alive basically saying if I meant to do it I wouldn't have missed.

[00:20:27] It also comes out that Curtis Edward was paid over $160,000 in checks from October 2020

[00:20:35] to May 2021.

[00:20:38] On October 14th 2021 Alec was arrested at a drug rehab facility in Florida

[00:20:45] on charges that he stole insurance settlements totaling more than $4 million

[00:20:50] intended for the sons of his former housekeeper Gloria Satterfield who died while at their home.

[00:20:58] Remember I told you that Gloria had quote fallen down some steps in 2018 having allegedly tripped

[00:21:04] over some of the family's dogs.

[00:21:07] Again I encourage you to go listen to Murdoch Murder Podcast for more on that particular

[00:21:12] story but essentially Alec filed the insurance on her life like filed the insurance claim telling

[00:21:19] her sons you know I'll take care of it and once we settle this you know you guys will be set for

[00:21:24] the rest of your lives basically you'll be fine I'll take care of you right.

[00:21:27] Once he settled though with the insurance company he kept the money to himself.

[00:21:33] When this information comes out the Satterfields hired their own attorneys to help them

[00:21:38] navigate the ins and outs and it's their attorneys who meet with Sled to put it out on their radar.

[00:21:46] Sled agents ultimately begin to open up investigations into all of his money mishandlings

[00:21:53] and make that decision to take him into custody.

[00:21:56] Oh man this man should have been in jail he got all this basically it's a whole bunch of

[00:22:02] crimes around in this man.

[00:22:05] You're definitely correct but remember we talked about how the Murdochs pretty much ran this town.

[00:22:11] Yeah it is a lot allegedly and it is wild so in October 2021 Alec would appear before Judge

[00:22:20] Clifton Newman. In stark contrast to his son Paul Alec was handcuffed and he's clearly in an

[00:22:28] inmates outfit or uniform so he'd been sitting in jail and the judge denies his bond and freezes

[00:22:36] all of his assets to the shock of everyone in the courtroom. What does that mean?

[00:22:41] So a judge can deny your bond and refuse to release you you know before a trial remember

[00:22:47] his son Paul was allowed to sit at home in a wait trial and he was still partying he was still

[00:22:53] you know able to live his life but denying bond on the other hand means you know the judge

[00:22:59] probably saw him as a potential flight risk he could have been a danger to the community

[00:23:05] he could have continued to tamper with evidence or intimidate witnesses and so they basically

[00:23:10] say yeah no you're gonna wait in jail for your trial to start. While in jail Alec begins to

[00:23:16] refuse to answer any questions regarding the millions of dollars that he embezzled.

[00:23:21] It's also starting to come out that Buster was gambling away a lot of money with his uncle John

[00:23:27] Marvin in Las Vegas. You can even hear a few phone calls between him and Buster from jail talking

[00:23:33] about gambling and it's implied in the documentary that it was a way for him to try to get rid

[00:23:38] of all of that money that Alec had stole. I'm just gonna run down a timeline of major events and

[00:24:01] developments that start to unfold so on November 17th 2021 Alec was facing 27 additional charges of

[00:24:09] stealing settlement money saying he stole nearly five million dollars in other cases unrelated to

[00:24:15] Gloria. Prosecutors alleged that Alec was hiding money from lawyers who had sued him over the death

[00:24:22] of Mallory Beach basically Mallory Beach's family you know sued him for wrongful death and usually

[00:24:28] when that happens they take all of your finances into account it's very technical stuff I'm not

[00:24:33] an attorney I'm probably saying some things wrong but by hiding it he could say like I can't afford

[00:24:39] to pay you you know X amount because I only have this much yeah. January 18th 2022 additional indictments

[00:24:48] are brought against him totaling to 71 charges there's a lot of other events that happen between

[00:24:55] January and June that are tied to Alec but these involve other people getting arrested so

[00:25:00] I'm not really going to mention those but on June 28th 2022 Alec along with that friend who was charged

[00:25:07] with helping him stage his suicide were charged with possessing manufacturing and distributing

[00:25:14] narcotics like drug dealers like they were drug dealers right. On July 12th 2022 Alec was officially

[00:25:22] disbarred by the South Carolina Supreme Court this means that he will no longer ever be able

[00:25:28] to practice law even if by some miracle he was found innocent of all 71 charges. On July 20th 2022

[00:25:38] Alec was formally charged with killing his wife and son he pled not guilty and again

[00:25:45] his bond is denied as he was awaiting trial the trial was set for January 23rd 2023 so about a

[00:25:53] year ago when he arrived to court there were so many people waiting outside the courthouse from

[00:25:59] regular citizens to the media and this case was significant in a lot of ways but one interesting

[00:26:06] thing is that this is the very courthouse where the Murdochs have been prosecuting cases themselves

[00:26:12] for a hundred years. There's even a picture of Alec's grandfather that's hanging on the back

[00:26:18] wall and during his trial the judge ordered that it needed to be removed. One of the witnesses

[00:26:24] that was called to testify was sled officer agent David Owen who was on the scene at Moselle.

[00:26:31] There's video evidence that's played in court of officers and Alec sitting in Agent Owen's car.

[00:26:37] He had removed his body cam and he placed it sort of on top of the window so that you could

[00:26:42] get a clear view of everyone in the car and he had Alec tell him everything about what was

[00:26:47] going on. Alec is visibly upset as he's telling the story but interestingly there's no real tears

[00:26:56] coming out I mean that I could see it look like crocodile tears. When Agent Owen asks him about

[00:27:02] any trespassers or suspicious activity out on the property he doesn't really mention anything.

[00:27:08] What he does mention though is this theory that he has about Paul's voting accident

[00:27:14] that could have been the reason due to the negative publicity around it. He even says quote

[00:27:20] he's been punched and hit and attacked a lot. Anthony Cook one of the survivors of the voting

[00:27:27] accident said in the documentary that no one who actually knew Paul threatened him about the

[00:27:33] accident and that it was mostly people who quote had never been to Hampton County,

[00:27:38] South Carolina so a lot of people online making comments. In season two of the Netflix documentary

[00:27:45] we meet Blanca Simpson who was a former housekeeper for the Murdochs. She met Alec in the 1990s when

[00:27:51] she was a corrections officer and a translator for Spanish speaking clients in court. When she

[00:27:58] met Maggie she was offered a job helping her with the boys and you know just general

[00:28:02] housekeeping things. The two became very close friends and she described a side of Maggie that

[00:28:08] was very down to earth. She would be called by the state as another witness during Alec's trial.

[00:28:15] On the day of the murders June 7th 2021 they talked on the phone that morning and throughout

[00:28:21] that day like they normally would. She arrived at the Murdoch home and she recalls seeing Alec

[00:28:27] looking tired and sort of jittery. Turns out that day he was heading into the office to work on that

[00:28:34] voting case and all of his financial troubles were going to come out. Another witness called to

[00:28:40] testify was Jeanie Segenger who was the CFO of Murdoch law firm and was the one who found proof

[00:28:47] that Alec had been stealing money. It just so happened that June 7th the day of the murders

[00:28:54] was the day that she confronted him about the $792,000 that was missing. She describes that during

[00:29:03] this confrontation Alec received a phone call regarding his father's health that his diagnosis

[00:29:10] was terminal and there wasn't anything else that could be done. Obviously this changed the entire

[00:29:17] tone of the conversation because Alec was again extremely close with his father. Later that

[00:29:23] afternoon Jeanie says that she received a call from Alec asking about the balances of his 401ks.

[00:29:31] Do you know what that is? I've heard of it but I don't think I really know. It's basically your

[00:29:35] retirement money so when you retire you know you continue to receive money because you've put

[00:29:42] into your 401k and so you know people who are no longer working they're still able to survive

[00:29:48] based on their retirement money. So Jeanie notes that she was surprised that Alec was even

[00:29:52] still in the building working considering the phone call that he had just got about his dad.

[00:29:57] Blanca received a phone call the next morning after the murders from Alec who told her that Maggie

[00:30:04] and Paul were dead and then he asked if she would please come by the house to straighten up

[00:30:10] because they were gonna expect company you know people coming by the house to drop off food

[00:30:16] you know friends and family how they do when you've lost a member of your family. Yeah.

[00:30:21] Blanca recalls that as she's going through the house she notices some weird things like the fact

[00:30:27] that the pots and the pans of the food that she had just cooked the night before for the family

[00:30:32] were placed in the refrigerator with lids on them. I know it sounds weird but she said this is

[00:30:37] something that they would never have done. Also Maggie's pajamas were laid on the ground

[00:30:44] neatly as if she was waiting to put them on when she got out of the shower. Again

[00:30:49] something she had never seen her do before. So let's go back to the trial. John Marvin,

[00:30:55] Alec's brother and Paul's uncle was called to testify as well. The day after the murders

[00:31:01] there were so many family members and friends who had come by the house to comfort Alec while

[00:31:06] law enforcement was gathering evidence and just kind of going through the protocols of processing

[00:31:11] the crime scene. John Marvin takes the stand and basically says that he went out to the

[00:31:16] crime scene himself just to take a look around and kind of take it all in. He makes it a point to

[00:31:22] mention that it had not been cleaned up assuming he was trying to call out law enforcement for not

[00:31:29] doing their job I guess. Forensic expert Dr. Kenneth Kinsey said in the documentary that

[00:31:36] in cases like this the state will come and clean up you know the crime scene at no cost to

[00:31:41] you and he says that when they reached out to the family for this service the family declined.

[00:31:48] What are they exactly cleaning up? Well you know in this case blood unfortunately pieces of Paul's

[00:31:54] brain matter and skull that were still left on scene. Why would you not want somebody to

[00:32:01] come clean that up? Well hold on because I asked myself the same thing but John Marvin says during

[00:32:09] his testimony that he just sort of felt it in his spirit to be the one to clean it up for his nephew

[00:32:15] Paul. He said that he felt like he owed him that much and it was the right thing to do. What I've

[00:32:21] seen online is that this was another way for the Murdoch family to have control of the crime

[00:32:26] scene and maybe dispose of anything that might have pointed to Alec as the shooter you know

[00:32:32] basically covering for his brother. Yeah so basically Alec is guilty. At this time yes

[00:32:38] the prosecution believed that he was the shooter and all of the circumstantial evidence seemed to

[00:32:43] point to just that. In fact they said that he had killed his wife and son to get pity and to draw

[00:32:49] attention away from the fact that he was stealing money. Alec was now at this point facing more

[00:32:55] than 100 charges linked to money including tax evasion charges worth more than 14 million

[00:33:03] dollars over the past nine years. During his trial the prosecutors said that they weren't

[00:33:08] going to seek life in jail without the chance of parole for the double murders. Here's where the video

[00:33:15] from Paul's phone is shown and it revealed again Alec at the crime scene. He then claims that he

[00:33:22] lied to the cops during the initial investigation because he was high on drugs. On March 2nd

[00:33:28] 2023 the jury began deliberations and took only three hours to return with a verdict.

[00:33:35] Alec Murdoch had been found guilty of killing his wife Margaret and his youngest son Paul.

[00:33:42] He was also found guilty of two counts of having a weapon during a violent crime which is punishable by

[00:33:49] more than five years in jail in South Carolina. For the killings Alec is given a maximum of two

[00:33:56] consecutive life sentences. South Carolina prison staff say Alec Murdoch actually had to

[00:34:03] be put in protective custody in a maximum security prison away from other inmates for his own safety.

[00:34:11] The fact that he's in jail does not mean that the court proceedings are over however. Aside from

[00:34:16] the wrongful death case brought by Mallory Beach's family he's also being sued for insurance

[00:34:22] theft and money laundering. These cases were settled before they went to trial and according

[00:34:28] to NBC station WS AV the Beach family got $15 million in cash. Even though it seems like a lot of money

[00:34:37] obviously it does not bring back their daughter. Alec has made several appeals since he was found

[00:34:45] guilty in March. He still says that he is not responsible for the deaths of his wife and son

[00:34:52] but he did apologize to everybody that he hurt before his financial crimes. As of today April 1st

[00:34:59] 2024 it was announced that Alec was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison to be served concurrently

[00:35:06] with his life sentences for the 22 federal crimes that he pleaded guilty to in September 2023.

[00:35:14] That would be the crimes of money laundering wire fraud and bank fraud and that was a total

[00:35:19] of $12 million that was stolen. Another sad piece of news that I found out was that two weeks ago

[00:35:27] his mother Libby passed away. Wow and that is the story of Alec Murdoch and this is one of those

[00:35:36] cases that as it was unfolding over the past three years it seemed like you couldn't keep up

[00:35:42] with all of the twists and the turns but ultimately his life of power and privilege

[00:35:47] was abused and when things caught up with him he couldn't handle it. Any thoughts?

[00:35:53] I mean it's just stories like this shows you that there are definitely people in this world

[00:36:00] that have power it's kind of just evil what they can do and it's kind of and it's also

[00:36:05] scary to know that a group of people in this case the Murdochs have enough power to just get

[00:36:13] away with taking people's lives you know but it's just sad. Right and this is still not over like I

[00:36:23] said as of today which is April 2024 there is still more you know information coming out

[00:36:31] he still has to stand trial for other I mean he had a total of 100 charges against him

[00:36:39] so his days in court are still not over and unfortunately his son Buster now has to deal

[00:36:46] with the loss of not only his mother and his brother but his dad as well. The patriarch of the

[00:36:52] Murdoch family the grandfather Randolph has passed away the grandmother has passed away so I mean

[00:36:57] this family is just blow after blow unfortunately. If you're interested to learn more about

[00:37:03] today's case you could find the full source notes available at southernshadowspodcast.com

[00:37:08] I also strongly encourage you to check out the Netflix documentary there are two seasons about

[00:37:13] this family and about those cases as well as the other deaths that are linked to them or you

[00:37:18] can listen to the podcast that started it all Murdoch murders hosted by Mandy Matney.

[00:37:25] We'd also love to hear your thoughts so feel free to leave us a comment.

[00:37:30] While you're there don't forget to like subscribe and share and we'll catch you next week for another

[00:37:37] episode. See you in the shadows.