It seems like every time we turn around, a new documentary is being created about the epic rise and fall of the Murdo family. Investigation Discovery did a story about it, and HBO Max also did a limited series about a South Carolina lawyer family. Now, with the actual trial of Alex Murdo just ended, Netflix has snatched up its end of a scandalous tale of massive fraud, abuse of power, and ultimately a double homicide. Of all the iterations released over the past year, this one is by far the best. Nothing has changed since everything went to hell in the pocket of a family that has been synonymous with wealth and power in the state’s Low Country region for more than four generations, but by waiting a little longer to tell its story, Netflix was able to muster almost all the indirect participants in this sordid story and give a more informed and comprehensive account of all the terrible things that Alex Murdo and his family were involved in. The Murdo Murders: Southern Scandal.
Murdo were the law and sometimes above it
Since the founding of their law firm in 1910 (by patriarch Randolph Murdo), the Murdo family has essentially been the law in Hampton County, South Carolina. From a network of lawyers to lawyers, law enforcement officers, and parole officers, if you have any problems with law and order, there was a good chance that the Murdo family was involved in some way. A wise man once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” When you have such overwhelming power, there are bound to be instances where that power is abused or used in a way that would be considered immoral or wrong. By the time Alex turned over, his family was so deeply entrenched and intertwined with the judicial system that it was a house of cards ready to collapse. And it all started rearing its ugly head with Alex’s alcoholic teenage son, Paul. And in this version of Netflix about how the wheels flew off, the makers of the documentary Jenner Furst And Jennifer Willoughby Nason did an amazing job of illustrating just how restless the Murdos were. Especially Alex and his youngest son Paul.
A boat that sank on the Beaufort River
The first episode of the Netflix documentary takes us back to February 2019 when Paul Murdo gathered his closest circle of friends to go to a fried oyster party. There were about five teenagers who got too drunk early on that fateful day. And it was Paul, who had a reputation for abusing alcohol and a raging drunkard, who assembled his crew on his boat later that night. This would be a matter of life and death, as candid interviews with Paul’s best friend, Anthony Cookand his girlfriend Morgan Doughty recalled the belligerent Paul driving his boat recklessly while drunk as night fell on the South Carolina valley and the Beaufort River. On a cold night, illegally purchased alcohol flowed like water, as the refrigerator on the boat was full of beer and spirits.
Paul, as well as those closest to him, became heavily intoxicated as usual and became aggressive when heavily intoxicated. At about 2 a.m., refusing to give up control of the boat, he crashed into the bridge, and his friend, 19-year-old Mallory Beach, went overboard and was found dead a week later. An interview with her father is incredibly hard to watch. Everyone was shocked, but the first thing Paul wanted to do was call his powerful father and grandfather to sort out the situation at the hospital. It was something too big to handle and it was the first thread that unraveled the powerful lawyer family that was royalty in the state. And Netflix has in-depth interviews with all the people involved in the incident and their families talking about how Murdo kept all the lawmen in town in his back pocket from the start.
Suspicious death of Stephen Smith in 2015
July 2015 Stephen Smith was found dead in the middle of a rural highway in Hampton County. The documentary reveals never before heard or seen details about the many questions that immediately arose about the nature of death. It was called an accident, but everything about the body and how it was found screamed that it was anything but an accident. Rumors began to circulate that the young man, found on the road under suspicious circumstances, may have been involved in a homosexual relationship with Alex’s other son, Buster, who was several years older than Paul. The series dives deep into how, when it was thought to be a hit-and-run, the community rallied around the young man’s grieving family, but when the name “Buster Murdoentered into the discussion, suddenly things became a lot more secret. Information about Steven Smith and the nature of his relationship with a member of the Murdo family, and ultimately his untimely death, became very difficult to come by. Some could easily assume that certain channels of law enforcement and the judiciary suddenly went silent on the whole situation. From detailed interviews with key players and observers, it appears that Alex again stepped in to cover it up.
Fraud on a large scale
When he wasn’t busy trying to cover up a potential murder charge against his sons, Alex was busy committing almost every form of insurance and electronic fraud imaginable, while also harboring a severe 20-year addiction to opiates. In 2020, it was revealed that Alex had stolen insurance funds intended for beneficiaries and transferred them to his account. When all is said and done, it is presumed that Murdo mishandled and misappropriated settlements worth over $8.5 million from people he hired to represent, of which nearly $300,000 was from his own brother. Another $5 million was for the sons of Murdo’s longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who also died under suspicious circumstances in 2018 at one of Murdo’s residences. Prosecutors allege that Alex wrote 437 checks to front men and front companies in order not to report the proceeds to the government. A lot of the money he stole was used to fund his OxyContin addiction and for gambling in Las Vegas. Murdo was later disbarred by the South Carolina Judiciary Council, and at each stage, the Netflix documentary series unearths new facts and opinions from well-informed sources.
Murders of Maggie and Paul Murdo
In June 2021, police arrived on the scene at Murdo’s Moselle home and hunting grounds to find the bodies of Alex’s wife, Maggie, and his son, Paul. Both were dead from gunshot wounds, but what made this double murder unusual was that each of them was shot with a different weapon. And it is these murders that are ultimately blamed on Alex Murdo. The series details the lawyers involved in the case as they discuss everything that came together to put the disgraced former lawyer on the scene at the time of the murders. Murdo’s most recent prison phone calls about his situation and trial are also shown in excavated footage. They reveal conversations that were never detailed in previous iterations of the documentary about the scandal that led to the fall of the red-haired, blue-blooded silver spoon that managed to seize over 100 years of legal fame and power and purify itself. it’s all been flushed down the toilet in less than a decade. In the last line of the documentary, Murdo is overheard receiving a phone call from the prison asking, “Does Netflix make a movie of this?” Amazing irony at the end of a three-episode series. He has pleaded not guilty, and as of this writing, the 54-year-old disgraced former lawyer has just been found guilty of killing his wife and son.
Source: Collider
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