The Murdaugh family ( MUR-dock) is an American family from the Lowcountry region of South Carolina. Three generations named Randolph Murdaugh served consecutively as circuit solicitor (the elected prosecuting attorney) for the state's 14th judicial district between 1920 and 2006. The family's prominence led locals to call the five-county district "Murdaugh Country". In addition to the legal positions, Randolph Murdaugh Sr. established the Murdaugh family law firm, now called the Parker Law Group, which specializes in personal injury litigation.
A fourth-generation son, affluent lawyer Richard Alexander "Alex" Murdaugh, secretly led a life of crime that included acts of fraud, corruption, embezzlement, theft and drug offenses spanning decades and involving dozens of victims, many of whom were disadvantaged. The crimes culminated in 2021 when Alex allegedly murdered his wife Maggie and son Paul using multiple guns at close range. Alex's trial ended with his conviction and sentencing to two consecutive life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole. These convictions were overturned in 2026, after the Supreme Court of South Carolina ruled that "shocking jury interference" by a court clerk during the 2023 trial meant that Alex's convictions were compromised. The case captured national attention for many years and generated extensive media coverage, films and books.
Contents
14th District
From 1920 to 2006, three members of the Murdaugh family served as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th circuit solicitors for the five-county area of South Carolina's Lowcountry region within the 14th judicial district; the family's influence in the area led to it being colloquially known as "Murdaugh Country".
In South Carolina, the circuit solicitor–analogous to the district attorney in other U.S. jurisdictions–is in charge of prosecuting all criminal cases within their jurisdiction. The 14th judicial district oversees Allendale, Colleton, Hampton, Beaufort and Jasper counties. It is the only judicial circuit in the state to cover five counties. According to columnist Kathleen Parker, the justice system of the 14th district was regarded as rigged and local attorneys would make a motion to settle a case rather than go to trial there.
The Murdaugh family was one of South Carolina's most prominent legal families, and were featured in the cover story for a 1989 issue of Carolina Lawyer magazine. Because of the family's decades-long control of the office of circuit solicitor in the 14th district, they wielded enormous judicial and political power for almost a century. Following several criminal incidents involving Murdaugh family members in the late 2010s and early 2020s, their influence over the local judicial system was scrutinized.
Family law firm
The Murdaugh family law firm, formerly known as Peters Murdaugh Parker Eltzroth & Detrick (PMPED), specialized in personal injury litigation. PMPED built its success in the early 2000s due to a state law that made it easier for plaintiffs to forum shop. The law permitted South Carolina residents "to file a suit in any county in which an out-of-state company own[ed] property and conduct[ed] business—regardless of where an accident took place."
In Hampton County, trial judges generally avoided transferring cases, and plaintiffs' attorneys had a reputation for abusing subpoena power. This legal climate led to the 14th district being named the third worst "judicial hellhole for defendants" by the American Tort Reform Association. Because of PMPED's success in suing CSX Transportation, the county was known as a "site of pilgrimage" for those with personal injury lawsuits against railroads; PMPED's offices became known locally as "the house that CSX built". Due to the firm's activities, doing business in Hampton County became a legal liability, resulting in the county losing potential employers.
Reforms enacted in 2005 by both the state supreme court and state legislature changed South Carolina's corporate venue law, ending plaintiffs' ability to easily forum shop in Hampton County. PMPED changed its name to The Parker Law Group in 2022 shortly before Alex Murdaugh's murder trial.
Murdaugh hunting estate
The Murdaugh family hunting estate near Islandton, situated on the Salkehatchie River, was formerly called Moselle. After the convictions of Alex Murdaugh for the murders of his wife and son, which took place on the estate, the 1,770 acre property was rebranded Cross Swamp Farm and listed for sale. It sold for $3.9 million to buyers who wanted the land for hunting and farming. The new owners were not interested in the house and partitioned the buildings and about 21 surrounding acres into a separate property and resold it in 2024 for $1 million, well below market value. The buyer was a locally based home restoration professional who quickly made significant changes to the look and layout of the house.
Notable members
Randolph Murdaugh Sr.
Randolph Murdaugh Sr. was born in Varnville in 1887, the youngest son of Josiah Putnam Murdaugh II, a wealthy Lowcountry businessman, and Annie Marvin Murdaugh (née Davis). His maternal grandfather, Joseph W. Davis, was a cousin of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
Randolph Sr. attended the United States Naval Academy and graduated from the University of South Carolina (USC) law school in 1910. After graduation, he founded a one-man law firm in Hampton, 78 miles (126 kilometers) west of Charleston, Randolph Sr. married Etta Causey Harvey in 1914 and they had two sons, Randolph "Buster" Murdaugh Jr. and John Glen "Johnny" Murdaugh.
In 1920, Randolph Sr. became solicitor in the 14th judicial circuit. He held the position until 1940, when he was killed in a collision between his car and a Charleston and Western Carolina (C&WC) freight train at a grade crossing outside Varnville.
Randolph "Buster" Murdaugh Jr.
Randolph Sr. was succeeded by his son, Randolph "Buster" Murdaugh Jr., who served as circuit solicitor from 1940 to 1986. In his forty-six years in office, Buster ran opposed only twice. A few months after the train collision, Buster sued the C&WC, claiming that poor maintenance of the grade crossing had contributed to his father's death. Although there was speculation that the crash wasn't an accident, with some believing that Randolph Sr. intentionally stopped his car on the tracks to commit suicide or that the crash was alcohol-related, the C&WC settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed sum.
Buster was known for "his love of chewing tobacco, his courtroom prowess and his flair for acting out murders before spellbound juries". According to Professor John Blume of Cornell Law School, Buster was rebuked several times by the state supreme court for improper closing arguments in death penalty cases and for arguing in a rape case that if the defendant were acquitted, he would release other accused rapists. In 1956, he was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly warning a bootlegger to move a moonshine still into a neighboring county to avoid revenuers; he was acquitted. Buster retired in 1986 and died in 1998.
John Glen "Johnny" Murdaugh
Randolph Sr.'s younger son, Johnny Murdaugh (1918–1987), joined the United States Army and served as a paratrooper in World War II. He was the highest decorated veteran of that war from Hampton County, receiving a Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts. After the war, he left the Army and returned to Hampton County and became a farmer.
Randolph Murdaugh III
Buster was succeeded as solicitor by his son, Randolph Murdaugh III, who took office in 1986. He ran unopposed in every election and held office until retiring in 2006. Randolph III was married to Elizabeth Alexander and had four children including three sons, Randolph IV (called Randy) and Richard Alexander (called Alex, b. May 27, 1968), both of whom entered the Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick (PMPED) law firm; and John Marvin. In 2019 Randolph III was awarded the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina's highest civilian recognition, by Governor Henry McMaster. He retired in 2006 and died of natural causes on June 10, 2021.
Alex Murdaugh
Richard Alexander Murdaugh was born May 27, 1968. He graduated from University of South Carolina in 1990 and from University of South Carolina's School of Law in 1994. He soon joined the Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick (PMPED) law firm, volunteering part-time in the 14th-circuit solicitor's office. Alex married Margaret Kennedy Branstetter (called Maggie) and had two sons, Richard Alexander Jr. (called Buster) and Paul.
On March 2, 2023, Alex was convicted of the shooting deaths of Margaret and Paul and was sentenced to two life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole. In May 2026, the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned his murder and weapons possession convictions and ordered a new trial due to jury interference by court clerk Becky Hill. Murdaugh remained imprisoned on a 40-year sentence relating to his theft and fraud convictions.
Maggie Murdaugh
Margaret "Maggie" Kennedy Branstetter Murdaugh (September 15, 1968 – June 7, 2021) was Alex Murdaugh's wife and a socialite.
Buster Murdaugh
Richard Alexander "Buster" Murdaugh Jr. (b. April 11, 1996) is the surviving son of Alex and Maggie Murdaugh. He received an undergraduate degree from Wofford College, in 2018, and then went to law school at his father's alma mater the University of South Carolina School of Law. After his first year, he was not readmitted due to a low-grade-point average. His father reportedly paid a lawyer $60,000 to lobby the dean for Buster to be re-admitted with an upwardly adjusted GPA.
In the Stephen Smith death case, Buster was mentioned dozens of times by both witnesses and investigators as possibly being involved. Buster was also alleged to have had a relationship with Smith, who was openly gay. Buster has denied involvement with Smith saying: "These baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his death are false." Buster offered an alibi, saying he was at the family beach house in Edisto Beach with his mother and brother (now both deceased), when Smith was killed. In June 2024, Buster sued Netflix, Warner Bros. and others for defamation, saying he was falsely accused of murder.
In the Mallory Beach death case, Buster was implicated because he had loaned his ID to his younger brother Paul, who was similar in appearance but underaged, so that he could illegally buy alcohol. In January 2023 Buster reached a settlement with Beach's family and three other passengers involved in the fatal crash.
According to his testimony in the Maggie and Paul murder case, Buster, who maintains his father's innocence, was over 200 miles away at his girlfriend's house in Rock Hill, when the murders took place. After receiving a phone call from Alex telling him that his mother and brother had been shot dead, he immediately drove to Moselle.
Paul Murdaugh
At the time of his murder, Paul Terry Murdaugh (April 14, 1999 – June 7, 2021) was under criminal indictment for the wrongful death of Mallory Beach. He was a student at the University of South Carolina and had a summer job working at his uncle John Marvin Murdaugh's Kubota tractor dealership.
Prosecutions and lawsuits against Alex Murdaugh
By 2023, Alex Murdaugh faced, or had been convicted of, a total of 102 grand jury criminal charges and 19 indictments relating to fraud and drug offenses. There were three charges from the Hampton County grand jury and 99 from the State Grand Jury. Murdaugh was also a defendant in three separate lawsuits. He has been disbarred, has had his assets seized, and is currently imprisoned on a 40-year sentence relating to his theft and fraud convictions.
Ongoing investigations and legal actions
On July 8, 2015, Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old nursing student at Orangeburg–Calhoun Technical College, was found dead from blunt force trauma on a rural road in Hampton County approximately 15 miles from the Murdaugh family's Moselle estate. The case was initially ruled a hit and run, with no suspects arrested. Smith was openly gay and a high school classmate of Alex's older son, Buster. Witnesses interviewed as part of the original investigation repeatedly implicated Buster as having been involved in a relationship with Smith, but the case went cold. According to The Greenville News, "rumors hinting at a cover-up and the possible involvement of one or more members of the Murdaugh family ... began circulating around the Hampton County area" soon after Smith's death. According to the Beaufort County Island Packet, the case "reeked of insider interference".
In June 2021, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) re-opened the investigation into Smith's death, based on evidence found while investigating the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh. On March 22, 2023, SLED stated that Smith's death was a murder and not a hit-and-run accident. Buster released a statement to the press denying his involvement in which he said that he was at the family beach house in Edisto Beach with his mother and brother when Smith was killed, and that "these baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his death are false." No further developments in the case had occurred by 2026.
On February 2, 2018, the Murdaughs' longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, suffered a severe head injury when she allegedly was tripped by one of the Murdaughs' dogs and fell down the front steps of the family home on the Moselle estate. She died in a hospital on February 26, 2018, of complications related to the fall, including a stroke. The incident had been reported as a "trip and fall" accident, but no coroner was notified, no autopsy was performed and the death certificate, incongruously, attributed the death to "natural causes." A coroner testified that describing her death on the death certificate as "natural" was improper.
Satterfield's two sons were awarded a $4.3-million insurance policy payout from the Murdaughs' insurer for her accidental and/or natural death, but by 2021 they had not received any money. According to sources, Alex Murdaugh, banker Chad Westendorf, and attorney Cory Fleming conspired to steal the payout by diverting the money to Alex's bank account, then not notifying the Satterfields that the payout had occurred. The Satterfields, represented by malpractice attorney Eric Bland, were ultimately able to recover more than $6.5 million during subsequent lawsuits.
Convictions, civil judgments, settlements, and sanctions
In September 2021, Murdaugh gave broad powers of attorney to his son Buster, including the power to sell and dispose of his assets, which Buster proceeded to do. The Moselle property, the scene of the murders of Maggie and Paul, was rebranded as "Cross Swamp Farm" and listed for sale with an asking price of $3.9 million, and the Edisto beach house was placed on the market for $920,000.00. On November 1, 2021, a judge ordered the Murdaugh assets to be frozen. Buster and Alex sought to overturn it, saying they had no money to pay for food, medical insurance and utilities.
Murdaugh's assets were placed into a receivership, created because evidence suggested the Murdaugh family was moving and hiding money from potential creditors, including multiple plaintiffs. The Murdaugh family and attorneys have been trying to unwind the receivership in civil court.
On October 14, 2021, concurrent with his release from the drug rehabilitation facility in Orlando, Murdaugh was taken into custody by the SLED on two felony counts of Obtaining Property by False Pretenses, related to the Satterfield case. Body cam footage of the arrest suggested he had "significant diarrhea issues" related to opioid withdrawal.
Unable to pay the bail on the fraud charges, set at $7 million, Murdaugh was held in custody at Alvin Glenn Detention Center in Richland County from October 14, 2021. Murdaugh was denied bail entirely after being charged with the murders of Maggie and Paul. While in the Detention Center waiting for his murder trial to begin, Murdaugh was involved in a fight with another inmate, Robert Drayton. Drayton had been convicted of raping Murdaugh's niece in May 2021— and was antagonizing Murdaugh when they were out together in an open area.
On March 3, 2023, when he was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife and son, Murdaugh was taken to the Kirkland Correctional Institution, in northwestern Columbia, South Carolina, where he was to be evaluated for about 45 days to determine which maximum-security prison he would be sent to.
On July 12, 2022, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued an official order disbarring Murdaugh from the practice of law in South Carolina. It was based on Murdaugh's "admitted reprehensible misconduct." Murdaugh was allowed to contest the disbarment but did not.
Media portrayals
The family and the criminal case against Alex Murdaugh have been the subject of several documentaries, docuseries, and podcasts. Some notable examples include:
Murdaugh Murders Podcast (2021; Liz Farrell & Mandy Matney)
The Murdaugh Dynasty (2022; Campfire Studios / HBO Max)
The Murdaugh Murders: Deadly Dynasty (2022; Investigation Discovery)
Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal (2023; Netflix)
Murdaugh Murders: The Movie (2023; Lifetime)
Murdaugh: Death in the Family (2025; Hulu)
InstaDoc: Alex Murdaugh, Unconvicted (2026; Netflix)
Family tree
The family tree is as follows: