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Behind the Murdaugh Family Murder Mystery— The True Crime Saga That Continues to Captivate the Internet

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The mysterious circumstances behind the Murdaugh family murders have captivated the internet, particularly true crime lovers, who believe that we are watching an award-winning true crime miniseries unfold in real time. The Murdaughs, a prominent South Carolina family that has held top legal positions in their area for the past eight decades, have garnered media attention following the mysterious murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh, the 22-year-old son of the family’s patriarch Alex Murdaugh, and his 55-year-old wife.

But that isn’t quite where the story begins. Indeed, the family has been shrouded with mystery for several years now, particularly after Paul Murdaugh was involved in the accidental death of Mallory Beach back in February of 2019, after a deadly boating accident. The Beach family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Murdaughs, alleging that Paul had been supplied alcohol at the time of the crash. However, authorities were slow to make an arrest in the case, and many speculated that they may be protecting Paul. Documents have since surfaced that have shown that Paul was “uncooperative” throughout the investigation, and officers did not perform alcohol breath tests on him. Eventually, Paul was indicted on three charges relating to the death; however, following his unexpected death, the charges were later dropped.

Paul Murdaugh’s involvement in the accidental death Mallory Beach back in 2019 has shrouded the family’s name with suspicion. Photo thanks to Bluffton Today.

But this wasn’t the first cloud of mystery to surround the prominent family. Back in 2018, the Murdaughs were involved in a wrongful death settlement for their former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield’s death. The housekeeper had died following an alleged ‘slip and fall’ incident at a home owned by the family. However, Satterfield’s two sons— Brian Harriott and Tony Satterfield— never received a dime of the settlement, even though they were the only beneficiaries in their mother’s estate. Alex’s name appears to have also been taken off of the court documents, leading to even more suspicions of nepotism.

With the deaths of Paul and Maggie back in June of 2019, both previous deaths have since resurfaced, leading to a speculative frenzy about what is going on. Paul and Maggie were murdered at their family home in the late hours of June 7th, 2021; their cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds. In the aftermath, some believed that Alex may be responsible for their deaths. However, his siblings, John and Randy, have since gone on ABC’s Good Morning America and revealed that Paul had been threatened online due to the 2019 boat crash.

However, three months later the mystery took another shocking turn after Alex was shot on September 4th. Alex survived the attack and alleged that someone pulled over and shot him in the head while he was changing a flat tire by the side of the road. However, on September 14th, Alex confessed that he had orchestrated his own assassination attempt in an attempt to end his own life. Following the deaths of his son and wife, Alex had slipped into an opioid addiction and wanted to end his own life. He alleged that there was a suicide clause in his insurance policy, and so he faked his own death so that his son would still receive the $10 million payout. Alex’s lawyer explained that his client had chosen to come clean because he “didn’t want law enforcement to spend time on this fake crime instead of on Maggie and Paul.”

In the aftermath of his wife and son’s murders, Alex Murdaugh (pictured center). allegedly attempted to stage his own assassination. Photo thanks to All Thats Interesting.

After the staged assassination attempt, the mystery of the Murdaugh family murders has only deepened, and the internet is now waiting with baited breath to see how this saga unfolds. On September 15th, Gloria Satterfield’s case was reopened, and on September 16th, Alex was arrested on charges of insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and filing a false police report. With every twist and turn in the case, more and more questions seem to arise. Hopefully soon though, we will begin to start getting some answers.

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