The Murdaugh Murders - to believe Alex didn't shoot his wife and son?

[XelaM]

The trial is currently ongoing in the US and has been the subject of a Netflix documentary The Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.

It's almost unbelievable this case is real and not some movie script for a tragic thriller. It involves the very powerful Murdaugh family- a dynasty of many generations of prosecutors/lawyers who had almost unlimited power and money. They appeared to be above the law. The father was Alex (the heir to the dynasty) and he was married to Maggie with whom he had two sons- Buster and Paul. The younger son Paul appeared to be as appalling a human being as his father (at least according to the documentary).

Five people are dead who were connected to this family:

*Mallory Beach - a young teenage girl who was on a boat that the younger Murdaugh son (Paul) crashed at night being drunk out of his mind. His father Alex tried to initially claim that someone else was driving the boat but then did absolutely everything to make this case "go away" even after Paul had been charged. Paul never faced any consequences for Mallory's death. Her family were pursuing a civil suit.

*Stephen - the elder son's (Buster's) friend who was found dead in the middle of a road in very odd and suspicious circumstances. No one ever faced any consequences for his death.

*Gloria - the Murdaugh housekeeper who allegedly fell down the stairs at their property. Alex collected a $4.3 million insurance payout for her death (on a policy he had taken out a month earlier) and never paid it to her family.

*And now the younger son Paul and his mother (Alex's wife) Maggie were found shot dead on their property with two different firearms.

Alex has been charged with the murders of his son and wife (in addition to having been found to have embezzled huge funds from his law firm and his clients).

But I just don't understand how someone who was so concerned with protecting the family dynasty and whitewashing his son of any responsibility for Mallory's death- why would he shoot the same son two years later? The motive that the prosecution put forward was that he tried to gain sympathy when he was being prosecuted for embezzlement and trying to delay Mallory's family's civil suit. I just don't understand that this is a strong enough motivation for shooting his son?

I've watched the Netflix one tonight. I think he did it.

What really struck me was the 911 call the mother made about the housekeeper falling down the stairs. She didn't sound shocked or panicked, more like it was an inconvenience.

Yes, I thought so too! She sounded so mean

I've been following the trial (although I have missed a few days)

The way I have understood it is:
The younger son Paul had the drunken boating accident which killed Mallory and severely injured the other friends.

Because of this boating accident, Paul was being charged with death by drunk boat driving (OK, not the exact charge but you know what I mean)
And, he was also being sued by the friends in a Civil case.

As a result the dad, Alex, financial affairs and his work financial affairs started to be investigated.

It was during this time, I believe he killed Paul and his wife Maggie, thinking that it will stop all the investigations. Especially stop the investigations into his embezzlement. Which if course it didn't as he was convicted of embezzlement.

So, using my very credible arm chair detective work, I think he did do it. He did it thinking, in his strange little brain, that by killing the son it would cover up all the others crimes he, the dad, had committed. I.e covering the tracks of all the money he stole was worth more than his sons and wife's life.

Weird , I know, but people do very horrible things for money.

Baby brain apologies this is wrong. I have this muddled with another I've watched recently both involving boats... Will come back with the actual name when I remember

The whole thing is such a complex, tangled web of lies.

Just looking at Alex's embezzlement is, by itself, absolutely awful.

He was a personal injury lawyer. He used his power and money to steal from his clients. And a lot of his clients were his friends.
The case with the housekeeper is the most shocking.
She died at his house. He sued his own insurance company on behalf of her sons, for her death

He then kept the $4.3million compensation and didn't give a penny to the sons.

He is currently serving a prison sentence.

It’s a weird one.

Wasn’t his wife thinking of divorcing him? That could have something to do with him flipping? Maybe?

Think he just thought he was above the law. He liked a drink too so maybe this was also a factor if he’d been drinking that night.

The working theory is the son was collateral damage. He wasn’t supposed to be killed.

Guilty as hell. He was at the kennels when the shooting occurred, he’s lied and lied and lied. Maybe he shot Paul on purpose to try and stop the financial investigation. Maybe he just planned to shoot his wife who was reportedly planning to divorce him and Paul was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Wow, i hadn’t heard of this, how awful. It sounds more like the plot of Knives Out or similar than real life events! There are some dreadful goings on in the world.

The documentary said Alex was a heavy drug user (he uses that excuse himself for where all his money was going).

It also says it was rumoured the wife had hired a divorce attorney and a forensic accountant (as bills were going unpaid and she didn't know why).

They blatantly killed the house keeper and covered up at least one other death. Who knows what other secrets she knew about him.

Drug addict + murderer + wife leaving him.

But I just don't understand how someone who was so concerned with protecting the family dynasty and whitewashing his son of any responsibility for Mallory's death- why would he shoot the same son two years later?

You just answered it. The "whitewashing" shows his faulty character. One doesn't need a deep meaning motive when he's an ill-tempered arsehole.

Is the trial done? Was going to watch it when it's over, so I can skip the nothing parts.

There’s an excellent podcast “The Murdaugh Murders” by Mandy Matney, which gives loads of info of all the various crimes and investigations.

been watching the trial / one witness, the lawyer for the boat incident , said when Paul died so the case against him - which gave a motive. No real motive given for Maggie.

also - when he has admitted being at the kennels, he states he “got out of there” because he was so hot and didn’t want to do any work. Would you not say “I wish I hadn’t left” or “if only I had stayed maybe I could’ve saved them”…..

I feel it’s all a huge act he’s putting on, time will tell , I hope the jury see through it all

He's as guilty as sin and in addition to the murders has cynically betrayed so many people close to him in such a vile and blatant way: his in-laws, his friend and colleague who took on a burden of debt for him, his extended family.

You can also see the stresses building up to the point of murder: strain of boating accident, discovery of fraud, sacking from law firm and aligned scandal, loss of status in community, then possible rejection by wife.

The murders were definitely planned though given that he summoned his wife to the property. He must be a psychopath in my view to get up there on the stand and try and insist in all seriousness that he did not commit these murders and to put his remaining family and friends through the pain of this trial. As I understand it, his wife's elderly parents are still alive and he is willing to put them through this?

And surely his son Buster must have some suspicions but maybe he has to believe in his father's innocence in order to maintain his sanity?

The whole saga is like a sordid, gritty and deadly version of Dallas, And it has a serious element in it too in that the trial exposes the shocking divisions in status in American society between the rich and poor, the connected and the not so well connected and the different ways these two groups are treated by the justice system.

The casual sprinkling of guns is pretty hair-raising too!

Does everyone think his story about being addicted to pills is real?
I am not convinced and having heard the testimony of the colleague he cheated out of money, Alex wouldn't have been able to handle his work load and win so many cases had he been spaced out all of the time. Has it been proven that he went to rehabilitation, or rather did the doctors there confirm that he was addicted? Presumably they would have tested his blood at various points. And wasn't his blood on the night of the murder shown to be free of drink and drugs?

Also being addicted to prescription pain killers because of an old sports injury is more 'respectable' and less demeaning than just admitting you were greedy and living way beyond your means. Also, I suspect more corruption will reveal itself; I wouldn't be surprised if he used some of the money to pay off people to keep them quiet. His close friend of many years who was also a lawyer of similar status (the one he left with hideous debt) said he didn't earn nearly the same as Murdaugh.

I also think he did it, but just to mention ......maw maw and paw paw are commonly used Southern names for grandparents.

It's his son Paul that he's referring to ad PauPau.

Clearly he is guilty.

FFS, this is a real crime, with real people, not an episode of CSI for you all to slaver over.
How can you possibly know whether he’s guilty or not?

So, he decided to testify in his own defense.

”Ok, so I lied before but I’m totally telling the truth now.”

Sure, pal.

I've only finished episode one, so wish this thread title hadn't contained what I assume is a whopping soiler. 🤦🏻‍♀️

🙄 it’s on Netflix. Has been for a while

This.

Are you serious? Regardless of the documentary being on Netflix, this is real life and real people, not your Sunday night entertainment to get annoyed about being spoiled on.

I. Didn’t know anything about this till yesterday, it’s very shocking

Seriously? I've never seen the Netflix show but this case has been very widely reported. Maybe bbc news should add a spoiler warning as well

The behaviour panel on YouTube have an analysis of his behaviour during his initial interview. It's interesting.

I think I read somewhere that Maggie had seen a lawyer about divorce. But in his initial interview, he didn't mention this. He also seemed to switch between making sort of disparaging comments about Paul to saying he was great, which was quite strange.