Authori Rule Death of Gay Man Near Murdgh's Property a Homici | Insi Edn

alex murdaugh gay guy

The son of nvicted killer Alex Murdgh has ma his first public statement about mors lkg him to gay acquatance Stephen Smh's ath.

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MURDGH MURR MYSTERY: DEATH OF STEPHEN SMH, GAY MAN FOUND NEAR FAY'S PROPERTY, RULED A HOMICI

* alex murdaugh gay guy *

"We have to hire a properly crentialed crimal forensic expert who n exhume a body and terme a e of ath based on somebody beg a ff for a long perd of time, " the Smh fay's attorney, Eric Bland, tells Insi was openly gay, and acrdg to a Netflix documentary on the Murdgh murrs, he was mored to have had a relatnship wh body was found on a lonely untry road near the Murdgh tate, wh his r three away and apparently out of gas. The fay's lks to ath of 19-year-old openly gay nursg stunt Stephen Smh, whose name 'was lked wh Bter's, ' the Murdgh's elst son, is also unr vtigatn, prevly reported. Four years before the crash, Stephen Smh, 19, was found ad the middle of a untry road 15 om the Murdgh fay's Islandton huntg lodge on July 8, 's ath was led a h-and-n, but his mother Sandy has always mataed that her son, who was gay, was the victim of a hate crime and the murr was vered up.

In June, SLED opened an vtigatn to the ath of Stephen Smh, a young gay man who was found ad on a ral road outsi Hampton on July 8, 2015. Bter Murdgh, the son of nvicted killer Alex Murdgh, has ma his first public statement on the ath of gay classmate Stephen Smh, sayg he was not a relatnship wh Smh and had nothg to do wh his ath.

Nam and stori of the Murdgh fay surfaced six years ago regardg the ath of 19-year-old Stephen Smh, a young gay man found ad the middle of a lonely ral road wh several ep gash his head, but vtigators said they were never able to directly nnect anyone the fay to the cint.

THE MURDGH'S FAY'S LKS TO MYSTER ATHS - CLUDG GAY NURSG STUNT - UNR SCTY

Jurors were told that on the day of the murrs, Murdgh was nonted by his law firm CFO about missg money that he had, Maggie, Pl and Alex Murdgh left to right (Maggie Murdgh/Facebook)Three days after the murrs, a hearg was also slated to take place a lawsu over a fatal boat crash Pl was volved, on 4 September 2021 – one day after he was oted by his law firm for stealg funds – Murdgh claimed he was the victim of a drive-by kept up the story for days, wh jurors beg shown a police sketch of an imagary man he claimed ambhed later, he nfsed that he had orchtrated the plot claimg he had asked his alleged dg aler and distant Curtis Eddie Smh to shoot him the head so his survivg son Bter would get a $12m life surance well as the boat crash se, the d scheme and the botched hman plot, there are at least two other unexplaed aths wh some tie to on om the murrs, an vtigatn was reopened to the 2015 ath of Stephen Smh, who was found ad the middle of the road Hampton openly gay 19-year-old had suffered blunt force trma to the head and his ath was officially led a h-and-n. Alex Murdgh’s survivg son, Bter, on Monday “unequivolly” nied “vic mors” that he was volved the ath of a gay former classmate he was lked to romantilly. “Beg gay the Murdgh fay would have been looked down upon, ” she said.

BTER MURDGH SAYS HE WASN'T INVOLVED GAY STUNT'S DEATH

“Beg gay the Murdough fay would have been looked down upon, ” Pl’s ex-girliend told a Netflix doc. Bter Murdgh is not gay. Bter was acced of havg a flg wh Stephen Smh, a gay teenager found ad on a remote road.

Rumors suggtg Bter Murdgh is gay persist due to his alleged flg wh Stephen Smh, a gay teenager found ad on a remote road Hampton County.

IS BTER MURDGH GAY? HIS SEXUALY DISCSED

Smh, who was openly gay, was found ad on the si of a Hampton County road. The revelatns me after Tuday’s nfirmatn that the spic ath is beg vtigated as a homici — a day after murrer Alex Murdgh’s survivg son nied “vic mors” he was volved or had been timate wh his gay classmate. “Beg gay the Murdgh fay would have been looked down upon, ” said Doughty, who was close to the whole fay.

But the South Carola Highway Patrol found no evince of any crash, fuelg spicns that his body was simply dumped, a gay nursg stunt the nservative small town, had been a classmate of Bter Murdgh’s. Is Bter Murdgh gay?

Dpe the lack of rmatn about Bter’s personal life, some have speculated that he may be gay.

MURDGH MURRS: IS BTER MURDGH GAY?

Acrdg to reports, Smh was openly gay and had been seeg Murdgh before his untimely ath. Officers vtigated the tip, and the possibily of a hate crime emerged: Smh was gay, and his name was lked wh Bter’s the gossip l of former high-school classmat.

The ath of Stephen Smh, an openly gay classmate of Bter Murdgh, is still a mystery. On July 8, 2015, openly gay 19-year-old Stephen Smh was found ad the middle of Sandy Run Road, nearby the Moselle tate where Pl and Maggie were later murred by Alex.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* ALEX MURDAUGH GAY GUY

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grid-full-bleed grid-no-gap SplScreenContentHearMa-fNigKG daohZh"><div class="GridItem-buujkM eHLzLy grid--em"><div class="SplScreenContentHearTleBlock-sCMXE jActCi"><div data-ttid="ContentHearRubric"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX dZhWBL bric SplScreenContentHearRubric-cLHEJQ ildzkT"><a class="RubricLk-gRWSOU fgWnkQ bric__lk" href="/magaze/letter-om-south-rola"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Letter om South Carola</span></a></div></div><h1 data-ttid="ContentHearHed" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SplScreenContentHearHed-lcUSuI iUEiRd NbxED dfelga">The Corpt World Behd the Murdgh Murrs</h1><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SplScreenContentHearDek-emptdL iUEiRd wOnsu dJrDEb">In isolated, poor regns of South Carola, g om an éle fay offered a feelg of impuny. Did this license lead Alex Murdgh to m d after d—and then kill his wife and son?</div><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl SplScreenContentHearByle-kvEhqE ejWxsm"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH bwbwth byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn lOLCm byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG uhfVi byle__preamble">By </span><a class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM ByleLk-gEnFiw iUEiRd ggMZaT cXqSTL brYZgj byle__name-lk button" href="/ntributors/jam-lasdun">Jam Lasdun</a></span></span></p></div><time data-ttid="ContentHearPublishDate" dateTime="2023-01-16T06:00:00-05:00" class="SplScreenContentHearPublishDate-bMGEVk gvRvVr">January 16, 2023</time><div class="SocialInsWrapper-hKMEXV ffgPVr social-ins social-ins--standard SplScreenContentHearSocialShare-gSVclr kUKgnn"><ul 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media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w, 1920w, 2240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="A portra of Alex Murdgh next to his hoe and ad bodi." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></span></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 SplScreenContentHearGrid-kFpOdh fLkIyA"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn SplScreenContentHearCaptn-iOfEOv ckLUKG"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">The Murdgh melodrama has been marked by one btal swerve after another.</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Illtratn by Valent Tkach</span></div></div></div></hear></div><div data-attribute-verso-pattern="article-body" class="ArticlePageContentBackGround-cNiFNN kbAoLA article-body__ntent"><div 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story" class="ActnBarButton-dyFOZU cjjxgx bookmark mobile"><span class="ActnBarSendaryButtonPrimaryIn-isbvyN cAwccV bookmark-button-in"><svg class="in in-bookmark" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Save this story</tle><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M20 23.9508L12.5 19.7312L5 23.9508V2.95081H14V3.93211H6V22.1845L12.5 18.5536L19 22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z"></path><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M23 3H20V0H19V3H16V4H19V7H20V4H23V3Z"></path></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd bkefvo gkccfO">Save this story</span></button></div></div></div><div class="LightboxWrapper-dxsWBV hhylRt"><div class="ArticlePageChunksContent-etcMtP imbgVA"><div data-ttid="ArticlePageChunks" class="ArticlePageChunks-fLyCVG lmuXQm"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><figure data-ttid="IameEmbed" class="IameEmbedWrapper-sc-dRedg cjyRVU iame-embed"><div data-ttid="IameEmbedContaer" class="IameEmbedContaer-hptgUZ fXVBaX"><div class="IameEmbedAspectRatWrapper-hFVJps BKpgQ"><iame class="IameEmbedContent-cMdiev csnuAY IameEmbedContent lazyload" height="90" width="100%" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-orig allow-popups" tle="Embedd Frame" data-src=" allowfullscreen="" allow="toplay *; encrypted-media *; clipboard-wre; toplay; fullscreen; picture--picture"></iame></div></div></figure><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">In the early hours of Febary 24, 2019, a seventeen-foot-long fishg boat entered a narrow astal let near Befort, South Carola. It was foggy, the passengers were navigatg wh a flashlight, and they had been drkg all eveng. At around 2:30 <em class="small">A.M.</em>, a bridge loomed up the dark, and the boat h pilgs before nng up the neart bank, wh a gashed hull. Three of the six people on board, all young adults, were thrown to the icy water. Two rurfaced, but there was no sign of the third, a neteen-year-old named Mallory Beach. Her body was found a week later, a marsh a few away.</p><p class="paywall">There was some uncertaty at first about who was steerg the boat at the moment of impact, but was known to be one of two young men. Both had nsumed alhol, though the survivors reported that one of them, a neteen-year-old named Pl Murdgh, was more ebriated than the other. He had slipped to an aggrsive alter ego, nicknamed Timmy by his iends. One of the passengers later ttified, “When they n tell he’s dnk, somebody will say, ‘All right. Here Timmy. We got to go.’ ” The boat belonged to Pl’s fay, and he was behd the wheel for most of the eveng. However, Pl’s iend Connor Cook had sometim taken over while Pl stepped away to argue wh his girliend, eventually htg her. Whoever was steerg faced dire nsequenc if found rponsible for the accint. But there was a signifint dispary of power and privilege: Connor was a nstctn worker, and Pl was a Murdgh.</p><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">The surname, pronounced “Murdock,” was a potent charm the state’s southernmost regn, known as the Lowuntry. Sce 1920, three generatns of Murdghs had prid as solicors—prosecutors—over the Fourteenth Judicial Circu, while also amassg a small fortune om private ligatn through the fay firm. The solicorship passed out of the fay 2005, but Pl’s father, Alex, served as a volunteer the office and apparently retaed close ti to lol law enforcement.</p><p class="paywall">Four of the survivors of the boat accint were brought to the hospal, where an officer entered Pl’s room to take a statement. Pl was jt startg when his father and his grandfather barged . “I am his lawyer startg now,” the grandfather, Randolph Murdgh III, told the officer, acrdg to law-enforcement rerds. “He isn’t givg any statements.” While Randolph stood watch, Alex Murdgh began wanrg around the hospal, an apparent effort, as one wns put , “to orchtrate somethg.”</p><p class="paywall">A towerg gger-haired man, Alex was hard to miss. Numero wns observed him gog and out of the survivors’ rooms. A hospal employee heard him repeatedly warn Connor Cook not to say anythg. In a later posn, Cook relled Alex promisg him that “everythg was gog to be all right. I jt need to keep my mouth shut and tell them I didn’t know who was drivg.”</p><p class="paywall">As the vtigatn ntued, however, Cook and his parents me to spect that the Murdghs were tryg to p the blame on him, possibly wh the nnivance of lol law enforcement. Fortunately for Cook, the other survivors eventually ttified wh near-certaty— one se revisg a prev statement—that Pl had crashed the boat, and April, 2019, Pl was charged wh three crim, cludg boatg unr the fluence rultg ath. But the Murdghs’ abily to shape events was far om exhsted.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Judg South Carola are elected not by voters but by the state’s General Assembly. To fend Pl, who plead not guilty, the Murdghs hired Dick Harpootlian, a powerful state senator and a member of the Senate Judiciary Commtee. “Harpootlian’s edge is his built- advantage wh the judg,” a proment Charlton attorney told me. An acqutal for Pl uld have placed Cook unr a cloud of spicn, and permanently muddied the qutn of culpabily Mallory Beach’s ath.</p><p class="paywall">But there would be no trial. On the night of June 7, 2021, the se took the first a seri of btal swerv that were to bee s hallmark. Pl and his mother, Maggie, were found ad outsi the kennels at Moselle, the Murdghs’ seventeen-hundred-acre huntg tate. It was Alex who reported the crime, llg 911 shortly after ten o’clock. He told police that he’d jt returned home after spendg most of the eveng out. Pl had been shot at close range twice, wh a shotgun. Maggie had been shot multiple tim, wh an asslt rifle.</p><p class="paywall">Like most observers, I assumed that the murrs were vengeance (or preëmptive jtice) for Beach’s ath. A radilly different possibily was raised by a lol media se, <em class="small">fs</em>News, which reported that Alex was a person of tert the killgs. But the claim was wily dismissed as a basels slur agast a grievg hband and father.</p><p class="paywall">Three months later, another swerve: Alex aga lled 911, tellg the dispatcher that he’d been shot the head by a stranger while changg a flat tire on his r. His story seemed to nfirm the existence of a wrathful nemis stalkg the fay. But a passerby who also lled 911 reported that the scene looked like a “setup,” and Alex’s story quickly unravelled. While the fabritn was fallg apart, the Murdghs’ law firm—known by the unfortunate acronym <em class="small">pmped</em>—disclosed that he had been phed out of the firm a day before the cint, for allegedly misappropriatg funds. In an terview on the “Today” show, Harpootlian, who was now reprentg Alex, clared that his client was sufferg om opid addictn, and had ed a signifint portn of the stolen money to buy dgs. Alex was rehab, full of remorse and askg for prayers. And he’d revised his acunt of the roadsi cint: he claimed that, overwhelmed by the loss of his wife and son, he’d persuad a distant who did odd jobs for him, Curtis (Eddie) Smh, to shoot him ad and make look like murr, so that his survivg son, Bter, uld llect on a ten-ln-dollar life-surance policy. Co Eddie had botched the job.</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">Alex and Eddie were promptly charged wh attempted surance d. But the picture soon blurred aga. About two weeks after the cint, Alex showed up for a bond hearg wh no sign of jury to his head. (When I asked Harpootlian about this, his rponse was terse: “Good hair.”) In the “Today” terview, Harpootlian dited that the suici-exemptn clse Alex’s policy had expired. There was no reason to fake a murr. Meanwhile, Eddie was nyg everythg. “If I’d a shot him, he’d be ad,” he told reporters.</p></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssS ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="kxu8"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">I’d been terted the se sce the murrs of Pl and Maggie Murdgh, but was this explible roadsi cint which turned me to a full-on Redd-scrapg, podst-vourg follower. Years ago, I wrote a novel which the protagonist sets up a siar suici-disguised-as-murr scheme for an surance payout. I’d worried at the time that this turn was a stretch, and had nagged at me ever sce. But here was real-life vditn of my plottg, wh the add twist that even the unrlyg suici story appeared to be a fictn. The narrative seemed to be enterg the realm of ept noir, plete wh serial fake-outs, timatns of rptn, and a te psychologil puzzle at s center. Who was this jolly-lookg, ddy-cheeked attorney, sg like Santa one fay photograph after another, his arms draped lovgly around his wife and sons?</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">I flew to Charlton and drove across the astal pla to Hampton, the Murdgh seat for a century. The terra there is the gray-green of Corot landsp, but flatter and drabber, wh Dollar General stor and El Cheapo gas statns stead of viaducts and wdls. Hampton has seen better days, and a former Wtghoe plant stands as a poignant monument. The lamat once manufactured were close to stctible (they were ed for bowlg-alley floors), but the plant self is s.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="Woman tells partner to wa for her to wre an email." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE gdZTpI ptn RponsiveCartoonCaptn-dokfdF hJgaLQ rponsive-rtoon__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo bsWloa ptn__text">“Jt need a mute to send a quick e-mail and then three hours to wonr if the tone was appropriate.”</span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn RponsiveCartoonCred-bKlQqO faLAFb rponsive-rtoon__cred"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT bmQtfn ptn__cred">Cartoon by Benjam Schwartz</span></div><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span 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20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">The only other stctur of any sle town are the red brick edific of the First Baptist Church, the law office where Alex ed to work, and the unty urthoe. A urthoe guard showed me the trial room, potg out anctral portras of Murdghs starg down at the jury box. I asked him what he thought of Alex. “Real nice gentleman,” he said, but cled to speak further. Nearby, a unty employee explaed to me that some lols were too aaid of Alex to talk openly.</p><p class="paywall">By now, Alex’s lawyers had nfirmed that their client was ed a person of tert the killg of his wife and son. No motive for an act of such nceivable horror had been offered. <em>People</em> reported that Maggie had nsulted a divorce lawyer weeks before the shootg, but that hardly amounted to an explanatn for the slghter. (Harpootlian has said that there is no evince for the claim.) Onle foms were full of theori, but they seemed rived more om Norse myth than om human psychology: a typil njecture proposed that Pl had murred his mother durg an argument, then was killed by his enraged father. (Alex’s attorneys cled to rpond to qutns about many of the allegatns. He has generally nied wrongdog and has disputed facts about his se the media and urt.)</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-2 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">I was tryg to avoid what Flkner lled the outsir’s “eagerns to believe anythg about the South not even provid be rogatory but merely bizarre enough.” In particular, I wanted to rist any ia of the ongog saga as a tale of some purely gothic malevolence. Jack Fanng, a former environmental nsultant om Charlton, suggted that an unrstandg of the lol landspe might offer some sights—if not to the events themselv, then at least to the Murdgh fay and s peculiar posn the Lowuntry.</p><p class="paywall">Fanng and I met Hampton and drove toward the Combahee River, crisscrossg swamps where he had often fished and mped. Loggg tcks plied the narrow blacktop. The scrawny logs strapped on the flatbeds, Fanng told me, were loblolly p that had been grown for pulp—“a nasty dtry.” He laid out a stark history of the regn. Rice plantatns, pennt on slave labor, had given way to tton, rn, and soy—crops that pleted the soil. The land, further leached of nutrients by chemil fertilizers, was eventually too poor for much bis the loblolly p, clters of which stood on the flat scb, awag the chasaw. Wh the loss of agricultural jobs, lol lawmakers stggled to attract other dtri. Medil-waste disposal, tire grdg, and other grim occupatns joed the loggg and pulpg tras.</p><p class="paywall">Personal-jury lawyers also flourished, wh one firm particular profg om the trend: <em class="small">pmped</em>. It had perfected a ligatn strategy that took advantage of an unual state provisn allowg rints who had suffered an jury to sue whatever unty they chose, as long as the pany had a prence there. The jury uld have occurred anywhere South Carola. The provisn was rcd 2005, but by then Hampton County had bee a mec for platiffs, wh obligg juri equently awardg multiln-dollar verdicts sus brought by <em class="small">pmped</em>. (A 2002 article <em>Forb</em> ced a medil-malpractice se that end wh a fourteen-ln-dollar payout—thirteen tim the natnal average for siar s.) Big rporatns began avoidg the area. Walmart veloped plans to open a store Hampton, but after discsns wh a lawyer the ia was abandoned, acrdg to <em>Forb</em>. Compani that uldn’t leave—such as CSX Transportatn, whose railway tracks n through Hampton—often found more nvenient to settle when <em class="small">pmped</em> filed a su agast them. Better that than face a Murdgh-iendly jury.</p><p class="paywall">As this racket was explaed to me, I was remd of the Hchck adaptatn of du Mrier’s “Jamai Inn,” which a rapac squire and his gang plunr any vsel unwise enough to enter their remote Cornish ve. Secln certaly seems to have been a key element the Murdgh story. Bill Nettl, the U.S. Attorney South Carola unr Print Barack Obama, told me, “It’s important to unrstand how isolated that part of the world is. It’s sanely poor. And there’s no dtry, asi om sug people.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">More joltg swerv followed the murr of Pl and Maggie, as the South Carola Law Enforcement Divisn announced that was examg two more fatali potentially nnected to the Murdghs. The first, om 2015, volved a young nursg stunt, Stephen Smh, who had been found ad the middle of a road near Hampton, wh a ser head jury. Superficial appearanc suggted that he’d n out of gas, begun walkg home, and been accintally h by a vehicle. But none of the ual evince of a h-and-n had been found. “I saw no vehicle bris, skid marks, or juri nsistent wh someone beg stck by a vehicle,” a highway-patrol officer at the scene reported. Days after the killg, Smh’s mother told the police she’d heard that Pl and Bter Murdgh were behd . Officers vtigated the tip, and the possibily of a hate crime emerged: Smh was gay, and his name was lked wh Bter’s the gossip l of former high-school classmat. (Bter uld not be reached for ment.) But before the officers uld track the mor to s source, the pathologist the se scribed Smh’s ath as the rult of beg stck by a motor vehicle—ntradictg the opns of the unty roner and at least one highway-patrol vtigator. No Murdghs were ever qutned.</p><p class="paywall">The send fataly volved Gloria Satterfield, the Murdghs’ hoekeeper for twenty-four years. In 2018, she died after apparently trippg on the steps outsi the hoe at Moselle. In 2022, vtigators obtaed permissn to exhume her body. Authori have yet to reveal any evince of foul play the aths of Smh or Satterfield. But a long-ncealed surance matter arisg om Satterfield’s ath provid the public wh a major revelatn: Alex’s alleged fancial crim had extend far beyond misappropriatg office funds. Moreover, appeared that some signifint members of the Lowuntry’s bs and legal muny had facilated his ceptns for years.</p><p class="paywall">Satterfield’s nnectn to the wir story was disvered by accint. In October, 2019, a lol reporter named Mandy Matney revealed that, while siftg through urt documents about the Murdghs, she’d stumbled across a wrongful-ath settlement related to the hoekeeper’s mise. More than half a ln dollars had evintly been award to her two sons, Tony and Brian. Tony read Matney’s article and was shocked: neher he nor Brian had been told of the settlement. All they knew was that after their mother’s ath, the prev year, Alex had approached the fay wh a genero-seemg proposn: he would help them sue him over their mother’s ath, orr to llect a large sum om his surance. (He had a homeowner’s policy wh Lloyd’s.) To that end, he’d remend a lawyer named Cory Flemg. He didn’t tell them that Flemg was his close iend.</p><p class="paywall">Eric Bland, a malpractice attorney whom the Satterfield brothers hired after learng of the settlement, talked me through the ld-blood scheme behd the scheme. In the fall of 2018, Cory Flemg learned that Lloyd’s would pay out full on Alex’s policy. The law required Flemg to rm the personal reprentative of the Satterfield tate about the settlement. At the time, the personal reprentative was Tony. But, for the plot to work, Tony had to be replaced by someone Alex’s pocket. Alex and Cory Flemg told him that the se was gettg plited, and that he should let a profsnal banker bee the reprentative. Needls to say, they had a name to suggt.</p><p class="paywall">For years, <em class="small">pmped</em> had been dog bs wh the Hampton-based Palmetto State Bank. The bank’s chief operatg officer at the time, Rsell Laffte, had acmodated—and profed om—numero unual fancial algs by Alex. In earlier transactns, Laffte had played the part of the personal reprentative. But this stance was a vice-print, Chad Wtendorf, who signed on. Wtendorf had no experience the role, but that was fe: his job was to know nothg and to say nothg to the Satterfield brothers about any money g their way. (Lawyers for Laffte and for Flemg cled to ment.)</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-3 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Law firms often partner wh outsi anizatns to craft stctured settlement plans for their clients, orr to guarantee long-term e and to mimize tax. <em class="small">pmped</em> had regularly worked wh a reputable Atlanta-based surance pany lled Fe Consultg. But Alex created a shadow versn of the pany, openg at least two “dog bs as” acunts at Bank of Ameri unr the name—wa for —Fe.</p><p class="paywall">When the Lloyd’s check arrived, Flemg ducted fe for himself and for Wtendorf, then sent the remag $403,500 to one of Alex’s Fe acunts, apparently nfint that, the event of an vtigatn, he uld claim that he thought he was sendg the money to Fe Consultg. In all likelihood, neher he nor Alex ever believed that their actns would be challenged. It took the -ex-macha event of a dnken boat crash for Alex’s fanc to e unr the scty of lol reporters.</p><p class="paywall">Bland, the Satterfield brothers’ attorney, began prsg thori to open a crimal vtigatn to the settlement. While dog so, he learned that the brothers had been cheated of even more money: Alex had another liabily policy, wh the Ntil Insurance Company, which had also paid out. This settlement was for $3.8 ln.</p></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssS ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="8ls9sm"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">“If Alex had jt told the brothers he’d won them a twenty-five-thoand-dollar settlement, they’d have thought he hung the moon,” Bland told me. “But he stole every cent.” Alex even stood by as the bank foreclosed on the mobile home where Brian, a gnively impaired adult, had been livg on fourteen thoand dollars a year om a grocery-store job. “The spe of Murdgh’s pravy is whout precent Wtern jurispnce,” a lawsu filed by the Ntil Insurance Company stat. (Alex has nied the lawsu’s claims, but he has agreed to repay the Satterfields.) Ntil’s claratn may be hyperbolic and self-servg, but the more one learns about Alex the ls of an exaggeratn seems.</p><p class="paywall">In the wake of the disveri, South Carola officials began lookg at Alex’s handlg of other large surance settlements, and a slew of siar thefts me to light, rultg several dozen charg of fancial crim. The prosecutors’ briefs give an imprsn of someone livg a trance of entlement, siphong funds om any flow of money that entered his field of awarens. Alex allegedly stole om lleagu and strangers, om the able-bodied and the jured, om the livg and the ad, om the young and the old, om a whe highway-patrol officer and a Black former football player. The latter, Hakeem Pckney, was a af man who beme quadriplegic after a r accint, then died after the ventilator at his nursg home was left unplugged. Both lami generated surance settlements that Alex apparently looted. Sometim, prosecutors say, he duped clients to signg disbursement papers for outsized “expens” agast their settlements; sometim he fed their signatur; sometim he simply helped himself to vast sums om <em class="small">pmped</em>’s Client Tst Acunt (which reportedly ran on an honor system).</p><p class="paywall">After Mandy Matney broke the Satterfield story, Alex’s bond was set at seven ln dollars. He is currently awag trial jail. His fancial assets have been placed unr the ntrol of urt-appoted receivers. In the meantime, Rsell Laffte, the former Palmetto State Bank executive, has already been tried and found guilty on multiple feral charg, cludg wire d and bank d. He and Cory Flemg also face multiple state dictments for d and nspiracy. Chad Wtendorf, astonishgly, is still affiliated wh Palmetto, though Febary, 2022, he rerd a posn for Bland which he profsed levels of profsnal eptu that stra belief: he claimed not to have known the meang of the word “fiduciary,” even though he was the print of the Inpennt Banks of South Carola at the time. He also appeared to implite a Hampton judge who reportedly had close ti to the Murdghs, Carmen Mullen, helpg to keep hidn the paperwork related to the Satterfield settlement; there have been lls for a state judicial vtigatn to Mullen’s alleged “pattern of ethilly qutnable nduct.” (Mullen uld not be reached for ment.) <em class="small">pmped</em>, which sists that did not turn a bld eye to the activi of s miscreant partner, has repaid all the money Alex stole om s clients, and the once mighty partnership has dissolved. In all, prosecutors alleged, Alex had stolen at least eight ln dollars. I asked Dick Harpootlian if he still mataed that much of this money had gone to feed Alex’s opid hab. “That’s what I said urt,” he replied, refully. “I don’t know about anythg else.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Alex may have been exposed as a thief, but the double homici and the other aths remaed unrolved. In July, 2021, police released the rerdg of the 911 ll that Alex had ma after disverg his wife and son. By now, most people thought that Alex was fakg the panicked voice which he reported the murrs. Carol Black, a lawyer origally om neighborg Colleton County, likened to the scene the movie “Fargo” which the nefar William H. Macy character practic reportg his wife’s abductn. A novelist iend who’d lived the area, Padgett Powell, thought that the language self was off. “My wife and child have been shot badly,” Alex says on the tape, and to Powell this phrasg sound “archly formal and rehearsed.” I took his pot, though I had to wonr how a person would sound if he’d genuely stumbled onto a scene like that. Would a more sual phrasg, or a ls antic tone, have sound any more scere? I was havg some ristance to the thought that Alex was puttg on an act the ll. The implitn—that he really was volved the murr of his wife and son—was beyond disturbg.</p><p class="paywall">Alex’s lawyers wouldn’t give me accs to him, but his Eddie was out on bail, and I cid to pay him a vis. My wife, who had joed me on her way to meet relativ Befort, me along. The drive took through semi-ral subdivisns wh dribs of gray Spanish moss hangg om tre and telephone pol. As we approached Eddie’s sprawlg yard, outsi the town of Walterboro, we saw the unmistakable figure of Eddie himself, shaggy-haired and whiskery, spreadg crs on his driveway, acpanied by a mcular dog. In addn to the d charg, he was facg asslt-and-battery charg om the roadsi cint. I knew I wasn’t alone speculatg that, if Alex really was volved the killg of Pl and Maggie, Eddie was a likely ndidate for the send shooter.</p><p class="paywall">He looked over as we pulled , and I waved nervoly, preparg to beat a hasty retreat. But he waved back, and my wife asked if she uld play wh the dog. A se l up his weathered face. “Sure n,” he said. A moment later, as she entertaed the dog, I found myself nversatn wh s owner.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-4 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">There were no bombshells: for all his unexpected affabily, Eddie was reful about what he said, and most of what he told me matched statements that he or his lawyers had already ma. We started wh the roadsi cint. By his acunt, he’d thought that he was meetg up wh Alex to do an odd job, only to disver that he wanted Eddie to shoot him. He’d refed, and wrted the gun om Alex. The weapon had gone off durg the stggle, but Eddie was certa that no bullet had h Alex—suggtg that Alex mt have jured his head some other way. After the scuffle, Eddie said, he had hidn the gun a place that he tend to keep secret until his “dyg day.” None of this was new rmatn, but, when I broached the topic of the double homici, Eddie mentned somethg that surprised me. He claimed that, although he’d spent a lot of time wh Alex, he’d never met Maggie and barely knew her sons. (He was close enough to the fay, however, to have paid his rpects when Randolph Murdgh III died, shortly after the murrs.)</p><p class="paywall">The meetg end amiably, but hdsight I spect that Eddie didn’t give me the whole picture. My bt explanatn of the roadsi cint is that Alex asked him to create a bullet graze on his head, and that Eddie eher obliged or wnsed Alex creatg the graze himself. (Authori termed that Alex’s wound was superficial, though his attorneys have said that was more ser.) Eddie then removed the gun om the scene—also at Alex’s requt, so that wouldn’t ntradict the story of a stranger takg a potshot—and subsequently refed to disclose s whereabouts bee he knew that uld get him trouble. Eddie’s apparent willgns to m the risky acts dit that Alex may have had some hold over him. This notn is bolstered by a recent dictment lkg them yet another alleged crimal scheme, which volved nartics and money lnrg. Whether Eddie’s ments to me distancg himself om Maggie and Pl stem om this crimal alliance, or om somethg even darker, is an open qutn.</p><p class="paywall">Murr charg were fally brought agast Alex this past July. Though long predicted, the announcement shook me, stantly ntractg the wi spectm of possibili to the worst imagable realy. All talk of revenge killgs, or of h men hired to fortall divorce proceedgs, now seemed moot. The dictment portrays Alex as the sole killer, actg wh “malice aforethought” and wieldg both weapons. No evince was laid out, but <em class="small">FITS</em>News and other outlets were soon reportg that vio om Pl’s phone had revealed Alex’s prence near the kennels at 8:44 <em class="small">P.M.</em>—more than an hour before he lled 911, and wh the supposed wdow for both victims’ tim of ath. (Alex’s attorneys have said that the vio picts a “nvivial” fay.) High-velocy anic spatter had supposedly been found on the clothg that Alex was wearg that night. There were reports that he’d asked Maggie to meet him at Moselle that eveng, effectively lurg her there.</p><p class="paywall">In terms of motive, the most plsible theory had to do wh a civil su filed by Mallory Beach’s fay which blamed Alex for lendg Pl the boat and enablg his drkg. Shortly before the murrs at Moselle, a cril hearg had been schled which uld have pelled disvery of Alex’s assets—somethg he’d so far managed to avoid. Given all the d he’d apparently been up to the prev , he had reason to be serly worried about this impendg shaft of daylight on his fancial affairs. Furthermore, the Beach’ attorney, Mark Tsley, had threatened to brg su agast Pl and Maggie if Alex ntued stonewallg, which uld have forced them to ttify unr oath about the boozy culture that prevailed at Moselle. “That was where the party spot was Hampton,” a wns the Stephen Smh se told an vtigator. “A lot of fights, alhol, dgs.” Acrdg to a posn, beer was kept a walk- er oler, and unrage kids were ee to help themselv. Photographs of Pl that have entered public circulatn suggt that his parents were fortable seeg their son staggerg around blotto.</p></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssS ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="wvndr"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">“Pl and Maggie were how I was keepg Alex hont,” Tsley told me. Unfortunately—so the theory went—the threat gave Alex a powerful centive to get rid of them. This not only would prevent their ttimony but uld potentially unrme the whole su. After all, a jury would be unlikely to award a large settlement agast a man whose wife and son had jt been gunned down. And wh the boat crash supplyg a motive for someone else to have killed them, Alex would perhaps be viewed as a victim rather than as a spect—pecially if he further flected spicn by g more than one weapon.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="Couple openg meal livery service box one box wh chef si." 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3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">The theory had an icy logic: kill Pl and Maggie, save self and money. And the vigilante-jtice scenar was nsistent wh his stagg of the roadsi cint, three months later. Moreover, <em class="small">pmped</em> first quired about mislaid funds on the very day of the killgs, which uld have pound Alex’s feelg of beg unr tremendo prsure. Yet this explanatn aga hged on the ia of a man plottg the ath of his own son, and I still uldn’t get my head around that. Pl was certaly a handful. “Holy terror” was about the kst ephet I heard om people who’d known him—most scriptns evoked a teen-age Caligula. But ’s surely a long way om there to the planned executn of one’s child.</p><p class="paywall">A hearg was set for July, at the Colleton County Courthoe, Walterboro. I flew to Charlton and drove across the now faiar landspe. I n’t pretend that I was growg fond of , exactly, but I’d begun to see how you might get attached to s stubborn plans—the spent farmland, wh s mounds of loggg bris; the flat church, wh their thumbtack spir; the double-wis surround by cha-lk fenc; the pervasive sense of life stripped to s most elemental optns, as laid out by the highway billboards: “Serve the Poor Like J,” “W Settlement!”</p><p class="paywall">TV crews were settg up outsi the urthoe when I arrived. Insi, the prs was seated the jury box. Media verage of the se had grown signifintly wh every twist. Most of the journalists I’d talked to were appearg on programs produced by the major streamg servic, as were some of the lawyers. The natnal attentn was hardly surprisg, given the lurid nature of the se. More so was the gree to which prsure om lol news outlets had been rponsible for breakg the story. Whout reporters like John Monk, of the <em>State</em> newspaper; Mandy Matney, who started a podst about the murrs; or Will Folks, the founr of <em class="small">fs</em>News, the full extent of Alex’s schem might never have e to light.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-5 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Dick Harpootlian entered the urtroom wh his team. Silver-haired and puffy-eyed, he looked simultaneoly overworked and primed for actn. I’d asked him once about his dual reer as lawmaker and trial lawyer. “Lln was a very active and aggrsive ligator while he was a legislator,” he told me. The exalted parison may be explaed by the pany he keeps. Harpootlian, a former chair of the state Democratic Party, has talked of playg golf wh Print Joe Bin, and his wife was recently ma U.S. Ambassador to Slovenia. Eric Bland, the Satterfield brothers’ attorney, told me that Harpootlian is “probably the most powerful person this state,” addg, “Meanwhile, Alan Wilson”—the attorney general of South Carola—“is a Tmpster who’s been sued by Harpootlian over masks and so on. That’s why there are so many charg. Wilson wants Harpootlian publicly shamed. This is blood sport.”</p><p class="paywall">A door opened, and Alex was brought . It was the first time I’d seen him person. Connor Cook’s lawyer, Joe McCulloch, had told me, “You uld drop Alex any town the South and he’d get along, bee he’s a beefy good ol’ boy.” Photographs of him huntg mo seemed keepg wh this scriptn. But there was nothg beefy about the tall figure beg led past the jury box. Carryg himself very upright, a loose whe shirt, slim-ftg khakis, and tan loafers, wh a pair of glass perched suavely atop his head, he looked lean and sleek and surprisgly put-together. Were not for the shackl at his wrists and ankl, he might have been walkg onto a yacht.</p><p class="paywall">Standg for the formal arraignment, he plead not guilty. In rponse to the prosecutor’s old-fashned formulatn—“How shall you be tried?”—he offered the tradnal rejor, “By God and my untry,” momentarily givg a strange imprsn of llegialy between them. A portra of his grandfather, Randolph (Bter) Murdgh, Jr., hung at the back of the urt. (The portra has been taken down for the trial.) Bter was a notor reprobate who was lked to an illic liquor rg. His father, Randolph, Sr., died what some spect was a suici ma to look like an accint, staged wh the tent of enrichg his heirs. Nobody knows what ed his r to stall on railway tracks and get h by a tra one night, but he was poor health, and his son certaly wasted no time sug the rail pany. Anctral echo seem to hnt the fay.</p><p class="paywall">There’d been speculatn that prosecutors would reveal some of their evince at the hearg, but Harpootlian opposed discsn of the fateful night at Moselle—“We’re tryg to get a fair trial for our clients, not a trial the media,” he said—and nothg new emerged. Sce then, however, he and his legal partner, Jim Griff, have fact been makg ncerted e of the media to prepare the ground for their fense. In one motn, they signalled an tent to sow reasonable doubt about what will almost certaly be a purely circumstantial se—and to prent an entirely different murr story of their own. Among other thgs, they have claimed that, this past May, Co Eddie failed a polygraph tt which he was asked if he was prent at the killgs or knew anythg about them. The prosecutn has said that Alex’s legal team has misreprented the tt rults, but, as wh Connor Cook, the Murdgh team appears to have intified a plsible fall guy. (Eddie has nied all wrongdog.)</p></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssS ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="u25sv"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">They won’t have to prove anythg, of urse, only suate, but there is material that uld put cracks the prosecutn’s se. In June, the nartics and money-lnrg charg were announced. The dictment is short on tail, but sketch the outle of a scheme which Alex was allegedly funnellg money to the nartics tra, wh Eddie as his middleman. Harpootlian, far om ridiculg the ia of traffickg dgs as a way of lnrg money, appears to have embraced the notn as part of his strategy of fendg Alex om the murr charg. In a recent filg, he claimed that Eddie regularly dropped off dgs for Alex by the Moselle kennels—implyg that Eddie may have shot Maggie and Pl when, say, they chanced upon him makg a livery.</p><p class="paywall">To nvict Alex, the prosecutors will have to offer their own explanatn of what happened that night, and will need to be pellg enough to persua all twelve jurors that a father who had been monstrably protective of his wayward son uld be pable of shootg him pot-blank, twice, wh a shotgun, sentially jt to buy himself some time. Clearly, protectg Pl after the boat crash, Alex was also attemptg to protect himself. But the prosecutors may need somethg stronger than a pragmatilly mixed motive, stronger even than his serial ds and betrayals, to make him out as the irreemably evil monster that they need him to be.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">The trial begs on January 23rd. One si will tell a more nvcg story than the other, but a five acunt of those moments the darkns at Moselle is unlikely to emerge, as is any plete answer to the qutn of how Alex beme enmhed his alleged crim the first place. The explanatn currently beg floated by the attorney general’s office is that the thefts were effect a strg of Ponzi-like bt repayments, each verg s precsor, origatg wh a seri of bad land als. Alex, prosecutors suggt, was likely motivated by vany: he was a heredary big shot who uldn’t face beg seen as a failure. It sounds believable, if hard to prove, but perhaps more important to unrstand than Alex’s pathology is why there was so ltle place—socially, stutnally, legally—to keep his predatory impuls check.</p><p class="paywall">Several people I spoke wh allud to a persistence of antiquated class stctur wh South Carola’s social fabric. Bill Nettl, the former U.S. Attorney, told me, “For multiple generatns, you have had a morn-day ste system. A lot of the people were born on third base an area where they uld simply do no wrong.” The South Carola wrer Juliana Staveley-O’Carroll spoke of an entrenched “pyramidal class system” the state, which she attributed to s history as a royal provce. Will Folks, who worked for South Carola’s former Republin ernor Mark Sanford before foundg <em class="small">FITS</em>News, also drew a nnectn between the state’s early history and the Murdgh se. South Carola, he told me, “has an credibly rpt lg class, and the Murdghs were part of .” As Folks saw , the system of selectg judg was largely to blame. “The judicial branch has bee an extensn of the polil branch,” he said. “We need to have judg chosen by people who don’t ntrol their salari, don’t set their office budgets, don’t ci on their futur.”</p><p class="paywall">It’s easy to see how a person like Alex Murdgh uld benef om a system enablg well-nnected lawbreakers to hire amenable lawmakers to reprent them ont of handpicked judg. A prumptn of impuny was likely part of his operatg lcul. Even Senator Harpootlian acknowledged that the system of selectg judg was flawed. “There’s probably a better way to do ,” he told me. “But no perfect way. You’ve jt got to unt on people beg honorable.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-6 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Lendg weight to Folks’s rptn argument are the bleak fdgs of a recent vtigatn by the Myrtle Beach <em>Sun News</em> reporter David Weissman to South Carola’s so-lled factorg bs, which allows pani to target the stctured settlements award to accint victims. As thgs stand, factorg pani n offer sh up ont to victims exchange for part or all of their settlements, at an average rate of twenty-five cents on the dollar. In one se, judg allowed pani to buy a young woman’s entire settlement a seri of als, culmatg the purchase of her remag tranche for about ten cents on the dollar. The woman had suffered bra damage a tra llisn at the age of twelve, and the settlement was tend to support her for the rt of her life. In Weissman’s article, a retired judge dryly unrsred the state’s tolerance of such practic by sayg, “We’re all entled to make stupid mistak.”</p><p class="paywall">It’s no surprise that Alex Murdgh’s alleged schem flourished this kd of atmosphere. You have to wonr if he and his acplic even thought they were dog anythg particularly wrong. Mallory Beach’s tragic end opened a wdow to the self-alg that pervas the Lowuntry’s oligarchy. One hop that her ath will also spur mands for change the polil stctur that facilate this culture. As Folks said, quotg an Elizabethan wticism to illtrate the gradg effect of the graft and cronyism afflictg South Carola, “Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason? / Why, if prosper, none dare ll treason.” ♦</p></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS jyGBoi"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body article__body--grid-margs"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv jfHKjr"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG bGJnrW ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy fzwwkW article-body__footer"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><footer class="ContentFooterMagazeDisclaimer-gzKAqo iZIuUU" data-ttid="MagazeDisclaimerWrapper">Published the prt edn of the <a href="/magaze/2023/01/23" data-reactroot="">January 23, 2023</a>, issue, wh the headle “The Swamp.”</footer></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="LkStackWrapper-NFLYw kgtXXB lkstack" data-ttid="LkStack"><div class="SectnTleRoot-dBGvdq kjAxEG LkStackHear-lKjbE hejl lk-stack--headg" data-ttid="SectnTle"><h2 class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SectnTleHed-dKqZet dxqEAa dqtvfu jttyjJ">New Yorker Favor</h2></div><div class="LkStackContent-jyKicS gPhyME"><ul class="LkStackList-gGcjdZ dnMwpz"><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>The killer who <a href="/magaze/1995/06/05/rejectg-ga" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">got to Harvard</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>A thief who <a href="/magaze/2004/05/17/the-silver-thief" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">stole only silver</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>The light of the <a href="/tech/annals-of-technology/the-first-light-of-the-try-atomic-tt" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">world’s first nuclear bomb</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>How Steve Mart <a href="/magaze/2007/10/29/-the-bird-ge" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">learned what’s funny</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>Growg up as the <a href="/magaze/1998/11/16/the-ln-and-me" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">son of the Cowardly Ln</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>Amelia Earhart’s <a href="/magaze/2009/09/14/amelia-earhart-last-flight" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">last flight</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>Fictn by Milan Kunra: “<a href="/magaze/1984/03/19/the-unbearable-lightns-of-beg" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">The Unbearable Lightns of Beg</a>.”</p></div></li></ul><div class="LkStackFooter-KfRyO ebnmps lk-stack--footer"><div><p><a href=">Sign up</a> for our daily newsletter to receive the bt stori om <em>The New Yorker</em>.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="ContributorsWrapper-eNpWFu GWFsc ntributors" data-ttid="Contributors"><div class="ContributorBWrapper-bnVHbt gMon"><div class="ContributorBContent-ubQdr jZTSSi"><div class="ContributorBHear-ledood XOIEx"></div><div class="ContributorBB-fBolsO giFhKz"><a href="/ntributors/jam-lasdun">Jam Lasdun</a> is the thor of several books of fictn and nonfictn. 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fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Science</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Therapy Issue</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa 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class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Amerin Chronicl</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Country Mic’s Culture Wars and the Remakg of Nashville</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Country Mic’s Culture Wars and the Remakg of Nashville" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">Tennsee’s ernment has turned hard red, but a new set of outlaw songwrers is challengg Mic Cy’s nservative ways—and lg bro-untry sound.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div 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class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Elements</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Paradox of Listeng to Our Bodi</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Paradox of Listeng to Our Bodi" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">Interoceptn—the ner sense lkg our bodi and mds—n nfe as much as n reveal.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Jsi Wapner</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Why Sarah Jsi Parker Keeps Playg Carrie Bradshaw" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Profil</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Why Sarah Jsi Parker Keeps Playg Carrie Bradshaw</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Why Sarah Jsi Parker Keeps Playg Carrie Bradshaw" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">In all of her profsnal enavors, cludg the “Sex and the Cy” anchise, Parker nsirs herself a “bter enr.”</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span 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