If you’re from the Lowcountry of South Carolina you’ve most likely heard the name Murdaugh at one point or another. The Murdaughs have a long-standing history within the SC justice system serving as the top prosecutor for the 14th judicial circuit for three generations. Within the last five years, the Murdaugh family has been surrounded by corruption allegations, death, and criminal investigations.
The demise of this southern dynasty has caught the attention of local and national news feeds. Investigative journalist Mandy Matney from FITSnews.com has been covering the Murdaugh family since 2019. Her podcast, the Murdaugh Murders Podcast, has received 17.1K ratings with 4.5/5 stars and is currently in the top 15 podcasts on Apple. CNN, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, the Washington Post, the Associated Press and more have all been covering the Murdaugh series. While most discussion around the Murdaughs has been excluded to South Carolina, particularly Charleston, Columbia, Hilton Head, and Greenville, the name still has a reach close to 6,700,000,000 online.
While whispers of gossip and suspicion have followed the Murdaugh family over the years, the family was thrown into the spotlight in the summer of 2019 when a deadly boat crash rocked the Lowcountry with the youngest Murdaugh son at the heart of it. The fatal boat crash killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach and injured two others, spurring multiple lawsuits and investigations into the Murdaughs’ secrets.
Earlier this year, Paul Murdaugh was facing three felony charges relating to the accident. Then on June 7, 2021, Paul and his mother, Maggie Murdaugh were found murdered on their hunting estate in Colleton County, SC. Both deaths remain unsolved and are still under investigation. Following the death of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh, information regarding the death of Stephen Smith lead to SLED reopening the case. Another death has also been linked to the family after a request from a local coroner spurred SLED to reopen the case of Gloria Satterfield.
Three months after the death of his youngest son and wife, Alex Murdaugh attempted to commit suicide, despite alleging he had been shot in the head on the side of the road. This failed attempt came after Murdaugh had been accused of stealing millions of dollars and resigning from his family law firm.
The conversation is swirling around the scandals now coming out about the Murdaughs and the current investigations. Words such as “lawyer”, “Carolina”, “insurance”, “death”, “family’ and “shooting” are most common in relation to Murdaugh within the last 5 years, and #murdaugh has been the most popular hashtag used.
After requests on social media, Dateline is set to premiere their ‘Murdaugh Saga’ in a two-hour special at 9 p.m tonight. The special is set to cover in-depth interviews with Gloria Satterfeilds family, highlight new details about Stephen Smith, and other recent developments. CBS is also covering the Murdaugh family investigations on 48 Hours Oct. 30 at 10 p.m. The ‘Murdaugh Mysteries’ episode will feature information about the 2019 boat crash that killed Mallory Beach.
