A devastating investigation reveals decades of secrets surrounding killer Alex Murdaugh’s family dynasty, including a diabolical threat once made by his father.
The disgraced lawyer is serving two life sentences for the murders of his wife and son – Maggie and Paul – as well as a 40-year prison sentence for stealing millions of dollars from clients.
He comes from a long line of corruption, scandals and men abusing their power, an investigation by The Wall Street Journal found.
Alex’s father, Randolph Murdaugh III, was reportedly a “serial smoker” who cheated on his wife, Libby Murdaugh.
When Libby discovered his infidelity and threatened divorce, Randolph III reportedly sent her obituary to the state’s largest newspaper as a warning.
Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh comes from a long line of corruption, scandal and men who abused their power, an investigation has found
Alex’s father, Randolph Murdaugh III (pictured), was reportedly a “serial robber” who cheated on his wife Libby Murdaugh
Libby died in March at age 85, three years after the disgraced lawyer tried to use her as an alibi in the murders of his wife and son.
Randolph Murdaugh III’s father, Randolph “Buster” Murdaugh Jr., served as solicitor for the 14th Judicial Circuit, a large section of South Carolina covering five counties, from 1940 to 1986.
During his tenure as a lawyer, Buster was accused of running the largest illegal liquor trade in the South, The Journal reported.
Several witnesses testified that he pressured them to lie, but Buster was ultimately acquitted.
When he returned to the attorney’s office, he retaliated by charging the witnesses against him with violations of the state liquor law.
Like his son Randolph III, Buster was said to be a womanizer. Buster reportedly hired a hitman to eliminate a woman who claimed Buster had impregnated her. However, the would-be assassin fell asleep while hiding.
A portrait of Buster, the grandfather of double murderer Alex Murdaugh, was removed from the South Carolina courtroom where his trial took place.
Libby (pictured) died in March at the age of 85, three years after Alex tried to use her as an alibi in the murder of his wife and son.
When Libby discovered her husband’s infidelity and threatened divorce, Randolph III reportedly sent her obituary to the state’s largest newspaper as a warning
For more than a century, the Murdaugh family wielded immense power in the Lowcountry. Three generations of the family served as elected attorneys, as district attorneys are called, in the 14th Circuit from 1920 to 2006.
Randolph Murdaugh Sr., Alex’s great-grandfather and founder of the family law firm, died when his car mysteriously stopped on the tracks in 1940 and a train struck it. The death led to a payout in Buster’s favor.
In the Netflix documentary “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal,” journalist Michael M. DeWitt Jr. revealed that according to the train conductor’s comments to a local newspaper at the time, Murdaugh Sr. stood near the tracks and waved at the train as it came toward him at a high rate of speed, then steered his car so that it was on the tracks at the moment of impact. His body was found 150 feet from the crossing.
Murdaugh Sr. had been battling an illness before his murder, but felt well enough to visit a friend on the evening of July 18, 1940. As he was driving home around 1 a.m., his car mysteriously stopped at a railroad crossing, according to DeWitt Jr., citing newspaper clippings from the Greenville News at the time.
A freight train hit Murdaugh’s car, killing him instantly, it was reported. Another report from the Hampton County Guardian reported that the train conductor said that Murdaugh Sr.’s car was near the crossing and that he waved at the train as it came toward him at high speed. As the train approached, the car accelerated and ended up on the tracks when the train hit him.
The portrait of Alex’s grandfather, Randolph “Buster” Murdaugh Jr. (pictured), was removed from a South Carolina courtroom
His death was ruled an accident, despite speculation that it was alcohol-related or possibly suicide.
The Murdaugh family has sued the Charleston & Western Carolina Railway Co. over the accident, it was reported.
The company was sued for $100,000, the Greenville News reported. The case was settled privately for an undisclosed amount.
Four generations later, there are still many untimely deaths in the Murdaugh family, including those of Mallory Beach, who died in a boating accident in 2019 with Paul Murdaugh at the wheel, Stephen Smith, a colleague of the Murdaugh sons who was found dead on the side of the road in 2015, and the family’s housekeeper Gloria Satterfield.
In 2021, Alex Murdaugh shot his wife Maggie and son Paul dead on their Moselle estate.