"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF MURDAUGH: A LEGAL DYNASTY'S BLOODY END - PART 1"

0:03 Caalaruga Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Reed Carter, Saturday, February twenty first, twenty twenty six. For eighty seven years, one family controlled criminal justice across five counties in South Carolina's Low Country. Three generations named Randolph Murdau served consecutively as circuit solicitor, the elected prosecutor for the state's fourteenth judicial circuit Allendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper Counties. Locals called it Murdaw Country. The dynasty started in nineteen twenty when Randolph Murdaw Senior was elected solicitor. He served until nineteen forty, when his car was struck by a freight train and he was killed. His son, Randolph Buster Murdaw Junior, took over immediately held the position for forty six years, the longest tenure of any solicitor in United States history. When Buster retired in nineteen eighty six, his son, Randolph Murdaw the third, stepped right in served until two thousand and six, eighty seven consecutive years. One family, five counties. The Murdaws didn't just practice law in the Low Country, they were the law. Then came the fourth generation, Richard Alexander Alex Murdau born May twenty seventh, nineteen sixty eight, University of South Carolina USC Law School, joined the family firm Peters Murdaw, Parker, Elsroth and Dietrich known as p mp D. Volunteered part

1:33 time in his father's solicitor office. Married Margaret Kennedy Brandstetter. Everyone called her Maggie. Two sons Buster, and Paul Alex didn't become the fourth solicitor. Instead, he became a personal injury lawyer at the family firm, made millions, built an empire, wielded the Murdaw name like a weapon across the low country. Judges, police, politicians. Everybody knew the Murdaws, everybody owed the murder, and nobody crossed the Murdaws until twenty nineteen when the dominoes started falling. And once they started, they never stopped. A drunk boat crash that killed a teenager, a housekeeper who died under suspicious circumstances, millions stolen from clients, an opioid addiction, a fake suicide plot, and on June seventh, twenty twenty one, a double murder at the family hunting lodge that shocked the nation. Netflix made a series, HBO made a documentary, Hulu made their own version. Court TV broadcast every second of the trial. Sixty million Americans watched the verdict. I'm reed, Carter, this is celebrity trials today. The Fall of the House of Murdaw. How a legal dynasty that controlled South Carolina's justice system for nearly a century collapsed into murder, fraud, and lies, Part one of two. February twenty fourth, twenty nineteen,

3:04 Beaufort County, South Carolina. After midnight, six young people on a boat. Alex Murdaw's boat, his nineteen year old son, Paul, was driving drunk, way over the legal limit. Paul slammed the seventeen foot center console into a bridge piling near Paris Island, impacts so violent the boats split apart. Five passengers were thrown into the frigid water. One of them, nineteen year old Mallory Beach, never surfaced. Her body was found a week later. Paul Murdaw was indicted on three felony counts, including boating under the influence causing death. But this is Murdaw Country. Alex Murdaw's influence was everywhere. Investigators later alleged that Alex tried to obstruct the investigation, attempting to pin the blame on another passenger, Connor Cook, using his connections to shield his son from consequences. That boat crash was the first domino because it drew attention, media attention, leegal attention. People started looking at the Murdall family for the first time, and what they found was horrifying. Let's go back to February twenty eighteen. Gloria Sadderfield, fifty seven years old, the Murdall family's housekeeper for more than two decades.

4:16 Loyal employee, trusted member of the household. Gloria fell on the steps outside the Murdaw home, suffered a subdural hematoma bleeding on the brain, was airlifted to a hospital, spent three weeks in intensive care, died on February twenty sixth, twenty eighteen. Here's where it gets ugly. After Gloria's death, Alex Murdaw orchestrated a scheme to steal from her dead housekeeper's sons. He recommended Gloria's family hire attorney Corey Fleming, his college roommate, to file a wrongful death lawsuit against Alex himself. It was a setup, a fake law suit designed to trigger insurance payouts. The insurance companies paid out over half a million dollars, but Gloria's sons, Tony Sadterfield and Brian Harriet never saw a penny. Alex created a fake bank account named Forge, mimicking a legitimate settlement company called Forge Consulting, and funneled the money to himself. He then used that stolen money to pay Curtis Eddie Smith, a former client and alleged drug dealer, hundreds of checks totaling approximately two point four million dollars over several years.

5:24 Alex was feeding an opioid addiction while robbing his dead housekeeper's children. But that wasn't all. Alex was stealing from everyone, his law firm, his clients, people who trusted him with their settlements, their insurance payouts, their life savings. He stole millions over years decades, possibly using his family name as a shield, using his position to intimidate, using the Low Country's deference to the Murdaw dynasty to avoid scrutiny. All of it was unraveling. In the spring of twenty twenty one. Paul's boat crash trial was a pro coaching. The financial house of cards was wobbling. On June seventh, twenty twenty one, the chief financial officer at p MP E D confronted Alex about seven hundred ninety two thousand dollars in missing funds.

6:14 That same day, Alex called Maggie and asked her to come to Mozelle, the family's one thousand, seven hundred acre hunting estate in Islington, about an hour north of hilton Head Island. Said they needed to visit his father, Randolph the Third, who was terminally ill. Maggie texted a friend, said her husband sounded fishy, said he was up to something. She drove to Mozelle anyway. By that evening, Maggie and Paul were dead. Mallory Beach was nineteen years old, should be twenty six today, should have finished college, should be building a career. Instead, she trusted a drunk teenager behind the wheel of his father's boat, and that father used his power to try to make the whole thing go away.

6:58 Gloria Saderfield was fifty seven years old, worked for the murdaf family for more than twenty years. Her sons deserved the insurance money instead. The man she'd served loyally stole every cent. The call was coming from inside the house. June seventh, twenty twenty one, Mozelle Hunting Estate, Islington, South Carolina. Dinner was over around eight forty pm. Paul Murda called his friend Rogan Gibson. Paul had been keeping Gibson's chocolate labrador puppy, Cash in the dog kennels at Mozelle. The dog had an injured tail. Paul was concerned. Gibson asked Paul to send a video of the dog's tail. Cell signal was weak, a FaceTime call wouldn't connect, so Paul walked to the kennels to film a video for his friend.

7:58 At eight forty four pm, Paul recorded a fifty second video on his phone. The camera was focused on Cash, the dog wagging his tail, but in the background you can hear voices three distinct voices, Paul, Maggie, and Alex. The Murdaw family dog Bubba had grabbed a chicken or a guinea, as Maggie speculated, and was racing around the kennels with it in his mouth. Hey, he's got a bird in his mouth, Maggie called out. Normal family moment, laughing about the dog, all three of them together at the kennel's. That video was never sent to Gibson because within minutes of it being recorded. Prosecutors say Paul was shot twice with a shotgun and Maggie was shot multiple times with a rifle two different weapons, Both dead, both at the kennel's. At nine o six pm, twenty two minutes after Paul's video, cell phone data shows Alex's phone leaving Mozelle. He drove to his mother's house in Almeda, approximately twenty minutes away. His mother had dementia. At ten o six pm, Alex called nine one one, said he'd return to Moselle and found the bodies of his wife and son near the dog kennel's. He was distraught on the call, crying. Told the first officer on scene, Sergeant Daniel Greene of the Colleton County Sheriff's Office, that Paul had been getting threats related to the boat crash. This is a long story. He's been getting threats. I know.

9:25 That's what it is. Here's what Alex told investigators repeatedly in the hours and days that followed. He had dinner with Maggie and Paul, took a nap on the couch, watched television, fiddled on his phone, never went to the kennels that evening. When he woke up, Maggie and Paul were gone. He drove to his mother's house, came back found them dead. He lied the video on Paul's phone proved it. Alex was at the kennel's at eight forty four pm. His voice is on that recording. Multiple witnesses, Paul's friends, who knew the family intimately, would later testify they were one hundred percent certain that was Alex's voice.

10:07 Rogan Gibson told the court he recognized all three voices. Neither Paul nor Maggie sounded stressed or scared, no indication of an intruder, just a normal family moment. Twenty two minutes later, Alex's phone left the property. Something happened in those twenty two minutes, something that turned a family standing around dog kennels, laughing about a bird and a dog's mouth into a double homicide. Investigators noted something else earlier that evening. A snapchat video showed Alex wearing a shirt and long pants with shoes. When police arrived after the nine one one call, he was wearing shorts and a white T shirt. He'd changed clothes when confronted, Alex told investigators that Maggie and Paul had gone down to the kennels while he stayed at the house. Three days after the murders. Sitting in a car with sled investigators, Alex was emotional, said of Paul, it was so bad. Then what sounded like I did him so bad. Prosecution said, he said I did him so bad. Defense said he said they did him so bad. One pronoun, one letter, two completely different meanings sled. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division regarded Alex as a person of interest from the start, but it took investigators months to crack Paul's phone and recover that kennel video. The passcode turned out to be Paul's birthday zero four one four nine nine, simple, but

11:38 the forensic process was painstaking. When they finally accessed it and heard Alex's voice, the case broke wide open. Alex Murdaw was arrested in July twenty twenty two, indicted by a Colleton County grand jury two counts of murder, two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. The indictment stated he shot Maggie with a rifle and Paul with a shotgun. Maggie Murdaw was fifty two years old. Mother, wife, socialite, texted her friend that her husband sounded fishy, drove to Mozelle Anyway, shot to death near the dog kennels on her own property. Paul Murdaw was twenty two years old, facing felony charges for the boat crash that killed Mallory Beach. But he didn't deserve to die. He was recording a video of his friend's dog when his father allegedly picked up a shotgun and killed him. Someone has to say their names.

12:35 We'll be right back with the trial that captivated sixty million Americans. Alex Murdaw takes the stand, admits he lied about being at the kennel's, and the jury's verdict in under three hours. January twenty fifth, twenty twenty three, Calaton County Courthouse, Walterboro, South Carolina, the trial of Alex Murdaw for the murders of his wife and son. Judge Clifton Newman presiding, Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters. Defense attorneys Dick Harputlian and Jim Griffin Harputlian, a state senator and one of South Carolina's most powerful attorneys. This was the defense money could buy. Before testimony even began, Judge Newman ordered a portrait of Randolph Murdaw Junior removed from the courtroom wall.

13:30 Buster Murdaw's portrait had hung there for decades, a reminder of the family's dominance. Not anymore. The prosecution's theory was straightforward. Alex Murdaw's financial crimes were about to be exposed. The boat crash civil litigation was accelerating. Discovery would reveal the stolen millions. His law firm had already confronted him about missing funds. On the day of the murders. He was cornered, so he killed Maggie and Paul to Jai, generate sympathy by time and distract from the financial implosion. Prosecutor Crichton Waters told the Supreme Court years later, you can't understand the boiling point if you don't understand the slow burn leading up to that. The defense's theory, Alex wasn't at the kennel's. His voice on the video was misidentified. There was no physical evidence, no blood, no gunshot residue on his clothes. The crime scene was mishandled, rain contaminated evidence.

14:31 Family and friends walked through the scene. Two different weapons suggested two shooters, and the Murdauf family had enemies because of Paul's boat crash. The trial lasted six weeks, over sixty witnesses, mountains of evidence, cell phone forensics, car GPS data, financial records, testimony from former colleagues, friends, family members, and law enforcement. The Kennel video was the prosecution centerpiece, played multiple times for the jury. Alex appeared to cry in the courtroom when it was played, hearing his son's voice his wife's voice captured minutes before they died. Then came the financial witnesses. Judge Newman ruled the financial crimes were admissible as motive evidence. The defense had opened the door by asking a witness to speculate about possible motives. Tony Saderfield, glorious son, took the stand and testified that Alex had stolen the insurance money meant for his family. The jury saw the full scope of Alex's fraud millions stolen clients, robbed, his own dead, housekeeper's children, cheated. On February twenty third, Alex Murdau took the stand. His attorneys put him up there a calculated risk. He denied killing Maggie and Paul, but then came the admission that changed everything. For months, Alex had told investigators he was never at the kennel's that night. Now, confronted with Paul's video, he admitted it.

16:00 I did lie to them, he told the jury. He confirmed that was his voice on the video. He was at the kennel's at eight forty four p m. Six minutes before prosecutors believed the murders occurred. He'd been lying about it for nearly two years. When asked why he lied, Alex blamed his opioid addiction. Said it caused paranoid thinking, said anyone who had ever been addicted to opioids would understand. Creighton Waters cross examination was devastating, Methodical, relentless walked Alex through lie after lie after lie about the kennels, about his finances, about Gloria Sadderfield's money, about the fake suicide scheme.

16:42 Every time Alex was caught he had another excuse, another addiction related explanation, another reason he couldn't quite remember. The defense called expert witnesses crime scene annalyst Tim Palmback testified the brutality of the shootings would have left the killers splattered with blood, and that the evidence suggested two shooters, not one. A crime scene engineer recreated the scene and argued the shooter's presumed height didn't match Alex's height, but the prosecution had answers for everything. Alex had twenty two minutes between Paul's video and when his phone left the property, enough time to kill, dispose of weapons, hose off, change clothes, and drive away. The changed clothing supported it. The lack of blood spatter on recovered clothing meant nothing. He changed.

17:33 The jury visited Mosel on March first, walked the property, saw the feed room where Paul was shot, the shed where Maggie's body was found, the house, got a sense of the distances and the layout. March second, twenty twenty three closing arguments. Then the jury deliberated less than three hours. That's all it took. Guilty on all four counts, two counts of murder, two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. The verdict was broadcast live across every major network. Sixty million Americans watched. After the verdict was read, Judge Newman denied a defense motion for mistrial. The evidence of guilt is overwhelming, he told the jurors. The circumstantial evidence, direct evidence. All of the evidence pointed to one conclusion. And that's the conclusion that you all reached. March third, twenty twenty three, sentencing two consecutive life sentences. Without the possibility of parole. Alex Murdau would die in prison? Or would he? Because as we'll cover tomorrow, what happened after the verdict may be even more shocking than the trial itself. A corrupt court clerk, allegations of jury tampering, a one hundred and thirty two page appeal, and just eleven days ago, the South Carolina Supreme Court heard arguments on whether Alex Murdau deserves a new trial. Make it make sense. Three generations built a legal dynasty, the fourth generation burned it to the ground,

19:04 and now he's fighting to get out. That's part one of our Alex Murdaw Special. Eighty seven years of the Murdaw dynasty, three generations of solicitors controlling five counties. Then Alex Murdaw stole millions from clients, stole from his dead housekeeper's sons. His son killed Mallory Beach in a drunk boat crash, and on June seventh, twenty twenty one, Alex allegedly shot his wife Maggie and son Paul at the family's dog kennels. A fifty second video of a dog's wagging tail caught Alex in a lie that destroyed his defense. He admitted on the witness stand he'd been lying for nearly two years about being at the scene. Guilty in less than three hours, two life sentences, no possibility of parole.

19:46 But this story isn't over tomorrow Part two. The corrupt court clerk who allegedly pressured jurors Becky Hill's arrest on three felonies, the one hundred and thirty two page appeal, and the South Carolina Supreme Court hearing from February eleventh that could give Alex Murdaw a new trial, Plus Alex's botched suicide scheme, his financial crime guilty please twenty seven years state, forty years federal, eight point seven million in restitution, and the Netflix, HBO and Hulu shows that turned this case into America's true crime obsession. Mallory Beach was nineteen years old. Gloria Sadderfield was fifty seven, Maggie Murdall was fifty two. Paul Murdall was twenty two. Four lives connected to one family's corruption. Someone has to say their names.

20:38 I'm reed, Carter, see you tomorrow for part two. This is Celebrity Trials.