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Killer in the family podcast
A true crime podcast exploring men who kill their families.
Killer in the family podcast
Episode 33 - The Murdaugh Family Part One
In June 2021, just three years ago, Maggie Murdaugh and her son Paul were shot and killed at the Murdaugh family property in South Carolina. Husband and father Alex Murdaugh is currently serving two life sentences for their murder. Their deaths were the last in a long line of murders associated with the Murdaugh family. At the time of his death Paul was facing investigation for the death of fellow teenaged Mallory Beach in a boating accident and the deaths of housekeeper Gloria Satterfield and teenager Stephen Smith were also closely associated with the family. This is about what happens when a man goes further than killing his whole family.
This is the Part One of the story of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, Mallory Beach, Stephen Smith and Gloria Satterfield.
Information and support
Samaritans UK Contact Us | Samaritans
Women’s Aid www.womensaid.org.uk
Mental health support USA I'm looking for mental health help for myself | Mental Health America (mhanational.org)
Domestic abuse helpline USA 1.800.799.SAFE Domestic Violence Support | National Domestic Violence Hotline (thehotline.org)
References
Clare Laxton is fundraising for Women's Aid Federation Of England (justgiving.com)
American Nightmare Trailer https://youtu.be/Yonx7CyoK3k
Watch Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal | Netflix Official Site
Maggie Murdaugh: A Life Cut Short in a Web of Tragedy - CrimeDoor
Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies - The Beltway BriefingListen for of-the-moment insider insights, framed by the rapidly changing social and...
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Hi there and welcome to Killer in the Family podcast. I'm your host, clare Luxton. This episode takes place in South Carolina, which is just over 400 miles away from Nashville, which is where I've just been attending CrimeCon. Crimecon was absolutely brilliant and just a massive shout out to my friend Kirsty for coming with me and being Killer in the Family's biggest fan. We met loads of amazing people and she really bigged up the podcast as well, which was just brilliant. I'm going to talk a little bit about Crime Con before we get into this episode, because it was just so good and we heard from so many amazing people and met so many brilliant people too.
Speaker 1:And the first session that we went to was with Nicole Wysensee-Egan, who not only wrote a book about Bill Cosby which is an absolute recommend, by the way but also the book Victim F, which was about the story of Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn, who not only experienced a terrifying kidnapping but were also not believed by the police. I definitely recommend Victim F as a book, and there's also a Netflix documentary called American Nightmare about their story, and they were just so powerful in what they spoke about and why they chose to speak up. Denise talked about helping others learn from their experience and also just wanting to make change too, which was just so inspiring. I've linked to the book and documentary as well in the episode notes. We also went to a session hosted by the Black and Missing Foundation, which works to get the stories of Black and Missing mostly women out there, as they're so often neglected in the media. They do brilliant work and I'll definitely be talking about them again. I've linked to their website in the episode notes too. We also saw John Walsh, who I've spoken about before on the podcast on episode seven about the List family. So John's son, adam, went missing and was killed in the 1980s when Adam was just six years old, and John and his wife, reveille have been just amazing victim advocates since then, and he went on to host America's Most Wanted, which of course, led to the capture of John List.
Speaker 1:I also met like massive shout out to all the amazing podcasters that I met, including Crime Weekly and True Crime All the Time, which I've talked about before in other episodes and we also met the former DCI Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton, who caught Levi Belfield, who killed Millie Dowler, as well as two other women in South London. It was just just such a powerful weekend and really encapsulated by a phrase that I saw on a leaflet in the CrimeCon exhibition which said turn your interest into impact. And I really hope that's what I'm doing with this podcast. And, if I haven't said it enough recently, thank you so much for being part of that, for all your support and all your brilliant listens. I'm now looking at CrimeCon in London to see if I can attend that.
Speaker 1:In other exciting news sorry, I feel like there's been a lot of updates today. This is my last one I promise I am putting my money or my running where my mouth is and have signed up to run the Royal Parks half marathon in October to raise money for Women's Aid. Now you know how passionate I am about Women's Aid and the work they do. I'll add my fundraising link to my socials and the episode notes, and anything you can give is always gratefully received and if you aren't able to give anything, then please do share the link around. Thank you also for all your messages you've sent in through the link in the episode notes. I've had some really lovely comments and story ideas, so thank you and do keep the story suggestions coming. One tech said that the podcast is excellent and that the cases are handled really compassionately, which is absolutely what I aim to do. So thank you so much for your message they always really make my day and to suggest stories or send feedback, just get in touch with me on insta at killer in the family pod, or send me a text through the episode notes and I'll add any story suggestions to the list, which, as I said before, is sadly quite a long one. So let's get into this episode. It's another two-parter and it's got a slightly different vibe because there's lots more going on in it than we usually talk about.
Speaker 1:In June 2021, just three years ago, maddie Murdoch and her son Paul were shot and killed at the Murdoch family property in South Carolina. Their husband and father, alec Murdoch, is currently serving two life sentences for their murder. Their deaths were the last in a long line of murders associated with the Murdoch family. At the time of his death, Paul was facing criminal investigation for the death of fellow teenager Mallory Beach in a boating accident, and the deaths of housekeeper Gloria Satterfield and teenager Stephen Smith were also closely associated with the family. Five deaths in six years this is about what happens when a man goes further than killing his whole family. This is part one of the story of Maggie and Paul Murdoch, mallory Beach, stephen Smith and Gloria Satterfield.
Speaker 1:This is going to be a tough listen team. This story reaches so many echelons of so many lives that it's going to be difficult to tell and sort of untangle. It is also one of the most told stories over the past few years. I'm sure you will have heard about it already and for this episode and the next one I've relied on a few main sources. First is a book by the brilliant and tenacious Mandy Matney, and the book Blood on their Hands is just a great account of the whole story and Mandy herself has been a huge advocate for all the victims of the Murdoch family. Mandy also has a podcast called the Murdoch Murders. It's changed its name to True Sunlight and has sort of moved on to other stories and is brilliant too, and I remember listening to it before I started this podcast and in one episode she talked about how she received loads of comments about her voice and how she can't help her voice, so like just back off, and I've got a huge respect for her but it did also make me a bit nervous about putting my voice out there. I've also listened to the brilliant Crime Analyst podcast episodes on the story. Laura Richards delves really deep into the story through a series of episodes and they're a brilliant listen too. And finally, there's a Netflix series about this story, called the Murdoch Murders A Sudden Scandal, and I definitely recommend a watch of all those episodes. I've linked to all the sources in the episode notes and will also pop them on my socials too. So let's get into this episode In a break from tradition.
Speaker 1:We're actually going to start in the middle of the story, not with Maggie and Paul Murdoch, who were killed by their husband and father, alec Murdoch, but with someone else. So we're going to start with a 19-year-old woman called Mallory Beach Now. Mallory was born on the 18th of April 1999 in a town called Walterborough, which is in South Carolina, which is a state in the southeast of the USA. Mallory graduated Wade Hampton High School and she worked at a clothes shop when she was killed. She loved playing soccer, softball and was an animal lover, and had ambitions to be a vet as well. Now Mallory had two best friends, miley Altman and Morgan Daugherty, when they were all 19 years old. They hung out together and spent time with their boyfriends as well. Miley was going out with a guy called Connor Cook. Mallory's boyfriend was his cousin, anthony Cook, and Morgan was dating a guy called Paul Murdoch. Now we're going to talk about Paul for a bit.
Speaker 1:In the documentary about this case, morgan talks about how different her and Paul's family were. Her parents actually talked about how Paul was always buying gifts and presents for her. Morgan talked about their relationship and that whole sort of when it was good, it was really good and when it was bad, it was really bad. Paul was abusive to Morgan. He physically abused her and verbally abused her as well and in something you often see with abusive and controlling relationships. Morgan's friends also talked on the Netflix series about how they wish she would leave him, as they suspected he was abusive and saw how unhappy it made Morgan sometimes. And understanding Paul is really important to this episode and story, as is where it was taking place.
Speaker 1:So, as we know, we're in South Carolina and we're in a couple of counties in South Carolina Beaufort County, which is on the coast, and Hampton County, often sort of called the Low Country. In Mandy Matne's book she was a local journalist, by the way. At this point she writes, quote Hampton County is one of the poorest counties in the state, though it did have pockets of privilege. Beaufort encompassed the southern coast of the state, while Hampton was inland and while Beaufort County was full of transplants. So I think this means people that have moved into the state. Hampton was mostly people who lived there for generations, very rural, very God and country. It was the Deep South, so that sort of helps us think about where this was all taking place as well. And one of the families who had been in Hampton County for generations were Paul's family, the Murdoch's.
Speaker 1:According to the Netflix documentary. Everyone knew who the Murdoch family were. They ran the local law firm. They're a generation of lawyers and they also served in the elected position as the 14th circuit solicitor. This is really important and that position is, quote, the chief prosecuting agency for Allendale, beaufort, colleton, hampton and Jasper counties. The office is led by the solicitor who is elected every four years. So, and in the Netflix documentary they talk about how the Murdochs were basically the law and order of Hampton. They were also very wealthy and influential.
Speaker 1:So who was this family? Well, the family wealth and influence really started in the early 1900s with Randolph Murdoch, who became a lawyer, opened a law firm and also became the elected solicitor for the area that role that we just talked about. This tradition was followed by his son, randolph there are a lot of Randolphs in this family who was also a lawyer and took on his father's role as solicitor as well, the elected role as solicitor, which is a role that he had for 46 years. Then there was another Randolph, the third, who was Paul Murdoch's grandfather. This Randolph also took on his father's role as elected solicitor in 1986. He had four children with his wife Elizabeth, one of whom was yep, you guessed it called Randolph, and one who was Richard Alexander or Alec Murdoch, and he was also a lawyer.
Speaker 1:Now, alec was born in 1968 and went on to have two children with his wife, maggie Branstetter. Their two children were Paul Terry Murdoch, born on 14th of April 1999, just four days before Mallory Beach, and Richard Alexander Murdoch Jr, or Buster, who was born in 1996. So he was the older brother. So that felt like a pretty massive family tree. I'll try and post an image of it on my social so you can sort of get a better picture of the family, which will hopefully help. But what I'm trying to get across is that here we have a family who are steeped in history both in the Hampton County area also in the realm of the law, and being elected solicitors for so long and relatively wealthy also meant that they were a family with power Power to help their own, power over law and order in the area and power, as it transpired, to cover up for their own.
Speaker 1:Now, before we talk further about Paul, the Murdochs and Mallory, I want to talk about Maggie, as she is also a victim in this story, and Maggie was born Margaret Kennedy Branstetter on the 15th of September 1968. She was actually born in Nashville, tennessee. She was born to parents Terry and Kennedy Branstetter, and she was really close to her parents. Now the website CrimeDoorcom talks about Maggie and says, quote Maggie inherited her father's business acumen and her mother's compassionate spirit. Her bright smile and infectious laugh were her signature and her dedication to family and community became her defining legacy. Now Maggie married Alec Murdoch in 1994. Apparently he was her first love, but he actually stipulated that if they got together she would have to move to Hampton. She did and they had their two children, buster in 1996 and Paul in 1999, and apparently she just absolutely thrived being a mother and loved the role and as well as being a mother and absolutely loving that, maggie also loved animals and dedicated her life to the church. She was also on the board of the Colleton County Children's Centre and contributed to things like fundraising events for the centre. And Maggie was said to be the sort of most down-to-earth of the family and she did spoil her boys somewhat.
Speaker 1:At the time of her death the family was said to be splitting their time between a cottage at Edisto Beach and a hunting lodge called Moselle in Islington. At a disto beach and a hunting lodge called Moselle in Islington and, according to the Netflix documentary and Paul's former girlfriend Morgan, there was a huge culture of drinking in the family and sort of doing whatever they wanted. Morgan talks about how Paul drank a lot, you know, even though he was still underage, and his friends talked about how he was a totally different person when he drank. I mean basically a bit of a knob. I'm sure we all have friends like that. And in Mandy's book she describes talking to someone who knew Paul Mallory, morgan and the whole crew and Mandy says in the book that this friend quote painted a sickening portrait of poor Murdoch. He seemed to be the epitome of the entitled, aggressive, rich kid who lacked all empathy, maybe even a sociopath. She said he drank. He regularly drank to excess and got into fights and shouting matches. And talking about Alec Murdoch, she said quote she said Alec loved to flaunt his power and family connections. So here we have a pretty wealthy, entitled family in the Deep South who seem to be free to act with impunity because of their positions in the law and the community.
Speaker 1:Now, coming back to Mallory Beach, we're going to talk about what happened to her and her friends on the 23rd of February 2019. So on this night in February 2019, Mallory, her boyfriend Anthony, her friend Miley and her boyfriend Connor, and Morgan and her boyfriend Paul Murdoch, decided to go to an oyster roast. Now, not being from this area or America, I had absolutely no idea what an oyster roast was. So, according to southernkitchencom, it's sort of what it says on the tin a barbecue of oysters. It says quote you start by digging a shallow depression about two to four inches deep in the ground and building a fire within, surround the fire with cinder blot and place the sheet metal on top for the oysters to cook. So basically, a big fire to cook oysters. That makes sense. So now we know what an oyster roast is. Let's get back to that evening in February 2019.
Speaker 1:So the six friends were on their way to this oyster roast. They get some drinks on the way. Paul used his older brother Buster's ID to buy alcohol at a local convenience store and apparently drinking started pretty early. Convenience store and apparently drinking started pretty early with Paul literally funneling alcohol down him. So he like got one of those like plastic funnels and was sort of pouring alcohol down his throat. Now to get where the oyster roast was, they had to get a speedboat and they went in the Murdoch's boat, which he insisted on driving, and at the race they sort of carried on drinking pretty steadily and friends told the Netflix documentary that when it was time to leave, none of them wanted Paul driving as he was super drunk but, being the belligerent drunk that he was, he insisted on driving and that no one was taking the key from him. They all got on the boat and stopped on the way for Paul and Connor to go to a bar. Now there's CCTV on the Netflix documentary of the other four friends waiting for them. Mallory and Anthony were clearly loved up and you can see them on CCTV sort of laughing and joking. It's really sweet, but this is the last time that Mallory will be seen alive.
Speaker 1:As everyone got back into the boat once Paul and Connor had had that other drink at a bar, paul was apparently just screaming at everyone when they were saying he shouldn't be driving. He actually slapped Morgan on that boat ride. Everyone saw it and they were trying to get Paul to not drive. The boat then crashed into a bridge at Archer's Creek. Everyone was thrown either around or out of the boat. As they all tried to gather their thoughts and try and understand what had happened, nobody could find Mallory. She was in the river and she was missing. Morgan had hurt her hand really badly and Connor had smashed his jaw. Everyone was just shell-shocked.
Speaker 1:The first thing that poor Murdoch did was call his dad, start saying to everyone that Connor was driving the boat, and once all the kids apart from Mallory were at the hospital, paul's dad, alec, and granddad Randolph arrived about half an hour later and were going around getting them all to say that it was Connor who was driving the boat, not Paul. They wouldn't let the police interview Paul either, as they knew how drunk he was. Apparently he was three times over the drink driving limit. Now, as I said, morgan had injured her hand pretty badly and Connor had hurt his jaw, so at this point in the hospital, they were both getting treated or going into surgery. All the while, alec and Randolph were trying to talk to them, trying to get them to cover up for Paul. I mean, I just can't with these guys. Just absolute, grotesque disregard for Mallory and all the kids really. Alec actually called Connor's parents saying don't worry about Connor, we can look after him because he was driving the boat. Now, in the meantime, mallory's parents were at Archer's Creek where the boat accident happened, and Anthony was still there, even though he was injured, as he just didn't want to leave without Mallory. Police were busy searching for days and days for her, and during these days, the Murdochs were also busy working on their cover-up for Paul. Eight days after the crash, on the 3rd of March 2019, mallory's body was found. She had died from blunt force trauma and drowning. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Now, at this point, I can just imagine that everyone is reeling from what happened to Mallory. Paul was in serious trouble as the Murdoch's effort to suggest that Connor was driving the boat had not succeeded. Thankfully, and at the time of his death in 2021, paul Murdoch was facing three criminal charges, which included boating under the influence resulting in death. He pleaded not guilty at his initial arraignment, but was killed before he actually faced trial. Now Mallory's family also filed a civil suit against the Murdochs and the convenience store that sold poor Murdoch alcohol that night when he used Buster's ID. The suit was settled in 2023 for over 15 million dollars, and Morgan Connor, miley and Anthony also received some of this compensation.
Speaker 1:Now, unfortunately, what happened to Mallory Beach was not actually the first time a dead person had been associated with the Murdoch family. It wasn't the second time either. No, it was the third time. So we're going to talk now about Stephen Smith and Gloria Satterfield. So Stephen Smith was a 19-year-old student who was found dead on a road in Hampton County in 2015. Stephen was gay and, although it was first assumed that he'd been in a road accident, the fact that his body was in the middle of the road, with only injuries to his head and with his shoes still on so shoes tend to fly off when someone's hit by a vehicle it made police doubt that theory, and there were rumours that Stephen was actually involved intimately with Buster Murdoch, paul's older brother, and that he was actually killed in a homophobic assault as Buster was trying to cover up their relationship.
Speaker 1:Now Mandy talks in her book about when she found out that Stephen Smith was linked to the Murdoch family. She says, quote when I looked online, it didn't take long to come across another theory of Murdoch involved violence and intimidation, and the Netflix documentary showed how, when the police found out Stephen's death could be linked to the Murdochs, the investigation seemed to slow down and then stop and then stop completely more sign of the power the family had over every area of law enforcement in the county. Stephen Smith's mother, sandy, always maintained that Stephen was killed in a homophobic assault. That was being covered up. In her book, mandy talked about the developing friendship she had with Sandy and she really supported her continue to raise awareness of Stephen's death.
Speaker 1:After the murders of Paul and Maggie in 2021, the police talked about new evidence they found in Stephen's death. After the murders of Paul and Maggie in 2021, the police talked about new evidence they found in Stephen's death and the fact that they were now treating it as a homicide. In 2023, they exhumed his body to investigate further and that was a positive move for Sandy and Stephen's friends and family, stephen's family, are being represented by a lawyer called Eric Bland, he said of the exhumation quote. I now believe that Stephen can rest at ease because SLED and our team are doing everything possible to find out how he died. He said the move would bring comfort to the tragic teenager's mother, sandy, who was seriously grieving for her son. The lawyer, eric Bland, is also representing the family of someone else whose death is linked to the Murdoch family Gloria Satterfield.
Speaker 1:Now, gloria had worked for the Murdoch family for 20 years and at the time of her death in February 2018, just a year before the boat crash, she was working as their housekeeper. She was so much more than that, though, and, according to the Netflix documentary, was really really close to Paul as she watched him grow up. Now there were rumours that Gloria had found Alec Murdoch's stash of opioids, which he was allegedly addicted to. More on that in next week's episode. But in February 2018, 911 received a call from Alex and Maggie Murdoch saying that Gloria had fallen down the steps outside their house and that she was bleeding. Gloria was taken to hospital but died without regaining consciousness. The Murdoch said that she had tripped over the family dogs and then fallen down the stone steps hitting her head.
Speaker 1:Now, in a later confession, alec actually said that the dogs weren't involved and that she wasn't at the house for work, but he didn't actually say what had happened. Needless to say, there's been speculation about whether what happened to Gloria was an accident, and her family have been seeking the truth ever since. And her family have been seeking the truth ever since. Now, to add insult to injury, murdoch told Gloria's sons that he would support them filing a suit against him to help get them some money following their mother's death. Now, the insurance company actually paid out four million dollars in this settlement, which was obviously supposed to go to her sons, but instead Murdoch allegedly stole the money for himself, and her family got nothing. Now, this is just another addition to a long list of financial fraud that Murdoch is later charged with that we'll talk about in the next episode.
Speaker 1:Now, by the summer of 2021, not only was Paul being charged with criminally negligent behaviour, but three people had died in the last six years who were associated with the Murdoch family. Alec was allegedly living with an opioid addiction, and Maggie Murdoch was also allegedly living separately from Alex allegedly living separately from Alex. On the 7th of June 2021, 911 received a call from Alec Murdoch saying that his son, paul and wife Maggie had been shot and killed at their lodge Moselle. More on that next week in part two. This episode is dedicated to Maggie and Paul Murdoch, stephen Smith, gloria Satterfield and Mallory Beach, to the people they were and everything they brought to this world, to their family and friends. This is dedicated to all of them.
Speaker 1:This has been Killer in the Family podcast, written and produced by me, claire Laxton, with music from the brilliant Tom Box and Pixabay. I'll be back next week with part two of the story, so please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget to send me any comments or questions to my Insta at KillerInTheFamilyPod or through a text via the episode notes, and do let me know any stories you'd like me to cover as well. Until then, I've been Claire Laxton. This is Killer In the Family Podcast. Until next time, take care, thank you. Thank you.
