- Alex Murdaugh’s links to mysterious deaths in South Carolina are coming under renewed scrutiny
- Alex goes on trial for the murders of his wife and son next week
- Authorities are also investigating links to the death of a 19-year-old gay man in 2015
Earlier this month, the family paid a ‘significant’ amount to the family of a victim in a 2019 boat crash - Alex’s deceased son, Paul, is thought to have been drunk while driving the boat
The Murdaugh family, for years one of the most prominent family’s in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, along the state’s coastline, are in the spotlight thanks to the clan’s links to a series of mysterious deaths.
It comes following the publication of a New Yorker feature, just a week before family patriarch, Alex Murdaugh, is due to go on trial for the shooting deaths of his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul.
The Murdaugh Murders
The family’s links to death of 19-year-old openly gay nursing student Stephen Smith, whose name ‘was linked with Buster’s,’ the Murdaugh’s eldest son, is also under investigation, DailyMail.com previously reported.
In addition, the 2018 death of the family’s housekeeper Gloria Satterfield outside of the Murdaugh’s estate after she had apparently tripped on some steps. Alex is accused of not giving her sons the $4 million that was later paid out in life insurance.
Alex’s trial for murder will begin in Colleton County on January 23. He will be represented in the case by powerful South Carolina Democratic Party activist and Biden surrogate, Dick Harpootlian.
Earlier this month, the family of Mallory Beach have reached a tentative settlement with Buster Murdaugh in a $50million lawsuit, after the young woman was killed during a fatal late night boat ride, driven by Buster’s younger brother and murder victim Paul.
Beach, 19, was thrown from the boat when it crashed into Archers Creek Bridge, in Beaufort South Carolina, in 2019. Her body was found five days later. There were six people on board the vessel at the time of the crash.
It is believed Paul Murdaugh, 19, was drunk at the time, with Buster accused of lending his younger brother his ID in order for him to buy alcohol before the crash, according to one local news outlet.
Boating accident
According to legal documents seen by DailyMail.com, Paul Murdaugh was ‘highly intoxicated,’ ‘drunk’ and ‘belligerent,’ on the February night two years ago when he sped his boat into a piling on Archer’s Creek.
The New Yorker piece mentions Paul’s friends as referring to his aggressive drunken alter-ego as ‘Timmy.’ Another person who was on the boat on that fateful night testified: ‘When they can tell he’s drunk, somebody will say, “All right. Here comes Timmy. We got to go.”‘
The article goes on to accuse Alex Murdaugh and his late father, Randolph Murdaugh III, of putting pressure on those who were present on the boat not co-operate with investigators in the hospital in the immediate aftermath of the crash.
One of the passenger’s who had driven the boat earlier in the night, Connor Cook, testified in a deposition later that Alex told him ‘everything was going to be all right. I just needed to keep my mouth shut and tell them I didn’t know who was driving,’ according to the New Yorker.
At the time of his death in June 2021, Paul Murdaugh was facing charges including boating under the influence resulting in death.
Four years before the crash, Stephen Smith, 19, was found dead in the middle of a country road 15 miles from the Murdaugh family’s Islandton hunting lodge on July 8, 2015.
Smith’s death was ruled a hit-and-run, but his mother Sandy has always maintained that her son, who was gay, was the victim of a hate crime and the murder was covered up.
Did you subscribe to our daily Newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe
Source: New Yorker
