Alex Murdaugh, third generation scion of a corrupt rural South Carolina family, will die in prison. Mandy Matney helped put him there. This is a true tale of murder, grotesque criminality, overwhelming privilege, and drug addiction by Murdaugh and his degenerate good old boy banking buddies. many of whom are also in prison now.
The Murdaugh’s were the law in their area for three generations and were rightfully feared. Their reign started to splinter when Alex’s son Paul, a 19-year-old sociopath alcoholic killed Mallory Beach in a drunken boating accident in 2019. At first it appeared the good old boy network would protect Paul. Then Mandy Matney began investigating and published her first story, saying evidence was vanishing and why hadn’t Paul been arrested. She got huge positive feedback from locals saying, finally, someone is speaking the truth. “Blood on Their Hands: Murder, Corruption, and the Fall of the Murdaugh Dynasty” is her account of what happened.
Paul did get arrested, Then, things get completely deranged and violent. Paul and his mother Maggie, Alex’s wife are murdered at the family estate. A few weeks later Alex says someone tried to shoot him while he was changing a tire on a country road. This story crumbles when it becomes clear Alex had a minor wound and his Mercedes has tires that could be driven on while flat.
It gets crazier, Alex’s law firm, of which he is a partner, fires him, saying an audit showed he’d been stealing millions from clients. Alex says he’s a drug addict and checks into rehab.
Mandy Matney was there for the whole story, reporting from the ground what was happening. Mainstream media generally reported what she reported and was mostly lame during the whole story. She faced the good old boy mafia, really insulting misogyny, stonewalling by officials, and still broke story after story. She was working for two small media sites during this but basically broke the stories on her own.
Alex was arrested and convicted for the murder of his wife and son. He’s also been convicted of dozens of financial charges and will never get out of prison.
Prison phone calls between him and surviving son Buster were solely about money, and how to get Buster back in law school since he’d been expelled for plagiarism. They never mentioned the murders. Not even once.
As a result of the Murdaugh murder investigations, state authorities reopened their investigation into the death of Steven Smith in 2015. Smith was gay. It was not a roadside accident. Buster has denied rumors that he was involved.
Justice came very late here, but it finally did come. How many other families are there like this elsewhere? And yeah, sometimes the little journalist on the ground scoops everyone else and has a major impact on what happened.