Alex Murdaugh, son of Randolph Murdaugh III, is a prominent lawyer in South Carolina. This year the dark history of their family has come to light; for the victims, this will hopefully bring justice to their death.

Buster Murdaugh would have received 10 million dollars in insurance money if his father (Alex Murdaugh) pulled off his hitman stunt. After a grueling year for the Murdaughs, Alex Murdaugh has finally turned himself amid his botched murder scheme and insurance fraud plot. Their year started with Margaret Murdaugh, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22, were shot and killed outside of their home in Islandton, South Carolina. When he died, Paul Murdaugh was facing criminal charges from 2019, where he caused a boating accident while drunk; this accident killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach. 

Alex Murdaugh, a hotshot lawyer, has just attempted to take his own life. On September 4, 2021, Mr. Murdaugh resigned from his law firm after claiming he was misappropriating funds to support his opioid addiction. The next day, he arranged for a former client, Curtis Edward Smith,61, to shoot him while changing a tire. He claimed an unidentified assailant shot him while he was changing the tire. Two days later, his lawyers admit that he arranged for Mr. Smith to shot him because he believed his son would not get the insurance money if he committed suicide. Mr. Smith now faces numerous criminal charges, such as conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, assault and battery, possession of drugs, and assisted suicide.

 Daphne Saatcioglu, a Wayne Hills junior, said, “That is quite insane; I feel like most people wouldn’t expect this much done for money and drugs. It just goes to show how much the world revolves around money. I hope whoever is involved faces the punishment they deserve.” 

As of right now, the police have no comment on possible suspects in the deaths of Paul and Margret, but Mr.Murdaugh is in the clear. In the BBC article “Alex Murdaugh: Hotshot lawyer turns himself in for ‘hitman suicide’ plot,” Mr. Harpooltian, Alex Murdaugh lawyer, says, “He is distraught,” Mr. Harpootlian said. “He did not murder them.” No charges have been brought against him, but he has turned himself in for the fraud charges. Paul and Margaret’s murder may now be connected to a cold case from 2015 where Stephen Nicholas Smith, 19, was found dead on the road nearby. While looking into their history, the police now believe Gloria Satterfield, a housekeeper for nearly two decades, for the Murdaughs who died in 2018, may now be considered intentional since her injuries were not consistent with the cause of which was deemed as a natural death.

 Andrew Reitter, a guidance counselor at Wayne Hills, said, “That is crazy; it sounds like it should be a TV show on Netflix.”

 Investigations are still underway as more of this family’s dark history is being uncovered.