- Netflix's docuseries "Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal" focuses on the tragedies in the Murdaugh family.
- On June 7, 2021, Maggie Murdaugh and her son Paul were killed on their property in South Carolina.
Season 1 of Netflix's true crime docuseries "Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal" introduced viewers to the Murdaugh family, a wealthy, powerful family from Hampton County, South Carolina. A number of suspicious deaths have been connected to the family over the years, including the February 2018 death of their longtime family housekeeper, 57-year-old Gloria Satterfield.
The first season of "Murdaugh Murders" focused largely on the Murdaugh's youngest son Paul Murdaugh's involvement in the 2019 boat crash that led to the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach. According to a wrongful death suit filed by Beach's mother, Paul was drunk and driving the boat at the time of the crash.
Paul Murdaugh was charged with three felony counts related to the crash in April 2019, and pleaded not guilty to all charges. But Paul, who was out on bail at the time, never had the chance to make it to trial. The young man and his mother, Maggie Murdaugh, were shot dead on their property in Islandton, South Carolina, on June 7, 2021. (The charges against Paul were formally dropped months after his death, in August 2021).
The elder Murdaugh, who made the 911 call to inform authorities that his wife and son had been shot, was ultimately identified as a person of interest in their murders — but he was also separately indicted on other fraud and conspiracy charges, some of which were related to the housekeeper Satterfield's death.
So, where is Alex Murdaugh today? Here's what we know about what happened to him after the 2021 deaths of his wife Maggie and son Paul.
Murdaugh was found guilty of killing Maggie and Paul in March 2023
In July 2022, Murdaugh was arrested and indicted on two counts of murder for the deaths of Maggie and Paul. As reported by Insider's Ashley Collman and Lloyd Lee, Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering his wife Maggie and youngest son Paul in March 2023. He was sentenced to one life sentence for each of the murders.
He's currently serving his time at an undisclosed maximum security prison in South Carolina, per CBS News.
In September 2021, prior to being indicted for the murders, Murdaugh was arrested and charged with conspiracy and fraud for his involvement in an assisted suicide scheme in September 2021.
According to The New York Times, Murdaugh admitted days before his arrest to asking a former client named Curtis Edward Smith to shoot and kill him so that his surviving son Richard "Buster" Murdaugh could collect insurance money. He was shot in the head, but survived.
Murdaugh was also charged with crimes in the aftermath of Gloria Satterfield's death
Upon Murdaugh's release from a drug detoxification center in Florida in October 2021, he was arrested and charged with fraudulent activity for misleading his former housekeeper Gloria Satterfield's sons after her death.
Satterfield died in February 2018 after she was reported to have fallen down the stairs at the family's hunting estate. Murdaugh reportedly told Satterfield's sons he was responsible for her death and was going to sue himself so that her family would be financially taken care of. Satterfield's sons said they never received any money. Satterfield's death investigation was not re-opened.
Murdaugh was indicted on 22 fraud-related charges in May 2023 for cheating Satterfield's estate and insurance providers out of $3.5 million. In September 2023, he agreed to plead guilty to all 22 counts.
While his plea agreement does not have a formal sentence recommendation, it notes that if Murdaugh complies with the terms of his plea agreement, government attorneys will recommend that any federal sentence "be served concurrent to any state sentence served for the same conduct."