A portrait of Randolph Murdaugh Sr.Photo: Michael M. DeWitt, Jr./Augusta Chronicle-USA TODAY NETWORK
On Thursday evening, a 12-person juryconvicted Alex Murdaughof the murders of his wife and son — a conviction that punctuated the spectacular fall of the Murdaugh family dynasty that dates back to Alex’s great-grandfather’s founding of an influential law firm in 1910.
In Netflix’s new limited series,Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, South Carolina journalist and historian Michael M. DeWitt Jr. detailed what he has learned about the eerie death of Randolph Murdaugh Sr., in 1940, after his firm became preeminent in the state’s Lowcountry region.
“Nobody in any of those counties got elected or appointed without the Murdaughs' approval,” a source close to the family toldFITSnews.
In the months before Murdaugh Sr.’s untimely death, he was battling an unknown illness, but on the evening of July 18, 1940, he was able to leave his home to visit a friend, DeWitt Jr. reported forGreenville News, citing newspaper clippings. Around 1 a.m., when he was returning home, his car mysteriously stopped at a railroad crossing and within minutes, a freight train slammed into his car, killing him instantly. He was 59.
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The Washington Postalso sheds light on a report intheHampton County Guardian, which stated that according to the driver of the train, Murdaugh Sr. waved at the train as it was speeding toward him. TheHampton County Guardianreported at the time that Murdaugh Sr.’s lifeless body was found 150 feet away from the crossing.
Many historians have wondered if the death was alcohol-related or possibly a suicide, but neither theory has been proven,The Washington Postreported, and his death was eventually ruled an accident.
After Murdaugh Sr.’s death, his son and Alex Murdaugh’s grandfather, Randolph “Buster” Murdaugh Jr., became the new solicitor, and the Murdaugh family sued the railroad company, Charleston & Western Carolina Railway Co., over the accident.
Murdaugh Jr. asked for $100,000 from the railroad company, according toGreenville News, citing court records from Sept. 1941. In 1941, $100,000 was equivalent to more than $2 million in 2023, given inflation rates. The case was privately settled and Murdaugh Jr. received an undisclosed amount of money.
Four generations later, untimely deaths still surrounded the Murdaugh family. In 2019, Paul Murdaugh was at the center of an alleged drunk boating accident that took the life of 19-year-old Mallory Beach.
Two months after the deadly accident, Paul was arrested and later indicted on charges of one count of boating under the influence causing death and two counts of causing significant bodily injury. Before he could attend his trial, Paul, 22, was shot to death along with his mother Maggie, 52, at their hunting lodge in Islandton, S.C.
From left, Buster Murdaugh, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, Paul Murdaugh, Alex Murdaugh.Maggie Murdaugh/Facebook
Three days later, Murdaugh’s father, 81-year-old Randolph Murdaugh III, died. Then, three months after the murders, on Sept. 4, 2021, news broke that Alex Murdaugh, 54, had been shot in Hampton County, S.C. However, less than two weeks after the shooting, authorities revealed that Murdaugh had allegedly hired Curtis Edward Smith to shoot him in a suicide-for-hire plot.
In July of 2022, Murdaugh was indicted for the murders of his wife and son, and on March 2, 2023, he was found guilty of murdering them. The jury deliberated for less than 3 hours. He was sentenced to two life sentences.
Murdaugh still faces dozens of charges for alleged financial crimes, including misappropriating money from his law firm, defrauding clients of funds and computer crimes. A trial for those charges will be held at a later date.
source: people.com
