Alex Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife and son.
But no matter the outcome of his trial, which began in January, the unraveling of one of South Carolina's most prominent dynasties gripped the South and beyond from the beginning, the 2021 deaths of his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul Murdaugh, 22, the tragic coup de grâce of a downfall years in the making. Prosecutors have alleged Alex, 54, was desperate to escape accountability for financial crimes he committed and shot his loved ones to buy himself time and sympathy as a grieving husband and father.
The Netflix docuseries Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, now streaming, delves into the events that have kept the family in the headlines for five years, starting with a 2019 boat crash that left 19-year-old Mallory Beach, a close friend of Paul's girlfriend, dead and marked the beginning of the end for the Murdaughs' century-long reign of influence.
A family spokesperson told the makers of Murdaugh Murders that they would not be commenting at this time.
But Alex's lawyers are busily laying out his side at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., the defense having got underway Feb. 21 in the double-murder trial with testimony from Alex's surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, 26.
And in any case, how Alex ended up in court is a helluva story. Here are the biggest revelations from Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal:
Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal is streaming on Netflix.