But Murdaugh’s life was quietly unfolding behind the scenes long before that. Authorities said he was stealing money, addicted to painkillers and desperately trying to avoid an in-depth examination of his finances tied to a wrongful-death lawsuit involving his son — all while lying to nearly everyone in his life. Like the scoreboard on a detective show, the rays of a half-dozen investigations radiated from Murdaugh after the June 7, 2021, murders of Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and 22-year-old son Paul. Suddenly, a whole cast of people became players in the drama—the family of a teenager killed in a boating collision determined to fight for justice, the murdered wife who lived a quiet life, the client Murdaugh who may have been hired to stage an attempt on the life of the lawyer and the housekeeper who died in a fall at Murdaugh’s house; MALLORY BEACH More than a year before the murders, 19-year-old Mallory Beach died when she was thrown from a Murdaugh family boat after crashing into a bridge pier. Police said Paul Murdaugh was drunk while driving the boat in February 2019. Beach’s family sought justice not only criminally, but also in civil court, filing a wrongful death lawsuit that is still pending trial. This lawsuit likely meant a close look at the Murdaugh family’s finances. Murdaugh fought the lawsuit every step of the way, as Beach’s lawyers suggested he feared they would find out how he managed to live so far beyond his current means. Prosecutors said they have since learned that Murdaugh was stealing money from the law firm and its clients. The State Department of Law Enforcement is investigating whether Murdaugh, his family or friends tried to obstruct the investigation into the boat crash. Others on the boat said Murdaugh was in the emergency room that night, looking in their rooms and trying to get them to tell investigators his son wasn’t driving. MAGGIE MURDAUGH Maggie Murdaugh married the sweetheart she met at the University of South Carolina and moved to tiny Hampton County, where Alex Murdaugh’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather had been elected district attorneys. Otherwise, she lived a quiet life, supporting her husband’s work and raising two sons. Friends don’t remember her working outside for a short time running her own gift shop. They remember a devoted mother who loved her family’s beach house about 60 miles (96 kilometers) away on Edisto Island. Maggie Murdaugh died near her youngest son on the family’s Colleton County hunting estate. Both were shot multiple times, the medical examiner said. Alex Murdaugh called 911 after discovering their bodies. He said he had just returned home from visiting his mother and sick father. Thirteen months later, Murdaugh’s attorney said the rest of the family was told Tuesday that state agents will seek murder charges against Murdaugh this week. CURTIS “EDDIE” SMITH Curtis “Eddie” Smith met Alex Murdaugh when he sued the tree company he worked for after injuring his back in 2007. Or they may have already met each other. Like many things with Murdaugh, exactly what happened is murky. Murdaugh won a settlement for Smith, who said the two became friends. Murdaugh’s attorneys said it was more of a business relationship, with Murdaugh buying drugs. Days after the Murdaugh family’s century-old law firm discovered stolen money in September 2021, Murdaugh asked Smith to meet on the side of a lonely Hampton County highway, according to prosecutors. Murdaugh said he asked Smith to kill him so his surviving son could get a $10 million life insurance policy. Smith said Murdo threatened to kill himself and the gun discharged as Smith tried to pry it from his grip. The shot only grazed Murdaugh’s head. Murdaugh’s lawyers called Smith a drug dealer. “With a friend like that, who needs enemies?” Smith told an Associated Press reporter. Both men were charged in the roadside shooting — Smith with assisted suicide, conspiracy and other charges. Murdaugh, for insurance fraud and filing a false police report after initially saying he was accidentally shot while changing a tire. In June, prosecutors suggested a much deeper connection. They re-indicted both men, saying Murdaugh wrote 437 checks worth $2.4 million that Smith cashed over eight years to try to hide the theft and other illegal activities, including a drug ring involving the painkiller oxycodone. It was the 16th indictment against Murdaugh, who prosecutors say has stolen more than $8 million from clients and others. GLORIA SATTERFIELD Gloria Satterfield was the Murdaughs’ housekeeper for two decades before she fell into a coma and died days after Alex Murdaugh said she tripped and fell in their home. Murdo referred Satterfield’s family to a friend of his to act as their attorney, according to the lawsuit. Murdaugh then rigged his insurers to pay more than $4 million in wrongful-death settlements, prosecutors said. But Satterfield’s family never saw a penny until their new lawyers came after him. Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter attacked Murdaugh relentlessly in court and in the media. Murdaugh eventually ended up behind bars on $7 million bail. Bland compared Murdaugh to a bank robber, but using a pen and corrupt friends instead of a gun. Months later, the lawyer friend and a banker who prosecutors said secretly sent money to Murdaugh that was meant to go into trusts for his clients were indicted. Bland and Richter have won more than $4 million in legal settlements from Murdaugh, whose assets have been frozen, as well as Murdaugh’s attorney and the bank Murdaugh used. The investigation into Satterfield’s death is ongoing. State agents said in June that her body would be exhumed. Coroners in South Carolina are supposed to be notified of a suspicious death, but the Hampton County Coroner was not notified of Satterfield’s fall. Another death investigation has been reopened following the shooting deaths. Stephen Smith, 19, died in what investigators said was a hit-and-run, likely struck in the head by the mirror of a semi-trailer on a two-lane road in Hampton County in 2015. But Smith’s mother said no there was broken glass or shards of plastic from a mirror on the road where her son’s body was found. State agents have not said what evidence in the Murdaugh case led them to reopen the Smith case.
