Hampton County, S.C., September,1910 – An ambitious young lawyer decides to dabble in politics and prosecution, birthing a powerful legal and family dynasty.
Beaufort County, S.C., February,2019 – There’s a girl in the frigid, salty waters of Archer’s Creek. It takes search and rescue teams a week to recover her body, as the public screams for justice and answers.
Colleton County, S.C., June 2021 – The young man police say is responsible for her death lies shot to death on the ground outside his home. His mother lies dead just a few feet away. Four days later, his grandfather, a prominent attorney and prosecutor, dies of apparent natural causes at his home in Hampton County.
The 2019 drowning death of Mallory Beach, 19, and the June 7, 2021, killings of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, 52, and her youngest son, Paul Terry Murdaugh, 22, shocked the Lowcountry and are the latest developments in a bloody saga that has consumed two Hampton County families and stunned the South CarolinaLowcountry while becoming tabloid fodder for the world.
Hampton County's prominent Murdaugh family has found itself ensnared in a real-life, alleged murder mystery that has countless peoplewondering “who done it” and why, and demanding justice;just as the Beach family wondered about their daughterand also sought answers and justice in 2019.
State police have made no arrests and are asking the public for information. Meanwhile, members of the Murdaugh family, vilified by some in the media and on social media following Beach’s death, appeared on "Good Morning America" June 17 pleading for help.
“The person who did this is out there,” said Randolph “Randy” Murdaugh IV, Paul Murdaugh's uncle. “We need help finding who did this… We’re just regular people, and we are hurting just like they would be hurtingif it had happened to them.”
What we know:Murdaughs killed in double homicide in Colleton County: What We Know
Here in Hampton, a town of about 2,500 people located60 miles from the luxurious Hilton Head, S.C. beach resorts, this is not just a major news story. This is an ongoing nightmare.
More:Murdaugh autopsy details, SLED timeline released in double homicide
Who are the Murdaughs?
“Murdaugh” was a household name in Hampton County long before making headlines in The New York Post, Fox News and even European outlets. While there have beenquestions aboutentitlement and corrupt cover-ups,the family's legacy is deeply rooted.
Randolph Murdaugh Sr. returned from law school to open a practice in 1910 in his hometown of Hampton. According to Murdaugh family lore, Randolph never hung a sign outside his law office, and neither did his children or grandchildren—everyone knew where the Murdaugh firm was located.
In 1920, Murdaugh Sr.became the first elected Solicitor for the14th Judicial Circuit, serving the citizens of five S.C. Lowcountry counties while continuing his private civil law practice. But he died after his car was struck by a freight train in 1940.
His law practice had become one of the largest personal injuryfirms in the state. Four generations of Murdaughs have practiced law at Peters Murdaugh Parker Eltzroth & Detrick, PA, which has earned numerous multi-million verdicts over its 110-year history. Ironically, many cameagainst the railroad giant CSX Transportation.
“A train killed my granddaddy in 1940, and they have been killing our people ever since,” Randolph III, the Murdaugh Sr.'s grandsonquipped once, speaking at a public event.
Randolph “Buster” Murdaugh, Jr., took over his father's private practice and public office upon his death, and served as the 14th Circuit Solicitor from 1940 until 1986 in what is believed to be longest term of any solicitor in U.S. history.
During that 46-year career, Buster Murdaugh became storied throughout the regionfor his legal prowess, tobacco-chewing in the courtroom and colorful antics in front of juries.
It was not a career without controversary. A captivating 2019 article by John Monk and Cody Dulaney of The State newspaperin Columbia, S.C., unearthed details of the S.C. Supreme Court’s official rebukes of Murdaugh in several death penalty cases, and in June of 1956 he was under federal indictment for allegedly tipping off local bootleggers ahead of the police. Buster was later acquitted of those charges.
Buster’s son, Randolph III, served as his Assistant Solicitor, then took the office upon his father’s retirement in 1986, serving the public for almost 20 years until he went into private practice in 2006. In all, the Murdaughs had a combined 86 years in the Solicitor’s Office.
More:Former 14th Circuit Solicitor Randolph Murdaugh III dies at home
As a child, Randolph III often went to court with his father. As a solicitor, he tried more than 200 murder cases—once earning two murder convictions in the same week—yet prided himself on knowing when a suspect deserved leniency or a second chance, he told his hometown paper, The Hampton County Guardian, in a recent interview. According to the Murdaugh family, Randolph III was instrumental in creating a pre-trial intervention program to give first-time and young offenders a second chance.
Like his father, Randolph III had a smooth charisma that charmed juries, and a sense of humor that endeared him to many. Upon the birth of his first granddaughter, Randolph II choose the nickname “Handsome,” because “I always wanted a woman to call me handsome.”
When a gentleman’s “strip” club first opened on Hilton Head Island, and concerned citizens wanted action, he told a TV reporter that, for the good of the 14th Circuit, he would “keep a close eye” on their activities.
Randolph III would go on to earn The Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor bestowed by the state’s governor, and the Murdaugh family name would continue to be synonymous with legal power and public service in the Lowcountry as the family amassed land and wealth in multiple counties.
A fateful boat ride
They were young people doing what young people do: looking for fun and enjoying a little mischief under the moonlight.
On the night of Feb. 23, 2019, Paul Murdaugh, grandson of Randolph III, set off with five of his friends from a Chechessee Creek-side property owned by the Murdaugh family and nicknamed,“The Island.” They pulled away in a 17-foot Sea Hunt center console boat belonging to Paul'sfather, Alex Murdaugh. The grouppartied at an oyster roast, then hit up a bar, according to state court records. According to police statements, the youths were “grossly intoxicated.”
As the night wore on, fog settled over the saltwater creeks. Around 2:20 a.m. on Feb. 24, the boat struck a bridge piling in Archer’s Creek at a high rate of speed, according to S.C. Department of Natural Resources reports. All were ejected, and several injured, but one was missing.
Mallory Beach, 19, a college student from Hampton County, was not among them. They called, screamed, cried. One of them reportedly jumped into the river to search for her, but her body was taken by the tides. Beach’s body was found in a marsh miles away on March 3.
Every day that Beach was missing, public concerns and outrage grew. Hundreds attended her funeral. The cry #JusticeForMallory spread on the Internet.
Because of the high-profile family involved, this case drew intense media and public interest, and law enforcement officials and prosecutors quickly came under fire for their handling of the boat crash investigation. At first, law enforcement could not identify the driver, and no one in the boat was given sobriety tests. Media outlets in the area reported that Murdaugh family membersreported to the hospital, preventing investigators from gathering information from the victims there.
Investigators weren’tallowed to speak to Paul Murdaugh for several days as theycoordinated his interview with Murdaugh’s legal representation.
Several 14th Circuit officials close to the Murdaugh family recused themselves from the case, citing the conflict of interest, slowing the wheels of justice.
On April 18, 2019, a grand jury directly indicted Paul Murdaugh on three felony charges related to the crash, including boating under the influence causing death. On May 6, Murdaugh pleaded not guilty to all charges. He was released on a $50,000personal recognizance bond.
Murdaugh was never handcuffed and never enteredthe jail. His booking photograph was taken in a courthouse hallway inhis own clothes. A judge denieda prosecutor’s request to make him wear an alcohol monitor, and Murdaugh wasallowed to travel freely about the state while awaiting a trial date that never came.
On March 29, 2019, Beach’s mother, Renee, filed awrongful death suit against members of the Murdaugh family and other parties. A family that has earned millions taking legal action against others now findsitself on the wrong end of what could be a costly lawsuit.
Unsolved mystery
Police and media have had almost two years to investigate every aspect of the fatal boat crash. But the events of June 7, 2021, are much less clear.
Even as Paul Murdaugh was awaiting a trial date, and his family’s attorneys are defendinga civil suit,he'd been receiving death threats, family members told "Good Morning America."
More:Murdaugh double homicide: SLED addresses the public, rumors, surrounding brutal crime
Alex Murdaugh told the S.C. Law Enforcement Division that he had been visiting his sick father, Randolph III, in the hospital in Savannah and returned to his family’s rural estate in Colleton County to find his wife, Maggie, and youngest son Paul killed.
Autopsies revealthey were shot multiple times, sometime between 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
On Wednesday, June 16, eyewitnesses reported to the Hampton Guardianthat SLED agents with SCUBA gear were searching the Salkehatchie River roughly two miles from the crime scene. SLED hasn’t confirmed that information, either.
On Thursday, June 10, a day before the Murdaugh family was set to bury Paul and Maggie, Randolph III, 81, died of apparent natural causes at his home in Hampton County. In less than a week, the Murdaughs held funerals for three of their own.
The world watches and waits
Who killed the Murdaughs remains a mystery to the public. SLED, the lead investigating agency on this case, has released little information and announced no suspects or arrest. Police say the public is not at danger, and yet there remains a killer or killers at large.
Meanwhile, speculation steeped in hints ofpower, wealth and revengeis rampant. None of it has been corroborated by authorities. A SLED spokesperson said that he has received requestsfor information from as far away as the United Kingdom. Videos about the case are going viral on the social media platform,Tik Tok.
But thestory is mostpowerful in Hampton County.
More:A week later, no arrests in SC double homicide of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh
“They are not the monsters the other media outlets are portraying them to be,” said a Murdaugh family friend, Tangie Peeples Ohmer. “My problem with all of this is that, regardless of how anyone feels about Paul's past, a family lost a son, a grandson, a brother, nephew and cousin! And Maggie paid the ultimate price, as well.”
“We should not focus on the past or mistakes made, but the fact that there is a family that just had their world turned upside down,” Katlyn Ginn, of Hampton County, added. “This family has my prayers and love is being sent their way as they have a very tough journey ahead.”
Attorneys for the Beach family issued the following statement soon after the deaths of Paul and Maggie Murdaughwere reported:
“The Beach family extends its deepest and warmest sympathies to the Murdaughs during this terrible time. Having suffered the devastating loss of their own daughter, the family prays that the Murdaughs can find some level of peace from this tragic loss. They would like the family and the community to know that their thoughts and continued prayers are with the Murdaughs. It is their most sincere hope that someone will come forward and cooperate with authorities so that the perpetrator of these senseless crimes can be brought to justice.”
In Hampton County, many grieve the slaughter of the Murdaughs, while at the same time wanting justice for Mallory Beach.