The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty

Maggie and Paul’s obituaries glossed over the legal cases in which they were embroiled. Alex, his family, and his lawyer friends convened at John Marvin’s hunting lodge, where they planned Maggie and Paul’s funerals. Agent Owen, Detective Rutland, and a dozen other investigators arrived at the lodge, and Owen interviewed Alex in his truck. Owen brought Alex’s phone to a tech analyst, and Alex made small talk with an agent who sat in the backseat. When Owen returned, Alex repeated his story about the night of the murder, maintaining that he didn’t go with Maggie and Paul to the kennels. Agent Owen, having Rogan Gibson’s statement, now believed that Alex was hiding something.

Randolph III passed away later that day. Bauerlein describes how the story of the murder drew national news coverage. Social media groups started to raise questions about connections to other unsolved cases. The Murdaughs reluctantly appeared for interviews to stave off the reporters travelling to Hampton.

SLED still couldn’t find the murder weapons, and the confusion of the original dispatch to Moselle had contaminated the crime scene. Conflicts of interest clouded the case, such as the solicitor—Randolph III’s hand-picked successor—who refused to give up jurisdiction. Bauerlein also shares anecdotes about how the Murdaughs’ reputation still lingered over potential jurors and witnesses. Agent Owen couldn’t believe that a father would kill his son, but Detective Rutland found Alex’s evasions suspicious.

The Murdaughs held Maggie and Paul’s funeral, but rain cut the ceremony short. They held the wake at Moselle, which brought up mixed feelings from attendees. Blanca sang “Amazing Grace.” Three days later, the Murdaughs returned to the cemetery to bury Randolph III. At Randolph’s home, Alex spoke with Shelley Smith, his mother’s caregiver. Alex reminded Shelley that he last saw her when he visited for nearly an hour on the night of the murders, and he offered his help in matters of her personal life. Shelley corrected Alex, knowing that he spent only 15-20 minutes with his mother. Shelley felt that Alex was trying to bribe her into lying about that night.

Days later, Shelley had another unusual interaction with Alex. She saw him enter his mother’s house with a balled-up raincoat and place it in an unused part of the house. Beverly Cook was also suspicious of Alex, whom she thought was trying to pin the murders on her son. The murders renewed interest in the other mysterious deaths, and SLED opened official investigations into Stephen’s death and the cover-up of Mallory’s death. Social media and news outlets also talked about the settlement in Gloria Satterfield’s case. Tony called Alex about these claims, and Alex lied, claiming that the payout would be finalized by the end of the year.

More setbacks marred the investigation, particularly the inability to access data from Maggie and Paul’s phones and from the black box of Alex’s SUV. Although Alex was the only suspect, detectives had little physical evidence tying him to the scene. Detectives made some new discoveries, but these only led to more questions. A video showed Alex wearing different clothes while he rode around Moselle with Paul, and a Capri-Sun—Alex’s drink of choice—was videoed in the gun room, where Alex could only have been when he claimed to be asleep. Meanwhile, Alex tried tidying up the missing legal fees by persuading friends to give him loans. He used the money to pay back his law firm and to pay his drug dealer, Cousin Eddie. Alex and Buster temporarily moved in with Maggie’s parents, and they kept up appearances at social events. Maggie’s sister, Marian, thought that Alex’s lack of concern for his own safety was odd.

Alex left for vacation in August, and when he returned, Agent Owen called him for another meeting. With some intervention from Alex’s lawyer, Owen asked Alex for clarification on certain details of the case. Alex restated his timeline for the night of the murders, adding new embellishments. Owen asked about the inconsistencies in Alex’s story that were brought out by contradictory evidence, but Alex had no answers. Owen asked Alex outright if he killed Maggie and Paul, which Alex denied. Owen then made Alex an official suspect.

Alex spoke with Blanca about the white shirt that he wore on the day of the murder, but Blanca knew that he wore a blue polo shirt in the morning. Bauerlein suggests that Alex knew that his cover was unravelling as SLED’s investigation closed in on him. SLED got the solicitor to relinquish control to state prosecutors, and Mark Tinsley continued to apply pressure in the cover-up case. Social media detectives pieced together clues from the boat crash, blaming Paul and Alex. The Murdaughs tried to appear unfazed, but gossip flew about Alex’s scandals.

Bauerlein illustrates Alex’s physical and mental deterioration through his close friends’ worry that he was becoming self-destructive. Chris Wilson sought written confirmation of a loan in case Alex tried to die by suicide, and Alex’s law partners rarely saw him at work for more than an hour. The firm’s CFO and Alex’s paralegal found the fee check that Alex claimed didn’t exist, and they also discovered other transactions that bypassed the firm’s accounting.

The senior partners, including Alex’s brother Randy, confronted Alex, who didn’t deny his crimes. He claimed that he used the money to support his drug addiction. The partners forced Alex to resign. Alex booked himself into rehab at the urging of his lawyer, Jim Griffin, but he obtained more drugs to stave off his withdrawal. He also admitted to Chris Wilson that he stole from him. Later that day, Alex called 911 from an isolated road, claiming to have been shot. After being airlifted to a hospital, Alex told his story to police, claiming that a man who looked like Anthony Cook shot at him as he was pulled over.

Opinion was divided on whether Alex was attacked or whether he shot himself to engineer a distraction. SLED found evidence indicating that Alex faked his attack with the help of Cousin Eddie. Alex eventually admitted that he planned his death so that Buster could get his life insurance policy, but Agent Owen knew that this was a lie. Alex went to rehab and released a vague statement about his actions.

While Alex was in and out of rehab, a flurry of lawsuits and indictments came against him. Alex’s public support declined rapidly, and the Supreme Court suspended him. A judge denied Alex bond, and he was taken into custody. Due to the scandals, the Murdaugh law firm rebranded, becoming the Parker Law Group. Owen was unsure whether SLED had a strong enough case to convict Alex for murder. They found the blue raincoat that Alex hid in his mother’s house; although it was covered in gunshot residue, it was still circumstantial evidence. SLED was also missing digital information from Paul’s phone and Alex’s black box.

Bauerlein illustrates how Alex’s manipulation continued while he was in prison. He got into fights, exploited the barter economy, and swindled inmates into transferring money to his commissary account. Alex spent his time trying to get Buster back into law school, but Buster was unenthused by his father’s aggressive tactics. While behind bars, Alex was indicted on more charges, bringing the total to nearly 100. Meanwhile, SLED opened Paul’s phone and found an incriminating video proving that Alex lied about not being at the kennels. In the video, Paul checks the tail of Rogan Gibson’s dog, and Maggie laughs at her dog, Bubba. In the background, Alex’s distinctive voice can be heard calling the dog.

Agent Owen and SLED put pressure on Cousin Eddie as a witness while they waited for a grand jury. Eddie received huge sums of money from Alex following the murders, which investigators believed was both drug money and hush money. Eddie’s polygraph test showed that he was concealing something about his participation in the murders. Eddie’s alibi was confirmed, but he had sent a cryptic text, “at fishing hole” (278), to Alex in the morning after the murders. Owen believed that Eddie helped Alex to clean up the crime scene and dispose of the murder weapons, but Eddie wouldn’t talk.

Soon after the anniversary of the murders, the Supreme Court officially disbarred Alex, and a grand jury indicted him for murder. Alex appeared in plain clothes for the arraignment and declared himself not guilty. Bauerlein alludes to the irony of Alex being charged in the same courthouse where he convicted others.

Creighton Waters, the state prosecutor, visited Moselle to see the crime scene. Moselle had gained notoriety, and the property was now vacant and overgrown. Bauerlein depicts the major players in the trial: Waters (the prosecutor) and Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin (Alex’s defense lawyers). Waters was a career prosecutor who challenged abuses of power, and Harpootlian was a senator who gravitated towards high profile cases, while Griffin tried white-collar crime.

Harpootlian accused the state of withholding evidence, and Waters retaliated by handing over thousands of pages of documents. The defense soon uncovered the kennel video, which contradicted Alex’s sworn statements that they had repeated publicly. They also discovered that, after the state’s testing, Alex’s T-shirt showed no evidence of blood. Harpootlian manipulated these revelations in Alex’s favor and sowed doubt in the state’s case. In jail, Alex stayed up-to-date with stories about himself. Buster, now involved with the rebranded Parker Law Group, tried distancing himself from his father’s inquiries. Parker Law Group was rebuilding its reputation, but Alex’s scandals still hung over them.

Rather than bringing relief, the impending trial haunted Beverly and Anthony Cook. Judge Newman took down Buster Murdaugh’s portrait at the courthouse, and the court clerks dealt with the trial’s logistical issues. They considered the Murdaugh family’s security, and the family, including Alex, received special privileges both in and out of the courthouse. Waters visited the historic courtroom to plan his approach. Bauerlein illustrates the difficulty of the jury selection process due to the Murdaughs’ vast connections. The clerk sent out 900 summonses, which had to be narrowed down to 12 jurors and alternates. The defense, the prosecution, and Alex oversaw the questioning period, noting their preferred candidates. Judge Newman had a reputation for fairness, and he had the final say in conflicts of interest.

The prosecution and defense then delivered their opening statements. Waters highlighted the brutality of the murders, Alex’s history of lying, and the evidence that the jurors would see. Harpootlian refuted each of the prosecutor’s claims and reminded the jury of Alex’s right to be presumed innocent. The first witnesses were the first responders on the night of the murders, including Sergeant Greene and Laura Rutland. Each witness described their suspicions about Alex’s behavior, particularly his seemingly fake grief. During breaks, Alex sat in a basement cell but enjoyed lunch from the jurors’ menu. Blanca watched the trial on the news and connected her own observations at Moselle to the state’s evidence, becoming convinced that Alex was guilty.

The prosecution and defense went back and forth, examining witnesses and evidence, and the prosecution gained ground with the kennel video. The defense questioned Rogan Gibson—who was certain that he heard Alex’s voice on the video—about the Murdaughs’ private life. Bauerlein explains that this question opened the door for the prosecution to discuss the stressors in Alex’s life, which were possible motives for the murders. The prosecution introduced questions about Alex’s finances, the missing legal fees, and the boat crash cover-up. Tony Satterfield took the stand to explain Alex’s theft, and the jury sympathized with the young victim, especially after the defense’s mean-spirited cross-examination.

Mark Tinsley testified about the wrongful death lawsuit and the cover-up investigation. Tinsley was determined to show that Alex committed the murders to halt the discovery of his crimes. Tinsley claimed that if not for Maggie and Paul’s deaths on June 7, Alex would have been forced to release his financial records on June 10. He showed a printed copy of the judge’s motion with the date on it. Tinsley’s testimony was so damning that witnesses saw young Buster shooting finger guns at the lawyer from the crowd.

People on social media complained that Alex was receiving special treatment, so Judge Newman took away the few privileges that Alex had been awarded. Amidst the drudgery of the trial, Bauerlein depicts Maggie’s sister Marian’s testimony as an important moment. Marian recounted her last conversation with Maggie, in which she encouraged her to go to Moselle. After the murders, Marian was disconcerted that Alex wasn’t worried about catching the killer. The defense made another blunder in their cross-examination by allowing Marian to reference Alex’s roadside shooting, which they were trying to suppress.

The next key witnesses, Shelley Smith and Blanca, both testified that Alex pressured them to lie about the day of the murders. Blanca mentioned Maggie’s worries about her and Alex’s finances, drawing a vehement objection from the defense. Again, Judge Newman ruled that the defense’s own questioning made the statement valid. People recognized Blanca around town and congratulated her on her powerful testimony, but Blanca felt isolated, having been shunned by the Murdaugh family.

The trial drew huge numbers of reporters and even celebrities. Bauerlein describes how the defense gained ground in the trial by questioning Agent Owen. On the stand, Owen testified about his actions throughout the investigation, highlighting his nagging suspicions that Alex was hiding something. He asserted that the evidence presented no credible suspects other than Alex.

Jim Griffin’s cross-examination picked apart the investigation’s shortcomings and apparent tunnel vision for Alex. Griffin drilled Owen about SLED’s sloppy evidence collection and Owen’s ignorance regarding the changed blood splatter test results. John Meadors of the prosecution addressed each point in his re-examination, but the testimony was unfavorable. The trial threatened to stop when two jurors contracted Covid, but proceedings resumed when they tested negative for the virus. Prosecutors caught another break when they finally decoded the black box, which allowed them to fill in critical timeline details. SLED’s technical agent presented the timeline to the jury, contradicting Alex’s account of the night.

Bauerlein describes the toll that the trial took on the extended Murdaugh family, who were being teased in their communities. The defense’s first witness was Buster, who testified to his father’s loving character. Harpootlian and Griffin eventually allowed Alex to take the stand, hoping that he could turn the case around.

Chapter 40 covers Alex’s testimony in his defense. Alex first addressed why he lied about being at the kennels. He claimed that his addiction made him paranoid, so, when coupled with the shock of the crime, he lied to Agent Owen. Alex recounted his movements that night, starting with his drive around Moselle with Paul and concluding with his call to 911. Griffin prompted Alex to clarify details that were points of contention for the prosecution, such as the reason why he changed his clothes. Alex tried filling in the blanks but claimed that he couldn’t remember everything because of the initial shock. Griffin played the recording of Alex’s 911 call, asking Alex to explain his responses. Alex insisted that he didn’t clean up the scene and reasserted that the last time he saw Maggie and Paul alive was before he left for his mother’s house.

Griffin highlighted Alex’s helpfulness in the investigation. Alex responded to previous witness testimony, refuting Shelley and Blanca’s claims to being intimidated and Tinsley’s claims about Alex’s stress. He admitted to stealing, citing his drug addiction, and he explained that his withdrawal and the humiliation of the case prompted him to concoct the roadside shooting. Alex concluded his testimony by speaking about his love for Maggie and Paul.

Chapter 41 recounts the prosecution’s cross-examination of Alex. Waters began his questioning with what Bauerlein calls a constructive cross. He had Alex confirm statements about the case to ease him into talking. Waters also asked quickfire, nonlinear questions to force Alex into wanting to explain himself. Alex confirmed that he only revealed the truth about being at the kennel for the first time that day, and he confirmed basic facts about his family’s legal history. Alex also challenged Waters on his use of labels like “prominent” when describing his family.

Waters delved into Alex’s connections to law enforcement and his use of his and his grandfather’s solicitor’s badges. Waters cornered Alex into admitting that he used the badges when he dealt with the police in order to gain more favorable treatment. Waters offered examples of such occurrences, citing the night of the boat crash and the night of the murders. Waters then turned to Alex’s financial problems and thefts, beginning with the Pinckney’s case, since Alex’s deception of the quadriplegic victim would draw disgust from the jury. Pamela’s lawyer sat in the courtroom on her behalf. Waters repeatedly asked Alex whether he looked his clients in the eyes when stealing from them. From home, Alania Plyler watched the trial with anger.

On the next day of cross-examination, Waters focused on establishing Alex’s compulsive lying. Alex declared that he tried multiple times to tell the truth, but Waters reminded Alex that he didn’t change his story to anyone in his life during the whole investigation. For each of Alex’s denials, Waters provided refuting evidence, often from Alex’s own statements and actions.

Waters then explored the details of Alex’s time at the kennels. Alex revealed that the dogs had acted normally and did not sense anyone unusual nearby. When asked why he left the kennels so quickly, Alex responded, “Because it was chaotic. It was hot. And I was getting ready to do what I didn’t want to do” (369). Alex clarified that he meant he had planned to work, but the statement sounded like an admission of guilt. Waters further pressed Alex on his timeline’s absurdity. At home, Mark Tinsley watched Alex’s testimony with annoyance.

Waters walked Alex through Maggie and Paul’s movements which were corroborated by digital evidence; he also highlighted Alex’s unusually stagnant phone use during the critical hours of that night. Waters emphasized the flurry of activity on Alex’s phone just after the time of death, implying that Alex was trying to create an alibi. Waters returned to Alex’s history of using lies and fake victimizations to get out of trouble. He concluded his questioning by forcing Alex to confirm, person by person, that he lied to everyone in his life. Waters revealed that Alex even lied to the jury the day before; Alex told them that, due to paranoia, he first lied to Owen about not being at the kennels, but in reality, he immediately lied to Sergeant Greene, well before any investigation began.