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

For over 100 years, the Murdaugh family held sway over Hampton County due to the far-reaching power of their legal influence. Bauerlein investigates how this power corrupted generations of Murdaugh men and examines the ways in which their power decayed the county’s ability to progress. Each generation of Murdaughs intensified the power of the generation before, leading the newer generations—Alex and Paul—to feel entitled to the access and respect that their ancestors had built. As solicitors, the Murdaughs felt like they were not just above the law, but that they “were the law” (147), and they repeatedly abused and exploited the law for their own personal gain. For example, Alex frequently used his grandfather’s solicitor’s badge and had “convinced himself that it was all he needed” (20) to reap advantageous treatment from law enforcement, even though he never held the position of solicitor himself. Alex had an honorary badge, which Bauerlein highlights was simply a signifier of power, not something that Alex worked to achieve. As an extreme example of this entitlement, Paul wasn’t even interested in pursuing a career in law, but he regularly weaponized his grandfather’s position to get out of trouble.

Once the Murdaughs achieved this level of power, Bauerlein illustrates that their behaviors quickly became criminal. Randolph Sr. began his solicitor’s tenure on a platform of “being square and giving everyone a clean deal at all times” (41), but when his power was threatened during the Depression’s days of scarcity, he quickly turned on the Hampton population and abused the legal system for his own gain. His last act in life—suicide by train—was done to ensure that his son could “have the money and the title and the influence to build an empire” (47). Buster Murdaugh was investigated by three different federal and state bodies for his “grossly unethical” (76) activity, from embezzlement to attempted murder. Bauerlein claims that Buster fixed juries and threatened witnesses so that he could hold onto his position of power in Hampton. By detailing Alex’s continued nefarious behavior while in prison, Bauerlein demonstrates how thoroughly Alex’s life of power corrupted him. Alex ran a financial scam by padding various inmates’ commissary accounts with his family’s money, then transferring that money to himself. In the epilogue, Bauerlein implies that Alex continues to run these kinds of scams because he knows no other way to recreate the power that he held in his life of freedom.

Bauerlein argues that the Murdaughs’ legacy and unscrupulous misuse of power had disastrous effects upon Hampton County. Most notably, the Murdaugh law firm became the county’s major money-maker by virtue of the large payouts that they received for personal injury settlements. The private practice persuaded townsfolk to see the family as benefactors, but locals also “took pride in the Murdaughs’ historic monopoly of the office [of solicitor]” (19), which gave the county itself greater power in the region. Bauerlein explains that the Murdaughs’ aggressive tactics impeded economic growth, given that corporations didn’t open new businesses out of fear of being sued. Bauerlein also describes Hampton County as rural and poor with terrible infrastructure that its tax-base couldn’t afford to maintain. She compares Hampton to the nearby Beaufort County, which was out of the Murdaughs’ direct reach, and depicts Beaufort as progressive and modern, with a viable economy and growing businesses. Bauerlein proposes that the Murdaughs’ legacy of being benevolent saviors was a mirage and in reality, the family became a collective, malignant presence that sought enrichment at the expense of others.