Analysis of Murdaugh Family Mystery | Collection of Suspicious Deaths

hello this is dr grande today's question is can i analyze the case of alex murdoch and the murdoch family just a reminder i'm not diagnosing you by in this video only speculating about what could be happening in a situation like this if you enjoyed this video please like it subscribe to my channel and consider supporting me on patreon i will put the link to patreon in the description for this video first i'll look at the background this case i'll move to the timeline of the crime as well as various other incidents then offer my analysis the murdoch family has been described as a legal dynasty in south carolina over three generations a member of the family has served as the 14th circuit solicitor this is a position that is responsible for prosecuting cases across five counties in southern south carolina the tradition started with randolph murdoch senior being elected to the position in 1920 and serving until 1940. when he died randolph murdoch jr would take over and stay in the position until 1986 when he retired randolph murdoch iii would occupy the position starting in 1987 continuing to the end of 2005. the dynasty would finally be broken in 2006 when a man named duffy stone was appointed to serve as the solicitor by the governor stone would remain in that position for many years by being elected several times this takes us to the timeline of the crimes and various other incidents on february 24 2019 six people were bored a boat near paris island one of these people was nineteen-year-old paul murdoch the son of a local attorney named alex murdoch alex murdoch is the son of randolph murdoch iii and the owner of the boat paul was allegedly operating the boat when it plowed into a bridge piling which caused a 19 year old woman named mallory beech to be thrown into the water her body was found a week later paul was not given a field sobriety test he was never placed in handcuffs and he wasn't transported to the jail to be booked people wondered if he was receiving some type of special treatment paul was eventually tested for substances his blood alcohol content was .286 he had allegedly purchased alcohol using a fake id paul murdoch's behavior in the hospital was described by nurses and other staff as among the most arrogant they'd ever seen he was belligerent disrespectful condescending and obnoxious it appears as though alex murdoch was trying to assist his son in the hospital like telling him not to make any statements another teenager on the boat accused the authorities of trying to focus on him thereby reducing paul's culpability for the collision it was like the authorities were trying to say maybe somebody else was actually operating the boat paul murdoch was indicted on three counts of felony voting under the influence he pleaded not guilty duffy stone recused himself from this case now moving to june 7 2021 at this time paul is 22 years old and has not yet been tried in the case alex murdoch called 911 at 1007 pm and reported that he found his wife margaret and his son paul outside their home in arlington margaret had allegedly been shot with a rifle and paul with a shotgun two different weapons which may point to two different shooters but would not have to alex myrtle had an alibi for the time when margaret and paul were shot the police were unable to identify any suspect for the double homicide duffy stone would eventually recuse himself from this case just like he did with the boating crash case although he had initially said he would not on june 22 the police reopened an investigation of the death of a 19 year old man named steven smith on july 8 2015 just before 4 am his body was found on a hampton county road his car was three miles away with the fuel cap off which made it seem like he ran out of gas and then started walking on the road it's not actually clear what killed stephen it may have been blunt force trauma but there was another report of a gunshot wound there was disagreement between the coroner and a physician who examined stephen's body about what killed him some law enforcement officers believed stephen was the victim of a hit-and-run driver but others disagreed the connection to the murdoch family is not known one theory is that this was a hate crime stephen was gay so perhaps he was targeted by local teenagers for that reason the police only said that paul murdoch and his brother buster were interviewed as persons of interest not long after stephen's body was found on september 3 2021 alex murdoch resigned from the law firm where he worked the next day september 4 murdoch calls 911 and tells them that he had been shot he was on a road in hampton county when this happened he was treated for a superficial gunshot wound to the head later we would find out that alex claimed he saw a low tire indicator light come on on his dashboard and he pulled over a man driving a blue pickup truck stopped and asked him if he had car trouble right after alex responded the man shot him and drove away on september 6 myrtle released a statement through his attorney announcing he was resigning from the law firm and checking into a rehabilitation center later it was revealed that he had a problem with opioids he said he made a lot of decisions that he regretted and he was sorry to everyone he hurt on september 7 the law firm revealed that murdoch resigned after they discovered he was misappropriating funds bertall's law license was suspended the next day on september 10 a spokesperson for the murdoch family claimed that alex's injuries were not superficial they claimed he had an entry and exit wound and his skull was fractured three days later the authorities announced that they were investigating the allegation that alex murdoch misappropriated funds from the law firm where he worked on september 14 the police announced that they charged a man named curtis edward smith in connection with the shooting on september 4. smith was charged with assisted suicide conspiracy to commit insurance fraud pointing and presenting a firearm and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature they said that smith shot murdah as part of a conspiracy with murdoch smith was supposed to kill murdoch so that murdoch's son could collect 10 million dollars in life insurance alex murdoch would be charged not long after smith was charged he surrendered to the police allegedly smith was the primary drug dealer for murdoch he had been supplying murdoch with opioids when some of these drug dealers are categorized by terms like primary it's usually not a great sign as far as the strength of an addiction smith was at one time murdoch's client murdoch represented him in a personal injury lawsuit in 2012 and then for a speeding ticket in 2013. the police said that murdoch supplied smith with the firearm that was used and smith admitted to being present during the shooting and disposing of the firearm in addition to all the various charges and incidents there is yet one more investigation at some point the police opened a criminal investigation into the death of a woman named gloria satterfield she was a housekeeper and nanny for the murdoch family for over 20 years in 2018 when she was 57 years old she allegedly fell in the myrtle home and sustained lethal injuries the coroner was never notified there was no autopsy and the death certificate said natural causes this of course didn't match the cause of death initially reported which was trip and fall now i guess it could be that somebody is saying that dying from a trip and fall is natural causes because gravity is natural that's not a great argument usually dying from a fall is considered unnatural now moving to my analysis at the time making this video there have been many charges but no convictions certain people like paul will never be convicted of any crime because they're dead dying unexpectedly seems to be a theme surrounding this case margaret paul the housekeeper gloria stephen smith mallory beach a lot of people lost their lives some of these deaths were clearly murder and the others were suspicious it's not clear if all the deaths are connected especially gloria and steven those could be unrelated to the murdoch family but it still seems odd to have so many people dying in connection with one family there are so many unknowns in this case it's hard to put together any quality theories about what happened the police are being quite secretive as the investigation is ongoing one theory of course would be that alex murdoch was somehow connected to some or all of the deaths but i'm not aware of any evidence available to support that conclusion the second theory would be that somebody who was avenging the death of mallory beach killed margaret and paul but of course there's no reason to believe they would have any motive to kill gloria or stephen as those deaths occurred prior to the boat collision the third theory would be that members of the murdoch family and those connected with them are very unlucky this theory could be true regardless of the status of the other theories there is a theory out there specifically about the shooting of alex murdoch which says that his intent was to be injured and not to be killed so the conspiracy was not about killing him but rather wounding him so he could gain sympathy in dealing with all these problems he was facing like the accusation about stealing money this is an interesting theory but why would alex and curtis agree to shooting alex in the head it seems like an unusual choice if the object was for alex to survive as having an intact head is important to remaining alive maybe alex assumed that his brain was something he didn't use anyway so why not shoot it there are a few themes that emerge in this case that i want to talk about specifically power substance use and money looking at the power angle we see the murdoch family had a substantial legacy in the area where they lived specifically three generations of prosecutors i think this case illustrates how much power that could give a family i think one of the main ways that this could have been helpful for them is to discourage people from reporting any suspicions or making any allegations most citizens do not want to get on the bad side of a local prosecutor and law enforcement certainly would not want to tangle with them either this may have made alex and paul murdoch more comfortable about their substance use like they knew they didn't have to worry much about being arrested or prosecuted this brings me to the second item substance use alex murdoch used opioids for many years and would eventually seek treatment it's not clear how this could be connected to the desks or anything but it certainly seems unusual for an attorney perhaps it's connected to the alleged theft of money from the law firm paul's substance use was much more clearly tied to death mallory beach died as a result of the collision involving the boat that paul was allegedly operating paul had been drinking as early as 16. his friends said that when he consumed alcohol he became a different person they even named this alter ego they called it timmy on one occasion when timmy was present he removed all his clothing except for boxer shorts and ran around in 40 degree weather it seems clear that substance use in the murdoch family led to death and destruction and like all illegal substance use was completely unnecessary now moving to the last item money the murdoch family had and desired money allegedly alex was involved in stealing money and wanted to make sure that his surviving son received millions of dollars in life insurance even when alex thought he would no longer be alive money was on his mind it was still a top priority as for paul he was operating a boat with friends something that is a privilege that few people will experience it seems like image was important to this family and money was a key part of that image without money the power and the substances would go away it really was the key to maintaining their lifestyle moving to my final thoughts by most accounts the murdoch family was very respected for many years they were beloved members of the community pro-social helpful they stood for law and order it took decades for responsible members of the family to build that legacy it would seem as though alex and his son paul were able to destroy the legacy within a few years and replace it with a legacy of destruction and irrational thinking sometimes a sense of being important or powerful can lead somebody to make bad decisions there is the sense that they think of themselves as above the law free of consequences this is a dangerous place for them to be and is dangerous for everyone else being powerful often leads to abusing power those are my thoughts in the case of alex myrtle and the murdoch family please put any opinions and thoughts in the comments section they always generate an interesting dialogue as always i hope you found my analysis of this topic to be informative thanks for watching

Channel: Dr. Todd Grande

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Length: 13min 58sec (838 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021