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Impact x Nightline - Season 4 - Episode 08: Back from the Dead
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00:08They were a southern dynasty, drenched in power, prestige, privilege, until it all came crashing down.
00:16This is Alec Murdoch. I need to believe this happens immediately. My wife and Tom have gone badly.
00:23Alec Murdoch murdering his own wife and son on their sprawling South Carolina estate.
00:28People knew the Murdoch family. The whole thing is just bizarre.
00:34An investigation uncovering so many twists in the case.
00:38There are all these deaths connected to the Murdoch family. Alec himself is even shot.
00:44His trial plastered on screens across the country.
00:48I didn't shoot my wife or my son anytime. Ever.
00:52And the evidence. Video captured by his own son that would ultimately bring him down.
00:57Come here, Cash. Give him up, Cash.
01:00But even after the verdict, the fascination with the Murdoch family endures.
01:06Now, a new, more intense look at the web of lies, deception, and murder.
01:11I know you've been lying to me.
01:13I'm the one who's going to do it. Not you.
01:15Me. Me. Me.
01:17There's just still some things that will never fit together in the puzzle.
01:21We're going behind the scenes of the hit series inspired by real events.
01:26It is a tragedy. Shakespearean tragedy.
01:28These kind of people are unknowable.
01:30But they put on a really amazing show.
01:33They're diabolical. They're manipulative.
01:35They're pathological liars. They're cheaters.
01:38And inside the mind of the man who brought down a dynasty.
01:42He believed that whatever he wanted, he would get.
01:46The people who knew Alec Murdoch best didn't seem to know him that well at all.
02:06He's got a long driveway, but the mailbox out front is labeled.
02:16Got a whiskey fox, whiskey mike, both gunshot wounds to the head.
02:21A raw and grisly crime scene captured on police body camera.
02:26I want you to let you know because of the scene, I did go get a gun and bring it
02:30down.
02:30Here's in your vehicle.
02:31Alec Murdoch, a member of a powerful family in South Carolina's low country,
02:36visibly shaken as the bodies of his wife and son lay just feet away.
02:40This is your wife and son.
02:42Okay.
02:44It was bad.
02:45I checked the bullets.
02:46Yes, sir.
02:47Alec Murdoch is now looking at a scene where his 52-year-old wife, his 22-year-old son,
02:53have been brutally shot and killed.
02:56Paul's body is found by the room and the kennels where the family stored dog food.
03:01And just a little ways away, Maggie is found also face down near the old airplane hangar shed.
03:09They were both shot to death outside their property, a place they call Moselle.
03:15Moselle, the Murdoch family's sprawling 1,700-acre estate outside Hampton, South Carolina.
03:22Home to Alec, Maggie, and their two sons, Buster, the oldest, a law student, and Paul, the youngest.
03:30Alec Murdoch's voice on the 911 call from that night...
03:36Frantic.
03:36Hey, I'm coming now.
03:37I won't wait for your emergency.
03:39Hey, this is Alec Murdoch.
03:42I think the police have answered immediately.
03:45My wife and Tom could stop badly.
03:47The twisted story of Alec Murdoch's descent into the cold-blooded murder of his wife and son,
03:54the focus of a new Hulu series, Murdoch, Death in the Family.
03:58The show inspired by real events, recreating that chilling 911 call.
04:05This is Alec Murdoch of 4147 Motel Road.
04:09What is your emergency?
04:11I need police and an ambulance immediately.
04:14It's my wife and my child.
04:16They've been shot badly.
04:17Acclaimed Australian actor Jason Clarke transforming into the role of Alec Murdoch.
04:23Your performance gives me chills because even when you listen to the real 911 call and you
04:29see the real body cam, there's a performance going on.
04:33Yes.
04:34What is going through your mind as you're doing that performance?
04:37There is the doing of it, exactly as is.
04:40And there was a certain thing where I leant down.
04:42I said, listen, I told Cameron, I'm going to be down there for eight seconds.
04:44He's down there for eight seconds.
04:45Let's match as many as the things that are worthwhile doing exactly to give it a cost.
04:49Is he genuinely shocked?
04:52Is he genuinely upset?
04:53Or is he putting on that question that you're asking needs to be asked?
04:584147 Motel Road.
05:00What do you hear when you hear that 911 call?
05:02I hear the real one.
05:04And then what I hear in Jason's performance, it's what I hear is a man who is both living
05:08in the shock of what he's done and what he now has to do.
05:13I mean, just almost a fugue state of both performance and real emotion.
05:18It's a tale of Southern succession, the entitled fourth generation of a powerful family.
05:26It's only cheating if you get caught.
05:30Clark disappears into a good old boy persona to play Alan.
05:34Touch the boy!
05:37Come on, Pawpaw, get up your fat ass and get over here.
05:40Come on, I mean it, get over here.
05:41Your brother just got into law school.
05:43Come on.
05:44Here it is.
05:46Real man.
05:47This here is to the Murdochs.
05:49The physicality of your transformation is remarkable, down to the accent.
05:56I did not expect to hear this Southern accent from an author.
06:00You expected to see Alec Murdoch, though.
06:02This is a man of huge appetites.
06:05Yeah.
06:06In every way.
06:07You portrayed every single one of them.
06:09Tell me about the addictions, the eating, the sex, all of it.
06:13I took all the oxygen, didn't I?
06:15I was very aware of, like, really occupying Patricia.
06:19I thought that's how I'd find a lot of the character in this man was.
06:22My mood would pervade everything.
06:24You know, my joy would pervade everything.
06:26My anger would portray everything.
06:28You all seem to think this is a discussion.
06:30Well, shouldn't it be?
06:38Don't go sneaking your little ass out there now.
06:41I'm fucking not!
06:42Well, don't!
06:43I'll go, Chad.
06:45There is an appetite.
06:46There is no filling this hole that he was digging, man.
06:50You know what I mean?
06:51I dig, man.
06:52I just need more dirt.
06:53But, you know, I'm shoveling this dirt out.
06:54And eventually that, it caves in.
06:59But it caves in through choice.
07:01Who was he at his core, do you think?
07:03I don't think, you know, I don't think I can say.
07:06You know, and I don't think I should say.
07:07He did what he did.
07:09You know, and he ruined these lives.
07:11And I think by dramatizing and bringing, you know, actors to it,
07:15you get some understanding of the destruction he wrought.
07:20That epic deceit fascinated the show's creators,
07:23Aaron Lee Carr and Michael Fuller,
07:25who researched the family for years.
07:27How is a man capable of killing his own son and his wife?
07:32He is a narcissist.
07:33And those people can be cunning, powerful, nice, friendly,
07:38can cut you a check, can do good.
07:39But they are always looking for their angle.
07:42He is a prototypical family annihilator
07:44that needed to do this in order to save his own life.
07:48So he's willing to burn it all down.
07:50And he did.
07:51Murdoch, seemingly willing to sacrifice his own wife and son
07:55to throw authorities off the scent of his past crimes.
07:58I cannot diagnose Alec Murdoch.
08:02But what we can do is assess the evidence,
08:05most of it on videotape.
08:06Virtually every behavior analyst eventually comes to the conclusion
08:10that his behavior is highly consistent
08:12with antisocial personality disorder.
08:15The question is, is it just vanity and narcissism,
08:18or has he gone beyond that to the full-blown spectrum of psychopathy,
08:24where he has absolutely no empathy for others,
08:27no remorse, irresponsibility, impulsivity,
08:31that superficial charm we're talking about?
08:33How do the Murdochs embody the good old boy system?
08:37I think they check all of the boxes
08:38for what a good old boy system is.
08:42He's new here.
08:43I think what we got here is our wires are a little crossed.
08:46See, our permit with the county is pending.
08:47But in the meantime, Gary Brock told me personally
08:49that we're good to go.
08:50This is a system that is broken
08:53and that was founded by men a very long time ago
08:57and then protected by the same circle of men
09:00for a very long time
09:02who passed it on generation to generation.
09:04They worry about their pockets and making more money.
09:08That's the good old boy system.
09:09The series also gives voice
09:11to the often overlooked matriarch of the family, Maggie Murdoch.
09:15We felt like Maggie Murdoch was sort of a footnote, right?
09:19She has one line in her Wikipedia.
09:21She was the matriarch of this family
09:23and she was killed by her husband.
09:25And so we needed to know more and why.
09:28Actress Patricia Arquette tries to bring the audience
09:31those answers in her portrayal of Maggie.
09:34Can I give you some advice?
09:36I would love that.
09:38These Murdoch men, they're tough.
09:41So you gotta be tough right back.
09:43Okay.
09:44What drew you to Maggie?
09:47I was really fascinated by the story
09:49as it was coming out.
09:51There is a gripping murder mystery
09:52unfolding in South Carolina.
09:54Involving a prominent South Carolina family.
09:56Authorities are saying Alec Murdoch planned his own shooting.
09:59Now we've learned new details about the father.
10:02All the things he did, it was just so outrageous.
10:06It was so diabolical.
10:08It was so hard to imagine.
10:12Do you worry at all about the balance
10:15between humanizing somebody who is perceived as a monster
10:19and yet being honest in their full humanity?
10:22I think we would do a great disservice
10:25if we didn't show how beguiling and confusing it is.
10:29You do fall in love with them.
10:31It does feel authentic and to some extent it is for them.
10:35So I don't know how else to tell this story.
10:39For me that makes the monster.
10:41Arquette bringing an emotional rawness to the sordid tale
10:45years after breaking out in Medium.
10:47Don't worry about it.
10:49Pull the trigger.
10:50We can all go together.
10:52Winning an Academy Award in 2015
10:54playing a single mom in Boyhood.
10:57And as a chilling series regular
10:59on the hit Apple TV show Severance.
11:02What do you see every day when you look at them?
11:04Jason Clarke brought his signature intensity
11:07to roles in Zero Dark Thirty
11:09and the blockbuster Oppenheimer.
11:11Then would it be fair to say that this meant
11:13that by 1942 your husband had not stopped
11:16having anything to do with the Communist Party?
11:17There's a fucking emergency now?
11:20You know what?
11:20Fuck my fucking coffee.
11:21Let's just fucking get in the car and go.
11:23What?
11:24Hey.
11:27I love you.
11:28The formidable acting duo
11:30who are also executive producers on the series
11:32working together to bring the Murdoch family to life.
11:36The simplicity of what he did, it's unhuman.
11:39That's just like it's beyond anything you can imagine.
11:45Back at the crime scene,
11:46police ask Alec more questions about the night.
11:49All of it caught on these body cameras.
11:52When was the last time you were here with them?
11:54Or talked to them or anything like that?
11:57Um...
12:03It was earlier tonight.
12:05I don't know the exact time, but...
12:07Okay.
12:08I left.
12:08I was probably gone an hour and a half from my mom's
12:11and I saw them about 45 minutes before that.
12:13Okay.
12:14I rode around with Paul for two hours this afternoon
12:16in the pickup truck.
12:18That's your son, Paul?
12:20Okay.
12:22Is somebody going to check him?
12:24Yes, sir.
12:25They've already checked him.
12:26They did check him?
12:27Yes, sir.
12:27That's official that they're dead?
12:29Yes, sir.
12:29That's what it looks like.
12:32When state investigators arrive at the scene,
12:35Alec Murdoch agrees to be interviewed
12:37and starts walking them through the night.
12:39Just start at the top.
12:41Take your time.
12:42Um, like, when I came back here,
12:45I mean, I pulled up and I could see him
12:47and, you know, I knew something was bad.
12:50I ran out.
12:51I knew it was really bad.
12:54And my boy over there, I could see it was...
13:01Alec starts sobbing when he describes
13:04the condition in which he found Paul's body.
13:07And then from the back seat,
13:09these two hands come out and they comfort Alec.
13:12One is a detective who's working on the case
13:15and the other one is his colleague
13:18who's working as his attorney.
13:19It's not just that he was a pillar of the community.
13:23It was his father and his grandfather
13:26who had been the top prosecutors in the area.
13:30And this was a family name.
13:34Have y'all been having any problems out here?
13:37Trespassers, people breaking in?
13:40None that I know of.
13:41The only thing that what comes to my mind
13:44is my son Paul was in a boat wreck
13:47a couple years ago.
13:49This boat crash leads to a lot of other things
13:53unraveling for the family.
14:00Perhaps the downfall of Alec Murdoch
14:02really begins here, on Archer's Creek.
14:07Paul Murdoch, 19 at the time,
14:10takes his parents' boat out with five of his friends.
14:13Paul Murdoch was there with his girlfriend, Morgan Dowdy.
14:17Anthony Cook was there with his girlfriend, Mallory Beach.
14:20And Anthony's first cousin, Connor Cook,
14:23was with his girlfriend, Miley Altman.
14:25First they go to a party where they're drinking.
14:28And then after midnight,
14:30they go to a waterfront bar.
14:33And then they leave to go home.
14:36Paul is, he's swaying.
14:38I mean, he clearly is intoxicated.
14:41The Hulu series offering a terrifying portrayal
14:44of what they believe happened
14:45out on the water that fateful night.
14:50At some point, there's creative license.
14:52Where is that line drawn in this?
14:54So Michael likes to talk about
14:56there's the truth and there's the story truth.
14:58And so we are a show that is very rooted
15:02in the facts of the case while being inspired by it.
15:06And so when you think of the crime scene
15:07or the boat crash,
15:08like that is what we believe happened.
15:11According to investigators,
15:13that night, the boat eventually crashes
15:15into a pylon by a bridge,
15:17throwing three of the friends off the boat,
15:19including Mallory Beach,
15:21who is nowhere to be found.
15:23Alec and his father, Randolph,
15:25who'd been the county's top prosecutor for 20 years,
15:28arrive at the hospital after the crash.
15:31We also know from court records
15:34that Alec went from room to room
15:36telling these young kids to be quiet.
15:39Don't talk.
15:41That night, I'm worried about finding my child,
15:44and they're worried about
15:45how they're going to cover up Paul driving.
15:50The family has always denied
15:52that they tried to influence
15:54this investigation in any way.
15:57How bad is this for us?
16:02It's our boat.
16:04What really happened next
16:05behind closed doors among the Murdoch family,
16:08we may never know.
16:10The Hulu series tries to tackle that intrigue.
16:13Boating under the influence
16:15causing bodily injury.
16:17Maybe worse.
16:19They could go to prison.
16:22Tell me about the mama bear instinct
16:25that Maggie sort of infuses
16:28into everything she does.
16:30She'll fiercely protect her sons.
16:32I know from watching the case unfold in real time
16:35that a lot of people blamed her
16:37for being too permissive.
16:39How did you grapple with that?
16:41Well, I think it was a very primal thing
16:44that when her son was looking at,
16:47first of all,
16:49he had made this terrible decision.
16:51It started with our decision
16:53to let him even take the boat that night.
16:55And I think she's looking at her son,
16:56who's pretty small,
16:57and thinking,
16:59he's not going to survive prison.
17:02Even though I think it's against her principles,
17:05I think she was like,
17:07yes, use whatever access you have
17:10to make this go away.
17:11The series offering its own interpretation
17:14of the complicated relationship
17:15between Alec and his wife
17:17of nearly 30 years, Maggie.
17:19Hey, we got family here.
17:21You're going to miss me none.
17:22You're going to be out till sunrise.
17:23What do you want me to do, Mags?
17:26Huh?
17:33I'm sorry.
17:36Probably the stress of this party
17:37is getting to me.
17:39Yeah, well, just don't take it out on me, okay?
17:42He's gaslighting me outside
17:43when I say,
17:43where are you going?
17:44What is going on?
17:45And then he turns it on me like,
17:47what's wrong with you?
17:48For almost anyone
17:49who is in a relationship with a narcissist,
17:52the relationship didn't start this way.
17:55The person usually was just a little bit vain
17:57or a little bit power hungry at the beginning.
18:00But over the years,
18:01as they become more narcissistic,
18:03the partner has to acclimate to that.
18:06The partner of a narcissist
18:07eventually loses their identity
18:09and doesn't know who they are
18:11because they are walking on eggshells
18:13around the narcissistic partner.
18:16You know, baby,
18:18I was thinking maybe I should stop.
18:20The series also examining
18:21how addiction crept into the life
18:23of Alec Murdoch
18:24and many of his problems.
18:27So you just quit cold turkey.
18:29You know that that is hell on you.
18:32And it's hell on me too.
18:34And I'll be tending to you
18:36with Gloria going on.
18:38You're right.
18:38You're right.
18:39I mean, what if I just go down to one a day?
18:41You know?
18:42Then...
18:43Then quit completely.
18:45I think that's a good idea.
18:46Okay.
18:48We talk about addiction all the time,
18:51but this lays it there
18:52in so many different ways
18:54why was that such an important part
18:56of what the underpinnings
18:58of the story are?
18:59Addiction explains everything
19:01and excuses nothing.
19:02We are still the person we are
19:04when we consume these substances,
19:06except we're just more it.
19:07We are sort of less uninhibited.
19:10He was taking opiates for decades,
19:12but I know a lot of people
19:14that have done opiates for decades
19:15and don't end up in this position.
19:17So there was addiction to money,
19:19to greed, to attention,
19:21to really being this good old boy
19:25and having control over people,
19:27and that greed and avarice
19:29was ultimately his undoing.
19:31And passing that addiction
19:33from generation to generation.
19:35Yes.
19:36I mean, you know,
19:37by all intents and purposes,
19:38the research that we have seen
19:40is that Paul was constantly drinking.
19:43Why does it take a young girl dying
19:46to show that this young man
19:48had a problem?
19:50911, where's your emergency?
19:52We're on the search team rescue.
19:55We think we found her.
20:00A week after the boat crash,
20:02Mallory Beach's body
20:03is found by two fishermen
20:05about five miles from the crash.
20:10Paul is not charged.
20:12Even after she's found,
20:13a month goes by,
20:14he's not charged.
20:15And people in the community,
20:17some thought, you know,
20:18maybe he's going to get away with it.
20:19He's a Murdoch.
20:22Authorities say that
20:23the Murdoch family name
20:25had no sway on their investigation.
20:27But not everyone is satisfied
20:29with no charges
20:30and no real answers.
20:33Investigative journalist Mandy Matney
20:35was working as a breaking news editor
20:36at the local South Carolina paper,
20:38The Island Packet,
20:40at the time of the 2019 boat crash.
20:42What drew you to this story?
20:44I will never forget
20:45the first source that I had in this case.
20:49A young woman from Hampton County
20:51who was really good friends
20:52with Mallory Beach.
20:54She said,
20:55what I'm about to tell you
20:56about this family
20:57sounds like the most crazy
21:00Netflix documentary
21:01that you've ever heard.
21:03So hear me out.
21:05And from there,
21:06I was fascinated
21:07and I just couldn't stop it.
21:09What's the theory here?
21:10A cover up?
21:10Maybe.
21:11Her dogged reporting,
21:13inspiring many scenes
21:14in the series.
21:15Mandy,
21:16played by Brittany Snow.
21:18Would you be willing
21:20to start this with me?
21:22You're not scared
21:25to do this?
21:27Did the Murdoch's tell you
21:30not to talk to me?
21:31Brittany Snow playing you.
21:34What is that like
21:35to encounter your acting doppelganger?
21:38Amazing,
21:39because it's Brittany Snow.
21:40She had listened to my podcast
21:42and she knew the entire story.
21:44At the time,
21:46Mandy says her initial pursuit
21:47to tell the stories
21:48of the Murdoch families
21:49came with pushback.
21:51When you were going through it,
21:53what was that like?
21:54What did you feel like
21:55you were up against?
21:56As soon as I started asking questions
21:58about the Murdoch family
21:59and as soon as I started
22:01writing stories
22:03about them in a negative light,
22:05I started receiving
22:07just a steady stream
22:09of messages
22:10and emails
22:11from people
22:12saying,
22:12be careful.
22:13Nobody talks about
22:14the Murdochs like this.
22:16Nobody does this.
22:17Be careful.
22:18Watch your back.
22:19Things like that.
22:20Did you ever feel
22:20like you were threatened?
22:21I would get text messages
22:23from random numbers,
22:24people saying,
22:25I know where you live
22:26and I know
22:27what you've reported
22:28on this family.
22:30But Matney,
22:30an outsider
22:31who didn't grow up
22:32in South Carolina,
22:33persisted,
22:34breaking story after story
22:36about the powerful family,
22:38eventually releasing
22:39the Murdoch Murders podcast.
22:41My name is Mandy Matney.
22:44I have been covering
22:44the Murdoch family
22:45for almost four years now.
22:47Mandy Matney's 2021 podcast,
22:50before Alec Murdoch
22:52is charged with murder,
22:53is one of the first places
22:55where someone starts tying
22:58all of this craziness together
23:00with the fraud
23:01and the boating incident
23:03and the murders.
23:04Mandy Matney was a local reporter
23:07who saw something going on
23:09and said,
23:09I want to do a story on this.
23:11And when you think about that
23:12and you think of the people
23:13watching this
23:13and you think of your career
23:14and all these people
23:15that like I can make a difference,
23:17like that one girl did.
23:22But it's not just journalists.
23:24Lawyers and law enforcement
23:25are digging into the case too.
23:27The family of Mallory Beach
23:28files a wrongful death suit
23:30against Alec Murdoch.
23:31What motivated me
23:33was getting evidence
23:35of everything.
23:37I knew who we were up against
23:39and how things would probably disappear
23:42if we didn't act quickly.
23:47Then two months after the boat crash,
23:50Paul is charged with three felony counts
23:52of boating under the influence.
23:54And that case drags on
23:56for years.
23:58But the civil lawsuit
24:00brought by Mallory's family
24:01against Alec Murdoch
24:03is about to blow everything
24:04wide open.
24:05So the family of Mallory Beach
24:08is seeking $10 million
24:10from Alec Murdoch
24:12because it was his boat.
24:14That case is putting pressure
24:16on Murdoch.
24:18He's going to have to turn over
24:19financial records.
24:20So put aside how much
24:21they're asking for.
24:22The bigger concern may be
24:26all of my fraud
24:27could end up getting exposed.
24:31They were going before a judge
24:33to find out
24:34whether he was going to have
24:35to give up access to his books.
24:37Alec Murdoch was preparing
24:38to be at this June 10th hearing
24:40and he was looking at
24:42what he might have to disclose.
24:44Listen, there's no need
24:45to apologize.
24:46We're going to get
24:47all this sorted out.
24:48Great.
24:49I'll be waiting to discuss
24:50the settlement
24:51once you got your ducks in a row.
24:56Enjoy those tacos now.
25:07The Hulu series
25:09reimagining what it was like
25:10inside Alec's world
25:12as the pressure cooker
25:13gets turned up.
25:14And the walls
25:14are just getting closer, Randy.
25:16They're getting closer
25:17and closer
25:18and closer
25:19and closer
25:20and I can't breathe.
25:22Is that, at the end of the day,
25:25what allowed him to do it?
25:27I mean, how does
25:28someone shoot
25:29their wife and child?
25:30I think this whole thing
25:31is kind of a cautionary tale
25:32about how charming
25:36and alluring
25:38deceptive people can be.
25:40Because Maggie is a stand-in
25:41for so many partners
25:44who are trapped
25:45in toxic marriages.
25:46Oh, yeah.
25:48In these kinds
25:48of relationships,
25:50when they are
25:51being discovered
25:52and when the mask
25:53is slipping
25:53and when everything
25:55is starting to come out,
25:56that is when
25:57they are very dangerous.
25:59Yes.
26:00Alec never made it
26:02to that hearing
26:02where he would have
26:03had to disclose
26:04his financials.
26:05This is Alec,
26:07my mom.
26:07I need to believe
26:08the answers immediately.
26:10Because just
26:11three days earlier...
26:16Paul and Maggie
26:17were shot dead.
26:23Then, after a few months
26:25of intensifying pressure,
26:26a bizarre twist.
26:29Alec is arrested
26:30for insurance fraud
26:32and filing
26:32a false police report
26:33after authorities say
26:35he attempted
26:35to stage his own death.
26:37I got a flat tire
26:38and I stopped
26:40and somebody stopped
26:41to help me.
26:43And when I turned
26:44my back,
26:45they tried to shoot me.
26:46Many started to think,
26:47wow,
26:48maybe his family
26:50really was a target.
26:54But it quickly
26:55becomes clear
26:58that he wasn't
27:00the victim.
27:02Like the murders
27:03of his wife and son,
27:05could this be another
27:06ruse to avoid scrutiny?
27:08He pleads not guilty,
27:10is released on bail,
27:11and enters rehab
27:12for opioid addiction.
27:14This is when the floodgates
27:15seem to open
27:16and a flurry
27:17of new lawsuits
27:18are filed.
27:19SLED is now
27:20looking into allegations
27:21that Murdoch
27:23have been stealing
27:24from his law firm
27:25and his clients
27:26for years.
27:28Now there have been
27:29separate state
27:30grand jury charges
27:31that allege
27:32every financial crime
27:35you can think of.
27:36Insurance fraud,
27:38money laundering,
27:40computer crimes,
27:42embezzlement.
27:44More than a year
27:45after the bloody
27:46killings of his wife
27:47and son,
27:49Alec is charged
27:50with their murders.
27:52At his trial,
27:53people waited in line
27:54for hours
27:55just to get in
27:56and watch
27:56the true crime obsession.
27:58Sit out here
27:59about two and a half hours.
28:00I've been following this
28:01for as long
28:02as it's been going on.
28:03Very interested
28:04in the outcome.
28:05It's pretty wild.
28:07Alec Murdoch
28:08with a 12-stage shotgun
28:10and shot him
28:11in the shoulder.
28:12Pow, pow.
28:14Two shots,
28:15Abberman in the lead
28:16and took her down.
28:17There's no eyewitness.
28:18There's no camera.
28:20There's no fingerprints.
28:21None.
28:22None.
28:23He didn't do it.
28:26The prosecution argued
28:27that Alec Murdoch
28:28murdered Maggie and Paul
28:30to prevent the exposure
28:32of what they said
28:33was more than a decade
28:34of financial crimes.
28:36The trial was full
28:37of jaw-dropping moments,
28:38but two stand out.
28:40The first,
28:42when the Murdoch's
28:42only surviving son,
28:43Buster,
28:44took the stand
28:45in his father's defense.
28:48Yeah, his demeanor was,
28:49I mean,
28:50he was destroyed.
28:51He was heartbroken.
28:52I walked in the door
28:53and saw him
28:54and gave him a hug
28:56and just broke it down.
29:00Could he speak?
29:01Not really.
29:01Is he crying?
29:03Yes, sir.
29:05And then,
29:05when Alec himself
29:07took the stand
29:09and tried to convince
29:10the world
29:11of his innocence.
29:12I'm Alec Murdoch,
29:14M-U-R-D-A-U-G-H.
29:18Good morning.
29:21Mr. Murdoch,
29:23could you take this gun
29:24or any gun like it
29:25and blow your son's brains out
29:28on June 7th
29:29or any day
29:30or any time?
29:32No, I did not.
29:34Mr. Griffin,
29:35I didn't shoot my wife
29:36or my son any time.
29:38Ever.
29:40A linchpin piece of evidence
29:42in the trial,
29:42this last video
29:44Paul recorded on his phone
29:45the night of the murder.
29:46At the dog kennel,
29:48you can hear his father's voice
29:50in the background.
29:51Come here, Paul.
29:51Come here, Paul.
29:52Come here, Paul.
29:53Come here, Paul.
29:54Placing him at the scene
29:55of the crime
29:55minutes before they're shot dead,
29:58contradicting what Alec
29:59had previously told authorities.
30:01Mr. Murdoch,
30:02is that you?
30:03On the kennel video
30:05at 8.44 p.m.
30:06on June 7th,
30:07the night Maggie
30:08and Paul were murdered.
30:09It is.
30:10Did you lie to them
30:12by telling them
30:13that you were not
30:14down at the kennels
30:15on that night?
30:17Yes.
30:19Did you continue lying
30:20after that night?
30:22Did you not?
30:23Well, once I lied,
30:24I continued to lie,
30:25yes, sir.
30:26Why?
30:27You know,
30:27oh, what a tangled web
30:29we weave.
30:29But once I told a lie,
30:33I mean,
30:33I told my family,
30:37I had to keep lying.
30:42I mean, his whole mess
30:44got hung out
30:45in front of the whole town
30:46in that courtroom.
30:47You know what I mean?
30:48And there was no rock
30:50for him to hide under.
30:51And he stood there
30:53and breathed in
30:55and dealt with it.
30:58The state versus
30:59Richard Alexander Murdoch,
31:01defendant,
31:02indictment for murder,
31:03verdict,
31:04guilty.
31:07After less than
31:08three hours of deliberation,
31:10Alec was found
31:11guilty of murder.
31:12Today,
31:13Alec is serving
31:14two consecutive
31:15life sentences
31:16for the murders
31:16of Paul and Maggie.
31:18He maintains
31:19his innocence
31:20and is appealing
31:21his convictions.
31:22He was sentenced
31:23to an additional
31:2440 years in prison
31:26after pleading guilty
31:27to 22 federal
31:28financial crimes.
31:29He also pled guilty
31:31to 22 state charges.
31:33Earlier this year,
31:34Alec's only living son,
31:36Buster,
31:36married his longtime
31:37girlfriend, Brooklyn,
31:39who was also depicted
31:40in the series.
31:41She stood by his side
31:42through the tragedy
31:43and the two are currently
31:44living in South Carolina.
31:46And still,
31:48years later,
31:49so many lingering
31:50questions that haunt
31:51this family
31:52and South Carolina's
31:54low country.
32:25have a long time
32:26and the other
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