How did Alex Murdaugh kill his family?

This article contains graphic descriptions of murder. Please read with caution.

Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were murdered in June 2021, and there are two narratives explaining how: The story that Alex Murdaugh — Maggie’s husband and Paul’s father — told the police and the version of events that led to Alex’s double-murder conviction two years later.

For some context on the case, Alex Murdaugh was the scion of a wealthy and successful legal family in South Carolina. When Paul and Maggie were killed, the investigation and Alex’s subsequent conviction captured headlines worldwide. Meanwhile, several suspicious deaths were revealed related to the Murdaugh family, as a pattern of fraud was also uncovered with Alex and the Murdaugh family legal firm in the middle.

What was Alex Murdaugh’s alibi?

Maggie and Paul Murdaugh died on the Murdaugh family estate in rural South Carolina. Alex Murdaugh, who made the 911 call at around 9 p.m. that night reporting his wife and his youngest son were dead, told the police he’d just returned home from visiting his elderly parents when he discovered their bodies.

Murdaugh’s alibi began to unravel when cell phone footage was discovered on Paul’s phone putting Alex near dog kennels on Murdaugh’s property only moments before Maggie and Paul were killed. Alex later admitted he lied about where he was that night but denied he killed his wife and son.

More than a year later, no suspects were named, but in July 2022, Alex was finally arrested and charged with Maggie and Paul’s murder.

How did Maggie and Paul Murdaugh die?

What the prosecution alleged is that Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were shot by two different firearms near the dog kennels on the Murdaugh property. Maggie was shot five times in the chest and head, and Alex likely continued firing after Maggie was on the ground.

Maggie was shot and killed with an automatic rifle, but Paul was shot with a shotgun, and according to the prosecution — the version of the story the jury believed — Paul was shot only twice: First in the chest and once more in the head, killing him.

Alex was finally convicted of killing his wife and son to cover up his pattern of substance use issues and other suspicious deaths, and to divert attention from the investigation into his finances. At Murdaugh’s trial, prosecutor Creighton Waters said, “The pressures on this man were unbearable. And they were all reaching a crescendo the day his wife and son were murdered by him.”

Already serving two consecutive life sentences for Maggie and Paul’s murder, in April 2024, Alex was sentenced to 40 more years behind bars for financial crimes related to the case, ABC News reported.