A history of the Murdaugh family's powerful influence on SC

For more than a century, the Murdaugh name has stood for power and justice in South Carolina. How much influence have they historically had?

Video by Ashley Jean Reese & Nicole Cvetnic/The Island Packet

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[ellebelle]

"Buster was known for ...sending 14 men to death row." I'll bet he never foresaw that his own grandchildren and greatgrandchildren would be seen as among the worst criminals. Or, his family have always lived oblivious to their their own dark, hidden sins.

[dpetrano]

Murdaughs controlled SC's waterways known for centuries as a smuggler's haven. Murdaughs surely profitted from this arrangement, in addition to fixing elections and court cases for decades. Their influence flowed through corrupt governors, attorney generals, judges, election officials, court clerks, police and lawmakers who did their bidding. These degenerate officials are the ones who most likely arranged for Maggie' murder, having done so to protect themselves from ruination, in case she exposed their corruption in retaliation for not dropping Paul's criminal charges.

[annaroberts]

Karma caught up to these people. Let's not forget their housekeeper died in their home. She supposedly tripped and fell and there was NO investigation and the Murdaugh's paid off her family. This family wreaks off the good ol boy network...no one feels sorry for them. There's a total of 3 people dead in a few short years with this family involved in one way or another. The world is a better place.

[theempathicsupernova]

Thank you for this insight.
The more I look, the more evil this family appears.

[jputterman]

I'm personally falling more deeply in love with Karma.

[mike]

I can’t wait for there to be a Netflix series about this family

[jarocdidthisbeat]

No one can escape the laws of the universe. Karma forgets no one.

[vanessashaw]

Thanks for putting this together. It makes it easier to understand just how powerful and how far reaching is the family influence.. It also suggests how the perpetrator was driven to commit murder. Maybe they believed that the victim would never receive justice through the court system.

[piratesmurf]

When u try to be a Mini Dictator ur gonna have enemies

[Gavin_Gavalli]

I can only imagine the unjust prosecutions and privileged deals they have brokered.

[ES-]

He would have walked away from it.
Street justice spoke.

[PiNKUZi]

Anyone else find Randy Sr’s train “accident” as suspicious 🤔
Whole ancestry full of shadiness!!!

[TBCS]

This family practice law privately and join the prosecution side of the justice system. By doing this, they gain more advantage in court, easier to win a case and make more money. Many companies in US spend millions of dollars for lobbying to gain power in the government.

[Pat_Speaks]

My Scottish background says this is a Scottish name so I believe the pronunciation is as you said with an “augh” sound. Confusion may come in that say it fast and depending upon speaker can sound like “dock”, the listener hears “dock” instead of “daugh” or the pronunciation of the name itself has been anglicized.

[kamysailings]

I could imagine that this family has a lot of enemies and generations in families that hate them. Alex may actually be innocent of killing Maggie and Paul but Alex and his family’s criminal ways and how they’ve treated people will be what convicts him. On the other hand he may be guilty of killing Maggie and Paul but be found not guilty because people are afraid of him and to scared to go against him only time will tell. God will be the judge of him and his family.

[laylow]

They killed papa . How he hit by a train?

[aaawizrd]

paintings = green eyes Photos = black eyes

[jojo-irum]

People should check file's of all the Murdaugh cases..People maybe in prison who were innocent..

[SabastianCaine]

Looks like Alex is turning the name into a fart stain in the history books

[bokani]

This family was cursed from the beginning.