Shortcut: The Murdaugh Murders - ATC International

**Meshel Laurie** (0:03)
This is Australian True Crime International with Meshel Laurie. Our guest today is Kayla Brantley.
She's a crime correspondent with The Daily Mail, based in New York City. For the last couple of years, though, Kayla and her team have been focused on South Carolina and the scandalous case of the Murdaugh Murders.
With a guilty verdict recently overturned, Kayla joins us to talk about all the shocking details. But we begin with life as a New York City crime reporter. This is Australian True Crime. We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this podcast is created, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. And a warning, this episode of the podcast contains graphic descriptions of violence.

**Kayla Brantley** (0:49)
So I host a weekly podcast called The Trial USA.
This is the US branch of our wider Trial Podcast where we tackle trials per season. So last year, we did the Trial of Diddy. That was the first season of our US version of the trial. And this case has really gripped the nation. There have been documentaries on it since it's happened. And this just happened in 2021 So within five years, there's been multiple documentaries. There is even a TV show with Patricia Arquette playing Alex Murdaugh's wife, Maggie.

**Meshel Laurie** (1:29)
Which I love, by the way, I love that show. Do you love it?

**Kayla Brantley** (1:33)
Oh yeah. Patricia Arquette, she's incredible. I love anything she's doing.

**Meshel Laurie** (1:37)
How would you describe it sort of in a nutshell? Because a lot of our listeners will be like me and you, fascinated by it, have been following every moment, have watched all the TV shows, but some others may not be really sure what we're talking about. So it's so complicated, but how would you describe this story in a nutshell?

**Kayla Brantley** (1:58)
Okay, I will try my best, but essentially, Alex Murdaugh, he is a South Carolina attorney. He was born into this prominent legal family, and he honestly appeared to have it all. He had a family, a booming business, sons and a beautiful wife and very wealthy family. Then back on June 7th, 2021, about a little over five years ago, everything just imploded when his wife Maggie and his 22-year-old son Paul were shot dead at the dog kennels on the family's estate. That's their Mosel estate in South Carolina. This double murder, it then sparked a chain reaction that ultimately exposed and uncovered Alex Murdaugh's scandal-plagued double life, essentially.
After the murders, we find out that he allegedly orchestrates a bizarre botched murder for hire plot on himself. Then we uncover that there were all these mysterious deaths tied to the family that included a death of the family's maid and another teen girl who was killed in a boating accident.
Then this all culminates when Alex Murdaugh was convicted for the murders of his wife and son back in 2023 Just when we thought things were over back in May, that ruling was completely overturned. That conviction was overturned and he will be granted a retrial thanks to the court clerk who was found to have influenced the jury. This is where we are at now.

**Meshel Laurie** (3:43)
Where do you start? I suppose we can start with the other element, which some people call a motive, which is that Alex Murdaugh had been, apparently had stolen about $19 million from his clients.
Of course, that would come to light if a divorce case was brought against him, which apparently Maggie was seriously considering at the time of her death.

**Kayla Brantley** (4:06)
Yeah. The motive that the authorities have put forward was that he did this murder to try to cover up and distract from his mounting financial crimes that were about to be exposed.
Also, while he did get convicted of murder, that's now overturned, he will never get out of prison. He has so many other cases and so many other financial crimes, and there's so much still mounted against him that no matter what, whether this conviction is overturned and then goes to trial, and if he's found to be not guilty, he will never get out of prison.

**Meshel Laurie** (4:45)
Which brings us to why attempt to have his murder convictions overturned, because doesn't he stand to get the death penalty? Possibly, if they go to trial again and they have a different judge and a different jury and it comes out differently, he's never going to get out of jail, but he might end up with the death penalty, is that true?

**Kayla Brantley** (5:06)
Yes, yes, that is exactly right, that Alex Murdaugh does face the death penalty, that that is on the table and that is something that happens in South Carolina. To get the death penalty, you have to be convicted of that and another crime along with murder. In this case, prosecutors have said that they would seek the death penalty.