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.
A warning, this episode of the podcast contains graphic descriptions of violence.
Kayla, you work for The Daily Mail in the States, is that correct?

**Kayla Brantley** (0:52)
Yeah, we're based in New York. Wow.

**Meshel Laurie** (0:54)
Okay, that sounds very glamorous to me being a journalist in New York, is it?

**Kayla Brantley** (0:59)
I mean, it's crazy. There's always something right now. We have Taylor Swift getting married up the street at Madison Square Garden, allegedly. Last year, we had the Diddy Trial, which was right downtown. We have Luigi Mangione's trial coming up.
That murder happened also not too far from the office. So there's always something going on in New York. We just had the NBA Finals. Whether it's sports or entertainment or true crime, there's always something going on.

**Meshel Laurie** (1:26)
There is always something going on. And we have a saying, certainly my mom used to use it all the time, only in America, she would say, when we hear about usually about a crazy crime. She'd go, oh, only in America.

**Kayla Brantley** (1:38)
Only in America. That's true.

**Meshel Laurie** (1:40)
Yeah. But tell us about this murder that happened in South Carolina.

**Kayla Brantley** (1:44)
My colleague, Rachel Sharp, she's our crime reporter. She has been on the case the entire way. And we've had her on our podcast, The Trial USA, where we're actually interviewing her tomorrow, because she was just back down in South Carolina for an update on the case.

**Meshel Laurie** (2:01)
I just read a piece by her, actually. It was great. She was talking about the... I love when people talk about the atmosphere of the courtroom and the outsider. And she was saying that there were a lot of women there who were just observing a lot of true crime fans who'd made their way to Lexington, I believe, and that's where the case is happening, to see the latest installment.

**Kayla Brantley** (2:23)
Yeah. No, 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 was even a TV show with Patricia Arquette playing Alex Murdaugh's wife, Maggie.

**Meshel Laurie** (2:41)
Which I love. By the way, I love that show. Do you love it?

**Kayla Brantley** (2:45)
Oh, yeah. Patricia Arquette, she's incredible. I love anything she's doing. But yeah, this has been, you know, it's been a really big case and something that is just made for Hollywood because of all the twists and turns. So it's been very interesting to follow.

**Meshel Laurie** (3:01)
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, will 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** (3:21)
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, you know, 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.
And then this all culminates when Alex Murdaugh was convicted for the murders of his wife and son back in 2023 And 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. So this is where we are at now.