Your Next True-Crime Binge: Netflix's Murdaugh Murders Is a Tale of Power and Corruption

(SPOT.ph) Looking for a true crime that’s past blood, sex, and violence?

You’d think one family having that much power over a small town is a thing of the past, but the Murdaughs prove otherwise. Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal is a new three-part Netflix docuseries that tells a tale of greed, power, and corruption in South Carolina. 

Netflix’s timely release of this docuseries coincides with news of Alex Murdaugh’s recent conviction for the killing of his wife Maggie and his son Paul.

Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal shows that true crime doesn’t need cannibalism or necrophilia to be interesting. One powerful family with plenty of secrets to hide is enough. We go through the two biggest questions you might have about the true-crime series below. 

Watch the Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal trailer below.

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Who is Alex Murdaugh on the Netflix's true crime docuseries Murdaugh Murders?

Alex Murdaugh is a prominent civil litigation attorney who was born into a regional dynasty of lawyers in the South Carolina lowcountry. The family has been in power for over a century, so long that many locals have taken to calling the five-county district “Murdaugh Country.”

A few mysterious deaths had plagued South Carolina over the last nine years, but it wasn’t until the death of Mallory Beach that Alex’s web of lies began to show.

Eventually, Alex would become the subject of multiple investigations on murder and corruption, as well as insurance fraud, embezzlement, and drug-related offenses. He was reported to have stolen more than U.S. $8.7 million from clients and other authorities.

When all of these came to light, he tried to stage his own suicide to look like a murder so his son Buster could collect on his U.S. $10 million life insurance policy. This did not push through as planned.

Since then, the family’s influence on the local judicial system has been heavily scrutinized, giving rise to several whodunnit Facebook groups on the Murdaughs.

On March 2, Alex was finally sentenced life for the double homicide of his family, but he continues to face 84 more criminal charges and 11 lawsuits unrelated to that incident.

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Who is Mallory Beach on Murdaugh Murders, the latest true crime on Netflix?

Before everything else, there was 19-year-old Mallory Beach.

On February 2019, she and her boyfriend Anthony Cook hopped on the Murdaugh family boat with three other minors at Paul's invitation. Everyone was intoxicated that night, with Paul reportedly acting more aggressive than usual. Anthony explained in the docuseries that Paul was "out of his mind drunk." 

This led Paul to crash the boat into a piling on a bridge. It was later discovered that his blood alcohol content was three times the legal limit.

Four of the five received non-fatal injuries, but Mallory was nowhere to be found. Her body would resurface more than a week later, with reports claiming she had died from blunt force trauma and drowning.

Mallory was dearly loved by the South Carolina community, with more than 100 people in attendance at her funeral. Although her death was an accident, it would be the turning point that had everyone watching the Murdaughs.

Paul was charged with three felony counts for boating under the influence and causing death, but he pleaded not guilty and was released on bond.  Charges were dropped following his death. 

Before Alex was convincted, he remained firm in his statement that "random vigilantes" were responsible for the murder of Maggie and Paul in possible retaliation to Paul for his role in Mallory's death.

"I did then believe it was the boat wreck, and I do believe now that it was the boat wreck that had something to do with that," Alex said at the time. Of course, this has been proven otherwise.

Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal is now streaming on Netflix Philippines.

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