Bubba, Buster, Paw-Paw – who’s who in Murdaugh murder trial

Within the southernmost nook of South Carolina, a balmy, rural stretch often known as the Lowcountry, the Murdaugh household loved a rarefied house – masters of the privileged and highly effective class that managed the realm.

However two years in the past that life unravelled when Alex Murdaugh – the fourth technology scion of an area authorized dynasty – known as police to report his spouse Maggie and son Paul had been shot on the grounds of their household property. He’s now on trial for his or her murders.

Mr Murdaugh’s case, a story of demise, deception and medicines, has grow to be one of the intently watched within the nation.

Here is a have a look at the principle characters of this story, now a household torn aside.

The central determine on this saga is a rich plaintiff’s lawyer who labored on the non-public litigation agency based by his great-grandfather.

Colleagues have stated the 52-year-old was a loud and frenetic presence, all the time late and all the time in a rush.

And in line with the household custom, Mr Murdaugh was a powerhouse within the native authorized circuit, profitable his purchasers profitable settlements which fed his prosperous way of life.

However the patina of success hid a variety of seedy secrets and techniques – Mr Murdaugh was stealing from his purchasers and colleagues, as a lot as $3.7m (£3m) in a single 12 months alone. Testifying at his homicide trial, he confessed to the theft, blaming a determined and costly habit to oxycodone.

At trial, Mr Murdaugh stated he spent as much as $50,000 every week on his behavior. “I am not fairly positive how I let myself get the place I received,” he stated.

If convicted, Mr Murdaugh faces life behind bars for each the murders of Maggie and Paul and for practically 100 extra monetary fees.

Maggie grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina, earlier than transferring to South Carolina for college, the place she met her husband, Alex.

Family and friends testified at Mr Murdaugh’s trial that earlier than her demise in 2021, aged 52, Maggie Murdaugh was candy and relaxed.

A full-time homemaker, she was described as an adoring mom to her two sons. Her sister, Marian Proctor, stated at trial: “Buster and Paul had been her world.”

Mrs Murdaugh was a “woman’s woman”, her household stated, not naturally predisposed to the actions favoured by her husband and sons – searching and fishing – however she was stated to have jumped proper in.

“She simply needed to do what they had been doing,” Mrs Proctor stated.

On the time of his demise, “Paw Paw”, as his father known as him on the stand, he was an undergraduate scholar on the College of South Carolina.

Household and buddies described Paul, 22, as inquisitive and sort, taking specific care together with his aged grandparents.

“He was a hundred percent nation boy, he was powerful… however he took care of so many,” his father stated on the trial.

However there have been some very troubling moments in Paul’s quick life.

On the time of his demise, he was going through three fees all associated to a 2019 boat wreck, together with an accusation that he was driving underneath the affect through the crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Seashore. 

Paul pleaded not responsible however died earlier than he may face trial.

The entire survivors aside from Paul would testify that it had been him behind the wheel on the time of affect. He had been drunk, they stated, descending right into a merciless and indignant alter ego that buddies had nick-named “Timmy”, and who allegedly hit his girlfriend the night time of the accident.

The 26-year-old graduated from Wofford School in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and had plans to observe his father into the household agency, in what would have been the fifth technology of Murdaugh males.

He has been a continuing presence at his father’s trial, sitting quietly just some rows behind Mr Murdaugh on daily basis. However he briefly discovered himself in sizzling water after reportedly passing his father a John Grisham novel, which was later deemed contraband.

Buster testified in his father’s defence, describing Mr Murdaugh as a loving presence who was “destroyed” by the murders of Maggie and Paul.

He options in a very weird a part of the Murdaugh household saga.

Mr Smith, a handyman and former logger, regularly did odd jobs for his distant cousin, Alex Murdaugh. Considered one of these jobs, in response to Alex Murdaugh and his attorneys, was to behave as Mr Murdaugh’s “private drug supplier” and frequently provide Mr Murdaugh with drugs. Each Mr Smith and Mr Murdaugh had been indicted in June of final 12 months by a state grand jury on drug-trafficking fees. Neither has but entered a plea on this case.

However the strangest request got here in September 2021, three months after Maggie and Paul’s murders, when Mr Murdaugh requested Mr Smith to satisfy him on the aspect of a rural highway one Saturday, and shoot him behind the top.

What occurred subsequent relies on who you ask – Mr Murdaugh or Mr Smith – however each agreed the scheme was initially cooked up by Mr Murdaugh, who needed to make his demise appear to be a homicide, in order that his surviving son Buster may have the ability to gather on his life insurance coverage coverage.

Each have been charged within the botched scheme.

Mr Smith was initially out on bail, however was ordered again to jai when a choose dominated that he had damaged the circumstances of his bond.

The 57-year-old labored because the Murdaugh household’s housekeeper for greater than 20 years, turning into a fixture within the household.

Ms Satterfield “spent extra time with the Murdaughs than she in all probability did along with her personal children”, stated Eric Bland, a lawyer who represented Ms Satterfield’s sons.

In 2018, she died in what was reported by the Murdaughs as a trip-and-fall on the entrance steps of their dwelling.

At her funeral, Mr Murdaugh approached her sons, Tony and Brian, and instructed them they need to file a wrongful demise swimsuit towards him, and that his dwelling insurance coverage would pay compensation.

Two of Mr Murdaugh’s insurance coverage insurance policies paid out to a tune of $4.3m, however the Satterfields didn’t obtain a dime. Alex Murdaugh, as he admitted in court docket, had pocketed it.

Final 12 months, after Mr Murdaugh’s arrest, South Carolina regulation enforcement introduced they’d exhume Ms Satterfield’s physique. No new findings or arrests have but been introduced.

The 19-year-old was on the Murdaugh household boat with Paul Murdaugh and 4 different buddies late within the night on 23 February 2019 when it rammed headlong right into a bridge. Mallory was thrown overboard and died, along with her physique recovered days later in a marsh a number of miles away.

The previous College of South Carolina scholar was described by family and friends described as a vivid mild.

She was shut buddies with Paul Murdaugh’s former girlfriend, Morgan Doughty.

In a Netflix documentary concerning the Murdaugh case, Morgan says Mallory tried to warn her about Paul, saying he would grow to be imply and violent when drunk.

The Murdaugh’s golden retriever has been talked about a number of instances in Alex Murdaugh’s homicide trial, described as cussed and as a favorite of Maggie.

However he is additionally performed a reasonably vital position within the prosecution’s case.

A cell phone video taken on the Murdaughs’ canine kennels by Paul about 5 minutes earlier than prosecutors say the killings occurred options the voice of Mr Murdaugh speaking to Bubba.

The video contradicted Mr Murdagh’s claims that he had not joined his household on the kennels that night time, however had stayed dwelling to nap. Mr Murdaugh admitted on the stand he had lied about the place he was.

Bubba is now residing with Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson, a former worker of the Murdaugh household.