“Murdough Murders: A Southern Scandal”  was released on Netflix on February 22. This true crime series follows the Murdoughs, an American legal family in South Carolina and the deaths that have followed their family. 

  On June 7, 2021, Alex Murdough found his wife, Margaret, and son, Paul, shot to death by their dog kennel. Alex’s brothers appeared on television testifying that Paul was getting sent threats due to his boating accident in 2019. 

  Paul was out drinking with a group of friends and insisted that he drive the boat even though he was extremely drunk and erratic. He lost control of the boat and crashed into a bridge near Archer’s Creek. Two people in the group suffered bodily injuries and 19-year-old Mallory Beach was thrown from the boat, her body being found two weeks later.

   A year prior to the boat incident, Gloria Satterfiel, the housekeeper for the Murdough family, reportedly fell down the front steps after a dog jumped on her; she later died in the hospital from her injuries. Her family was supposed to receive four million dollars of insurance money but they never saw any of that cash. 

  Another death near this family was the “hit and run” of Stephen Smith in 2015. He died of blunt force trauma to the head though there were no signs of being hit by a vehicle. The case was quickly closed as there were no suspects but was reopened shortly after the murders of Paul and Margaret. 

  This is all information you can learn through research, but the Netflix docu-series includes details often overlooked. Through watching the Murdough Murders you are able to see the pain that has been inflicted on all the family’s surrounding the Murdoughs. It is truly heartbreaking to see what they were able to get away with. 

  When learning through articles the emotional appeal is often less, it is mostly just the facts of the case; but seeing the people involved talk about this family helps you understand the devastating impact they’ve had on the community.