The Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty

[DanaK]

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This chilling three-part docuseries chronicles the legacy of the Murdaugh family, whose century long powerful influence over the legal system in South Carolina’s lowcountry unravels amid accusations of fraud, deception, and murder. Intense and full of shocking twists, Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty questions the unchecked power of privilege – and the trail of death and destruction left in one family’s wake.

On HBO Max, streaming Nov 3

[CherryMalotte]

I enjoyed this, and hope they do a follow up at a later date.  I'd like to know what they found evidence wise to reopen the Stephen Smith case.  While Alex may have had an opiod addiction it just feels like there was something else going on with the money.  I'd love to see that all traced.

[Guest]

HBO has had a lot of meh documentaries in recent times but this? This was a return to form. Really well done!

My god I recoiled every time I saw Alex on screen. That guy appeared to be the product of inbreeding and a science experiment gone wrong.

Not at all sorry about the Paul and that mother. Roast in hell the both of you. There's no way they didn't have some hand (or knowledge) in what happened to the nanny/housekeeper. And Buster 100% killed poor Stephen Smith. 

What a bunch of total psychopaths. The entire lot of them. This is what happened when power and privilege go unchecked. 

[Irlandesa]

7 hours ago, Giant Misfit said:

Not at all sorry about the Paul and that mother. Roast in hell the both of you.

Yeah.  I rolled my eyes at all these people talking about how these people were "good" people.  Like yeah...as long as they liked you or thought you could help them. But otherwise, they were absolute trash.  

I read a review that said they felt like this documentary could have even been longer and I agree. I would have loved to hear more about the people who the older Murdaughs made disappear. 

[blixie]

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I rolled my eyes at all these people talking about how these people were "good" people. 

Literally the word good no longer has any meaning. And somehow it was worse when they said it in those honeyed Carolina accents. Yeah, y'know they murdered half a dozen people and stole millions of dollars of clients money, but he was *good* guy. That wasn't all, they also said they didn't deserve to be killed, and the anonymous employee feels sorry for them. What in the what? Connor's parents were the only ones to not express any sort of confusion about just how shitty the family actually is from the roots.

[Rlb8031]

This story just goes to show how much folks have been socialized to accept poor behavior from people that look like them. These are the same people that talk about those "NY media types" and the scourge of the atheists and those illegals, but literally turned a blind eye to their neighbor who was stealing, cheating and robbing them blind. This documentary just scrapes the surface. I've been listening to the Murdaugh Murders podcast which has a lot more detail about Malory Beach's death, the death of Stephen Smith, and the troubling death of Hakeem Pinckney one of Alek's clients who literally had every penny stolen. 

[IntrovertRed]

Even though I've inhaled just about everything on this family, I still enjoyed this series.  But it drives me absolutely crazy how people pronounce Alex's name.  It is Alec or Alex?  Is it pronounced Murdock or Murdaugh.  At this point, I don't even really know.

I wonder how many other towns are like Hamptons and have their own Murdaugh family running things.  Eventually assholes like the Murdaughs get caught, though if the Murdaughs hadn't raised such an asshole, perhaps the house of cards would not have fallen.  I can't believe he told Buster (what a name) to go shooting near the house where his mother/brother were murdered.  Buster is probably an asshole, but damn, that's cold of Alex to even suggest that.  I think something that worked for Alex is he looks like a nerdy guy who probably wouldn't hurt a fly.  And he clearly used that to his advantage by ripping all those families off.

Screw this family and those who enabled them and benefited from their relationships with them.  That Jim Griffin guy can shove it.

Edited November 9, 2022 by KLJ
my bad language

[peachmangosteen]

42 minutes ago, KLJ said:

Even though I've inhaled just about everything on this family, I still enjoyed this series.  But it drives me absolutely crazy how people pronounce Alex's name.  It is Alec or Alex?  Is it pronounced Murdock or Murdaugh.  At this point, I don't even really know.

It seemed like everyone pronounced both Alex and Murdaugh differently. Sometimes someone would even say it one way and then go and say it another way later lol.

[Rlb8031]

21 hours ago, KLJ said:

Even though I've inhaled just about everything on this family, I still enjoyed this series.  But it drives me absolutely crazy how people pronounce Alex's name.  It is Alec or Alex?  Is it pronounced Murdock or Murdaugh.  At this point, I don't even really know.

In the podcast, they mentioned in one of the early episodes that even though its short for Alexander, everyone called him Alek (or Alec) and NOT Alex. I assumed it was just the regional accent and differentiates those people that are actually talking about him because they are from Hampton County and grew up with him vs. those who know him only through stories and from the newspapers

[Enero]

On 11/9/2022 at 5:21 PM, KLJ said:

Eventually assholes like the Murdaughs get caught, though if the Murdaughs hadn't raised such an asshole, perhaps the house of cards would not have fallen. 

We hope they get caught. I think more of these types get away with it than we think. 

I just started watching this series. I'm on the first episode. At this point, I don't feel sorry for anyone. People knew these folks were monsters and they continued to hang out with them, consider them friends, allow their kids to hang out with them. Then when the tables are turned on them, and the Murdaughs treat them like they've treated everyone else, they are outraged, devastated, feeling betrayed etc. Why? Because they were "friends" and ran in their inner circle, they thought the Murdaugh's would never turn on them if the situation arose? The young man saying Paul Murdaugh was a good person, obviously doesn't know what being a good person means. 

Edited to add: On the 2nd episode, my heart breaks for Steven's family. So sad that he was murdered with no justice and then the father passes 3-months after, likely in part due to the pain of losing his son. 

Edited November 18, 2022 by Enero

[merylinkid]

On 11/9/2022 at 9:47 AM, Rlb8031 said:

I've been listening to the Murdaugh Murders podcast which has a lot more detail about Malory Beach's death, the death of Stephen Smith, and the troubling death of Hakeem Pinckney one of Alek's clients who literally had every penny stolen.

I highly recommend anyone who has not been listening to this podcast to do so.    there's a companion podcast called Cup of justice which explains more of the legal stuff.   They have some POINTED words for this documentary.   Mandy Mateny has been on the Murdaugh case since the boat crash.   She KNOWS her stuff.   

I strongly suspect Alek killed his wife because he needed that deed to the beach house.   As her sole heir, he would get it.   He was mortgaging it for a SECOND TIME without her knowledge, even though the property was not even in his name.   Yeah that's how rich folks get away with it.   They have a tame bank that overlooks little things like you can't take out a loan against something you don't even own.   

[Armchair Critic]

On 11/5/2022 at 8:00 AM, Giant Misfit said:

And Buster 100% killed poor Stephen Smith

Then at the end he talks about his girlfriend being hungover... still living his life with no consequences and seemingly not much remorse. Grrrrrr

Edited February 5, 2023 by Armchair Critic

[MsMalin]

I haven't watched this but I have been watching every minute of the trial.

I live in Pennsylvania, so I am sorry if this is an unfair opinion but it seems like the good old boy network down there. Everyone says how good the kids are, but Paul was drunk operating the boat and a girl died. I just get the feeling they were privileged and born with a silver spoon in their mouths.

Alex (c?) asked people.to lie about his whereabouts, clothing and other things to cover for him. And wow, what a creep for keeping millions from the children of the housekeeper and ripping off clients,family and coworkers. 

And the lies.... I worked for a very large financial firm and my immediate boss embezzled $2M. We were.close, and after the truth came out I realized he lied to my face for years. That really hurt. They don't call them con men for nothing.

 

[merylinkid]

Biggest line was one of the Cook parents telling their kids "Sure you can play with the Murdaugh boys, but be prepared to take the blame for something they did someday."

Then the boat crash.   And sure enough, instead of checking to make sure everyone was all right or showing ANY concern for the missing Mallory, the Murdaughs first move was to try to get the kids to say Paul was NOT driving the boat at the time of the crash.  That right there shows who this family REALLY is through and through.

[BusyOctober]

This story and these people fascinate me.  I watch a lot of Dateline, and ID Channel, so I have seen many twisted effed up people doing sick things to other people.  But this Murdaugh fu**er and his kids take the cake.  I saw the 3 part series on HBO Max and lost count on how many bodies and how many devastated families these monsters left in their rear view mirrors.  The wife sounds like she had her 24k gold plated head up her platinum ass too. 
 

The family firm has to have some kind of clue that some fishy was going on, so I hope when all the forensic accounting is complete, the victims get some form of justice, even though money can’t erase their tragic losses.

[DanielleBowden]

At the beginning of the doc, I did not find him physically menacing, more of an aging party boy with a dad bod.  By the end, any shot of him looking directly into the camera terrified me and made my blood run cold.  What a reign of terror.

Edited February 20, 2023 by DanielleBowden

[merylinkid]

Because you realize you are looking at a genuine psychopath.   Literally no one means anything to him.  Zero acknowledgement of other people as human beings, let alone any empathy.   Everyone is either tools (the victims he stole from) that can be used by him or nothing and can be eliminated to solve his problems (like Maggie and Paul).

[Mannahatta]

On 2/20/2023 at 12:16 PM, merylinkid said:

Because you realize you are looking at a genuine psychopath. 

And it's not just the father. It's an entire family of psychopaths! Alex and Paul are prettty obvious cases; Buster is rumored to have been involved in the death of Stephen Smith; and both Maggie and Paul seemed pretty damn chill when they called 911 about Gloria Satterfield "falling". That poor woman. She practically raised Paul and Buster and they couldn't have cared less that she was severely injured. 

I just hope this jury has more brains that the the ones from Casey Anthony's trial. That one always stands out to me as a particularly flagrant miscarriage of justice. 

[merylinkid]

6 hours ago, Mannahatta said:

I just hope this jury has more brains that the the ones from Casey Anthony's trial. That one always stands out to me as a particularly flagrant miscarriage of justice. 

From a legal standpoint, the jury got it right in the Casey Anthony case.  She was charged with premediated first degree murder and NOTHING else.  They didn't even have a cause of death.   If you don't know how someone died, you can't say the accused PLANNED their death.   Do I think Casey Anthony killed her baby?   Oh hell yeah.   But I think the theory I heard that she used xanax to put the baby to sleep so she could out and accidently gave the kid too much makes more sense than DELIBERATE, PRE-PLANNED MURDER.   So this wasn't the jury getting it wrong, this was an overzealous DA who saw fame signs from a high profile case and overcharged.

Now in the Murdaugh case, we have the opposite problem.   His family were solicitors for 80 years.   Alex worked as a "volunteer" solicitor (like THAT'S a thing).   So when something legal happened, everyone in Hampton county is tiptoeing around   The boat crash happened in Beaufort county where they have a LOT less power.   And that's what ruined them.   They couldn't control things.

[DanielleBowden]

10 hours ago, Mannahatta said:

It's an entire family of psychopaths!

I don't like speaking ill of a dead woman and I'd love to know more about her.  Anthony Cook's mom's comments about her were telling.  It didn't seem like they had a friendship or even just good feelings toward each other, even before the accident. The kids grew up together and there is usually some level of friendship formed among the parents, esp in such a small town (like Conor Cook's dad described with Alex.)  There was no one in the doc to speak on Maggie or give us insight into who she was. The 911 call for Gloria was like she fell and broke her ankle, not that she was laying on their sidewalk bleeding to death from her head.  Neither she nor Paul even asked if there was something they should do to help her.  (I listened to the whole thing on Mandy Matney's pod, also no mention of the dogs on the call or barking in the background).  I will say that I sensed the tiniest bit of compassion in Paul's impatience with the operator - as in stop asking me these questions and just get out here already (but I might be projecting).

[SunnyBeBe]

I’m putting this in spoiler tags because I’m not sure how far the special goes with the story.

Spoiler

Is there a thread for the trial around here?  

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by SunnyBeBe

[IntrovertRed]

There is some discussion here.

[DanaK]

CNN is showing this on their linear channel this Saturday; check your local listings

[heatherchandler]

On 2/22/2023 at 5:16 AM, merylinkid said:

From a legal standpoint, the jury got it right in the Casey Anthony case.  She was charged with premediated first degree murder and NOTHING else.  They didn't even have a cause of death.   If you don't know how someone died, you can't say the accused PLANNED their death.   Do I think Casey Anthony killed her baby?   Oh hell yeah.   But I think the theory I heard that she used xanax to put the baby to sleep so she could out and accidently gave the kid too much makes more sense than DELIBERATE, PRE-PLANNED MURDER.   So this wasn't the jury getting it wrong, this was an overzealous DA who saw fame signs from a high profile case and overcharged.

Now in the Murdaugh case, we have the opposite problem.   His family were solicitors for 80 years.   Alex worked as a "volunteer" solicitor (like THAT'S a thing).   So when something legal happened, everyone in Hampton county is tiptoeing around   The boat crash happened in Beaufort county where they have a LOT less power.   And that's what ruined them.   They couldn't control things.

But that doesn’t account for the duct tape wrapped around her head.  
 

I think for the Murdaughs, you’re right they couldn’t control the case and that case was about to blow open years of financial records and the lying and stealing was about to come out.  He was desperate.