- Maggie Murdaugh was married to attorney Alex Murdaugh.
- She was allegedly murdered alongside her son, Paul, by Alex.
- Amid an ongoing trial, a new docuseries explores the shocking case.
Alex Murdaugh is currently on trial for allegedly murdering his wife Maggie and their son Paul in a brutal attack back in June of 2021. Alex, a prominent lawyer, has denied responsibility. As another son, Buster, took the stand in an emotional defense of his infamous dad on Tuesday, February 21, interest in the case and the victims began to grow. A true crime Netflix docuseries, Murdaugh Murders, released to streaming on February 22, has also heightened curiosity surrounding the morbid South Carolina events and the people involved.
Scroll below to find out everything you should know about Maggie Murdaugh, the murdered woman at the center of the case.
She was allegedly killed by her husband.
On June 7, 2021, 54-year-old Alex Murdaugh called police to report the shooting deaths of his son Paul, 22, and Maggie, 52. Their bodies, he claimed, were found at a family hunting lodge in Islandton, South Carolina. Following an investigation into the matter, Alex was indicted in July of 2022 for the double murder, though he plead not guilty. Prosecutors are pushing for life in prison without the possibility of parole in the case.
Maggie and Alex were separated at the time of her death.
According to a Nov 2021 New York Post report, sources had said the former couple were living separate lives and at the time of her death. She was reportedly living in Edisto Beach, with Alex at the hunting lodge. A source for The Daily Mail told the outlet that “Their marriage was absolutely on the rocks.”
“Alex and Maggie didn’t look at each other like they were married,” they continued. “There was no love lost between them. I never saw them touch or be affectionate to each other.”
She was a devoted mother.
A family friend who spoke with The New York Post in the aftermath of the alleged crime told the outlet that Maggie “lived for” her sons, Paul and Buster. “Maggie lived for her kids,” professed family friend Bubba Mixson said at the time. “She was at every school function. She was such a sweet person. She never met a stranger. I can’t say enough good about her. and I mean that.”
A family member who spoke to the outlet indicated the same. “She bent over backwards for her kids, maybe to a fault,” they said. “Those boys wanted for nothing.” A resident said for the same report, that she “just focused on her boys.”
Maggie was known for being ‘down to earth.’
Clearly liked by the community that lost her, she was known for being grounded and down to earth. “Maggie was more down to earth,” a family member told The Post for the same report. “She’d let her hair down and drop some F-bombs and tell you to piss off if she felt like it. She had a great, dry sense of humor. She had this thing where she’d roll her eyes when someone was doing something stupid, like Alex or Paul.”
According to a family member, despite being the wife of a high-profile attorney, she didn’t maintain an ostentatious residence, either. “I wouldn’t say it was a dump, it was nice enough but not what you’d expect from people who literally seemed to have millions of dollars to burn,” he said in the interview. Still, he admitted money was spent. “I mean, they never flew commercial that I can remember. They always chartered jets.”
She had seen an attorney about a possible divorce.
Per People, Maggie reportedly saw a divorce lawyer just six weeks before her untimely death. According to their law enforcement source, she had begun to explore her marital assets and finances for a possible split. “She didn’t pay close attention to the family money or where it came from,” the insider said for the Sept 2021 report. “But now she was starting to look into it.”
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