If Netflix has had any recent success with a genre, it has been true crime documentaries. Recently, “The Murdaugh Murders: Scandal in the Southern States” is available on the streaming service. It is about the Murdaugh family dynasty in South Carolina.
The story of the documentary begins with Paul, the youngest Murdaugh. The boy’s friends have their say and draw the picture of a spoiled heir who tends to binge drink. After a party where Paul Murdaugh had another deep drink, he took his friends home in a boat. The boat crashed into a bridge, all occupants were injured, and young Mallory Beach drowned.
However, what happened after that vividly illustrated how the Murdaugh family operates. While still in the hospital, Alex Murdaugh, Paul’s father and himself an influential lawyer, tried to persuade those involved. His plan: arrange it in such a way that it is not his son but one of the other boys who is the driver of the boat who is guilty.
The drama ended in an indictment against Paul Murdaugh, who went on to live in seclusion at the family estate. A few years later, in June 2021, the next shock came: Alex Murdaugh found his son Paul and his wife Maggie shot dead. Or was it really like that?
A little later, the patriarch himself was arrested. He is accused of having embezzled his clients’ funds for years. The law firm his great-grandfather originally built fired him. A cellphone video of Paul Murdaugh, filmed minutes before he and his mother were murdered, also emerged. Heard in the background: Alex Murdaugh. Prosecutors believe he wanted to arouse sympathy by killing his family members to hide his financial crimes.
Murdaugh testified in court Thursday. Against the advice of his own lawyers, he testified that he did not murder his son and wife. The coming weeks and months will show how the case turns out in court. However, one thing is already clear: the old, influential family dynasty fell at the latest with Alex Murdaugh’s actions. And Netflix has its finger on the true crime pulse again.
