Drunk Boat Driving Murdering Frat Boy Son is Murdered with His Mother (Part Trois / Three)

Why did those threads get deleted ?

They didn't file the necessary paperwork.

Well this DL murder mystery ended abruptly despite the enthusiasm.

I wonder why this thread hasn't taken off? I guess the other thread is driven by only one or two posters at this stage.

No new developments?

No videotape and Big Daddy is working with the police to keep a lid on things.

Has there been a woman comforting Ginge Daddy in his time of need?

R4, I wasn’t able to post in the earlier thread because it was paywalled. And throttled. And disappeared. In roughly that order.

Supposedly Alec the dad had a mistress with the initials “DB”. I couldn’t find anyone with those initials on his FB. I suppose I could ask the person who’s claiming it to PM me. Other people have.

Tonight on sick, sad world....

I ❤ you, r9!

The Post and Courier (Charleston newspaper) had a public Zoom gabfest about this, this past Thursday, 7/1. I had signed up for it, but was too busy getting ready to leave town (and internet) for the holiday weekend at the time it occurred. Did anyone here attend? Was it notable?

R11 You can watch it here, basically a rehash of known information.

Mandy Matney’s dropping her third podcast on the case right now. She’s the FITS News reporter who is the local journalist most knowledgeable about the case and working on it the longest. Unfortunately, she’s become super defensive about her vocal fry. She doesn’t seem to understand that it undermines what she saying and her intelligence and she wrongly states she can’t change it. If she would work with a speech therapist she could learn proper techniques to correct her breath and vocalization. I’m sure even in southern South Carolina she could find someone to help, but she seems completely closed off to hearing that information.

Madeline Kahn trained as a speech therapist.

Oh yeah, big time vocal fry. It’s just laziness. She can absolutely change that if she wanted to.

In all fairness, she’s a writerly journalist, and that doesn’t always translate to broadcast journalism.

If I’m somewhere I can’t escape that kind of voice, I can deal with it. But I won’t willingly choose to listen to it I’m my free time. Unless she’s revealing exclusive juicy details, I’ll just read about it.

Weird that some people have a problem with "vocal fry" but not nasal voices, hick accents, people who constantly mispronounce words........

Lots of people dislike nasal voices, though.

Yet, Dataloungers don't seem to go out of their way to complain about people with nasal voices and say they won't willingly chose to listen to someone with a nasal voice or call them lazy for not changing it....

That's probably because Vocal Fry is considered a modern phenomenon and DL is mostly populated by "Get off my lawn!" types.

r19, true

I'm waiting for the sex tape of daddy, sons and the blond gay boy to surface

"JIMMMAAYYY!!!"

Just about every young white women in tv and radio commercials has fry. And, on NPR.

No, they don't. But I see someone is itching to complain about women.

Many do.

This has some new audio and a shot of Stephen’s little yellow banana car.

Those brows.

Connor Cook’s lawyers filed new depositions today, the only local paper I could read it in was The State, but a link to the article wouldn’t work. There’s new information about the crash. Is Sea Hunt a brand of boat, or was it the family name for it?

^A brand of boat. It was the name of a TV show back in the 60's too, but I don't remember a thing about it. It's where the name of the brand came from, ultimately.

Sea Hunt starred Lloyd Bridges as an professional scuba diver and between him and the guest stars it was beefcake heaven. Kind of a 1950s equivalent of Baywatch.

I can’t believe they had a Sea Hunt. They are okay boats but are the sort of boat that someone who is… thrifty would buy. I can’t see entitled assholes like Timmy being happy with it. That family seems more like the type to have a Cobia or Freeman, which are nicer and much more expensive.

Let's see if TPTB allow us to keep this thread active. Continued excerpts from the new article about boat crash investigation shenanigans.

"What Happened With The Field Sobriety Test?

Paul Murdaugh was not administered a field sobriety test at the scene — a move that was highly criticized by the public. So what happened with Paul Murdaugh’s field sobriety test? According to depositions:

• Robin Camlin, Brock’s supervisor at SCDNR, testified that she told Brock that both Connor Cook and Paul Murdaugh should be given a field sobriety test.

• Brock wrote in his report that he told Pritcher to give field sobriety tests to both Cook and Paul Murdaugh.

• Pritcher testified that Brock only told him to give Connor Cook a field sobriety test.

• When asked if Brock ever asked him to do a test on Paul Murdaugh, Pritcher said he didn’t remember, but said if Brock would have asked him to give Paul the test, he would have done it.

• Brock told Camlin that night that both individuals were offered to take the test.

Pritcher said that he offered Connor Cook a field sobriety test because he was starting to “zero in” on him as the main suspect. Connor Cook refused to take the test and Pritcher “filled the sheet out for refusal.”

Paul Murdaugh was never offered a field sobriety test — so no such document exists for him. Pritcher said the purpose of offering a field sobriety test is to gather evidence. Pritcher said he was trying to get a statement from Paul Murdaugh when Paul’s father Alex Murdaugh and grandfather Randolph Murdaugh III walked in and stopped him.

“They came in and said Paul’s not saying anything else, and I told them I’m talking to Paul and they said no, you’re talking to us now,” Pritcher said. Pritcher said that was the moment when “everything clicked in who the Murdaughs were.”

He said he knew “that they were just lawyers in the area and owned a bunch of land,” the lawsuit said. Pritcher then went into Paul’s ex-girlfriend’s room, he testified. Pritcher described her as “skittish” and told her she was worried because Alex Murdaugh was trying to come into her room.

Pritcher’s report said that Alex Murdaugh tried to enter her hospital room while she was speaking to SCDNR.

According to depositions, it appears as though Paul’s ex girlfriend — who suffered a horrific injury in the crash —at first indicated in her statement to SCDNR that she thought Connor may have been driving, but she changed that statement within minutes. She said her head was under a blanket at the time of the crash."

Grossly Intoxicated?

While an initial report by the Port of Port Royal police department said that all five boaters were grossly intoxicated when authorities arrived on the scene, multiple depositions and other reports dispute that claim. However, depositions and reports do all make one common accusation — that Paul Murdaugh appeared grossly intoxicated on the night of the crash.

Several of the boaters testified Paul appeared drunk leading up to the crash. According to depositions:

Paul was visibly drunk and it was obvious to the other boaters it wasn’t safe for him to be driving.

After they left the dock in Beaufort, Paul started driving extremely slowly.

Paul took his clothes off while in the boat (while the temperature was about 59 degrees). One boater said Paul was “acting like he was on drugs” and making a fool out of himself.

On several occasions, Connor Cook took the wheel of the boat while Paul paced around shouted at his then-girlfriend

Paul Murdaugh then pushed, spit on, and slapped his then-girlfriend in the face.

Several police reports and law enforcement officers testified that Paul Murdaugh appeared to be very intoxicated after the crash. According to depositions:

Keener said Paul was “just being belligerent and stupid.”

Keener said they had to send a deputy with Paul in the ambulance because “he was being so stupid and drunk.”

Pritcher said that Paul appeared intoxicated at the hospital and was “acting pretty act of control.”

Pritcher said Paul Murdaugh had to be strapped to a gurney and there was a security officer monitoring him at the hospital.

A Beaufort County sheriff’s office report said Paul was “almost aggressive towards EMS personnel” during the ambulance ride to the hospital.

These reports underscore concerns as to why Paul Murdaugh was not administered a field sobriety test.

Because of the initial confusion in the investigation, it took two months for authorities to charge Paul with three felony counts of boating under the influence. Unlike the vast majority of felony BUI cases, Paul Murdaugh never stepped foot in jail. At the time of his death, he was facing 25 years in prison for the charges.

Pic of Paul out drinking a month before he was killed

Why did police focus on both Paul and Connor?

In multiple depositions, attorneys played audio from the scene that indicated Anthony Cook was very clear about who was driving the boat.

Yet, reports from Brock, Keener, and Pritcher were anything but clear.

For example, Anthony Cook told Brock that he knew Paul was driving at the boat and that “Paul Murdaugh killed (his) girlfriend,” according to a Parris Island military police officer’s sworn affidavit.

But Brock didn’t write that in his report.

Instead, Brock wrote that Anthony “flipped out and was yelling at Paul” and didn’t write why he was angry at Paul Murdaugh in the aftermath of Mallory Beach’s disappearance.

According to depositions in the case, Brock allegedly broke protocol when he didn’t record Anthony Cook’s interview. Tinsley said that Brock indicated in his report he had a tape of Anthony Cook’s interview on scene, but Brock testified that he no longer had the recording.

Pritcher, the first DNR officer on scene, wrote in his report that Anthony Cook said he didn’t know who was driving the boat.

However, after attorneys played audio from the scene in deposition, Pritcher admitted that Anthony told him Paul Murdaugh was driving the boat. Pritcher acted confused when he was confronted about his statement that contradicted audio from the scene.

Like Brock, Keener also wrote in his report that it was “unclear” who was driving the boat.

However, he admitted in his deposition that this assessment was his personal opinion and that no one else said anything to him that would indicate Connor Cook may have been driving the boat.

Last one

Murdaugh Connections

The three officers in question all testified to knowing of the Murdaugh family before the boat crash and each said they had some ties to the powerful family.

Michael Brock, who worked at SCDNR at the time of the crash as an investigator and now works at SLED as an alcohol control agent, admitted in his deposition that he knew the Murdaugh family. Brock was asked multiple times about his connection to the Murdaugh family. According to his deposition:

Brock said he wouldn’t call the Murdaughs “friends,” because “(we) don’t go on vacations together or out to dinners or anything like that.”

Later, he said that John Marvin Murdaugh (Paul’s uncle) “probably” had his cell phone number.

Then he admitted to going to the Murdaugh’s river home “once or twice, three times.”

Brock’s wife Sarah Brock used to work at the Murdaugh law firm.

In Brock’s deposition, he told attorneys that John Marvin Murdaugh is friends with Michael Paul Thomas, a SCDNR officer.

Beach’s attorney alleges that John Marvin Murdaugh was in “frequent or very constant communication” with Michael Paul Thomas on Feb. 24, 2019. John Marvin Murdaugh brought the trailer to the crime scene to help get the boat out of the water, according to Brock. Brock, who was responsible for collecting evidence in the case, said he “didn’t recall” ever being removed from the case due to a potential conflict of interest, but said that “it would make sense.”

It’s unclear how long Brock worked on the case. He started working for SLED in 2020.

Austin Pritcher, the first SCDNR officer at the scene of the boat crash around 3:30 a.m., was also asked multiple times about his potential ties to the Murdaugh family. According to his deposition:

At first, Pritcher said he does not know the Murdaugh family.

Then, when asked if he ever hunted with the Murdaughs, Pritcher said he had been to their golf tournament once.

Pritcher said that his father Donnie Pritcher (a captain at SCDNR who was also involved in the case) and was Michael Paul Thomas (Murdaugh family friend mentioned above) also attended the tournament.

Pritcher said he was instructed to meet John Marvin Murdaugh at the crash scene that morning to get the trailer for the boat just hours after the crash.

Pritcher said he hadn’t met John Marvin Murdaugh before the incident. He said that Michael Paul Thomas likely gave him his number.

As FITSNews previously reported, two Beaufort County deputies on scene that night had direct ties to the Murdaugh family.

Staff sergeant Jason Malphrus — who supervised the agency’s response on the evening of the crash — was being represented by Alex Murdaugh at the time of the boat crash. He is not mentioned in the depositions.

Corporal Jack Keener, a Beaufort County sheriff’s office deputy, also had connections to the Murdaughs’ law firm. In 2015, the firm, PMPED, helped Keener and his family win a $2.5 million settlement, according to court documents. In deposition, Keener claimed he didn’t know the Murdaughs.

He said he never met Paul or his family but “knew of the name”

He said he had nothing to do with his family’s lawsuit

“I only know that their family was lawyers and whatnot from Hampton, that’s all I know.”

Lawt was the gay boi being passed around? Only gay in the village thing. Everyone wanted him dead!

Will heads roll?

I would say that Paw Murdaugh is heading for a hell of a lot of trouble right now.

^His seamy meddling in all kinds of nefarious activities is going to come to light, even if he didn't have anything to do with the murders (all 3 of them).

Listening to Mandy’s screechy voiced podcast about the boat wreck. I’m surprised her sources didn’t alert her to what was coming with the new court depositions today, which would have impacted what she’s reporting on. I guess the good thing is she’s calling this part one and maybe she’s going to use part two as a contrast with the new information. She does call out the 911 operator as problematic and not doing a very good job. She does say the operator left her position a few weeks later, I wouldn’t want someone that incompetent doing that job. She makes Jennifer Love Hewitt look like a rockstar in comparison.

FYI this isn’t the third thread that existed and then disappeared, this is a second third thread that someone launched.

R38 What really jumped out at me was Alex entering or attempting to enter the hospital rooms of the boat crash victims immediately. That is really, deeply "problematic" as the kids say. Though I'm sure if you asked him, he'd just put on the Andy Taylor act and say "Shucks, I was jus' bein' neighborly and wanted to see how those kids was gettin' along!"

Sounds like a cluster fuck of denials and Mariah Carey's "I don't know her".

This seems to be a new entry in the local press about this story. I don’t know where the weird stock photo comes from, it’s not in the story when you go to the link. The title seems strange, sounding like they are trying to alert the reader to Paul being framed, maybe this is the paper the Murdaugh have more control over? My favorite part is “…key evidence may still be missing, including Murdaugh’s phone and pants…”. Yes, we all want to know what happened to Timmy’s pants!

R35's item is crazy, even for cops. The various cops disallowing knowledge of the Murdaughs.

Do you know the Murdaughs?

No. I don't know them.

But my wife has worked for them

You might find their phone number on my mobile.

Have you ever visited their beach house?

Umm, one, twice, thrice...

Rich people in small places in the South are crafty about spreading work and favors around. Instead of having one man do all their small household repairs, they call a new guy each time. Excited by the prospect of further work they do a low-ball estimate, get the job, then with some vague promises are never called upon again. Everyone is left hanging thinking maybe, job maybe they call me about that big job they told me about. Never happens, and the big man in the small town spreads his personal ties and gets some cheap work along the way.

Seems the Murdaughs may have been practicioners of this old version of another type of patronage.

Now I need to re-read "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" again, because this case is bringing one of the more chilling things about the book to mind... the suggestion that in Savannah, there is an "aristocracy" that is allowed to get away with crimes from petty cheating to DUIs to murder, because of who their family is. And that the tragedy of Jim Williams was not that he was wrongly accused, but that he thought his social climbing had made him a member of the class that could get away with shooting a piece of ass that had become a nuisance, but... for all this wealth and his friendships with the local Old Money, he was still a jumped-up little fag after all, and the local justice system wasn't going to hush it up they way the rural authorities seem to have been hushing up a crime committed by a Murdaugh.

I think the corruption runs deep in both places, and has for a very long time.

I live in Birmingham - same dynamics here.

It’s very strange how every southern news agency has exploded in covering the filing of the depositions yesterday, which are only explicitly pointing out the corruptions that existed between law enforcement and the Murdaugh family that were already quite obvious beforehand. The irony of course is that the Murdaughs, who have always used the law as a means to control and exploit others, is now having it be used against them, and I bet they are totally pissed. Corruption seems to be an even bigger news story suddenly then the killings themselves. I do find all the talk of Paul running around in his underwear quite titillating for some reason.

This story, if it did lack spice, certainly has been spiced up by the the latest submissions.

Is there anymore information on who the killer(s) might be? Have the police released any further information?

So basically, this is going to be a cold case, then?

Civil conspiracy? These are mighty strong words.

I wonder how Pop and Buster are holding it together?

They must be shutting a brick.

Paul has bossy bottom face

In my mind, I keep seeing Paul as Prince Harry. Spoiled drunk ginger.

R54 I can totally see Paul in a Nazi uniform at a Halloween party.

R55, in all fairness, it was a "Bad Taste" themed party and The Producers had just opened in the West End. Harry was kind of screwed with that.

R56 OK then, I can totally see Paul in Vegas with a prostitute playing naked pool, but leaking his own photos instead of paparazzi.

Yup, I could see that.

I can see drunk Harry stripping down and commandeering a boat which he drives into a pile in a Paris tunnel.

Whoops.

Seriously, though, we all know some rich wastrel who is a similar cautionary tale. I knew one who had a mangled hand because he was holding some fireworks when they went off. He was always drunk and always had booze or drugs for our underage partying. I wasn’t cool enough to be on his radar for special inclusion, but wasn’t so uncool as to be a target for his bullying. Nobody really liked him, but everyone hung out with him anyway, for the booze and cars and to see what shenanigans he’d come up with — and get away with. The cops didn’t like him, either, but their hands were kind of tied.

And now I’m going to google and see if he’s still around.

^^ Oh my. He has several mugshots online, and many offenses, including sexual assault. If he’d stayed in his New England hometown, he might have been protected. But the criminal allure of Florida is too great for some…

R60 He's become a Florida Man! What are his days?

Sad last.

^ The legal system of Florida makes it a haven for people who have debt judgments against them in other places. The system protects their assets there. Same for Texas, North Carolina, and South Carolina. This explains a good deal about those places. Criminals and grifters gravitate to them.

R63 Which is the way it should be. For once Florida, Texas, NC, and SC are the more progressive and humane of states.

The laws were passed, quite cynically, by the legislatures of all 4 states, to attract residents.

R65 It doesn't matter why. Only that it is law.

Part of Texas mythology is that it was a place to start over. Supposedly people back east would go bankrupt or the farm would fail and they'd say "fuck it." Supposedly they would write GTT on the door, standing for Gone to Texas, then head west.

[quote]I do find all the talk of Paul running around in his underwear quite titillating for some reason.

All I can think of is Ned Beatty running through the woods in Deliverance.

And squealing like a pig. Since Ned Beatty died recently, it's ALL I can think about, frankly.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

I’m wondering if anyone has explored that the remaining girls Madison, Miley and Morgan might be in a Practical Magic covent and have used Magic to enact their revenge? They could be using the Charmed power of three to bring down the Murdaughs.

They just needed to visit the old blind, negro hag with a blue door on her shack in the swamp.

That boat is a lower-end model Sea Hunt with a center console, storage box built into the bow, and a bench seat in the stern. Here is a example of the general layout, though I think this one is a little larger than the Murdaugh boat. While it can seat six it’s not really interned for that many or more people, especially not going full-throttle.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

^ Sorry, I see I was late to the game with the DM article. I'll try to keep up.

See? The DailyMail gets the scoop/photos.

That Miley girl has a real Laura Jean Witherspoon quality.

The whole boating accident seems like a plot point out of a Final Destination film, I wonder if the other four thought they each escaped death that night only to be living in with complete anxiety that they are next for a gruesome death. I wonder if they’ve gathered since Paul’s murder.

Any news on the actual investigation itself?

R79 "LOL!" -- SLED

Really, the silence makes me suspect that SLED is every bit as inept and corrupt as the local cops.

^Agreed. If the cops got Mom's phone, I just have a feeling it's got something highly interesting in it, since the killer(s) had enough sense to carry it away with them (but were too stupid to destroy it or at least toss it into nearby deep water).

Were there alligators on the property who might of molested the bodies if daddy hadn’t gotten there with such perfect timing? Do they come a crawling when they smell fresh blood?

[quote]Do they come a crawling when they smell fresh blood?

You are referring to the alligators, correct?

R83 Well we already know the lawyers do, especially the personal injury ones. Even Stephen’s family received the call after the coroner from Randy Murdaugh looking to represent them in a negligence case after all.

[quote]who might of molested

Oh, DEAR!

R85 That’s the right term, what are you upset about?

Really? Really?

“Might OF” is the right term?

Muppet.

Might have, dear.

R74 Connor Cook should have been gunned down for that haircut.

This story broke yesterday, it isn't connected with the Murdaugh case and is in a different county and circuit, but not too far from the locations in this case. It gives you an idea of how people can become so powerful in these local positions that no one thinks of checking to make sure they are doing things correctly. This guy was coroner for 40 years now all the records are missing. I would imagine something similar could be taking place in Hampton, as well. Which would cause headaches for investigators, especially SLED. They are already seen with suspicion, just like when the FBI is called in, because they aren't "locals."

That is fucked up, r90.

Sounds to me like the former coroner is a butt hurt bitch and decided to get rid of everything - including the office - so the new coroner looks like a fool.

Man! I would be livid! The taxpayers paid that fuckers salary and he is fucking THEM over. No death certificate, no tax claims, no insurance claims, no death benefit claims. Nothing.

I hope that former coroner gets dragged from his house and beaten in the streets for fucking those taxpayers over. But they're so stupid they'll probably blame the new coroner.

The newly elected black lesbian coroner beat his own deputy coroner in the election. A lot of sexism, racism, and homophobia on action. I'm glad she's speaking publicly. The county has a right to sue him, doesn't it?

R92 The state and residents probably can. But, the coroner is elected and therefore not actually under the control of the county.

This also happened in Newton County, Ga.

Bizarre that you Americans elect a Coroner.

It's a professional position, not a political one. Most odd.

R95 Worse than that is that they usually also own a local funeral home. Which seems like a bit of a conflict of interest to me.

There’s coroners and then there are medical examiners and they are very different.

If I ran for coroner my election slogan would be "I want to be coroner of all the people!"

[quote]Bizarre that you Americans elect a Coroner.

[quote]It's a professional position, not a political one. Most odd.

Haven't you ever voted for your sheriff, R95?

Bonnie was the most photogenic. She looks amazing on her mid 1980s album cover.

Georgia seems a sort of Ground Zero for mortuary malfeasance. And South Carolina has had some scandals, too.

Disgusting people.

And coroners as elected officials...not a good idea for modern times.

Mandy has her 4th Podcast coming out today, the 2nd part of the Stephen Smith murder examination.

Has she worked on her Vocal Fry?

R103, that made me laugh because it’s the first thing I wondered.

I like what she’s doing, and I’ll happily read what she has to say, but I don’t want to listen to ANYONE’s podcast. If they have vocal fry, I can’t.

Yeah, no, she still sounds like…. That.

R98: Jessica Mitford, of the famous British Mitford sisters, wrote "The American Way of Death" back in the '50's, a notorious expose' of the American funeral "industry," and she became famous as a journalist. Later, she was living in Oakland with her attorney husband (who ultimately represented Angela Davis, among others), and her husband was running for some local political office out there. People encouraged Jessica to run for Coroner of her county too, and she kind of went along with the joke, and had campaign signs and posters for herself printed up. Her campaign slogan was "DROP DEAD!" (Her book of collected letters, *Decca*, is one of the funniest books I've ever read).

It is crazy about coroners. My county had a great woman for years. She didn’t own a funeral home, and really cared about her job. Her main focus was educating the public about dangers. Every year she went to all the high schools to share with us her experiences with drunk driving accidents. Sadly she died from breast cancer. The others since then have been crap. I usually dislike elected officials staying in office for too long, but I would’ve gladly kept re-electing her.

Part II of the Stephen Smith case files are up. Some new tidbits:

- a TINY quantity of blue paint chips were found on Stephen but since at some point there was a break in the chain of custody with Stephen's clothes, it could have come from anywhere.

- Stephen had a hookup with an older man (called "Joe" here)

Sandy Smith found a day pass for a Hilton Head gated community with Joe’s name on it.

Joe was older and recently divorced. He met Stephen online, but said “no money exchanged.” Joe said he deson’t do “this kind of thing very often. He said they hooked up on June 28, but it was a one-night stand. Joe said he texted him a few times after that and didn’t realize he passed away until he was contacted by Sandy.

- a drama queen tipster named Kevin reiterates the Buster/Murdaugh rumors, says Buster sold coke to a friend of his, and Moselle was underage party central.

- Kevin says when he originally heard Stephen’s death, he thought it was Paul they were talking about because he’s more the “I don’t want to say troublemaker. He’s more the ‘my last name is Murdaugh, I can do whatever.’”

Thanks, Sylvia!

All the skeletons will come tumbling out, now. I wonder if Buster took services as trade for product.

Thank you, Mrs. Prowler.

Just listened to the podcast.

I wonder how much older the "older man" hookup was.

Stephen's "boyfriend" sounded like an older guy, too.

Mike of "That Chapter" put out a YouTube video re: the Murdaughs. He does mention the rumor that Buster Murdaugh (brother of the murdered Paul Murdaugh) may have had a relationship with Stephen Smith (young gay man found dead under suspicious circumstances). At least that's what I think Mike said in the video.

So, for those who have listened to Mandy’s 4th episode and read the FITS News article, are they the same thing, just her reading it?

Local newspapers file more lawsuits for the release of police information.

Here’s my question: if Buster was the one screwing Smith, why would Paul be the one to kill him? Was it some kind of honor killing? Wouldn’t he want to kill his brother for being the gay?

I think if the Murdaughs killed Smith it was about drugs or money.

But I could be wrong.

Paul may have had a reason to kill Smith. Timmy may not have been so picky.

When people have alter egos for the binge drinking, you are liable to be dealing with a persona that needs no reason to tear you limb from limb.

He does look like his momma.

You know what they say...

The family that slays together, stays together.

[quote]Here’s my question: if Buster was the one screwing Smith, why would Paul be the one to kill him? Was it some kind of honor killing? Wouldn’t he want to kill his brother for being the gay?

Buster, deeply in the closet, may have told Paul that Stephen was lying and telling people that he and Buster had hooked up, to innoculate Paul lest he heard that rumor.

That might have set Timmy off.

If Buster was slinging coke then my money was Smith ran up a debt he couldn’t settle. Smith may have been selling too and dipped into the product. Not an unheard of scenario.

My current theory is that Smith was sleeping with either Buster or the Father, who killed him. Paul found out and he and his mother, were planning to try and use that information to try and save Paul. Give the prosecutors a cold blooded murder in exchange for dropping an accidental death prosecution or at least go lenient as part of a plea bargain.

Good plotting, r121. True or not, you may have a future in screenwriting.

Gay boi could have easily tried to blackmail whomever. Shit, Gboi could have been a dealer for ginger.

Rumor was that Stephen was seeing an "older man." I wondered if that was Alex Murdaugh, as he was Stephen's coach.

But now we hear about the old man on Hilton Head.

There was a rumor that Stephen was seen on his last night alive running from an older man in the woods.

R124 He could've been seeing multiple older men. It seems like many of the young men on grindr, around here, are looking for "generous" guys.

Drug running gigolo twink working for them.

Besides Alex, there’s still Randy the Granddad, Randy the Uncle and John Marvin the Uncle Stephen could have been fooling around with. Was Craigslist still a thing back then or perhaps Apps in this small rural community that brought generous older men and entrepreneurial twinks together?

The "older man" in Hilton Head said, "no money changed hands."

That seemed an odd thing to say and immediately made me think that it had.

R128 Maybe he's a DLer and just assumes that everyone thinks that of him and his twink companions.

The only thing of interest from this true crime blog post with the inexplicable stock photo, is that Pat Conroy made mention of the Murdaugh family in his memoir.

Southern Mafia

The older man is 65 but looks decades younger.

Yeah, well, rich people usually age more slowly. More self-care, and less stress to break down things at the cellular level.

As for the Murdaugh's being a Mafia family... where does one draw the line between Southern "aristocrats" and a Mob family? Both abuse their power and corrupt the local authorities, both rule their tiny fiefdoms through fear, etc. Maybe the "aristocrats" like the Murdaughs have better taste and fewer actual hitmen, but that's about it.

Where does one draw the line between any aristocrats and a mafia family?

Some aristocrats go in for philanthropy, school boards and art collecting.

Guess what, so do some of the mafia.

This story is its own Friday afternoon drinypoo.

Bad week? Here's a dead Southerner in a fur coat - may also be female.

[quote]...where does one draw the line between Southern "aristocrats" and a Mob family? Both abuse their power and corrupt the local authorities, both rule their tiny fiefdoms through fear, etc. Maybe the "aristocrats" like the Murdaughs have better taste and fewer actual hitmen, but that's about it.

The Murdaughs are a powerful, rich, but absolutely not an aristocratic family. These things matter in the South Carolina Lowcountry and politics, influence, and power are viewed with the same skepticism as a fat bald guy in a red Corvette convertible: as flashiness compensating for the social equivalent of mid-life crisis and a tiny dick.

A century of grifting lawyers who ruled the county prosecutor's office, they amassed power and power and money, but that's hardly an aristocratic family by Lowcountry standards which can be pretty cunty.

Power and power?

R136, can you give an example of what an aristocratic lowcountry family would be like? What would their family business be? I’m assuming there’d be roads and land masses named after them. Would they be academics? Merchants? Landed gentry? Town or country?

I’m somewhat familiar with the Northeastern version of old money, but always curious about other regions. Serious question.

I see how the Murdaughs don’t make the cut, but would love to hear more about those who do.

R138: I was taught that it was rude to ask someone about their work but this is so true in Charleston that people make a joke of not knowing if their good friend of decades works or not, let alone at what. It's a joke, of course, friends will have some knowledge of this, but there's truth to it, too, in that friends may genuinely have never discussed the subject.

In the Lowcountry, old family names have been more important than old money from well before the Civil War. Even in the late 18th and early 19thC there were good old Charleston names that were revived with new money from people with money in surplus but a shortage of respectability. But it 's a story much older and more universal than that.From the time of the Civil War the romantic notion of "too poor to paint, too proud to whitewash" that area families traded in until the real estate boon years than began in the 1990s. Even in the 1990s and beyond, there were people who lived in neglected family mansions, scraping by on handouts from family and quietly selling off a painting every time the roof leaks got too bad. Land and houses and history are a very big part of old family names.

Charleston is a 17thC city that grew substantially over 150 years, built on agriculture and trade in agriculture that thrived up until the Civil War. The oldest continuously operating synagogue in the U.S. is in Charleston. In the 18thC it was a city of race tracks and culture and education and trade in slaves, a seasonal city populated by families escaping the rural isolation of plantations and the miasmas of Yellow Fever for the refinements and social entertainments of city life for parts of each year. Charleston allied itself heavily with England: it sent its rich sons not to New England universities but to England to be educated; household goods and finery was bought heavily from England, rarely from America or the U.S. The basis of everything goes back to the the landscape and what it grew and the enslaved people who made it happen. The planter class was a bit rough and ready at the start but with the wealth involved soon became educated and well traveled and connected to worlds beyond fields of indigo or rice or or tobacco or cotton. You could argue that this remove from day to day plantation realities paved the way for a world where money was a dirty subject.

The merchant class took second place to the planter class, though some commission merchants did famously well and sometimes built in the flashier styles of the 19th Century, bigger and better to prove what the old families didn't have to. The sniffing of Thackeray characters for those "in trade" (pe-Civil War at least) has faded in time. The real demarcation, though, is Time itself. A family that has been in the Lowcountry since before the Revolutionary War, or better yet if there's some connection to the Huguenot migrations of the previous century...from splendid base you can weave some connection to any of the other old families of the Lowcountry and fit in if the others will have you.

Old families have both an interest and an aversion to people from away. The way to tell at some point if someone from away has passed muster is if the old family member fabricates some vaguely plausible connection between a distant relation of theirs and a supposed distant relation of yours, and suggests that "perhaps they were friends, or cousins even, I'm sure they were some kind of cousin these connections between your people and mine." If you pass that, you will get invited to parties and luncheons and for cocktails on porches.

There was a system of plantation house (country house) and city house (Charleston filling in for London in the borrowed English model.) The beach house thing was very much of the 20thC and often quite late. That definitely wasn't a big thing for the old landed class. Kiawah Island and the most expensive coastal developments are seen as something of an outsider thing.

Having written all that, did you do their genealogy?

[quote]The Murdaughs are a powerful, rich, but absolutely not an aristocratic family.

They would have been viewed as uppity trash in Charleston.

The town they lived in is one of the poorest in the state.

People talking about the mob, it is very possible that over their years in office they could’ve become acquainted with the Dixie Mafia, which is real and largely underground.

R139, some of what you wrote is true but a lot of it, like so much about the South, is lore that people like to repeat about themselves but bears little resemblance to actual life.

The Low Country is like many places you have the true aristocrats whom most people don’t really know about and who lives quietly, with their dogs and beat up land rovers, then you have the nouveau riche and the offspring of the aristocracy behaving like money hungry trash, such as on the reality show Southern Charm.

Another huge info dump from FITSNews, this time more investigation files into the boat crash. And a video of misc security cam footage from the night of, with Timmy buying illegal booze.

Link below. Lots of good new stuff from hospital staff.

"Paul’s father, Alex Murdaugh, and grandfather — former solicitor Randolph Murdaugh — appeared at the hospital ten minutes after Paul Murdaugh, according to witness statements.

According to witnesses, Alex Murdaugh appeared to be more concerned with “orchestrating” a plan in the criminal investigation than finding Mallory Beach.

In fact, a security guard overheard Paul’s father on the phone saying “she’s gone, don’t worry about her.”

One of the nurses thought that Alex Murdaugh (above) seemed “cold and detached in regards to the victim/ injured.” She said she saw him monitoring the emergency room screen — presumably trying to track down boat crash victims. She told SCDNR it seemed as though Alex Murdaugh was “trying to orchestrate everyone” and getting them “on the same page.”

Several nurses noted they observed Alex Murdaugh moving from room to room a lot, while the other parents stayed with their children.

The charge nurse also told a security guard to “keep an eye on Alex Murdaugh” because he was “trying to enter other patients’ rooms.”

Specifically, Alex Murdaugh was seen multiple times trying to get into Paul’s girlfriend’s room.

“(Alex) Murdaugh tried getting into her room, telling the nurse, ‘he (has) to tell her what to say,'” the DNR report said.

Paul’s girlfriend did not let Alex in her room, though. However, a SCDNR officer noted that Alex Murdaugh was trying to get in her room while he was trying to get her statement.

Alex also was seen talking to Connor Cook — who broke his jaw in the crash — multiple times and telling him that “they were going to figure everything out.” Nurses also reported seeing Alex Murdaugh attempting to talk to Connor on the way to his CAT scan.

Paw Murdaugh sounds like a fucking creep. I hate these "fixer" types - fat, piggy-eyed bullies.

Is there any chance that Mallory's death was intentional? "Don't worry, she's gone" sounds pretty strange to say of a victim involved in an actual accident. To say nothing of completely heartless to the point of sociopathology.

I doubt drunk-to-the-gills Paul/ Timmy would have been in any condition that night to participate in a murder plot, let alone one involving such precise maneuvering of a boat that only the targeted victim would be killed in the crash.

Besides, r147, what plausible reason would any of the Murdaughs have had to kill her?

R145 "Timmy" is having trouble walking and seems very argumentative.

Mallory and her boyfriend seem very much into each other and disassociating from the rest of the group.

Paul looks like a leprechaun.

[quote]a security guard overheard Paul’s father on the phone saying “she’s gone, don’t worry about her.”

I wonder if he said the same thing about Maggie in the 911 call they are not releasing.

Ooh, dayum R150!

[quote]"she’s gone, don’t worry about her.”

I assumed from that that Alex Murdaugh had based that on what his son or the others had said of the accident - that the violence of the accident and/or the fact that her body disappeared suggested she was likely dead.

The bar receipts show that Timmy paid for his shots at the bar with Mama's credit card. Whole family of enablers who created a monster.

"The town they [the Murdaughs] lived in is one of the poorest in the state."

I wonder how much of a role they've had in keeping the place poor?

Ugh, Paul /Timmy paid for those shots with Momma Maggie’s credit card which was a Discover Card! My whole image of the family was been downgraded, what a trashy card to have. I’m surprised Paul didn’t insist on a Platinum AMEX and how embarrassing to have Margaret on it, better to have “M. Murdaugh.”

Anthony Cook looks like a big, lovable, goofy, good ole boy, gentle giant in those videos and very sweet to Mallory. How weird is it to have some of you’re last few moments of your girlfriend’s life with you captured on video? Paul on the other hand looks to be constantly raging. Connor seems to have the Bieber haircut, wasn’t Feb.2019 late for that?

If they do a movie just on the boating party I think they should call it “On Archer’s Creek.”

Murdaugh On The Lake.

Granddad Murdaugh says his grandson is as drunk as “Cooter Brown,” who is that some legendary lowland alcoholic, the Billy Carter of S. C.? I always thought Cooter was a euphemism for vagina.

R159, I had heard -- and forgotten-- the expression, but here's the Wiki etymology.

Mother, May I Sleep with the Fishes?

I supposed "The Demon Seed" is already copyrighted.

I wonder if Maggie said something to set Timmy off. Like he wasn't getting a new BMW. And he shot her.

And Daddy got back after he'd done it. And was so enraged and disgusted with Paul, he shot him.

And then tied them both up to make it look like a planned double-execution.

R160 Totally fascinating, thanks! I guess the drunk all the time kept him from becoming a folk hero like Paul Bunyan or Pecos Bill. I wonder why he re-emerged during the 80s and became better known, I guess those popular musical references helped, but what was the initial bump?

"And then [papa Murdaugh] tied them both up to make it look like a planned double-execution."

A good medical examiner might be able to tell if the ropes were put on while a person was alive or not, if they were tight enough to cause chafing or bruising. There's no blood flow after death so no bleeding or bruising happens, so if you ever need to stage a crime scene please be aware of that.

But who knows if that rathole has a competent or honest medical examiner.

So again there’s another discrepancy about how many were flung from the boat, this report saying three- Paul, Mallory and Anthony. The two girls at the very front aren’t thrown out at all and the two in the far back are ejected, and just one in the middle. And Connor must have slammed into something on the boat to have broken his jaw. Did Mallory’s autopsy get released with a description of sustained injuries and body trauma? I’m assuming they could distinguish if she was alive in the water for any point of time or if she was unconscious at impact and never retained consciousness before dying.

Another thing I remember from Anthony’s deposition is that he originally makes it to the opposite side of the river from everyone else and is on Parris Island. Then he decides to wade back over to be with everyone else taking twenty minutes and precariously swimming from bridge support to bridge support in rough waters. And from pictures at the scene he has an injured arm. Why didn’t he just walk up the bank and go cross over the bridge? He also would have been at a vantage point to look down and search for Mallory from above?

R165 I think we’ve already established that there’s corrupt elected coroners here and not medical examiners, so Alex has all the likely power to control what’s said coming out of that office if that’s what he finagled in the past with Stephen’s exhumation.

Who do we want to make the series about this? I don't want Ryan Murphy.

I want an actor/director -Kevin Costner and I still want an unshaved Brendan Fraser for the role of Mamma in slip, fur, and pearls regardless of season or time of day.

Murdaugh, She Wrote.

With Mandy Matney as Jessica Fletcher.

R168 I want the Mare of Easttown team with their new HBO contract to take this on. Kate could even play Momma Murdaugh. They could easily just focus on the boating party for now since those depositions must be public record for them to legally work from.

Then we learn Mama was forcing that young homosexual to perform depraved straight acts against his nature....

Stephen and Mama? That would be an unexpected plot twist

[quote]There's no blood flow after death so no bleeding or bruising happens, so if you ever need to stage a crime scene please be aware of that.

Thank you, Patsy. You are one of the most useful posters on DL.

[quote]Murdaugh, She Wrote.

It is pronounced "Mur-dock"

r175 = Hyacinth

What does the DNR stand for in the SCDNR, because of course I’m always thinking it’s Do Not Resuscitate?

Fine! It's "Murdough She Wroten"

Dept. of Natural Resources, r177.

Someone on Reddit transcribed the part about the Murdaughs in Pat Conroy’s memoir.

It's creepy seeing dead people in those surveillance videos.

You know, I don’t even care that much about this story anymore. The Murdaughs seem like repulsive people.

I hope it was the husband and he goes to jail forever.

People are wondering if cameras caught Paul buying drugs at Luther's bar.

R183 It's possible, but really hard to tell. Anyway, I thought Paul and Buster were dealing themselves? On the other hand, as the reddit people pointed out, it would make sense of why he just HAD to make a stop at that bar on the way home.

R184 They could be dealing but most dealers I've known also have dealers who might deal pills or something they don't. Fratty collage UofSC dealers tend to deal just in weed and cocaine. They aren't drug Walmarts. I would also mention that the area in which this family lives, has ALOT of drugs. I-95 runs right through there and is the main drug route from Miami to NYC.

This will come as no surprise. Is it me, or does the phrase “acting a fool,” seem like a southernism or something only your ninety year old grandma would say?

R186 We all say it round here.

never understood the "acting" the fool, since for so many of them no "acting" was necessary, it was innate

Unlike periods or capitalization, r188?

spare, me

[quote]That test result showed Murdaugh, who was 19 at the time, had a blood alcohol concentration of over 0.28, according to a spokesman for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. That’s more than three times the legal limit to drive a car in South Carolina.

Oops, Daddy Alex let that one slip by.

[quote]But deputies who beat DNR to the scene offered one key piece of information: Mallory Beach’s boyfriend was so angry with Murdaugh after the crash that the two had to be separated. The boyfriend was heard yelling, “That asshole needs to rot in fucking prison.”

I still would not be shocked if the murders were traced back to him somehow.

R191: I got my one and only DUI, at the age of 22, several decades ago. My blood alcohol level was .22 when I got arrested, and I can vouch for the fact that for almost the entire 24 hours prior to the test, I had eaten NO solid food at all, and had subsisted ENTIRELY on beer, drinking continuously for probably 10 solid hours up until I got arrested. I was DRUNK. That kid Alex was at .28. I think .33 is considered life-threatening.

I’m sure this is completely unsubstantiated and perhaps an outright fabrication, but it does sound in character.

Timmy: “Do you want to hold my penis?” (said in a drunken slur)

Grandpa Murdaugh: “Paul, Shut The Fuck Up You Drunk as a Cooter Fool!”

Timmys BAC was 0.28 THREE HOURS AFTER HE WAS ARRESTED!

It’s amazing he didn’t die of alcohol poisoning that night.

I can drink with the best of them, but why in the hell would you ever want to be that drunk? It feels terrible, isn’t fun, and you’re frying your brain.

He had to have his petite size working against him, despite some earlier chubby shots, he looks quite trim at the time of the accident and I’m sure oysters do absolutely nothing in terms of absorbing alcohol in your system.

Alex’s out of control behavior at the ER and that the nurses could smell alcohol on his breath too!

And it seems like there might be some documentation of Timmy asking for his penis to be held, in that when he was asked for a urine sample he asked the nurse if she was going to help.

The Family of disassociative drunks...

"Only Big Shirl's allowed to hold yer pecker, Timmy! And I'm not that drunk yet."

Half the family angry you called them by the wrong name, the other half trying to remember all their middle names.... "Am I Dwayne Wane Payne Murdough or Millie Tilly Ogilvy Murdough?"

A three "y" (or two "y" and an "ie") name is just trashy, R198. There's no way about it.

Because of this case, I'm rereading "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", and yeah, it's all very reminiscent. In the first chapter, there's mentions of everyone having guns, crimes and deaths within the upper classes hushed up, alcoholism and drunk driving seen as normal, devotion to a genteel appearance covering amorality, etc. There's even a mention of keeping major industry out of Savannah, because "we like things the way they are"., and to hell with anyone who needs a job. The Murdaughs must be the small-town downmarket version of these glamorous, amoral people.

There's a hell of a fabulous true-crime book in the Murdaugh case, if anyone ever takes the trouble to write it.

R200 Mandy’s probably working on a book as well as her articles and podcasts, but she is also spending way to much time on Twitter blocking people calling out her vocal fry. She needs an intern.

[quote]The Murdaughs must be the small-town downmarket version of these glamorous, amoral people.

what the hell is "glamorous" about these trashy, inbred, hideously ugly sociopaths ?

^Money, R202, money. Love IS NOT all you need. It's just money, old or new.

Creaky voice Mandy is dropping episode 5 later today.

Local papers all seem to be dropping articles exploring more of the Friday files dump.

They apparently played some game called cornhole at the oyster roast, I’ve only hear of that as a sexual reference.

The food at the the roast is mentioned and that it supposedly was BYOB according to the party thrower. There was something called a crab boil that is not explained

I think I've had crab boils.

Never thought of eating the bastards.

:(

Well done, r206. I laughed aloud on the subway.

Cornhole is a game you play where you toss bean-bags through holes in a board. I don’t see the appeal, but if you BYOB, maybe it’s fun.

Crab boil explained

Being a vegetarian all these complicated seafood cooking processes are overwhelming, how do you know what and when to bake, or roast or boil or bisque or chowder.

That corn cob cooked in the shellfish crap would not be very veggie at the end.

Believe it or not, there's a professional cornhole league. I stumbled across their championship event on ESPN earlier this month.

So you get the crab boils after a game of cornhole?

That sounds about right.

I'm all about the cornhole

Cornhole is a lot like the concept of horseshoes except you have a sloped board with a hole in it as the target instead of a square of clay with a metal rod in it. Cornhole is a lot more mobile and the bean bags are lighter than horseshoes.

We just called it bean bag toss and you played it only at kid’s birthday parties.

I've never heard it referred to it as cornhole, just bean bag toss, but I'm on the west coast. It's actually fun and can be a pretty absorbing activity. It's also passive enough that you can chat with other party goers and all people of all ages and physical fitness can play. It's very inclusive. And it's safer than lawn darts.

R216 Now you tell me!

Cornhole is extremely fun when high or drunk.

R218, I know!

The latest MM podcast is worth listening to for an extensive audio interview from the time of the crash with Miley, who apparently was the only one able to brace herself before the impact and was relatively uninjured. Paul borrowed Miley’s phone and insisted on calling his grandfather Randy before anyone else. Impressive that he would know that number, but it sounds like calling his powerful grandfather first was his standard MO when in trouble.

R220 not surprised he knew the number, I’m sure they had drilled it into his head repeatedly.

I'm profoundly SHOCKED Paul Murdaugh actually got a blood tested at some point (three hours later?) despite his drunk Papa Alex and drunk Grandpa insistence otherwise when they showed up to the ER, claiming to be counsel for the injured. They kept trying to charge into the ER rooms of the injured.

Oh fuck, when if ever did they realize their profound, profound mistake? When they finally woke up to reality the next morning at another of Alex/Timmy's "transformations." Too many knew.

This is information rehash, but there are color photos of the boat after the wreck that others had asked about and blood is very obvious, and there are quick video snippets of Paul on the scene by the river most likely from a dash cam looking very anguished, talking on the phone and walking away.

This captures better an image from the video above of Paul on scene after the crash with his wrist wrapped up and shirtless.

That 911 operator was awful at her job, asking all kinds of irrelevant questions and sending the police to the wrong place.

Has anyone listened to Mandy's podcast. God, I hope she's writing a book.

They released Alex's 911 call from the murder night.

Mandy gave you bitches who ride her, on here, about her vocal-fry, a shout out on her podcast, FYI.

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What disturbing about this and the other 911 boating accident calls is that the southern accents seem to be hindering communications, I get that my Northern ears can’t distinguish what’s being said, but can southerners not understand each other?

So, Alec has been taken quite a beating in the press all along, but exponentially since the file dump on Friday and the “forget about her” quote. Did they release this to garner some sympathy for him, or is this the result of the media suing for the release of more police information?

There's a history of media suing under FOI in previous thread, maybe this one, too?

Listening to that 911 recording, my only sympathy for Alex M. is that i, I would have had to go a little Jules Winfield on the operator/s and told them stay on the line if you want but stop fucking talking to me unless you have something vitally important to say

"No, STILL not breathing, STILL very dead. Still my dead wife and still my dead son.Like I told you, the house is still white, but you still can't see it from the road."

And ask me for the address one more motherfucking time and I will turn the phone off, you stupid bitch."

The operators are probably told to keep the person talking.

Whenever I call AAA the first thing they ask is if I’m in a safe place, even when I’m calling from my driveway to fix a flat. Here’s 911 and he’s calling about two loved ones that have been gunned downed and are clearly dead, yet there is never a question about his safety, or telling him to go somewhere that’s safe to wait for the police? I hope all 911 operators aren’t as dumb as the one they seem to have in South Carolina.

He's ringing about a double murder on his own property and the two victims are already dead. The first thought would be that he did it. "Go somewhere safe." Yeah, sure.

[quote]The operators are probably told to keep the person talking.

Of course, and for obvious reasons, but the female operator is dumber than a box of hair. Had the call continued I don't doubt that she would have asked "Sir, are you sitting in your car, Tell me what color are the floor mats in your car, and are they rubber or rubber and carpet, and now you said brown, is that a dark brown or a medium brown..."

[quote]What disturbing about this and the other 911 boating accident calls is that the southern accents seem to be hindering communications, I get that my Northern ears can’t distinguish what’s being said, but can southerners not understand each other?

I'm not Southern but I can understand the accents perfectly. Murdaugh is more difficult to understand, more for the quality of the recording of his end of the call and because he has a soft-spoken yet high-pitched blubbery voice and because he's not always presenting complete thoughts.

Note how the voice gets louder and crisper in response to "Is that a house or a mobile home?" "It's a HOUSE." Whether he was piqued by the insinuation that he lived in a trailer or the knowledge that, still, no one had whispered into the operator's ear just who this Alex Murdaugh is is not clear.

These people (the Murdaughs) are all the EPITOME of southern trailer trash, minus the poor gayling who got caught up in their web with the closeted son, who is also the older brother of the murdered one, Paul.

A family of psychopaths, who held a small town in South Carolina hostage for over a century, selling their judiciary to anyone willing to pay for a favourable ruling in even the most frivolous of lawsuits.

What Paul did to that teeny bopper, cheer leader girl was inexcusable, but what his family did to her after their son basically threw her out into deep swamp water, was even worse. And Parker’s is just as fucked up and liable.

He should have been locked up for long time after smashing that boat into the pylon, and had he been, he’d still be alive today.

I haven’t finished the podcasts on this case yet, as the podcasters themselves, haven’t either, but I don’t believe this was some revenge motivates, double homicide to settle the scores on behalf of the multiple dead bodies associated with this family. I do believe, however, that whom ever murdered Paul and his mother had zero qualms in doing so, as they probably were under the impression that they were doing the community a favour by getting rid of Paul. A shame that his mother also had to take a bullet for the sins of her lousy, corrupt husband and his ancestors.

Live by the sword, die by it, too.

[Quote] A shame that his mother also had to take a bullet for the sins of her lousy, corrupt husband and his ancestors.

Paul was her son just as much as he was Alex'.

Sure, R239, but the point you make is moot, being that she’s now dead, is it not?

And the two kids who are dead in this web of chaos and bad behaviour by two profoundly entitled and spoiled brats, were ALSO the children of two mothers.

I don’t believe Paul’s mother deserved her fate, nor do I believe Paul did, either. That’s not justice, as much as what the Murdaughs did to cripple and corrupt their judiciary is also, not justice.

But let’s be honest. That double homicide is most probably attributed to their fast and loose handling of all involved in the justice system of that town they hold undue sway over, more than any OTHER really good reason or motive that could easily be guessed as to why they were both executed with their hands tied behind their backs.

The patriarchs of that family dealt MANY a raw deal, and it’s entirely possible that someone decided to settle their own personal score as a result.

You cannot draw that much bad blood and not expect to eventually spill some of your own.

Alex is corrupt but his wife is blameless? Not buying it. And I don't necessarily support the idea that they all had it coming.

I hope Stephen Smith's mother finds out what happened to her son.

There’s definitely some Lady Macbeth in Maggie.

That 911 call is heartbreaking and I now longer believe Alex was directly involved in the deaths of his wife and son. Horrible people all though.

^ no longer, not now longer

NY Post is reporting that the call was released because of FITS News Freedom of Information lawsuit.

911 operators are fucking annoying. Every time I've had to call one they want to keep you on the line asking the same thing over and over again. They claim it is to calm you down but it does nothing more than to make you furious. Once they have said they are sending whatever assistance I require, I hang up on them.

R246, and they always say “I’m going to need you to calm down”. Even when the caller is perfectly calm.

The Island Packet has two articles out today, one about the towed Suburban, which was owned by the law firms, as was another car on the property at the time of the murders. The other article is about Stephen Smith, apparent he was on the way to the 47 year old boyfriend the night he was killed and last texted him at 3:30 AM.

R247 I know. I called them one time when I saw a drive by shooting of a fast food restaurant. I was thinking, "Fuck woman, if I was calm there would be something wrong with me!"

While Alex's 911 call seems to be getting him much sympathy, I remain skeptical.

When I was listening to him, I thought of two words: community theater.

And the way he snapped out of his sorrow the second the 911 operator insinuated that he might be living in a trailer was telling.

I also noted that he took pains, in his sorrow, to tell the operator his alibi.

That they were murdered at the kennel make me think he was putting down the spare heir and she got sentimental.

Perhaps those two insurance payouts would cover his liability on the boat accident.

A question: where is the info that Maggie and Paul were tied up before being shot coming from?

I didn't listen to the podcasts, but I didn't see it in the linked news articles.

That would make the murders really cold-blooded and execution-style.

R252 From what I understand, very early on a news broadcaster said that, but it was unsubstantiated.

I read that they weren't just tied up, they were "hog-tied"

Where did you read that, r254? Do you remember?

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Bridge

Glug

Bark

Uh uh

Moselle

Murdaugh

R257 I don’t think that’s how one writes a haiku.

R257 “He had it comin’”

Honestly, I’ve started imagining Mallory Beach and Stephen Smith looking down on the hunting lodge at the murders like Saroise in the Lovely Bones enjoying the comeuppance of her killer.

Except it sounds like both Steven amd much later, Mallory.. She was painted as a Mofo cunt, even as her parents oblivious cunting!!!!

r261...????

Did you drop every second word you intended to post?

I think there were some drinkie poos taken.

Mandy’s putting out her next podcast, but it might be awhile until the next one. She says she’s pulling a Simone Biles.

What about prioritizing Vocal Production?

A Buster centric article.

That face. I knew I recognized Buster from somewhere.

The extreme secrecy surrounding the double murder investigation, the suspicious deaths of two other people, and the controversial involvement and actions of a solicitor who clearly has a huge conflict of interest with the Murdaugh family (per the article), is making this case reek into the stratosphere. Hopefully, there are checks and balances in the SC system of justice that will eventually bring this case to its proper conclusion.

Except that in this case, R201, it's likely enough that the proper conclusion to this case is the DA saying "Justice was done, no further charges will be filed.".

Let’s be honest, expecting the sense God gave a goose from the average citizen of South Carolina seems a hope too great, as evidenced by the recent story from upstate.

So, a number of the local news sources are showing animated art of the placement of each of the boating party during the crash. I can’t seem to link them here. I wondering if Mallory, Connor and Paul were ejected as they were more unlikely to have seen the crash coming and not been able to brace themselves like one of the girls in the front mentioned? Mallory and Connor because they were in the back and possibly on the floor and Paul being distracted because he was drunk and angry.

And there a cooler seat built into these boats, so they are basically meant as party boats to go drinking in?

r271, You are apparently out of touch with the rest of the world. If you catch fish, you have to store your catch in a cooler. It isn't just for partying.

Forgot I could at least do a Twitter link.

Oh, huh, I forgot about this case. I wish they’d actually solve the murders of Paul and Maggie and work backwards from there. I only want to know whodunit, though.

I don’t really understand why young adults stay in this area. It’s so dead end. I don’t care how “rich” or “powerful” your family is.

And honestly, the Murdaughs likely weren’t that rich or powerful. The solicitor position really isn’t something anyone wants all that much. (I grew up in a nearby, more well off district and nobody wanted the job there, either.)

The fratboy lifestyle is fun for a weekend but deadly dull. How often can you drink with the same dumb rednecks before you lose your mind?

If the Murdaughs were so well off, surely some of them would have gone off to make their way in the greater world.

[quote]If the Murdaughs were so well off, surely some of them would have gone off to make their way in the greater world.

Very true, R275.

I know people from Charleston who were educated elsewhere (and not an upstate party college), they went off did other things, they come back back for a while, and usually leave again, to NYC or Europe, or just off travelling. More than a few will end up in Charleston, but as a place to retire, or operate some small venture later in life. It's a gorgeous place and interesting and fun, or it can be, but not for long stretches when you are young or younger and have lots of choices.

I think the Murdaughs had big-fish-small-pond money, and money's poor cousin, power, local power. Even they must have been aware of how cracker accents, party school education, grotesque physiques, and a 30-mile circle of friends and people who know your name in a very backwoodsy bit of Lowcountry isn't a ticket to moving easily into other circles.

I think it was Bertrand Russell who observed that there is nothing more toxic than a provincial aristocracy.

Or if it wasn't Bert, it was some other cunt.

People from South Carolina have this strange tendency to think they are the center of the universe.

It’s completely unsupported by any objective reality, but they seem thoroughly convinced of it.

You don’t see the same in people from Georgia, for example. It’s really odd.

Inertia is a powerful force. When you’re born into what amounts in their part of the world as high society, the urge to move somewhere that you’re just like anyone else is greatly diminished. Even when they go to college they don’t mingle with the hoi polloi, they self-segregate into a Greek system and any thoughts or styles they are exposed to are almost wholly of their kind.

Didn’t Pat Conroy basically do the same thing, never leaving home despite becoming a well regarded writer?

New York is the centre of New York!

New boating accident dashcam footage released.

Accompanying FITS New article.

Connor is heartbreaking in that video, the cop is surprisingly compassionate, is he the one that was later framed for drugs and fired?

R278 in SC it is left over from the colonial/antebellum period where we really was the center. SC was the richest colony/state, even more than Virginia. We had the cultural institutions in Charleston, education, and an elite that closely modelled themselves on the English aristocracy. Since then we have kept the attitude if not the reality.

[Quote] Anthony then explained to Pritcher that Connor and Paul were sitting at the center console, and Paul was at the wheel the last he saw before they crashed. Pritcher did not write that in his SCDNR report, however.

Whoo-boy!

[Quote] nstead, he wrote that Anthony “did not know” who was driving the boat.

[Quote] Then, Paul — who was grossly intoxicated and only wearing his boxer shorts, according to police reports — allegedly smiled at Anthony. “YOU F*CKING SMILING LIKE IT’S F*CKING FUNNY?” Anthony screamed. “MY F*CKING GIRLFRIEND’S GONE!”

Paul ain't smilin' now.

R284 Sorry, meant Anthony there not Connor, but Connor having his face split does does horrific too, he looked cute. I hope the Murdaugh sprang for a good plastic surgeon for him.

[Quote] Paul — who was grossly intoxicated and only wearing his boxer shorts, according to police reports — allegedly smiled at Anthony.

They really could call a dramatization of this whole affair: "The Demon Seed."

I’m still not convinced this wasn’t all some Final Destination shit, and those who evaded death that night are all going to have it catch up with them and die horrible deaths.

That would make a much less interesting movie/mini-series.

[quote]I don’t really understand why young adults stay in this area. It’s so dead end. I don’t care how “rich” or “powerful” your family is.

Beaufort is actually quite beautiful. And some people like being big fish in small ponds.

And to people saying the Murdaugh's didn't have much money because they were only the solicitor, the brothers were partners at a law firm that was notorious for enormous personal injury plaintiff cases. Hence the 1,700 acres "hunting lodge."

The low country aristos stay where they are for the same reason their British counterparts do. They're too fucking stupid and/or lazy-minded to exist without being propped up by nepotism and social bullying.

And anyone who thinks the British aristocracy are one jot smarter or nicer than their Carolina counterparts has never met a representative of either.

Point taken, r293. But the “hunting lodge” seems to have been pieced together from smaller parcels acquired years ago— probably for a song.

I could buy 500 acres in a similar area today for less than 150k.

That webcam audio is interesting for two reasons:

1. Anthony told the police officer who Paul's dad was and told them "good luck" prosecuting him.

2. Can you imagine a police officer comforting and getting a cigarette for a young black man?

The hunting lodge was just one of the family's houses. They also had a beach house.

[quote]I could buy 500 acres in a similar area today for less than 150k.

Not so fast, R259, according to other places for sale.

The Murdaugh hunting lodge is 1700 acres. This one very near to them is 340 acres -- 1/5 the size of the Murdaugh place-- and priced at $1.8M

Dlers are funny. There's always some who want to say someone is poor (or "poor").

R298. I cannot fathom paying that much money for a plot of land in a damn swamp. It looks like it’s filled with alligators and deadly snakes.

Local recent drug bust seemingly not tied to murders.

R300 Because you don’t hunt or fish.

^Correct I don’t fish. I do hunt for cock.

So did Steven Smith...

Well, it took two months, but it looks like the Murdaughs made it to the cover of People magazine. Nothing about the Stephen Smith death though. I hope the Piggly Wiggly down there ordered a couple extra hundred copies to sell.

At least the Lowcountry grotesqueries are being featured nationally.

Paul’s death certificate is released and confirms earlier statements.

[quote] I could buy 500 acres in a similar area today for less than 150k

You're full of shit

Are they doing package Murdaugh Murder tours in the low country yet, visiting all the murder spots? If Luther’s Rare and We’ll Done was smart they’d get on board as the lunch break during the tour or the ending spot for a cocktail.

Luther's Rare should rename their lemon drops "The Murdered's Drug Deal"

Not much new here, though there is info about the law enforcement officers ties to the family.

The police officer saw Paul ditch his phone in the grass and didn't confiscate it as evidence?

That is some shady or shitty police work.

This is a cover up, which tells me a family member did it. We must always be reminded that the rich no longer have to follow the rule of law. I think AM killed them, and I have from the very beginning. The time line alone is extremely suspicious.

Well he had to get murdered to do it, but Paul is officially off the hook for Mallory Beach’s wrongful death lawsuit.

"Goodness me, look what I just discovered! This is so shocking, that they were killed just minutes before my arrival. I should probably go look for the killers like OJ did."

[quote]Paul is officially off the hook for Mallory Beach’s wrongful death lawsuit.

I thought it was the best defense he had.

This is sickening. Then LE tells the public they are in no danger. Really? Then they know who the murderer is? SLED is just wanting the public interest to fade. They have no intention of solving this crime. They never did.

Will someone take AM out or has he paid his debt to the community?

I think it's true that the local law enforcement has no interest in solving the crime. If the Murdaugh family really does run things through a web of corruption they won't want any more publicity, they'll just want the story to die. And the odds are, everyone knows that justice was done outside of legal channels, and they consider the matter settled.

Of course if the double killer wasn't a member of the Murdaugh family trying to remove a blot on the escutcheon, then there's good odds of another unsolved killing in a few years. After all the public interest dies down. People like the Murdaughs don't accept rough justice, they give it out.

I don’t know who this bitch is, but I hope she makes it into the limited run series. Her Instagram is @carolinaladylawyer !

I wonder whether whoever took out the mother and son were expecting the father to be there too and were disappointed when he wasn't. Bur on the other hand he arrived within minutes and they didn't wait around for him to show up.

Pa probably killer son and Ma was hysterical. Pa knew he couldn't rely on her to keep quiet so he offed her too.

*killed not killer

But I thought his alibi checked out, even when the press checked on it.

This story would make a great film.

Well, they need a better boat per Woodard.

I'd like to see Kevin Spacey as Alex, Ben Platt as Paul, Divine as Ma, with John Waters directing and shot on location.

How exact is the timing of the deaths, though? It's not like people heard gunshots, is it?

Paul killed son cause he was the gay one or because his fucking up was costing the family too much money. Yeah mom was collateral.

Too much Maker's Mark.

R329, Buster is the gay one. But he doesn’t get in as much trouble as Paul did.

[quote] I think it's true that the local law enforcement has no interest in solving the crime.

"solving" would mean determining who committed the murders. I think they know who did it but have no intention of pursuing the case or ever charging anyone.

I think the father or brother did this. The father may have paid someone in his family, or anyone really, to this . He knows many LE and people from all walks of life. Those men that did a TV interview, I have forgotten their relationship to AM, they both were at the crime scene the next day. LE are only releasing information about the boating accident. Will the family still be able to sue AM? Because if he can no longer be held accountable/responsible because his son is dead, wouldn't that be motive to be rid of him? The entire family are extremely unlikable, aren't they?

[quote] Those men that did a TV interview, I have forgotten their relationship to AM

They were Alex's brothers. One of them, Randy, also called Stephen Smith's mother very soon after Stephen's death offering "help." So they are either ambulance chasers or involved in cover-ups, or most likely both.

Scummy family.

"I think the father or brother did this. "

Why would the father do it? IMHO the murder of his son and wife was a bigger threat to the family's local power than the deaths of Paul's supposed victims, and the people who build up these dreadful small-town empires value their local power. Who were the people who died mysteriously, anyway? A servant, a gay boy, and a drunk girl, nobody that the people of quality need to bother about. In fact, the real problem is these people who keep agitating about the deaths of people who don't matter, and upsetting the natural order of things!

Seriously, I don't think anyone in the Murdaugh family would kill a family member, unless the family member joined BLM and started organizing a local police reform movement or something.

If the father didn't do it, then why isn't he moving heaven and earth to find who did?

Oh Mandy

Well, you came

And you gave without taking…

Until it came to direct attribution and acknowledgment

All three of the earlier deaths had rumors of substance abuse running through them. The maid caught Timmy raiding the liquor cabinet, the gay boy started staying out late and frequenting odd places amid rumors of Buster dealing drugs, drunk girl died shortly after a drug buy in a bar for supplies to keep the party going… it all leads back to drugs.

If, and that’s a big if, this crime is ever solved I’d bet good money it was over a drug debt Timmy racked up and momma was just collateral damage.

I agree the mother was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. She shouldn't have overindulged her lazy and ugly sons. High price to pay for bad parenting though.

But why was she the one hog tied? She may have been the main target? Was she made to watch the execution of her son before being offed herself?

R341 I mean...that sounds like some cartel shit...

"If the father didn't do it, then why isn't he moving heaven and earth to find who did?"

Maybe he is moving heaven and Earth to find the killers, but isn't telling curiosity-seekers like us about it. Maybe he knows who did it, and is biding his time before getting revenge. Maybe he's narrowed it down to a few local suspects, and is waiting for the local rumor mill to reveal all.

Like I said above, I think there's good odds of another unsolved murder in that area in the next few years, when the Murdaughs think the publicity has died down, and they can settle their scores.

R341, she was hog-tied? Has that been established?

The criminal charges were dropped in the boating death but I’m sure her family will file a wrongful death suit that Alex will settle out of court.

This is kind of bizarre, they had to make a statement that there were not three vehicles found at the hunting lodge tied to other crimes including Stephen’s death.

[quote]she was hog-tied? Has that been established?

I don't know where I got that idea, R344. I thought I read/heard somewhere that the mother was restrained with cable ties but I can't find any links now. I guess I have to retract that statement.

I'm trying to picture Dick Shawn trying to save Ethel Merman before they're both exterminated.

Oh I loved Dick Shawn when I was a kid.

R344, it’s not been established as fact. But I remember reading that, too. I think it was blurted out by a reporter, but I can’t remember. Definitely not anything that is on record as being true.

The ‘buried cars’ is so random and bizarre, it makes me wish it were true. How does a rumor like that get started.

R350 Trey Gowdy on Fox News, which is why I’m not going to link it, reported that they were found “bound.” Apparently he’s a former FBI agent, and may or may not have gotten inside information from a source, but that was walked back as unsubstantiated. What’s interesting is that while Paul’s death certificate has been released, Maggie’s has not, but maybe it’s harder to redact something like that without looking more suspicion on hers, who knows.

The cars thing came directly from Facebook, but with all the different rumors flying around about these cases and this being more on the bizarre side of things, why was this one of the only ones they felt they needed to deny? There has been suspicious stuff about cars being impounded from the beginning though.

R351 People have a lot of issues with Trey Gowdy. But...I will say as a South Carolinian...Gowdy has many contacts in law enforcement in this state. He would be able to find out information others might not be able to. He is a former assistant Federal prosecutor in SC, as well as a former Solicitor(district attorney).

R352, yes, but I still think that the story of one or both bodies being tied up is just misinformation. If it had been true, there was no reason for the police not to confirm it once Gowdy had put it out there.

R353, I don’t much care either way, but they refuted the buried cars rumor. No comment on the tied-up rumor.

Creepy-looking Trey Gowdy repeated the "they were tied up" allegation on Fox News.

So Trey is from South Carolina too. Are all the politicians in that state creepy closet cases?

Do Trey Gowdy and Meghan McCain share wigs?

Let me know so I can kill two birds.

Odd how a Department of Natural Resources is all up in this thing.

Was he actually ever in a frat?

R360 As the original OP of the first thread I take responsibility for calling him a frat boy, mainly based on the apparent behavior that was known from the start. By all my research he was not, though his father and brother were. There may have been a reason he didn’t get into one his freshman year, but it is speculated that after the boating accident he was damaged goods with a BUI and accidental death on his hands and even the legacy of his dad’s and brother’s frat would not have touched him or there might be more stringent university guidelines that excluded someone in his position form joining. He definitely drank and partied like a frat boy, and maybe because he wasn’t in one on campus was the reason he went home on weekends and partied like one with friend he grew up with who didn’t go on to college.

R359 Not really. It isn't that strange for a Department of Natural Resources, or some equivalent, to handle law enforcement on state waterways.

My first thought would have been that the Beach family were getting revenge, but it seems so brazen I can’t imagine it. Very strange.

Why do they call it SLED instead of SCLED?

This seems like drug dealer shit.

R364 We went over this on an earlier thread. They do it to have a cooler sounding name...officially they are the South Carolina Law Enforcement, but many refer to it as the State Law Enforcement Division.

Isn’t being the solicitor of five counties and having a family law firm specializing in high dollar settlements a conflict of interest?

It's not about cooler. It's easier to remember SLED than SCLED.

[quote]Isn’t being the solicitor of five counties and having a family law firm specializing in high dollar settlements a conflict of interest?

Of course it is but we're talking about the rural South (where I grew up). How do you think things work?

Not if you're Liza, r368.

I think Sheriff Taylor and Barney would have had this case solved faster than SLED.

Anyway, more on the damn boat crash and Connor Cook.

"In explosive court documents filed Wednesday, Connor Cook said that Alex Murdaugh pressured him to “keep his mouth shut” in the aftermath of the fatal boat crash that killed Mallory Beach in 2019. Cook said that he was “scared” to tell investigators the truth — that Paul Murdaugh was driving the boat on February 24, 2019 when Beach was killed. Specifically, he said he was scared because of “who” the Murdaughs are.

In July, attorneys representing Connor Cook — who sustained a broken jaw in the crash — dropped a petition alleging that law enforcement conspired to shift the focus of the investigation away from Murdaugh prior to him being ultimately charged with three felonies in connection with the crash.

On August 18, attorneys representing the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) filed shocking documents — including Cook’s entire deposition from the Mallory Beach lawsuit — requesting the court to reject the petition."

There is a new novel on Amazon, Magnolias and...Honeysuckle and Poinsettias. That starts off an awful lot like this case...

[quote] Boom.

[quote] The privileged son of a New South dynasty falls bleeding on the old Southern dirt.

[quote] Boom.

[quote] The privileged matriarch falls reaching for her child like the old magnolia reaches to the moonlight.

[quote] But...

[quote] That isn't where this story begins.

[quote] Where...when...did the rot set in the roots of this magnolia?

BREAKING: Timmy & Buster's Daddy Alex has been shot! What the ever-living fuck?

I think Will Folks did it for sure.. He's got crazy eye..

So, who's the scribe, writing a "treatment" of a new nighttime soap that is based upon this story? Will the program be an eight-art series on Hulu or Netflix? Is TNT or FX looking to take it on as a weekly open-ended series? Maybe FOX wants this sordid tale?

Personally, I was Tyler Perry to take it, make a serial of a talented 10th tale of a privileged black families.

Nobody would believe this if it was fiction. This is nuts!

Buster better book in for a sex change!

With that bright red hair there’s no where Buster can hide.

R356 Gowdy is not a closet case, if that's what you were implying. No gay man would let himself go like that. He looks like the crypt keeper. Anyhow, Buster better be picking up a box of hair dye and getting the hell out of Dodge!

What if Buster has been the psycho killer behind all of this?

R380, could be, but family killers usually want to kill off their families when they are all together, rather than do it piecemeal.

[quote]Mr. Murdaugh told one of his brothers from the hospital that he had pulled over to change the tire when someone in a truck drove past him, then drove back around and shot him.

This is clearly a cover-up. But for what?

R382, why would this be a cover up? It’s much more likely that one of the many families the Murdaughs damaged is really out for revenge. They killed two members of the family and seemingly got away with it.; why not take out Alex as well?

Someone started a thread claiming that the father is now deceased. Has that information actually been released?

He was shot, not deceased.

Buster - the Keyser Soze of the Low Country

“Was great hurt?!”

“I doubt it. He got hit in the head.”

S/b

“Was he hurt?!”

“I doubt it. He got hit in the head.”

He was changing his own tire? Mercedes has roadside assistance and/or he should have AAA.

R389, I certainly don't drive a Benz but I just want to personally say FUCK AAA.

I am a lowly gay who recently--succesfully--changed his own tire recently and felt so TRADE about it during a hot summer day.

AAA will leave your ass stranded so I am not surprised this man bothered to change his own tire versus call them, especially if he knew what he was doing. They are not really reliable anymore.

"Personally, I was Tyler Perry to take it, make a serial of a talented 10th tale of a privileged black families."

Nope! This isn't a story that can be race-switched, because white privilege runs all the way through it, hell, it provides the scenery! Because the background is provided by a local power structure that BELIEVES in white privilege, and would rather bend over for the likes of the Murdaughs than let the tiniest shred of egalitiarianism or the rule of law to take hold.

It seems to be a place so corrupted that the only justice is rough justice. And for once, it's rich white people who are finding out what being on the receiving end of rough justice feels like.

^i found that odd. Isn’t changing a tire something he would pay someone to do? I’ll bet he didn’t even know how to change a tire.

Point taken R391, but Perry revels in this kind of family insanity... have you ever watched "The Haves and Have Nots"? I watched the first couple of seasons and it was whack!

Are there enough gingers in Hollywood to cast this show? Alex, his two sons and now Alex's brothers...

How did this thread unlock for me after being paywalled for a month plus?

[quote]Manuel labor is beneath us!

Poor Manuel. 😭

[quote]Perry revels in this kind of family insanity

Tyler Perry is a hack. He would turn this into some cheesy soap. It needs gothic drama.

Tyler would probably play every single character in the series.

Miss Perry doesn't have the range to play that type of ballistic-strength shanty Irish genes.

Who could direct?

I Nominate Soderbergh.

Him change a tire? Bitch please. Guilty. From the very beginning I thought he was guilty. I bet there is another women in the picture. Two people open fire on a huge fat man and he is only grazed and suffers a superficial head wound? Airlifted to a hospital in another state? Glaring example of the treatment the rich and powerful receive. I would have been lucky to get a bandaid and a " Good luck." He wanted to start over with another women. He did not want to divorce and divide property and money. He also was really tired of paying out for his sociopathic son's fuck ups. The father knew it would never end, probably escalate, and no matter how much money he lost paying off LE and Paul's victims, Paul would have eventually ended up in prison or someone other than Alex would have killed him. He was a lost cause and a liability. His buddy is not there to protect him any longer. He wants no damn part of whatever is about to be revealed. Keith!! Dateline!! Please!!

Unless he ordered a spare tire and wheel, he couldn't have been changing the tire, because Mercedes don't come with spares. I have an identical Mercedes one year older than the one he's driving, and it has a built-in compressor for adding air to a low or flat tire, but has what's called "run flat tires" which you can continue driving on at reduced speed for some distance.

So the flat tire was all a scam?

R395. Manuel is the one who changes the tires.

R402, people are jumping to conclusions based on some possibly sketchy reporting. A few news stories have said only that Alex was having "car trouble," but have not specified that it was a flat tire, or that he was changing a tire.

[Quote] How did this thread unlock for me after being paywalled for a month plus?

I think threads can return to normal functioning if a large enough number of subscribers return to posting in it. It becomes paywalled when two or three people are the only ones posting and they're doing so in relatively high volume.

It is not at all unusual for who live out in the country like this family buy spares for their cars. I have purchased a spare for mine. AAA and other roadside assistance services rely on the local garage to handle their rural calls and why wait for old Bubba to get up in the middle of the night and drive out to you, in a bad mood, when you can just change the tire yourself? I remember all the complaining among by family when nicer cars stopped having spares included, because I not only did you have to buy the spare, but there was no longer a storage well and now you have to have a tire in the trunk.

Is it possible that the flat tire is a red herring? Maybe he stopped for some other reason and a bullet blew out the tire. I don’t believe the story, as reported.

I’d love to know how long the call between Alex and his brother was.

Stephen Smith's mother is the PFLAG mom who told you she was hardcore.

If Alex is conscious, why hasn't SLED released a description of the truck and shooter(s) yet?

Wouldn't that be the prudent thing to do to protect other people?

Unless, of course, they think they have another Susan Smith on their hands . . .

My theory is that Pa Murdaugh caught Maw and Paul in a compromising position and lost it.

My theory is that everyone in the local justice system knows exactly what's going on, and won't touch it.

There's no rule of law in places like that.

R411, no doubt. But what about SLED?

Sounds like the death of grampy undid the whole works. Are chickens coming home to roost now?

Buster had better watch his back. Wasn’t there a story about Buster and his gf cheating at their college?

Couldn’t happen to a nicer family.

I am SHOCKED!

[quote]Wasn’t there a story about Buster and his gf cheating at their college?

I think you mean "Guuuuuuurl-fren!" And her name is Sophonda Peters.

Buster did get ticked out of school. I think it was law school for cheating.

"[R411], no doubt. But what about SLED?"

If the local justice system is as corrupt as I suspect it is, then crucial evidence has mysteriously vanished and witnesses are unwilling to talk to SLED.

And nobody will ever be prosecuted for any of this mess, and everything in that little shithole will go back to the way it was, except that the Murdaughs will drop a few notches in the ranks of the local oligarchs.

R389 Oof. I’m lucky enough to have run flat tires but AAA was helpful recently when my husband's battery died. Sorry you were let down. Still, this guy was loaded and connected - it makes no sense that he didn’t call someone for help.

The killer/killers of his wife and son were much more efficient.

This really seems like he did something to himself then claimed someone shot him.

Too risky to involve other people. I will laugh my ass off if he describes his assailants as “Black men.” Surely even Alex isn’t that stupid.

Note all this happened in a rural setting where there are unlikely to be cameras.

Wonder if the church across the street had any cameras?

This self-inflicted whatever pretty much convinces me he killed his Maggie and Paul.

Until this latest stunt, you probably could have convinced me someone killed them for revenge (for boat accident, Murdaugh’s former clients or people he prosecuted, the list is endless.)

Mrs Maggie.

Paul was a real motherfucker.

That was fast....

Whatever happened, there's no way the weekend assault was done by the same people who killed Ma and Paul. Professionals don't shoot up a car in an isolated location and leave the victim alive!

So either it's a setup, or someone else on the Murdaugh's long enemies list figured this was a good time to get their private revenge. Which is actually a possibility, because if you want to kill someone, why not do it at a time when the police are busy destroying evidence and hushing things up? But if so, it's a pity they missed.

And this...

Brother is saying he knew nothing of Alex's opioid addiction.

I think the solution to the family murders is that addiction and embezzlement---"to spare them the humiliation."