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The continuation of the Murdoch scandal is a complicated story, rife with plot twists and turns, reminiscent of those weaved by the greatest directors of our time. In all likelihood, years from now, it will wind up on the silver screen alongside their work.
It has the makings of a cinematic masterpiece the likes of Martin Scorsese's Wolf of Wall Street, a film uncannily similar in subject and storyline. That said, there are a few obvious distinctions to be made between the two tales, most notably, murder. Today's story sees the past and present converge as a double homicide causes secrets, stolen millions, and a string of suspicious deaths to spill into the public domain.
These discoveries dominated headlines the world over in real time, exposing an elaborate web of lies spun by a member of our infamous South Carolina dynasty. No, not Paul, his father. Alec Murdoch, like the men who came before him, had grown accustomed to being in control. For generations, there was no crime they couldn't cover up, nor scandal they couldn't sweep under the rug.
Alec worked hard to keep his family's corrupt tradition alive and well. However, after his youngest son caused a deadly accident in 2019, his control over the Low Country was very publicly put to the test. Ignoring the pleas of his petrified friends, 19-year-old Paul Murdock got behind the helm of his father's speedboat, blind, drunk, and belligerent.
One hour later, he slammed it into the concrete pillars of Archer's Creek Bridge, going full speed. Six souls boarded the sea hunt that night. Only five survived. The death of Mallory Beach marked the beginning of the end for the now disgraced dynasty. Their facade as a respectable family of lawyers quickly started to splinter and crack, giving outsiders a glimpse into the web of lies and corruption that lay within.
Alex stopped at nothing to smother the story before word of Paul's involvement got out. He pulled strings like a puppeteer, conspiring with local law enforcement and spreading misinformation amongst the media. He even went as far as scapegoating one of the survivors, pinning the crash on Connor Cook. It was business as usual for the patriarch and his scion. This time, however, neither would get away with it.
Paul was slapped with three felony charges two months later. Nevertheless, he stayed true to the Murdoch's legacy of entitlement. He continued to break the law while out on bond, damaging his family's name as he hid behind it. Nothing had changed for him. However, the same cannot be said for his father. The tragedy triggered a cascade of exposés as Alec's exploitation of the Low Country's political and legal system came under public scrutiny.
The patriarch's attempted shielding Paul from punishment were promptly exposed, along with his history of cover-ups. It came out that his eldest son and family favorite, Buster, was expelled from the South Carolina School of Law for plagiarism during his second semester in 2019. Alec quietly bought Buster's way back in, a bribe that cost him $60,000. The story was an embarrassment at most, but it served as a harbinger of things to come.
For the first time in more than a century, things weren't looking good for the Murdochs, and it was about to get much, much worse. Unbeknownst to all involved, the press had barely scraped the surface of the brewing scandal. While the world held its breath in anticipation of Paul's trial, Alec was putting out fires, the smoke of which had yet to billow from the shadows.
He might well have succeeded in snuffing out those flames, had his son lived long enough to stand before a judge in court. This is the story of a double homicide, a failed murder-for-hire plot, a raging drug addiction, a clandestine criminal enterprise, corruption, suspicious deaths, and over $10 million in embezzled funds. This is the story of the Shark of South Carolina. Part 1, Murder at Moselle.
On the night of June 7th, 2021, a call was made to 911 just after 10 o'clock.
The caller was hysterical and breathing heavily, his voice breaking with every word uttered. "This is Alec Murdock at 4147 Moselle Road." He cried as dogs barked in the background. The call was disturbing, not for the chaos unfolding on the other line, but for the discovery that prompted it. There, lying at Alec's feet, were the bloodied bodies of his wife and youngest son.
At the time, the Murdochs had moved into Moselle indefinitely. The rural, isolated hunting property was sequestered on the outskirts of Hampton County, making it the ideal place for them to hide from the mounting media circus. However, on that fateful night, it became clear that reporters weren't the only ones circling the family.
Alec begged the dispatcher to send an ambulance to Moselle, though he knew it was far too late. Maggie and Paul Murdock were sprawled out on the dirt near the kennels peppered with gunshot wounds and very obviously dead. The dispatcher told the distraught man not to touch their bodies, but he already had. How else could he check if they were breathing?
She went on to ask Alec a series of questions while officers raced to Moselle. Though his voice remained high-pitched and out of breath, he managed to answer them with a strange, calm clarity. He also managed to offer a motive. Alec explained that Paul had received threats from a succession of unknown aggressors for months, which is precisely what he told the first officers who arrived at the scene.
Alec insisted that his wife and son had been murdered by some vigilante seeking revenge in the name of Mallory Beach. It certainly seemed to be the case. The news tore through the low country while the victims' corpses were still warm. Reporters swarmed Moselle the very day after their deaths, eager to be the first to cover the murder case involving a family known across counties.
Their headlines hinted of vigilante justice, leading most of the Lowcountry to believe Alec's allegations. That same day, the case was handed over to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, otherwise known as SLED.
Their interference was blamed on a lack of county resources. In truth, they stepped in because of Alec's connections with local law enforcement. SLED immediately released a statement announcing that they were not looking for any suspects at that time, nor was there any danger to the public. Interestingly, they remained tight-lipped after that, answering no questions and holding no press conferences.
The only information they made public during the initial investigation was Alec's alibi. Apparently, the patriarch wasn't home when his wife and son were killed. The only evidence in his favor were the two text messages he sent just after 8 o'clock on the evening of June 7th. According to Alec, after waking up from a nap to an empty house, he texted Maggie and Paul to let them know he was going to visit his elderly and ailing parents, Randolph and Libby Murdoch.
It wasn't unusual for him. His mother had long lost her mind to dementia and his father was losing a long battle with cancer. Alec claimed to have arrived at their home at 9:15 PM and left just under one hour later, returning to Moselle to find Maggie and Paul shot dead. A coroner determined that the pair were murdered sometime around 9:00 PM, effectively eliminating Alec as a person of interest early on in the investigation.
With that out of the way, state investigators focused their attention on the results of Maggie and Paul's postmortems. Dr. Ellen Reamer performed the autopsies on the mother and son. Tragically, they were found lying just yards apart. Paul was slain with a 12-gauge shotgun while he stood in the feed room of the kennels. Reamer determined that he was shot once in the chest, with the trigger being pulled from just three feet away.
The killer then fired a second shot into his head, leaving the 22-year-old all but unrecognizable. The blast had been so violent that his brain exploded from his skull, landing in a mangled mass on the ground near his leg. Paul's death was more of an execution than a murder. There was no mistaking it. Someone wanted him dead. His mother, on the other hand, seemed to be collateral damage.
Maggie had been gunned down seconds later by a semi-automatic rifle, leaving the 52-year-old riddled with five bullet holes. Reamer concluded that most of those rounds, including the final fatal shot, had been fired from behind her. Horrifically, the mother of two was fleeing from her son's killer, or killers, when the trigger was pulled.
SLED immediately seized several guns from the Murdock's hunting property. However, there was one gun that interested them the most. Shotgun slugs are particularly difficult to trace back to a specific gun. More so, Moselle was teaming with them. Semi-automatic rifles are quite the opposite. Not only are they far easier to trace, but the one used to murder Maggie would be an unusual addition to a hunter's armory.
She was shot with an AR-15 style assault rifle that used very specific bullets. 300 caliber blackout rounds, to be exact. Though that kind of weaponry is designed for combat, not hunting, the Murdochs owned a rifle just like it. However, it was never turned over to be ruled out as a murder weapon.
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The Low Country was captivated by the murder mystery unfolding behind the gates of Moselle. Their intrigue only deepened after SLED hastily released their initial and highly unusual statement. How could there be no danger to the public if there was a trigger-happy killer on the loose? Unless, of course, investigators knew the murderer's identity and motive.
Speculation was rife in the wake of their silence, giving rise to several promising theories, three of which are still debated to this day. Naturally, the first theory to arise reasoned that the double homicide had been an act of retaliation for the death of Mallory Beach. It was perfectly timed after all. After Paul pleaded not guilty in May of 2019, a judge ordered a mandatory mediation between him and Mallory's parents.
The meeting took place on June 4th, 2021. It turned out to be a dismal failure, meaning they would have to go to trial, a trial deemed by many to be doomed from the start. Three days later, Paul and Maggie were murdered. Of course, Mallory's relatives inevitably fell under suspicion. Despite their calls for earthly justice and the murders effectively foiling their wrongful death lawsuit,
The Beach family was forced to relive their trauma as they fought to prove their innocence. They weren't the only ones. State investigators honed in on the survivors of the boat crash too. They had suffered immensely because of their former friends' selfishness and genuinely believed there would never be justice for Mallory. Perhaps they took matters into their own hands. SLED officials investigated the Cook cousins first.
Anthony had lost the love of his life because of Paul, who sat idly as his father tried to frame Connor for it. Naturally, because of this, both boys were identified as lead suspects in the case. State investigators approached them at their places of work, where they were probed about the night of the murders. Next, SLED took DNA samples from Morgan, Paul's ex-girlfriend.
She complied, but not without making a telling statement. Do not overlook Alec Murdoch, Morgan warned. Whilst SLED had good reason to suspect them, the survivors couldn't help but feel embittered
Although stupid and reckless, the crash had been a genuine mistake. None of them thought that Paul deserved to die, let alone Maggie too. Though they were made to open barely healed wounds, the survivors and Mallory's grieving relatives cooperated fully. SLED quickly cleared them of any involvement, announcing that they all had provided airtight alibis and clean forensic samples.
With Mallory's loved ones ruled out, a second and far more surprising theory surfaced. Rumors started circulating that Maggie and Paul had, in fact, been murdered out of revenge. Not for Mallory though. It came out that the Murdochs had long been suspected in the death of another South Carolina teenager, Stephen Smith. These suspicions were given new life by SLED themselves.
Two weeks after the mother and son were slain, SLED agents announced that they were reopening the investigation into Stephen's mysterious demise. They specifically stated that this decision was based on new information gathered while investigating the Moselle murders. Frustratingly, SLED has yet to elaborate on exactly what evidence was discovered, but their announcement did renew public interest in the case.
Low country news outlets immediately sank their teeth into the revelation, drawing serious accusations of misconduct to the surface. Stephen's case had disappeared from the public eye soon after his body was found in 2015, with many believing it was a horrific traffic accident. However, SLED made one thing clear in their staggering announcement. The hit and run case was now a homicide investigation. Part three.
the mysterious death of Stephen Smith. On July 8th, 2015, Hampton County police were called to investigate a report of someone lying in the middle of Sandy Run Road. Officers arrived at the scene at around 4:30 a.m., expecting to drag a drunk from the tar. Instead, they stumbled upon something far more sinister. There, sprawled out on the rural highway, was the bloodied, lifeless body of 19-year-old Stephen Smith.
The news rippled throughout the county, stealing the air from the lungs of those who held him dear. Stephen brought a special kind of vibrancy and color to an otherwise cookie-cutter town. He had an enviable zest for life unlike any other, and his sudden death left a dark, empty void impossible to fill. Stephen was a student at Wade Hampton High School, along with Mallory Beach, Miley Altman, Connor Cook, and Buster Murdock.
It was there that he became known for his vivacious personality. The teenager was rarely seen without a smile on his face. He was fun, happy-go-lucky and hilarious. Steven had a passion for dancing, breaking into song and fooling around, which he reveled in unapologetically. "I admired his personality so much because he just did not give a shit about what people thought about him. He was always himself," said his close friend, Olivia.
In the end, that might've been what got him killed because Stephen was also an openly gay teenager living in an ultra conservative community. Those who didn't subscribe to the insular town's views on sexuality immediately rallied around the Smith family. They wanted to show their support of Stephen's grieving relatives. More so, they wanted answers. The community at large demanded to know how a 19 year old ended up dead in the middle of a deserted road.
their demands were met with an all too quick and convenient answer. According to the Hampton County Police Department, it was a hit and run, case closed. Just as suddenly as the incident occurred, Steven's case vanished from view. However, that simply wasn't good enough for his mother. Sandy Smith was determined to unearth the truth of what happened to her son, prompting her to hire a private investigator named Steve Peterson.
The retired DEA street agent quickly got his hands on the incident report. It had been written up by state troopers who handle all death investigations involving car accidents. After getting a hold of Steven's autopsy results, Peterson found a disturbing discrepancy. The teenager's cause of death was wrong. Steven's yellow Chevrolet was found not far from where his body was discovered.
The gas cap was open, leading the police to believe that he had run out of gas. Either that, or his car had broken down, forcing him to pull over and start walking down the road. Dr. Aaron Presnell, the forensic pathologist who performed the post-mortem, hastily ruled his death a hit and run. However, Peterson discovered that these conclusions were hotly debated, not only by the teenager's family, but within law enforcement too.
Stephen was six miles away from his home when he died, and his parents were adamant that he would never make the trek alone at night. Not to mention, he had left his wallet inside his Chevrolet. That's not all. The state troopers who responded to the 911 call that night insisted that there was no evidence to suggest that the teenager was struck by a car.
Trooper D.B. Rowell reported no vehicle debris, skid marks, or injuries consistent with a hit and run. According to another trooper, the location of Stephen's body didn't make sense either. The trooper's reports also stated that Ernie Washington, the Hampton County coroner, arrived at the scene for the formal declaration of death and immediately advised them that they were dealing with a homicide. Part four, rumor has it,
Investigators close to the case were certain that something was up. Nothing about the crime scene pointed to a vehicular accident, especially the positioning of Steven's body. The teenager had a seven and a quarter, quarter inch laceration on the right side of his forehead, a partially dislocated right shoulder, and cuts and bruises on his right hand. Yet, he was found sprawled across the double yellow line separating the two lanes.
If Dr. Presnell's claims were true and Steven had, in fact, been struck by a car, then these injuries indicate that he was hit from the right. The sheer force of the impact would have launched the teenager into the air before slamming him into the ground and sending him sliding across the tar.
However, you don't have to be a forensic pathologist to see that it's unlikely that he would have landed perfectly in the middle of the road with no damage to the left side of his body. More so, he wouldn't have been discovered with his loosely tied shoes still on his feet, his cell phone still in his pocket, his clothing unscathed, and his tissue free from windshield fragments.
Based on these findings, lead investigator Todd Proctor theorized that Stephen's body had been dumped and his death staged, but it was hard to argue with an autopsy. Even so, that's precisely what he did. Proctor first approached Ernie Washington to get his permission to interview Dr. Presnell following due protocol. Interestingly, the coroner not only gave his consent, but told the investigator that he didn't agree with Stephen's official cause of death.
On July 22nd, 12 days after the teenager's body was discovered, Proctor headed down to the Medical University of South Carolina where Dr. Presnell worked as an attending pathologist. He hoped to have a cordial discussion about the controversial autopsy results and hopefully get some clarification from her. Instead, he got stonewalled. According to his case notes, Dr. Presnell immediately went on the defensive, insisting that she couldn't speak with him without the coroner's consent.
When Proctor explained that he had already spoken with Washington, she called him a liar. Dr. Presnell eventually backed off after the investigator ordered to call the coroner right there and then. Still, she remained uncooperative. Proctor probed the pathologist about the autopsy results, asking what led her to conclude that Stephen had died after being struck by a car. "'Because he was found in the road,' she retorted."
Dr. Presnell eventually dismissed Proctor from her office by telling him that it was his job to figure out what struck the teenager, not hers. For some reason, nobody other than the Smith family thought to dig any deeper into Stephen's controversial cause of death after that. And the case went cold. Some believed that law enforcement officials simply weren't interested in investigating it any further because of Stephen's sexual orientation. Others blamed the Murdochs.
Stephen was an incredibly bright student and was known to tutor Buster Murdock, helping him with his homework and assignments. Word around town was that the boys were in a secret romantic relationship and planned to come out to Buster's parents. A scandal that, if true, would have never been tolerated by the Murdock family. According to Stephen's friend, Olivia, the rumors took a much darker turn after his death.
The story she heard over and over again was that he had run out of gas on his way home from a night class at Orangeburg Calhoun Technical College, where he was studying to be a nurse. Olivia has since said that Steven likely felt comfortable enough to call Buster, who was apparently driving back into town from a softball tournament with one or two other people. Rumor has it that they picked Steven up and started to mess around with him, an allegation that has never been elaborated on.
Olivia believes that Buster and his friends fooled Stephen into thinking they would drop him off at his home, but had something else in mind. Perhaps they planned to scare him into quashing the rumors about the alleged relationship. Interestingly, Morgan Dowdy had started dating Paul Murdock around the time of the tragedy when she got an alarming Facebook message. An unnamed girl claimed that Paul had been with Buster that fateful night.
When Morgan brought it up with the Murdochs, they laughed it off, saying they would never kill Steven. However, rather than using the late teen's name, they opted for a homophobic slur I refuse to repeat. Whatever happened, if anything happened, many locals suspect that Alex Murdoch used his connections to orchestrate a coverup. Frankly, these suspicions have proven to be more than reasonable
After SLED reopened the case in 2021, the press immediately probed their sources, bringing previously undisclosed details to light. It came out that Alex's brother and law firm partner, Randy Murdock, had interfered with the initial investigation on at least three separate occasions. In fact, the Murdock family name was mentioned over 40 times in interviews and statements given by several different people.
Buster, in particular, was implicated repeatedly. Despite this, not one member of the family was ever questioned, not even once. Olivia claims that the moment the Murdoch name entered the picture, the nature of the investigation changed significantly. At first, the police were intent on getting justice for Stephen. After the Buster scandal surfaced, however, their main objective seemed to be defending the dynasty.
The investigation inevitably lost traction and no one was ever tied to the case. Even to this day, Stephen's death remains unsolved. Many believe that this was the Murdoch's doing, leading to speculation that Maggie and Paul were murdered to avenge the teenager. However, if that were true, Buster would have been the target. He was at the center of the controversy, not his mother and brother.
This left a third and final theory, which implicated another Murdoch altogether, Alec. Part 5: An All Too Convenient 911 Call After the Moselle murders, Alec's carefully curated work began to crumble around him. The once revered lawyer faced multiple accusations from multiple cases, including covering up the truth behind the death of Mallory Beach.
Old rumors had been given new life and family secrets were brought before the public eye. Now, Alec was being accused of the unthinkable, the slaughter of his wife and child. Naturally, the Patriarch hid behind a handpicked team of attorneys who were particularly adept at damage control. From the moment the murders hit the headlines, they maintained that Alec was cooperating fully with the police and insisted that he was never considered a suspect.
The attorneys continued speaking on his behalf, even after the public pointed the finger at him, gently reminding the Lowcountry of what they called his rock-solid alibi. Perhaps Alec felt that staying out of the public eye would be in his best interest. He was a lawyer, after all. Those charged with murder rarely take the stand in court. In keeping with this tactic, Alec never stood before the public to plead for information about the murders of his wife and son.
All he did was post a $100,000 reward on June 25th, 2021 for any evidence leading to an arrest and conviction. Oddly, it had a deadline of just five days. If this was his attempt at drawing informants out faster, it failed miserably. Alec's silence and his limited time only reward just fueled the public suspicions.
According to his legal team, the patriarch remained steadfast in his claims. He insisted that his family was being targeted by vigilantes for what he deemed ridiculous and outdated accusations. Conveniently, three months after the Moselle murders, an incident occurred that, for all intents and purposes, proved it. On September 4th, Alec called 911 to report another shooting. This time, however, someone had shot him.
The lawyer sounded oddly calm in the recording, telling the dispatcher that he was changing a tire on the side of the road when someone shot him in the head. Apparently, Alec had been driving to Charleston when he got a flat tire on the 15,000 block of Salcahatchee Road. He claimed that a man in a blue pickup truck had pulled up behind him, seemingly to lend him a hand. Instead, the man walked up to him and shot him in the head while his back was turned before speeding off.
as if the incident couldn't get any more bizarre. The attempted murder happened in broad daylight. Local media outlets reported that Alec was airlifted to a hospital in nearby Savannah for urgent medical attention. However, his attorneys quickly corrected the press, insisting that he had actually been flown to a facility in Charleston. They continued to update the public on Alec's condition, which, according to them, was dire.
The attorneys released a statement saying that the patriarch had temporarily lost his vision and was being treated in the ICU because his life was in danger. Despite the accusations against Alec, the community was genuinely concerned for his safety. That quickly changed when he was released from the hospital just two days later. Intrigued by Alec's sudden discharge, reporters immediately looked into it and discovered that his attorneys had intentionally misled the public.
He had never been on death's door. In fact, the bullet barely grazed his head. Alec was treated for a superficial wound. Nothing more. It gets worse.
The patriarch had, in fact, been taken to a hospital in Savannah. It seemed as though his attorneys had disseminated false information to discredit the press and prevent them from following him there. If they had, they would have found out the truth. Alec was fine. Of course, at that point, every movement Murdoch made was under a microscope. The truth was no longer his to hide, and his latest stunt proved it.
Confusion and speculation only escalated, incriminating him further and leaving one burning question on everyone's mind. Why would Alec lie? Something wasn't adding up and the public wanted to know the truth, which as I said, would inevitably come out. However, even the greatest novelists of our time couldn't have conceived a story as fantastical as the one that was about to break. Part six.
the Shark of South Carolina. Two days after supposedly being shot in the head, on the very same day that he was discharged from the hospital, Alec issued a staggering statement that sent shockwaves throughout the Lowcountry. He was resigning from the law firm that had been run by his family for over a century and going to rehab. In his statement, Alec declared that he had been in a dark place since the murders of his wife and son.
He admitted to having made a string of bad decisions in his life, which he deeply regretted before going on to announce his official resignation from Peters, Murdoch, Parker, Eltzroth and Dietrich Law Firm, otherwise known as PMPED.
Alec then publicly confessed that he had been battling an oxycodone addiction for over two decades, which he claimed had only been exacerbated by the Moselle murders. He then explained that he had chosen to seek treatment at a drug rehabilitation facility in Orlando, Florida, and asked for prayers as he attempted to rehabilitate himself and his relationships. "I am immensely sorry to everyone I've hurt, including my family, friends, and colleagues," he wrote.
When the news first broke that Alec had been shot in the head, Lowcountry residents and law enforcement officials genuinely believed that the Murdochs were being targeted. Now, they weren't so sure. Their skepticism was almost immediately replaced with downright disbelief when another secret came to light and the Patriarch's house of cards began to very publicly collapse.
the case exploded for the umpteenth time, becoming a national sensation seemingly overnight. Alec had not resigned from PMPED by choice. It came out that he had been ousted by the very law firm that his own great-grandfather founded, no less. Mere hours after the lawyer had released his statement about his apparent voluntary resignation and rehab stint, PMPED issued one of its own.
The firm stated that Alec was no longer associated with it in any way before making an unbelievable accusation. According to the statement, PMPED recently discovered that he had misappropriated funds and violated the firm's standards and policies. After being confronted about the discovery, Alec promptly announced his resignation, likely in an attempt to avoid public embarrassment. His efforts were in vain.
PMPED notified the South Carolina Bar and SLED of Alex's misconduct. His license to practice law was suspended by the South Carolina Supreme Court pending investigation, and his intricate web of lies unraveled.
After PMPED stripped Alec of his power and laid bare his crimes for all to see, investigative journalists and SLED officials alike uncovered a slew of secrets he had tried to bury. Incredulously, these secrets will continue snowballing throughout our story, exposing him for what he truly is, the Shark of South Carolina. It was discovered that PMPED partners had accused Alec of embezzling millions of dollars.
Apparently, he had been misappropriating funds from both the firm and its clients for years before funneling the money into his own coffers. On September 3rd, Alec Murdoch was confronted by his law firm and resigned. The very next day, Alec made the now infamous 911 call, claiming to have been shot in the head by a stranger.
How convenient. At that point, the truth behind the suspiciously timed shooting had yet to be uncovered, but there were more than enough revelations to feed the media frenzy in the meantime. Apparently, PMPED started investigating Alec after they found a shady check on his desk. However, whilst this may simply be a coincidence, it's likely that something else spurred their suspicions. Or someone.
Many have since speculated that it was Mallory Beach who indirectly caused the unraveling of Alec's criminal enterprise. After the tragic boat accident that took Mallory's life back in 2019, her mother, Renee Searson, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Murdochs that could have resulted in millions in damages. More specifically, the suit sought compensation from Alec and Buster. Part seven, the plot thickens again.
The wrongful death lawsuit argued that Alec and Buster were responsible for the crash, not Paul. In it, Rene blamed the father and son for allowing Paul, who was considered a minor at the time, to use false identification to buy alcohol before taking passengers out on Alec's boat.
Going up against the Murdoch duo was a daunting endeavor, but it couldn't be that difficult. There was no denying their role in what happened at that point. More so, they were millionaires, right?
The dynasty was known for its luxurious lifestyle and generational wealth. However, back in 2019, all that glittered was apparently not gold. After the Murdochs were notified that Mallory's mother sought compensation for the fatal boating accident, Alec ran straight to one of the family's insurers, Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance.
Interestingly, that would be the second time that Alec had sought coverage from an insurance company for a wrongful death lawsuit. But we'll get to that later.
The same year that Mallory was killed, the patriarch filed a claim requesting that they pay him out for two commercial insurance policies, a payout that would total $8 million. However, to his disbelief, his claim was promptly rejected. To make matters worse, Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance took him to federal court.
the insurance company filed a suit against Alec and Buster to formally deny coverage. Arguing that it should not be held financially liable for any damages sought from the pair relating to Mallory's wrongful death lawsuit, it offered the court several reasons for its decision, two of which are particularly compelling.
Firstly, the policies in question specifically applied to a commercial operation that apparently offered guides and outfitters or private hunting services. And boating under the influence was certainly not an insured commercial activity. More so, as Alec and Buster weren't considered employees or volunteer workers of said guiding and outfitting business, they weren't considered insured parties either.
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance also alleged that Alec and Buster were at fault for failing to supervise Paul and allowing the minor to drive the boat drunk. It claimed that, though Alec and Buster weren't present for Mallory's death, they enabled the behavior that caused it. In short, the father and son had violated the terms of the two policies, under which neither of them were covered anyway.
The dispute between the two parties was drawn out well into 2021. However, Renee Searson refused to sit idly while Alec, once again, tried to litigate his way out of accountability. She hired Mark Tinsley to represent her in the wrongful death lawsuit, and he wasn't afraid to go for the jugular.
Tinsley made it clear that he would be going after Alec and Buster's assets. This bold move publicly exposed the patriarch's precarious financial situation and likely spurred PMPED's inquiry into his dealings at the firm. The attorney pressured Alec to release an account of his finances. However, Murdoch claimed that he was broke, an admission that was almost unbelievable at that time. Of course, Tinsley didn't buy it.
The attorney immediately filed a motion asking the courts to compel Alec to disclose his finances and a hearing was scheduled for June 10th, 2021. At that stage, no one knew that the disclosure would reveal years worth of corporate fraud and embezzlement. Alec, on the other hand, knew all too well what was at stake.
It seems he wasn't alone. According to several media sources, Maggie noticed that something was amiss with the Murdock fortune around the same time. Bills were going unpaid without explanation, prompting her to hire a forensic accountant to audit the family's finances. Though it hasn't yet been confirmed, some say that she also got in touch with a divorce attorney. As the dreaded hearing neared, Alec was likely a desperate man.
The suit required that he hand over several financial documents, including his tax returns, net worth statements, and a list of all his bank accounts and investments. However, incredibly, the lawsuit stalled once again. Three days before the hearing was due to commence, on the morning of June 7th, one of Alec's law firm partners confronted him about his alleged embezzlement. That's not what derailed the proceedings though.
That same day, hours later, Maggie and Paul were shot dead. Interesting, after the Moselle murders, Tinsley was reluctant to proceed with the wrongful death lawsuit against Alec. The double homicide was a tragedy felt throughout the Lowcountry, painting the now disgraced lawyer as a grieving father and husband under siege. If Alec truly were a victim of unspeakable trauma, no jury would add to it by citing against him.
Pretty quickly, I recognized that the case against Alec, if he were in fact the victim of some vigilante, would be over," Tinsley explained. The attorney was right to hesitate. No one knew what to expect at that stage. September of 2021 was marked by confusion as SLED agents, legal officials, journalists, and concerned citizens struggled to separate fact from fantasy.
The story seemed to have a life of its own, morphing and mutating into a mystery beyond the realms of reality. Just as investigators came close to solving one case, a new development would arise and made them second guess their next step. And that was just the beginning.
The uncertainty surrounding Alec's innocence would eventually be cleared up, but not before more secrets cascaded into the public domain. The story of the Shark of South Carolina continued to twist and turn throughout 2021 and beyond as new crimes were uncovered and another suspicious death surfaced.
