Within hours of uploading, the first episode of Murdaugh Murders Podcast reached thousands of ears. The show’s success brought many supporters, along with hoards of people complaining about Mandy’s “vocal fry.”
In episode two of the podcast, and in what many fans refer to as the moment they knew they revered Mandy, she told listeners offended by her voice to either take it or leave it.
As the weeks passed and Murdaugh Murders Podcast traveled up the Apple Podcast rankings, Mandy became inundated with media requests, fan mail, hate mail, and tips about the boat crash.
Although Mandy turned down all previous media requests, she felt it would be a good opportunity to appear on 20/20.
While the interview went well overall, Mandy was not pleased with the producer asking if she believed her reporting led to the murders of Paul and Maggie.
As a way to cope with the discomfort, Mandy dug deep into research and FOIA requests related to the boat crash.
After daily contact with the public information officer at the department investigating the crash, Mandy was the first member of the media to receive the massive stack of documents.
The assortment of documents included police reports, victim statements, dashcam footage, and oddly formatted videos.
Although she’d barely left the house for weeks, Mandy decided to take David, Liz and their friend Hunter to check out the annual South Carolina trial lawyers convention, curious who would attend.
When Mandy spotted Cory Fleming, Alex Murdaugh’s best friend and later convicted co-conspirator, taking shots with other lawyers, she snapped a selfie with them clear in the background.
Mandy recalled thinking that the men sitting at the table in this picture all had blood on their hands.
The connections between the Murdaugh family and influential members of Hampton county is generationally intricate. While we barely scratched the surface of this tangled web in the graphic below, their power and influence is obvious.
Mandy Joins Eric Bland on his Podcast, Good Skill
Mandy and Eric discuss her professional journey in traditional journalism to investigative journalism and the creation of the Murdaugh Murders Podcast. Mandy hasn’t been shy about her mental health and she talks about how she’s learned to use her ADHD for good. They also discuss Mandy’s commitment to giving the victims a voice and changing the justice system.
Behind the Book Title
Check out an exclusive article written by Blood On Their Hands co-author Carolyn Murnick here!
Behind the Book with Co-Author Carolyn Murnick
“How to sum up everything important that happened from the end of Chapter 19 (July 2022) all the way through our deadline (May 2023)? The prospect felt nearly impossible! Besides all the twists and turns of Alex’s cases and the trials of his enablers, there was Mandy and David’s wedding, the launch of Cup of Justice, and the enormous growth of Lunashark and their subscriber model! It was impossible to choose what to focus on and what to leave out; there were too many huge plot points! We decided to keep the trial coverage brief, as by this point there had been so much national news attention on the ins and outs of testimony. We wanted the book to offer something that none of that other coverage could: depth and context and the particular weight of everything that had happened as seen through Mandy’s eyes. I still remember texting with Mandy on the day the verdict came down; it was clear that this was an enormous, peak experience in her life and after working with her for over a year, I knew it would be important to capture those emotions for the page. Same with her wedding: both of us felt that even though the last page of the book is about the wedding, we didn’t want it to come off like a marriage plot, happily-ever-after neat ending. Mandy and David are true partners in love and work, and the gathering of their friends and colleagues at the end of the book represents so much more than just an exchange of rings and toasts. It’s a new beginning for so many people and things, a recognition of everything they’ve built and how far they’ve come, and a moment of gratitude and hope to everyone in attendance. I can’t wait to see what’s next.”
Curious about a document, video or photo? Let us know!
Please sign into your Premium account then refresh this page to view this content.
Leave a Reply