In the last episode, we learned that Renee Beach’s original civil lawsuit, filed on behalf of Mallory’s estate, cast a much wider net than just the Murdaugh family and Parker’s Corporation. The defendants also included Luther’s Rare & Well Done (the bar where Paul and Connor were served underage), the hosts of the oyster roast, and even the Murdaugh family trust.

It was an unusually complex case, with a long list of defendants. In fact, the public index entry alone spans 28 printed pages, containing 60 motions and 74 orders.

Not long after filing, however, the Beach family submitted an amended complaint, narrowing the defendants down to just three: Greg Parker, Alex Murdaugh, and Buster Murdaugh.

As you learned from episode one’s premium content, Hampton, SC is not a large town, but the Murdaugh influence extended into other parts of the Lowcountry. The interactive map below offers photos and details for major landmarks in the Murdaugh story. Click each point to get more information about each site’s significance. Hampton County’s landmarks are in  purple. Colleton County is denoted in blue, and Beaufort County sites are green.

Tony Satterfield, Gloria’s son, used Facebook to keep family and friends apprised of Gloria’s progress after her alleged fall at Moselle and gives us the best look into how her condition deteriorated until her death on February 26, 2018. 

The image below are recreations of a few of Tony’s dozens of Facebook posts from February 2018 related to Gloria’s accident and death.

Alex told Tony and his brother, Brian, that they could hire attorney Cory Fleming to sue Alex and get a settlement to help them out after their mother died. We now know that Alex stole every dime of the settlement.

In Episode 4, Paul and Alex clear kudzu — an invasive vining plant —  from around Moselle. Kudzu is a native plant in parts of Asia, and it was first introduced to America in the late 1800s as a decorative plant to help stop soil erosion. Kudzu can help with soil erosion, but it grows so quickly (up to a foot a day per vine!) that it quickly swallows street signs, hillsides, telephone poles and abandoned buildings while choking out other plants.  

Kudzu flowers bloom in the spring and the vines begin to grow again after laying dormant during the winter. Throughout the spring, summer, and early fall, kudzu is a brilliant green that continues to spread until the weather grows cold again. 

How do you get rid of it? That depends on how much you have on your property. If it’s a small area, you can weed and mow it or even let grazing animals eat it. If you have a large area, you can cut the vines off near the ground and apply herbicide.

Sisters Alania and Hannah Plyler were 12 and 8 when they lost their mother and brother in a car accident in 2005, and their surviving family went to PMPED in Hampton to file personal injury lawsuits for the sisters and wrongful death suits for their mom and brother. Alex took the case, and he used then-Palmetto State Bank CEO Russell Laffitte to help him “borrow” money from the girls’ settlement accounts. Russell, who served as conservator, also made himself loans out of the sisters’ accounts while also getting paid from the accounts for his “services.” 

Hannah and Alania retained attorney Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter to represent them after the thefts were uncovered, and a suit was filed against Russell Laffitte and Palmetto State Bank. In April 2023, Bland Richter law firm announced a settlement with Palmetto State Bank. Litigation with Russell Laffitte is still unresolved as of October 2025. 

Russell pleaded guilty to multiple financial charges including wire and bank fraud in both state and federal court.

Gloria’s family who mourn her loss include not only her sons, Tony and Brian, but six siblings and their spouses. The logo from Gloria’s Gift is inspired by her love of the color purple. As we heard in Ginger’s speech from last episode, Gloria will be remembered for her great laugh!

Her family decided to include Alex and Maggie Murdaugh and family and Randolph and Libby Murdaugh in her obituary, showing how much she loved them.

In addition to the Murdaugh Murders Podcast, Mandy’s book, Blood on Their Hands, became a key resource for producers, writers, and cast on Hulu’s Murdaugh: Death in the Family. The book not only chronicled the events but also provided crucial context that helped bring the story to life on screen.

Below is an excerpt from Mandy’s book recounting the time she and Liz were “ordered” to give their notes on Paul to John and Cody so they could write the story.

Warning: there is a moment of adult language in the video.

Teresa Moss was an integral team member at The Island Packet. If you look through Mandy’s articles from her time at The Island Packet, you’ll see that Mandy and Teresa frequently shared a byline — this is when two (or more) journalists collaborate on a story, i.e. interview different sources then come together to form the narrative. 

Like the time Mandy, Liz and Teresa collaborated for boat crash coverage. Teresa was the crime reporter at The Island Packet from 2016 to 2020, and helped piece together the bare-bones story the day of the crash. In the days after she followed the search for Mallory Beach. She was the reporter who got the news that Mallory’s body had been found eight days after the crash. The three women kept the pressure on public officials to confirm that Paul Murdaugh was driving the boat. She was the one to call Mandy as soon as Paul Murdaugh was charged — she’d been calling the public information officer with the Department of Natural Resources every day to see if Paul had been indicted. 

Teresa left the Island Packet in 2020 and moved to Arkansas to report for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for two years. She now works as the Editorial Content Director for Repairer Driven News, an online news service that covers topics relevant to auto body shops.

Mandy and Liz were introduced to Stephen’s case shortly after the boat crash. They saw #justiceforMallory&Stephen all over social media that led them to dig into Stephen’s death.

We’ve created a case overview page with all things related to Stephen’s case including case files, an in-depth Soundbites episodes, interviews with Sandy, and more.

Mandy and Liz discuss their first time meeting Sandy Smith.

Two different guns were used to kill Paul Murdaugh and Maggie Murdaugh. Paul was killed with a shotgun, while Maggie was killed with a .300 Blackout rifle. Ultimately, we don’t know what happened to the murder weapons, but we do know that the Murdaugh family owned shotguns and multiple .300 Blackouts. In fact, the Blackout rifles had been a gift for Paul and Buster in 2016. At some point, Paul’s rifle was stolen and later replaced in April 2018. 

During Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial, a firearms expert testified that the tool markings on the bullets recovered from Maggie’s body and the tool markings on the shell casings found around her body matched other bullets and shell cases recovered from other places around the Moselle property — meaning that the gun that killed her was one of the family’s guns.

Exhibit also introduced during John Bedingfield’s testimony stating this was the check Alex wrote to pay for two 300 Blackouts.

Attorney Dick Harpootlian pointing and presenting 300 Blackout rifle at the prosecution’s table stating “tempting” during the trial.

Alex’s mother, Libby Murdaugh’s obituary was printed in newspapers throughout South Carolina following her March 2024 death, but it wasn’t the first time notice of her death had appeared in the paper. 

On November 18, 1976, Libby’s death was announced in The State newspaper in Columbia and noted that she had died November 17 at her home in Hampton. She was remembered for her work as a teacher prior to marrying Randolph Murdaugh III, for her service on the foster care review board, and for how she assisted with the student ministry at Varnville United Methodist Church. 

It was a lovely obituary, but Libby was still very much alive. 

In MMP Episode 30, Mandy reported that sources had long told her that the Murdaugh men were historically unfaithful to their wives and that may have played a role in why the obituary got published.

“I have heard a lot of rumors about why this obituary was published. Some say that Randolph was cheating and Libby wanted attention, so she wrote it herself. Some say that Libby was cheating and the obit was written by Buster, Randolph’s father to send a message to her,” Mandy said in the episode.

Publicly, of course, a retraction to the obituary was printed, saying in part that the obituary was a hoax called into the newspaper and that the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) was investigating.

Check out the articles as they appeared in 1976 below!

Re-live the vibes with LUNASHARK’s Soundtrack Playlist, available on Spotify.