ipl-logo

Alex Murdaugh's Death Essay

2496 Words10 Pages

Kelsey Kenley

English 1020-920

April 15, 2023

Rough Draft

In this essay you will see why Alex Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract the media from his finical problems and drug addiction. This will be followed by all the other things like the deaths of Mallory Beech, Stephen Smith, and Gloria Satterfield that brought down the family name. I will be talking about why Alex did it and what the state thinks his reasoning is. Alex Murdaugh has been convicted of the murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh and sentenced to life in prison. He has also been convicted of various finical fraud of millions of dollars. I will be using the Netflix series “Murdaugh Murders: A Sothern Scandal” to help prove why I think Alex killed his family …show more content…

With the Murdaugh name being in the spotlight due to the boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beech because of Paul Murdaugh's decision to drive under the influence; Alex Murdaugh tried every way possible to keep their name out of the papers. Murdaugh's had been running that small South Carolina town for decades, which meant they had high power and knew they could get out of everything. Alex and his father had been bailing his kids out of trouble for a few years now, in the Netflix series it talked about how Paul was drinking and driving one night and totaled his car. Instead of calling the cops Paul called his grandfather, when they got there, they unloaded all the guns that he was carrying and then towed the car away telling everyone not to speak of this incident ever again. The time of the crime is also what makes him look guilty.” In fact, on the day of the murder, prosecutors say Murdaugh’s law office confronted him about misusing funds from the firm.” After this, the Murdaugh name was practically drug through the mud. People now hear the Murdaugh name and think of such a disgraceful family. Shortly after Alex’s family was murdered, he …show more content…

I think that Alex harmed his kids by letting them get away with so much and that is why there is so much bad that followed them. The Murdaugh’s were not scared of the law which is why they always worked their way out of the trouble they got into. Paul would drive highly intoxicated all the time whether it was by car or boat. The power that the other families said the Murdaugh's held above everyone made it harder for them. They just wanted to protect their kids and find Mallory, but Alex was worried about Paul tearing down their family name because of the accident. Connor and his family feared for their own safety because they knew Alex was trying to pin the accident on Connor. Gloria’s family also feared what was going to happen to them because Alex promised them all this money, but they never got it. Stephen’s family just wanted closure on what happened to their son but since Buster's name was involved, the whole thing got covered up. These families all suffered the rath of the Murdaugh’s because their mother and children got involved with the family. Knowing this information helps spread awareness about the dangers of narcissism and how far people will go to keep their status in money and

Show More
Related
703 Words | 3 Pages

On January 29, 1991, a vile crime occurred in the Heikkila home in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Twenty-year-old Matthew Heikkila, the adopted son of Richard and Dawn Heikkila loaded up a “sawed-off 20-gauge shotgun” (Sullivan). He labeled shotgun shells “Mom” and “Dad”, and shot his parents both in the head. Matthew plotted the murder to get the chance to steal his parent’s credit cards, and treat his girlfriend to a birthday dinner. Matthew then left his parent’s dead bodies on the floor of his home and he and his girlfriend enjoyed a night in NYC.

Read More
1142 Words | 5 Pages

Gerard Baden-Clay appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court charged with murder about two months after reporting his wife, Allison Baden-Clay missing on April 20, 2012. His conviction was downgraded in December 2015 to manslaughter on the point that the jury’s decision could not be supported by the evidence presented at trial. Although manslaughter itself is a serious charge and the sentence of imprisonment is an extremely serious penalty, there are many public backlash and disturbance as a result of this. *Adding more

Read More
681 Words | 3 Pages

Later in the investigation “His presence at the murder scene was uncovered thanks to a cellphone video taken by his son”. This video was taken by Paul of Alex at the kennels where Paul was shot and killed. This video comes only an hour before Paul was killed and in the video Alex was shown wearing a different shirt then what he was when police showed up. In addition “During his own testimony over two days, Mr. Murdaugh admitted that he was at the dog kennels the night of the murders, after previously telling investigators that he had not been there. Mr. Murdaugh said his lies were triggered by paranoia because of his longtime addiction to painkillers.”

Read More
961 Words | 4 Pages

He was extremely wealthy and operated a law firm. This law firm had been owned by generations of the Murdaugh Family. Alex had a wife and two sons whom he appeared to love dearly. Little did anyone know the secrets the family had hidden. In 2021, Alex had frantically called the police because someone had shot his youngest son, Paul, and his wife, Maggie, killing them.

Read More
745 Words | 3 Pages

When Alex was in middle school that’s when his life and his parents marriage start to go down hill. It all started when Alex dad started spending less and more less time with the family and more time with his work. So, Alex dad didnt really show up to many of Alex football games. Heading

Read More
198 Words | 1 Pages

In 1992 Kennedy Brewer was arrested in the state of Mississippi and accused of killing his girlfriend’s 3 year old daughter Christine Jackson. Brewer was babysitting the child that evening and two days after she disappeared her body was found in a creek. After he waited in jail for three years a trial began and Brewer was convicted of capital murder and sent to death row. Police suspected Brewer because he was the only one home and there was no evidence of a break in. although there was a broken window by where the child slept that was overlooked that could have been an entry way for an intruder.

Read More
956 Words | 4 Pages

To emphasize, Alex struggled with his addiction for many years and he hid it from everyone. Gloria, the family maid, found the drugs under the bed and informed Paul. Paul confronted his father about it only to receive backlash. This could have been another trigger that set off the killing of Maggie and Paul. Harpootlian says, ‘When PMPED went public with embezzlement accusations, the story from Alex’s team gelled: Alex suffered from 20 years of opioid addiction and blew “most” of his millions on “checks written to drug dealers’’ (Westfall,49).

Read More
1783 Words | 8 Pages

Around the age of ten, his father, James, abandoned Alex, his mother, and his brother (James Jr.), leaving the weight of raising two sons on Rachel. Three years later, Rachel died due to a severe fever, and Alex was left to fend for himself and his brother. Because they were illegitimate children, the Church of England did not allow Alexander and James Jr. to be a part of the church, and denied them an education in the church school. This, however, did not stop Alexander, and decided to educate himself.

Read More
782 Words | 4 Pages

On June 20th, 2001, Andrea Yates killed her five young children Noah, John, Paul, Luke, and Mary in the bathtub of the family’s home in Houston, Texas. The family was Caucasian, and at the time of the crime, Noah was 7, John was 5, Paul was 3, Luke was 2, Mary was 6 months, and Yates was 36. Yates’s husband Russell “Rusty” Yates was at work at the time of the crime. Yates killed her children as a result of her post-partum psychosis and other mental illnesses that had been developing throughout her life. After she finished the murders, Yates called the police and then called Rusty to tell him to come home.

Read More
979 Words | 4 Pages

Over the course of the series, the Byrnes family will be tested. They will succeed at times, and fail at other times. The Byrnes will be forced to make certain sacrifices that they never thought that they would

Read More
457 Words | 2 Pages

On the night of December 24th, 2002 there was a huge crime scene down in San Francisco Bay. It is said that Scott Peterson had committed first degree murder on his wife Laci Peterson and second degree murder on his unborn son Conner. In the beginning of Laci and Scott’s marriage, Scott was not a happy person. He started to have affairs and was stressed with work, amongst preparing for a baby. Originally, Scott had wanted to divorce Laci but he found a less expensive route:murder.

Read More
1631 Words | 7 Pages

Gary Leon Ridgway better known as the “Green River Killer” was born on February 18, 1949, in Salt Lake City, Utah, he was the middle child of three boys Gregory being the oldest and Thomas being the youngest (Lakey et al. 2005). Growing up in Salt Lake City the Ridgways’ were not very social with their neighbors since his parents would often fight for hours, and it would sometimes turn violent (Lakey et al. 2005). An ex-wife of one of Gary recalls that while she was over at the Ridgway’s home she witnessed the parents fighting and when they were fighting his mother Mary broke a plate over her husband Thomas’s head (Robinson, 2001). After eleven years living in Utah the Ridgways’ moved to Washington State, and five years after the move Gary commits his first crime of stabbing a six-year old boy to where he was in critical condition, but when the boy claimed that Ridgway had done it the police ignored the incident (Lakey et al. 2005). As well, while living in

Read More
971 Words | 4 Pages

Introduction For the Task Force Project my group and I decided to focus on Charlie. Charlie was convicted of murdering his mother's boyfriend George. George turned into an abusive alcoholic after he lost his wife and daughter to a car accident. Charlie can remember three times in a year and a half time span where George physically beat his mother.

Read More
708 Words | 3 Pages

I decided I couldn’t believe in a God who would let something that terrible happen to a boy like Alex.” (pg.60). This does show that he left for himself and never wondered what it did to the people around him. And if they got hurt because of it. But the book also says “He was polite, friendly, well-groomed… he seemed extremely intelligent,

Read More
786 Words | 4 Pages

From the beginning of the story it is clear that there is a lack of an authority figure in Alex’s life. His parents seem to be emotionally absent, they do not question their sons lack of school attendants, nor do they question where he is and wants he is doing late at night. Alex had a very relaxed upbringing and was allowed to do whatever, whenever with no consequences. The “Droog" gang members also had a negative impact on Alex’s decision making and problem solving abilities. Growing up with this lack of authority and the inability to differ between right and wrong is the ideal environment for the makings of a psychopath.

Read More

More about Alex Murdaugh's Death Essay

Related Topics

Open Document