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Murdaugh Murders, Part 1
42 Plays1 month ago
Welcome to our new series! We're doing it, we're deep diving the Murdaugh murders. In this episode, we learn about the history of the Murdaugh dynasty in southern South Carolina.
Check out our YouTube Channel! Fixate Today: Grey Matters
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Transcript
Introduction and Focus
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Fixate Today Gone Tomorrow. I'm Nikki and I'm here with my Aunt Joy. We are two neurodivergent ladies who obsess about various topics. Joy is autistic and I have ADHD and we are letting our hyper fixations fly.
00:00:16
Speaker
Today we are fixating on the Murdoch murders.
Pronunciation and Family Timeline
00:00:20
Speaker
Music
00:00:30
Speaker
Welcome, everybody, to a new series. We are finally doing it. Yeah, this is an exciting one. it's ah It's a fun topic, and it's been in the headlines again ah a lot lately, so I think there'll be a lot to add.
00:00:45
Speaker
Yeah. Even though it's been a ah story that's been talked about so much. Yeah. And truth be told, I wrote these notes forever ago. I think like while we were doing the early episodes of the Micah Miller case, I was working on the research for this.
00:01:00
Speaker
So I'm sure even when I went back to try to plug stuff in that's new, that there's still so much more. Yeah. Well, and yeah, there's some of the newer stuff with the book and the movie, but I've, I've been watching and keeping up with that. So I think I have some, we fixate on different things.
00:01:18
Speaker
And so I think that the information that I've gathered, especially yeah from those will compliment each other very well. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Well, so how we've kind of broken it up at first, I think, is by topic feels like an insensitive way of putting it, but by kind of event in the Murdoch family timeline.
00:01:41
Speaker
So for this episode, we are just going to talk a bit about the family history of the Murdoch family.
Murdoch Family Origins
00:01:47
Speaker
I'm going to also say in terms of pronunciation, I'm following Mandy Matney from True Sunlight, who says it's Alex,
00:01:56
Speaker
murdoch Oh, she's going to she says it that way. Not the way he. OK, she says Alex Murdoch. And I think that in the new show, that's what Brittany Snow, who plays her, says.
00:02:08
Speaker
But I don't know. How does he say it? Alec. Alec Murdoch. Murdaugh. Okay. I don't know. least But it was one of those things even in one of the books that they're like, even Alec like has his own way of saying his name, you know, just like everything about him just is what he wants. Yeah. So I'm gonna probably just because that's what I've gotten in the rhythm of of saying it like she does.
00:02:31
Speaker
um i don't know if it's right. I don't think anybody knows if it's right or wrong. I don't think he does. No, I think it's the way it's spelled. I think it just depends. Yeah. And as we talk about, if we get into the, um, a little bit, I'll try not to go too much into the history, like his grandfather and great grandfather, the names get very confusing because they're like all named the same thing, but I'll, I'll try it. If I, if I talk about them, I'll try to delineate who's who's. Yeah.
00:02:56
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, we'll try to emphasize like, because there's a lot of juniors, there's a lot of thirds. So we'll try to keep that all straight. The ah primary sources we used are the Murdoch Murders, a Southern Scandal on Netflix, the Murdoch Murders podcast.
00:03:12
Speaker
Yeah. CBS News, Court TV, ABC News, and Wikipedia.
Lowcountry Significance
00:03:17
Speaker
And I'm going to add to that also Swamp Kings, the book, and Devil at His Elbow, which are both two of the newer books that have come out on the topic. And so I've taken a lot of information from them.
00:03:30
Speaker
Perfect. And I've not read those books yet, but I intend to. We're going to get to it eventually. Yeah. We might even on our YouTube book club might delve into one of them. all right, well, let's get into the Murdoch family history.
00:03:44
Speaker
We're going back to the early nineteen hundreds I think it doesn't even go back. goes back to the eighteen hundred Yeah, it sure does. but Yeah, when his great-grandfather.
00:03:55
Speaker
oh no, I was going say, I think it it really started with his great-grandfather, and he was born in the eighteen hundreds Yeah, and where my notes start is when he founded the first law group.
00:04:07
Speaker
So, like, yeah, they've been established. yeah This family, they lived in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina since the eighteenth century. Okay, so i'm our so I'm really into the geography of all of this because I think it's, I think almost like geography is its own character in this story.
00:04:26
Speaker
So, I mean, we talked about the Lowcountry, but just to expand on that, um Literally, like if you think of South Carolina as an ice cream cone, where the low country is the bottom bottom little tip, right?
00:04:39
Speaker
Okay. And and it's ah where the Atlantic Ocean comes in and there's a lot of inlets. There's ah also a lot of um like islands, little small islands around there.
00:04:51
Speaker
And that's where, like, so that's where the low country starts. From there, it it does extend up, um it's you know, there's Low country is a little ill-descript in exactly where it ends.
00:05:02
Speaker
But for the most part, it's considered to go up through, what you know, with this story we hear about Hampton and Moselle. And so all of that is considered kind of the lowest of the low country.
00:05:13
Speaker
And okay ah yeah so it's low because it's low in the, in this geography, but also it's like so filled with swamp land yeah that it was almost, it was like untouched land for a long time because nobody even knew how to do anything with it because it was so. so Right. How to develop it or anything. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's very much,
Legal Monopoly and Power
00:05:32
Speaker
it's a geographic region, but there's also, it's definitely a cultural component to that part of the state that's really pervasive. And, and again,
00:05:43
Speaker
a big part of the story. Yeah. so in 1910, a civil litigation group was founded by Randolph Murdoch Sr. It's called the Parker Law Group and it's personal injury litigation.
00:05:58
Speaker
And so that would have been Alec Murdoch's great, great, great young father. Yes. And so, yeah, he's usually referred to as Randolph Murdoch Sr. too, because then we have his The next names that are coming.
00:06:12
Speaker
My gosh, guys, I'm sorry. He was the beginning. He was well-respected. um i think, you know, he was a little Weasley, but not near, like, I think at the at the beginning, he was a lot more respected. Yeah.
00:06:26
Speaker
Upstanding. Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. Than the others. So from here, three generations of Murdoch men, all named Randolph, served as circuit solicitor, also district attorney, consecutively from 1920 to 2006. Yeah. So we have Randolph Murdoch We have his son who ah he's Randolph, what will but they call his son or Alex grandfather.
00:06:56
Speaker
he was the first buster. ye And then underneath him, then we have like Randy, they call like Randy the third and that's Alex's father. Okay.
00:07:07
Speaker
Yep. So the, and, and just as far as interest, like that buster guy, the great, the grandfather, like Alex's grandfather, was, was very Alec. Like he was very, mean, they're all, again, they're all little corrupt, but he was,
00:07:24
Speaker
Yeah. It like skipped a generation for like depth of corruptness. yeah Like I hate to say that that because they're all corrupt. Yeah. But yeah, he was a bad guy. So they were district attorney of a five district county deemed Murdoch County due to the family's status.
00:07:43
Speaker
I'm sorry, Murdoch Country due to the family's status. I actually think it's five counties that were. Really? Yeah. I thought it was five districts in one county. I think it's five counties.
00:07:58
Speaker
Which is why it's so large. Yeah. ah You might double check me on that, but I'm pretty sure, yeah, that they're in their, guess they call it their district, but it's, yeah, because it's like.
00:08:09
Speaker
No, you're right. Yeah. Five counties. Yeah. So it's a huge geographic geographical area. yeah Yeah. So as we just said, they were in charge of prosecuting cases for five counties. It is the 14th District, South Carolina.
00:08:25
Speaker
And in that hundred-ish year... rain span, it was definitely seen as a rigged justice system from the get-go. Oh, yeah. Definitely. Attorneys would regularly rather settle cases than go to trial against any murder.
00:08:42
Speaker
Well, and something that's interesting is just kind of learning this more. So they were the district attorneys, right? So that which would be the ultimate in the law enforcement. So they decided which case they they tried the blanking on the word criminal.
00:08:55
Speaker
Yeah. So that as a district attorney, you know, they were the ultimate trial lawyers for the criminal courts. But then they owned their own law firm, right? So when we talk about that, like the Parker Law Group or that's – and so then – They still have that. While they're district attorneys, they still have this family law firm. Yeah, and that's all civil cases.
00:09:19
Speaker
So they controlled both aspects. So, I mean, talk about conflict of interest, right? Yeah. and didn't even think about that. yeah And that for i at least, I think three of the generations, they were able to do that.
00:09:33
Speaker
And then there's been new, like somewhat more recently than there's been new, like laws. So you can't do that anymore, which is one reason that Alec didn't move on to be the district attorney because he couldn't make as much money. They always could make the money.
00:09:50
Speaker
Falling back on the family law side of it too. Yeah. As a solicitor, they were never making money. That's where they got their power and influence. And then the civil side where they had their family firm, that's where they made all the money. Yeah.
00:10:02
Speaker
Which I think speaks to Alex. I'm going to do this the whole time, guys. I'm so sorry. It speaks to his where his interests are, right? Like it wasn't tough to continue the family dynasty, legacy of becoming the district attorney. As soon as right there wasn't money in being the district attorney, he dropped that pretty quick.
Exploiting Legal Loopholes
00:10:25
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, he has an older brother, too, um who actually is the Randolph, whatever, fourth, I guess he would be. um And I've heard he's kind of just like a little bit like more of a good guy.
00:10:37
Speaker
Like, so I think, yeah, that's it. But I don't think it was his thing, to you know, but then um Alec definitely had the personality of the generations before. But yeah, I think he was too, too.
00:10:48
Speaker
They weren't in it for the justice. They were in it for the money. Let's be honest. Yeah, exactly. So as we said, they have still this Parker law firm family group, and they were successful basically with Because there's a South Carolina state law that allows plaintiffs to forum shop.
00:11:06
Speaker
Forum shopping is having cases heard in courts that would likely grant a favorable judgment. Or just it means that plaintiffs can pick the county where the trial will happen.
00:11:20
Speaker
So despite like on the civil side, despite where something happened in South Carolina, they could go pick their court. So some court files. I'm sorry, go ahead.
00:11:33
Speaker
And file suit in any county. They can just pick which one. So some courts were known to be more influential in different areas. Also more corrupt, which if you're the one, which can be helpful in a way to the person choosing that, you know, that particular county.
00:11:54
Speaker
So, yeah, they and then. this particular district was known also because the Hampton area, it it's kind of small community and everyone knows everyone.
00:12:06
Speaker
So the juries could be more easily influenced um or stacked if you, than other districts, but, and especially like through history now, way back four generations ago, whatever. Yeah. It was really stacked, but um yeah.
00:12:25
Speaker
So that's, have to get a little bit more savvy the further ah on in the history books you go. Yeah. And the thing about all of these guys, the four generations, they're all like glad handling, like glad handing, glad handing.
00:12:38
Speaker
that what they're glad? They're all like. No idea. Like very extroverted. friendly i never met a stranger good to everyone like a bull maybe quite a quick god gregarious charming well like charming like the charming good old gu good old boy yeah you know which is how they could vi that that was a another key to building their business when we i did i i have been out there to hampton and um
00:13:09
Speaker
ah This is to me the most shocking thing. So when you go, the actual law firm is like this big red brick multi-story, you know, kind of colonial look. It's a building.
00:13:22
Speaker
And then absolutely everything else is complete poverty around it. I mean, it's it's hard to even – and I, you know, watching all the movies and hearing about this. Yeah. it it it I guess I didn't get the full picture.
00:13:36
Speaker
It's like, it's it. it's That is it with all their, you know, Mercedes and big old trucks in the parking lot. And then, but everything right outside of that is impoverished.
00:13:51
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. decrepit I mean, old houses. Yeah, no, that was what you, I remember you calling me being like, I can't believe like the difference between this big, gorgeous building and like what's around it. And and that's like...
00:14:10
Speaker
Shocking. So part of the power structure of being able to file suit in any county was that the plaintiff's attorneys could abuse subpoena power, meaning that they could subpoena just any old person and use it as an intimidation tactic for things likely outside of the case that they're trying.
00:14:32
Speaker
And they could even subpoena, like, if a person... If they were subpoenaing someone who also had been um accused of a crime or they would, they could hold them in the like jail cell while they were like, you know, as they were waiting for them to be, to testify, they could hold them in the Hampton County jail cell.
00:14:56
Speaker
And they could for as long as they needed to. gosh. Wow. Well, the American Tort Reform Association once named the 14th District the third worst, quote, judicial hellhole for defendants.
00:15:13
Speaker
So in that kind of tenure of the Murdoch family firm, the firm sued CSX Transportation, which is a railroad company,
00:15:24
Speaker
And they were successful in this lawsuit. was personal injury cases against the railroad. And after this, after the successful um lawsuit, those personal injury cases started skyrocketing against the train company. Yeah. Well, let's talk about the very first one, right? Yeah.
00:15:48
Speaker
Randolph Sr., great-grandfather. And um he was known – so he was very sickly. he basically had like kidney advanced kidney disease.
00:15:59
Speaker
Okay. And he was coming home from friend's house one night in his car, basically drove his car in the on the train tracks and – The train hit him and killed him.
00:16:12
Speaker
so there and yeah So there's always been question about whether... And the thought has been that he intentionally took his own life that way. Yeah.
00:16:25
Speaker
yeah So then... ah After that is when the old Randolph Buster, the next generation, he was one who initiated the lawsuit against the train company and and sued $100,000, which, i mean, was millions back in that day.
00:16:44
Speaker
For negligence, they didn't keep up the tracks well enough. They didn't like honk loud enough. that you know and Anything that they could. They threw everything against the wall. The train company is a big company. It has deeper pockets.
00:17:00
Speaker
Yeah. And they ended up – they settled. They never said how much they settled for. But I think that was the – like you said, that was the start of knowing – all right. Oh, we can do this. Yeah.
Key Family Members and Power Dynamics
00:17:10
Speaker
And so after that, yeah, they went after, I think that like 50 different lawsuits or something that, so they really built the practice largely or the firm largely on, um on these initial lawsuits also gave them a chunk of money um back in the day that kind of got the family, you know, Randolph senior was successful, but then,
00:17:34
Speaker
this other chunk of money that yeah that generational wealth really built up off the back of that so as these these personal injury cases continue to roll out um eventually Hampton County was deemed unsafe for employers to do business because anything goes wrong the Murdochs are going to come after them and get some of their money And that and that they can stack these juries. They have they you know have all this alleged corruption and people could would win.
00:18:05
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So in the correct direction, trying to maybe help fix this a bit, in 2005, finally, there are changes in the legislator that end the forum shopping.
00:18:19
Speaker
laws. So as of today, they can no longer do that. But that's a long time to allow a family who recognized the advantages of that system to take advantage of it.
00:18:32
Speaker
It just seems like ah system that should, ah that really isn't that long ago. i mean, that's for such an archaic, what seems to be an archaic system that um is so prone to corruption, but In the 2000s, you know.
00:18:47
Speaker
So let's walk through some of the notable family members. We can kind of set the stage for who we're talking about. We've talked quite a bit about Randall Murdoch, Sr., who is actually related to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
00:19:01
Speaker
So there's some ah already a bit of interesting family history. You knew that was going to be it. There is no way he wasn't. Right? but Right. So as we said, we he founded that law firm, but he also ran a local newspaper called the Hamptey County Herald.
00:19:17
Speaker
So now they have their hands in another pot, right? Like they're the ones delivering the news of the of the counties. They can pay these businesses or these people in any way they want to. This is where the power structure really um starts building up.
00:19:30
Speaker
And, you know, in these towns, like in Hampton, there wasn't a whole lot of, like, other news. Like, oh like what's going on at the court? law that like That's a big... I don't know.
00:19:41
Speaker
That's, like, a topic of conversation. Like, that's a big gossip rumor mill and that that ah really the town... Yeah. Partakes in. And especially like if anybody's being subpoenaed for anything, like that's so much town gossip coming out of probably innocuous cases sometimes. They even say that like at five o'clock when people got off work, a lot of times they would go meet in the square, which is in front of the courthouse and like literally like grab a drink and...
00:20:13
Speaker
catch up, like talk. Like that's what they did right after work. And a lot of it did. It was discussion about what's going on in the courts. And, and again, we've got these attorneys through this family again, like they were so charming and gregarious and, um,
00:20:27
Speaker
They were like the kind of people that brought attention to themselves and were interesting. And then these cases were coming in again, from like all over the state. Yeah. And they were bringing them into this tiny little, yeah I mean, Hampton area, which is small. So, I mean, that would have been um subject of interest. Yeah.
00:20:49
Speaker
in a sleepy town that doesn't have much. Yeah. And there's probably also the element of a lot of outsiders are being brought in for their cases here. And I'm sure old Randolph senior would join them at the bar as like, yeah he's the hometown boy.
00:21:07
Speaker
yeah Going against these outsiders. Yeah. Like you brought them in here. Right. And like, he can, he can stand up to these big city, Yeah.
00:21:18
Speaker
You know, um they're really proud. And the town's proud. They're proud of these. They're, you know, solicitor, district attorney. guy They're proud. i mean, they, you know, they. They feel like they represent Hampton in ah in a good way Yeah. In 1920, Randolph Sr. becomes solicitor in the 14th Judicial Circuit.
00:21:39
Speaker
He held this position until his death in 1940, where, as we just talked about, he was killed when his car got hit by a train.
00:21:49
Speaker
All right. So let's move on to Randolph senior's son, Randolph Buster Murdoch Jr. He was circuit solicitor from 1940. So as soon as his father died, he was odd he stepped right into the D.A. position. I think before he was even elected, he was they like brought him in as the interim.
00:22:10
Speaker
Like, buff yeah. Yeah. Right away. I'm surprised that makes sense. and And he was young. I mean, I think he was like 25. Yeah. Gosh. Well, he ah was in that office until 1986. He sued the train company after his father's death.
00:22:25
Speaker
So kind of going back to what you're saying, a lot of people believe that Randolph Sr., possibly died by suicide or alcohol related, but somehow the death wasn't an accident, as we just kind of talked about.
00:22:37
Speaker
But the company couldn't prove that, of course, and they settled, as we said, creating this vacuum of wealth, I guess, almost, that the Murdoch family he learned how to do this system. Yeah. And also, i mean, everyone who was present at the actual event, right, which would be Randolph Sr. and all the um the train conductor, the testimony that they gave, um that the train employees gave, pointed to it being intention suicide. Yeah.
00:23:11
Speaker
And the fact that, yes, then the then um I guess his son was good enough good enough to even, even with them being the only witnesses there,
00:23:23
Speaker
convincing the jury that you know them saying no he drove onto the road no he was waving and smiling no that you know we were yeah and even with that that they still settled and and made money I I really do think this is where like the light bulb went off it's like Yeah, I agree.
00:23:43
Speaker
This is, I
Alex Murdoch and Family Dynamics
00:23:44
Speaker
think we know. Yeah, this was the start. For the sake of consistency and keeping names organized, I'm going to call him Buster Jr. Just to keep him differentiated between Alex Sun Buster when we get to him.
00:23:59
Speaker
Or should I call him Randolph Jr.? um They usually call him like Randolph Buster. Although, they yeah, Randolph Buster Jr. I mean, just because I am in the and the in the books, it's so confusing that that has been kind of what most people, yeah. Randolph Buster. Yeah, Randolph Buster. So I'm almost done with this section on him, but just to keep things kind of clear for everybody, um it seems like most of the materials we've looked at calls him Randolph Buster Jr. So that's what I'm going to try to do right now, just to...
00:24:33
Speaker
Like I said, we are going to try to keep these names organized and try to figure out who's who. So we're still talking about him. um Randolph Buster Jr. had ah flair for dramatics in the courtroom.
00:24:45
Speaker
He was once rebuked by the state Supreme Court for improper closing arguments in a death penalty case. And in a rape case, if a defendant was acquitted, release any other accused rapist rapists, any other, like, if there was somebody...
00:25:05
Speaker
if if it was two people who were on trial or accused or something like that, if one of them was acquitted, he'd be like, I'm not filing against the other one. He can go. Well, that was his thing. his His big like closing argument was always, if you believe in justice, you will find this person guilty.
00:25:22
Speaker
If you don't, then we might as well let the the whatever rapist who – Who we've convicted in the past go. So that was that he he yeah, that was his big closer.
00:25:35
Speaker
Oh, gross. Well, in 1956, he was indicted by a federal grand jury for warning a bootlegger to move his moonshine still to a neighboring county.
00:25:47
Speaker
He was acquitted. I think we're going to start seeing it at the start of another trend in the family now. Yeah. Working with the bootleggers. yeah And I think ah the you the word warning huh is very loaded.
00:26:04
Speaker
So now we are going to talk about John Glenn or Johnny Murdoch. who is Can we go back one second about the bootlegger? Yeah, yeah. So um so you said this was in 1956, right? But Prohibition was over by then.
00:26:18
Speaker
However, first of all, i I guess a lot of people in the South like developed developed a taste for the moonshine, which by all accounts is disgusting, but you know yeah i guess if you like it, you like it.
00:26:31
Speaker
Also, there was um almost like 100% the state imposed like 100% tax on liquor. And so they did the bootlegging continued um be cut to get around the taxes.
00:26:47
Speaker
So for both those reasons, yeah. So even after prohibition, this was going on. Yeah, makes sense. ah Significantly. Right, right. No, that makes absolute sense. Because I was wondering that too. i was like, why is there still bootleggers? Yeah, I think they i think at one point they talked about like 90,000 barrels of moonshine had been.
00:27:05
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. It was big business there. And they'd put these stills like out. I mean, we've got these swamps. It's like you could just kind of leave these ah moonshines or whatever stills out in the in the country. And then out there they had like it it was warm enough that like it would ferment. Like it was ferment on its own in the warm heat.
00:27:29
Speaker
I don't exactly know how this works. so again i know But yeah, that's why it was such a big business down there. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Well, let's move on to Randolph Senior's youngest son, John Glenn, Johnny Murdoch.
00:27:45
Speaker
And the reason I talk about him is because at this point, we can see some of some of the Murdoch men don't want to do this.
00:27:56
Speaker
I don't want to go into this. he He served in World War two And after the war, he didn't go into the family business. He just became a farmer. And but I don't say just to minimize being a farmer, but he was like, I'm good.
00:28:11
Speaker
So there was all kinds of personalities within the family. and Because there was these negative overtones does not mean that every member through the history of the family was young guys. yeah Including, you know, their siblings right now. then And some seem to be Well, I guess they all seem to be more in the up and up than Alec. Right.
00:28:31
Speaker
All right. Let's move on to Alec's father, Randolph Murdoch III. He took office as district attorney from 1986 until as soon as his father...
00:28:45
Speaker
so we see um ah soon as his father passed away or left the job. It seems it could be both. The next generation of Murdoch men stepped right in, took over as solicitor.
00:28:59
Speaker
And how he was already in like assisting and learning the job learning on the job from his dad. So. Absolutely. Randolph III had four children, two of whom joined the family law firm, Alex and Randy. Randy.
00:29:13
Speaker
In 2019, Randolph III was awarded the Order of Palmetto, which is the highest civilian recognition in South Carolina. Very respected. right. So now we're going to get into our main players for the tale we're going to discuss going forward.
00:29:31
Speaker
Alex Murdoch. He worked for his family's law firm, but volunteered part-time in the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office. So as we said before, he never became the district attorney, but he was still there.
00:29:46
Speaker
So I think it was said that maybe he worked one case along with his dad. He did not do much. um It was very much um in name only.
00:29:57
Speaker
We also, laws had changed by this point, so he could no longer be The solicitor and work for the family firm. And the solicitor, while he was powerful, ah didn't make a lot of money.
00:30:13
Speaker
and And, yeah, and the law firm made a lot of money. And we know that Alec was interested in in the in the money part of it. Yeah, shocking. But it makes sense to keep his face kind of in that that DA office. Oh, sure.
00:30:30
Speaker
Because to get the money requires some of that power still. So he wasn't dumb when it came to that. Oh, yeah. I mean, that power was very incredibly important, as we'll see as we get into, you know, what we' what's going to happen when their influence that they have um with law enforcement.
00:30:50
Speaker
And he's he he maintained that influence through his name and in and through even this, like, volunteer solicitor. Yeah. Well, Alex married Maggie Murdoch.
00:31:03
Speaker
She was an American socialite and together they had two children, Buster, who is their oldest son. Buster's journey into becoming the next family attorney ended pretty quickly after he was expelled from the University of South Carolina Law School for plagiarism after his first year.
00:31:21
Speaker
Allegedly, Alex attempted to use his family's influence to get Buster to readmitted. And it seems like that did not work. I think by then all this legal stuff had really started ramping up a little bit happening. So maybe that family influence was not quite as as ah strong as in the past.
00:31:38
Speaker
By all accounts, Buster is mature. and don't know. That might be pushing it there, but level-headed of of the children. Yeah.
00:31:48
Speaker
And finally, their younger son, Paul. He was a student at the University of South Carolina. And I just thought this was an interesting tidbit about Paul. We're going to get a lot more into Paul.
00:32:00
Speaker
um But at the time of his death, he worked part time at his uncle John's tractor dealership. So this is the the brother of Alex, who wasn't in law. He'd He has a tractor dealership.
00:32:12
Speaker
Yeah. And I think. That's just quaint. It is. And I think Paul even stayed with him a lot of the time. Yeah. At his house in town. Yeah. It seems like there was a good relationship there. And.
00:32:23
Speaker
Especially the the sons. and don't want to say boys because they were adults. But Paul and Buster had choices to make which way they were going to go. You know what I mean? And regardless of their dad. They were very entitled in general. um They knew their influence. yeah They knew that their family was respected. They were they were pretty wealthy,
00:32:46
Speaker
um compared to most other people around. So um they seem to take pride and be a little cocky in their behaviors. They also didn't seem to have a whole lot of consequences. So like I get in a crowd trouble like you know car crash, I just get a new one.
00:33:04
Speaker
Yep. Which I think is so interesting that he worked part-time at his uncle's tractor dealership. Good point. Like it had to just be be the relationship, right? Like he I can't imagine he got a lot out of it Yeah, that's a really good point. Besides, yeah, I hadn't thought about it that way Yeah, I just think it's like he could have gone two ways. He could have stayed entitled, getting away with everything.
00:33:27
Speaker
Or it seemed like his Uncle John might have been trying to pull him into... Like, let's just work hard. Yeah. Yeah. Who knows? I'm very much speculating, but that's what that kind of said to me. And one of those things. Two things can be true. Exactly. Exactly. And he was what? Early 20s?
00:33:43
Speaker
He was 20. Yeah. I think um at the time of his death. 22. Nobody knows what you're going to do at that time. like Oh, yeah. I don't think anyone's, to you know, terribly mature. and i think i think he could i think there could have been a chain a switch in the path he chose if he was given a bit more time. But who knows?
00:34:03
Speaker
I mean, again, that allure of power and money might have been more than. And he was said to be,
Addiction, Influence, and Future Exploration
00:34:09
Speaker
you know, charming and caring a lot of the time. But his bad streak was really bad.
00:34:16
Speaker
I mean, I don't think I mean, I do think yeah he had some some qualities that that were very endearing to a lot of people. People loved him very much, but but yes, then at the same time, he would have moments that were – and I think usually they and involved alcohol.
00:34:33
Speaker
When he drank, he became kind of a different person. Yeah. It seems like a lot of the Murdoch men have ah addiction and then anger. Yeah. That plays off one another. Well, do you think we should wrap it up there? Maybe yeah next week start to dive into some of these cases surrounding this family?
00:34:55
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. There's a lot to ingest right there just with the the basic issues. immediate family that we've talked about in the history. Yeah. All right. We hope you come back next time. We'll continue walking through this wild case.
00:35:12
Speaker
And yeah, i hope you're I hope everybody's enjoying exploring this case with us. so Yeah, there's a lot to it. We're going to have a lot to talk about. so All right.
00:35:23
Speaker
Well, thanks again. We'll see you next time. Bye.
00:35:36
Speaker
you