At the same time as an American, I had by no means heard of Hampton County in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. But for the previous six weeks this otherworldly land of swamps and wild hogs has horrified, fascinated and completely gripped me — and far of the nation.
Hampton is house to the Murdaugh household, a feudal dynasty that has one way or the other existed beneath the bustle of contemporary American life. On Thursday, a jury discovered Alex Murdaugh, 54, a distinguished native lawyer, responsible of the 2021 homicide of his spouse, Maggie, and son, Paul, after a six week trial that, as nationwide spectacle, has approached OJ Simpson ranges of hysteria.
The Murdaughs have spawned rival HBO and Netflix programmes documenting their rarefied world. His televised trial has for weeks been the factor to natter about within the workplace — for individuals who nonetheless go to an workplace.
As a drama, the Murdaughs are southern gothic. However their story started in Gatsby-esque trend with a tragic accident in 2019. On this case, it was a ship filled with younger buddies crashing right into a bridge late at night time. It was pushed, in keeping with authorities, by Paul, then 19, after an evening of heavy consuming. (There may be epic consuming within the Murdaugh world — and far taxidermy — and everybody appears to go to seed by age 30.) One of many passengers, Mallory Seashore, additionally 19 on the time, was thrown into the water and drowned.
Whereas childhood buddies and their households are traumatised, the Murdaughs swing into motion to attempt to defend Paul. They connive to control regulation enforcement and the opposite households. They insist one other boy was driving the boat.
They’ve huge sway as a result of, it seems, the Murdaughs are like royalty in Hampton. For practically a century, a Murdaugh has been the chief prison prosecutor for the encompassing district. On the identical time, the household has operated Hampton’s largest civil regulation agency. In essence, the Murdaughs are the regulation in Hampton. They’re additionally fantastically rich, with a number of properties, boats, their very own 1,700-acre searching property, an arsenal of weapons, and different baubles.
The boat accident is wanting like one other factor the Murdaughs could get away with. However then, in June 2021, Paul and his mom, Maggie, are discovered shot to demise close to the canine kennel on the household’s searching property. It’s a grotesque scene. There are whispers that this should have been retribution for Mallory Seashore’s demise.
In reality, authorities alleged — and a jury has now agreed — that Alex Murdaugh killed his spouse and son. He did so, they mentioned, as a result of this lord of Hampton was additionally nursing a 60 pill-a-day OxyContin habit, which he funded by stealing tens of millions of {dollars} from his regulation agency and shoppers. His schemes have been unravelling, and he needed to throw his pursuers off the path, prosecutors mentioned. On Friday, he was sentenced to life in jail.
“I’m not fairly positive how I let myself get the place I acquired,” Murdaugh instructed jurors, with some understatement, claiming he was a liar and a thief — however not a assassin. In an extra baroque twist, in September 2021, he additionally organized for a cousin and drug seller to shoot him within the head — though he was not critically wounded.
To make sure, the Murdaugh story is a tragedy that has devastated households and burnt a gap via a small city. It was set in movement by the untimely demise of a younger girl. Surprisingly, it additionally struck me as a uncommon southern drama not evidently burdened by race. This was about class and cash. And so, for outsiders, its attract was as a type of “true crime” escapism free from our corrosive tradition wars.
It was additionally an escape to a forgotten American south of Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor, a spot dripping with Spanish moss, genteel manners and darkness. If you happen to closed your eyes, you possibly can hear its echoes because the phrase “lie” stretched to a few languorous syllables passing via Murdaugh’s mouth — which was typically. It was additionally there in an important piece of testimony that involved him pulling a rooster from the mouth of his Labrador, Bubba.
That wasn’t even the most effective identify. Paul, apparently, was identified to his father as “Paw-Paw”. One other Murdaugh son, 26, goes by Buster. (With their flaming purple hair and pink pores and skin, all three Murdaugh males should have introduced their presence in Hampton from a long way.) An area prosecutor is known as “Duffie Stone”.
Even after six weeks of testimony and infinite cable tv protection, I struggled to resolve if the fallen Alex Murdaugh was a fidgety addict or a grasp liar — or each. Some Murdaugh mysteries linger. Why, for instance, does everybody name him “Elick”? And does anybody know tips on how to pronounce “Murdaugh”?
However the trial was conclusive for me on one other matter. It was a reminder of the depths and selection and strangeness that also lurk on this underexplored land that’s America.
“Do you assume there are different Hamptons on the market?” a buddy requested the opposite night time.
“Oh, I doubt it,” I started — after which reduce myself off. “Yeah, most likely.”
