His trial captivated America and was on the front pages of the biggest newspapers: o Alex Murdowa well-known attorney from a family of prominent South Carolina lawyers and prosecutors, was sentenced today to life in prison for the 2021 murders of his wife and son.

Repeated lies, fraud, opioid addiction, suspicious deaths in his immediate environment… the downfall of the large man with the often expressionless face was revealed during the hearing and in several documentaries currently being shown about him and his family of.

Before announcing the sentence, Judge Clifton Newman addressed Murdow, saying it was impossible for him to understand the “duplicity” of a lawyer who once stood tall in court and now found himself on the other side, in the dock. He recalled that Murdow comes from a “dynasty” of lawyers, a “respectable family that has controlled justice in this region for a century”.

So much so that a portrait of the defendant’s grandfather adorned the courtroom, until the judge ordered it removed.

Alex Murdow, handcuffed and in prison uniform, insisted on his innocence. His son, Buster, was also in court. “I respect this court but I am innocent. I would never hurt my wife Maggie (…) and my son Pow-Pow,” he insisted, calling his son Paul by his nickname.

According to prosecutors, Murdow, 54, embezzled huge sums of money from the law firm where he worked, his friends and even the heirs of the housekeeper who was killed when she tripped over the family dog ​​and fell down the stairs. He allegedly killed his wife and son in an attempt to keep his frauds from being discovered. He is also charged with insurance fraud for asking a drug dealer to shoot him so his other son could collect on his life insurance.

The jury at the Walterboro courthouse it took just three hours to be found guilty and the judge sentenced him to two life terms. “I know you’ll see Paul and Maggie at night when you’re trying to sleep. I’m sure they will come to visit you,” she told him.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters spoke of a “scheming” man who “abused the trust of so many people, his friends, relatives, partners and most of all Maggie and Paul”. “No one knew who this man really was. And that’s scary,” he added.

Murdow admits to the thefts, which he says he committed to pay for the opioids he was addicted to and to cover losses from bad investments. He has not confessed to the murders.

According to the indictment, he killed his wife and youngest son with two different rifles on June 7, 2021, inside the family’s sprawling estate in Colton, South Carolina, where they were going to hunt wild hogs.

The case captivated the US and the media, even the most serious ones, made the life of the family – with three generations of prosecutors and judges to their credit. Several podcasts and a documentary on Netflix, titled “Murdow Blood: Scandal in South Carolina,” are devoted to the case. News channels broadcast live the testimony of Murdow’s defrauded colleagues and friends, who recounted how he bilked them of millions of dollars without them realizing it.