Where Is Alex Murdaugh Now, Four Years After Murdering His Wife And Son? All About The Killer Lawyer

It’s been four years since the shocking Murdaugh family murder case rocked South Carolina and exposed the downfall of one of America’s most powerful legal dynasties. Yet, the incident continues to captivate true-crime enthusiasts through countless documentaries, features, and podcasts. And now, Hulu’s limited series, Murdaugh: Death in the Family, has reopened the chilling story of Alex Murdaugh, the once-prominent attorney who became his family’s worst nightmare.

Once a member of a prestigious legal empire, Alex now lives behind bars, serving two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years for murdering his wife and son, as well as committing 22 financial crimes. With the Hulu series, which premiered on October 15, 2025, fans have grown more curious to know what happened to the lawyer-turned-killer and is surviving family.

Here’s a close look at who Alex Murdaugh was, the crimes that forever destroyed his family’s legacy, and what his life looks like today, years after the fateful night that changed their lives forever. 

Who is Alex Murdaugh? How he led to the downfall of South Carolina’s legal empire

Richard ‘Alex’ Murdaugh used to be a respected lawyer in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, specialising in personal injury. He hails from a generation of lawyers, the Murgdaughs having served as solicitors (district attorneys) for the state’s 14th Judicial Circuit and overseen prosecutions across five counties: Allendale, Colleton, Hampton, Beaufort, and Jasper. 

Their decades of influence from 1920 to 2006  famously earned the area the nickname ‘Murdaugh Country’. The family’s law firm, founded by Randolph Murdaugh Sr. in 1910 in Hampton, eventually evolved into one of the state’s most powerful law firms. Following the dynasty’s footsteps, Alex also became a reputed attorney, earning wealth, status, and a name for winning big cases.

However, beneath the surface, Alex’s life was unravelling, plagued by years of addiction, financial fraud, and a growing web of lies that would eventually spin out of control.

The night of the double murder

On the night of June 7, 2021, at 10:07 p.m., Alex made a frantic call to 911, claiming he had found his wife, Margaret Murdaugh (aka Maggie), and their younger son, Paul, shot dead near the dog kennels on their family’s 1,770-acre hunting estate in Colleton County, South Carolina. The State quoted his devastated call to the operator:

“I need the police and an ambulance immediately. My wife and child were just shot badly.”

Murdaugh initially told the police that he hadn’t been anywhere near the kennels that fateful night, but his alibi soon fell apart. Prosecutors later uncovered cellphone video footage, filmed by Paul just minutes before his death, and Alex was seen at the scene of the murders. Though he initially pleaded his innocence, by 2023, his crimes had been confirmed.

In March 2023, the court found Alex guilty of the joint murders of Maggie and Paul and sentenced him to not one, but two consecutive life sentences. If that wasn’t enough, he received another 40 years in prison after being found guilty of 22 financial crimes. Prosecutors alleged that Alex had killed his family to distract from his spiraling financial crimes and opioid addiction.

Inside Alex Murdaugh’s hidden web of crimes- Why did he kill his wife and son?

Behind the trusted and well-respected attorney’s mask lay a fraudster and a killer who spent years weaving lies, stealing millions, and ultimately destroying his own family. During his highly publicised trial, Alex was accused of killing his family to cover up his financial crimes. According to an NPR report, the lawyer-turned-killer stole more than USD 12 million from clients and his family’s law firm. 

His 22 counts of financial fraud mainly involved stealing from settlements intended for victims. Murdaugh reportedly stole a USD 4.3 million insurance payout owed to the family of the Murdaughs’ longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who mysteriously died after an alleged “trip and fall” at their home in 2018. His other frauds included bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.

According to prosecutors, the exposure of his financial misdeeds, together with his son Paul’s upcoming trial for a 2019 boating accident that killed a teen, motivated Alex to commit the murders. However, even after the sentencing, Murdaugh insisted that he was innocent, and even behind bars, his case continued to make headlines.

In 2024, the South Carolina Supreme Court agreed to a new trial after the court’s clerk, Beckuy Hill, was accused of jury tampering. Hill, however, denied the allegations. As of November 2025, Alex Murdaugh’s appeal remains under review.

Where is Alex Mudaugh now?

With a new trial set for an uncertain date, Murdaugh, now 57, is serving his sentence in a maximum-security prison in South Carolina. His exact location has been kept confidential, given the high-profile nature of his case. However, based on information from the South Carolina Department of Corrections, Alex is housed in a protective custody unit, isolated from the general population for his own safety.

The Murdaugh case has since become a fixture in the true-crime genre, with numerous podcasts, documentaries, features, and televised interviews. In 2023, Netflix’s docuseries, Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, brought global attention to the family’s downfall. And now, with Hulu’s Murdaugh: Death in the Family, starring Jason Clarke as ‘Alex’, viewers get to see a dramatised version of the shocking case. 

With his shocking trail of crimes, Alex Murdaugh’s family name, once synonymous with justice, has now become a symbol of corruption, betrayal, and heartrending tragedy.

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