Murdaugh Family History
Gone South
Audacy Podcasts
4.8 • 4.2K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Wall Street Journal reporter Valerie Bauerlein, who covered the Alex Murdaugh murder trial gavel to gavel, explains why the most revealing part of the Murdaugh saga isn’t Alex at all. It’s the 100-year legal dynasty that made him possible.
We go back to Hampton County, South Carolina, a post–Civil War “burned county” built to enforce White Rule, and follow three generations of Murdaugh power: Randolph Murdaugh Sr., the solicitor who learned how to bend the system; “Buster” Murdaugh, a charismatic, ruthless prosecutor tied to bootlegging and alleged jury tampering; and Randolph Murdaugh III, the smoother operator who kept the machine humming, until cameras and modern technology started capturing what used to happen in the shadows.
From the family’s early courtroom tactics and railroad lawsuits to the 2019 boat crash that killed Mallory Beach and the frantic hospital damage-control captured on security footage, this is the story of how a dynasty built its power and how it finally collapsed from the inside.
Subscribe to our newsletter:https://jedlipinski.substack.com/
Connect with Jed Lipinski: https://www.instagram.com/gonesouthpodcast/https://www.facebook.com/groups/gonesouthpodcast/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jed-lipinski/
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, this is Jill Schlesinger, CBS News, business analyst, certified financial planner, and the host of the Jill on Money podcast. |
| 0:07.8 | With the new year upon us, there's no better time to take control of your financial life. |
| 0:13.6 | And the Jill on Money podcast is here to help. |
| 0:16.6 | It's your questions that make it possible for me to provide unconventional and I hope |
| 0:21.7 | entertaining insights on your money, and more importantly, on your life. Follow and listen |
| 0:26.2 | to Jill on Money wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:35.0 | For the last 20 years, Valerie Bowerline has covered the South for the Wall Street Journal. |
| 0:41.3 | During that time, she's become well acquainted with the politicians and high-powered attorneys of South Carolina. |
| 0:48.0 | Some of these folks would play starring roles in the high-profile trial of Alex Murdoch, |
| 0:53.2 | the Mercurial Hampton County lawyer, who, in |
| 0:55.7 | 2023, was convicted of killing his wife and son and sentenced to life in prison. |
| 1:02.2 | Good evening, there is breaking news from South Carolina tonight where the verdict is in, and |
| 1:07.0 | the Alec Murdoch double murder trial, the jury fighting the once prominent attorney guilty |
| 1:12.1 | on all counts in the shooting deaths of his wife and 22-year-old son at the family's property |
| 1:18.3 | in 2021. |
| 1:20.3 | Valerie's early reporting on the Murdox helped bring the story to national attention, but the |
| 1:25.4 | Murdox had been making headlines in South Carolina for years. |
| 1:30.2 | In 2019, Alex's son, Paul, drunkenly crashed his family's boat into a bridge near Paris |
| 1:36.2 | Island, killing a young woman named Mallory Beach. The family was also suspected of killing |
| 1:42.3 | their housekeeper, along with a young man named Stephen Smith, |
| 1:46.0 | whose body was discovered on a desolate country road in 2015. |
| 1:51.0 | When Alex was finally charged with murder, the nation's attention turned to the question of his guilt, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Audacy Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Audacy Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.