Why is the Alex Murdaugh case getting so much press?

20 comments

1. Who?

2. I have no idea. My NYT app pushes headline notifications about the case though.

3. I would totally watch a Mel Gibson and Danny Glover movie where they train the next generation of edgy detectives.

4. Netflix made a series. That’s the only reason I knew about it.

5. Is that the scummy lawyer that killed his wife and son?

   He’s a “legacy” type of guy. “old money” and comes from a family that has had a lot of regional power/influence. Some other sketchy things in his past that his influence/power may have helped cover up. Made for tv type of crime

6. because his family is very influential regionally, and also I think it’s just one of those cases that got a lot of attention online from the true crime girlies which raised the profile

7. There’s an old saying in journalism, “if it bleeds, it leads.”

   Why are true crime podcasts so popular? People love this shit. The media is only giving their consumers what they want.

8. There’s been a lull in Trump crimes. He used to commit at least one a day, but he’s slowing down.

9. Good question. Apparently he’s from a nearly century long political dynasty in South Carolina.

10. I was wondering the same thing last night and finally bothered to read the current wiki article. Apparently he comes from a prominent family, although they clearly aren’t *that* prominent since most of us had never heard of them.

11. Because it’s a placer for issues we should actually be focusing on.

12. Because 1) he’s an old legacy influential person in his area, and 2) because the case is so cartoonishly evil that it’s almost unbelievable

13. From what I can tell from my mom’s viewing habits, it gives Fox News anchors a break between “Look how weak Biden is” and “Look how awesomely scary Putin is.”

14. Netflix released a show on the situation

15. I haven’t seen it but lots of crime get big press despite not being famous people.

    Lot of people kill their family because they are mentally ill or violent psychopaths.

    This family ere wealthy “upstanding” yet fucking lunatics who got special treatment their whole life.

    I bet there are people following to see if this guy gets what he deserves. (If he did it – I dont really know much except from an article I read long before the trial)

16. Speaking as someone more or less from the area, there’s a pretty huge interest locally in stuff like this. The south has long been the place where old money families hold a lot of sway and the Murdaughs are no different.

    His family basically passed down the position of solicitor from father to son for three generations. They have been in involved in a lot of cases and have some pretty important contacts in the area. Alex is the third generation of this line and has a lot of skeletons in his closet.

    His son Paul killed a girl in a drunken boating accident and was a general fuck up that Alex had to constantly use his influence to cover for. Then there is his long standing drug addiction, which required a huge amount of money to pay for. Speaking of money, he has routinely screwed who knows how many clients out of their money, notably the children of his housekeeper after she died from a fall on his property. He also embezzled millions from his law firm, which current theories suggest is what prompted him to commit the murders. Furthermore, he got shot in the head in what initially seemed to be an attempted murder, but was later revealed either be a botched suicide attempt or a botched fake attempted murder. Now people are wondering if the case was at any point compromised by his many connections.

    Everything about this guy and this case oozes drama that the media loves. It was originally a fairly crazy story in SC, but slowly trickled into national media once more people recognized the dramatics of it all. The fact that it is about a legal dynasty from a small-town, yet influential southern family only adds to that.

17. Isn’t it because of the Netflix series?

18. I’m watching because I’d like to see if another rich person gets away with murder

19. From the South…what first made the news was when the son that was murdered was wasted, drove a boat filled with teenagers even when his friends were begging him not to, crashed into a bridge and one of the girls was killed. His very influential dad, uncle and grandfather swooped into the hospital and told all the kids not to talk to police. Tried to frame another kid.

20. Because you couldn’t make up a story with more intrigue and twists and turns. The whole thing has played out like a Southern Gothic novel.

    Also, Alex is emblematic of the rich white Southern old money type. SC is an old state, one of the oldest settled states (by Europeans) in the country. And as such there are old families that have ruled this state both officially and unofficially for centuries. His family is one such type and seeing their sudden and dramatic downfall is morbidly fascinating. There’s also the fact that this corruption runs DEEP and has tentacles throughout the state. A lot could get uncovered soon.