Netflix's 'Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal' is impossible to look away from

What was once a small-town murder investigated by a podcast is now a worldwide mystery with its own Netflix documentary series titled "Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal."

Since 2015, a series of murders have been linked to the formerly esteemed Murdaugh family. The death that brought major media attention to the family was in 2019 when Paul Murdaugh, the youngest son of the family, crashed his boat while under the influence, leading to the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach.

Despite the efforts of his father, Alex Murdaugh, to pin the blame on Beach's boyfriend, Alex Murdaugh was charged with three counts of boating under the influence. Shortly after this incident, he and his mother, Margaret Murdaugh, were mysteriously murdered on their property.

Alex Murdaugh claimed that he had just arrived home when he found the pair deceased, instantly chalking the murders up to someone killing his son due to Beach's death.

Before the death of both mother and son and the boating accident, the family was linked to some other suspicious deaths. In 2015, Buster Murdaugh, the oldest son of the family, had an alleged boyfriend who was murdered in a horrific beating. 

Not even three years later, the family's housekeeper fell down the stairs and died. The family claimed the dogs tripped her, but there was still suspicion surrounding the true cause.

It seemed as though wherever the Murdaugh family went, trouble followed them. In the wake of the murder of his wife and child, Alex Murdaugh had the blame shifted onto him.

Throughout the Netflix documentary series, many of the people involved with the family were interviewed. It was incredibly touching and sorrowful to see the friends and family of the victims talk about what their loved ones were like and the gap left behind after their deaths.

The series was on Netflix's U.S. Top 10 list for several weeks, with many viewers finding the real-life story to be horrible yet interesting. Despite the documentary ending with Alex Murdaugh being charged with his family's murders, his trial, in real-time, had just begun.

The trial was one of the longest in South Carolina, yet the deliberations for the sentencing took a measly 3 hours. The jury determined that Alex Murdaugh was guilty and charged him to two consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole. 

It's a widely held opinion that Alex Murdaugh was the culprit in his family's killings. Apart from his committed murders, he has several other financial criminal charges against him, such as allegedly stealing millions of dollars from his law firm's clients and the firm itself.

One thing that many people have a problem with is that there was no clear motive for Alex Murdaugh to kill his wife of more than 30 years and his own son. There, of course, is much evidence to prove his guilt, but there was no clear incentive. It's especially confusing considering the lengths he went to protect his family and their reputation in the past.

We'll probably never know the true motivation behind the murders, but all we know is that this trial finally put an end to the havoc that the Murdaugh family put on their small town.