Who was Paul Murdaugh and how did he die?
HORROR befell a once-prominent family when a mother and son were found dead.
Disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of the murders of his wife Maggie and his younger son Paul.
Who was Paul Murdaugh?
Born on April 14, 1999, Paul Murdaugh was the younger of Alex Murdaugh and Maggie Branstetter's two sons.
At the time of his death, Paul was a junior at the University of South Carolina.
He is remembered as "loving and genuine" with "an abundance of friends."
He is survived by his older brother Buster, his father Alex, and a number of extended family members.
On June 7, 2021, Paul and his mother Maggie were found dead.
At the crime scene, their bodies were discovered in close proximity to a dog kennel near their South Carolina property.
How did Paul and his mother Maggie die?
As Paul and Maggie's deaths became homicide investigations, police concluded the mother and son were fatally shot.
Investigators reported the son and mother were murdered with two different firearms.
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Paul suffered wounds to his upper body and head from what appeared to have been a shotgun.
Meanwhile, an assault rifle is thought to have been used to kill Maggie.
On July 14, 2022, Murdaugh family patriarch Alex was arrested and formally indicted for the murders of his wife and youngest son.
He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
On March 2, 2023, Alex was found guilty of Maggie and Paul's homicides.
The following day, he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in prison.
Paul and Maggie's tragedies are relived in the Netflix docuseries Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, as well as .
During Buster's interview in the latter special, he insists Alex did not kill Paul and Maggie.
While maintaining his father's innocence, the surviving Murdaugh son told Martha MacCallum: "I do not think that he could be affiliated with endangering my mother and brother.
"That is what I believe. We have been here for a while now and that’s been my stance."
What happened to Mallory Beach?
Back in February 2019, Paul was charged with boating under the influence, which resulted in the death of Mallory Beach.
He had previously pleaded not guilty to multiple felony charges related to Mallory and the boat crash.
The 19-year-old's body was found eight days after the tragic incident.
Paul's family’s ties to the legal system, however, sparked questions about whether the investigation into the teen's death was done properly.
Paul's grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather had been longtime elected solicitors in the area.
According to : "Paul Murdaugh was released on his own recognizance and for nearly two years, his case dragged on as he awaited trial."
After Paul and his mother were found dead, the Beach family expressed their condolences.
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“The Beach family extends its deepest and warmest sympathies to the Murdaugh family during this terrible time," a lawyer for the Beaches said in a statement.
"Having suffered the devastating loss of their own daughter, the family prays that the Murdaughs can find some level of peace from this tragic loss."