Margaret Kennedy “Maggie” Branstetter Murdaugh ... (2024)

FAQs

Were Maggie and Alex Murdaugh living separately? ›

Sources indicate that Maggie and Alex were living separately at the time of her death. Reports that Maggie had recently hired a divorce attorney have not been confirmed.

The request to return

Several witnesses testified that on the night of the murders Alex Murdaugh asked Maggie, who had been at the family's other property in nearby Edisto Beach, to return to Moselle. Maggie much preferred Edisto to Moselle and hadn't planned on leaving, her sister Marion Proctor told the court.

We now know how the rest of convicted killer Alex Murdaugh's money will be divvied up. A court-appointed special referee announced Monday that nearly 50% of Murdaugh's cash will go to the victims of the boat crash that killed Mallory Beach.

Maggie and Paul Murdaugh lie at rest in Hampton Cemetery near former longtime solicitor Randolph Murdaugh III and other family members.

Under the terms of the settlement, Buster will receive $530,000 from his mother's estate once the property has been sold.

“She had a personality, that she was witty. She loved things. She loved her family,” she said. “She wasn't the type of person that would stand out in a crowd, but she was always there, you know, to back everybody up.”

Prosecutors claim that Mr Murdaugh took her phone after killing her and Paul and then tossed it out the window of his moving car while driving to his mother's home to build an alibi for himself.

The kennel video

Perhaps the most significant piece of evidence came from another phone — Paul Murdaugh's. Alex Murdaugh claimed for months that he had not been at the kennels on the night of the murders.

Turrubiate-Simpson had worked for the Murdaughs for more than a decade, taking only a few years off to recover from a stroke. In that time, she'd become very close to Maggie and her family. She even cooked the last meal that Maggie and Paul would ever eat: cubed steak with gravy, white rice, and green beans.

Last year, Murdaugh was convicted by a jury for the murder of his 22-year-old son Paul and 52-year-old wife Maggie. The entire property of more than 1,700 acres last sold for $2.6 million in March of 2023 to James A. Ayer and Jeffrey L. Godley.

How much money did Alex Murdaugh steal from his clients? ›

In all, Murdaugh took settlement money from or inflated fees or expenses for more than two dozen clients. Prosecutors said the FBI found 11 more victims than the state investigation found and that Murdaugh stole nearly $1.3 million from them.

Alex Murdaugh was $4.2M in debt, overdrawn at bank, CEO testifies at murder trial.

The wife and son of Alex Murdaugh are buried together at the Hampton Cemetery in South Carolina, just a 30-minute drive from the Colleton County Courthouse where Alex is currently being tried for their double murder.

Investigators believe Maggie and Paul Murdaugh are killed around 8:50 p.m. near the kennels. Paul is shot twice with a shotgun, once in the chest and once in the head. Maggie is shot 5 times with 300 Blackout ammo from an AR-style rifle. Two of those shots strike her in the head.

The granite grave markers sadly bear the words "Mother" and "Son." The birth dates are 31 years apart, but the death dates record the same fateful day, June 7, 2021, while the largest word etched into the stone is a surname that has become internationally known: "Murdaugh."

Maggie And Alex Were Separated At The Time Of Her Death

2021. “Alex and Maggie didn't look at each other like they were married,” they continued. “There was no love lost between them. I never saw them touch or be affectionate to each other.”

Maggie Murdaugh, born Margaret Kennedy Branstetter, graduated from the University of South Carolina, where she met Alex Murdaugh, in 1991. She was a member of Kappa Delta Sorority. The pair married on August 14, 1993, and later had two sons, Paul and Buster.

The Murdaugh family hunting estate near Islandton, situated on the Salkehatchie River, was formerly called Moselle. After the convictions of Alex Murdaugh for the murders of his wife and son, which took place on the estate, the 1,770 acre property was rebranded Cross Swamp Farm and listed for sale.

Maggie was the sole owner of all of the family's Moselle property and a joint owner of the family's Edisto beach house. At the time of her death, Maggie had three mortgage encumbrances totaling more than two million dollars.