Alex Murdaugh sentencing: Disgraced SC attorney gets life in prison

Murdaugh was found guilty in the 2021 murders of his wife and youngest son.

Last Updated: March 3, 2023, 6:11 PM EST

Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was sentenced Friday to life in prison after being convicted of murdering his wife and their youngest son.

Margaret "Maggie" Murdaugh, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22, were found dead from multiple gunshot wounds near the dog kennels at the family's estate in June 2021, authorities said.

Alex Murdaugh, 54, was found guilty Thursday on all charges -- two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon in the commitment of a violent crime.

"Murdaugh Family Murders," a deep dive into the trial, featuring new interviews, airs Friday at 9 ET/8 CT on ABC's "20/20."

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Here's how the news developed. All times Eastern.
Mar 03, 2023, 4:00 AM EST

Timeline of key events

A string of bloody killings and mysteries involving a prominent South Carolina family has been filled with a wild chase full of twists and turns -- culminating in a murder conviction against the family’s patriarch.

At the center of it is Alex Murdaugh, 54, a former lawyer who comes from a legacy of prominent attorneys in South Carolina, where three generations of the family had been state prosecutors in the Hampton County area for more than a century.

The saga began when his youngest son, Paul, was involved in a fatal boat crash in 2019. A year and a half later, Murdaugh's wife, Margaret "Maggie" Murdaugh, 52, and Paul, 22, were found fatally shot on the family's rural hunting estate.

Since then, there have been curveballs in the investigation -- including Alex Murdaugh's alleged money misuse that led to his disbarment, an admitted opioid addiction, an assisted-suicide attempt involving an alleged $10 million insurance fraud scheme and a high-profile murder trial.

Here's a timeline of the key events in the Murdaugh murders and scandals.

In this booking photo released on Sept. 16, 2021, by the Hampton County Detention Center, Alex Murdaugh is shown.
Hampton County Detention Center