ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Stock PhotoFormer attorney Alex Murdaugh has been convicted of numerous crimes, including the murders of his wife and son. South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh appeared to have it all. For generations, his family had held power in the Lowcountry as a prominent legal dynasty. He, his wife, and his two sons were local royalty. Everything changed on June 7, 2021, when Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, were found shot to death at the family’s hunting estate. Murdaugh’s subsequent attempt at orchestrating his own murder to ensure his elder son, Buster, would be able to claim his $10 million life insurance policy only cast a greater spotlight on his family’s troubles. As it turned out, those troubles were part of a much larger web of dark secrets. What began as a tragedy quickly spiraled into a captivating and disturbing exposé of greed, fraud, addiction, and murder that forever tarnished the Murdaugh name — a name now associated with scandal. The Murdaugh Murders At Moselle On the night of June 7, 2021, Alex Murdaugh dialed 911 in a panic, saying that he found the bodies of his wife Maggie and son Paul. They’d been shot to death near the family’s hunting estate, Moselle, in Islandton, South Carolina. The transcript of the call has Murdaugh describing the scene in grisly detail. “She’s shot in the head, and he’s shot really bad,” Murdaugh tells the dispatcher. Then, the dispatcher asks Murdaugh where Paul was shot. Murdaugh replies, “Ma’am, I don’t know but he has blood everywhere… I see brain, I can see his brain.” He then describes Maggie’s condition: “She’s facedown. I tried to turn her a little bit, but she’s got a hole in her head.” Maggie Murdaugh/FacebookThe Murdaugh family: Buster, Maggie, Paul, and Alex. At the time of their murders, Maggie was 52 years old and Paul was just 22 years old. Paul had been shot twice at close range, and Maggie had been shot several times. Her body was a few yards away from Paul’s, but they were both found near the family’s dog kennels at Moselle. Initially, Alex Murdaugh told investigators he had been visiting his mother, who suffered from dementia, when the killings occurred. However, his story soon began to unravel, as evidence showed he clearly overestimated the time he spent with his mother that night. Cell phone records, GPS data, and forensic evidence would eventually contradict his alibi. But the real “smoking gun” in the case was a Snapchat video captured on Paul’s phone just minutes before the murders. This video happened to include Alex’s voice in the background. However, this crucial piece of evidence was only uncovered by police about a year and a half after the murders, as it took authorities a long time to unlock Paul’s phone. The Snapchat video captured by Paul Murdaugh shortly before he was murdered. But Alex Murdaugh’s story began falling apart long before the Snapchat video ever came to light. Investigators quickly noticed inconsistencies and contradictions in his story. For instance, he claimed that he had tried to revive his wife and son, but he had no blood on his own clothes or body. Naturally, it wasn’t long before his name was in the headlines again. Alex Murdaugh’s Staged Shooting Exposed A History Of Addiction — And Financial Crimes On Sept. 4, 2021, Alex Murdaugh was shot in the head while he was changing a tire on his car on a rural road. He was supposed to die in the shooting. Initially, he claimed the gunman was a stranger who drove a blue pickup. But he soon admitted he had orchestrated the incident himself, hiring a former client and alleged drug supplier, Curtis Edward Smith, to kill him so his surviving son, Buster, could collect on his $10 million life insurance policy. Murdaugh believed that if he died by suicide, the policy would not pay out to Buster, which is why he tried to arrange his own murder. But ultimately, the bullet only grazed his head, leaving a superficial wound. By September 6th, Murdaugh had publicly announced that he resigned from his law firm — Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrickhe — and that he planned to enter rehab because of his decades-long opioid addiction. As he put it: “The murders of my wife and son have caused an incredibly difficult time in my life. I have made a lot of decisions that I truly regret. I’m resigning from my law firm and entering rehab after a long battle that has been exacerbated by these murders. I am immensely sorry to everyone I’ve hurt including my family, friends and colleagues.” NetflixCurtis Edward Smith, the man who Murdaugh says assisted him in his failed suicide plot. Soon after that, however, Murdaugh’s former law firm released a separate statement, alleging Murdaugh had been misusing the company’s money: “His resignation came after the discovery by PMPED that Alex misappropriated funds in violation of PMPED standards and policies. A forensic accounting firm will be retained to conduct a thorough investigation.” On September 14th, Smith was charged with assisted suicide, insurance fraud, assault, and firearms offenses. As the shocking truth was revealed about Murdaugh’s failed suicide plot, his attorney Richard Harpootlian claimed that his client was driven to this desperate act by despair. Harpootlian said Murdaugh’s attempted suicide was an “attempt on his part to do something to protect his child” amidst his worsening opioid addiction. Murdaugh, meanwhile, turned himself in on September 16th and was charged with insurance fraud and filing a false police report. After he was granted bond, he was given permission to go back to rehab — after he surrendered his passport. As questions rose about Murdaugh’s bizarre, failed plan, questions also began to emerge about his misappropriated funds. It was later found that misusing money was just the tip of the iceberg. An Ominous Pattern Of Scandals, Greed, And Suspicious Deaths NetflixBefore Paul Murdaugh was murdered by his father, he was involved in a boating incident in 2019, which led to the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach. Paul, then also 19, was allegedly intoxicated when he accidentally crashed the boat. A 2024 statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of South Carolina eventually revealed that Alex Murdaugh had been embroiled in multiple financial schemes dating back more than a decade. One wire fraud scheme beginning around July 2011 lasted until October 2021, and involved Murdaugh’s banker, Russell Laffitte, while a second scheme that ran from September 2005 to September 2021 saw Murdaugh obtaining money from his clients and his law firm by means of false pretenses. He had also, from around February 2018 to October 2020, conspired with another attorney, Cory Fleming, to defraud the estate of his former housekeeper and his homeowner’s insurance carriers. As investigators slowly uncovered this information, they came to realize that Murdaugh’s staged suicide attempt wasn’t an isolated misstep that came out of nowhere. Instead, he was seemingly trying to escape accountability for his involvement in financial crimes and other suspicious events. One of the most infamous cases involved the death of the Murdaugh family’s longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who died in February 2018 after a “trip and fall accident” at the Murdaugh home. No autopsy was conducted, and her death certificate listed the cause as “natural,” inconsistent with injuries that she would’ve sustained after tripping and falling. After Satterfield’s death, Murdaugh recommended that her sons hire Fleming, so that they could bring a wrongful death claim against him and eventually collect money from his homeowner’s insurance policies. Though Murdaugh’s insurance companies settled the estate’s claim for two payments, $505,000 and $3,800,000, Satterfield’s sons never saw any of the money. As it was later revealed, Murdaugh and Fleming were stealing it. In the meantime, another mysterious case from 2015 also resurfaced during the investigation of Alex Murdaugh. This involved 19-year-old Stephen Smith, who was found dead on a rural road about 10 miles from the Murdaugh home. Initially ruled a hit-and-run — but with no suspects — the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) decided to reopen the investigation in the wake of the Murdaugh murders. Eventually, authorities revealed that Smith’s death may have been a homicide. While the mystery of Smith’s death remains unsolved to this day, and the exact link between his demise and the Murdaugh family is unclear, the tragic loss continues to raise questions about just how influential the Murdaugh family had truly been — and what they were capable of. Notably, the Murdaugh family was also entangled in serious legal trouble connected to Paul leading up to Paul’s murder. In February 2019, while allegedly drunk, a then 19-year-old Paul had accidentally crashed a family boat into a bridge, throwing many of his young passengers into the water. Tragically, this incident led to the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach. NetflixMallory Beach, the young victim of Paul Murdaugh’s boating accident, pictured with her boyfriend Anthony Cook. By April 2019, Paul Murdaugh had been charged with three felony counts in connection with the deadly boat crash. He pleaded not guilty, but was awaiting trial regarding the incident at the time of his own death. Beach’s family eventually also sued Alex Murdaugh for Beach’s wrongful death. Crucially, a lawyer for the Beach family was pushing for access to Alex Murdaugh’s financial records in the lead-up to Paul and Maggie’s murders. As investigators uncovered the depth of Murdaugh’s financial crimes and the tangled web of lies and deception that had gone on for years, they seemed to find more and more victims who were taken advantage of by Murdaugh. Many of his victims were vulnerable people who trusted him. In one case, he stole from a client who became a quadriplegic after a crash. In another, he took money meant for children whose parents died in a wreck. By November 2023, Murdaugh had pleaded guilty to almost two dozen state financial charges against him, including money laundering, conspiracy, forgery, and tax evasion. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison for those crimes. Then, in April 2024, he was sentenced to 40 years behind bars for federal financial crimes, including wire fraud and bank fraud. “Murdaugh’s victims turned to him when they were particularly vulnerable, after suffering serious injuries and losing loved ones,” said Adair F. Boroughs, U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina. “They put their trust in him as their lawyer, and he betrayed them. His crimes were cold, calculated, and brazen, and he earned every day of his 40-year sentence.” Of course, Murdaugh was also found guilty of even more serious crimes. Alex Murdaugh’s Murder Trial NetflixAlex Murdaugh in court. The murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh had been the inciting incident for a series of events that saw the gradual undoing of decades of prominence for the Murdaugh family. But even as Alex Murdaugh’s financial schemes started to come to light, the question still remained of what, exactly, had happened to his wife and son. Prosecutors had a compelling story: Alex Murdaugh had murdered Maggie and Paul to gain sympathy from the public, escape accountability, and buy time as his financial crimes emerged. Murdaugh’s murder trial officially began in January 2023, with prosecutors presenting cellphone records, GPS data, and Murdaugh’s changing statements to investigators. The Snapchat video taken by Paul, revealed only in February 2023, became crucial to their case. If Alex had been home that night — in the very same area where Maggie and Paul were killed — why had he lied? More importantly, wouldn’t he have seen or heard something if there had indeed been another person there to kill them? Despite the evidence against him, the Associated Press reported that Murdaugh denied guilt even at the very end of the trial. Murdaugh said, “As I tell you again, I respect this court. But I am innocent. I would never under any circumstances hurt my wife Maggie and I would never under any circumstances hurt my son Paul-Paul.” “And it might not have been you,” Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman replied. “It might have been the monster you become.” Defense Lawyers Continue To File Appeals And Demand A New Trial With that, Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without parole in March 2023. But his lawyers argued, during the trial and afterward, that investigators had mishandled the crime scene, and that no direct physical evidence tied Murdaugh to the killings. They continued to file appeals alleging jury tampering by Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill. In January 2024, a judge denied the motion for a new trial, but as ABC News reported, Hill was eventually charged with misconduct and perjury, largely relating to a book about the trial that she had co-authored. The book also faced accusations of plagiarism, leading to it being pulled from publication. ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Stock PhotoBuster Murdaugh in court during his father’s trial. As recently as Sept. 10, 2025, Murdaugh’s lawyers are still asking for a new trial in the double murder. They continue to argue that police mishandled evidence in the case, and they’ve cited Hill’s apparent lack of credibility as additional support for their previous claims of jury tampering. The state Supreme Court has yet to make a ruling on this new trial bid, but prosecutors made their own feelings known in a 181-page document that was filed a month earlier. The jury convicted Murdaugh “because he was obviously guilty, not because three jurors heard Becky Hill’s ‘foolish and fleeting’ comments about his upcoming testimony,” the prosecutors wrote. For now, at least, Alex Murdaugh’s murder convictions remain intact. Considering that, and the many other crimes he was found guilty of, it’s likely that he’ll spend the rest of his life behind bars. After reading about the crimes of Alex Murdaugh, learn about Robert Durst, the real estate heir linked to three murders. Then, go inside the controversial history of the Astor family, one of America’s most prominent dynasties. The post How Alex Murdaugh Went From Prominent South Carolina Lawyer To Double Murderer appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Dr. Woidich GmbHThe circular stone structure from the Roman era, believed to be a funerary monument, that was discovered near Wolkertshofen, Germany. Archaeologists have uncovered a rare circular monument in the German state of Bavaria, believed to be the remains of a burial mound from the Roman era. The Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation discovered the mound while conducting work related to the construction of a new stormwater retention basin in the region. No human remains have been found at the monument, leading archaeologists to conclude that the circular monument may have been built as a cenotaph, symbolic memorial to someone who died elsewhere. The monument once sat near a major Roman road, leading from Nassenfels into the Altmühl Valley. While burial mounds were not uncommon in the Roman world, the particular size and construction of the newly-uncovered monument make it a unique find in the region. The Discovery Of A Roman Funerary Monument During Construction Work In Germany Dr. Woidich GmbHArchaeologists also found a square extension on the south side of the structure that may have served as a base for an altar. The monument was first unearthed last fall after construction began to install a new stormwater retention basin near Wolkertshofen, Germany. Because the region has been known to hold old settlements and burials, the construction project was conducted alongside the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation. At first, archaeologists only discovered ceramic fragments and hints of prehistoric settlement in the region. Then, they found the remains of a massive stone foundation. The stone foundation formed a circle just over 39 feet in diameter. It was composed of neatly stacked stones. Archaeologists also located a structure extending about 6 feet out from the monument on the south side of the circle. Archaeologists found no traces of human remains or burial artifacts at the site. This led the team to conclude that the mound was built as a cenotaph, or a symbolic burial mound for someone who died elsewhere and whose body was not present for interment. “We didn’t expect to discover a funerary monument of this age and scale,” Mathias Pfeil, General Conservator at the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation, said in a statement. “Located along an important Roman road, this tumulus served both as a memorial and a statement of social prestige for the deceased’s family.” Based on the material used to create the monument and the way in which it was built, archaeologists estimate it was built sometime during the Roman period. Similar burial mounds appeared in the northwest regions of the Roman Empire during the first century. The Prevalence Of Burial Mounds In The Roman Provinces Dr. Woidich GmbHThe excavation site of the circular Roman burial mound found in Wolkertshofen. At the time the burial mound was constructed, the region was known as the Roman province of Raetia. It extended from modern Switzerland into Liechtenstein, Northern Italy, Austria, and southern Germany. This area had a long history of burial monuments dating back as far as the Bronze Age. By the Iron Age, these mounds were often used for secondary burials. Archaeologists hypothesized that the Roman construction of burial mounds in the region beginning in the first century may have been done as an attempt to return to pre-Roman Celtic traditions. However, the construction of the monument is distinctly Roman. That, combined with its size and preservation, makes the circular mound unique for Raetia. Now, archaeologists are going to analyze soil samples and construction materials in order to determine the monument’s approximate age. They also want to figure out if there were any different possible phases of use for the site. Indeed, much more remains to be uncovered regarding this unique find. After reading about the circular monument found in Bavaria, see the circular Mayan temple uncovered in Mexico. Then, learn about a 2,600-year-old burial mound in Germany that was made for a Celtic prince. The post Massive Funerary Monument From The Roman Era Unearthed During Construction Work In Germany appeared first on All That's Interesting.

M. Novak et al. 2025The seven men are believed to have died during one violent episode in the third century C.E. During routine excavations ahead of construction work at a university in Osijek, Croatia, in 2011, archaeologists came across the skeletal remains of seven bodies stuffed into a well. Now, upon further examination, archaeologists have determined that the skeletons belonged to Roman soldiers who seemingly died violent deaths almost 2,000 years ago during the Battle of Mursa. Analysis of the remains revealed where the men had come from, what they ate, and how they likely died. The research also offered a look at the historic battle itself, which occurred during the Roman Empire’s “Crisis of the Third Century.” The Seven Roman Soldiers In The Croatian Well According to a new study published in PLOS One, archaeologists discovered the bodies during protective excavations ahead of the construction of a new library at the the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek. They uncovered a number of ancient wells during their work, one of which contained human remains. It was packed with “seven adult individuals… in different positions and in different depths.” M. Novak et al. 2025The well that held the remains of the Roman soldiers is circled here in red. The positions of the skeletons, right on top of each other in the well, suggested that they had been dumped there at the same time. Researchers believe that they were put in the well shortly after their deaths, “while their bodies were still fully fleshed, and not partially or completely skeletonized.” What’s more, radiocarbon dating and a coin found in the well hinted at when the men had died. The human remains were dated to the the second half of the third century C.E., and the coin was minted in 251 C.E. Researchers suspected that the men had died during the Battle of Mursa in 260 C.E., a hypothesis that was backed up by further study of their remains. Not only were the men of fighting age (four were between the ages of 18 and 35 and three between the ages of 36 and 50), but their skeletons showed evidence of “prolonged physical activity” consistent with that of a soldier. “Several indicators point to the fact that these are indeed Roman soldiers,” the study’s lead author, Mario Novak, told All That’s Interesting in an email. “The first is the sex and age distribution of the whole assemblage — seven adult males… aged between 18 and 50 years which corresponds to the age of Roman soldiers known from historic written sources.” “Second,” continued Novak, “all males are quite robust and strong and their stature is well above the average male height for that time period — again, we know from Roman sources how soldiers were supposed to be built; definitely all of them show evidence of intense physical activities. Third, there are old injuries on the skeletons suggesting they participated in violent episodes during their lifetime.” Indeed, the men had seemingly died soldiers’ deaths. M. Novak et al. 2025The skeletons had intense injuries, including broken teeth and cuts on the bone. Two of the men had injuries on the frontal bones of their skulls, likely sustained from blunt force trauma during “face-to-face combat.” Another had a wound on his hip, suggesting that he’d been attacked from behind, and one man had injuries to his sternum consistent with piercing by an arrow or spear, broken teeth, and cuts on his arm and rib bones. Interestingly, researchers were also able to determine that while the men ate a similar “soldier’s” diet, they came from far-flung corners of the Roman Empire. According to the study, this could “reflect the Roman Empire’s reliance on heterogeneous military recruitment, corroborating historical evidence of the integration of ‘foreign’ groups into the imperial forces.” The researchers believe that the men died during the Roman Empire’s “Crisis of the Third Century,” possibly during a little-remembered conflict in 260 C.E. known as the Battle of Mursa. The Battle Of Mursa And The ‘Crisis Of The Third Century’ During the Crisis of the Third Century, which took place for roughly 50 years between 235 and 284 C.E., the Roman Empire struggled on several fronts with foreign invasions, civil strife, and domestic rebellions. G.dallorto/Wikimedia CommonsDiocletian, the Roman emperor who ended the Crisis of the Third Century by splitting the Roman Empire. One such incident was the Battle of Mursa during 260 C.E. During this little-known battle, which took place in present-day Croatia, allies of Roman Emperor Gallienus fought against those of Ingenuus, a Roman military commander who’d revolted against the emperor. It was during this battle that the researchers believe the seven Roman soldiers lost their lives. “The fact they were most probably soldiers (based on the facts described above) who ended their lives due to violent injuries also points to the fact they were either killed in the battle or immediately after the battle,” Novak explained. “And again, we know from contemporary sources that the battle of Mursa in 260 C.E. took place outside of the city walls and that it was one of the bloodiest battles in the history of the Roman Empire.” What’s more, Novak and his team are currently in the process of studying another set of remains “of at least 25 adult male individuals with numerous perimortem injuries” found roughly 300 feet away who were probably also “the victims of the battle of Mursa in 260 C.E.” The Crisis of the Third Century would come to an end two decades later, when the emperor Diocletian split the Roman Empire into several parts. He would rule the Eastern Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, while a co-emperor would reign over the Western Empire. During this time, the Roman Empire was changing in dramatic ways. But at least seven of its soldiers would not live to see it. They instead died in the Battle of Mursa, each a small piece of the larger Roman story that would not be uncovered for another 1,700 years. After reading about the ancient Roman soldiers whose remains were found in a Croatian well, learn about the Pax Romana period of Roman history, an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity. Or, untangle the complicated question of why the Roman Empire fell. The post 1,700-Year-Old Skeletons Found In A Well In Croatia Have Been Identified As Roman Soldiers appeared first on All That's Interesting.

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