MYSTERIOUS DEATH: The Murdaugh Murders

Hi everyone, it's Carter.

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This is Crime House, a sprawling estate, a story that didn't line up, corruption that went

back years, and one man who was willing to kill to hide the truth.

In South Carolina's Hampton County, life doesn't move too fast.

Located in a region called the Low Country, Hampton is known for its humble, tight-knit communities,

and it's the kind of place where everybody knows everybody.

Life is simple, quiet, and peaceful.

Even the smallest towns have their demons, and in 2021, Hampton County's dark secrets

were exposed.

At the center of the story was a man named Alec Murdoch, the heir to a massive legal dynasty.

Alec was one of the most trusted people in his community, but he took advantage of that

position to steal from his clients, embezzle money from his law firm, and even interfere

in criminal investigations he didn't like.

His powerful position allowed him to get away with it for years, but thanks to a brutal

double murder, Alec Murdoch's true nature eventually came to light, and Hampton County

would never be the same again.

This is the Murdoch murders.

People's lives are like a story, there's a beginning, a middle, and an end, but you

don't always know which part you're on.

Sometimes the final chapter arrives far too soon, and we don't always get to know the

real ending.

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Welcome back to another episode of Murder Mystery Fridays, where I'm covering cases

with questions that I can't get out of my head.

The ones where the evidence points in multiple directions and every theory feels like a possibility.

Remember, these episodes are also on YouTube with full video, just search for murder, true

crime stories, and be sure to like and subscribe.

Today, I'm talking about one of the biggest stories of the last few years, the Murdoch

murders.

This family of prominent lawyers dominated Hampton County, South Carolina, for four generations.

In 2019, a fatal accident revealed the tangled web the Murdoch's had woven.

Two years later, the story got even more complicated when two members of the family were found

murdered.

When the people of Hampton County learned who their killer was, it made them question

everything they thought they knew, because it turned out, a monster was living among

them lurking in plain sight.

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South Carolina is a paradise for nature lovers, serene creeks cut through coastal marshes,

herds of deer, wander through tall pines, evergreens and gum trees, wild hogs come out

at dusk rooting around in the rich dirt.

This natural beauty is apparent at the Mozel estate, a vast 1,700 acre plot at the eastern

edge of Hampton County.

Right along the Sakahatchee River, the estate features a 5,000 square foot house, a two-mile

stretch of riverfronts and a farm.

Think of it as a country vacation home, crossed with a full hunting lodge, equipped with dog

kennels, a skinning shed and duck ponds.

In 2013, this property was purchased by 45-year-old Alec Murdoch.

He had Scottish heritage, so although his name was spelled like Alec's, he went by Alec,

and he wanted Mozel estate to be a home away from home for his family.

Everyone in Hampton knew the Murdoch name.

It was about as close to royalty as you could get around there.

For four generations, the Murdoch men served as solicitors in Hampton.

That South Carolina's term for a district attorney or lead prosecutor.

That means they were responsible for helping police investigate crimes, deciding who to

prosecute and representing the state in civil lawsuits.

Basically, all major criminal justice decisions flowed through the Murdoch family, which made

them very important.

And although Alec Murdoch wasn't a solicitor himself, he was a partner at a law firm

co-founded by his great grandfather.

It was called Peters, Murdoch, Parker, Eltsroth, and Dietrich.

P-M-P-E-D was well known in the area for winning major personal injury settlements and all

kinds of high-value lawsuits.

All to say, the Murdoch's were rich, capable, and connected.

An absolute legal powerhouse.

And Mozilla State was the ultimate symbol of their wealth.

Of course, maintaining such a large property required lots of upkeep, but the family

had plenty of staff.

One of their longest serving employees was a woman named Gloria Satterfield, a 57-year-old

housekeeper, nanny, and babysitter who'd been with Murdoch's for nearly two decades.

Gloria was a hard worker who went wherever the family needed her to go.

As a single mother of two boys herself, she knew exactly what Alec's two sons, Paul and

Buster, needed.

They thought of her as a second mother.

Like their biological mom Maggie, Gloria put her whole heart into raising those boys.

According to Gloria's best friend, Linda, she never took a vacation.

She simply couldn't afford to stop working, not that you'd ever catch her complaining.

So on February 2, 2018, she showed up to Mozilla right on time, as always.

As she went through her daily tasks, she bustled from one end of the estate to the other,

but while climbing a set of brick steps outside of the main house, something terrible happened,

she felt and hit her head hard.

Just before 9.30am, Maggie found Gloria and called 911.

Maggie told the operator that blood was leaking from Gloria's left ear, but she was still

semi-conscious.

When questioned, Alec later said that their rambunctious hunting dogs had swarmed around Gloria,

causing her to trip while going up the steps.

Gloria's version of events is still up for debate today, but first responders arrived

on the scene and transferred Gloria to the hospital.

She remained in a coma for three weeks before succumbing to her injuries.

The loss was devastating for Gloria's adult sons, Brian and Tony, and though her death

was ruled and accident at the funeral, Alec came up to Brian and Tony.

He said he felt partially responsible for what happened.

After all, Gloria tripped because of his dogs on his property.

To repay 20 years of loyal service, Alec told Brian and Tony he wanted to take care of them

financially.

But instead of just sending them money, he had something else in mind.

According to these sadder fields, Alec wanted them to file a wrongful death suit against

him so they could collect a personal liability insurance settlement.

That meant Alec wanted to compensate the sadder fields through his insurance rather than

paying them directly himself, and to do that, they needed to sue him.

To make the unconventional case look more legitimate, Alec got the sadder fields to bring

on one of his colleagues, a lawyer named Corey Fleming.

He also made a guy named Chad Westendorf their personal executor in the legal negotiations.

This meant Chad now had the authority to make certain decisions on behalf of Brian and

Tony.

More importantly, it meant that their lawyer no longer had a legal responsibility to keep

Brian and Tony informed about their case.

Instead, all he had to do was keep Chad in the loop.

So months passed without Brian and Tony hearing a word about the lawsuit, no court date,

nothing.

They called Corey's law firm repeatedly and were told the same thing.

Be patient and waited out.

They believed legal negotiations were still underway when, in reality, Corey and Alec had

zero plans of ever getting them that money.

In fact, they'd already filed the wrongful death suit without them knowing.

Even worse, Alec's insurance companies had already agreed to pay settlements worth more

than four million dollars, and Brian and Tony had no idea.

Of that money, almost three million was supposed to go to Brian and Tony while the rest was

earmarked for legal costs.

Still, the satirfields weren't suspicious yet.

The Murdoch's had a sterling reputation in the community and plenty of money of their

own enough to pay for the Mozel Ranch, a separate home in Hampton, and a beach house for

the summer.

The idea that the Murdoch's would steal from them probably never crossed the satirfield's

minds, but no one's patience lasts forever.

In 2019, more than a year after their mother's passing, Brian and Tony finally started digging

for answers.

As they escalated the case, another tragic accident thrust the Murdoch family into the spotlight,

and this one would make national headlines.

This time, the scandal centered around Alec and Maggie Murdoch's youngest son, 19-year-old

Paul.

He was used to getting in trouble and buying his way out of it.

Tall with red hair and a reckless attitude, Paul was the quintessential product of Southern

privilege, although he was a student at the University of South Carolina.

Well, Paul wasn't exactly academically inclined.

He was happy to work at his uncle John's rental business by day and spend his free time

hunting, fishing, and partying.

At 19 years old, Paul was already a heavy drinker and would use his brother's old ID to buy

booze.

And for him, February 23, 2019 was like any other Saturday.

Just another chance to cut loose.

That was the night of a huge oyster roast, South Carolina cook out tradition, at a friend's

waterfront home.

Paul took the family boat from his grandfather's house, 25 miles down the Chichessie River

to get there.

It was a sleek, white speed boat built for leisure.

It wasn't the biggest, but it could fit about six passengers if they packed in tight.

That night, Paul was accompanied by a group of friends and frenemies all between the ages

of 18 and 20 years old.

Two of them, Anthony and Connor, brought their girlfriends, Mallory and Miley.

They had all known each other since they were kids and were generally on good terms, except

from Miley who was not a fan of Paul.

Miley saw him as brash and selfish, and more importantly, she didn't like the way Paul

treated his on-again, off-again girlfriend Morgan, who also came along for the ride.

So there were six young adults in total on a boat that was fully stocked with alcohol.

It was sure to be a memorable night once they arrived at the party.

Everyone laughed, danced, and of course roasted oysters over an open fire.

Miley, around midnight, things started to slow down.

Paul and his friends were all pretty drunk, but Paul was probably the worst.

He was on the cusp of blacking out, which was kind of a signature move for him.

When that happened, Paul went from a harmless party boy to mean obnoxious and bullheaded.

The other people at the party must have noticed it too, because a bunch of them offered Paul

and his friends a ride home.

That late at night, it was pitch black on the river.

The temperature was in the upper fifties, which meant it would be absolutely freezing out

on the water, plus a dense fog had rolled in, making the river difficult to navigate even

for a sober person.

The Murdock crew had every reason to hitch a ride and return for the boat the next day,

and Paul insisted on taking them all back by water.

And when he was drunk, every little disagreement exploded into a huge fight.

So his friends also drunk and not wanting to argue went along with him.

Although Paul was already wasted, he wasn't ready to call it a night.

He ignored his friends, who just wanted to go home, and stopped the boat at a dock downtown

and said they were going to a bar.

Anthony, Morgan, Miley, and Mallory refused to come along.

So they killed time in a nearby playground, while Paul and Conor stumbled into a bar called

Luther's Well and Rare Done to take some shots.

And by the time they all got back to the boat, Paul was belligerence, off balance, and

completely loaded.

So Anthony, one of the friends who stayed back at the playground, tried to take Paul's

keys, but Paul wouldn't hear it.

His boat, his rules against their better judgment, the rest of his friends gave in and followed

him onto the wobbly boat.

They regretted it almost immediately.

Paul was an even worse captain than before.

He swerved, went in circles, and nearly collided with a fleet of sailboats.

But no matter how hard everyone else tried, he wouldn't give up the wheel.

At one point, Paul tried to get Morgan, his on and off again girlfriend, to take his

side.

When she refused, he went as low as he could.

Consulted Morgan's father mocking him for not making enough money to support their family.

That really set things off.

Morgan started crying while Paul screamed at her.

She demanded again that Paul, that someone else drive in response, he slapped her in the

face and spat on her.

Then he stripped down to his underwear and wildly steered the boat around the river.

Everyone wanted Paul away from the wheel, but there was no way to stop him without physically

restraining him in an unsteady boat.

Before anyone could act, Paul grabbed the throttle and slammed it all the way forward.

A bridge emerged from the fog, but it was too late.

The other five passengers hunkered down and braced for a collision.

Anthony gripped his girlfriend, Mallory, tight as the boat slammed into the archer's

creek bridge at full speed.

The consequences would plague the Murdoch family for years and ultimately cost three people

their lives.

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Around 2 a.m. on February 24th, 2019, 19-year-old Paul Murdoch crashed his boat in a head-on collision

with the bridge.

The impact catapulted Paul, along with his friends, into the cold water.

From there, it was chaos.

Paul and the others managed to splash their way to shore, one by one, but when they counted

heads.

They realized their friend Mallory was still missing.

Paul's friend Anthony screamed his girlfriend's name and swam out to search for her, but it

was no use.

He eventually flopped back onto the riverbank to exhaust it to keep going.

First responders arrived a few minutes later, and despite the terrifying situation, Paul

was just as drunk and belligerent as ever, mouthing off to the EMTs and a sheriff's

deputy.

Officers sent a search team out to look for Mallory, but by the time they assembled

the boats, it was around 4 a.m. and the conditions were bad.

After an hour and a half, they had to pause the operation while they waited for the

son to burn off the thick fog.

But even when the conditions cleared up, they couldn't find her.

Alec Murdoch knew his son, Paul, could be in major trouble.

Just hours after Mallory went missing, Alec visited Paul and his friends in the hospital.

When he found a detective questioning his son, he shut the interrogation down and identified

himself as Paul's lawyer.

From then on, all questions had to go through him first.

Against policy, witnesses claimed that Alec also entered the hospital rooms where Paul's

friends were staying.

He spoke to the young women and tried to get them to change their stories, suggesting

that maybe Connor was the one driving the boat that night.

Morgan, Paul's ex-girlfriend, was so shaken by the experience that she asked a nurse

to stop Alec from going into her room again.

And Alec's actions at the hospital weren't the only suspicious developments in the boat

crash investigation.

According to witnesses, Paul wasn't given a field sobriety test until 90 minutes after

police arrived on the scene of the crash.

Looking at so late, meant the results weren't accurate, which meant there was no way to

know exactly how intoxicated Paul was at the time of the collision.

Reports also showed that the police failed to collect Paul's phone as evidence, then

a key witness statement wasn't recorded as it should have been.

Officers also neglected to take photos of the wrecked boat while it was being tested

for DNA evidence, and these kind of procedural errors weren't lost on the crash victims.

A lot of them wondered if this was an oversight or an unspoken favor to the Murdoch family.

But no matter how hard Alec tried to cover everything up, Mallory's name dominated the

local headlines, and were got out that Paul Murdoch had been driving the boat when it

crashed.

A week after the accident, someone found Mallory's dead body five miles from the side of the

crash in a narrow waterway off the main river.

An autopsy determined she died from blunt force trauma and drowning.

As the story blew up, tons of journalists looked into the case and uncovered more information

about the Murdoch family.

And in November 2019, a reporter for a local paper called the Island Packet Mandy Matney

discovered something startling, a document on one of Gloria Satterfield's wrongful death

settlements.

The significance of it wasn't clear, other than the fact that the Murdochs were now involved

in two suspicious deaths.

But in Mandy's article about the boat crash, she included the information she had that

Alec Murdoch had been involved in a wrongful death settlement regarding Gloria Satterfield.

Gloria's sons, Tony and Brian, happened to read the story.

By that point, it had been almost two years since their mother's passing.

They still hadn't heard a word from Alec or his law firm about any settlement, so this

was news to them.

They decided to hire a new lawyer to look into the situation, and it was a good thing

they did.

It took some time, but Brian and Tony's new lawyer uncovered settlements from two separate

insurance companies.

Now, it is legal to have more than one insurance policy that covers the same thing.

For instance, many people have multiple life insurance policies, and Alec Murdoch happened

to have two personal liability agreements.

Mandy Matney had already found the first smaller settlement worth just over half a million

dollars, but there was also the second, more substantial settlement worth $3.8 million.

Both of them had gone straight to one of Alec's accounts.

But like I said, this all came to light a couple years after the boat crash, and for the

time being, Paul's case was front and center.

Even though Alec was able to delay things, Paul was still facing criminal charges.

They included boating under the influence causing bodily injury and B.U.I. causing death.

In total, he was facing 25 years in prison, and on June 10, 2021, nearly 2.5 years after

the crash, he was finally scheduled for his first court hearing.

It was going to be a huge moment for the Murdoch family.

Things didn't go well, they could be in huge trouble, both criminally and financially.

But behind the scenes, things were already falling apart.

By this point, Alec and his wife, Maggie, were living separately.

She spent most of her time at the family's beach house on a disto island about 70 miles

from their main house in Hampton, though Alec made sure their separation wasn't public

knowledge.

And once Paul's trial got into full swing, the press would be constantly hounding them.

Any weakness in the family's armor could lead to Alec's crimes being exposed.

On June 7, 2021, three days before Paul's court hearing, Alec called Maggie.

His 81-year-old father was dealing with health problems, and he had just been admitted

to the hospital.

Like ask Maggie, if she'd meet him at their country estate, Mozel, apparently to talk

it over.

Maggie reluctantly agreed and started the long drive out to Mozel.

But something didn't feel right.

She knew her husband and he wasn't acting like himself.

It's not clear if Maggie knew anything about Alec's financial crimes, but she definitely

knew about his role in Paul's case.

So when she finally arrived at Mozel, Maggie decided she wasn't staying long.

She even left her car engine running.

It's impossible to know exactly what happened on the Murdoch property that night.

But around 10 pm, 30 minutes after Maggie arrived, Alec called 911 in a panic.

He said he'd come home to Mozel and found both Maggie and Paul.

It both been killed by gunshots.

Maggie had been killed with an AR-15-style rifle, while Paul was killed at short range with

a shotgun.

It was a tragic development in the Murdoch's lives, and nobody could explain why it happened,

but the truth would come out soon.

And it was more horrifying than anyone could have imagined.

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There was evidence in the house and they would not listen to me.

The proof podcast is back, with a new case and a new season.

And this time, the stakes are higher than ever before.

The letter from the doctor says I have such insurance or less to live.

I'm scared to hear this right now.

A dying man is serving a life sentence for a murder he says he didn't commit.

Did you ever question if they got the right person?

I don't think I'd leave it at the time.

I don't think I'd leave it now.

I'm scared to be sitting here in this damn chair talking about this shit.

How many other cold cases are going to come forward to go ahead man?

We need to look at my shit because I didn't do it.

How many more do we have?

You can listen now to season three of Proof wherever you get your podcasts.

And follow along with us as we re-investigate the murder at the bike shop.

Everything I tell you is the truth.

I'm not ocean one way or the other.

I hope I don't bring a ton of shit down on me.

I really do.

If Alec Murdoch had hoped to stay under the radar,

it definitely wasn't going to happen now.

After his son Paul and his wife, Maggie, were murdered in June 2021.

The media descended on the Mozilla state.

Naturally, that came with a lot of conspiracy theories.

Because of Alec's deep connections to law enforcement in the area,

some people wondered if a disgruntled convict had targeted Maggie and Paul.

Or maybe it had something to do with Paul's boat crash.

Someone looking to avenge Mallory Beach.

But one thing was clear,

Alec Murdoch was a person of interest.

After all, he was the one who found the bodies.

And the victim's spouse is usually at the top of a suspect list.

The investigator suspicions only grew when they learned Maggie wasn't living with Alec.

There was also a rumor she'd recently seen a divorce attorney.

Alec didn't handle the pressure well.

At some point, he started using opioids.

It's not clear how bad his problem was.

But the drugs altered his mood and made him paranoid.

And it wasn't long before his colleagues realized he was slipping.

Three months after the murders on September 3, 2021,

the partners at Alec's law firm confronted him.

They'd been looking into his past cases and didn't like what they were seeing.

It was clear Alec was stealing from his clients.

And when his partners took a deep dive into the firm's accounts,

they discovered Alec had been stealing from them too.

He got away with it for so long because of his prominence in the firm.

After all, the name Murdoch had been on the door for over 100 years.

He'd reportedly tell the junior attorneys to send settlement checks directly to him

instead of routing them through the firm like they were supposed to.

Since he was the big boss, nobody questioned him.

His partners asked him for an explanation,

but there was no talking his way out of it.

At that point, all Alec could do was agree to quietly resign.

As he cleaned out his office on the morning of September 3, 2021,

Alec's mind must have been reeling.

This was exactly what he feared for the past few years.

His financial crimes were finally exposed.

Now there was nothing he could do to stop the reckoning coming his way.

But the next day, September 4, Alec found himself in another unpredictable situation.

He called 911 to report a different crime.

Only this time, he was the victim.

He told police he was changing a flat tire on the side of the road

when an unknown assailant drove by and shot him.

Luckily, the bullet only grazed him and the attacker sped away without firing again.

It seemed like Alec had come with an inches of death and miraculously survived.

The news ignited another media firestorm.

Now it really looked like someone was targeting the Murdoch family.

First, they'd come after Maggie and Paul.

And now it seemed like someone was trying to kill Alec, too.

Not everyone saw it that way, though, because Alec's story wasn't exactly airtight.

First of all, his Mercedes SUV didn't come with a spare tire.

So it didn't make sense that he'd be trying to fix a flat on the side of the road that day.

Alec also said he was on his way to the city of Charleston when the shooting happened,

but the road he was on wouldn't get him there.

Finally, it was odd that the shooter had driven off after only firing once.

If they really were targeting Alec,

they probably would have shot at him a few more times before driving away.

Of course, none of these holes in his story proved Alec was lying,

but they were enough to raise the investigator's eyebrows,

especially with everything else going on in his life.

Alec must have sensed their doubts because just one day after the shooting,

he changed his tune.

He released a surprise press statement and confessed to being a long-term opioid addict.

He said it had only gotten worse since the deaths of his wife and son.

That's why he decided to check himself into rehab.

The stay seemed to give Alec some perspective.

After a week in the rehab facility,

he said he was more clear-headed than ever.

He even approached the police and changed his story about the recent shooting.

In this new version of events,

Alec said he'd engineered the whole thing.

He claimed that after he was forced to resign from his law firm, he snapped.

With his mind clouded by the opioids,

Alec had decided there was no way out for him,

but he wanted to do right by the only family he had left.

His oldest son, 28-year-old, Buster.

So he made a reckless choice.

He called his friend, a guy named Curtis Smith,

and offered him money in exchange for killing him.

By making it look like a murder,

Alec hoped his one surviving son could collect his $10 million life insurance policy.

This was going to be his final, desperate way to make things right.

According to Alec, Curtis agreed to his scheme and met him on the side of the road,

but things didn't go as planned.

Somehow, Curtis missed his shot and refused to try again.

He drove off, and Alec called 911,

pretending he'd been randomly attacked.

Investigators were baffled by Alec's confession,

and they only became more confused after talking to the alleged hitman, Curtis Smith,

who also happened to be Alec's drug dealer.

As it turned out, Curtis had his own version of what went down.

According to him, he met Alec on the side of the road,

but he was there as a concerned friend, not a hitman.

He claimed that Alec was acting strange,

and at some point he drew a gun and handed it to Curtis.

When Curtis refused to shoot him, Alec tried to grab the gun himself.

Curtis claimed that as they wrestled over it, the gun went off,

but the bullet missed Alec completely.

So police had three versions of the same incident,

random shooting, suicide for hire, and now a struggle over a weapon.

It wasn't immediately clear which story they should believe.

But one thing was clear, Alec Murdoch had officially admitted to insurance fraud.

Which meant he'd almost certainly go to jail.

The question now was for how long?

Over the coming months, Alec was arrested and faced a total of 84 criminal charges

spread over 11 different lawsuits.

Most of them were finance-related, like embezzlement,

and it turned out Alec didn't just have an opioid problem.

He was allegedly funding an entire drug ring.

OK, here's how the authorities said it worked.

Alec would write small checks to his friend, Curtis Smith,

the same friend who he may have tried to get to kill him.

And these payments were under the guise of legitimate services,

like yard work or the odd handyman job.

In total, he paid Curtis $2.4 million.

Curtis would cash those checks, then use them for their opioid ring.

But the biggest and most shocking indictment came down on July 14, 2022.

That day, Alec Murdoch was charged with double homicide

for the murders of his wife and son.

The trial finally began in the first few months of 2023.

The proceedings attracted media from all over the world

and turned the Murdoch family into a household name.

Throughout it all, Alec maintained his innocence.

He told the police he was nowhere near Mozel that night,

swearing that he'd gone to visit his elderly father in the hospital.

His loans for having son, Buster, even took the stand to defend him

because Paul and Maggie Murdoch were killed using two different weapons.

The defense suggested there had been two shooters,

but based on the testimony of a crime scene analyst that was pretty unlikely,

the angle of both entry wounds was the same,

which meant that the two gunshots came from the same height.

Not only that, but evidence directly placed Alec at the crime scene.

Towards the end of the trial, prosecutors played a video taken from Paul Murdoch's phone

just minutes before his death.

The video showed Paul and the dog can all buy the house.

In the background, Alec Murdoch could clearly be heard.

Proving he didn't just find his wife and son dead.

He was there when it happened.

On March 2nd, 2023, after less than three hours of deliberation,

a jury unanimously convicted Alec of murder.

He was served with two consecutive life sentences,

and that was on top of the 40 years he'd already received for all of his financial crimes.

He was also ordered to forfeit over $10 million in ill-gotten gains

and to pay an additional $8.7 million to his many victims.

In February, 2026, Alec tried to appeal his conviction for double murder

before the South Carolina Supreme Court.

His lawyers argued that a county clerk had made improper comments during the original trial.

They also claimed the judge should have limited the testimony related to Alec's financial crimes.

The Supreme Court is still deliberating as of this recording,

but it's possible Alec may get a new trial.

Whatever happens, one thing is clear.

The Murdoch dynasty has ended.

Thanks so much for listening.

I'm Carter Roy, and this is Murder True Crime Stories.

Come back next time for the story of another murder and all the people it affected.

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Murder True Crime Stories is hosted by me, Carter Roy, and is a crime house original powered by paved studios.

This episode was brought to life by the Murder True Crime Stories team,

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