Author Valerie Bauerlein provides unique insights into Alex Murdaugh case

November 25, 2024

RALEIGH- Alex Murdaugh, the former South Carolina attorney who was convicted in March 2023 of murdering his family, caught the nation's attention due to several unique elements.

That's according to New York Times best-selling author Valerie Bauerlein, who discussed her book, "The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty," with Campbell Law School Dean J. Rich Leonard during a Craven-Everett Inn of Court event on Nov. 14 at the law school.

Murdaugh was found guilty on two counts of murder without the possibility of parole for fatally shooting his 52-year-old wife Maggie and their 22-year-old son Paul at their home in 2021. He was ordered to serve two consecutive life sentences for the murders. He also is serving 40 years for federal financial crimes, to which he pleaded guilty.

Bauerlein told a group of about 60 Inn of Court members, Campbell Law alumni, faculty, staff and students that her interest in the Murdaugh case began when she was covering South Carolina for The State newspaper and later the Wall Street Journal.

The case, which has been made into aNetflix documentary series, is unique in part due to a parent killing an adult child and its connection to the South's rural power dynamics combined with a bizarre series of events.

Bauerlein said she wanted to write a multi-generational story based on the family's history. She detailed the mounting pressures on Murdaugh leading up to the murders including financial issues and personal crises. She explained the public perception of the Murdoch family was one of wealth and privilege, with little community engagement.

She also discussed the roles of key figures including Mark Tinsley, a lawyer in the civil case involving the deceased Paul Murdaugh and a boat crash that killed Mallory Beach, and the trial Judge Clifton Newman, underscoring their impact on the case's outcome as well as the significance of other lawyers and witnesses who contributed to unraveling the family's corruption.

"He (Newman) was incredibly careful and did not make decisions in the moment," she explained. "I mean, nine times out of 10 we get to the end of the day, he'd tell all the things that he was thinking about and then he would rule on them the next day. It's one of the things that gave me some comfort. I mean, you can't be comfortable when you're writing a book about one of the most litigious families in America."

Bauerlein described her efforts to balance the need for historical context with the reader's interest in current events and her decision to interweave the past and present throughout the book. "It was important to surprise the reader and maintain their attention," she explained, adding she tried to accomplish this through careful timeline management.

She also delved into the role of Becky Hill, the clerk of court, and the implications of her personal connections with the trial's jurors as well as the reopening of cases involving Stephen Smith and Gloria Satterfield, and the defense strategy led by Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin.

And while the key evidence that convicted Murdaugh of the murders was a kennel video on his son's cell phone that proved his presence at the crime scene, it is Murdaugh's financial crimes that will keep him in jail for life, according to Bauerlein.

"It's so crazy," she said. "Law enforcement told me this, prosecutors told me this, but for the kennel video, he could not have been charged with the murders. But one of the things that gave me some comfort was … when Alex pled guilty to all the crimes like the robbing of dozens and dozens of people … he will never see the light of day."

Bauerlein is a national reporter for the Wall Street Journal who writes about small-town America and Southern politics, economics and culture. She has covered the South her entire career, including 19 years at the Journal, four years at The State in Columbia, South Carolina, and prior to that the Winston-Salem Journal. Bauerlein, who graduated from Duke University, lives in Raleigh with her husband and their two children.

The following description of "The Devil at His Elbow" is from Amazon:

"Alex Murdaugh was a benevolent dictator - the president of the South Carolina trial lawyers' association, a political boss, a part-time prosecutor, and a partner in his family's law firm. He was always ready with a favor, a drink, and an invitation to Moselle, his family's 1,700-acre hunting estate. The Murdaugh name ignited respect - and fear - for a 100 miles.

"When he murdered his wife, Maggie, and son Paul at Moselle on a dark summer night, the fragile façade of Alex's world could no longer hold. His forefathers had covered up a midnight suicide at a remote railroad crossing, a bootlegging ring run from a courthouse, and the attempted murder of a pregnant lover. Alex, too, almost walked away from his unspeakable crimes with his reputation intact, but his downfall was secured by a twist of fate, some stray mistakes and a fateful decision by an old friend who'd finally seen enough.

"Why would a man who had everything kill his wife and grown son? To unwind the roots of Alex's ruin, award-winning journalist Valerie Bauerlein reported not just from the courthouse every day but also along the backroads and through the tidal marshes of South Carolina's Lowcountry. When the jurors made their pilgrimage to the crime scene, trying to envision Maggie and Paul's last moments, she walked right behind them, sensing the ghosts that haunt the Murdaughs' now-shattered legacy.

"Through masterful research and cinematic writing, The Devil at His Elbow is a transporting journey through Alex's life, the night of the murders, and the investigation that culminated in a trial that held tens of millions spellbound. With her stunning insights and fearless instinct for the truth, Bauerlein uncovers layers of the Murdaugh murder case that have not been told."

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Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion, and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. Among its accolades, the school has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation's top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers for having the nation's best Trial Advocacy Program. Campbell Law boasts nearly 5,000 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2024, Campbell Law is celebrating 45 years of graduating legal leaders and 15 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina's Capital City.

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