On this episode, we talk with bestselling true crime author John Glatt about his book “Tangled Vines Power,
Privilege and the Murdaugh Family Murders.” The author did a masterful job reconstructing the rise of the
prestigious Murdaugh family and the shocking double murder that led to the downfall of its patriarch, Alex
Murdaugh.
Among the lush, tree-lined waterways of South Carolina low country, the Murdaugh name means power. A
century-old, multimillion-dollar law practice has catapulted the family into incredible wealth and local
celebrity―but it was an unimaginable tragedy that would thrust them into the national spotlight. On June 7th,
2021, prominent attorney Alex Murdaugh discovered the bodies of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, on the
grounds of their thousand-acre hunting lodge. The mystery deepened only months later when Alex himself
was discovered shot in the head on a local roadside.
But as authorities scrambled for clues and the community reeled from the loss and media attention, dark
secrets about this Southern legal dynasty came to light. The Murdaughs, it turned out, were feared as much
as they were loved. And they wouldn’t hesitate to wield their influence to protect one of their own; two years
before he was killed, a highly intoxicated Paul Murdaugh was at the helm of a boat when it crashed and killed
a teenage girl, and his light treatment by police led to speculation that privilege had come into play. As
bombshells of financial fraud were revealed and more suspicious deaths were linked to the Murdaughs, a new
portrait of Alex Murdaugh emerged: a desperate man on the brink of ruin who would do anything, even plan
his own death, to save his family’s reputation.