Boys will be Boys – part 2: The Murdaughs

(Photo credit: Peeples-Rhoden Funeral Home)

Silly me – I thought Dr. Death was the epitomy of southern rich straight white male “bro” entitlement. I was wrong. The Murdaughs take it up a notch. You may wonder how can anything can trump an institutionally protected maniacal surgeon who kills or maimes a good percentage of his patients, including his best friend. Well, you expand the systemic breadth of your institutional protection by building a multi-generational legal dynasty with local wealth & influence worthy of Bruce Wayne and then orchestrate your every widening corruption with a bit more intelligence (I’m not saying that Adam Murdach is a Rhodes Scholar, but compared to Christopher Duntsch, …).

Hats off to local South Carolina journalist Mandy Matney, who in 2019 started he single-handed investigation into a fatal boating accident that local authorities appeared to be sidelining due to the suspicious involvement of the powerful Murdaugh family.

If you like deeply disturbing true crime, intricate conspiracies, and / or convoluted whodunnits with tragic twists and turns that will make your head spin, the Murdaugh Murders podcast for you. Bonus: this story is far from over; you will get to experience in real time the one of the most dramatic falls of an utterly American dynasty brought crashing down by the dogged, Erin Brockovich-esque persistence of a single journalist. America at its worst; America at its best.

Postscript: the Murdaugh playbook is the same as that being used by populist political regimes — liberal and conservative — all over the world, including the US. I would not be at all surprised if Mandy, who already seems to be at the breaking point with the sisyphean effort it has taken to bring this unfolding story to life, is silenced or pushed to that breaking point with allegations of fake news or the like. Hope not. More power to you, Mandy.