Margaret Kennedy “Maggie” Branstetter Murdaugh ... (2024)

FAQs

What did Maggie Murdaugh tell her housekeeper? ›

Housekeeper Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson testified that before her death, Maggie Murdaugh had tearfully confessed that she was worried about the family's finances because of an ongoing lawsuit and believed her husband may have been keeping things from her.

On her way to the house, Maggie allegedly messaged a friend, saying that something about her husband's behavior felt "fishy," the law enforcement source said. "He's up to something," Maggie allegedly wrote to her friend.

Alex Murdaugh allegedly wanted his wife and son to come to their hunting estate the night they were brutally murdered—a request that a “disappointed” Maggie reluctantly complied with, the family housekeeper testified on Friday.

"She wasn't the type of person that would stand out in a crowd, but she was always there to back everybody up," Maggie's University of South Carolina friend, Shellie West, told "48 Hours." Maggie's other college friend, Caroline Price, said the 54-year-old "wasn't flashy at all" and could even be "shy."

Prosecutors claim that Mr Murdaugh took her phone after killing her and Paul and then tossed it out the window of his moving car while driving to his mother's home to build an alibi for himself.

On the night that Maggie Murdaugh was shot to death alongside her son, Paul, she received a text from her husband's phone that said "Call me, babe."

Maggie Murdaugh Was Worried About Money, Believed Alex 'Was Not Being Truthful' About Finances, Housekeeper Testifies. Before her death, Maggie Murdaugh had been worried about money and believed her husband “was not being truthful to her” about the family's finances, according to the family's housekeeper.

Maggie, 52, had five distinct gunshot wounds, the report says. A gunshot wound to the left side of her torso and head include injuries to her left breast, lower jaw, ear, skull and brain.

The kennel video

Perhaps the most significant piece of evidence came from another phone — Paul Murdaugh's. Alex Murdaugh claimed for months that he had not been at the kennels on the night of the murders.

Was Maggie Murdaugh really cash poor? According to the documents, Maggie Murdaugh had just $57.77 left in her Bank of America account — the only bank account solely in Maggie's name listed — at the time of her death. In Maggie and Alex's joint Palmetto State Bank accounts, Maggie's share only amounted to $4,154.14.

How much money was Maggie Murdaugh worth? ›

Maggie Murdaugh's total estate was appraised at more than $4 million but one of her bank accounts painted a different picture. Estate proceedings for Maggie Murdaugh make clear that most of her money is in her assets. Her real estate holdings make up the bulk of the over $4.2 million total evaluation.

"She was a person, she was a mother, she was a sister, she was a friend, she was a daughter," said West. "You know, she's not 'the wife that was murdered. ' I mean, we don't want her to be remembered that way." The three had been friends since they were at the University of South Carolina together.

Sources indicate that Maggie and Alex were living separately at the time of her death. Reports that Maggie had recently hired a divorce attorney have not been confirmed.

He reportedly resides in a condo with his girlfriend, Brooklynn White, on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Brooklynn works as an attorney at Olivetti, McCray and Withrow Law Firm, according to their website. Brooklynn purchased the condo in 2021, a month after the Murdaugh murders, according to Fox News.

Convicted murderer and accused serial fraudster Richard "Alex" Murdaugh is now admitting he bilked an insurance company out of millions after the death of his family's housekeeper and lied about dogs causing her to trip and fall before she died.

During her testimony, prosecutors glossed over a discovery the housekeeper made a few days after the slayings: Maggie Murdaugh's wedding ring under the driver's seat of her car. The find could undermine the defense's argument that the Murdaughs had no marital problems at the time of the murders.

Now DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal how, after close to two years of legal wrangling, Maggie's estate has finally been settled in a complex deal that will see Moselle, the murder home, sold and millions divided between those victims and creditors as well as surviving son, Buster, when it is executed next month.