Once part of South Carolina’s most powerful legal family, Buster Murdaugh is now quietly living a very different life—one far from the spotlight, but still haunted by it.
The name Murdaugh, once synonymous with wealth and prestige, now carries a far darker legacy.
Four years after his mother Maggie and younger brother Paul were brutally murdered, Buster is still grappling with a reality shaped by grief, scandal, and public scrutiny.
Struggling to Move On While the Past Won’t Let Go
Buster, now 32, hasn’t been able to fully adjust to life post-tragedy.
A friend close to him shared that he’s bitter, directionless, and weighed down by everything that’s happened.
He’s trying to keep moving forward, but it’s clear he’s still stuck somewhere between disbelief and anger.
“He’s living his life, but there’s not much going on,” the friend said.
“He’s really angry—not just about the murders, which he doesn’t believe his dad committed, but especially about the financial mess his father left behind.”
A Family Name Torn Apart in the Public Eye
Everything changed in June 2021. That’s when Alex Murdaugh, a once-respected attorney in South Carolina’s Low Country, called 911 claiming to have found Maggie and Paul shot dead near the dog kennels on their family’s Moselle estate.
It didn’t take long for investigators to uncover a tangled web of lies—spanning financial fraud, drug abuse, and ultimately, murder.
The Murdaugh family, once revered, quickly became the center of one of the nation’s most shocking crime sagas.
The Suicide-for-Hire Plot That Took Things From Bad to Worse
Just three months after the murders, while under investigation, Alex Murdaugh was shot in the head on the side of a rural road. At first, it seemed like another tragic turn.
But soon authorities revealed that Murdaugh had actually hired someone—a distant cousin named Curtis Edward Smith—to shoot him in a failed suicide-for-hire scheme.
The motive? So Buster could collect on a $10 million life insurance policy.
“It just kept getting worse,” Buster’s friend admitted. “He went from one nightmare to another.”
The Fall of a Southern Legal Empire
The collapse of the Murdaugh dynasty shocked not just South Carolina, but the entire country.
For nearly nine decades, the family held sway over the 14th Judicial Circuit. Now, that legacy is gone—replaced by a rap sheet.
Alex Murdaugh was eventually charged with over 90 financial crimes, from embezzlement to money laundering.
But the biggest blow came in March 2023, when he was convicted of murdering his wife and son.
He’s now serving two life sentences without parole.
Where Alex Murdaugh Is Now
Today, Alex sits in a maximum-security prison—McCormick Correctional Institution—in protective custody. In April 2024, he was hit with an additiona
l 40-year sentence in federal court for stealing millions from clients and colleagues. Despite the evidence and the verdicts, he still denies killing Maggie and Paul.
The Media Frenzy Won’t Die Down
The shocking events have sparked documentaries, docuseries, and now, a feature film.
Actor Jason Clarke is set to play Murdaugh in an upcoming motion picture.
And while the world continues to dissect the scandal, Buster is just trying to find normalcy.
A Quiet Life, Far from the Spotlight
After dropping out of law school, Buster has been rebuilding a life with his longtime girlfriend and now wife, Brooklynn White, who is an attorney.
The couple now live in a modest three-bedroom home in Bluffton—about an hour away from where Buster grew up.
Still, life isn’t easy. Public anger hasn’t faded. Buster said he’s often recognized and harassed in his hometown.
“People yell at me all the time,” he once told his father during a recorded jail call.
“I got cussed out at a gas station the other day.”
He Still Stands by His Father—But They’re Distant
Despite everything, Buster maintains that his father is innocent of the murders.
In his only interview to date, for the Fox Nation documentary The Fall of the House of Murdaugh, he said:
“I do not think that he could be affiliated with endangering my mother and brother… I know the love that I have witnessed.”
But while Buster may defend his father publicly, their personal connection is strained.
The two rarely speak now, and when they do, it’s brief and always initiated by Alex from prison.
“He just doesn’t have much to say to him right now,” the friend added. “What would they even talk about?”
What’s Next for Buster Murdaugh?
Buster is trying to find his footing in a world that’s drastically different from the one he was raised in.
The name Murdaugh still follows him, heavy with history and heartbreak.
And while he may never fully escape its shadow, he’s doing what he can to move forward—one quiet day at a time.