The 21-acre estate that previously belonged to convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh has sold at auction for $1 million – less than the minimum bid initially set for the home.
Murdaugh was convicted of killing his wife Maggie and youngest son Paul at the dog kennels located on the property and has been sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. The new owners are from South Carolina and requested their names not be made public, according to Realtor.com.
A $1.1 million minimum bid was set for the estate, which includes a 5,300-square-foot, four-bedroom, 4.5-bath house. The new owners plan to turn the estate into a horse farm.
“They’re a prominent South Carolina businessperson that has several offices throughout South Carolina,” Craig King, senior marketing consultant at J.P. King Auction Co., told the website. “Their plan is to relocate their current horse farm to this location.”
The original estate was 1,772 acres, and it sold in March 2023 for $2,663,676 million, Realtor.com reported. The original asking price was $3.9 million. The people who purchased the entire estate intended to use the property for timber, hunting, and agribusiness, King previously told the outlet.
Months after purchasing the property, the new owners decided to sell the house along with 21 of the 1,772 acres. The asking price was $1.95 million, but no one bought it, so they put it up for auction.
In addition to Maggie and Paul, the Murdaugh’s former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, also died on the property. She reportedly fell down the stairs in the home in 2018. The Murdaugh family told Gloria’s sons that she tripped over the family dogs and fell down the stairs, dying from her injuries. At the time, an autopsy wasn’t performed, but after Alex Murdaugh’s crimes were revealed, an investigation into Satterfield’s death was opened.
After Satterfield’s death, Murdaugh told the family he would sue himself to collect insurance money for the housekeeper’s family – money they never received. Satterfield’s son, Tony, told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo that he felt “betrayed, shocked” after learning that Murdaugh had stolen millions of dollars from his family, but maintained he doesn’t believe his mother was killed on purpose.
The family attorney, Eric Bland, has said that the family doesn’t believe Gloria was intentionally killed and that it would be difficult for investigators to find any evidence of foul play.
“She flipped twice, so she had significant closed head injury and open head injury with 12 broken ribs,” Bland told NewsNation. “The real issue is going to be if somebody was told before Paul or Maggie died … if they know something.”
Tony also said he didn’t believe foul play was involved in his mother’s death but does support exhuming his mother’s body.
Satterfield and the murders are just part of the criminal story involving Alex Murdaugh. Murdaugh was accused of stealing $8.5 million from people who had hired him as their attorney. He is also alleged to have orchestrated his own murder by hiring a friend to kill him so that his surviving son, Buster, could receive a $10 million life insurance payout. Murdaugh allegedly lied to police about the incident, claiming a stranger shot him on the side of the road. This all took place just days after Murdaugh’s firm discovered he had stolen money from clients.
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Murdaugh has adamantly denied killing his wife and son and continues to appeal the verdict. In November, he pleaded guilty to numerous financial crimes and was sentenced to 27 years in prison, so even if the murder convictions are overturned, he’ll still spend nearly 30 years behind bars.