There is no verified public answer to why Alex Murdaugh did not kill his older son, Buster. Buster was away from the family’s Moselle property when Maggie and Paul were killed, and the available reporting does not establish that Alex made a specific decision about him. Prosecutors’ financial-motive theory concerned the killings of Maggie and Paul; it does not explain Buster’s survival.
What is known about Buster’s whereabouts and the question itself?
Buster was not at Moselle when his mother and brother were killed on June 7, 2021. That fact is not an explanation for why he survived, and no verified public statement by Alex or Buster answers the question. Any claim that Alex spared Buster out of love, usefulness, inheritance, or another private motive goes beyond the established evidence.
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The distinction matters because the question invites an inference about Alex’s private thinking. The public record described in trial coverage does not establish what he intended or considered regarding Buster.
What motive did prosecutors allege?
Prosecutors argued that Alex killed Maggie and Paul amid pressure from financial wrongdoing, seeking to redirect attention and buy time before exposure brought legal and financial consequences. That was the prosecution’s alleged motive for those two killings, not an explanation for why Buster survived. The Washington Post’s account of the prosecution theory does not supply a separate motive concerning Buster.
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How did Buster describe his relationship with his father?
His account at the 2023 trial
Testifying for the defense in February 2023, Buster described June 7 as a normal family day of calls and messages with his father, mother, and brother, ending with Alex calling to tell him about the deaths. He said he had not known about his father’s financial troubles, which prosecutors had presented as part of their motive theory. He also testified that Paul had faced threats after the boat-crash case. The State’s trial report recounts his testimony.
The Associated Press reported that Buster addressed details prosecutors had portrayed as suspicious, including where Alex parked at Maggie’s house and a period of about an hour with no cellphone activity. Buster said he was around his father in the days after the killings and described him as devastated and confused. Those are Buster’s defense-witness account, not independent findings about Alex’s state of mind or guilt. The AP report summarizes that testimony.
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His later public comments
In documentary comments reported by The Guardian in September 2023, Buster said he had a unique perspective on his father and knew “the love that I have witnessed.” He also said that describing Alex as a psychopath was fair insofar as he saw characteristics involving manipulation and lies. Buster continued to doubt that his father killed Maggie and Paul and questioned whether the jury treated Alex fairly. These comments show Buster’s personal, complicated view; they do not establish what happened or why Buster survived. The Guardian’s report covers those remarks.
Does the life-insurance episode explain why Buster survived?
No. The Washington Post reported that Alex testified he had lied to investigators about his whereabouts and denied killing Maggie and Paul. The report also described an earlier insurance scheme in which Alex said Buster would receive at least $10 million in life insurance. That separate episode is not evidence of Alex’s reason for not killing Buster on June 7, 2021. The Washington Post’s trial report describes Alex’s testimony and the insurance matter.
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What is the current legal status of the murder convictions?
CBS News reported on May 13, 2026, that the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned Alex Murdaugh’s murder convictions and granted him a new trial, citing a fair-trial and impartial-jury issue involving Colleton County clerk Rebecca Hill. CBS also reported that he had been convicted in March 2023 and sentenced to consecutive life terms. This is a reported legal-status update; the court opinion should be consulted before drawing conclusions about the ruling’s reasoning, next steps, or Alex’s current custody status. CBS News’ case update reports the change in status.
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