Buster Murdaugh is the only surviving son of disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, the once-powerful lawyer who was convicted of murdering his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and youngest son, Paul Murdaugh in 2021. As a member of the influential Murdaugh family, which controlled the legal system in South Carolina’s Lowcountry for nearly a century, Buster has lived under intense public scrutiny due to the family’s history of legal scandals, crime, and corruption.
While Buster Murdaugh has never been charged with a crime, his name has frequently been linked to the unsolved 2015 death of Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old nursing student whose body was found on a rural road in Hampton County, South Carolina. Smith’s death was initially ruled a hit-and-run, but years of speculation and whispers in the community suggested a possible connection between Buster and the case. No evidence has ever officially linked Buster to Smith’s death, but renewed media interest, especially following his father’s high-profile murder trial, has kept his name in the conversation.
In 2024, Buster Murdaugh filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix, Warner Bros., and several other media companies, alleging that they falsely implicated him in Stephen Smith’s death through true-crime documentaries and news reports. The lawsuit specifically calls out Netflix’s “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal”, Discovery+’s “Murdaugh Murders: Deadly Dynasty”, and HBO Max’s “Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty”, arguing that these productions used misleading reenactments, speculative interviews, and selective storytelling to imply he was involved in a crime he has never been charged with.
Buster claims that these documentaries damaged his reputation, fueled baseless public suspicion, and caused him emotional distress. His lawsuit seeks monetary damages and demands retractions or corrections from the media companies.
The Ongoing Legal Battle
Buster Murdaugh’s lawsuit has now become one of the most closely watched media defamation cases of recent years. The case was initially filed in Hampton County, South Carolina, a jurisdiction where the Murdaugh family once held significant influence. However, Netflix and the other defendants attempted to move the case to federal court, arguing that they are out-of-state corporations and that the lawsuit belongs in a larger legal arena.
In December 2024, a federal judge ruled in favor of Buster Murdaugh, sending the case back to state court in Hampton County, where a local jury could ultimately decide whether the media outlets crossed a legal line in their reporting and documentary portrayals.
Netflix, Warner Bros., and the other defendants have denied wrongdoing and are expected to fight the lawsuit aggressively, likely arguing that:
- They never directly stated that Buster Murdaugh was guilty of any crime.
- They were simply reporting on existing rumors and public interest cases.
- Buster Murdaugh is a public figure, making defamation harder to prove under U.S. law.
This case has sparked a
larger debate on the ethics of true-crime documentaries, the responsibilities of media companies when covering ongoing investigations, and the
boundaries between storytelling and defamation.
The Impact on the Murdaugh Family Name
Buster Murdaugh’s legal battle comes at a time when his family name is already
synonymous with scandal. His father, Alex Murdaugh, was
sentenced to life in prison for the double murder of Maggie and Paul, a crime that exposed the family’s
web of financial fraud, legal corruption, and hidden secrets.
For Buster, this lawsuit represents more than just
a fight against Netflix and Warner Bros.—it’s an attempt to salvage what remains of his reputation. If he
wins, it could set a legal precedent that
true-crime documentaries cannot rely on speculation and dramatization to tell stories at the expense of real people’s reputations. If he
loses, it may further cement his name in
true-crime infamy, keeping him permanently tied to Stephen Smith’s case in the court of public opinion.
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