For almost over 100 years the Murdaugh family all but ruled over their swampy corner of the US.
So great was their dominance of the legal, business and social life of South Carolina's Lowcountry, locals nicknamed it Murdaugh Country.
This reign finally came crashing down on March 2 when Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of killing his wife Maggie and their son Paul.
He was later sentenced to life in prison without parole.
In a courtroom where a painting of Murdaugh's grandad previously hung until the judge in the murder trial ordered it removed, the jury returned a unanimous verdict.
The case captivated the nation and has been the heart of Netflix documentary Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.
The jury's decision marks the end of this sordid story stretching back for years, as revealed in the courtroom.
And at the heart of it Richard Alexander Murdaugh, the once all-powerful legal scion who now faces spending the rest of his life in jail.
Born on June, 17, 1968, in Hampton County, South Carolina, he was 'destined' from an early age to carry on the family's legacy.
From 1920 to 2006, his dad, grandad and great grandad served as district attorneys, responsible for prosecuting all criminal cases in the five-county swath of South Carolina's rural Lowcountry.
Alex Murdaugh followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a lawyer himself and joining the family firm, a private legal practice specialising in big earning personal injury cases.
It earnt the family a fortune but everything wasn't as it seemed.
Although the family's legal troubles burst into the national attention when the bodies of Maggie and Paul were found on the sprawling Murdaugh estate on June 7, 2021, it all began to unravel in February 2019.
Youngest son Paul, then 19, had taken out the family's fishing boat for a boozy cruise with five friends.
Returning home in thick fog along the South Carolina coast, the boat hit some bridge pilings before smashing into the bank.
Three passengers were thrown into the water but only two surfaced.
The body of 19-year-old Mallory Beach was found in a nearby swamp a week later.
Despite an alleged attempt to pressure witnesses to say Paul had not been at the helm at the time of the crash, he was charged with three offences including boating under the influence resulting in death.
But it never went to court, which some say shows the power of the Murdaughs, and Mallory's family filed a civil suit against the elder Murdaugh claiming he was liable because he lent his son the boat and turned a blind eye to his drinking.
The case would have forced Murdaugh to provide a full picture of his finances but then Paul and Maggie were murdered.
Murdaugh is charged with about 100 other crimes, ranging from stealing from clients to tax evasion.
He's also been charged with faking an assassination attempt on himself, in an attempt to divert attention away.
Three months after Maggie and Paul's murders, Murdaugh called police to say that he had been ambushed while changing a tyre and was shot in the head.
A medical report showed he had been grazed by a bullet but a passer-by saw the incident and told police they thought it had been a "set-up".
A lawyer for Murdaugh later revealed that the person who shot him was an acquaintance and distant cousin, Eddie Smith.
He claimed Murdaugh had asked Eddie to shoot him dead so his surviving son, Buster, could collect $10million of life insurance.
Murdaugh was also ousted from his own law firm over accusations he had been stealing funds.
His lawyer went on TV to claim the stealing was due to a 20-year-old opioid addiction, something Murdaugh was in rehab for.
His opioid addiction reared its head again during the murder trial when he used it to explain why he had lied to investigators.
Murdaugh admitted he lied about when he last saw his son and wife alive.
Speaking in court in his own defence, the disgraced South Carolina attorney claimed the lie he first told to state police hours after the killings was due to his addiction to opioids, which he said clouded his thinking and created a distrust of law enforcement.
Faced with the hundred other charges, prosecutors argued he killed his family members to distract from the other crimes against him.
From the moment he was found at the bloody scene, Murdaugh told investigators the two had been killed in connection to the death of Mallory Beach.
He told police at the scene: "This is a long story. My son was in a boat wreck . . . months back. He’s been getting threats.
"Most of it’s been benign stuff. We didn’t take it serious, you know, he’s been getting like punched. Um, I, I know that’s what it is."
One of the many financial crimes connected to the case, was that around the death of Murdaugh's former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield.
She died in February 2018 after allegedly tripping over one of Murdaugh's hunting dogs.
Her family accused the legal-scion of tricking them out of millions of dollars in settlement over her death.
Murdaugh encouraged them to sue him, saying his insurance would cover it but when the insurance did pay out he allegedly pocketed the money.
The legal battle over that continues.
Some have even called for Gloria Satterfield's death to be re-investigated following Murdaugh's conviction for the killing of Maggie and Paul.
Many questions have been left unanswered, especially around Murdaugh's ongoing financial crimes.
But for now the biggest question - who killed Maggie and Paul - has been settled.
