Murdaugh Murders Podcast - MMP Remastered #57 - Broken Trust And The Unseen Villains

Episode Date: November 10, 2025

In Broken Trust and the Unseen Villains, journalists Liz Farrell and Mandy Matney revisit one of the most emotionally charged and revealing chapters in the Murdaugh saga. Recorded during the heated birth of the Beach Family / Mark Tinsley / Parker’s Kitchen civil conspiracy battle (which is still not adjudicated as of November 2025), this episode exposed the powerful network of influence working to silence victims and harass those who sought the truth. Mandy and Liz reflect on the online trolling, intimidation tactics, alleged ethical breaches, and those who seemed to target Mandy and Liz for reporting the truth — and how empathy from listeners countered the cruelty. On this 57th episode we dissected revelations about Greg Parker’s private investigators, the Wall Street Journal’s coverage, and the media manipulation at play. This episode highlights unseen cost of telling the truth in a state where power and privilege remain deeply entwined.“A Convenience-Store Magnate, Teen Drinking and a Fatal Boat Crash: The Legal Case Shaking South Carolina” - Wall Street Journal, Aug 13, 2022🔗 Watch Murdaugh: Death in the Family — now streaming on Hulu and Disney+ 🔗 Watch the MDITF Official Companion Podcast featuring interviews with the cast, crew, and creators behind the series on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ or listen to extended audio episodes wherever you get your podcasts. hulumurdaughpod.com. LUNASHARK Premium Members are also getting access to a wealth of additional content matched to each Hulu series episode… We’re calling it LUNA VISION! Soak up The Sun Members get to explore the case documents, new case videos, ad-free video episodes, invitations to live events and so much more.  Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lunashark.supercast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more.  Premium Members also get bonus episodes like our Premium Dives, Corruption Watchlist, Girl Talk, and Soundbites that help you Stay Pesky and Stay in the Sunlight. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lunashark.supercast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Here's a link to some of our favorite things: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/4cJ0eVn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** ALERT: If you ever notice audio errors in the pod, email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and we'll send fun merch to the first listener that finds something that needs to be adjusted! *** * All statements reflect the hosts’ analysis and opinions based on publicly available information and official public records.  For current & accurate updates: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lunashark.supercast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram.com/mandy_matney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   |   ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram.com/elizfarrell⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bsky.app/profile/mandy-matney.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bsky.app/profile/elizfarrell.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TrueSunlight.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/TrueSunlightPodcast/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram.com/TrueSunlightPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/@LunaSharkMedia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tiktok.com/@lunasharkmedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Years before, the name Ehrlich Murdoch was splashed across every major media outlet. I was a local South Carolina journalist, and I had an instinct that something wasn't right in the low country. The powerful Murdoch dynasty dominated rural South Carolina for generations. Few dared to publicly utter a harsh word against them. From the newsroom to the courtroom to the kitchen table where we recorded the number one global hit, the Murdoch Murdoch's podcast. I invite you to learn more about my... Book, Blood on Their Hands. Blood on Their Hands is a harrowing first-person narrative of battles against systemic subversions

of the truth, overcoming institutional sexism, corruption, and threats to my personal safety to expose a network of horrific crimes and give voice to victims. Click the link in the description to order today. Visit any retailers near you or visit lunasharkmedia.com slash book to learn the best way you can stay pesky and stay in the sunlight. MMP 57 broken trust in the unseen villains. I remember this was about the Parker's lawsuit and there was just so much going on behind the scenes and just so much ugliness that we were seeing from the defendants in this lawsuit and it was unlike anything I had ever seen before and the weird stuff that we were getting online. Everything was just

insane. Yeah, it was like a TV show because you really didn't believe what you were seeing to be real, but it was just in terms of this sort of coordinated harassment via trolls online whenever we seemed to write about the boat crash case. But in this episode, I made a note to the listeners just to let them know that they were really helping the victims by showing empathy and showing that they really cared. And I think that that's something that we continue to see through today because especially when we look at the cases that we're covering now, I think victims need sometimes that boost to understand. They want that comfort of knowing that there are other people who see things their way and

can see the injustice being done. So when they have strangers come to their defense and show them support and love like our listeners did with Sandy Smith, it does counteract the bad stuff. You know, it does help boost them. They don't want to be in the situation in the first place. So it's nice to see that love. Right. And I think that that was something that I've always loved about our audience, that we could

trust them with telling very sensitive stories about victims, and we would trust them to lift up the victims and not attack them. Versus when we were in newspapers, I feel like the audience was a lot meaner. I've enjoyed cultivating this audience of empathetic listeners who are here to relate and understand people involved in these stories and not here to relate. to judge them. And when we talk about the boat crash, what was going on at that time and the victims of the boat crash and what they were exposed to on like Reddit and the way that people were constantly criticizing them for drinking underage, which was so stupid and just constantly going through their

social media pages and finding the worst pictures of them to show them in the worst light. I mean, that was just insane. There's so much. Even with Sandy. just, I mean, people were vicious and you think of all people, you know, that's the person you would think has already seen enough and had enough. So it was really shocking. But I will say with newspaper, we're sort of forced not to be human in our reporting. So we wouldn't be able to show our empathy. To lead with empathy. Absolutely. So I think it's just so much better because it's like a podcast is like the ideal newspaper for us in the ideal newsroom. So since we report in real time like you do with a newspaper.

This one allows for like a two-way exchange of information and it just allows us to be more of ourselves and I think that helped. Right. There were so many millions of times when I was working at newspapers when I would be writing like, I want to say this, but I can't. And now we can say that. Now we can just call somebody a douchebag or tell our listeners like, we need to support these people, they really need it at this time and we need to rally around them because again,

as you said, that we have found in our reporting, it's so important, especially as they're going through lawsuits and criminal cases to remind them that people are on their side. And because a lot of times it's natural to just want to give up in situations like that. And my gosh, when strangers from all over the world are lifting them up and supporting them, It does make a difference. Huge difference. So in this episode, we talk about a Wall Street Journal reporter named Valerie, who I encountered in 2021 and was not happy with my encounter.

Well, at first you were, and that's the problem, is that, you know, you were, it was at a time when you were facing some of the most vile criticism from people in our own profession. And not only that, you just had a litany of people wanting your attention, to pick your brain. They all seem to use the same phrase. They just want, hey, can I take a minute to pick your brain? And it was at a time when you were getting frustrated because not only was this podcast born from the idea that, you know, they seem to be going after the boat crash victims right after the murders and it was just media's going to come in and they're going to get this wrong and it's going to hurt the wrong people. And I think you found somebody in the Wall Street

Journal reporter who didn't seem to want anything from you and was supportive and and more of a conversation about it, like we're two colleagues, actually, who had respect for each other and all of that, until you found out the real motive for her approaching you, I guess, is the way to say it, right? I don't know how much more ruthless convenience store owner Greg Parker and his legal team can possibly get.

But one thing is now very clear. I'm horrified by the behavior we're seeing in every twist of the story. And just because some people are less horrible than Ellic Murdoch doesn't mean they can escape accountability. My name is Mandy Matney. I have been investigating the Murdoch family for more than three years now. This is the Murdoch Murdoch Murders podcast with David Moses and Liz Farrell. A whole lot has gone on in the last few weeks. could change the course of the Mallory Beach lawsuit,

which is arguably one of the most important unsettled civil cases in this entire saga. Over the weekend, a big story on the lawsuit was published on the Wall Street Journal that we need to talk about. But first, here's Liz with a quick update on the Plylers. We just wanted to say that we have been blown away by the response to our last episode about the Pliler case.

Elena Plailer spawns powerful and emotional account of what she and her sister went through with Ehrlich Murdoch as their attorney and Russell Lafitte as their conservator, gave us an important new perspective on the damage caused by Ehrlich and Russell's alleged crimes against vulnerable clients. And unsurprisingly, it made people even more angry to see just how much those two men were taking advantage of people in crisis and people with the least amount of power in the situation. It made listeners even more intent on making sure justice prevails in this case. It's reassuring to know that our audience

cares about the emotional damage from these crimes as much as the physical damage. You guys are showing so much empathy and concern for the victims, and that fuels us to keep fighting for them. So thank you. We will be revisiting the Plyler case soon, so stay tuned for more about what we're finding there. After the episode aired last week, listeners also reached out to us to ask us more about the revelation that Maggie Murdoch's father, Terry Brandstetter, played a role in securing annuities for the Plyler sisters. We don't know the extent of Mr. insteaders' involvement in these cases, but we have now been told that his name has shown up more than once in connection to Ehrlich's cases. Maggie's father was an insurance broker. There is no indication

that he did anything wrong by serving as a broker for his son-in-law's clients, but it is confusing. Ehrlich was already using Forge in the Plyler case. And Forge Consulting, the real one, is a broker, meaning another broker wasn't necessary. Really what we think we're seeing here is yet another method Ehrlich would use to make those around him feel beholden to him by giving them an opportunity to earn money off his cases. Favors like this one are a reason why it has been so hard for law enforcement to get anyone to speak out against Ehrlich. They either remain silent out of loyalty or are silent because of mutually assured self-destruction. Maggie's family has not spoken publicly about where they stand on the charges against Ehrlich or whether they believe him when he says he didn't kill Maggie and Paul. We do know that Maggie's father is seriously ill right now.

We also know that Eleg had been desperate to reach out to the Branstettor since he was detained last fall. And we know that he was finally put in contact with them from behind bars sometime this past spring. We have heard that Maggie's parents might be giving Ehrlich the benefit of the doubt here. But without knowing the full extent of Mr. Brandsteader's participation as a broker in these cases, it's impossible to even guess at whether those deals have any influence over how Maggie's father feels about Ehrlich today. But we're still going to look into this and we'll update you once we know more. In every episode we published and in every story I write, I aim for truth and transparency. Two guiding principles in my journalism career.

So when we talk about the Mallory Beach story in the Parker's convenience store lawsuit, I need to be truthful and transparent about a couple things to let you all know where I'm coming from. Old school journalism rules tell reporters to stay out. of the story. But the truth is, if you're doing your job as a journalist, exposing the truth that others are afraid to tell and holding the powerful to account, the story becomes personal, and it is impossible to avoid that. Because without your reporting, the chain of events swirling around your story just wouldn't exist, and it's hard to ignore that. Particularly when I was reporting on Parker's shenanigans back in 2020, and yes, this lawsuit

has been going on for a very long time. Greg Parker and his team of lawyers erroneously claimed an emotion that I had obtained a confidential video and that I had a personal relationship with Mark Tensley, the attorney who is representing the Beach family. I have said this before and I will say it again. Mark Tensley never showed me a confidential video. He provided me with a quote from Renee Beach about Parker's

for a story that I published and later I found out that same quote was in the video. I don't like to pester grieving mothers for quotes, and I'm assuming attorneys don't like it either, so it made sense of the time to use that quote in the story. When my name was first mentioned in a motion from Parker's, I took that as Greg Parker bullying me to back off the story. I had written several articles at that point that were not good for Parker's PR team, and I'm sure he wanted to scare me. But here's the thing. None of this has changed my ability to see the facts in Parker's liability in this case. Remember, a Parker's worker illegally sold Paul Murdoch alcohol on February 23, 2019,

just hours before Mallory Beach died. In my opinion, Parker's liability is indisputable. The transaction is on video. The clerk admitted to the mistake, the dram shop laws in South Carolina are very clear on this. Mark Tensley has argued that the illegal booze sale is not an anomaly for Parkers because the company's culture values speed and profit over accuracy. Just a year before the boat crash, the convenience store settled a separate lawsuit for another improper alcohol sale that led to another death in the same county. Greg Parker has spent millions of dollars on both his defense in the case and on lobbying at the Essie Statehouse,

so big business guys like himself can avoid liability. That's the thing about the good old boys. When the laws don't bend in their favor, many of them decide to just throw money at lobbyists and change the law so it bends for them, which is absolutely wrong, and it's just another way to escape responsibility. Most importantly, Greg Parker has been accused

of all sorts of dirty tricks in this case and has shown no respect for the beaches and the pain all of this causes them. Recently, Parker's turned up the heat against us and subpoenaed Verizon to get records of phone and text conversations that they apparently think Liz and I were having with Mark Tensley, the Beach's lawyer. There was no reason for Parker to do this other than to harass us because neither Liz nor I have been accused of publishing confidential court material. as Vicki Ward has.

If they were trying to get to the bottom of who did that, as they claim, then we were the absolute wrong place to start. On the day I called out this absurd subpoena on Twitter, and an anonymous person created a Twitter account, and the next day I got a threatening tweet from that account, a very serious one. This appears to be a pattern with the evil trolls in the story. So many of the really awful ones,

not just the ones saying I have vocal fry, fry, seem to be connected to Greg Parker. These trolls not only make threats and say horrible things about the victims in their family, they seem to be laser-focused on finding something, anything that might hurt my credibility. And even though they fail at it, their lies still take up space. And speaking of lies, over the weekend, a highly anticipated story was published in the Wall Street Journal that, in my opinion, glorified Greg Parker. as a self-made, hardworking American.

To me, the story was mostly just another example of mainstream media failing to do their jobs in this saga and teaming up with the good old boys to help boost their narrative. I want to be transparent about something else here. My extreme distress for the reporter who wrote the story, and here is Liv. When Maggie and Paul Murdoch were murdered last year,

the world changed for so many people to do. for so many people down here. So many reporters, writers, and production companies descended upon the 14th Circuit, and all of them were desperate for more information on the Murdox and their legacy, which I totally get. This story is crazy, and we don't even know the full extent of it yet. During this time, I was still working for the Bifur County Sheriff's Office. So Mandy was alone.

She was inundated with breaking news every day, and because we had investigated this family for more than two years at that point, Mandy knew there were stories that needed to get out there because they deserved attention and more scrutiny, such as Stephen Smith and Gloria Satterfield. There was a lot of pressure. Specifically, the pressure Mandy was putting on herself to make sure that the spotlight remained on the victims and on the heart of this story, which is the mass of corruption and rampant good old boyism that had led to this moment. This was an opportunity for change, and Mandy recognized that. But the majority of media that descended on the low country seemed completely unwilling to see past the sexy true crime headlines. Rich man finds wife and son killed at his hunting estate.

And they struggled to get anyone from the community to talk to them because of the fear people have of crossing the Murdox. So they turned to Mandy, sometimes in the most rude and obnoxious of ways. She was getting tons of emails and texts daily from reporters who wanted to, quote, pick her brain and catch them up on the story. Everyone wanted a piece of her time and her institutional knowledge. And when she didn't give it to them, many would vilify her online or behind the scenes. At the same time, the Hollywood interlopers who immediately saw dollar signs with the Murdoch story, were also trying to get Mandy signed up for whatever they could. And when she dared to ask for time to discuss the proposals with the other people involved in the story,

such as the victims and their lawyers, she was made out to be a diva or a rube. It was horrible and very hard to watch from where I sat. I have seen so many people change in all of this, but not Mandy. From the very beginning, her values have remained the same, no matter how many people spread lies better, or used her as a sacrificial pawn in their efforts to manipulate others into signing deals with them. I have been brought to tears so many times over the past year

watching the cruelty Mandy has had to endure, just for daring to do her job. And this isn't even coming from the Murdoch. camp. It's literally from people who want to shortcut their way to one of the most complex stories in the history of the state. This is all just to say, I had a front row seat to all of this as it was happening, and I remember clearly the day she told me about a Wall Street Journal reporter who had approached her. It was like Mandy had been treading water for months, while more and more people were trying to pull her under. And finally, there was a person who was actually throwing her

a life preserver. Mandy will tell you more about that, but I wanted to first say that throughout all of this, every time Mandy has spoken out about other media, it has gotten twisted by people who have either missed her point or are intentionally mischaracterizing her viewpoint for their own personal gain, whatever that might be. It's easier for them to believe that a woman is being catty or patting herself on the back than to consider that this woman, a journalist who has been pointing out the broken parts of the justice system is bold enough to turn that criticism inward and point out the broken parts in journalism as well. Both of us have always wanted more media to cover the story. We wanted them to do a great job and uncover everything they can, but we want

them to also see how they've been and can be part of the problem. One problem Mandy saw from the beginning was that media were treating this quote story solely as an opportunity for themselves. They were using the very real people involved in the Murdox world as a means to an end, and in many cases doing them dirty in the meantime. Valerie from the Wall Street Journal did that to me. I don't want her or other reporters doing that to people who I know personally and who I care about and who I know have been directly affected by the onslaught of media in this case,

which is why I'm calling out Valerie Borlein right now. Every time I call out reporters in this saga, there will always be chattering trolls who want to make me out to be catty or territorial. When in reality, this entire time, I've only wanted for there to be change and accountability. I want us all working toward the goal of exposing the truth here, not helping the same old people get a leg up and not swindling victims for financial gain. The truth is that I have a really hard time trusting any research. reporters who swooped into the story after the double homicide happened, and I blame Valerie for a big part of that. Valerie reached out to me in August of 2021, a very dark time of my life when I desperately needed a friend, or really just an ally in the media. I was working 14-hour days that summer, and the constant

anxiety of feeling tethered to all things breaking in the Murdoch story took a huge toll on my mental health. And Liz was not working for Fitznews at the time, so I was really feeling alone. I was uncovering information about the Murdoch family that was horrific and hard to swallow daily. And behind the scenes, these new Volter-type characters from national media and documentary companies were relentlessly swooping in and reminding me again of just how ruthless and predatory human beings can be. I felt like this every day and I really want to to have a friend who was investigating the same evil so I could feel less alone and less hopeless. Unlike so many of the other parachute media types who contacted me last summer in an attempt

to get me to catch them up with the Murdoch story, as I heard so many times, Valerie's entire approach was different. She convinced me that she wanted to be my friend over dinner one night when she was in town last August. She wanted to know all angles of the story, not just the obvious parts and told me that she was thankful for my time and she would be sure to credit Fitznews in her story. We talked about everything that night. Journalism, being a woman in the business. The recent Murdoch madness, I told her about how David recently proposed and how my world had recently turned upside down and we shared a lot of laughs over multiple margaritas. I really liked her and told her things about the Murdoch story I have never told any other

mainstream media reporter. She gave me a lot of advice that night, and I remember thinking how great it was to feel like I finally had a big sister again in journalism. She told me several times at dinner that she was not at all trying to compete with me, that she was just there to do one story for the Wall Street Journal on the Murdox, and that was it. Ironically, it was Valerie, who was territorial about the story, seemingly on my behalf. This is your story. Don't let anyone steal it. She told me several times at dinner that night. The idea of stealing the story was never the issue for me, though. I simply wanted reporters covering the story to care enough to do the work themselves. Instead, these mainstream media reporters who had a luxury of spending weeks on a story time that

I just didn't have, wanted me to do the legwork for them, and that is not okay. Valerie told me how badly she wanted to write a book and she wanted to be a published author and asked me multiple times if I had been offered a book deal in the Murdoch story. Don't worry, it's coming, I remember she assured me. And she told me to keep her updated and she was excited for me. She didn't just ask me about book deals, though. She made it a focal point. And what I took as professional encouragement, though, was actually something else altogether. For the next month, we communicated often. We'd share tips and information and it felt great to finally have a legacy news reporter on my side. When her first story on the Murdoch family published in the Wall Street Journal last September,

I was excited to read it, but I was immediately shocked to see that Valerie had referred to me as a blogger instead of an investigative journalist. This should have been a big red flag for me, as every journalist on the planet knows that it is intentionally insulting to call a reporter a blogger. In fact, it's a tactic used by a particular group of trolls. When they don't like something I've reported, they call me a blogger. It's people like Greg Parker who benefit when the Wall Street Journal calls me a blogger. When I asked Valerie about this, she laughed it off and eventually corrected the air, saying that she and her editor made a compromise to call me a reporter, which is absurd, because

I have a degree in journalism and nearly a decade. of experience as a journalist at several mainstream newspapers. Calling me a reporter is not a compromise. It is a fact. I know this is inside baseball, but the whole thing was strange and awkward. I knew that Valerie recognized that she had minimized my position in her story, but I couldn't figure out why she did that. Then I found out what was happening.

Shortly after that story ran, I found out from my amazing agents at UTA. that Valerie Borlaid Jackson of the Wall Street Journal had submitted a book proposal on the Murdoch family. She got a book deal. And looking back, she probably referred to me as a blogger to undermine my work when she was selling her book. She was presenting herself like the only quote-unquote real journalist on this story. I wasn't bothered that she got a book deal.

It was that her offer of friendship and mentoring seemed to be only a means to an end for her. She was sniffing out the situation in an effort to leverage her own deal, or at least it felt like that. I saw her as a friendly face in a sea of monsters, and she saw me as a country bumpkin who she could take advantage of.

Now, this whole thing crushed me in a way that I never expected. I don't get emotionally involved in a lot of this stuff, because there are only so many emotions a person can handle in one day. What Valerie did to me shook me to my core and made me question so much about my own profession and the types of people who are really behind these national media stories. I had an encounter that kind of stab-in-the-back mean-girl behavior since I was in middle school.

Before Valerie, I was convinced that a majority of reporters were decent human beings, and she took that from me. And don't get me wrong, I am not a victim in this. I have gotten plenty of recognition in this story and I'm not at all worried about competing with Valerie or anyone else in this story. To me, it's not about competition. It's about doing the right things for the right reasons. I believe the future of journalism will rely on people trusting individual reporters and not

the companies that they work for. Journalists will have to earn that trust. They will have to be transparent and be held accountable to the same standards they're expecting from the people they're covering. If we want any hope for the future of journalism, we need to start calling out these national reporters for their bad behavior. Otherwise, this will all continue and nothing will change for the better. So now that you know my personal feelings about this reporter, you should also know that they do not change the fact that Greg Parker made some stunning admissions on the record with Valerie. And we need to talk about

those. First, Parker admitted to something we have long suspected that he is behind this mysterious random blog post about the boat crash that popped up in the summer of 2021 shortly after the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdoch. This blog post, which we will talk about more in a minute, was the first stone in what we now know is a very short path between Parker's team and tabloid reporter Vicki Ward. Last year, Vicki Ward got to be a first stone. her hands on these confidential court materials, including photos of Mallory's body, which she then used in a publicly posted sizzle reel that was meant to entice investors to fund her documentary about the Murdox. That is a big deal. It is a huge vindication for the Beach family, for Mark Tensley, and for those who have continued to press for the truth despite the denials and constant bullying from the other side. And this is not the only shocking thing that Greg Parker admitted to.

In 2020, Sandy Smith, Stephen Smith's mother, was visited by two private investigators who told her they wanted to help find her son's killer. Here is Sandy Smith's lawyer, Mike Hemlip. The two investigators told Sandy Smith that they had been hired by a person who was interested in finding answers in Stevens case, but that they had been hired. They couldn't tell her who they worked for because it would because of confidentiality, which I've never heard of private investigator confidentiality. But that's what she was, what she was told. At the time that that happened, I was not representing her. That wasn't in the summer of 2020.

And she was a woman whose son had been killed and she was a concerned mother and she was looking for help wherever she could find it. and she was more trusting then than she has now. She's learned her lesson. Remember, up until last year, Stevens case had gone cold at the South Carolina Highway Patrol, where they were investigating his death as a hit and run. No one in law enforcement had been paying attention

to Sandy's pleas for help until last summer. So when these guys came around in 2020, it gave Sandy some hope, but turns out they weren't trying to help her at least. all. In fact, that was the end of them. They disappeared. When Sled took over the case last summer, they had to get a warrant and went to those two private investigators to retrieve the iPad because it could have contained evidence in Stevens case. In the meantime, the two private investigators refused to say who was paying them. In the Wall Street Journal this weekend,

Greg Parker finally admitted to hiring those two. private investigators as a part of what he called his news gathering effort. Parker's legal team began using that term to describe the work being done for them by investigators and marketing companies because likely they wanted to try their hand at the reporter's shield law and see if it would protect them from having to divulge information related to the quote news gathering process. Yes, the same group of people who just two weeks ago, were trying to backdoor their way into obtaining messages from actual newsgatherers are the ones who did this.

And I hope Sled is looking into the possibility of criminal charges here. Because if a quote-unquote newsgatherer had done something like this, there's no doubt in my mind we would be in serious trouble. And again, think about all the steps Greg Parker has taken, all the months of the most of the he has spent all the staff he has fired and hired on his quest to avoid paying the beaches for Mallory's wrongful death. It's irrational. Just because Greg Parker isn't the worst villain in this story does not mean that he gets to escape accountability.

And we'll be right back. Now, let's talk about Greg Parker and his quest to avoid accountability. So first, like Mandy, I have a quick note. about the Wall Street Journal story. Before it was published around midnight, Friday evening, we had heard that it was going to contain some bombshells, which excited me personally because of how much we've written about Greg Parker and the accusations against him

in the civil conspiracy case. I'm not, and I told you so person generally, but it will bring me great personal satisfaction to share that story with those anonymous social media accounts that seem to want to paint the Beach family, their attorney, and Mandy and me, as if we're the villains and this. We are not the villains. My excitement over the story was short-lived, though, because as

Mandy mentioned earlier, much like every other mainstream news story out there, the journal did this thing that really frustrates us both. It gave every fact in the story equal weight. It neutralized the information and basically through everything at the reader like, here, all the people involved in this case are basically great. They're just doing their thing. No one is right, no one is wrong, enjoy. I'm still kind of working. through my feelings on what journalism was, is, and should be. I absolutely recognize the need for objectivity, but I think society is better served by journalists who believe and being objective to the truth, rather than being beholden to the subjects of the story, meaning journalists who

understand that in cases like these where the powerful are accused of harming the less powerful, there is a hierarchy of facts and a strong need for perspective every step of the way. Reporters should be fair about the portrayals, of course, but they need to stop making balance the goal. Placing pennies on each side of the scale so that it will balance out perfectly by the end is not a virtue when it comes to serious issues that affect people's lives. The truth is rarely split down the middle, so journalists should stop treating it that way. And they need to stop fooling themselves that balancing the scales makes them less biased. Everyone has biases, everyone.

So it's up to journalists to be honest about theirs. Both Mandy and I have this one quote we love that we saw on Twitter once about how a journalist's job is not to give readers information from, quote, both sides about whether it's raining outside, but rather to look out the window themselves and tell us whether it's raining. As such, like Mandy said, the story was basically a profile of a businessman simply protecting his business to the fullest extent possible while trying to change tort law in alcohol-related cases. If you read the hundreds of comments on the story, you'll know that they all sound like this. All hail the man who is making the money. Here's what was missing. The story of a man so intent on escaping accountability for any future alcohol sales to minors that he's willing to go scorched earth on everyone who comes his way.

Incidentally, it's also the story of a man who likes to take really bad advice from people who have no business giving advice. The Wall Street Journal story was also problematic because it painted the Beach's attorney, Mark Tinsley, like he's some unhinged, hick of a greed monster out to take down Parker for funsies just so he can get paid. Here's a sample of that. Mr. Tinsley, a personal injury lawyer in Allendale, South Carolina, said he wants to take Mr. Parker, quote, for everything he's got, end quote. Because the case has become personal.

Mr. Tinsley said he is offended by the lengths to which Mr. Parker's team has gone in the continuing investigation, which has made an excruciating situation for the beaches, even worse. Quote, I could prove everything he did and I'm going to. He's going to write me a big check, end quote. Mr. Tinsley said. You don't have to know Mark well or even for that long to know how much the Beach family means to him. How much of their pain he carries around with him to help lighten their load as much as possible and how angry he was to find out about Vicki Ward's sizzle reel, because it was a cruelty beyond any he could imagine. Like we told you several times before, the boat crash case is ground zero for the Murdoch murders. Paul Murdoch basically drove his boat straight into the

fortress that Elyke had built around his financial crimes. Since February 24, 2019, that fortress had been crumbling to the ground, and in the rubble are the Murdoch's secrets, which had been hidden for generations. The boat crash cases, separate and apart from the Murdox, had been really intense. The boat crash cases have exposed the ugly underbelly of South Carolina, both legally and politically. The civil conspiracy case, in particular, has shown us how far wealthy defendants and their attorneys are able to go in the state just by believing that the rules do not apply to them and then acting accordingly. When the rules do apply to them, they cry no fair. But the Wall Street Journal's story is actually a major.

major turning point here, both inside and outside the courtroom. Obviously, as Liz mentioned, Parker's team went after the Beach family's integrity and Mark Tensley's integrity when they suggested it was them who leaked the files. Meanwhile, they are continuing to try to have Tensley removed from both the civil conspiracy and the boat crash cases, but so far, they have been beaten back at every attempt. This has caused a lot of unnecessary stress for the victims. But that is the point. Parker's attorneys want the beaches to feel stressed by these cases so that they'll drop them,

or they'll do anything to end them quickly. It will be interesting to see what will happen now that we know the truth about Parker's in the boat crash cases. I will let Liz tell you more about what we know about Greg Parker, Greg Roman, and Vicki Ward. I'll start by reminding everyone that Greg Parker denies leaking the materials to Vicki Ward and that Vicki Ward denies paying for the materials. That said, you should know that production companies, people who seek to make documentaries and other televised projects, pay local consultants for their time and pay them for any photos, primary resources, databases, reports, etc., that they may have as it relates to whatever subject matter they're looking into. So while Vicky might not have paid for the material herself, it's possible the materials were, in fact, paid for. For a long time, we had heard that Vicki Ward had gotten the Murdoch file from a man named Greg Roman. But we couldn't prove that, nor could we figure out the connection between Roman and Greg Parker.

Here's who Greg Roman is. He's a Middle East policy expert who lives in Philadelphia. He has a long career of writing about issues that involve Israel. He is the director of the Middle East Forum, which promotes America's interest. in the Middle East, everything this guy does seems to be related to the Middle East, except for one thing. Last summer, he wrote a very long blog that he posted on his website about Paul Murdoch. The blog contained a lot of information that had not been made public.

It recently came out that long before the murders, Greg Parker had paid a firm to put together a report on the Murdox, like a dossier. Mark Tinsley has pointed out that entire passages from that report were present in Roman blog. Now, the blog post was weird from the beginning. Roman claimed to have been vacationing on Hilton Head when he came across the story about a 2019 boat crash. But here's the thing. This was 2020. The boat crash was no longer in the headlines and at that point, I think Mandy had only written about it four or five times. There was no movement at the court level because of COVID and generally it just was in a story that most people thought about anymore other than locals and Mandy

and me who were often accused of becoming obsessed with it. So how did a tourist become interested in a crash that happened a year and a half earlier and 45 minutes away from Hilton Head that involved kids who lived about an hour and 30 minutes from Hilton Head? I mean, it can happen, sure. But also, how did that tourist know about Paul's blood alcohol content? How did he know about an affidavit from a quote, close Murdoch family associate claiming Buster was gay?

An affidavit that has never been publicly filed in this case, which means if it truly does exist, then it came from the lawyers. There were so many little pieces that Mandy and I were like, hang on a minute here. I mean, it seems so obvious that we now know the origin of Greg Roman's blog post. But honestly, we didn't give it much thought at the time, at least not consistently. When Vicki Ward came on the scene, his name came up again. But there was just so much going on at the time that we had to put it on the back burner.

In June, Vicki Ward's three-part documentary aired on Investigation Discovery, and who should we see on it, but Mr. Middle East policy himself, Greg Roman. Not only is he an unusually perceptive, curious, and resourceful tourists, with an apparently uncanny ability to get locals to open up to him about the Murdox and get law enforcement officers from the Department of Natural Resources to open their case files for him, He is a producer of Murdoch documentaries. Greg Roman was listed as a producer of the documentary and even appeared on the program as a Murdoch expert.

My goodness, right? That seemed to confirm our suspicions about Roman giving Vicky Ward whatever files he had had to help him with his blog entry, which clearly had included photos of Mallory's dead body. But how did Roman know Parker? How did Roman get those documents? I guess we should have just asked Greg Parker,

the man who denied having any role in those files being released. So here's where Parker might have shot himself in the foot. By admitting that he hired Greg Roman, he's basically admitting to either causing, or being the conduit, to how Roman got whatever files he had. But he's saying that his service contract with Roman had concluded at the time of the blog, and at the time Vicky Ward got the documents, so case closed, nothing to see here.

Once again, Greg Parker has put himself in the line of fire, for thoughtlessly giving someone a product, that they then use recklessly to harm others. Seems like a pattern, right? I want to pause for a minute here and point out that the Wall Street Journal unironically referred to Greg Roman as an investigative journalist,

which is what I was talking about earlier. The man posted a personal essay about the Murdox on his personal blog. It's another small detail that might not mean much outside of the reporter's circles, but it's important because words matter. How a writer decides to characterize someone can either validate or invalidate them. They choose the colors they paint with.

By calling me a blogger, that reporter was telling the reader, hey, this is a casual and unsurious person covering this with no real adherence to journalistic pillars, so take what she's written with a grand assault by calling Roman an investigative journalists. And again, it looks like he was paid by Greg Parker to write what he did. Valerie is giving him clout and saying he's the man who looked into this. He is someone who is considered all the angles and has rolled up his sleeves and dug deep. When in reality, it looks like he is a man who is paid by a person with special interests, and he investigated, curated information that was handed to him. It is infuriating to see these things play out the way that they do.

I want to emphasize something Mandy just said. According to Mark Tensley, the file Roman had been given appears to have only included information that Parker's team would have wanted him to have, meaning whoever gave him that file seem to have held back on all the information from the confidential court materials that wouldn't reflect too kindly on Parkers. Tinsley believes they held back things that, quote-unquote, investigative journalists would have been chomping at the bit for, such as surveillance footage from the hospital the night of the crash. The documentary, for instance, only used a still photo from the hospital surveillance that Tinsley had marked as evidence. Why would they hold back on including that video in the file? likely because the hospital had handed it over with the agreement that it would only be used under very specific circumstances.

So what does all this mean? It means that Parker's team seems to have very purposely included the photos of Mallory's body in whatever file Roman got and then ostensibly shared it with Vicky Ward. Why would they do that? That's the question, right? Why? Would they want photos of Mallory's body out there? What was the plan there? In the Wall Street Journal piece, Greg Parker proudly admitted to hiring private investigators

and so-called private investigative reporters to help him fight his case, saying that anyone in his shoes would do the same. No one is saying he shouldn't defend himself. But again, how does knowing whether Buster Murdoch is gay help Parker's in the boat crash case? How would a blog entry about how awful the Murdox are help in the courtroom? They wouldn't. Parker wasn't doing these things to defend himself. He was doing them in an attempt to sway public opinion ahead of the trial

and to bully the victims to back down. Vicki Ward did not have to use that photo. It didn't illustrate any point that she was making about the Murdox. We all know how Mallory died. It was used for the shock value to grab attention. Even if that wasn't the plan, Parker seems to have a big problem understanding that just because he doesn't want the rules to apply to him does not mean that he gets to play dirty. One of the major factors that's been brought up in the boat crash case is that in addition

to poorly training its cashiers and disregarding its own policies, Parker's is accused of prioritizing the speed of sales over all else. In the journal, the reporter writes about this. She points out that the beaches believe that the pressure of turning over transactions quickly means that cashiers are more prone to making errors in alcohol sales. As an answer to that, the reporter wrote that Parker says he has never reprimanded anyone for speed of transaction. Is that true? Did she fact-check that? Is she sure that no cashier has ever been reprimanded for taking their time? Also, we need to talk about this. Some Parker stores are starting to introduce self-checkout stations. One thing that has gotten lost in all of this is that the beaches have been very clear about the mission here.

They know money will not bring them happiness and they know it will not bring back Mallory, but they also know money is what Greg Parker values. They know that being required to pay punitive damages is what might actually motivate him to change. All they originally wanted in this was for Parker to acknowledge his store's role in Mallory's death and to fix the problem. Before Mallory's death, Parker settled another fatal crash in Beaufort County that occurred after alcohol was sold to an obviously inebriated person. According to court documents, even though Parker's admitted to training failures on its part, when it came to preventing illegal sales of alcohol, the stores in-house counsel also indicated

that they didn't plan on fixing that, according to court documents. The beaches won it fixed, and frankly, it seems like it would have been a whole lot cheaper and a whole lot more honorable if Parker had done that instead of spending millions of dollars on gathering dirt on people. We'll be right back. As hard as this is to believe, the second major admission from Greg Parker in the Wall Street Journal is even more infuriating and more disgusting. It's one of those things that angers you, the more that you think about. Parker admitted to hiring two private investigators named Max Fortati and Henry Rosado. And frankly, I am shocked he would admit to doing something so heinous. Even though Fortati and Rosado told Sandy Smith they were there to investigate Stevens' death in 2020,

we now know that that's not at all what they had planned to do. According to court filings, it was their mission with Sandy to find evidence to prove that Buster Murdoch and Stephen had an intimate relationship. Again, this is not information that would have been relevant to the Bowcrash case at all. But according to sources, Parker's team believed that by making that connection between Buster and Stephen, they might be able to sway public opinion on him and therefore, let him. lessen Parker's burden of the liability. Buster Murdoch is a defendant in the boat crash case and stands accused of knowingly letting Paul use his license to get alcohol. So again, it looks like Parker was using his power to create a public smear campaign about someone's alleged

sexuality, which has nothing to do with the case and is so vile when you really think about it. Here is Sandy Smith's attorney, Mike Himlip. Well, I don't want to presume to speak for Sandy. You know, she and I have enjoyed the kind of relationship where we see eye to eye on almost everything, but I don't know that I want to speak for her. But the general sense that I have, and I think she would share this, is it's a little infuriating. Because the idea that some rich guy who is, you know, completely unrelated to Stephen's case,

inserts himself into the investigation for some self-serving reason, which I can only assume it's a self-serving reason. I mean, there's no, in the Wall Street Journal article, he indicated that he was looking into all the different things that were alleged to be part of the Murdox, and Stephen's death has only been alleged to have any connection to that. The fact that he would insert himself and use Stephen's case, which is, first of all, tragic and second of all, horrific.

To use this for some sort of gain or advantage in a lawsuit or in a political campaign in the legislature to affect the laws in South Carolina, that's kind of disgusting. It's gross. I mean, you inserted yourself in this investigation for literally no good reason. I think it's gross. What is seriously deranged about what Parker's team

did here is that no one at the state level was listening to Sandy. She was begging anyone for help with her son's cold case, and she was getting nowhere. I don't know that I can say that these gentlemen lied to her, but it was certainly subterfuge, I mean, without question, and used it to gain access to information about Stephen and his private life and his his, his, his, his, his private affairs. And they were able to do this because from the early days in 2015, from the early days in the investigation, there was conflicting stories from public officials about how he died, Stephen died. There was conflicting stories about the injuries on his body. There was conflicting stories. Of course, there was speculation everywhere. And it seems like no public

officials could give her any relief, could give her any solid ground to stand on. She reached out to anybody she could. She wrote Nikki Haley, the governor. She wrote the FBI. She was looking for anybody to come in and help her as the mother of what we now believe to be a murder victim. So here these two people show up and say, hey, we're private investigators. We're here to help you. We can't tell you who it is because, you know, confidentiality, but we're here to help you.

Well, of course she would have jumped at that. Sandy gave these two private investigators hired by Parker Stephen's iPad, which at the time was rumored to have contained evidence of text between Stephen and Buster. It's not enough that they took the iPad with no apparent intention of helping Sandy. They didn't give it back without a search warrant. So apparently they took this, whatever they did with that, who knows. and amassed a body of information. Have they provided that to us?

Have they reached out to us on that? No, I've never heard from any of these people. Have they reached out to SLED? SLED has gotten some of it with a search warrant because they didn't want to cooperate a sled. And I didn't know what they have. I didn't know what they have. They need to come forward.

They need to come forward like right now. And they need to provide me everything that they have about Steven's best case. I am not hired to do anything with this boat litigate. I have nothing to do with this vote litigation. I am not interested in anything that they have related to that. They are welcome to everything that they have on that, and they can have their day in court. And in the same way that I am not interested in their litigation, they need to get out of ours. This is a murder investigation, and they need to provide me with everything that they have.

This shocking revelation from Greg Parker presents a new challenge for Mike and Sandy, as they seek to get answers about the extent of Fratari and Rosado's so-called investigation. We are tossing around a few ideas and we're thinking about how to best take action on this. One of the things that we have been very clear about from the very beginning, since I've been involved for sure. And Sandy for way longer than that is that Sandy and I have, the entire Smith family and I, have a singular goal. And that is, whoever killed Stephen should go to prison. We find out that people had manipulated the evidence. People were involved in secreting information.

Those people should be held accountable to. If these investigators have any information with regards to any of that, it's not helpful to them. It doesn't help at all. There's no reason why he shouldn't turn it over. If they don't want to turn it over to me, they can turn it over to SLED. Make no mistake. They will be pressing ahead and they will be getting it.

answers. Another thing we want to update you on is the boat crash itself. Last week, Judge Daniel Hall agreed to Ehrlich Murdoch's request to postpone the trial until after his murder trial. The boat crash trial was set to start in early October. Obviously, that would be rather problematic for Ehrlich because a major component of the boat crash would deal with his parenting of Paul, and it would put the public behind closed doors, where they could get a nice, close look at Elyke's life. The danger of the boat crash case for Ehrlich Murdoch has always been that it would air his and his family's dirty laundry. And clearly he's not done emptying out his nasty little hamper. So it's understandable why his defense would argue for this.

But it's also frustrating because the beaches have hung in there for three years already and you can see everything they've had to put up with in the interim. I know this sounds bizarre to say, but why should they have to wait just because he's been accused of murder? Since ELEC is requesting a speedy trial, I think there will be even more pressure on Dick and Jim to make that actually happen. In a way, this is Judge Hall calling their bluff. His decision is a temporary reprieve for Ehrlich. If they put off his murder trial past January and there's no reason to think they won't at this point, Dick and Jim are going to have to contend with the Beach family, going back to Judge Hall and saying, like we said, this is all one big tactic.

Dick and Jen's request for a speedy trial might actually be one of the best. those smart chess moves we kept hearing about. So let's look at the biggest picture of all in the beach case. In the civil conspiracy case, the beaches are basically asking for accountability. They are saying Greg Parker conspired with others to intentionally inflict emotional harm upon them, all in an effort to affect the outcome in the wrongful death case. In response, Parker and his team double. doubled down and then tripled down. Parker's ruthlessness in this case might all be designed

for one thing to make the beaches and other victims so scared of what quadruple down might look like. I have no doubt that the beaches know this is the game here, and I'm sorry that they have to fight this fight. I'm so sorry for what they've had to deal with since February 24, 2019. Within the Murdoch case, there are so many villains who are easy to identify. But not all of these evil-doers are obvious. As these cases continue to twist and move forward, we will continue to drag these vampires into the sunlight and show the world who the true villains really are.

In retrospect, I remember, I, and I still believe, like, this part of the story was important for me to tell because I was going through so much at the time and it was representative of so much more, which was just so many people in media in my own profession, being wildly mean and disappointing. And I look back on this now, though, especially, and this is funny, and I might get choked up, but this show in the last year, I think of how much I've grown in the last year in particular and being on set and getting to know all of the people involved in the show. And me being able to physically go to something with a giant group of people and be able to confidently speak with them and not feel like I am hated by them was life-changing. because for so many reasons, because of this reporter and so many other, just really mean. I remember a couple state reporters made fun of me about, like, crowdsourcing,

and I had like a little buy me a coffee, like, I was constantly just getting made fun of on the internet by my own colleagues. And it was incredibly hurtful and disappointing. And just like, why am I the one that you're making fun of in this moment? Like, we're dealing with somebody really, really horrible. And then they would, all these same people would turn around and write about Dick Harpoon. And like he was the best thing in the world. And anyways, I lived my life for a long time going to any like work event, which was any court proceeding, terrified because so many people hated me and feeling so self-conscious and feeling like every time it was real.

Like every time I would want and same with you. all eyes on us, like, and disgusted out. Like, and just, and people just, it was like stepping back into the worst version of high school that I'd never experienced, which was like mean girls, mean boys everywhere. And that was my experience with the South Carolina Press. And I will never forgive them for that. Because it really, like, shook me up and it really made me for a long time believe that most people were like that, that most people were hated me. and that most people were catty and that most people, if you report the truth and if you're successful at that, then you will be punished socially. Yeah. And I think I'm like as I'm sitting

here, I'm just thinking like I wish I had understood then just how much it was affecting you. Like I knew obviously we were in the same boat stress wise you to a larger degree because you were just like you said a target. It was almost fun for people I think to try and knock you down because it's that I mean, what else would be the reason? But what sucks about it is looking back on, I remember talking to you during one of the last days of trial because I would occasionally go to the courthouse or work out of the trailer,

and I would put myself in those spaces, like not caring that I was getting the looks because I was getting the looks and the snide remarks from national media. And local. And local. But I was also getting a lot of young national journalists telling me how much they love you,

how much they love me, how much they're inspired by what we did. And that was really like, you know, food for the soul kind of thing. So I wanted you to experience that so badly. I remember just like all but begging you and David to come, like just come to the courtyard and like you'll see like even though there's this like evil glare at us, there's also just all these people who act like they're meeting, you know, the queen. Like it really did. It just, it made me feel better, especially when it was the journalist who were saying.

So they hadn't gotten the memo that we were supposed to be hated. And it was just really cool to be chased down by someone to say, like, you know, you make me want to be you, like kind of thing. And every time I was in a court hearing, I would run into a younger reporter, always a woman, who would say something like that. And that did mean a whole lot. I think, too, I started to feel like I was a problem. Like, I look back on the trial and, like, I didn't go because I did not feel. And even when I was outside of the courthouse walking around, I felt like I was a distraction, a distraction to the situation. Because people were always coming up to it when you too.

Like, they were asking for selfies, asking for like, whatever. And even going to the bathroom, though, is something that, like, I didn't want you to do alone. Yeah. Right, it was just something everything was just caught. And I wasn't scared of people being mean to me or scared of people coming up to me and saying something snarky. I was also really scared of the people that really actually hated me and spent a lot of time on the internet just criticizing everything that I ever did. And it's like, what would those people do if they ran into me? That's a dangerous situation.

So I just look back on all of that and look back on this episode. And I'm really glad that both of us kind of embrace the outsider mentality and just kind of were like, okay, they're not going to let us into their little club. So we're making our own and it's going to be better. And we're going to cover this better than anybody else. And we did. Yeah, we sure did. But I will say, it was really great that we had to, the alternative to going to the courtroom every day was being able to spend time with hundreds of people online and watch the trial together. with our premium members and that was something that I will never forget because it

made the job a six-week trial much more enjoyable to cover and like we were a part of a group so I really appreciated that yeah every time we ever do any events with premium members still I'll recognize like pretty much all of the sign-on names like oh I remember you would say good morning every day of trial and it would be so sweet every you would compliment us and it just kept us going and it made us so much better. So again, shout out to all of the listeners, especially the Luna Shark premium members. We love you guys. The Murdoch Murders podcast is created by me, Mandy Matney, and my fiance, David Moses. Our executive editor is Liz Farrell. Produced by Luna Shark Productions.