Three years after Moselle murders, Maggie and Paul Murdaugh get headstones at graves

The granite grave markers sadly bear the words "Mother" and "Son." The birth dates are 31 years apart, but the death dates record the same fateful day, June 7, 2021, while the largest word etched into the stone is a surname that has become internationally known: "Murdaugh."

Nearly three years after their shockingly brutal murders, Margaret and Paul Murdaugh have now received headstones marking their final resting places in Hampton, South Carolina, a once-little-known town thrust onto the nation's true crime map following their deaths.

The simple but sturdy stone markers were reportedly erected earlier this week in the family plot at the Hampton Cemetery where former 14th Circuit Solicitor Randolph Murdaugh III also lies at rest.

Maggie, 52 at the time, and Paul, 22, were found dead, shot multiple times, on the night of June 7, 2021, at the family's dog kennels at Moselle, the 1,700-plus acre Murdaugh estate that straddled Colleton and Hampton counties.

Three days later, on June 10, former solicitor Murdaugh III died after an extended illness.

The slain mother and child were reportedly cremated and their remains were buried on June 11, 2021, the first of two burial ceremonies for the family within the week.

Roughly a year later, amid a criminal scandal that made international headlines, disbarred Hampton attorney Richard "Alex" Murdaugh, the patriarch of the murdered family, was charged with the homicides.

Alex Murdaugh was convicted of the killings on March 2, 2023, and sentenced the next day to a pair of consecutive life sentences in state prison. He had also been charged with more than a hundred financial fraud crimes in both state and federal courts.

While his criminal cases have plodded on, from ongoing appeals to financial crime guilty pleas and even a jury tampering scandal, Murdaugh remains imprisoned while his slain family lay at rest with no permanent grave markers.

Many following the story wondered why there had been no headstones erected, commenting in social media chat rooms that this was "disrespectful" or "disgraceful." Others speculated the now notorious family might have had concerns about vandalism.

But during that time many people following the tragic crime saga made pilgrimages to Hampton to visit the gravesites and leave flowers for the slain victims many feel were often forgotten during this sweeping crime saga.

This week fresh bouquets adorn both graves, perhaps in a sign that while families and communities are striving to heal and move on, the victims of Alex Murdaugh have not been forgotten.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Maggie, Paul Murdaugh get headstones with 'Mother,' and 'Son' on them