This whole thing started with a 911 call.

The guy on the phone, Alec Murdoch, seemed to be in a panic.

He told the dispatcher that he'd found Maggie, his wife of nearly 30 years, and Paul,

their 22 year old son, shot at the family sprawling 1700 acre country estate.

Are they breathing?

No, ma'am.

Maggie and Paul were dead.

And it did not take long for word to get around tiny, tiny, Hampton, South Carolina,

because as you probably know by now, the Murdoch's, well, they were like a royalty here,

rich, popular.

Over the next year and more, the story of Alec Murdoch and his family would become

national, even international, and it really was quite the saga, this tragic boot crash that

killed a teenager, a roadside suicide attempt, allegations of fraud and theft.

Then of course, there were the double murders.

Each headline made it pretty clear the Murdoch dynasty was ending.

I'm Craig Melvin, and this is Dateline D Brief.

Joining me is my colleague and good friend, Carol Gabel.

Hello.

In this podcast, we're going to take you behind the scenes of our reporting on the Murdoch

saga.

From the moments that surprised us to the moments that really touched us.

So if you haven't seen or listened to our Dateline report, Dark Waters, you can actually

...