A quick overview of the trial, the key witness, and the events surrounding the Murdaugh family.
What Happened?
On June 7, 2021, Maggie Murdaugh and her son Paul were found shot and killed
at the family's Moselle property in South Carolina.
Alex Murdaugh, Maggie's husband and Paul's father, was convicted of the murders
in 2023. His murder convictions were later overturned in 2026, and prosecutors
announced plans to retry the case.
Quick Case Facts
Key Witness: Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson
Blanca was the Murdaugh family's longtime housekeeper and was close to Maggie.
Because she knew the family's routines, she was able to testify about things
that seemed unusual after the murders.
She recognized the clothes Alex had been wearing earlier that day.
She said some of those clothes were never seen again.
She noticed unusual details inside the house after the murders.
She testified about a later conversation with Alex about what he had been wearing.
Her testimony supported the prosecution's argument that Alex may have changed clothes
after the murders and helped show inconsistencies in his version of events.
Paul Murdaugh & the Boat Crash
In 2019, Paul was involved in a boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach.
He was later charged with boating under the influence and other offenses.
The case brought major attention to the Murdaugh family and led to a wrongful-death
lawsuit. Paul died before the criminal case went to trial.
The Murdaugh Family
The Murdaugh family had been powerful in South Carolina's legal community for generations.
Three generations of the family served as solicitors, or chief prosecutors, in the
14th Judicial Circuit for more than 80 years.
Other Cases & Accusations
Stephen Smith
Smith died in 2015 under suspicious circumstances. His case was later reopened,
but no Murdaugh family member has been charged in his death.
Gloria Satterfield
The family's former housekeeper died after a reported fall in 2018.
Alex later admitted stealing insurance settlement money meant for her sons.
Financial Crimes
Alex was also convicted of stealing millions of dollars from clients
and others in separate financial-crime cases.
Reflection:
1. Some prompts I used to build this file were, 'Can you create a new HTML, CSS, and JS file all called “murdaugh”? I want to do a quick explanation for a class on the key witness of The Murdaugh Trial – the housekeeper. I also want to include a quick overview of the case including Paul Murdaugh’s boat accident, the history of the Murdaugh family in South Carolina, and the many other cold cases and accusations against the family. make the webpage visually appealing, simple, and easily understandable.' and 'why are there 890 lines of code?? it does not need to be that long. this should be a quick overview of the case with a simple but visually pleasing layout.' When I first prompted the creation of this webpage, ChatGPT gave me a ridiculously long and overly complex output. I wanted something simple that I could easily understand and modify. 800 lines of code felt overwhelming and unnecessary, so I asked ChatGPT to simplify it.
2. Some changes I made to improve the webpage include: changing the font from Arial to Georgia, adding a new Quick Case Facts section to the HTML and styled it with CSS so it matched the rest of the page. I also created a JavaScript object to store important case information, including the location, date, defendant, and key witness. Then I added a button that uses JavaScript to show and hide those facts on the page.
3. I learned that JavaScript objects are useful for storing related information together in one place. Instead of creating a bunch of separate variables, you can organize data using properties and values inside an object. I also learned that you can access specific information from an object, which makes the code easier to organize and understand.
4. During this project, I saw AI as a helpful tool for putting my ideas into practice and for learning new concepts quickly. When using AI I am able to learn how to code things that I might not have been able to figure out on my own. But I also know that I need to direct the AI's output to ensure it meets my needs and maintains quality, understand what the code is doing, and be able to make necessary changes from the AI's basic foundation
5. One new boundary I want to set for myself when using AI for prjects is to make the AI model explain what the code is doing. Sometimes the output is very complex and difficult to understand, and this would ensure that the AI is used as a tool and as a shortcut.