These heirs and heiresses were found guilty of murder

Well-known US lawyer Alex Murdaugh became the defendant when he was put on trial for the deaths of his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, at their expansive estate in South Carolina in June 2021.

At the time of the murders, Murdaugh claimed he was visiting his mother. However, records from his phone placed him at the scene, and he was later arrested and charged with both murders.

While he was eventually sentenced to life in prison for Maggie and Paul’s deaths, the investigation revealed the true extent of Murdaugh’s crimes.

In November 2023, he pleaded guilty to embezzling millions from his clients, including the sons of his housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, who died at his home in 2018.

Murdaugh was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his financial crimes.

Once known as a stamp- and shell-collecting heir to the du Pont fortune worth billions, John is still the only Forbes 400 Richest Americans member to be convicted of murder.

In January 1996, du Pont shot and killed his employee Dave Schultz, 36, on the grounds of his family estate in Newton, Pennsylvania.

During the trial, a defence expert described du Pont as suffering from schizophrenia. They said he believed Dave was part of a conspiracy to kill him. As a result, du Pont pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

“There’s no way John in his right mind would’ve killed Dave,” du Pont’s friend Joy Hansen told The New York Times.

Du Pont was eventually found guilty of “third-degree murder but mentally ill”. He was sentenced to 13 to 30 years in prison. He died in prison in 2010 aged 72.

Matthew Wales shocked Australia when he bludgeoned his socialite mother Margaret Wales-King and stepfather Paul King to death after a dinner at his Melbourne townhouse on 4 April 2002.

At the time, it was thought Wales, then 34, killed his parents to gain their estate worth around $5 million.

But once he was caught three weeks later, Wales confessed to police he killed. The confession came as he’d felt emotionally, physically and financially dominated by Margaret.

Wales pleaded guilty to both murders in April 2003. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but could be released on parole in May 2026.

Honours student Ashton Sachs, then 19, had a bright future ahead of him. But on 9 February 2014, he killed his parents Brad, 57, and Andra Sachs, 54. The turn of events took place in their $3.9 million luxury home in Orange County, California. He explained later they made him “feel like crap”.

Sachs also attempted to kill his younger brother Landon, then eight, and sister Alexis, then 17.

“The defendant is a sociopath,” said senior deputy district attorney Mike Murray. “He has no remorse or empathy.”

Sachs received two life sentences without parole for the murders and an extra 50 years for the attempted murders.

“They were just loving, smiling people,” a family friend told media.

“I couldn’t imagine anybody wanting to hurt them for anything.”

On Christmas Eve 2023, Dylan Thomas brutally killed his best friend William Bush at their shared home in Cardiff.

Thomas’ grandfather Sir Stanley Thomas started a pie empire now worth over $417 million. He admitted to manslaughter but denied murdering William.

During his trial in November 2024, Thomas’ defence team argued the 24-year-old was suffering from psychosis at the time of the killing.

Thomas was found guilty of murder the same month and was sentenced to life imprisonment in January.

“Dylan Thomas is an evil, manipulative liar,” William’s sister Catrin Bush told British media outside the court.