Ryan’s deep-dive into gripping Murdaugh saga is available now

As the nation-gripping saga of disgraced attorney and convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh and his myriad crimes continues to unfold, South Carolina author Jason Ryan dives deep into the whole Murdaugh family’s closet — which is chock-full of skeletons.

The now-notorious Lowcountry family is on full display in Swamp Kings: The Story of the Murdaugh Family of South Carolina and a Century of Backwoods Power. While the spotlight has been on Alex Murdaugh as his more-than 100 crimes (and counting) are slowly revealed, Ryan shows that each action was only the tip of the iceberg.

“There’s a generational aspect to the crimes and corruption that is hard to ignore,” Ryan told the Charleston City Paper. “The day-in, day-out is really shocking. The molestation and misbehaviors of [the late great uncle] Johnny Murdaugh are shocking, too. Where does all the blame lie? Was Alex given a sense of entitlement — this privilege? He was allowed to keep doing things that were wrong without being held accountable. And it eventually snowballed until he thought he could get away with anything.”

Born and raised in Connecticut, Ryan moved to the Palmetto State during high school, bouncing back and forth between the Upstate and Midlands and finally settling in the Lowcountry when he began his writing career. Combined with his experience as a journalist for The State and The Beaufort Gazette, he said he had more than enough knowledge and contacts accrued when he began accounting the history of the Murdaugh family.

“Even though I didn’t grow up here, I have friends and sources scattered all over,” he explained. “And Beaufort County is a place I know the ins and out of thanks to my former job as a reporter.

“But I had only been to Hampton once in my life,” he added. “I was just an outsider there — another strange face. It was a mixed bag. I was close as could be to the players in the story, but still there was this wall.”

Ryan said the hardest part of writing the book was knowing when to stop.

“There’s still so much more to it, and I still have a lot of questions about how the murders really unfolded,” he said. “Where do you start? Where do you end? What do you include and what don’t you? I was glued to the couch from sun-up to sundown. I blew past the deadline and just kept writing and feeding pieces at a time to my editor.”

What results in Swamp Kings is a narrative that’s a deep-dive into a heartbreaking and gut-wrenching tale of theft, fraud, murder, molestation and much more.

“It’s a very tough subject. There’s a lot of tough issues, and I sought to be fair but also firm,” Ryan said. “Some of the language and topics in the book are tough to read and stomach, but to play it down or minimize what happened I didn’t think was better. I include a lot of things that show an ugly attitude, but it is demonstrative of the way people feel and felt. Even though it’s ugly doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be heard.”