SOLD: What are buyer’s plans for country home of Alex Murdaugh?

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The Colleton County country home of Alex Murdaugh is under contract from a buyer who plans to make the place into a horse farm.

J.P. King Auction Co., working in conjunction with Crosby Land Co., said the parties reached a deal Thursday night for the sale of Moselle Estate, a house and surrounding 21 acres on Moselle Road in Islandton, for $1 million.

The property was one of the locations for the web of storylines that let to the disbarment and conviction of Murdaugh, a once prominent attorney now in prison, convicted for the murders of his wife and a son as well as a series of fraud allegations.

The buyer’s name is being withheld for now, according to a news release and spokesperson for J.P. King Auction Co., but the purchaser is not a stranger to the region. The buyer has multiple business offices in South Carolina, and plans to develop the Moselle Estate for use as a horse farm, the release said.

The custom-built home and land were part of a property of more than 1,700 acres that sold in March 2023 to James A. Ayer and Jeffrey L. Godley.

In January, J.P. King put the property for sale online with plans to start accepting bids at $1.1 million.

See related story: Alex Murdaugh’s Colleton County property to be auctioned

The Gadsden, Ala.-based auction company handles high-end property sales nationwide, many of them attached to fame, but Craig King, president emeritus, said that fame — or notoriety — usually does not affect the final price.

“J.P. King Auction Co. has successfully handled a lot of celebrity properties in the past — athletes, business leaders, musicians, etc.,” he said. “In doing so, this initially creates a lot of buzz around the properties, but ultimately the market price is the market price. My experience is that typically a celebrity property does not change the market price of the property.”

“J.P. King is excited to have secured a buyer who is going to fully utilize and repurpose this wonderful property,” Trey Perman, CEO of J.P. King Auction Co., said in the release. “Our online auction process for this luxury property was successful in that it helped find both the market and the market price for the seller and buyer.”

The online auction helped secure a contract with an out-of-town buyer who was familiar with the area. J.P. King has deep experience in equestrian properties to include selling equestrian properties such as the Calumet Horse Farm in Lexington, Ky., in addition to others in Florida, Kentucky, California and other areas.

Islandton is about an hour and a half drive from Charleston, Savannah, Columbia and Augusta cities and airports.