here's abc's amy robach. ♪ >> your life before prison, was it ideal? were you living your dream?y get emotional. >> it's painful to remember what life was like before? >> when you have your soul mate and you love each other and you respect each other, it makes life wonderful. and we had a wonderful life. >> reporter: joe bryan and his wife miki were pillars of their community of clifton, texas, outside of waco, until the unthinkable happened. >> 1985, joe bryan was the principal of the local high school. >> i loved it. i could not wait to get to work every day. >> his wife, miki bryan, taught fourth grade at the local elementary school. >> miki was the salt of the earth. a very practical, very depe dependable, what she said, you could write it in the bible. >> they were very devoted to each other. >> we cooked together. we washed and cleaned the cars together. we did the yard work together. we walked every day. >> reporter: joe went to a principal's conference in austin, texas, 120 miles away. miki stayed home. do you remember the last thing you ever said to her? >> yeah. i told

we'll speak to his attorney after this report from amy robach. george. alex murdaugh is, yes, back in the headlines this morning arrested on suspicion of misappropriating settlement funds in connection with the 2018 death of his family's longtime housekeeper. alex murdaugh under arrest, the 53-year-old taken into custody in florida thursday morning upon his release from a drug rehab facility in orlando. authorities charging him with two felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses relating to a recent lawsuit accusing him of stealing millions in insurance money which was meant to go to the sons of gloria satterfield, his family's longtime housekeeper who died after a purported trip and fall incident at the murdaughs' south carolina home in 2018. in a statement to abc news, an attorney for satterfield's son says, in part, the charges are a very good start to holding everyone accountable who either participated knowingly or breached their duties. the bottom line is no one is above the law. it is the latest turn in an ongoing saga. murdaug

amy robach, come on now, joins us now. there is always something in this case. >> so many twists.g to you. the money, $4.3 million worth was supposed to come from alex from alex murdaugh's insurance company, instead new new court papers are alleging he diverted that money to himself. this morning, another twist in that south carolina unsolved double murder mystery. whose wife maggie and son paul were murdered in june now accused of scheme of funneling millions that were supposed to be paid to the sons of his former housekeeper in a wrongful death lawsuit after she reportedly tripped over his dogs, hit her head and passed away. >> they were never told of the settlements. they were never told of the court hearings. they were never told of the disbursements. >> reporter: according to court documents murdaugh allegedly worked with two friends, an attorney and banker to pocket money from the $4.3 million settlement which should have gone to the family of his former housekeeper. the attorney for the housekeeper's family said they've seen a fraction of what they're owed. >> they want to

i'm amy robach. >> i'm david muir.

amy robach has the latest. >> reporter: alex murdaugh was booked into a south carolina jail this weekendda. he'll be heading to court as you said for a bond hearing, but those alleged financial crimes may be the least of his worries. this morning, alex murdaugh is due back in court. the 53-year-old was arrested last week accused of stealing millions of dollars in insurance money which was meant to go to the sons of his family's long-time housekeeper gloria satterfield. one of murdaugh's attorneys exclusively spoke to "gma" after he was arrested. >> does he admit that he stole this $3 million in settlement money? it was supposed to go to the sons of his housekeeper. >> he has indicated clearly he's going to try to right every wrong, every financial wrong and others that he may have committed. he's reconciled to the fact he's going to prison. he understands that. he's a lawyer, and he was a lawyer for 25 years. he gets it. >> reporter: satterfield died after a purported trip and fall incident at the murdaugh south carolina home in 2018. according to the arrest warrant, murdaugh recommended

amy robach has the details. >> reporter: a series of mysterious deaths including the unsolved murdersched attempt to make his own death look like a murder. this morning, the man police say alex murdaugh hired to help stage his own death is speaking out about what he says happened on the side of that south carolina road last month. >> he's like a brother to me. i would do anything in the world for him, almost anyway. >> reporter: curtis edward smith, a distant cousin of murdaugh tells "the new york times" he arrived on the road to find murdaugh holding a gun, murdaugh asked smith to shoot him in the head. smith says he refused but then suddenly mr. murdaugh moved as if he was going to shoot himself in the head. mr. smith grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. the gun went off. smith said he asked murdaugh if he was okay and then drove away. murdaugh's wife maggie and 22-year-old son paul were brutally murdered outside the family's south carolina hunting lodge back in june. their murders have yet to be solved. in an interview with whns jim griffin, one of murdaugh's lawyers, sa

i'm amy robach. >> i'm david muir. for all of us here at "20/20," thank you for watching.

that's what amy robach and her husband andrew shue call their family.begin with the first big nor'easter of the season. torrential rain slamming new york and new jersey right now. millions are on alert more life-threatening flash floods, we're already hearing reports of water rescues. back to rob tracking the latest. good morning, rob. >> reporter: good morning, robin. new jersey especially we've had reports of three to four inches of rainfall. rainfall rates about half an inch to an inch per hour that has sparked some much needed water rescues in that part of the tri-state area. in brooklyn you see from this live shot, heavy rainfall there, snarling traffic and not going to get better over the next several hours. coastal flooding is going to be an issue too. big waves coming in from the new jersey shore. there's your surfline camera and storm watchers braving the elements. as you mentioned our first real nor'easter of the season transferring energy from the inland low to coastal low and high wind alerts from outside washington, d.c., all the way up to