Who killed Abby Jackson in The Hunting Wives series?

The Hunting Wives is a murder mystery drama which premiered on Netflix on July 21, 2025. Based on May Cobb's 2021 book of the same name, the series is created by Rebecca Cutter. The show stars Brittany Snow, Malin Akerman, Dermot Mulroney, and Jaime Ray Newman in the lead roles.

The Hunting Wives follows the story of a young woman named Sophie O'Neil, a resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who moves to the fictional town of Maple Brook in East Texas for her husband's job. Soon after moving to Maple Brook, Sophie is drawn to the glamorous world of the Hunting Wives, a group of affluent housewives led by Margo Banks.

Unaware of the dangers awaiting them, Sophie's husband Graham, an architect working for Margo's wealthy husband Ted Banks, encourages his wife to mingle with the Hunting Wives. Sophie ends up embroiled in the mystery behind the murder of a teenage girl named Abby Jackson.

Disclaimer: The following article contains spoilers for The Hunting Wives. Reader's discretion is advised.

Margo convinces Sophie to buy some guns, and one of these guns is revealed to be the murder weapon, making Sophie the prime suspect. While there were several red herrings throughout the series, in the finale titled Sophie's Choice, Sophie realizes that it was actually her new best friend, Margo, who killed Abby Jackson.

The Hunting Wives: Sophie learns the truth about Abby Jackson's murder

In episode 7, Jill shoots Abby's mother, Starr, when the latter came to confront her, thinking that she might have killed Abby to protect her son Brad, whom Abby was dating. The argument gets heated, and Jill ends up killing Starr. On cue, Margo and Callie arrived at Jill's house. Jill tries to hold them hostage on gunpoint, but Callie shoots her instead.

So, the police conclude that Jill was Abby's murderer and Callie is let off the hook, citing self-defense. After being released from prison, Sophie goes straight to Margo's place because these two women are more than best friends; they are lovers. Margo and Sophie hook up once before the latter discovers a box of tamp*ns in Margo's bathroom.

This discovery contradicts Margo saying that she cannot use tamp*ns when she met Sophie the first time. An internet search confirms to Sophie that Margo is hiding something because women are not allowed to use tamp*ns after having an abortion. Sophie's suspicions are proven right when she confronts Margo about it, as the older woman confesses that she is the one who killed Abby Jackson.

Why did Margo Banks kill Abby Jackson in The Hunting Wives?

Earlier in the series, Brad tells Pastor Salazar that his girlfriend is pregnant. Assuming that Abby is the girlfriend, Salazar shames her. It does not take Abby long to find out that not only was Brad cheating on her, but also doing so with Margo, a woman much senior to him.

Abby decides to confront Margo about it by the lake. However, what she does not anticipate is that Margo would go far as to shoot her dead in an attempt to keep her illicit affair with Brad a secret. The gun that Margo picked up for the deed was Sophie's. Although it was unintentional, Margo does not come clean until the very end and lets the police arrest Sophie.

The Hunting Wives is available to stream on Netflix.