The Murdaugh Murders /// Part 1 /// 547 | Forensic Files

thank you [Music] [Music] thank you welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you're doing thanks for
listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man that knows all of Bill Belichick's personal New Year's
resolutions here is the captain that's right don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk it's good to be seen and it's good
to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend [Music] this week we are drinking 614 lager by
the good folks over at Wolf's Ridge Brewing 614 is a Midwest light lager that's lightly dry hopped and has subtle
melon and citrus notes it's only 110 calories so it goes great with my fake diet that I'm pretending to be on and
it's 4.2 percent ABV garage grade 3 and 3 4 bottle caps out of five and here's the big cheers to our garage friends
that are likely pretending to be on diets as well big cheers to nurse Chrissy at Johns Hopkins Bayview
Hospital fighting the covet and a big cheers to Leslie in Dublin Ohio next up Captain we have a shout to Trevor in
Louisville who says he loves the captain and appreciates my know-it-all attitude
a big shout out to Alan and Raven Virginia next up Captain we have Stephanie and Omaha Nebraska and last
but certainly not least we have Angel and Rina in Sterling Heights Michigan everyone we just mentioned well they
went to True Crime garage.com and they clicked on the beer fund donate button and for that well we thank you and a big
tribute beer run to Bob Saget rest in peace my friend b double e double r u n beer run
and that is enough of the business all right everybody gather round grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true
crime [Music] foreign [Music] South Carolina this is the low country a generally
rural Coastal area with a rich history with a down-home folksy population and a distinctly Southern feel at 6 36 pm on
the evening of February 23rd 2019. six privileged teenagers three boys and three girls set off from a riverfront
property referred by the wealthy land-owning Murdoch family as the island to head to an oyster bake this was a
multi-family gathering at the riverfront home of another family the teenage crew
armed with a variety of six packs stepped onto the Murdoch family's 17-foot Sea Hunt center console power
boat and motored over to the island and docked at the woods home who were hosting the oyster bake the teens
partied there and it appears they continued to drink at the Gathering although whether the adults provided the
alcohol to them knowingly is Up For Debate the six kids left by boat at 12 11 A.M the boat had no running lights so
they will use flashlights to navigate their route along the waterway at 1 13 am surveillance footage captured the six
walking down the well-lit deserted new day dock in downtown Beaufort to the Murdoch family boat
the youngsters were Paul Murdoch his girlfriend Morgan Doty Anthony cook his girlfriend Mallory Beach and Anthony's
first cousin Connor Cook and his girlfriend Miley Altman they boarded the Sea Hunt and pushed off
from the dock at 1 17 am they had no idea what was about to happen at 2 20 am a frantic 9-1-1 call
came into the Beaufort County Emergency Services Connor Cook was the caller 911 where's your emergency
please fire in with us [Music] we're we're about the northern Street yeah Archer Street
archers Creek archers Creek that's that's crazy what's going on this Bob Pierce island wait what what's
going on we're in a boat crash do you know what what kind of a boat crash um a boat did you see a boat crash
okay so you're at other area at the dock hello are you are you at the dock no we just passed in a boat wait are you
in the water are you we're we're in the boat [Applause] okay okay hang on one second okay I'll
call in reference to the disabled I'm sorry uh boat crash [Music] there's six people on board they
currently have one missing all right it's in archers Creek which is right there off of Paris Island there's a
bridge on paraceland they're underneath it they crashed into the bridge house trying to
form I'll be in rounds to the Bell Bridge he also notified Port Royal and of him oh no as well
make a notifications okay it's uh one female and that's all the description I have
over right now em miss one respond to it and accident with injuries 50 Marines Drive Boulevard in Paris
Island repeating it's going to be a change in that location their own malecon drive down
right before you get to the traffic circle [Music] evidently the girl was sitting on her
boyfriend's lap when they hit the bridge at a high rate of speed and now she's missing um foreign
[Applause] Connor Cook the caller sounds pretty calm but as it turns out he was talking slow
because he's talking with a broken jaw the dispatcher tells officers that the boat Hit The Archers Creek Bridge
leading to Paris Island at a high rate of speed the missing girl was sitting on her
boyfriend's lap when the boat hit the pilot some of the occupants were ejected into
the water as you heard when the call was placed in 9-1-1 all of the occupants were
accounted for minus one nineteen-year-old Mallory Beach after 30 minutes the Beaufort County Sheriff's Department
responded to the scene of the accident along with EMS and the fire department First Responders arrived to find the wet
kids freezing huddled together injured and crying all except for one Paul Murdock
who stood in his boxer shorts alone making a phone call to his grandfather Randolph Murdoch
by the time the Department of Natural Resources which holds jurisdiction over boat crashes arrived all of the kids
except Anthony were at the hospital Anthony was still pacing on the shore waiting for search boats to locate his
girlfriend Mallory no field sobriety tests were administered at the scene which is
surprising to say the least Beaufort water search and rescue described the condition of the boat
after the crash as follows the front left side which would be the driver's side is split open from the
nose all the way to the back there's a six foot gash where the boat actually came apart at the scene blood
was on the floor of the boat photos showed the boat was severely damaged and the bridge pilings had marks and dents
from the impact before they trailered the boat and removed it from the scene DNR officials took photos of what they
found on it there were life jackets per protocol but there was a lot of other stuff that was
not protocol pursuant to a search warrant an inventory dated March 4th reflects that a total of 49 bottles and
cans of alcoholic beverages were found on board 27 of them were empty and there was more
police collected surveillance footage showing 19-year-old Paul Murdoch buying alcoholic beverages at a convenience
store in Ridgeland this was at 5 30 PM the evening before the crash he used a fake ID that belonged to his
older brother Buster who was several inches taller heavier and several years older
two of the other teens also purchased alcohol at the same place just minutes earlier
and police found surveillance footage of Paul Murdock and Connor Cook entering a
Beaufort bar called Luther's rare and well done at 12 55 a.m they ordered two rounds of shots
the bouncer made a written statement that he checked the IDS of the two subjects
they had South Carolina over 21 horizontal IDs after they asked him if their friends could come in and he said
no not if they were miners Paul and Connor down their drinks at which time Paul added a video to the
Snapchat story of the two doing Jaeger shots note they each had two drinks in the span of 12 minutes
they left the bar at 107 am 10 minutes later the boat with six passengers will leave
the dock one hour after that Connor Cook will be on a call with emergency Personnel explaining that they crashed
the boat and the passengers were thrown from The Vessel and one of them Mallory Beach was still missing it took a week
for Mallory to be found on March 3rd her body was located in a marsh about five miles from the crash
site she died from blunt force trauma and drowning and Mallory's death would kick
off a series of events that would rival the plot of even the most far-fetched Thriller
this is true crime garage and this is the Murdoch family murders [Music] after the crash at Beaufort Memorial
Hospital the kids were all put in separate rooms and examined by nurses and doctors to assess their injuries
some of the kids had serious injuries and required surgery a nurse who examined Paul Murdoch who was not really
injured reported that he was quote only wearing boxers and that he was grossly intoxicated and belligerent
adding that he appeared to be the most intoxicated and uncooperative of those involved a Doctor Mark Mercer
corroborated this saying that in the examination room Paul was being unruly and uncooperative with the medical staff
he observed that Paul was clearly intoxicated and slurring his speech and unsteady on his feet
now this didn't come out until later but WRDW reported that a blood test taken at
the hospital around 4 a.m showed that Paul Murdoch had a blood alcohol level of 0.286
so to break that down this is more than three times the legal limit and that was
two hours after the accident so his levels would have been higher at the time of the accident
this alcohol test was not administered at the request of law enforcement which I think it's important to point this out
here Captain this test was not administered at the request of law enforcement this was conducted by the
hospital staff at their choosing because Paul was acting so aggressive and strange at the hospital and to the staff
they were trying to determine what was wrong with him if he had something seriously wrong with him and I think we
both find it pretty strange that law enforcement didn't do a sobriety test the minute they arrive at the scene look
not all of us have been there but some of us may have there are situations where you can't even get back into your
vehicle before they administer some kind of test to you to see if you're able to
drive or should or should not be driving this is a horrible situation here obviously Captain because we have one
missing who would later turn out to be dead we all know that booze and boats don't mix but factor in all the other
factors these are kids too you know we said he's over three times or nearly three times
the legal limit but he's not even legal to be drinking in the first place and with his behavior you wonder if he was
on something more than just alcohol yeah and I think we can examine that a little
more as we go along and get to know Paul a little bit better while the kids were at the hospital
pretty quickly Alec Murdock now I want to address some things here real quick before we get too far into the weeds
there's a lot of different ways to pronounce a lot of the different names and places in the story and we are
simply going off of the information that we have and what we've been able to review as far as Beaufort or Beaufort
goes or Murdoch or Murdoch and Alex or Alec tomato tomato potato potato let's Call the Whole Thing Off
the important thing here Captain is that while we're at the hospital we have Paul's father Alec Murdock
he's a prominent lawyer in the area and we also have Paul's grandfather Randolph
Murdoch remember Paul was on the phone with him while the other kids were huddled together and crying and scared
right Randolph is also a prominent lawyer in the area both of them are on scene at the hospital makes you wonder
if that's the reason why law enforcement didn't do the initial sobriety test well
and I don't think anything's weird with father and grandfather being at the hospital you know with their grandson
and son there injured after a tragic accident right that's normal but when your kids in the
hospital you rush over there to make sure that he's okay that's totally understandable that does not appear to
me to be what Paul and Randolph were doing at the hospital they were conducting their own sort of business
their own sort of funny business while they were there right as it has been alleged in court filings and backed up
by witness statements Alec and Randolph started trying to keep all of the kids from talking to the police
more specifically they were trying to stop the kids from telling the police who was driving the boat which would be
very important in this situation and even worse it seems like they tried to imply that
maybe one of the other kids Connor was the actual driver of the boat at the time of the accident
this of course is extremely Shady but some of the kids were telling the nurses and officers that Paul was drunk and he
was driving the boat like a maniac with no lights on and he drove right into the
bridge Paul denies driving the boat and Alec Murdoch exerted his influence to somehow
delay and confuse things so that the police reports basically said we're not sure who was driving the boat
we need to investigate this further well obviously you should be operating anything when you're that intoxicated
but on top of that like you said they couldn't even see anything because of the fog so they're using flashlights and
this Yahoo seems that he decided to drive recklessly and try to show off for his friends well it's illegal to be
driving a boat at night with no running lights as well so good point there's just all kinds of laws being broken here
by these these 19 year olds we said teenagers one of them was 20 at the time but uh yeah just underage uh and poor
poor decision-making and I'll take that a step further and I think we're going to see this poor behavior from one Paul
Murdoch one of their friends is now dead because of this that makes you a murderer it seems like Captain the Alec
was successful in getting the other parents to agree to stop their kids from Talking probably by telling them that
they should consult an attorney before speaking with law enforcement but the result was to protect his own
kid Paul Murdoch from liability yeah this is pathetic right he's going to present this as oh it's it's in your son
or daughter's best interest to not talk to the police until you have a chance to
lawyer up but in reality what he's doing is protecting his own son not everybody
police obtain search warrants for Mallory Beach's Apple watch and iPhone and the boat's Garmin but for some
reason they did not seize Paul's phone or search it as far as I was able to tell
they also reportedly did not take Paul's wallet which contained the ID that he used to purchase the alcohol right the
fake ID they also obtained a search warrant for the boat's storage compartments and containers for any
evidence of illegal underage possession of alcohol which we detailed the warrant states pursuant to the
ongoing boating accident investigation it has been determined that parties on board and involved were underage and had
been in possession of and consuming alcohol in violation with South Carolina law
further based on witness statements it is believed that the vessel had been operating in a reckless or careless
Manner and that evidence of such operation and the identity of the operator may be found on or in the
vessel basically they want to search the boat to try to confirm who was driving at the
time of the accident and what the whole situation was it led up to this accident
the police are saying they are looking for evidence of who was driving one of the search affidavits says boat
occupants were unable or refused to identify who was operating the boat this hmm might be in their legal document
however to me Captain it appears to simply not be true this is an untrue statement in their document
because we know that Miley told a nurse again she was one of the people on the boat tells a nurse and a police officer
that Paul was the one driving the boat and that he was drunk in speeding and the Crash was a direct result of his
actions now we have another person Morgan also on the boat she tells police as well that Paul was driving and that
his driving was quote scary Anthony told police that Paul was crazy drunk and was driving the boat like a
maniac but the police hemmed and hauled and danced around pinning it on Paul until
finally they had no choice now we took a look at the actual handwritten statements of some of the
kids that were on the boat that horrible night and they spelled out in detail what actually happened the police saying
that they weren't sure who was driving was just completely indefensible clearly they were afraid
fits news reported that one officer who wrote in his report that Paul Murdoch was driving the boat was later fired
from the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office which goes with my suspicion on why police didn't follow protocol
and why they didn't test Paul when they arrived at the scene don't you think Captain In the Heat of
that moment it's easier to go all right well maybe we don't test rather than test and then have to worry about the
results later or covering up those results it's easier to just not do it and maybe it gets overlooked or they
can't do their jobs if their hands are tied and your hands would be tied if you know that you're investigating somebody
that has the power to to get rid of your livelihood I want to take a more detailed look at the the
timeline leading up to the accident just after the accident as well I think it will help to make these the situation a
little clearer so when the group when the six kids left the Woods house at 12 11 A.M several adults at the oyster bake
recommended that the kids take an Uber home instead but the 16s got onto the boat and
departed in the dark reportedly they had come by boat in the first place to avoid a DUI checkpoint
that they knew would be in place that night so they're already making arrangements to to drink and hang out
undetected that night well it's pathetic because you have the means like you said
to take an Uber and you you chose not to so Paul drove the boat from the oyster bake party to
the new day doc at a waterfront park in downtown Beaufort Paul and Connor wanted to get shots they
wanted to go to this bar and the whole group would go there and they would do drinks and shots together so they docked
the boat now no one else wanted to go like the rest of the group's like no it's late let's get home
but these two are like now we we want to continue this party we want to keep the
the roller coaster ride going Miley had to work early the next morning so obviously she wants to go home Morgan
Paul's girlfriend yelled at him not to go to the bar but he ignored her and he and Connor went into Luther's at 12 55
a.m the rest of the kids stayed at the park and hung out on the swings until after a few minutes when Morgan and
Miley went to Luther's and tried to get Paul to leave now a little insight as to what's going
on at Luther's at the bar Paul had just knocked over a bar stool and was trying to fight a guy outside of
the bar Connor helped them get Paul to leave and they went back to the boat this is at 1
13 a.m and Paul was visibly drunk and swaying this is based off of surveillance video this is my opinion no
one else's Morgan and Miley sat up front in a blanket on the boat and Paul and Connor were at the console with Paul
driving and Connor Manning the GPS and Mallory and Anthony sat in the rear on the live well with Mallory on his lap
Paul started spinning circles in the boat and horsing around and almost hit a sailboat and the others got
mad and told him to let Anthony Drive but Paul got defensive and started yelling at everyone
according to a statement from Miley Altman Paul was very very drunk and was stretching his arms and hands out with
his fingers spread wide apart one of the things that Paul does when he is very drunk so this seems pretty
stupid to you and I captain this stretching out your arms and fingers but this is something that his inner circle
his group of friends knows when this dude gets drunk this is something that he typically does this Paul character
seems like a spoiled rich brat according to Anthony's statement and too bad he didn't get punched in the face
that night right well according to Anthony's statement Paul had hit quote that drunk
stage where Paul will start stretching his arms and his hands out and widening his
fingers out as wide as he can this is weird right but it gets crazier Anthony and the others told police that
Timmy was out that night well who the heck is Timmy Timmy was the alter ego of Paul Murdoch this is what
his friends call him when he gets to a certain level of drunkenness and he gets mean and very toxic
Timmy stretches out his arms and hands and his eyes get as big and round as half dollars and he doesn't blink
now the nickname Timmy had been the nickname Timmy had been initiated one night at the Murdoch Family Home and
mostly when Paul was about 16 and he got super drunk and turned into a different
person and they said that once he reached this level reached the Timmy level that Paul
loved to tear stuff up and got very destructive angry at this point his friends knew that it
was time to leave so they're on the boat they're getting ready to leave he's turning into Timmy and his friends are
telling him look you can't be driving the boat let one of us drive and instead he's he's reacting
even crazier like oh I can't drive this is my boat and he's spinning it in circles basically doing donuts to which
to the point where he almost hits a sailboat before they even take off out into the waters well Paul is turning
into this Alter Ego this angry drunk and you just wish that one of these people would have stepped up and stopped all
this and maybe their friend would still be alive foreign [Music] foreign [Music]
we are back cheers mates cheers captain you couldn't write this story that's right here in
the garage we always say that each case is unique there are no two that are the same but with this one they certainly
broke the mold here this is one of the most bizarre and strange stories I've ever that I think we've covered here in
the garage with many twists and turns it's up there with uh boys on the tracks well on the night that Mallory Beach was
killed I don't care how confused law enforcement and other agencies seem to be in the very beginning I understand
that Alec Murdoch and his father Randolph was they were really making it very confusing and getting everybody to
keep quiet in the beginning but on the night when Mallory Beach was killed Timmy AKA Paul Murdoch was driving the
boat that's based off of statements that we've reviewed and everything that we could find now according to these
statements Paul continued to drive like a nut speeding up and then slowing down abruptly so he's not just drunk he's
just being a complete asshat at this point and really just horsing around and you can't be doing that when you're out
in the water in a boat in the dark in the fog no running lights and you got other people
on your boat as well at one point he's driving so dramatically and acting so dramatic that Anthony and Mallory
were thrown onto the bottom of the boat and Anthony demanded that Paul either let him drive or let him and Mallory get
out of the boat and leave they'll figure out how they're going to get home but Paul says no and he continues to drive
the boat erratically Archer's Creek is a narrow tidal Waterway and it was Pitch Black outside so this of course is
particularly dangerous and of course no one is wearing a life jacket Miley's statement said that she yelled
at Paul to let Connor drive but he lost it and started screaming about how it was his boat and no one else was going
to drive it spoiled brat Anthony later said in his deposition that Paul said quote it was his boat and nobody knew
the effing River like he does and he is the only one driving the effing boat yeah you knew the river so well that you
ran into a bridge Paul then drove the wrong way and almost hit a large swing Bridge
which was in the opposite direction from where they were going so he's completely off the rails by this
point so Conor grabbed the wheel at this point and averted the crash if it wasn't
for Connor stepping in here they would have already wrecked the boat Paul then took off all of his clothes
except his boxers now keep in mind it's like 40 to maybe 45 degrees out there that night
shrinkage and then he abandoned the wheel and he goes up front to the front of the boat
where his girlfriend Morgan is sitting and he starts yelling at her she pushes him away and Paul hit her and spit on
her and called her a whole bunch of a whole slew of names yeah so he's abusive rich
self-entitled prick well I love these kids because they think they're rich they should keep in mind it's their
parents that are actually rich they've not done anything yeah but look at how his father's acting afterwards
self-entitled prick himself so we have Paul's girlfriend who will tell police that this was not the first time that he
had hit her uh Morgan started crying Paul then went back behind the console and wrestled the Wheel from Connor and
Miley stayed up front comforting Morgan Paul had his hands on the wheel when Miley last saw him so this is according
to her statement last she saw Paul had his hands on the wheel Anthony and Mallory sat on the boat's bottom huddled
together they last Saw Paul driving as well according to their statements Connor was next to Paul the boat sped up
and we know this from the Garmin remember they put the they got the search warrant to get the tech from the
Garmin that was on on board the boat sped up from 24 mile an hour to 27 and then all the way up to 29.
according to the garmin's memory and remember the boat had just a flashlight held by Connor for lighting to see where
it was going right all of a sudden the bridge came out of nowhere and the boat hit the piling at 29 miles per hour
Paul Anthony and Mallory were thrown into the water of Archer's Creek the problem here is when you hear 29 miles
an hour that's not that fast when you're in a car that is pretty fast when you're in a
boat yeah and you have to keep in mind too when you're in a car you have you have a top
right you know you have a you have a rooftop there that can stop you from being ejected from the vehicle you don't
have that in this situation yeah but this guy Paul he knows the he knows this Crick better than anybody
right say a creek or a river it's a it's a creek it seems like the worst episode
of Dawson's Creek ever Miley and Morgan and Connor were thrown to the floor of the boat the boat came to a stop on the
shore Paul and Anthony were able to fight the current and swim to shore but Mallory was nowhere to be seen
Miley and Morgan started screaming for their friend Connor called 9-1-1 and Paul called his grandfather on Miley's
phone on the shore Anthony screamed at Paul that this was all his fault and Paul
yelled at him to shut up and stop talking so it seems like he goes into Murdoch mode
everybody shut up don't say a word this is what happened next and this is according to People magazine
and I will censor myself here as I go through this Captain because it's a little much quote early this summer raw
police car dash cam footage from February 24 2019 crash scene was released by the Beaufort County
Sheriff's Office and obtained by fits news on the recordings Beach's boyfriend Anthony cook is sitting in the police
car when Paul walks by Anthony can be heard yelling at Paul and tells police Paul was out of control
that night none of them wanted to go to the bar and Paul was driving the boat when it crashed and beach was thrown
into the swirling current he says quote that mother effort needs to rot an effing prison end quote yeah Paul or AKA
Timmy [ __ ] princess Dingle donkey son of a motherless goat well Anthony's not done
voicing his opinions here he about Paul he says quote he ain't going to get into
no effing trouble and Paul allegedly Smiles at Anthony at this point and Anthony erupts screaming quote you
effing smiling like it's effing funny my effing girlfriend is gone and at this point he obviously doesn't know that
she's dead no but it's been quite some time and they've not been able to find her in the
ambulance Paul was belligerent and hostile and had to be strapped down by the EMTs and watched by an officer
police on the scene noted that he was visibly intoxicated see this is where you shake your head and go what the hell
like okay law enforcement in the the emergency Personnel they are alerted pretty quickly that Paul Murdoch he's
he's a person of some kind of power and influence here yeah and we also have police stating that
very early on once they arrive at the scene that this dude is visibly intoxicated yet nobody is going to
nobody's going to test anybody to see how intoxicated these kids are well they should have tased them right in the
butthole but as frustrated as I want to be with the cops the problem is the whole department because you notice when
he shows up and he acts like a freaking [ __ ] and then raged basically a psychopath is what he's acting like the
nurses don't hesitate the the staff at the hospital does not hesitate to test him
because they're in an establishment that at least protecting their jobs it seems
to me that these police officers showed up and because of their department and whatever connections they have to this
Rich entitled brat and his father it seems like their Department wasn't protecting them because like you said
one of the cops was fired yeah and when Paul was asked who was driving this again on the scene
when Paul was asked who was driving he says why do you need to know who was driving that isn't going to help find
Mallory now at the hospital Paul's father Alec and grandfather Randolph Murdoch by the way the former solicitor
and we'll get into that here in a little bit barged in and prevented Paul from giving any statements to police
Morgan's statement specifically says that when she got out of surgery Alec Murdock tried to enter her room multiple
times but the nurse would not allow him in in the hallway he kept saying that he
needed to tell Morgan what to say so Alec Murdoch stopped investigators from being able to speak to his son after the
accident all Paul's interviews had to be coordinated through his lawyers and the 14th judicial circuit
solicitor's office recused itself from handling the case for reasons that we will get into
so the Murdoch's managed to control the narrative to a certain extent muddy the Waters of the investigation provide
confusing information and slow the prosecution of one of their own Paul Murdoch well obviously it seems the way
law enforcement is acting or reacting to Paul that his family has some kind of power
but obviously we don't understand that being an outsider so what is their family background right who are the
murdochs and why do they have so much power that's the first thing that you want to know when you see this situation
well in 1910 we're gonna go way back in time here captain in 1910 Randolph Murdoch graduated from law school and
returned to his small hometown of Hampton South Carolina to go into private law practice The Firm he founded
would grow over the next 110 years to become the impressive Peters Murdoch Parker elsroth and Dietrich PA so
hopefully we don't have to say that too many times but that was the name can you
repeat that one more no thank you Murdoch was so successful that in 1920 he became the first man to be elected to
the new office of solicitor of the 14th judicial circuit this covering five counties and three thousand two hundred
square miles okay so what is a solicitor the solicitor title is equivalent to a district attorney or a prosecutor in
other jurisdictions but and this is a big but but unlike in other jurisdictions the chief prosecutor also
maintained his private practice so staying with his private law firm and representing private clients at the same
time as being the prosecutor basically of this jurisdiction yeah it seems like a conflict of interest you think the law
firm went on to become one of the largest personal and vehicular injury firms in South Carolina so not just in
this little area in the state so he's an ambulance Chaser well but he's kind of able to work both sides of the fence
there right yeah according to the firm's website they have won millions and millions of dollars in settlements and
jury awarded damages for their clients this is because they made abundant use of an unusual law in effect in South
Carolina that permits personal injury plaintiffs who are South Carolina residents to file a suit in any County
in which an out-of-state company owns property and or conducts business regardless where the accident took place
right so for example if someone lived in Hilton Head and got into a fatal accident in New Jersey and wanted to Sue
Firestone Tires they could because those tires are sold in South Carolina right it's a legal concept called Forum
Shopping in the state courts were known to be very friendly to civil plaintiffs so his Law Firm was so successful at
suing the railroad company this is CSX that they're building was known as quote the house that CSX
built now I might just be a dumb guy in the garage but uh this seems a little shady well
this firm has represented pretty much everyone in the area they were the go-to firm and they were keeping up to 50 of
the settlement funds because when you signed on with them as a client you there's a certain expectation here
that you're not going to get with other firms you're basically signing up and almost
guaranteeing yourself that you're going to either a win your lawsuit or B this firm will will get them to settle
out of court you're going to get a bunch of money and therefore they can keep a higher percentage of it because their
success rate is so good we don't get paid unless you get paid I don't think we get paid at all
Randolph senior was a powerful and successful man working both sides of the courtroom basically lining his and his
family's pockets and building up a power base at the solicitor's office ironically Randolph senior was killed in
a train accident in 1940. remember after the train place all that that seems a little suspicious his son Randolph
Buster Murdoch Jr took over his father's private practice and public office upon
his death and served as the 14th circuit solicitor from 1940 until 1986. a 46-year term that is believed to
be the longest term in any solicitor in U.S history according to Bluffton today the situation was a classic example of
nepotism with Randolph the third holding the title of assistant solicitor under his dad Buster and then taking over the
solicitor role in 1986. Randolph III his son is Alec Murdock who carried on the tradition by working in
the solicitor's office under his dad and continuing as a volunteer prosecutor there until September of 2021 after the
Murdoch's holding both private and public position came to an official end right so at that time Captain after
Randolph III retired or went into 100 Private Practice in 2006 basically we have an
86-year streak in which a Murdoch held the title of solicitor in this area well like I said it's a conflict of interest
but it's a way also to build generational wealth so now you know his son now has a leg up
on the rest of the world because his father is going to be he's going to be an inheriting money from his father he's
going to be an inheriting power from his father so for 86 straight years they a Murdoch held the title of solicitor in
this area as you pointed out a huge outrageous conflict of interest but this whole time
they're still practicing law on the private level as well right now after the last Murdoch this Randall
third officially retired from the solicitor's office in 2006. Duffy Stone a Murdoch Ally and tight friend was
elected so even though they're out at this point their tentacles are still way involved in stretching throughout this
area and everything and as far as the law goes and the murdochs continue to prosecute in Hampton County for the
solicitor's office as sort of a contract prosecutor so this means that the murdochs were still cloaked in the
mantle of the legal powers that be in this area right even though they were not elected and they had multiple
conflicts of interest now we need to tell the story of our Murdoch family of four
Alec the successful father his wife Maggie and their two sons Buster and Paul Murdoch Maggie Kennedy branstetter
was a sorority girl at the University of South Carolina when she met Alec Murdoch
who was one year ahead of her at school they were really perfect for each other that's what everybody says I mean they
were Rich they were entitled and they both were destined for success the couple married in 1993 and owned
four properties together including the mostly property their hunting lodge which Maggie preferred
their edesto beach home their home in downtown Hampton and the island which we heard about in the intro Buster AKA
Richard Alec Murdock Jr born 1996 and then we have Paul who was born in 1999. those are the four that make up the
Murdoch family of four that will be talking about the most during these episodes now per the Wall Street Journal
the boys were redheads and outdoorsmen they hunted played pool rode go-karts frequently at mostly this is a
it's described by The Wall Street Journal as a 1700 acre hunting property that the family owned and called their
Retreat Maggie notoriously spoiled the boys who were hard playing and hard partying types Buster attended Warford
College studying government and international Affairs in the Summers he interned at
his father's his family's law firm and then went to law school at the University of South Carolina School of
Law from the fall of 2018 to Spring of 2019. The Wall Street Journal reported that
buster was kicked out of law school for plagiarism in the spring of 2019. now as
for Paul per the Wall Street Journal he was a criminology major at South Carolina
this was ironic because in his years from 2017 to 2018 he ran into quite a bit of legal trouble himself getting
cited for half a dozen minor legal infractions over the course of roughly a year
he was charged with alcohol possession and a jury trial was scheduled and delayed five times he had a bench
warrant for a failure to appear at some point and was sentenced to an alcohol diversion program in 2018. sounds like
it didn't take yeah you think an avid boater motorboater he was cited by DNR for littering and possession of alcohol
on Memorial Day Weekend 2017. days after he graduated from high school canoe so this was not his first
time with alcohol and a boat and getting in trouble well there's no punishment you're going to
keep repeating your crimes but it's also great to hear their background or to have an understanding of
this family's background because because of the information and the work that they do when they go to the hospital you
you really start understanding how how much of a malicious intent they have by not being cooperative with law
enforcement right and so it seems this gives us again a good understanding of why the cops would be hesitant to man
up and lay the blame on Paul Murdoch in this boat situation now fortunately Captain you and I don't live or work in
Hampton South Carolina so I have no problems spitting the truth here from everything I've seen and
reviewed all signs say Paul was hammered drunk and driving the Murdoch boat when
Mallory was killed now this is from People magazine which has been diving into the juicy Murdoch scandal with a
Vengeance quote you don't cross the Murdoch says a local attorney or if you do cross them you don't let them find
out that it was you who crossed them because they'll come down on you hard and they'll come down on you with all
that they've got they have a lot of influence and power and they'll use it against their enemies end quote so
clearly the police felt the menacing presence of the Murdoch's in regard to the Mallory Beach investigation
the investigative delay in arresting and charging Paul for the crash was so Shameless that a grand jury was
eventually impaneled by the Attorney General's office to examine how officers investigated the crash
in fact the state grand jury was to specifically examine whether there was obstruction of justice by anyone
the Murdoch's Family Law Enforcement Officers included everyone according to One news source called The
Island packet this was because Alec and Randolph Murdoch prevented the teen Boat
passengers from talking to investigators and may have prevented sobriety tests from being conducted as well and I say
kudos to the Attorney General's office for not cowering to these Shady white collared thugs like like some of these
asshats did now listen to this this is from the Post and Courier the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office released
recordings from its deputies dashboard cameras in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Post
and Courier the new recordings include a brief conversation between a Department of
Natural Resources officer and Beach's boyfriend the victim's boyfriend Anthony cook
the DNR officer Austin Pritcher whose job it was to determine who was driving ask cook who was driving before the
crash cook immediately implicated 19 year old Paul Murdoch this is from the transcript here captain
who was driving the boat Pritchard said the last time I grabbed my girlfriend and got down in the bottom of the boat
Paul was driving cook said Paul was driving the officer followed up yes sir cook answered I begged and
begged and begged and begged to let me drive yet in his report on the crash Pritchard
did not document that comment he wrote that cook did not know who was driving that's
that's messed up and later that morning after speaking with other passengers at a nearby hospital Pritchard told his
supervisor he suspected someone else entirely Pritchard testified at a deposition that he did not know why he
didn't document Cook's statement further on the dash cam when being asked about who was driving the boat concerns about
the Murdoch family's reach were raised in the moments after the crash according to this release video
while he was still at the scene Anthony cook asked an officer if he knew who Paul's father was saying do you all
know Alec Murdock cook said oh yeah I know that name the officer said that's his son cook said after a pause
he added so good luck that one line right there and I'll read it again so good luck that shows how clearly
everyone knew that the murdochs were protected and this case Paul specifically even the guy who was good
friends with Paul and who just lost his girlfriend and was injured in the boat crash new Paul was living under the
protection of his powerful family just like Anthony cook told the officer so good luck the recordings also
captured Paul talking to a Beaufort Deputy named Jack Keener who opted not to collect as evidence Paul's cell phone
Paul asked to borrow the deputy's phone the stones on this kid can you imagine asking to borrow the officer's phone
yeah Keener answered that he didn't have one with him but reminded Paul that he had just been holding one saying you
dropped yours in the grass right back there the deputy said so Paul tries to hide his phone by
dropping the officer not only did he see this but gave verbal confirmation of the
phone's location and yet Paul's cell phone never made its way into the collected evidence so the police are not
just showing favor to the Murdoch's here I'd argue that they are actually obstructing justice yeah I totally agree
Ronald klopp a security officer at the Beaufort Memorial Hospital told investigators that the the at the
hospital after the boat crash ran off Murdoch the grandfather kept telling Paul to keep his mouth shut and Alec was
trying to get into the rooms of each of the survivors klopp overheard Alec on his phone saying
I I want you to really take this in here everybody this security officer overheard Alec
Murdock saying on his phone quote she's gone don't worry about her what a piece of [ __ ] other Hospital Personnel back
this up so this is not just one person saying this this is people saying he is on his phone at the hospital and he's
saying the words she's gone don't worry about her can you imagine this scenario this is real life [ __ ] here just a few
hours after a lovely young woman just 19 years old loses her life Alec Murdoch father of the idiot that was driving the
boat is on the phone saying she's gone don't worry about her basically forget all about Mallory Beach she's old news
we need to protect the kids that survived I'm telling you Captain this Alec Murdoch I think they removed his
soul to make more room for stomach well he's a real pile of [ __ ] but the level
of piles of [ __ ] in this case already and like you said Mallory Beach Mallory Beach she's the one that was missing and
at this point they don't know what happened to her but your son was driving like an animal acting immature and
Reckless and and she's missing from a boat this is the pile of [ __ ] that you raised and then you're going to go no
wonder he acts like a pile of [ __ ] because now you're acting like a pile of [ __ ] it's almost like everybody
immediately showed up on the scene they protected themselves they didn't care about Mallory Beach they didn't care
what happened to her and it's like they just wanted this all to go away and and to save themselves this is a horrible
act by so many people involved law enforcement the family's a Paul his his grandfather his father right the only
people acting as they should are the other passengers that were on that boat and their families and the hospital
staff and and but people aren't even taking their word serious or writing them down and you know what I think here
we have have here too Captain is a situation that was made a little easy for some of the law enforcement agencies
involved here in the Murdoch land they're basically a good old boy Network and what they're able to do here is
basically passing the buck as to who screwed up right it's not necessarily hey you know you can look at me and I did it
wrong or our agency did it wrong what you have here is you have the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office pointing out
that the boat crash was the dnr's jurisdiction then you have DNR the agency whose officers were non-committal
about who was driving but thank God there's only so long that the Murdoch's could protect Paul
because on April 18 2019 Mallory Beach's birthday Paul was indicted for his role
in Mallory's death he was charged with three felonies boating Under the Influence causing death and two charges
of boating Under the Influence causing great bodily injury the solicitor's office recused itself because of all
their connections with the Murdoch's so the South Carolina attorney general prosecuted the case instead but it took
nearly two months after the crash for Paul to even be charged that's ridiculous this is a quote from Bluffton
today Murdoch was never handcuffed never entered into jail his booking photograph was taken in a
courthouse hallway in his own clothes a judge denied a prosecutor's request to make him wear an alcohol monitor and
Murdoch was allowed to travel freely about the state while awaiting a trial date that never came on May 6th Paul
pled not guilty to all charges and he was released on a fifty thousand dollar personal recognizance Bond his family
posted bail and he went back to his privileged life foreign [Music] garage for your ear balls make sure you
check out our show called off the Record it's on Stitcher premium for five dollars you get our bonus show and you
get every bonus show on Stitcher premium so check that out you can do so at truecrime garage.com click on the off
the Record link and we'll see you back here in the garage tomorrow until then be good be kind and don't look
foreign [Music]

The Murdaugh Murders /// Part 1 /// 547

Part 1 of 4 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

This week we are back in the Garage studio in full force with one very strange true crime tale to tell. Since 2015 there have been several mysterious deaths and murders all with ties to one family, the Murdaugh family of Hampton, South Carolina. Join us as we take deep dive into a family that is surrounded in mystery.

Beer of the Week - (614) Lager by Wolf’s Ridge Brewing

Garage Grade - 3 and 3 quarter bottle caps out of 5

True Crime Garage “Off the Record” is available only on Stitcher Premium. For a FREE month of listening go to http://stitcherpremium.com/truecrimegarage and use promo code GARAGE

Brief Summary

The Murdoch family's influence complicates the investigation into Mallory Beach's death after a tragic boat crash involving underage drinking.

Key points

A Frantic 911 Call. Connor Cook calls 911 after a boat crash, revealing chaos and confusion.
The Murdoch Family Murders. A tragic boat crash leads to a missing girl and a web of deceit.
Alcohol and Recklessness. Evidence shows underage drinking and reckless behavior before the crash.
Paul's Alter Ego Timmy. Paul Murdoch's friends reveal his drunken alter ego, Timmy, who becomes mean and destructive.
The Night of the Crash. On the night Mallory Beach was killed, Paul was driving the boat recklessly while intoxicated.
Murdoch Family Influence. The Murdoch family's power and influence complicate the investigation into the crash.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

They had no idea what was about to happen.

5:03WatchOct 29, 2022

Tension

85/ 100High tension

More from True Crime Garage TV

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.