At approximately 2:17 a.m. on February 24, 2019, Paul Terry Murdaugh^[1] allegedly crashed his family boat into the Archers Creek Bridge in Beaufort, South Carolina.^[2] On board the boat at the time of the accident were Mallory Beach and several other teenagers.^[2] Beach was killed in the accident and Murdaugh was charged in relation to the accident.

Paul was murdered along with his mother in 2021, and his father, Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of their murders on March 3, 2023.

Mallory Beach

Mallory Madison Beach was born to Phillip Harley and Renee Searson Beach on April 18, 1999, in Walterboro, South Carolina. She was a Wade Hampton High School graduate. At the time of her death, the 19-year-old was attending college and working at a clothing store.^[3]

Accident

Paul Murdaugh purchased alcohol in the hours before the accident at a convenience store in Ridgeland, South Carolina using his brother's ID.^[4] Three couples, including Beach and her boyfriend, and Murdaugh and his girlfriend Morgan Doughty,^[5][6] met at Murdaugh's grandfather's Chechesee River house and boarded a center console boat to travel to an oyster roast.^[4]

At 1 a.m., during the return trip, they stopped at a dockside bar in Beaufort where Murdaugh and another passenger, Connor Cook, drank shots.^[4] Murdaugh began behaving erratically, and while other passengers asked him to allow someone else to drive the boat, he refused.^[4] Murdaugh reportedly shoved, spit on and slapped his then-girlfriend just prior to the crash.^[5][6] At 2:17 a.m. the boat hit a piling on the bridge to Parris Island.^[4]

Following the accident

The passengers were transported to a nearby hospital, except for Beach, who could not be found after the crash, and Beach's boyfriend, Anthony Cook, who insisted on staying behind to wait for news about Beach. Investigators and volunteers spent eight days searching for Beach, according to CBS News. On March 3, 2019, two volunteers found her body about five miles down the river from the scene of the crash.^[2] According to the coroner's office, Beach died from drowning and blunt force trauma.

Several of the teens were injured and required surgery. Paul Murdaugh was uncooperative with the medical staff. Several hours after the crash, his blood alcohol content was .24, three times the legal limit.^[2] Paul claimed that one of the other teens, Connor Cook, had been driving the boat; however, evidence from his injuries proved that Connor Cook was a passenger, and he was not charged.^[7]

Paul Murdaugh was charged with three felony counts on April 18, 2019, including boating under the influence and boating under the influence causing death. Paul pleaded not guilty and was released on bond.^[2] On June 7, 2021, Paul and his mother Maggie were murdered, and the charges against the now-deceased Paul were dropped.^[2] At the time, his father Alex Murdaugh theorized that Paul and Maggie had been killed in retaliation for the boat accident.^[8] Alex Murdaugh was charged with their homicides over 13 months later, on July 15, 2022, and was found guilty.^[9]

Lawsuits

Beach's mother, Renee Beach, filed a lawsuit against several members of the Murdaugh family: Paul's brother, Buster Murdaugh, who allegedly lent the underage Paul his driver's license so that he could obtain alcohol, and Paul's mother Maggie, who allegedly allowed Paul to use the boat while drinking. Alex Murdaugh and the store where the underage teens bought the alcohol were also named in the lawsuit, which was settled in January 2023.^[10] Suits were also filed against other Murdaugh family members, the hosts of the oyster roast, the owner of the bar where Murdaugh drank shots after the oyster roast, and the owner of the convenience store that sold Murdaugh alcohol.^[4] In July 2023, the Beach family reached a $15 million settlement with Parker’s Corporation, owners of the convenience store which had sold alcohol to Paul Murdaugh.^[11] The Beachs were represented by Mark Tinsley, who filed a motion to compel Alex Murdaugh to disclose his finances after the latter claimed that he was broke. Paul and Maggie were murdered on June 7, 2021, three days before the hearing on the motion that was scheduled on June 10, 2021. Tinsley said "The fuse was lit" as the disclosure would reveal Alex Murdaugh's corporate fraud had run for years.^[8]

Media portrayals

• Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal (2023; Netflix)

References