All language subtitles for Murdaugh.Murders.Deadly.Dynasty.S01E01

[Gregg Roman] The
murdaugh family saga

started with the boat crash

[reporter] Learning more details
about the continuing search

for Hampton county,
south Carolina teenager.

But ended up becoming a
much, much, much larger story.

[Drew Tripp] Who killed them

why is this happening
to these people?

This was an incredibly
powerful family.

He stole from people he
was supposed to protect.

[Reporter] The death
of a 19-year-old man,

which for years had
been unresolved,

but has now been re-opened.

He was murdered.

And somebody in Hampton
coun knows exactly who did it.

[Reporter] Everyone
around this guy...

Seems to die.

Except him.

[Lawyer] Your honor,
this is the tip of the iceberg.

This is an ongoing
investigation.

We're talking about millions
of dollars that went missing.

Pandora's box is open,

and the demons are loose.

[Anne Emerson] The low
count of south Carolina,

this area is steeped in history.

If you just look at it
from the physicality of it,

it is entrancing.

[D'Michelle dupre] This is
the old south, essentially.

There are close-knit families,

there are long traditions,
there are legacies.

[Clay emminger] Very
tight-knit community.

Everybody loves the water he

and that's what
we live here for.

So, you can get yourself
lost during the daytime

and go exploring
different creeks

and it's just beautiful.

But at night, it's a
whole different animal.

Foggy nights on the
water are dangerous.

[Anne] It's supposed
to be a fun day.

This is supposed to be
just a fun trip out on the boat.

You've got six kids.

They're all between the
ages of 18 and 20 years old.

There's Connor cook and
his girlfriend, Miley Altman

you have Morgan doughty and
her boyfriend, Paul murdaugh.

And then there's Anthony
coo Connor's cousin,

and his girlfriend,
Mallory beach.

[Drew] Three couples,

all lifelong friends,

they're out for a night of fun.

[Anne] There was a trail of.

Social media going on,

because that's what the kids do.

[Drew] They were
apparently posting snapchats...

For the whole night.

Kind of giving their friends
and family and followers

a glimpse into what was goin
on and what they were doing

[Anne] They wanted
to go to a party.

There was an oyster roast going
on at a mutual friend's house.

We're famous for
our oyster roasts.

They are the quintessential
gathering for family and friends.

So, instead of driving,

Paul said, "well, you know,

my grandfather's river
hous is down here."

[Drew] So, their
plan for the night is,

first, they're going to meet at Paul's
grandfather's house on chechessee.

Chechessee is the body
of water just down the river.

[Anne] And they're
going to load up the boat,

and go down to an oyster roast.

Everybody bring
your own alcohol,

bring your own beer.

So, the kids are picking up

a six-pack here, a
twelve-pack there.

And then, they're getting ready
for their trip out on the river.

Nobody on that boat could have
imagined how this day was going to end.

[Anne] February,

it's cold for us.

[Clay] There was
what we call sea fog.

It was very foggy that morning.

And the fog was hovering
right up above sea level.

[Anne] They're
trying to get home,

back to this river house,

though, conditions were
deteriorating quickly.

Paul was driving the boat.

[Drew] Everybody on the boa was
concerned about how he's driving.

They're wanting him
to show more caution,

to be more careful.

[Anne] Anthony is like,
"get me off at the next dock

but let's be honest, like,

when you start getting
into those waters,

where are you getting off?

And so, it's terrifying.

[Kimberly brant] They were going
through the place called archers creek,

which is near the
parris island bridge.

That late at night, no lights,

the conditions
they're in, the fog.

It's...

Very dangerous.

[Anne] Got six kids on it.

You know, you've got two
people standing at the console,

you've got two young
girls at the very front.

The boat stops. They float.

[Anne] And... For
whatever reason,

that throttle gets
pushed all the way down.

[Motor whirring]

You've got Mallory and Anthony,

they hit the deck.
They're on the bottom.

He's holding onto his
girlfriend as hard as he can.

And the next thing you know

they hit this
pylon, straight on.

[Water splashing]

It was...

Horrific.

The boat just takes
it straight into the hull.

Cracks it right down the seam,

and you have a boat that is
falling apart in front of your eyes.

[Drew] Paul murdaugh,

Anthony cook,

and Mallory beach, all thre
were ejected from the boat.

Connor, Miley and Morgan
managed to stay in the boat.

But two of them were
severely injured in the process.

[Anne] Morgan's hand has bee seriously
injured and she's screaming bloody murder.

Paul's in the water.

Connor has been injured
severely on his face.

They're all disoriented
and in shock,

and traumatized by
what's just happened.

Anthony comes back across the
water to where the boat wreckage is.

He's asking the ones
that are still in the boat,

"where's Mallory?
Where's Mallory?"

[Anne] And they're like, "what
do you mean, where's Mallory?"

Mallory beach is
nowhere to be found.

And that's when the
chaos and the confusion,

and the terror just
starts seeping in.

[Phone dials and rings]

[Anne] Connor
cook calls dispatch,

and you can hear Connor...

Trying to keep it together.

[Drew] This is happening in
sort of a no man's land, almost.

This is not an
easy to reach place.

[Indistinct chatter over radio]

[Drew] You've got...

Five young people out there.

They're distraught,
they're frantic,

they're cold, they're wet.

They're screaming.

[Anne] Paul, Miley, Morgan and
Anthony are, according to the officers,

I think they described them as,
"grossly intoxicated" when they saw them.

Paul is walking
around in his boxers.

He starts mouthing off
to the ems personnel.

He starts mouthing off to
some of the law enforcement.

And Anthony cook
basically is soaking wet.

He's been in the water
looking for Mallory, his girlfriend.

And one of the
officers pulls him aside,

and sort of, tries to
settle him down a little bit.

Anthony is trying to
get ahold of his family.

He needs talk to his mom
and tell her what's happened.

[Phone vibrating]

[Phone continues vibrating]

[Anne] And while he's there

Paul is sort of, making his
way into the same area and...

And looks over,

at where Anthony is,

and he was smiling at the moment

where Anthony's whole
world was shattering.

Anthony sees Paul
and just explodes.

He loses it.

[Officer] Sit down, sit down

[officer] Sit down.
Sit down, sit down.

Anthony screams at Paul,

clearly putting the
blame of the crash on him.

And then, turns to the deput

with this anguish.

[D'Michelle] When Anthony says,

"do y'all know Alex
murdaugh that's his son.

Good luck."

To me, that says it all.

There was this sense of
invincibility, immunity and impunity

around the murdaugh family.

[D'Michelle] That Mallory was
missing and they couldn't find her,

he knows, this is just

probably going to be swept
under the rug, like everything else.

This family was
seen as untouchable.

[Creepy music playing]

[Anne] The center character.

For what happened
out on that boat,

was Paul murdaugh.

Paul murdaugh is the
youngest son of Alex

[gregg] Alex murdaugh
is the beneficiary

of his family's
four-generation legal dynasty.

[Drew] I grew up with a lot of
murdaughs. I know murdaughs.

The murdaugh family is...

Synonymous with criminal
justice, law enforcement.

The law, in this part
of south Carolina.

[Anne] The murdaugh family
dynasty started with Randolph sr.

He was really the great
patriarch of this family.

[Gregg] In 1920,
Randolph murdaugh

was the first elected solicitor
of the 14th judicial circuit.

[Michael virzi] So, solicito is south
Carolina's word for a district attorney.

And it's the lead criminal
prosecutor for that district,

or in south
Carolina, that circuit.

It is a powerful role.

The solicitor's office decides
what cases to prosecute and

when a case is going
to get prosecuted

and when people are charged.

[Gregg] He would hold
that position for 20 years.

Right after his death,

his son, Randolph murdaugh,

also known as "buster,"

came into office and he
ruled from 1940 until 1986.

In 1986, his son, Randolph
murdaugh III, took over.

And eventually, would
be the solicitor until 2006.

[Anne] The personal
injury law firm, pmped,

is a very important
part of this family.

It's a law firm that has been
there for more than a century.

Randolph III is
still in this law firm.

And his sons, Randy
murdaug and Alex murdaugh,

sort of, carry on, his legac

[Michael] Even though
it's Peters murdaugh

Parker eltzroth and detrick,

it was known as,
'the murdaugh firm, '

for generations.

[Drew] Everybody knows that.

If you want a powerful attorney,

somebody that's
going to take your case

and win your case and
get you a lot of money,

you call the murdaughs.

You call the murdaugh law firm.

The influence of pmped,

even extended to the court
house that they practiced in

with dominating portraits

of all of the members of the
murdaugh family that served as solicitor

looking over the very peopl
practicing in their courtroo

[drew] So, when this
boat crash occurs,

there is certainly
the perception that

the murdaughs are above the law.

[D'Michelle] This
was an accident.

And it is a chargeable offense,

not just because
someone is missing,

but because also there
was alcohol involved.

And they're all underage.

So, it's imperative that

the law enforcement
understand who that driver is.

[Drew] Paul again, is
reportedly, grossly intoxicated.

And one thing that
sticks out is he...

Was trying to get law
enforcement to give him a phone.

He didn't call his dad
on that cell phone.

He called handsome.

Handsome is Randolph. That's
what his grandchildre called him.

The grandfather, of
course, is Randolph III.

The third generation
of solicitors in this area.

A man of incredible
power and influence.

And obviously, a great
protector of the murdaugh family.

[Kimberly] When
handsome asked him,

"who was driving the boat?"

He said, "cotton."

Connor cook is cotton.

So, Paul lied to his grandfather

and told him that Connor
cook was driving the boat.

[Anne] So, Connor and
Miley when they hear this,

because Miley's standing
nearby, his girlfriend,

they kind of look
at each other like,

"did he really just
pin this on me?"

You know, "did
they really just...

Did this really just happen?"

You're going to tell your
grandfather that Connor was driving?

[Gregg] Paul murdaugh requir a
police escort on his way to the hospital

because he is so drunk, he
doesn't know left from right.

He doesn't know who's who.

[Anne] They have to literall
physically get him into that ambulance

and have an officer ride along with him
to make sure that they get to the hospital.

The only one that
doesn't go is Anthony.

Anthony refuses to
get into the ambulance.

He is literally waiting
for them to find Mallory.

[Clay] When you're looking
for someone like that's missing,

that's been thrown
into the water,

you're obviously
optimistic at first.

We still had hope
all through the night,

that we were going to
find h unconscious, floating.

It was our best case scenari

and that's what
we were hoping for.

That dense fog
has really laid in.

They need for that
sun to come up,

because they know that the
s is going to burn off the fog

and they have to just stop.

Call off the search
at some point.

And they have to wait.

And it just is heartbreaking

The scene at the hospital,
when they initially arrived,

there was a lot of confusion

it's all hands on deck.

The staff is there, treating
multiple trauma patients.

You've got four teenagers now.

Some of them are bleeding,

they're injured,
they're distraught.

Morgan doughty has a
severely lacerated hand

and needs surgery.

Connor cook has a laceratio
on his face and a broken jaw

Miley Altman is also
being examined for injuries.

Paul murdaugh is reportedly
so drunk and unruly,

that staff is having a hard
time even treating him.

[Anne] He's making wildly inappropriate
comments to some of the staff.

The question is,

is why wasn't there a field sobriety test
done on Paul at the scene of the accident?

By the time that Paul
murdaugh was in the hospital,

he had at least,
an hour and a half

before he was required
to submit to alcohol testing

which could have led to the
depreciation of the amount

of alcohol that
was in his system.

[Anne] An officer is
attempting to talk to pau

about what had happened.

"Were you driving the boat?

What was going on that night?

Have you been drinking?"

And then, who walks in the door.

[Drew] Paul has now gotten
in touch with his father, Alex.

He's gotten in touch with
the grandfather, Randolph.

They're now at the hospital.

[Anne] Randolph III
and Alex murdaugh say,

"stop everything you're doing.

You can speak to us,
we're his attorneys."

They were trying to not just see
Paul, who would be their next of kin,

but also trying to see all
of the other patients there,

all of the other kids
that were in the boat.

[Anne] Alex murdaugh,
according to hospital staff

is now going up and down the corridor
looking at the board trying to figure o

where the rooms are.

And is going into the
rooms to talk to the kids

who were in the boat crash.

[D'Michelle] No one
else is typically allowed

in a patient's room

other than the
next of kin or family.

It's totally inappropriate.

But that tells me, that they
thought they were powerful enough

and intimidating enough that they
would be able to do that and pull it off.

Alex murdaugh was trying to
get everyone to change their story.

[D'Michelle] What
Alex wanted at that point

was to contain the situation
to control the situation.

To use them to Paul's advantage.

And he didn't
want the kids to say

anything that would
later be taken against Paul

because of liability and because
of charges, criminal charges.

Everyone says that
Paul was driving the boat.

[Gregg] Morgan doughty said
she was afraid of Alex murdaugh

and asked the nurse to not allow

him into her hospital room.

She said she feared
what Alex might do.

The hospital staff says,
"no, you're not gonna do that."

We don't want you walking in.
That is... that is a problem for us."

According to Connor,
Alex got to him and was

following him as they're stretchering
him down the ha to take him into surgery

and was talking to
him and telling him,

you know, "don't say anything. We'll
take care of you. We'll take care of this.

We got it."

Alex murdaugh tells Connor cook

he's got an attorney to
represent him to help him.

Alex murdaugh,
specifically, was trying

to work behind the scenes

to pin the boat
accident on Connor

to make it seem as though he
was driving and he was at fault.

And nobody would know more
about civil liability or criminal liability

than Alex murdaugh
and his family.

They knew what
they stood to lose.

Those two murdaughs were doing

damage control for their family

while Mallory beach laid
out there in that cold water

[Drew] My connection to Mallory

was through people who I knew

and immediately the next morning
started seeing pleas on social media

for help finding her,

alerting the community to,
"hey, my friend is missing.

[Anne] The water is not
a good friend at this time.

That tide is pulling out.

The way things
are starting to look,

it's not good.

[Reporter] Crews are continuing
to search for a former usc student

who went missing over the
weekend near parris island.

Officials say six people were on a
boat when it crashed into a bridge.

The other five people were
hurt, but are expected to be okay

the national center for missing
and endangered named the sixth

missing woman as Mallory beach.

The tide, wind is always a factor.
Water temperature's a factor.

[Kimberly] It still gives me chills. I
thought about that child out in that water

I thought about that

pretty smile, that...

Pretty face of
that child that was

out there somewhere
we didn't know,

if we would ever find her.

[Anne] Anybody that had a boat

was gonna be out there
looki for this young girl.

Everybody wanted to find her.

No matter what it took.

[Reporter] More details
abou the continuing search

for a Hampton county,
south Carolina teenager,

Shawn Evans went to the boat
ramp and brings us the details about

the search conditions
on the third day.

[Shawn] There's a
lot of support out here

for the family of
the missing woman.

The rescuers are also relayi
information to the family as the search

continues as often as they can.

[Clay] Well, the community came
together in search efforts for mallor

in leaps and bounds.

It was pretty amazing to
see all those folks show up

with their personal boats

and eager to help
and try to find Mallory.

There was more and
more people every day.

[Reporter] Boat crews
and dive teams continue to

look in the initial
search area and beyond,

as the hours and days go on

beach's family says, right now,

they're asking for prayers.

[Nicholas ginn] And
because Hampton

is a small community,
everybody knows everybody,

everybody cares about everyone.

Anything tragic like that
is gonna be a big deal.

And that was someone's daughter.

[Anne] Mallory's parents,
they were out there every da

they wanted to know
where their daughter was.

They prayed, they
leaned hard on their faith.

They leaned hard
on their friends.

And you could just feel tha this
was just ripping the community apart

every day that passed.

[Reporter 1] Beaufort count
coroner confirms the body of a woman

found near the broad
river boat ramp Sunday is

Mallory beach.

[Reporter 2] It's
the conclusion that

family and friends of
Mallory beach feared afte

praying for a week for a miracle
that maybe she ha survived that

boat crash and
would be found alive.

[Drew] A week
goes by and finally,

some searchers
find Mallory's body.

This was about five miles from
where the accident happened.

The coroner ruled her cause of death
as blunt force trauma and drowning.

[Kimberly] Mallory
beach was a sweet child.

A loving and caring person,
she was a friend of my niece's.

It's just a beautiful girl

and so sweet and appreciative
of anything that you do for her.

It just breaks my heart

to think about that.

Anthony was so taken with her, you can
see it in the pictures of them together.

To have her ripped
from your arms literally

in such a violent way

and to not even be able to

find her yourself

is so damaging to Anthony.

At the funeral,

there's this outpouring
from the community.

Hundreds of people
come and pay tribute

just to support the
family and let them know

how much Mallory
meant to the community.

[Kimberly] These people
woul give everything they have

to have Mallory back.

They would, they
would give everything.

I don't think that the murdaughs
knew what was at stake yet,

but they knew that there was a
snowball coming down the hill fast.

[Drew] Paul murdaugh, 19 years
old at the time, not legally able to buy

or consume alcohol,

driving a boat that belonge
to his father, unsupervised

three people injured, at
least. One person killed

that is a lot of liability

in the eyes of the law.

About a month after the
death of Mallory beach,

a lawsuit was filed

by the estate of Mallory beach

against all of the
alleged different parties

who had a role to play in
the death of Mallory beac

his father is sued. His brother is
sued. The convenient store is sued

[Anne] At Parker's gas station,

one of the things that we see is,
when Paul goes in to get the alcohol,

He presents his
brother buster's ID,

gets the alcohol
and then you see

him leave and go towards
his boat again and sort of,

raise up his arms like,

"look at what I've
been abl to pull off."

[Drew] As the weeks drag on

friends and family of
Mallory beach are wondering

if Paul murdaugh is
ever gon face justice

in the county where his family
has been the law for 100 years.

[Gregg] Residents
of Hampton county

publicly posted on the
memorial page for Mallory beach

that they thought that Paul
murdaugh was responsibl

for the death of Mallory beach,

that he would never be indicted for
the pure fact that he was a murdaugh.

[Drew] To the surprise of
many, Paul is, in fact, indicted

on April 18, 2019, nearly
two months after the crash.

[Michael] Once you understand
the power of the murdaugh family,

in that solicitor's
office and in that circuit,

um, maybe it's surprising
that he ever was charged.

[Anne] He is now
facing a felony bui,

boating under the influence,
that resulted in death, and two buis

resulting in great
bodily injury.

This is a kid who could be
looking at 25 years in jail.

[Drew] Typically, when someone
is showing up in bond court,

they are in a jail jumpsuit.

I think the way they handled
it was [laughs] pretty classic.

They took his mugshot in
the hallway of the courthouse.

It just showed that
he was being treated

in a way that didn't reflec
what should have happened.

Paul murdaugh is released on
a bond on his own recognizance.

Even though he
was under court order

to not participate in the
consumption of alcohol,

there's video of him being o
in Columbia, south Carolina

after he was indicted,

drinking excessively, partying,

almost as if he forgot what led
to the death of that young girl.

[Kimberly] Paul was, um, I
don't know, he was different.

I observed Paul
when he was young.

He was, um,

a child that liked to
kill little baby animals.

He would, um, take a kitchen
knife and kill a lizard or a frog.

[Gregg] Paul murdaugh was around 14
or 15 years ol when he started drinking

and this can be confirmed b his
own social media that he put online.

There was allegations of
excessive binge drinking

that would take place both
at the murdaugh family home

and at different
properties that they own.

[Drew] Paul's
wild, uncontrollable,

erratic, somewhat dangerous

personality was
exacerbated by his drinking.

It came out when he's drinking.

[Gregg] Morgan, Miley, conno

and Anthony,

all talked about how
much of a vicious drunk

Paul murdaugh was.

Don't discount
Paul for one second.

He could do, he
could kill anyone.

I believe, in my
opinion, he could.

There's college kid drunk.

And then there is
Paul murdaugh drunk.

He had an alter ego

that he would transform into

after having drank too much

"Timmy" was the name his friends
gave to a blacko drunk Paul murdaugh.

And they would say,
"uh-oh, here comes Timmy."

[D'Michelle] A lot of peopl
were wary of Timmy because

they knew that he
would be agitated.

He would want to fight

and could not be reasoned with

when Timmy appeared.

[Anne] What was
going on on that boat

the night of the
crash was violent,

fueled by alcohol

and the actions
of Paul murdaugh.

[Engine revving]

When the kids leave
the oyster roast,

they don't go back
to the river house.

They decide to go downtown.

And it wasn't a mutual decision.

This was Paul who really
wanted to go downtown.

"Let's go downtown."

And there were kids that
were fighting it on the boat

they were saying, "no, no,
no, I gotta get back," like,

all of a sudden this is turning
into an adventure that they hadn't

signed up for, basically.

But in the end, Paul wins
'cause he's driving the boat.

So, he takes them down
to the beaufort day dock

where he pulls the boat in.

[Gregg] Paul murdaugh
and Connor cook proceeded

to go to Luther's well
and rare to go drinking.

You see the three
girls and Anthony cook

going to the playground

and sitting on the swings

that are right at the exit
of the public dock there.

[Anne] Paul and Connor
go amble up to the bar

and what they were
doing, was taking shots.

So, after having drank
at the oyster roast,

and then jager shots

and lemon drop shots,

he was wasted.

They then left,
visibly were stumbling,

back to the public dock.

The kids start noticing that his hands
are doing something strange like they are

opening up and he's walking
with these weird hands.

[D'Michelle] The splaying o the
hands is just that emoti and that anger

building up and that was a sign

that Timmy was coming on
board and that he was intoxicated.

[Anne] And then you have
this heartbreaking moment

where you see Mallory and
Anthony walking towards the boat

and Anthony is
giving her this big grin.

And you see her smiling and it's
like the last momen you see Mallory.

I think that is what
kinda breaks your heart.

We also know that Anthony,
at that moment, is thinking

"don't get back on this boat."

They're trying to figure out, "how
to get home? Now what do we do?"

[Drew] Anthony and Paul had
an argument on the dock outside.

Anthony is pleading
with Paul to let him drive.

Anthony said, "you better let
me drive, you've drank too much."

And Paul said, "it's my
boat. I'm gonna drive."

[Anne] But when they get on the boat,
he is acting drunk he's acting erratic.

At one point, one of the kids says
he almost hits some of the sailboats,

it's scary and they're worried.

And he gets violent.

[Drew] He is getting fights
with everybody on the boat.

It even gets to the point
where he apparently

spits on and hits his
girlfriend, Morgan.

[Gregg] He decided to strip down

to his skivvies

and start driving in
freezin cold weather

in the middle of February
in south Carolina.

They pause in archers creek.

And then, he hits the throttle.

[Engine revving]

[Drew] Paul is just now

about to have his
first hearing in court

related to the felony
charges against him

from that boat crash.

That hearing is scheduled
for June 10th, 2021

and this is a big deal.

This is a big development.

Finally some progress
in this case that has

garnered so much attention

and is so

close to home for so many people

in this small

tight-knit community.

What happened next, absolutely
nobody could've ever seen coming.