Original subtitles

[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.