Murdaugh: Privilege, Power & Secrets Part 1

[Music] part of the press play podcast network chapter 10 murdock privilege power and secrets part one as i was researching the best way to tell you this story i began to draw blanks and the further i went to the rabbit hole the crazier things got it got so crazy that when i finally found my way out of the hole i realized i was still in there except it was daylight this story is about the murdoch family of south carolina their privilege the legal troubles that have followed them the history they have with the court system hampton county proper multiple murders two wrongful deaths multiple lawsuits at least six investigations by south carolina's premier investigative body a missing settlement disbursement an attempted suicide drugs power influence coercion fraud and an ozark-esque money laundering scheme that will leave you wondering who bought the movie rights usually i would say when telling a story the best way to start is to start from the beginning but the timeline is so jacked up that attempting to follow the timeline would be fruitless so we're going to do this my way i'm going to give you a list of names and then we'll take those names and explore how they're connected to the story okay randolph murdoch iii richard alexander murdoch senior margaret maggie murdoch richard alexander murdoch jr aka buster stephen smith gloria satterfield mallory beach connor cook anthony cook corey fleming chad westendorf and carmen mullen so now that we know most of the main characters let's get into the main story remember some supporting characters may come into play who just weren't listed here but bear with me because we're for quite a ride on the evening of february 23 2019 friends morgan dodie connor cook miley altman anthony cook and mallory beach met at paul murdoch's home around 6 30 pm from there they went to an oyster roast arriving via boat after leaving the oyster rest at around 12 11 am the friends took the boat down the beaufort waterfront stopping at bars along the way at approximately 12 49 a.m the group arrived at henry chambers waterfront park at this point details are a little sketchy and i'm left to rely on surveillance footage and the depositions of morgan connor miley and anthony in any event while paul and connor were taking shots the others were hanging out at swings in the park nearby at around 1 17 a.m the entire group met back at the boat and they head for poi royal sound paul takes the helm and the gps device in the boat shows a spike in speed at 2 20 am at exactly 2 21 am the boat crashes into the dolphin pilings at the archers creek bridge quick interjection no they didn't crash into dolphins as in mammals they crash into dolphin pilings these are structures that are built in the water to prevent boats from crashing into other more important structures like bridges or piers as in the posts that bridges sit on they worked just famously that morning the boat comes to rest under the bridge and upon impact paul anthony and mallory were all ejected from the boat paul and anthony swam to shore mallory did not after collecting himself a cold frantic and injured connor dials 9-1-1 9-1-1 where's your emergency we're in a boat crash on archer's creek where we're about to archer street in our street the only bridge in australia archer street arches creek arches creek please be someone no i'm coming we're going we're coming see how far off there's there's six of us and one is missing connor explains to the 9-1-1 operator that he and his friends have been in a boat crash and one of them is still missing the operator is wholly confusing rightfully so why were people on a speed boat at almost 2 30 a.m are they on a boat that is actively sinking despite having little to go on she dispatches first responders as soon as she's able to get a beat on their approximate location according to miley altman paul was particularly concerned about getting in touch with his grandfather randolph murdoch iii at the time she was unsure why her response later to investigators well you know because they are lawyers and stuff he wanted him to be there first paul wasn't sure who to call his father or his grandfather eventually he settled on calling his father alexander murdoch and that is where things get really interesting [Music] from the hymen blog and the press play podcast network i'm jd hyman as a black man living here in america i am living proof that while all men were created equal not all men are equal we're here to dig into the american political system explore and unearth experiences from the human condition and be a catalyst for some hard conversations that need to be had conversations that demand to be had no matter what brought you here i'm glad you came once again my name is jd and this is the hyman podcast [Music] part one the unraveling as the grossly intoxicated teens began to arrive at the hospital early that morning paul was greeted from the arriving ambulance by his father at the emergency room paul connor and morgan were put in different rooms paul who according to statements showed absolutely no concern for anyone else except himself was making sexually suggestive comments to a nurse morgan was in and out of connor's room expressing concern for mallory out of one side of her mouth and commenting on the hotness of police officers out of the other side at this point alex tried his best to get face time with the staff the ems paramedics and of course the boat crash victims according to court documents from a lawsuit filed in september 2021 as well as witness statements from the emergency room the morning of the incident conor attests that alex instructed him not to mention to detectives or hospital staff that paul was a driver he further instructed conor to hire corey fleming to be his attorney other reports say that alex tried to gain access to morgan's room several times while she was being treated by the staff and again while she was being interviewed by the police what alex may or may not have been aware of at the time was that bigger problems or headed his son's way because back at the scene of the crash authorities were not having any luck locating mallory beach who was still missing for a week state and local authorities together with helicopters diver teams and bow patrols search the low country and the bra river areas relentlessly the following weekend on march 3rd 2019 a call came into 9-1-1 dispatch after a boater made a gruesome discovery five miles north of where the accident took place 911 this is kenny campbell we're on the research team rescue we think we found her mallory's body was discovered in a marsh-like area near the broad river boat landing mallory was described by friends and co-workers as someone with an infectious laugh and a lover of animals she had a beautiful personality and a smile that brought joy to anyone she encountered according to the autopsy the official cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and drowning she was 19 years old [Music] let's go back to the night of the accident to understand the group a little better paul is dating morgan connor is dating miley and anthony is dating mallory connor and anthony are first cousins and anthony has known paul since third grade remember i said this group stopped at a park and split off paul and connor going to the bar the others a nearby swing set surveillance footage shows paul and connor enter a bar alone where they take several shots each and leave paul from what i can tell was an alcoholic in the making he was using his older brother's id to buy alcohol and from what's in the depositions this was certainly not his first rodeo as i said earlier they met up at approximately 1 17 am they got back in the boat to head home and this is the last footage of mallory beach before she died [Music] as if the night wasn't already crazy this is when things really go off the rails the group at this point were starting to become unraveled they were tired cold drunk and just wanted to go home but paul wasn't taking anyone serious or anything else for that matter he began to take the boat in circles and make large wide turns the group sensed that his actions were a reckless and be unnecessary anthony and connor have both offered to drive the boat but paul wasn't having it it was his boat and no one else knew the waterways the way he did as frustrations mounted the teens began to argue and the more they argued the crazier paul got paul grew particularly angry with morgan because he felt like she wasn't taking his side enough they wanted a different driver morgan wanted a different driver paul was crazed according to his then friends paul got drunk a lot and when he got drunk he turned into a different person he also had a proclivity to strip off his clothes when he was drunk and well he did just that he stripped down to his boxers in 40 degree weather i'm not one to assess anyone's parenting skills but i think if your son was a drunk you'd know i'm sure they knew but here we are at one point things between paul and morgan came to a head and he walked around the steering console pushed her down slapped her across the face cussed at her and then spit on her and according to her this wasn't the first time he'd physically assaulted her i know this sounds like an episode of the oc but bear with me so mallory's had enough and she gives paul a piece of her mind paul turns to malory but before he can say anything anthony assures him it would be a gross error in judgment to talk to mallory the way he talks to morgan miley consoles morgan whom she's sitting next to in the front of the boat anthony and mallory are in back paul returns to the helm and throws the throttle forward according to the gps they were approaching speeds of 25 knots or 29 miles per hour anthony realized that the boat was moving too fast and having failed at convincing paul to turn over the helm he grabbed mallory got down in the back and closed his eyes [Music] anthony woke up in the water drifting with the current as soon as anthony regained his bearings he quickly began to swim he got to a nearby piling and grabbed hole all the while calling out for mallory now let's talk about archers creek for a moment archer's creek and the part of broad river it's fed from is what's known as a tidal estuary it's a body of water that is deeper than the body of water that it flows into because of this the water in archer's creek ebbs and flows with the tide this means that on any given day the current on archer's creek can take you further into the inlet or out to broad river and the current from broad river can carry you inland toward kusawachi or out to the atlantic ocean archer's creek splits paris island from port royal island and flows both ways toward the atlantic ocean on the morning of february 24 2019 the current carried anthony towards paris island using the current and pilings under the bridge anthony made his way to shore when he got to shore he looked up and saw his friends on the other side of the creek on the port royal shore the distance from one side to the other is 123 meters or 371 feet he jumped back in the river this time fighting against the current and using the pilings to aid in his endeavor he made it to the other side it took him 20 minutes but he had finally gotten to the port royal shore he made short work of getting to his friends only to learn that mallory was not amongst the bunch miley who had also been injured in the illusion rushed up to him and asked him what he meant that malory wasn't with him at once the group scoured the shoreline calling out for mallory while the group searched the water and called out for mallory connor placed the call to 9-1-1 anthony jumped back in the river desperate to locate the love of his life only to realize his efforts were futile he realized it was too dangerous to go back in the water he knew then in the back of his head that malory was gone [Music] two months later on april 18 2019 paul murdoch was indicted on one count of voting under the influence causing death and two counts of boating under the influence causing great bodily injury [Music] because of his erratic behavior in the emergency room the night of the accident the hospital staff was compelled to draw his blood his blood was drawn at 4 am two hours after the accident and at that point the amount of ethanol in his blood was staggering 286.1 milligrams per deciliter in serum to convert serum alcohol levels to blood alcohol content you need only move the decimal three places to the left in this case paul's bac was .28 nearly three and a half times the legal limit a person whose ethanol level is 286.1 milligrams per deciliter in serum should need help walking they should present with mental confusion and impairment it should also present with nausea and vomiting a person who is able to function at this level can clinically be diagnosed as an alcoholic a few weeks later on may 8 2019 he was arraigned where he pled not guilty to all charges and was released on his own recognizance he spent no time in jail he was not required to attend a diversion program the only stipulations of his release was that he surrendered his passport and remained within the 14th judicial circuit district why was he not court ordered into aaa why was he not placed on house arrest why was he not given a breathalyzer at the scene of the accident why was conor the only person who was given a breathalyzer a lot of people had questions he was awaiting trial when one month later on june 7 2019 at 10 07 pm alex arrived home to find the bodies of maggie and paul they had been shot to death more on this after the break [Music] hello brooks here with the books with brooks monthly book club podcast we read one book a month and then we talk about it books like stephen king's the shining or where the crawdads sing by delia owens if you're on the hunt for book recommendations and enjoy sparkling conversation come read along with us and then listen in [Music] want to hear more about your favorite tv shows and movies that are on countless streaming services then listen to up next with your new favorite hosts me kristina villas and me christina walter every other week we'll highlight one genre but two movies or tv shows one old and one new we'll let you know what's hot and what's not from your favorite or least favorite streaming services and be sure to stay tuned to the end of each episode where we shout out an artist whose name you should know for their talent in the industry so follow us to stay up to date with your favorite hosts from up next a part of the press play podcast network part two the privilege of being mr murdock alex murdoch on the line calling from 4147 mosul road he's advising that his wife and child was shot oh it's 41.47 moselle road i've been up to it now it's bad my wife and my son so alex comes home and discovers the bodies of his son paul and his wife margaret both shot to death initial reactions from the media who did it was it revenge for what happened to mallory was there some other sinister plot at work were paul and maggie on the wrong side of a home invasion gone horribly wrong are paul and maggie even the intended targets were they simply in the wrong place at the wrong time to date the murders remain unsolved but the mystery of the double homicide still plagues parts of the low country to this day slayt south carolina law enforcement division is south carolina's premier law enforcement and investigative body they are layed by chief mark keel who's appointed by the governor while their charter is to assist law enforcement agencies throughout the state they have exclusive jurisdiction in all matters pertaining to any criminal matter in the state in other words if sled is on the scene they're in charge according to slay it two weapons were used in the slangs maggie was shot multiple times with a semi-automatic rifle paul at least twice with a shotgun at first glance it doesn't make sense i mean it doesn't make sense at first second or third glances either but here we are the coroner placed the time of death between 9pm and 9 30 pm just under an hour when alex arrived so who killed maggie and paul for now that's one for unsolved mysteries at the time of this recording leagues for being followed and attorneys for alex believe a suspect is being looked into as being potentially involved and if that wasn't enough three days later alex murdoch's father randolph murdoch iii died of an unknown illness if the senior mr murdoch had any knowledge of who might want paul or maggie dead or the rest of the family star secrets he certainly took them to the grave with him alex was an attorney at the pmped law firm where he worked as a personal injury lawyer over the course of his career he made millions representing people in civil actions in addition to that he worked part-time as a prosecutor for the 14th judicial circuit after being thrust back into the spotlight alex saw that his life was unraveling much quicker than he was able to duct tape together while the case surrounding the death of mallory beach initiated the series of events that would lead to the family's fall from grace it was the homicide investigation of paul and maggie murdoch that would spell the ending of the murdoch legacy and would send alex spiraling down a hole from which he would likely not be able to recover family secrets long hidden and a checkered past that would come back with a vengeance that's next time on the hymen podcast [Music] my name is jd hyman and this is the hyman podcast i'll see you next time [Music] the hymen podcast was written edited and produced by myself share with guests whitney hall and mayor louise leighton co-produce and research cover art and branding by kevin ockey the theme music was composed and produced by jim joseph with additional music license from epidemic sound the hymen podcast is a production of the press play podcast network press play is staffed by chase smith our ceo and fearless leader i serve as chief operating officer and brooks may is the chief creative officer to learn more about the network sponsorships guest appearances or if you're interested in launching your own podcasts on our network visit us on the web at www.pressplay to learn more about this podcast our mission and vision or for sponsorship information please visit us on the web at www.jdhyman.com [Music] you