[crickets chirp]
[mysterious music plays]
[Renee] It must've been about o'clock
in the mornin', I got a call.
[vibrating, ringing]
There had been a boating accident,
and most of the kids
were at Beaufort Memorial Hospital,
but they couldn't find Mallory.
[mobile phone vibrates]
[Phillip] Get a phone call,
and it was Mallory's mom, screaming.
The phone call
that I got that morning was...
It was a phone call
I wouldn't wish on any other parent.
[tense music plays]
[Phillip] Just tellin' myself that
this can't be happening.
It's not true. This can't be happening.
[sniffs]
[tense music continues]
I just focused on gettin' there.
The Beaufort.
I couldn't think straight.
We still had no idea where we were goin'.
We were just headed to Beaufort.
I didn't want to go to the hospital
because I knew Mallory wasn't there.
We pulled over and we're like,
you know, "Where are we supposed to go?"
[indistinct conversation]
[Renee] We finally found out that the
accident had happened at Archers Creek.
So when we got there,
there was law enforcement everywhere.
Anthony refused to go to the hospital.
They knew something
was wrong with his shoulder,
but he wouldn't leave the area,
because he wasn't leavin'
without Mallory, he said.
When I was prayin', I was like,
"God, you know I... I question you,"
and I asked,
"Why did it have to be my little girl?"
[tense music continues]
[Beverly] What do you say to somebody
who's walkin' up to you,
and there's your child,
and theirs is missin', just missin'?
He's... He's so torn up,
and he feels so guilty.
[tense music continues]
[Anthony] Like, we were literally
in the same exact place.
How did I come up and she didn't?
[tense music fades out]
[Renee] They brought the dive team in,
and they were tryin' to dive to find her,
but the current was so bad.
[officer ] The current was probably
carrying her further out at this point.
You need to make a call
to get our helicopter?
[officer ] It's too foggy.
It's too foggy.
And I just kept sitting there, waiting.
[anxious music plays]
[woman ] Miley called us.
The drive was horrific.
You don't know what to even say or think.
All we could do was pray.
We could only just pray,
and that's what we did.
[anxious music continues]
[Miley] It was just me
and Paul and Connor
at the hospital at that time.
And Connor, he could barely talk
because his jaw was swollen up,
and he had a huge cut.
And I started panicking about Mallory.
I was just, like,
asking anybody if they have any updates.
Like, "Do you know anything?"
Like, "Have they found her?"
Trying to be as hopeful as I could be.
[Morgan] At the hospital, it started
to really sink in what had just happened.
[anxious music continues]
All these nurses coming in and out,
asking me these different questions,
and all I really could think about
was if anyone
had found Mallory at that point.
Um... And I just wanted my mom there.
[Diane] When I got there,
they quick brought me into a room
and they were gonna suture her fingers
because the skin was all peeled back.
One of the nurses,
he was standing in there
and he was changin' her IV and he says,
"I'm not supposed to say this to you,
but Paul, he's a nasty drunk,
and you need to get away from him
as fast as you can."
And then, when they took her for x-ray,
one of the other nurses
came to me and she says,
"Nurse to nurse, and mom to mom,
you need to keep her away from him."
[Morgan] Within ten minutes
of me being in the hospital,
I'm being questioned by Officer Pritcher.
He said, "I need to get your statement."
That's when it kind of
really started to set in as,
this is an investigation now.
It didn't take long for Alex Murdaugh,
with Paul's grandfather, Randolph,
to show up too.
These men that hold big reputations
in Hampton County,
I do think that they would lie and cheat
and they would cover up anything.
[Gina] Paul was over-the-top drunk.
We rounded the corner,
and I could hear Mr. Randolph and Alex.
I do remember Randolph Murdaugh sayin',
"No, you cannot interview him now."
"He's drunker than Cooter Brown."
[man ] Connor called, and he said,
"Daddy, we've been in an accident
and Mallory's missing."
My phone started ringin' again,
and it's Alex Murdaugh.
And he starts to tell Christine and I
that Connor was the driver of the boat.
How he was worried
about not one tragedy, but two.
And he actually goes
into tellin' us not to fret,
that he can look out for Connor, "Don't
worry, we're gonna take care of Connor."
[Connor] I remember they pulled me
outta my room to get a CAT scan on my jaw,
and Alex whispered in my ear and was like,
"Just be quiet, I got you.
Just don't say anything."
So he was pretty much implyin'
that I was drivin'.
When we get to the hospital,
I'm tryin' to get to my son,
you know, and he's stoppin' us mid-path.
[Marty] Randolph and Alex over there
talking to law enforcement.
Then they came
in Connor's room and he said,
"You've been named
as the driver of the boat."
[Morgan] While I was having
my surgery on my hand,
Randolph just kinda came in,
and he stared at me.
We heard another knock.
Alex Murdaugh was, like,
tapping on the glass door and he's like,
"I need to get in there. I represent her."
[Diane] Before I even got there,
Alex turned around and said
that he was her representation
and her acting guardian.
I looked at the head nurse and I was like,
"Ma'am, please keep
that man out of my room."
[Gina] Mr. Randolph came to speak to me,
and I said,
"Is there any word at all
on where Mallory is?" [cries]
"Have they found anything?"
And he said, "Who are you talkin' about?"
And I said,
"Mallory Beach, Mr. Randolph. Mallory."
And he said, "Oh, I'm pretty sure
we know how that's gonna end up." [weeps]
And I just couldn't even believe
he said that.
[menacing music plays]
[reporter ] -year-old Mallory Beach
hasn't been seen
since the boat
she and five friends were riding on
hit a piling in Archers Creek
at : , Sunday morning.
Rescue crews
from Beaufort County and Parris Island
have been combing
the waters around the area.
[Michael] Turned on my computer,
and the first thing I saw was,
oh my God,
a Hampton County girl is missing.
Then when we learned
that a Murdaugh was involved,
we were like, "Oh hell."
[menacing music continues]
[man ] I heard about it
the next morning in church.
I had, uh, Mallory as a student.
The circumstances came out very quickly.
The tension was rising that Paul
had been driving and was very drunk.
Most people heard that there might
be a question as who was driving the boat.
[menacing music continues]
[Morgan] After I left the hospital,
I went to the bridge.
Search parties were gathered.
My heart would kinda stop
every time the divers would come up,
and then my heart would break
after they said they didn't find anything
and they had to go to another location.
[menacing music continues]
[Renee] I met up
with Anthony and his parents,
but he still refused
to leave that landing.
You know, it just kinda
started getting harder on me to leave.
Stayed there all day long.
He didn't wanna leave.
He wanted to be there.
Every day,
Anthony would go down to the water.
He would talk to her and pray, and, um...
That day,
I heard him tell one of his friends,
"I don't know what's gonna happen,
but if she came walkin' up
outta this water right now,
I'd marry her today."
"I'd take her and marry her right now."
[Miley] We got to the bridge,
and I just remember seeing her parents,
and just, like, it all hitting me again.
You know,
it just seemed, like, even more real
whenever you have to, like, face it.
[Phillip] Miley,
bein' her best friend since kindergarten,
all I could do is, I could just hold her
and hug her and just cry.
I will never forget,
uh, Miley crying for Mallory.
You grow up with someone,
and they have a bond
the way Miley and Mallory did, um,
it sounded like she was
begging for God to help her.
[Renee] There was
a law-enforcement officer
blocking where the boat was
and where the dive team was set up.
But I asked, I said,
"I just wanna be able to go down there
to look, to see the scene."
I just wanted to see the boat.
I wanted to see where it had happened.
And he told me that he couldn't,
that he was given strict orders
that no one was to pass.
And then it wasn't too long after that,
I watched Mr. Randolph Murdaugh
and Maggie Murdaugh, together,
go down to the scene
where it had happened.
[scoffs]
How was it that they were
allowed to go down there?
I mean, this was my daughter
that they were searching for.
That's when I started
to realize the Murdaughs,
they were more worried about a cover-up
than they were tryin' to find Mallory.
That's no surprise. Weren't no surprise.
[Beverly] Anthony wanted to be close
to where she went into that water.
They wouldn't let him either.
[Keith] Alex's brother John Marvin
towed the boat outta there.
[Beverly] We didn't know that
at the time, but...
Shouldn't have. It was a crime scene.
[rhythmic music plays]
[reporter ] Three days of searching,
still no sign
of a teenager thrown overboard.
[reporter ]
Department of Natural Resources
have about nine to patrol boats,
diver teams, and even helicopters.
[man ] You know, obviously,
a timeline is a little more critical
as far as, you know,
doin' the rescues and whatnot.
If somebody did go in the water
this time of year,
obviously you wanna find 'em
quicker than maybe...
[reporter ] Beaufort County deputies
determined one of two boys were driving.
Paul Murdaugh or Connor Cook.
Alex's endgame
was to frame my son and not his.
It was very shocking.
A hard pill to swallow.
[Keith] We grew up with the Murdaughs.
Me and John Marvin was good friends.
Marty and Alex were good friends.
We played sports together.
[Marty] Once we graduated high school,
Alex went his way. I went my way.
We kinda drifted apart.
Three nights after the accident
I got a phone call from Alex.
And he said,
"Marty, we need to have a sit-down."
When I get up there, it's after dark,
no other vehicles in the parking lot.
So I get out of my vehicle,
he gets out of his,
and he pulls his phone out of his pocket
and he starts, you know,
cuttin' his phone off
and puttin' it in his truck and tells me,
"I want you to know
I'm not recording you."
When we get inside,
he said, "Pick your room, Marty."
I said, "What do you mean, Alex?"
He said, "I want to make sure
you don't feel
like we got anything set up for you."
"You don't feel like
you're being recorded or filmed."
But I'm sayin' to myself
right at this moment, um,
"Yeah, I'm bein' set up big-time."
He's sittin' there on the table,
you know, and he says,
"I need to know where y'all stand."
"I can't even mourn the loss of Mallory
for worrying about
what might happen to my son."
I said, "Alex,
I can't think of nothin' else
but the loss of this child."
He wanted to make sure that...
lips were sealed, basically, that night.
I've always heard that the Murdaughs
would, like, just make someone disappear.
Connor comes to me
and sets me down, in tears.
He asked me, you know,
"Daddy, are they gonna try to k*ll me?"
[reporter ] -year-old Mallory Beach
hasn't been seen since Sunday morning.
Officials say, even five days out,
they still consider this a rescue mission.
There was a fear in the back
of my mind the entire time that...
That there was somethin'...
Somethin' wasn't right.
There were many times that I thought,
"Why aren't they doin' this?"
"Why aren't they doin' that?"
You know, it hasn't even registered
to me yet, they... Did they ping her watch?
She had an Apple watch.
[chuckles] I mean, somebody
should've done that way before now, and...
- The morning of the accident.
- It should've been done immediately.
The Murdaughs
did not want her to be found,
because if she wasn't found,
there is no crime.
I was watching the helicopter,
and I was prayin', and I was prayin', and...
I heard somebody get in the back seat.
So I turned around, and it was Maggie.
And then she said to me,
"Beverly, what if they never find her?"
And it made my mind
go all these crazy directions, like,
if that child is never found,
in the back of my mind,
I'm gonna think, "What did they do?"
[menacing music plays]
[indistinct radio chatter]
[Miley] We had just been to church
with her dad and her entire family,
and we went out to the bridge, and, um...
I remember this man
just, like, goin' by in his truck,
and he was, like, "They found her."
My heart sank to my stomach.
Everybody else was,
like, startin' to leave,
and I was, like, freakin' out.
I was like, "This can't be true."
[operator ] , where's your emergency?
This is Kenny Campbell.
We're on the search team rescue.
We think we found her.
My world crumbled.
[sniffs]
It was just such a disappointing,
heartbreaking feeling,
and I got in my car, and I drove home,
and I cried in my dad's arms.
Sorry. [cries]
[menacing music continues]
[sighs] Oh...
I was happy that they found her.
It broke my heart that she passed.
But to know that they found her
could put closure to the family.
You know, I'd already started makin'
myself understand that they probably...
That she was probably gone.
[Beverly] He couldn't even go in his room,
so I slept with him in this livin' room.
And he would wake up screamin',
or thinkin' he was in the water.
He would have given anything
to protect her.
[Miley] Why does it have to be
the one person that I'm the closest to?
The one person that I did everything with?
The most innocent person ever.
I think that she was just,
like, too good for this earth.
[menacing music continues]
[Renee] It just... [inhales]
It just clicked
that she was gone.
[scattered applause]
[Renee] At her funeral,
there was a line
all around the parking lot.
Just people waiting to come in.
And just the outpouring of love
from some people I'd never met, um...
It was just amazing that she had
so many people that cared about her.
[Phillip] Her spirit's gone on
to be with the Lord.
And I know that we will be reunited
with our child one day.
♪ Happy birthday, dear sugar bear ♪
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
But we wanna see
earthly justice handed out.
'Cause none of us are above the law.
I want to make sure
that this doesn't get covered up.
And that justice is done.
All my life growing up in Hampton County,
around the Murdaughs,
they thought they were above the law.
So, my friend, he actually
steered us
towards Mark Tinsley.
[Mark] Renee believed that the Murdaughs
were gonna eat them up and spit them out.
That's what pushed her to call me.
There's an active investigation goin' on.
No one's sharin' information
with the family.
The only thing I knew
was that there was a girl k*lled.
That there were a number of injuries,
and it was terrible.
I had my own daughter,
who was close in age.
I remember how bad I felt for the family.
I've lived in the county
adjacent to Hampton
for the last years.
Everybody knows everybody,
and I've known Alex and people
at that law firm for over years.
You're dealing with the best,
the most extreme.
And you have to be on your toes
and prepared all the time.
One of the things that I did
was start investigating this
to figure out what actually happened.
To prove,
unequivocally, Paul was the driver.
February the rd,
it's gonna be a date night.
Paul and Morgan, Anthony, Mallory,
Connor Cook, and Miley Altman.
Paul went to Parker's Convenience Store,
where he purchased
about $ worth of alcohol.
Paul, who was ' " and weighed pounds,
was usin' Buster's driver's license
because he was underage.
The cashier scanned the license.
It beeped the right beep.
So he purchased the alcohol.
Paul knew that there were
gonna be traffic stops that night.
That was the reason
that he wanted to go by boat.
They go to the river house,
they launch the boat, and begin to drink.
Paul funnels six Natural Lights.
They get in the boat,
headed to an oyster roast.
They get out and they go in.
When they leave the oyster roast,
we have Paul's phone records.
And Paul calls,
first his father,
who appears to have not answered.
And then he calls his mother.
Paul and Maggie have
about a five-minute conversation.
Paul's blood alcohol
is three times the legal limit.
We know that
because the hospital took his blood,
because he was acting so outta control.
He's drunk. There's no question about it.
The video, the kids walking to the boat.
It's the last time
you ever see Mallory Beach alive.
She's smiling, she's happy,
she's in the prime of her life,
which is about an hour from bein' over.
Paul won't let anybody else drive.
He spits on Morgan,
calls her a f*ckin' whore,
and he slaps her.
Walks back to the steering wheel
and he slams the throttle down.
The boat hit the bridge and then goes up
onto the rocks at the base of the bridge.
[Mark] After the crash,
there were somewhere in the neighborhood
of different law-enforcement officers
at this scene,
and not one thought
to put Paul Murdaugh in front of their car
to question him about what happened.
[Anthony] Paul was driving.
[officer ] Paul was drivin'?
[Anthony] Yes.
[EMT] Do we know who was drivin' the boat?
[officer ] Yes, he said the guy
with no clothes on was drivin' the boat.
[Mark] It is not an indication
that there was incompetence,
because you couldn't have
that much incompetence.
What you don't realize in that moment
is the connections that those people
had to the Murdaughs and to Alex.
Michael Brock was assigned
lead investigator for the first hours
by the Department of Natural Resources,
and he had close connection
with the Murdaughs.
Anthony Cook told Michael Brock
that Paul Murdaugh k*lled my girlfriend,
but that audio recording
is not in evidence.
There's another officer,
Michael Paul Thomas.
[Morgan] Michael Paul Thomas
is a very known DNR agent,
and he got Paul out of so much trouble.
This man was like Alex Murdaugh's bitch.
[Mark] Michael Paul Thomas
has been described
as John Marvin Murdaugh's best friend.
John Marvin Murdaugh is Alex's brother.
I have phone records.
And the night of the boat crash
and the days after that,
John Marvin Murdaugh made
numerous calls to Michael Paul Thomas.
The Department of Natural Resource
documents indicate
that John Marvin Murdaugh
also called Austin Pritcher.
He is the officer who was in the hospital
tryin' to interview the kids.
It indicates that John Marvin ultimately
went and got the trailer to the boat and,
whether he assisted in the removal
of the boat or not, I don't know,
but it's documented and indicates
that he was there, on the scene, that day.
When Randolph Murdaugh
and Alex Murdaugh arrive at the hospital,
employees of the hospital describe
a real concerted effort by Alex
to manipulate what was happening.
Alex wasn't worried about finding Mallory.
He was only worried
about creating confusion,
making sure that nobody talked,
that everybody kept their mouths shut,
and if they did,
they wouldn't be able
to establish who was drivin' the boat.
We see on and on and on,
all of these calls
from the investigators to the Murdaughs.
No single call was made
to Phillip and Renee Beach.
I was just asking about Mallory's family.
I have phone numbers,
but I don't wanna make that phone call,
and I don't know...
[officer ] Until we know
something for sure,
probably not a good idea
to make that call.
We don't wanna create a panic,
have them out here causin' issues.
[Diane] Renee's mom actually heard
of the boat accident and called Renee,
but nobody still has ever said to her...
What... Like, DNR never called her, ever.
Not even an officer ever called her.
None of the law enforcement,
nobody ever called us.
[Phillip] Not to have a law official
or something contact you
to tell you
your daughter's out there missing.
Could've made a difference.
May not have,
but it could've made a difference.
[Mark] Now, one of the things that we did
was we hired a biomechanical engineer.
I'm sure people have seen
crash test dummies.
And a biomechanical engineer
is an expert in, basically,
movements of the body and physics.
And so, what he's able to do is take
the positions of the people in the boat,
the injuries that they received,
and figure out where they were
in relation to the damage to the boat
and their injuries.
Mallory and Anthony
were in the back of the boat.
When it hit the bridge,
the front went down,
the back came up,
and it throws Anthony and Mallory out.
Mallory received
blunt-force trauma to her head.
And after that, she drowned.
Miley and Morgan are sitting
on a cooler in the very front of the boat.
Morgan gets thrown forward.
Her hand gets crushed
between the bridge and the boat.
Miley is to her right.
She's got her feet up.
She doesn't feel
a whole lot of the impact.
Connor gets thrown
into the center console.
He suffers a laceration
to his jaw and a fracture.
There are rod holders
on the side of the console.
They're broken
where Connor's thrown into them.
The windshield's cracked.
It wasn't cracked before.
And that bar that Connor
was holdin' on to was also bent.
Connor couldn't have been drivin' the boat
'cause he couldn't have broke
those three rod holders,
he couldn't have broken his jaw
and ended up
on the right-hand side of the boat.
The testimony in the case is,
it is an absolute fact
that Connor Cook
was not drivin' this boat.
[reporter ] Mallory Beach
d*ed nearly two months ago
when the boat she was in
slammed into a bridge near Parris Island.
Tonight, for the first time,
someone is being accused.
[reporter ] Three charges
against -year-old Paul Murdaugh,
boating under the influence causing death,
and two counts of boating under
the influence with great bodily injury.
Drowning and blunt-force trauma
to the head after the crash.
That's what an autopsy showed
as the reason that Mallory Beach d*ed.
Her body was found
by good Samaritan boaters
in the Broad Creek Marina area
a week later.
Already the current
th circuit solicitor's office,
two Beaufort County judges,
and the Beaufort County sheriff's office
have all recused themselves from this case
because of their ties to the Murdaughs.
Communications director
Robert Kittle told me,
Murdaugh is not getting special treatment
because of his family.
The controversy for many is why
Murdaugh hasn't been booked into jail.
Now we may not hear from Paul Murdaugh
or see him until an arraignment
hearing happens in the next few weeks.
Now, the -year-old Murdaugh
could face more than years in prison.
Of course, we will keep you updated.
[Connor] I knew the truth would come out.
It felt like a lot of weight
lifted off my shoulders.
It was so shocking
to see such a big name go down, though,
but it was always
in the back of your head.
Like, is this actually
gonna be him getting indicted
and him going down for it
like he rightfully should,
or is it gonna be twisted around?
[Morgan] Paul would reach out to me.
He was just trying to manipulate it
in a way
to where, like, I would come back, but
I just told him to stop messaging me.
Like, let me heal as a person,
let me cope with the death of Mallory.
Let me try to wrap my head
around the fact that you did this.
Paul might be goin' to jail.
I had some mixed feelings there, you know.
Like, um,
I was scared of that, but then,
I was mad at him.
To have somethin'
that you love right there,
and then it's gone,
like, before you ever even really...
Uh...
Much less say goodbye.
I was rememberin' all these
stupid decisions that he was makin',
and how ridiculous he was actin'.
How difficult
he was bein' to get along with.
Maybe you do need to go to jail, you know?
When are you gonna learn?
[ominous music plays]
Dale Shannon, today is the first day
that we've seen Murdaugh
in a courtroom setting.
He is facing several serious charges.
[Michael] There were probably
a half dozen reporters there.
Alex and Maggie walk in.
Alex, he says,
"Hey, Michael, how you doin'?"
He's in a courtroom,
and your son's about to be arraigned
on felony charges, and it was like we were
at his daddy's huntin' camp
about to mix a drink,
or fry a fish, or somethin'.
Special treatment was given throughout
this whole thing because of who they are.
When he went to court that day,
he had his mug sh*t done
in a regular, like, polo shirt. [chuckles]
[Phillip] If I would've been
drivin' that boat that night,
or anyone else other than Paul,
we would've spent that night in jail,
I'm sure.
And possibly still been in there.
He is presumed innocent.
He's pleading not guilty.
[reporter ] Murdaugh's attorney
made his plea of not guilty
to three felony counts,
and waived the hearing of any charges,
which means the details will stay hidden
until it goes to trial.
Going to set a personal recognizance bond
in the amount of $ , .
[attorney] We did exactly what's normal.
This is being handled in a normal fashion.
[reporter ] Anything to say
about why he pled not guilty?
Because he's not guilty.
[Keith] He never went behind bars,
he never had handcuffs,
never wore the orange suit.
You know, just like nothin' ever happened.
[reporter ] Paul Murdaugh
has been indicted on felony charges,
including boating under the influence,
causing death.
[reporter ] Beach's parents walked out
saying they had no comment.
His trial date in the criminal case
has still not been set.
[ominous music plays]
[Morgan] After Paul had his court hearing,
he moved into the family log cabin
on Moselle.
It had been two years
since the boating accident,
and you'd see Snapchat stories
of people still drinking with Paul.
Basically living his normal life
as he would before the accident.
[indistinct conversation]
[Morgan] I was angry about it,
and I cut them out of my life
because I don't feel like
they were honoring Mallory
the way they should've.
After the boating accident,
I had gone through counselors already,
and none of them really fit.
I felt like they weren't helping me
just to unpack everything,
um, from the boating accident
and the survivor's guilt,
and then going to losing one
of your best friends at such a young age,
to my trauma
from my past relationship with Paul.
For her to hide
what she hid for so many years is...
It kinda hurts me inside.
Till the day of the accident,
I had no idea about the spitting,
and the hitting, and the slapping,
and the demoralizing of her.
I didn't know that. Um...
And I can honestly tell you right now,
I still don't know, honestly,
how much it went on before.
You know?
It must've went on for a while,
because the day of the accident,
that was it.
- She was done. That was it.
- Done.
- That was the end of it.
- She always said that Mallory saved her.
And that's one way, really, she saved her.
[Anthony] Me and Paul,
I have not seen him at all
since a couple of days after the crash.
I was tryin' not to look at him.
'Cause I was still mad
at that moment in time, you know, and...
I finally could tell he was starin' at me.
He was waitin' on me to look at him.
And, uh...
And I finally, I looked over at him.
And as soon as we made eye contact,
you know, he...
Under his breath, he said,
"You know I love you, and I'm sorry."
And...
I said, "I love you too, but you need...
You need to go."
[woman ] I follow South Carolina
very closely.
I cover the South
for the Wall Street Journal.
I have now for almost years.
And so I started following
the case very closely.
And the lay of the land
in kind of late spring, early summer ,
is pretty grave for the Murdaughs.
Paul was charged criminally
in the death of Mallory Beach,
and that case was kind of
working its way through the system.
And yet Paul's behavior
and run-ins with the law
were continuing
in spite of the scrutiny he was under.
- [officer ] How you doin'?
- [Paul] Yes.
[officer ] Okay, I got you at .
- [Paul] ?
- [officer ] Yes.
[Paul] I realized I was speedin'
when I saw you.
[Valerie] Buster Murdaugh is expelled
from the University of South Carolina
for plagiarism.
And layered upon that,
there was significant stress
in Maggie and Alex's marriage.
Maggie Murdaugh was becoming aware
that bills were going unpaid.
It has persistently been said
that she had hired a forensic accountant
to help sort out their bills.
The other rumor that's been printed
is that she had also visited
with a divorce attorney.
So there are indications that the family
was under increasing amount of stress
on multiple levels.
[Anthony] While everything
was happenin' with their family,
I don't know 'cause I wasn't around,
but I've known him for so long,
I know how he is.
The two years that Paul
went through everything, he was hurtin'.
He wasn't just walkin' around
like he got away with somethin',
like everybody was makin' it out to be.
He was, uh...
He was scared.
[g*nshots]
[g*nshots]
[phone line rings]
[operator ] Hampton County ,
what's your emergency?
This is Alex Murdaugh
at Moselle Road.
I need the police
and an ambulance immediately.
[operator ] Okay,
you said Moselle Road?
[Alex] My wife and child
have been sh*t badly.
Nobody... They're not...
Neither one of 'em's movin'.
I've been up to it now, it's bad.
[operator ]
Stay on the line with me, okay?
[Diane] I was at work with Renee.
We heard quick
because both of us are nurses,
there in the prison.
She just instantly had a panic att*ck.
She was like, "You need
to find out right now what happened."
[Morgan] I got a phone call from my mom
that Paul and Miss Maggie were m*rder*d.
And I just had no words.
The boy I dated
for four years was m*rder*d.
His mom was m*rder*d as well, next to him.
[sniffs]
I know I'm angry at Paul, but
it hurt my heart to know
that a human being
was maliciously m*rder*d.
A mother and a son.
It was just really hard for me to process.
[Valerie] So I heard about
the double homicides of Maggie and Paul
right after it happened.
The sh**t happened late,
so it took a few hours to report it,
and there was so little information.
I was gettin' texts from so-and-so.
"Did you hear what happened
down in Lowcountry?"
But by the day after, two days after,
it starts to dominate
local and state news.
[reporter ] Two members
of a well-known Lowcountry family
were discovered overnight.
A m*rder mystery playing out
behind the gates of this hunting lodge
here in Colleton County.
-year-old Paul Murdaugh
and his mother, Margaret Murdaugh,
were the victims of last night's sh**ting,
down this long driveway you see behind me...
[Valerie] We are told very little
by state investigators.
Law enforcement held no press conferences,
have answered no questions,
except by statements.
[reporter ] Law enforcement
isn't saying much, but this much we know,
there's a k*ller on the loose.
There was an incredible amount of fog
of w*r in the hours after the homicides.
But what we do know is what
Alex Murdaugh told state investigators.
Alex was home. Took a nap.
Got up, didn't see Maggie and Paul.
The property's vast.
He didn't know where they were.
Texted them and said,
"I'm going out to check on Mom and Dad."
And went to go check on his dad,
whose health was failing rapidly
after a long illness,
and his mom, who suffers from dementia.
Took a while to get there,
to visit, to come home.
And so when he rolls back up to Moselle
at : , : ,
that's when he discovers
the chaos that's happened.
The sh**t happened near the kennels,
which were a short drive
away from the main house.
Maggie was sh*t multiple times
in the chest and back
and positioned
almost like she's running away
from something or someone.
Paul is sh*t once in the chest,
which is just a terrible way to die.
And yet, he was sh*t again
at the neck and head.
He was sh*t so seriously that it just...
Barely recognizable.
So Alex Murdaugh calls .
Well, the call,
it's one of those things where
different people hear different things.
[operator ]
I have an Alex Murdaugh on the line.
[indistinct laughing, crying sounds]
[dog barking]
[operator ] Okay. What is her name?
[Alex] Maggie... Maggie and Paul.
[operator ] Is he breathing at all?
[Alex] No. Nobody is.
[operator ] Is she... Okay.
Do you see anything...
Do you see anyone in the area?
[Alex] No, ma'am.
I've been gone. I just came back.
[operator ] I don't want you
to touch them at all, okay?
[Alex] I already touched 'em
to see if they were breathin'.
Oh...
[Valerie] I think we can safely say
Alex's voice was elevated.
He was speaking rapidly.
He was breathing heavily.
And you can hear the dogs barking.
It is a chaotic, nutty, dark scene.
[reporter ]
Members of the Murdaugh family
speaking for the first time
since their brother Alex Murdaugh
found his -year-old son, Paul,
and his wife, Maggie,
sh*t to death outside
their South Carolina home last week.
How's your brother doin'?
He's upright, and looks strong
and makin' his way, and then...
Then he just breaks down. He just...
It's tough for us.
It changes you as a family.
And I can't imagine the horror
that my brother's experiencin'.
[reporter ] The Murdaughs telling us Paul
had been receiving threats from strangers.
People, they say, they didn't know.
Were they violent threats?
I didn't think it was a credible thr*at.
If it was, I would've tried
to do somethin' or notified someone.
But I guess,
you know,
maybe I made a mistake.
[reporter ] Alex and Buster Murdaugh
announced a $ , reward
for information
leading to the arrest and conviction
of the people who k*lled
Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.
[Michael] You've got a dead mother and son
on the ground, not far from each other.
Fear gripped this community.
Who k*lled Paul and Maggie?
Speculation is runnin' wild
in all directions
about what might've happened.
Think this may very well be related
to the death of Mallory Beach.
What was the motivation
other than anger or revenge?
[reporter ] At least publicly,
the Beach family extends its sympathies,
but some could say, or wonder,
is there someone,
uh, who has an interest in this?
Would they have targeted and gunned down
this young man
because of the death of Mallory?
[Morgan] It's a small town,
so everyone's just, like, swirling around,
and talking,
and, you know,
everyone's kinda lookin' at the people
that were on that boat that night.
[Anthony]
My f*ckin' girlfriend's gone, Bo.
Hope you rot in f*ckin' hell!
They had law enforcement comin' out there
to my job
to look me in my eyes and say,
"Hey, you're kinda our lead suspect,
and I need you to give me your alibi."
I all but, you know, lost my cool.
You're talkin' about
one of my good friends here.
There were several things implying that,
you know, because they tried to blame
Connor for being the driver of the boat,
that he was gonna be looked at
more serious than the others.
Never been the one to just, like,
freak out and just lose my sh*t, but...
It was rough.
♪ You are so beautiful to me ♪
[Phillip] It does say
in the Old Testament, "An eye for an eye."
I think Paul was afraid,
as I've had others tell me,
that they were afraid of me,
and what I was gonna do,
or happen, 'cause they knew
how much I love my kids and how...
What kind of bond I had with my kids.
A law-enforcement officer contacted me
one evening on my way home from work,
and I think my response to him was
that, um, I was surprised
you hadn't called sooner.
[Morgan] This SLED agent
showed up to my work,
and she wanted
to get DNA samples of my hair,
my fingerprint, and my spit.
Me being involved with the family,
I can understand.
But I looked her in the eyes and I said,
"Do not overlook Alex Murdaugh."
Sheriff's office, as well as SLED,
say they don't have any leads,
but they don't believe that this incident
should be a worry for the public.
[reporter ] While this is
being called a double homicide,
there is no danger
to the public right now,
and that, at last report, they were
not looking for suspects in this case.
It is unusual,
if you talk to criminologists,
for there to be no suspect descriptions,
no sketches,
no vehicle to be on the lookout for.
From the beginning, police said
there was no danger to the public.
So that's been
a big question looming over.
Why is there no danger to the public?
It's just been eerily silent
about what in the world happened here.
At this point, we have
precious little information to go on.
Early on, Alex Murdaugh's lawyers
asserted that he has an airtight alibi,
which was visiting
his parents that evening.
And over time, we've learned more
about the two g*ns actually used.
Paul was sh*t multiple times by shotgun.
That has been much harder to trace.
The shotgun does not leave a ballistics
trail in the same way as a r*fle.
But we know
from social-media pictures of Moselle
that there are
multiple shotguns on the property.
Maggie was sh*t with an AR- -style r*fle.
That's very unusual.
It's chambered
in what's called "Blackout ,"
which is a very specific
type of b*llet.
And there were shell casings
left at the scene.
The g*n that Maggie was k*lled with
was this specific type of r*fle.
And guess what?
The Murdaughs own that type of g*n.
And it has not
been turned over to investigators
for ruling out as the m*rder w*apon.
[thunder rumbles]
In the past, ten, years ago,
something bad that involved the family,
it might've kind of gone away quietly.
The double homicides of Maggie and Paul
really changed everything.
[Michael] All eyes
are on Hampton, South Carolina,
in the Lowcountry.
If the Murdaughs had
a skeleton in the closet,
it's out now.
[phone dials]
[line rings]
[operator ] What's goin' on out there?
[Maggie] My housekeeper has fallen
and her head is bleeding.
I cannot get her up.
[operator ] Okay, is she on the ground
or is she up near the top...
[Maggie] She's on the ground.
[operator ] She conscious?
[Maggie] No, not really.
[operator ] Okay,
do you guys know who she is?
[Maggie] Can you stop asking me...
[operator ] I have them on the way...
I already have them on the way...
Am I fearful of repercussions
from them? Yeah.
People would talk about
the Murdaughs making people disappear.
I don't think the story's
even close to being over,
and yes, I'm a little nervous
about sittin' here and doin' this now.
Corporal Booker
with South Carolina Highway Patrol.
This in a reference to an incident
in Hampton County on Sandy Run Road.
[officer ] A young white male
with severe head trauma.
[officer ] Let me ask you. When he said
that he felt like he was bein' followed
did he say, you know,
"There's a car followin' me," or...
[caller ] I says, "Are you walking?
'Cause I hear cars going by."
And then the call dropped.
[Michael] And there are facts
that don't add up,
and bodies
tied to this family.
[caller ] I did hear a name,
and that name was Murdaugh.
- [caller ] Murdaugh.
- [caller ] Murdaugh.
[caller ] Everybody keeps comin' up
to me, sayin' it was Murdaugh boys.
[caller ] The Murdaugh boys
are behind it.
[Morgan] I confronted them about it,
and then they just kinda laughed it off.
My gut told me
that somethin' was goin' on.
[caller ] Everyone who knows Morgan dies.
What's going on?
[theme music plays]