01x01 - Pandora's Box

[bunniefuu]

GREGG: 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.

Who k*lled 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 m*rder*d.

And somebody in Hampton County knows
exactly who did it.

Everyone around this guy
seems to die. Except him.

LAWYER: Your Honour,
this is the tip of the iceberg.

This is an ongoing investigation.

There were millions of dollars
that went missing.

Pandora's box is open,
and the demons are loose.

ANNE:
The Lowcountry 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:
This is the old South, essentially.

There are close-knit families,
there are long traditions,

there are legacies.

CLAY: Very tight-knit community.

Everybody loves the water here
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 Cook,
Connor's cousin,

and his girlfriend, Mallory Beach.

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 going 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 house is down here."

DREW:
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.

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 12-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 boat 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: 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 three 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 been
seriously injured

and she's screaming bloody m*rder.

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 Anthony goes straight back
into the water.

Anthony's a big guy, you know

and he's trying to do whatever
it takes to find her at that point,

but as soon as he gets out there
he realizes this is a...

He says this is such a bad idea

because the tide is ripping
in this place.

He is going to get pulled,
sucked out.

He doesn't know where he is,
it's freezing cold.

The water is freezing cold
so he comes back

and starts running up and down

trying to find her
as does everybody else.

There's just this sense
of shock and...

and not really knowing
what to do at that point.

And that's when the chaos
and the confusion,

and the terror
just starts seeping in.

KEYPAD BEEPING

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

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 a hold
of his family.

Eh, he needs talk to his mum
and tell her what's happened.

CELL PHONE VIBRATING

PHONE CONTINUES VIBRATING

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.

Anthony screams at Paul,

clearly putting the blame
of the crash on him.

And then, turns to the deputy,
with this anguish.

When Anthony says "Y'all know
Alex Murdaugh? That's the 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 going to be swept under
the rug, like everything else.

This family was seen as untouchable.

SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING

The centre 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 Senior.

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: So, solicitor
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 Murdaugh
and Alex Murdaugh,

sort of,
carry on, his legacy.

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 people
practicing in their courtroom.

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 of fence,

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 grandchildren 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 look at each other like,
"Did he just pin this on me?"

You know, "Did they just...
Did this really just happen?"

You're gonna tell your grandfather
that Connor was driving?

GREGG: Paul Murdaugh requires
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 literally,

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 optimistic at first.

We still had hope
all through the night,

that we were going to find her
unconscious, floating.

It was our best case scenario,
and that's what we were hoping for.

ANNE: We don't know what happened
to her at that point.

The conditions are dangerous at best

and then a helicopter
is out of the question.

You know what they would
normally try and do

is get a helicopter up in the air
and start you know spotlighting

every single thing around there

and hoping that they catch a sight
of her hair or her, anything.

And that's just not happening.
Absolutely not possible.

There is no way that
they can fly a helicopter

under these circumstances.

That dense fog has really laid in.

They need for that sun to come up,

because they know that the sun
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.

DREW:
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 laceration
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 Paul

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 out
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 hall 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.

Nobody would know more about
civil liability

or criminal liability
than Alex Murdaugh and his family.

They knew what they stood to lose.

KIMBERLY: 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 please
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 OK.

The National Centre
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

looking for this young girl.

Everybody wanted to find her.

No matter what it took.

REPORTER: More details about
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 relaying information

to the family as the search
continues as often as they can.

CLAY: Well, the community came
together in search efforts

for Mallory 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.

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 day.

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 that
this was ripping the community apart

every day that passed.

REPORTER 1: Beaufort County 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 after praying for a week
for a miracle that she had 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.

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 would 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,


not legally able to buy
or consume alcohol,

driving a boat that belonged
to his father, unsupervised.

Three people injured, at least.
One person k*lled.

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 Beach.

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 able
to pull off."

DREW: As the weeks drag on,
friends and family of Mallory Beach

are wondering if Paul Murdaugh
is gonna face justice in the county

where his family has been the law
for a 100 years.

GREGG: Residents of Hampton County
publicly posted on the memorial page

for Mallory Beach that they thought
that Paul Murdaugh was responsible

for the death of Mallory Beach,
that he would never be indicted

for the pure fact that
he was a Murdaugh.

DREW:
What I think adds to the perception

that Paul is going to get away
with this

is the extraordinary amount
of time that passes

between when this boat crash occurs
and mid-April

before there are any criminal
charges filed.

By that time the rumour mill
and rumours aren't facts,

but, in this case, the rumours
were very much about what happened

and who was supposedly driving,

what the general consensus
was who was driving the boat?

Nearly two months passed.

That in itself adds to the
perception of special treatment

and fuels this fire of speculation

that nothing is going to happen
to this guy.

Nothing is going to happen,
there's going to be no justice here.

When it's very evident that somebody
needs to be held accountable.

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, erm,

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.

KIMBERLY: I think the way
they handled it was 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 reflect
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 out
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, erm,
I don't know, he was different.

I observed Paul when he was young.

He was, erm, a child that liked
to k*ll little baby animals.

He would, erm, take a kitchen knife
and k*ll a lizard or a frog.

GREGG: Paul Murdaugh
was around 14 or 15 years old

when he started drinking

and this can be confirmed
by 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, Connor and Anthony,

all talked about how much of
a vicious drunk Paul Murdaugh was.

KIMBERLY:
Don't discount Paul for one second.

He could do, he could k*ll 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 blackout drunk Paul Murdaugh.

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

D'MICHELLE:
A lot of people 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 that boat
the night of the crash was violent,

fuel led 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."

There were kids
that were fighting it on the boat.

They were saying,
"No, no, no, I gotta get back,"

like this is turning
into an adventure

that they hadn't signed up for,
basically.

But in the end,
Paul wins cos 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
of the hands is that emotion

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.

You see her smiling and it's like
the last moment 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 the sailboats,
it's scary and they're worried.

And he gets violent.

DREW: He is getting into 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 freezing cold weather

in the middle of February
in South Carolina.

They pause in Archers Creek.

And then he hits the throttle.

ENGINE REVVING

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.